Page 33 of Get Kraken

Then she engaged the talons inside of the suckers, pinching them into the bunyip.

Olivia meant to get at his eyes, but she couldn’t quite get there. The bunyip twisted and spun too much. They broke the surface of the water, and she was barely keeping her grip on the thing.

But Mike didn’t let go. Even as they went down below and back up again. He didn’t let go, and she damn well wasn’t either.

Blood mixed with the saltwater. It nearly choked her. Nearly made her sick.

Or it could have been all the thrashing.

She felt like she was on a broken carnival ride. One she desperately wanted to get off of.

She was going to be sick. She was going to have to let go, but she was too close to the monster. If she freed herself, she’d get bitten. All it would have to do would be to turn its head to the side just a little, give one hard bite, and it would break her in half.

Don’t let go. Do not let go!

They broke the water again, staying there longer this time, based on how long she felt the cold air whipping her face.

She screamed, in fear and anger, but another screech drowned hers out. It was another creature, airborne and coming toward them with long, dark feathers.

Like an eagle but so much bigger.

It swooped down with talons the likes of which she’s never seen before. It gripped straight into the bunyip’s exposed eyes, crushing them.

Olivia had to look away as the winged creature tore at the bunyip. It was too much. The dizzying twisting and turning, the blood in the water and the sloshing, biting, and ripping, all made her face too hot, her stomach heave too much.

She fell off the bunyip’s face, feeling her form go limp.

But then the winged creature reached for her.

Its talons clasped around her arms, pulling her up and away from the water just as the creature made one last attempt to snap its teeth at her.

It missed, and then it was alone in the water with Mike.

The red water frothed only for a few seconds longer before the commotion stopped entirely.

ChapterTwelve

Mike killed the bunyip.

It was confirmed a few moments after Chase nearly crash-landed back on the beach.

Many of his feathers were missing on his right arm, and with all that blood on him...

It was a small miracle he’d managed to keep them in the air in the first place.

He shifted back into his human form, and Olivia threw herself at him. “It’s you! Chase! You’re alive!”

He realized then that she’d gone into the water with the bunyip, thinking he was dead. “Yes, I’m alive.” He didn’t tell her about Carol. That could come later. For now, they needed to wait for Mike.

Chase pushed off the medic, refusing to be treated until they knew that Mike was okay. “It looks worse than it is.” He would need some stitches, but he was a shifter, he healed quick.

Olivia, however, was relatively unscratched. She’d managed to keep out of the grasps of the bunyip. She was the only one he allowed to hold a compress to his wounds, and he accepted her kisses while she told him how glad she was that he was alive.

Chase looked somberly at the body bag that was wheeled away. Carol deserved better. She was a good agent, and in the short time he’d known her, she’d been a good friend. She’d gotten approval to come out and help their mission, and now she would be sent home in that body bag.

That could have been him. It could have been Mike.

When Carol showed up in the van, sent there after Jack had given her the same call he’d given them, Chase was thrilled. The van was better equipped than his makeshift kit with the tablets and laptop. He’d settled in, feeling excited that they might finally catch the fucker, and then there was a knock on the van door.

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