Turtleshift Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Author's Note

  Turtleshift

  By

  Linton Bowers

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2019 by Linton Bowers

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  [email protected]

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to all the people who found my other twop books worthy of continuing on to book 3. I couldn’t keep going without your support.

  Chapter 1

  Sirens blared and lights flashed as the big-bodied car weaved through traffic. Since I was on a date with Izzy when we received the call about our base being attacked, we rode in her car. I still didn’t own a car I could call my own, and there was no way Izzy was going out in anything else. So, I was a passenger in my Tua’s police car.

  Holding her phone, as I didn’t have one of those either, I pressed send trying to call Miranda back. The phone went straight to voicemail, again.

  “It’s no use,” I said as I placed the phone back in the car’s cup holder.

  “Don’t sweat it,” Izzy said. “The girls can take care of themselves.” While she was putting on a good face for me, I felt the tension she was keeping to herself. My Wereturtle was worried about our pack.

  “You’re right,” I replied. Then I grabbed the oh-shit bar as Izzy took a turn at close to sixty miles an hour.

  As we neared the cemetery that the base was partially under, I saw three clouds of dark smoke rising into the air. One was in the cemetery and I knew all the entrances were being hit. Or, I guess, but it looked like a good bet.

  In record time we pulled to a stop close to the safe house in the nice part of town. The house was on fire and three big black vehicles, like those used by S.W.A.T. teams on television, blocked the street. Between the vehicles a few men in black uniforms I recognized as belonging to Lassiter Security stood with weapons aimed toward the burning house.

  “Lassiter,” I growled. “I should have guessed.”

  “The zombie guy, right?” Izzy asked.

  “Yeah, that’s the one. We need to move. The zombies are hard to beat because of their numbers and you know, being dead.”

  “Let’s do it.” Izzy shifted shape into her Wereturtle Tua form.

  She looked sexy as hell with her face and hair being very much human, but her body changed slightly to encompass a slim turtle shell. While I didn’t think I had a chance of getting lucky with Izzy, we were having a great time. For the first time I felt like we connected.

  We took all of two steps toward the safe house when a gun went off. Or it might be better to say an automatic rifle sent a shit-ton of bullets at us. We took off, Izzy straight for the gunmen and me to the side. Almost falling, I stopped and followed my Turtle thinking she had more training and was probably doing the right thing. As I ran, my mind focused on the Shell skill granted as a perk of having a Wereturtle. Armor plates spread across my skin giving me a lot more protection from damage.

  Izzy reached the enemies before me. She barreled into them like a wrecking ball knocking the two people down. The power I gained from having a pack of multiple Lycans made me far quicker than a normal human. I was on the guy that fell to the left a few seconds after Izzy hit them. She spun and jumped on the guy on the right. Taking the guy’s head in my hands I slammed his skull on the ground a couple times. The blood and brain matter spilling from his broken head was a good indicator he was out of the fight.

  If he was alive before I put my hands on him, I didn’t feel much regret for taking him out. He was trying to kill me, and he was trying to kill one of my Tua. I will not stand for that. My Tua, the Lycan women that have joined my pack, were not only the source of my power, but meant everything to me. I would burn the world for them.

  Izzy made quick work of her target and we ran for the house. We followed the trail of broken doors to the basement where the secret entrance was also smashed open. We ran through and into the stone corridor that led into the base proper. The sounds of battle came in the form of guns, screams, and roars. They grew louder the farther we ran.

  As we reached the first large chamber it was in time to see Riley, my Weredropbear, fall from the ceiling and land on a woman. She bit into the person’s skull eliciting a loud crunch. The lifeless body collapsed under her and she went to work chewing. Her eyes rolled back, and she hummed and moaned. The familiarity of it made me laugh and glad to see she was all right. Izzy and I attacked the other three people in the room, a man and two women.

  Once upon a time, I would have had a problem hitting a woman, but that was before I met women that hit harder than a locomotive. Plus, these women were already corpses. So, I pulled, opening all the gates and taking ten percent power from all of my Tua. Since one of them was a werewolf pack Alpha I also received power from her pack. Ten percent turned out to be a lot. One hit and the woman’s head shattered. Another hit, and the man was down.

  Izzy stopped over Riley looking down at her with anger in her eyes. “Is she going to lay there chewing on that guy while we do all the fighting?”

  “Riley always seems to drop in just at the right time. Let’s leave her to do her thing. She’ll be there when we need her,” I replied.

  “I’ll take your word on it then. Let’s move.”

  The room had two exits, the one we came in and another on the opposite side of the wall. We went deeper into the facility following the sounds of battle that didn’t seem to die down. Lassiter must have sent a large force down here to attack us. I wondered if he knew I wasn’t here. Either way, he made this personal, and we would have words when I found him.

  “Miranda?” I sent the thought out to my Tua through our mental link.

  “I’m so relieved to know you are all right,” she thought back.

  “Izzy and I are fine. How are you…”

  We turned a corner and my wolf came into view negating the need to finish the question. She was engaged with two troopers as a third raised a rifle to shoot her. A blurred form passed between the shooter and Miranda. His arms fell off taking the rifle down with them.

  “Well hello, handsome,” Miranda purred as she walked toward me. “Glad to see the two of you.”


  “What’s going on?” Izzy asked cutting straight to the point.

  “I’m not sure,” Miranda replied. “These assholes,” she kicked one body, “came out of nowhere. Last person I saw was Tabitha, and she was fine. You should check and see if anyone needs help, Terry.”

  I sent out a thought to everyone hoping that all of my Tua received the message. “Is everyone all right? Izzy and I are here with Miranda.”

  “I’m kicking ass and taking IP addresses,” Nick, my Wereferret, was the first to respond.

  “Hey, Terry, nice of you to join us,” Roo the Werekangaroo said. “Things are as good as can be expected here in the kitchen. Cassie is with me. We will have this lot cleared out soon.”

  “Terry! Help!” Tabitha’s reply was full of pain and fear.

  I took off without giving it a second thought. As I ran to where I felt my Wereserpent, I upped my pull from my Tua to eighty percent. It was a massive boost that made me move like the wind. In a few seconds I traversed the compound coming to a room I had never seen.

  Cars lined one wall and a selection of motorcycles was parked along the other wall. A dozen of Lassiter’s zombie troops were standing behind the first three cars. They all concentrated their fire on a motorcycle at the far end of the room. A pool of blood spread from under the bike. Because of the other bikes being in the way I couldn’t see my serpent.

  I stepped forward just as an object left the hand of the closest zombie. I took my next step and blasted the back of his head with my fist.

  “Incoming!” I shouted. Whatever he threw it had to be bad for Tabitha.

  My serpent leapt from behind the bike as I slammed the next guys against his buddy.

  The racket I made received the attention of the rest of the zombies. A boom combined with a concussive force came from the area by the bike Tabatha had hid behind. The explosion was so loud my ears rang and I barely heard the weapons being fired at me.

  “Tabitha!” I shouted as rage took hold of me.

  The last time I felt this anger I made a big mistake that hurt the people I love. So I fought back the need to pull more power and used what I had. What I had turned out to be more than I thought it was.

  I grab the car door intending to pull it free of the frame. I jerked up, and the car tipped over crushing the trio on the other side. I leapt over it landing on the next car and grabbed a rifle by the barrel. I yanked it free and beat its previous owner with it. The weapon broke in half so I dropped it.

  A round hit my shoulder, so I activated Shell. Another round hit my chest then clattered to the floor. I roared letting all of my anger take voice as I jumped. My knees hit a zombie in the chest. I rode it to the ground and spread my arms. My hands locked onto the legs of the zombies to my sides. Pulling them both down I slammed them to the floor with their heads aligned with the dude I was on. Then I took a zombie head on each hand and used them to smash the zombie under me in the face over and over. Once all three skulls were mush, I stopped.

  From my knees I jumped over the cars landing on the last one crushing the roof. Tabatha sat on the concrete next to the car I was on. Blood pooled under her and she looked pale. I dropped to the floor next to her and placed my hand on her shoulder.

  “I got you, Tabitha,” I whispered.

  I reversed the flow of energy from the serpent gate and sent most of what I was getting from my other Tua into Tabitha.

  My serpent gasped as she shot up to her feet. Her head tilted back in a silent scream and her body locked up. She looked like a wide-eyed statue.

  Her reaction had me worried, but I didn’t stop the flow. The flesh of her abdomen knitted closed, and I felt the pain from her wounds fade. Then I closed the serpent gate stopping the flow. Tabitha fell forward, and I caught her.

  “How. Do. You. Handle it. All?” Tabitha gasped as she spoke.

  “It just works for me,” I replied unsure of what to say. “Why? What did you feel?”

  “It hurt, and it felt like it was going to tear me apart.” A tear ran down her cheek. “If you gave me more, I think it might have killed me.”

  “I’m sorry, love. Last thing I want is to hurt you.”

  Tabitha smiled and placed her hand on my cheek. With her free hand she wiped her face. “I know, Terry. And it worked. I am all healed up. Now let’s go kick these assholes out of our home and decide what we will have for dinner.”

  Chapter 2

  With Tabitha behind me we ran. I knew there was a large force at the kitchen, so we went there.

  “On my way to the kitchen,” I sent out to everyone.

  “What about Tabby?” Miranda sent back.

  “With me and doing well.”

  “What’s going on, Terry?” Andrea sent me which cause me to stop.

  Tabitha slammed into me know knocking us down. I apologized to my serpent as we stood.

  “What happened?” Tabitha asked as she looked around for danger.

  “Andrea sent a message from where she is in Texas. I’ve never talked to anyone so far away. It startled me is all.”

  “Terry?” Andrea sent

  “Sorry, Andrea. We’re under attack here. We have it under control, I think. I will let you know.”

  “Should we head that way?”

  “No, keep the pack there. By the time you made it here it will have been long over. Be ready though, just in case,” I sent to my second wolf who was also the Alpha of the wolf pack that was now mine.

  “Let’s go,” I said to my serpent. We ran once more. “I think having a pack under my Tua has a big effect on the communications.”

  “That’s interesting,” Tabitha said. “We need to see about getting us all a pack of our own.”

  “That would be epic!”

  An Invisible hand slapped me to the ground. The owner of that hand had roared so loud that every other sound disappeared, and it left me with a continuous ringing. My head came up while I tried to return to my feet, but everything spun.

  Then I rolled onto my side, which was weird since I was trying to stand up. Then I rolled back down onto my back and saw a blurry form above me I thought might look a little like my sexy slim Wereserpent.

  “Terry?” Tabitha thought.

  “Hi, Tabitha, what happened?”

  “I think a grenade went off right in front of you. Are you all right? You took a good deal of shrapnel to your… well to everything on your front. Take our powers and heal yourself.”

  “Yeah, yeah, sure. Let me take a nap then I’ll do it.” I thought back to her.

  “Listen carefully Terry. You need to take our energy right this instant. Do you understand?”

  “Okay.”

  I opened the gates power trickled in. Instantly the haze began to lift and things became clearer. With my mind working properly the pain from my injuries became clear and demanded attention. The power from my Tua was only coming through the serpent gate. That made sense as Tabitha was the one yelling at me.

  “Please, Terry?” Tabitha continued her mental assault trying to get me to heal.

  “I’m doing it, Tabitha,” I said.

  Opening all the gates, I took ten percent from all of them. The haze lifted completely, and the pain melted away to nothing. Since we were in a combat situation, I left the gates open.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Looks like there was a grenade that went off. Not sure if someone threw it or set a trap,” Tabitha replied.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine, Terry. You shielded me from the blast and shrapnel.”

  “Good, then stay behind me and let’s move,” I said.

  Healing had fixed my ears stopping the continuous ringing. The hall was full of the sounds of battle giving me a direction to run. I poured on the speed worried that the little break I took while eating the grenade sandwich might have given our enemies the upper hand.

  We took the last turn leading to the kitchen and came face to face with the rear guard of the force assaulting
the kitchen. My fist came up hitting the woman in the nose. Her rifle fired sending bullets whizzing by my head and up into the ceiling as she fell. The shots attracted more attention. The two guys directly behind the woman turned to face us. I tackled the one closest sending him into the guy behind him. A small foot pushed me down briefly then I saw Tabitha’s foot land on the face of the guy under me. She continued into the next guy in line while I focused on my two.

  A pistol came up from under me moving toward my head. I grabbed his bicep and slammed it down. He was no match for my strength. Using my forehead as a blunt object I hit him in the face a couple times until he stopped moving. The guy under him brought a knife up. I thanked him as I stripped the weapon from his hand and stabbed him in the throat with it. Then I jumped up ready for more. There were no more.

  The sounds of silence greeted me after the racket of the battle. While I was glad to not hear people screaming in pain, concern for my Tua filled me.

  “Everyone sound off,” I sent throughout our mental link.

  “I have the pack ready to move when you say go,” Andrea thought back.

  “I think we are good, Andrea. Give me a sec to verify,” I sent back.

  All of my Tua in my location replied that they were all right.

  “Terry? I think we have a big problem,” Cassie sent me.

  “What is it?”

  “Doctor Nguyen found something I think is a bomb.”

  “Getting Amy to check on that,” Nick added. She chimed up again two seconds later. “It’s a bomb and a damn big one. We need to get out of here now! It will blow!”

  The lives of my Tua were at stake so I bit back the millions of questions bouncing through my head. “We need to get out of here now. Cassie, carry Liz. Everyone move!”

  Most of my Tua were in the kitchen so I stepped aside while they ran out. As I took a position behind them and ran I pulled power from the wolf pack and shared it with all my Tua now in danger. The pack’s power flowed through the wolf mark on my chest, so I had to take a little more time to get some redirected to Miranda. We all picked up the pace while more power flooded our muscles increasing their performance potential. In record time we reached the house where the SUV waited, but we didn’t stop there.