Dragonshift Read online

“Yeah, that,” Riley said.

  “She is one of the oldest Tuatha still living. She’s found a way to strip others of their power and grow stronger. She will do that to you if you’re not careful, Terry,” Roo said.

  Riley squirmed in her seat and made a nose like she was annoyed. It made me think there was more to the story. The way Roo glanced at Riley also made me think getting that info would be difficult.

  “Can we eat now?” Riley asked in a worried tone. “Roo told me it was rude to ask, but I’m hungry.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “I could eat.”

  “Me too,” Tabitha said.

  “I’m always hungry,” Nick added

  “I’ll order pizzas,” Miranda said. “I know I didn’t cook and I’m not about too. Anyone have any weird preferences?”

  “I’ve heard good things about American pizza,” Riley said. “I bet it’s going to be awesome.”

  “I’ll be back with some pies,” Miranda said as she left the room.

  Nick, who was seated next to me and across from Miranda leaned close to me. “Now is the time, boss. I’m going to fuck you hard and put you away wet.”

  Before I could respond I pictured her riding me hard and moaning while she played with her clit and squeezed a tit. Even though she came across as crass I became excited. I wanted to know what it would be like to be under Nick.

  “Okay, we…”

  “We can do nothing,” Bale said appearing next to me. “You have time to train now, and we will train now. If your playmate wishes to train in the art of combat she may join in.”

  “What?” Nick slammed her first down on the table. “This is some bullshit. I want the dick I am owed!”

  “Tell me, young lady, is your rutting more important than Terry having the skills needs to survive? I know the two of you were just in a battle. Did you witness Terry floating through his combatants leaving carnage in his wake? Or did he fumble through, getting by on the power of his Tua?”

  Nick slammed her first down again. “Damn it!” She stood and stomped out. Stopping at the door she spun around. “I’ll be… fuck! I don’t know where shit is in this place. I’ll be somewhere diddling myself. When you find it convenient, come and fuck me, boss.” She spun and left.

  “I don’t envy your prick,” Roo said. “She’s so mad she may break it off when she gets her hands on you.”

  Chapter 11

  Bale stood across from me having taken my form. He lowered himself by spreading his legs and bending his knees. His arms came up stopping close to his body with his hands balled up.

  “As you say, come at me bro,” Bale said.

  “I don’t say that.” I thought for a moment recalling as much of my life as I could in as short a time as possible. “Pretty sure, I don’t say that.”

  “Well, you know what it means, so get to it.”

  I jumped forward opening all the gates at fifty percent. The world slowed as my fist was about to connect with Bale’s jaw. He vanished.

  A blow connected with the back of my head dazing me. Another hit my shoulder spinning me around. A million punches and kicks hit my gut and chest causing me to fall over breathless and in pain.

  “Brute force has its place,” Bale said. My visions cleared enough for me to see him walking around me with his hands behind his back. His outfit, which matched my sweats and t-shirt at the start was now a set of long flowing robes.

  “The beginning of a fight, is not that place.” He came to a stop near my head. “Do you know why I beat you?”

  “Because you’re better at this than me.”

  “I beat you, because you handed me the victory.” He crouched down next to me. “For the rest of the day you will think on what I said. Direct the fight. Try to discover what you did that allowed me to win and how you might have done it differently.”

  Bale swirled become dark with motes of blue light dancing in his form. Then he was gone.

  “That’s it?” I asked. “What a crock of shit. I could have gotten laid instead of doing this.”

  The image of Nick on top came back and I smiled.

  “It was time to pay the piper,” I said as I stood. “By laying the… pipe? That’s dumb.”

  While standing, I noticed my hands were dirty. As soon as I walked into the bathroom, my reflection told me how bad we needed to clean this place up. Dust from having been on the floor covered my back, which I saw when turning following the streaks of dust on the front of my clothes. Instead of changing clothes, I would need a shower.

  I heard the shower running before I reached the bathroom. When I turned into the room, I saw the back of a short, lean woman and knew that our time had finally come. The clothes I wore for training were on the floor a second later. The image of her on me came back to my mind, and I smiled as I swelled. I was a couple feet from her when Nick turned and froze. She looked down at my crotch and smiled.

  “It’s about time,” she said in a husky voice.

  “Yes it is,” I replied taking in her toned flat stomach, and perky small breasts.

  Klaxons barred and red lights flashed.

  “What the duck is happening now?” Nick shouted.

  One of the smaller remote drones zoomed into the room coming to a stop between Nick and I. “We are under attack. A pack of werewolves and weird Lycans has assaulted this location. Your presence is required, both of you.” A.I.M.E. said through the drone.

  Nick growled and was a tall wereferret Tua by the time she completed her first step toward the door. “I’m going to murder those mutts.” she took off at a sprint hitting the doorway and making a sharp turn a Running Back would be proud of.

  At the door there was no sight of Nick, just the fading sound of her feet slapping the floor. I ran to try to catch up. As my legs pumped I realized I didn’t have to wait to see what was happening. Thanks to Nick I had the tools and technology for that. I stopped running.

  “Hey, Amy, you hear me?”

  “As long as you were those glasses I will hear you anywhere,” she replied.

  “Good, do you have a drone close to the action?”

  “Affirmative,” Her voice echoed as it came from my glasses and the big drone that flew around the corner. “Remotes 1 and 2 are monitoring the situation.” Her voice came exclusively from the big drone now. “As you can see and hear, Drone M is here to help keep you safe as per the Nick Protocols.”

  “I need to know what is going on.”

  Two windows popped up showing transformed werewolves fighting Miranda, Tabitha, and Izzy. A flame shot across one screen letting me know Cassie was also fighting as her dragon. A moment later Nick leapt onto a wolf and tore at its face and neck.

  I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I worried that we were killing these wolves. That wasn’t what I wanted for my pack. I wanted us to be the good guys; the ones making the hard decisions and walking away even though it meant a fight later. I knew we would survive as long as we had each other.

  “Where is this?” I asked as there were too many bodies to make out the location.

  A third window appeared with a map. A green dot blinked in a hallway. In another area several green dots blinked and were surrounded by many red dots. Another green dot was moving and looked to be getting closer to the stationary green dot.

  “The green dot not moving is me?” I asked.

  “Affirmative.”

  “This one moving must be Izzy. When did you get a map of this place?”

  “Remotes 1 and 2 have been mapping out the facility. I was forced to stop them when the intruders broke in.”

  “I’m guessing that is why there are areas unfinished?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Terry!” Izzy shouted as she ran around the corner. “We are being attacked.” She skidded to a stop in front of me.

  “I know,” I said as I looked my turtle up and down.

  Izzy was barefoot with a pair of really short shorts on and a loose half shirt showing her midriff. From
the way her shirt hung off of her I thought she might not have a bra on.

  “Well?” Izzy snapped.

  “Sorry,” I said looking her in the eye. “You are really distracting in that outfit.” Izzy turned red and looked away no longer meeting my gaze. “Sorry. I think I have a plan,” I said.

  “Why do we need a plan? Let’s go fuck them up,” Izzy snapped. “Or do you care so little for your Tua?”

  “You know that’s not true. I want to increase our chance of success and you know it.” As I rebutted, I continued to watch the feeds from drones 1 and 2. What I saw reinforced my thoughts on how we should proceed. There was one more thing I had to know before we left.

  Placing my hand on Izzy’s shoulder I stepped close. Her eyes snapped up to mine and flared with anger. I broke a rule by touching without asking, but that was intentional.

  “How are you, Izzy? And no bullshitting me. I need to know if you’re at one hundred percent or not. I would rather have you sit on the sidelines then see you hurt again.”

  Her brow creased and the anger still in her eyes smoldered. Then she let out a sigh and the rage melted away. “I’m still weak from the poison they used. But I think I can fight.”

  “Okay, then follow me. I want you to hang back and only jump in if you see someone in trouble.” I put my other hand on her other shoulder. “Promise me you will do this for me, Izzy. Because, no matter what you think of our relationship I don’t want to see you hurt, or risk losing you. I love you, Izzy.”

  Izzy let out a snarl and wiped a tear that fell down her left cheek. “Fucking gringo,” she muttered. “Fine. I’ll follow orders like a good sex slave bitch. Happy?”

  “I won’t be happy until you stop thinking that is what I want from you. No time for that now though.” I removed my hands from her before continuing. “Just follow my lead.”

  Looking up, I found the drone and made eye to camera contact. It felt as weird as it sounded. “Amy, I need a route that will take us behind the attackers. Can you guide us?”

  “Affirmative.” She spun and took off going the opposite direction from where she came. Izzy and I followed.

  Amy flew the drone at a fast pace and it was a struggle to keep up. We didn’t ask her to slow, however, as our friends’ lives were on the line. A stumble caused by looking at the feed made me close them so I could focus on running. I wouldn’t be of any help until I arrived, anyway. We came to the end of the hall and turned right into another hallway. The drone stopped before reaching the next corner.

  “The rear of the enemy lines is not far down this next hallway,” Amy said.

  “Ok, well,” I said. “You two stay behind my and stay quiet.”

  I moved around the corner in a crouch taking light steps. I hoped that the wolves were too occupied with the fighting to hear or smell me coming. The hallway was about fifteen feet long and I saw it opened into a large space where several wolves had their backs to me.

  The space beyond was loud from combat and I could smell char and burnt hair. I went for it. Running as fast as I could I activated Shell and leapt into the action.

  I hit a wolf in the back with my shoulder knocking it down. A solid punch to the back of the head slammed its snout into the floor and it went limp under me.

  Turning and jumping I caught the next wolf with a punch to the jaw. Its head snapped sharply to the side, and it went down. Knocking two wolves out of the fight in as many seconds garnered the attention of a few nearby werewolves. Four of them turned toward me with teeth bared and claws at the ready.

  The rhythmic sound of machine gun chatter roared to life behind me. I ducked and turned putting my hands on my head and looking for the shooter. The Drone had dropped two mini guns from underneath and was firing them into the crowd of wolves. The effect was multiple blood sprays and chunks of flesh and bone flying. The wolves didn’t fall though. I made a mental note to check what kind of ammo Amy was using.

  There turned out to be a lot more wolves than I thought. I pulled ten percent from all of my Tua and used the increased stats to plow through the enemy forces.

  “Glad you could make it to the party,” Miranda said as she joined me. “These are all from Arnold’s pack, but something is wrong.” She gut punched a wolf then roundhouse kicked it in the face. “There are no communications from them, just fight. I’ve been in combat with these wolves and none of them were this quiet.” She took down another as did I. “None would fight this hard for a losing battle either.”

  “Have you seen Arnold? Maybe we can ask him.”

  Nick jumped next to me and racked her claws down the face of a wolf before kicking it away. “Not as good as sex, but it helps relieve the stress,” she said.

  “I see you dressed for the occasion,” Tabitha said. She rode a wolf to the ground like it was a surfboard then graciously kicked it in the head.

  “I was in the shower when this kicked off,” Nick said. I glanced at her and saw her pert breasts were bare along with most of her chest and stomach.

  “That’s a good look for you,” Tabitha said as she licked her lips.

  “Focus,” I said. “Oh, fuck me, are the wolves we knocked out getting back up?”

  Chapter 12

  “And they are coming back for more!” Miranda shouted.

  The wolves we knocked down, which was a majority of them, all rose at once. They turned their gazes our way and charged.

  The fight was on once again. But this time we were all feeling the fatigue of the gruesome battle.

  I activated Shell once more, but instead of the hard natural armor growing from my skin a set of red numbers blinked in my field of view counting down from four minutes and twenty-two seconds to nineteen seconds before vanishing.

  “Shit.”

  Everything went black. Miranda stood across from me in the nude. It was a rare sight for her to be in this place naked. Somehow, she was able to control how she appeared in my mind even though I couldn’t.

  “Don’t mind the lack of clothes,” she said. “I wasn’t able to concentrate enough to bring clothes in with me. That’s not the point.”

  Miranda stepped up to me and placed her hand on my cheek. “Dear heart, I know how you feel about killing. We all do as we feel it from you. That’s why the wolves were just knocked unconscious.” She let out a sigh as she cried. “These people were my friends and rivals the last thing I wanted for them is death. We don’t have a choice in this though. Terry,” she stepped closer pressing her body against mine. “If we don’t kill these wolves, we will die.”

  “I…” my mind raced looking for ways out of the situation. Every thought I had lead to one of two conclusions. We preserve wolf life and we die. Or, we kill and we live. It was the hardest decision I have ever made. While these wolves were monsters, they weren’t responsible. And hell, recently, I would have thought my Tua were monsters.

  “Time is running out, Dear Heart.”

  “You’re right. I won’t sacrifice you to save a bunch of zombified wolves.” The next words I pushed out to all of my Tua filling them with my intent to keep my pack safe. “Kill all the wolves!”

  Miranda embraced me. Then another set of hands wrapped around me from behind. Nick. Miranda and Nick vanished replaced by Tabitha and Cassie. Their hug lasted a second then there was just Izzy.

  My turtle shook her head. “Fucking gringo,” she said then she hugged me. “Sometimes we don’t have a choice.” We snapped back to the world.

  Then, all hell broke loose again.

  A pair of wolves rushed me. The stink of burnt fur wafted off of them making me gag. The spots of crispy skin and exposed muscled explained why. They had been victims of Dragon’s flames.

  I rushed the one on the right. One thing I had going for me was being able to think clearly. The wolves seemed to be programed to do one thing at all costs. Attack us.

  I dodged under a set of heavy claws raking through the air. Then I jumped straight up and landed an uppercut into the creature’s throat. It
made a choking sound and stopped. Grabbing its snout, I twisted until I heard its neck snap.

  The other wolf hit me.

  Pain shot through me blinding me to every other sense. I screamed. Blinking back tears I saw a blurry muzzle on my side. It lifted me and I understood as pain erupted from the front and back of my side. It had me in its mouth. I punched down with the arm above the wolf’s head and the motion tore another scream of pain from me.

  I wanted to die. Not since the fire burned my arm off had I felt anything like this. And that only lasted until my nerve endings were obliterated. Just when I knew the worst pain the world offered the monster shook its large head from side to side. Teeth shredded muscle and fat indiscriminately. My throat became hoarse from my screams and I tasted blood, but it was just background noise compared to the pain in my side. Pain that dug deeper as the wolf worked his jaws closed a little more with each shake. Time had no meaning. Pain was all.

  A beacon broke through the haze. It was white hot pain, but not mine. Somehow I found the strength to roll my head and looked over. Everything stopped for me then. My pain no longer mattered. Everything slowed and came into crystal clarity.

  A werewolf as big as a semi held Izzy in its large hands by the waste. Its jaws opened wide as blood spilled from its teeth and tongue. Izzy was covered in blood from the wound the monster had just inflicted, a wound I knew all too well. It bit down again, and I heard a series of pops and crunches just before my turtle’s scream broke me.

  Red colored the world. The gates flew open to one hundred percent. My side leaked, and I flexed. The wolf yelped as its jaw broke. I hit the ground and stumbled. It wasn’t enough. I needed more. I took a step and stumbled.

  Energy flowed from my Tua to me. I grabbed each tendril with my will and yanked. One by one my Tua fell leaving confused werewolves and a big Kangaroo staring at me.

  “Woo Hoo!” A shout came from above and the world’s biggest Koala Bear dropped onto a werewolf and bit into its head.

  My mouth opened and a roar loud enough to shake the dust loose from the ceiling left me. I moved. Then I was before a wolf. I moved. The wolf was dead, and another stood in front of me. I stopped moving when every wolf was dead except the one the koala bear was chewing on. It lay on its back twitching while the koala gnawed and moaned.