Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 99(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 99(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
I was shocked to discover there’s a worldwide shifter agency that polices this kind of thing. The AFA or Anti-Feral Agency has been known to execute feral shifters who pose a threat to society.
Colin suddenly stops and lowers his head.
“Ow!” Nathan screams as he tries to pull his hand away from the tight grip of his father. I rush over and yank his hand out.
“What was that for?” Nathan asks with tears in his eyes as he cradles his hand to his chest.
“Your dad’s not feeling well,” I say as I put my hand on my brother’s hulking back. Wow. His back feels huge. “Maybe we should go and come back another day.”
“No,” Nathan whines.
Colin’s teeth are clenched tight. He’s hissing out breaths as he looks at me. I can see his golden eyes shining behind the dark-tinted lens of his sunglasses and they barely look human.
“I said, we’re not going.”
His voice sounds like his throat is made of sandpaper. It’s all hoarse and scratchy like a monster’s.
I lean into his ear with my heart pounding. “So, what?” I hiss. “We’re just going to let your grizzly burst out and go on a rampage through this park?”
He ignores me and keeps walking. “Who’s ready for that pirate ship?”
Nathan hollers in excitement and catches up to him. The boy walks beside his father but is wise enough to keep his little hands in his pockets.
I look around with my pulse racing. What kind of security do they have here?
I spot an overweight middle-aged man in a uniform looking at his phone. He’s no match for a rampaging grizzly bear. Either is the scrawny teenage security guard wandering around the food court.
If Colin’s feral bear bursts out of him, there will be no stopping the beast.
There’s a bit of a line-up for the swinging pirate ship and I catch up to the boys as they walk through the zig-zagging ropes to take their place.
“Colin,” I whisper as I dip under the rope. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
He ignores me as we come to the end of the line.
“Did you know that pirates actually wore eye patches?” Colin says to Nathan. “But it wasn’t because they were missing an eye. It was because…”
His body suddenly flexes and he squeezes his eyes shut.
“Colin,” I whisper as I touch his back. He flinches.
There’s too much stimulation here. They’re blasting screeching dance music through the speakers and the obnoxious guy in front of us is talking on his phone really loudly. People are screaming on the ride and there’s a bored kid who keeps swinging the rope beside us. It keeps smacking Colin’s thigh.
“It was because a…” Colin says again with his back hunched over. His voice doesn’t even sound human.
Even Nathan is starting to notice. He’s looking at him funny. “Are you okay, Dad?”
“Their eyes,” Colin spits out. “The eyepatches… It was dark below the deck and bright on the ship deck. They used them… to… adjust for the… darkness.”
“Okay, we’re leaving,” I say as I grab Colin’s arm. Holy shit, his bicep is huge! I spot a flash of brown fur on his neck. It disappears as quickly as it appeared. “I’m sorry, Nathan, but your dad has to go.”
“It’s okay,” he says, sensing something is wrong. “We can go.”
“No!” Colin roars so loud that everyone in line turns around. He’s breathing out sharp violent breaths as his flexed body swells up. “I said we’re not going!”
“Oh fuck,” I whisper as I grab Nathan and back away.
My brother’s body grows so large his T-shirt rips down the seams. His shorts split as he lets out a vicious growl.
Everyone is watching now.
“Colin! Get a hold of yourself!”
He whips his head around and looks at me with radiant eyes that are glowing a golden bright. I shiver as I recoil, pulling Nathan behind me.
He’s struggling against his grizzly, but he’s no match for the feral bear.
With a loud tear, the furious grizzly bear explodes out of him with a booming roar.
Screams burn my ears as everyone reacts in panic. It’s chaos as the crowd scrambles to get away. The metal posts that are holding the rope tumble over and clatter on the ground as all these people flee in terror from the raging bear who’s standing up on his back paws.
“Holy shit!” the teenager operating the ride shouts before running away in terror. He doesn’t even turn the ride off. Everyone on board is staring at Colin’s snarling grizzly bear and screaming helplessly as they swing from side to side on the huge pirate ship ride.
“Colin!” I shout at the bear. “You need to control your grizzly!”
The bear snarls at me as he drops to his four paws. Nathan squeezes my shirt in his little fist, terrified of his dad.
There’s nothing I can do to change him back. I have to focus on getting Nathan to safety and maybe helping those people on the ride. I grab my nephew’s hand and run over to the controls. I slam my fist onto the big red emergency stop button and keep moving as the squeaky gears grind to a stop.