Come Out Swinging (Reach for the Moon Book 2), Sam Hall [leveled readers .TXT] 📗

I’d struck obviously. The man of sorrows… The phrase stuck in my mind, seeing the countless images of the Christian god people put on walls now, realising how often we swore to God or Jesus in our speech.

“So what the hell—?” Mason asked with a frown.

“Where did you get to?” We turned around to see Bridget strolling over, Gavin by her side. They were picking at pink sticks of fairy floss, a huge stuffed teddy in the man’s hands as they approached. “We went inside the haunted house. It was lame and we finished, but we didn’t see you.” Bridge’s smile grew naughty, her eyebrows wiggling. “Did things get a little…nixy in there?”

We didn’t get a chance to answer as a massive rumble surged up through the deck we stood on, the epicentre being the haunted house to the left of us. People started to shriek and run as the rumbles grew more violent, the sides of the attraction, of many of the attractions, wobbling like jelly under the earthquake.

“We gotta get out of here,” Zack said, grabbing my hand. “Run!”

Easier said than done. We went tearing out of the park, but so did everyone else, a screaming, writhing bottleneck forming at the entrance. Zack assessed the situation, scooping me up and slinging me over his shoulder as he threw himself at the big plywood arch marking the entrance to the park and climbed up it.

“I can fucking climb too!” I snarled, but from where I hung, I saw the guys follow behind, punching holes in the wood to use as hand holds, then swinging over and dropping down to the beach below. Idiot onlookers were clustered around as sirens wailed far in the distance.

In some ways, the crowds worked for us, because we blended in, just yet more beach goers hanging out on the sand. I slithered out of Zack’s grip, not letting him move us until I saw all of the guys and Bridge and Gavin had made it.

“We need to go,” Zack said sharply, but he needn’t have bothered. Screams got a helluva a lot sharper when the main attraction arrived.

“Un-fucking-believable,” Gavin said as a massive black wolf stalked down the boardwalk. The sunlight seemed to stream through him, weakening that immense darkness, but with the creaking sounds coming from the wooden deck, he was hardly weak. He surveyed the crowd like any predator would, directing those silver eyes at the masses as if choosing his next meal.

“Is that real?” someone cried, running backwards, phone in hand, trying to record everything while getting away, but the mood of the crowd finally broke. Though the space was much, much broader, people streamed away in an uncoordinated mass, their flailing and panic inefficient and, in some cases, harmful.

“We have to help them!” I said when I saw people get trampled into the sand.

“We’ve got to go,” Mason said, grabbing one hand as Zack grabbed the other. They hauled me up the rocks, up onto the road, the lot of us running barefoot across hot concrete and sharp gravel to get to the car. It hurt like fuck, sticky tar catching on our feet, but we ran until finally we pulled up at the cars.

“Get in,” Zack barked.

“We left the keys in the bags!” Declan shouted.

“Got it,” Bridget said, fishing them out and tossing them to the two men. “Gavin, jump in with us.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

The car was ringed by a series of tall, muscular men, a particularly burly one stepping forward, massive arms crossing his chest. His steely gaze took all of us in, then the gigantic wolf behind us.

“Take their keys and drive them to the compound,” he told two of his men, who peeled away from the group to do just that.

“Yeah, and who the fuck are you to tell us what to do?” I snapped, as much threat as I could muster in my tone.

“I’m Jake, the alpha your mate asked to meet with. This wasn’t quite the way I imagined it, but beggars and all that. Nick, Heath, send for a cleanup team. Use the gas leak excuse, but make sure to plant sufficient evidence on the scene to back that up. Things got a little tricky last time.”

“Last time?” I asked, incredulous.

“We’ll fill you in when we’re back on home turf,” was all he would say before turning his back on us.

Chapter 35

We all eyed the huge fence as we approached, one of the strangers jumping out of the car to unhook the metal hasp and open the gate when we got close. We were up now up in the hills around the city, and by the look of it, this was a huge block of land. But they needed it, if the houses up on the hill were anything to go by.

“You OK?” Mason asked, squeezing my hand.

“No,” I said bluntly. “Having a metaphysical event, then being essentially kidnapped kinda takes it out on a girl. What do you think the deal is here?”

I tried to say that in a low voice, but the guy behind the wheel turned around and eyed us.

“Sometimes shifters new to the city do dumb things,” he explained, not entirely calm. “It’s on us to smooth that over, keep the humans from knowing what’s going on. You’ll have a little chat with Jake, we’ll assess the damage—”

“And then?” I asked, sitting forward, searching his face for answers.

“And then the alpha decides what to do with you.”

“Right, so not ominous at all.”

“Well, it doesn’t look like a murder house,” Bridge said when we all got out of the cars. We’d been separated into several, only a few of us in each one. She was right—it was a beautiful, sprawling, old Federation style building with a corrugated iron roof and wrought iron lace. A huge veranda spanned the whole place, and Jake led the way up the few steps, onto the wooden deck before pausing at the screen door.

“Come in and let’s see how bad this is,” he