An Assassin's Touch(2)
His side picked that moment to begin bleeding in earnest, as if the wound was giving him a great big Fuck this. You shouldn’t be standing, let alone fighting. He ignored both the wet stickiness and pain as he waited for the Rattler to charge. Shane gave his blades one last spin as he prayed that the battle would be quick. He’d started to feel a bit dizzy and somehow he didn’t think the snake would play fair if Shane fainted at his feet.
Then things grew from bad to worse when a large explosion sounded from the other side of the building. A few moments later, the clamor of several voices filled the air. All of them calling for the occupants, To drop to the ground and stand down!
Shit! The drugs, the snake shifters, the dead humans. It all now made sense. Somehow Shane’s sorry ass had stumbled on a shifter-run drug den. One that was now being infiltrated by the soldiers from his own feline coalition.
To say things had gone FUBAR would be the understatement of the decade.
In the half-breath of time it took for him to figure all that out, the Rattler made contact. He tackled Shane and brought him down to the ground. Shane let out a growl that sounded more Leopard than human as panic coursed through him like a bad drug.
Fine, if this fucker wanted to play dirty, Shane would accommodate him. After all, what was it they said about Leopard shifters? Oh, yeah. They were all batshit crazy and not one of them fought a fair fight. Kicking his heel sharply against the concrete floor, he flicked a blade out of the tip of his boot. Shane let out another growl, this one more a battle cry, as he brought his foot up toward the snake’s skull.
* * * * Trevor licked his lips in anxious anticipation as they approached the warehouse. Even though this marked his fifth mission on a bonafide team, he still had the same conflicting emotions clashing inside his chest. Excitement over finally being able to see some real action after all the months of training. Plus, fear over….finally being able to see some real action and stumbling into a situation in which he’d not come back alive from.
He had no delusions. As a soldier, there were no guarantees. As a soldier of a feline coalition, those odds went down to razor thin and not in his favor. Not only did they have to deal with the human slime, but they had other shifter breeds to contend with as well. Most of which, if Trevor was totally honest with himself, were bone-chilling scary. In his short time since he’d found out he was a feline, he’d encountered Scorpions, Ravens, Rattlers and even one time a Tarantula shifter. He still had nightmares about that last one.
He tightened his grip on his rifle, more happy than ever that the uniform called for black gloves, otherwise the weapon would have slipped from his sweaty hands. Not for the first time, he became acutely aware of how much smaller he seemed than the rest of his team. All of them were huge, muscular and hardened. In other words, perfectly bred badasses. While he’d always been the tall one amongst his friends, with the soldiers he stood a few inches smaller and weighed at least fifty pounds less. One time when he’d brought that point up to his mentors, Kevin and Jared, they’d assured him it didn’t matter. You’re faster than they are, more flexible. You also know how to think on your feet scary quick. Why else do you think you’ve excelled in your training? Kevin told him.
Trevor clung to those words as the second flash grenade went off with a loud boom. He followed the rest of the team inside. Since the others were already yelling out orders to their targets, Trevor kept his yap shut, not wanting to make a rookie mistake by screaming out the wrong command or something.
As soon as they all were inside, even a green solider like Trevor realized something was amiss. Not only were there no human or snake drug dealers as expected, but the place looked to be deserted. That was until they ventured a bit further inside. Then they were met with a site that was so terrible it made his breath catch in chest, while at the same time, arousing him in a way no porn flick ever could.
Shane, the temptation that always been so close, yet only tasted once, stood feet away. The Leopard battled with what looked to be a half-transformed snake shifter. The horrendous appearance of the attacker somehow managed to take second place for scary, compared to the man’s sword. It flashed quickly around, making it difficult to track the path of the blade as it swung in Shane’s direction.
Shane wore the same hooded cloak he always donned when going out on missions. It made him look even smaller than usual. Or maybe that was all do to the sheer enormity of the snake. The size difference didn’t appear to concern Shane in the least. His face remained a cold mask as he dodged the sword. Shane’s normally soft, baby face was covered with a bit of stubble and a smattering of blood marred one side of his jaw. He held a set of twin short swords that he used to deflect the attacker’s weapon.