Luke!
An urgent need to get to the top of the islet imbued him, but first he had to dump a passenger. He maneuvered himself alongside a rock large enough for her to climb on. He didn’t think she’d heard Luke—human hearing not being as developed—but she had a motherly instinct that sent her looking for handholds on the rocks and a path through the bushes.
Wait for me. A thought she didn’t hear, and that meant he needed to quickly follow. Scrambling through the bramble in his bulky body would make too much noise, and climbing was easier when sporting fingers, which was why he took a moment to return to his human guise. And just in time, too, if he wanted to catch Renny, who’d scurried ahead of him.
At least she wore clothes. Caleb bit back curses as the thorns and prickly branches tore fine scratches along his skin while the moss-covered rocks slathered his skin in goo. But he didn’t care about the minor irritations. Razor-sharp blades could have lined his path, and he would have still forged ahead.
His recklessness gave him speed, and he passed Renny, who’d finally paused to tuck the gun in the waistband of her pants. Hard to climb one-handed.
Reaching the top first, Caleb took a second to scan the area. He found himself in a small clearing, the ground hard and knotted, the bushes having been torn out, leaving behind uneven lumps. Within the created space, the reek of the creature permeated. Given the only tunnel in the brambled mess was the one Caleb had created, Caleb really believed his crazy theory that it might have flown had more weight.
During his quick evaluation of the area, a panting Renny had arrived and placed herself at his side. She didn’t spare the spot more than a cursory glance. Upon spotting the shadowy crevice at the base of the jumble of rocks in the clearing, she immediately took a step toward it
Snagging her arm, Caleb halted her and shook his head. Putting a finger to his lips, he took the lead, ensuring his body provided a shield in the off chance something came rushing from the darkness of the cave.
After a few steps into the stony crevice, the sounds of the bayou faded, and the only things he could hear were the rasp of their feet on the ground and their breathing.
Noisy, but silence at this point wouldn’t completely hide them. Air was being sucked into this cave, and as the current rushed past them, it pulled their scent with it. Surprise was out of the question, but he still tried to remain as stealthy as possible.
The military had taught him well when it came to stalking, a teaching forgotten at the whimpered, “Daddy?” It took Renny grasping his arm to prevent him from bolting ahead.
Only fools rushed in.
Or crazy fucking crocodiles. Snap. His reptile wiggled around inside, but Caleb paid him no mind as he reassessed.
Think with your head, not your heart. Because his head would hopefully keep them all alive.
The tremulous query came from around the bend, a bend he could see because of a faint orange illumination. As he slid around the curve, blind to whatever hid behind it, he held himself ready, still in his human guise. This confined space wasn’t made for a croc to fight.
Put him in the water and he would clamp his jaws, grab with claws, and roll with the bastard. On dry land, even worse in a tight cave, his beast would be at a disadvantage.
Good thing he had more skills than just a pair of powerful jaws for snapping. He clenched his fists, and as he fully came around the rocky bend, instinct ensured he was just in time to block the blow aimed at his face.
A fetid whiff of the creature enveloped him.
Found you.
And the monster wasn’t happy about that. The impact of the punch against Caleb’s forearm forced a grunt from him.
The fucker is strong.
And by strong, he meant a seven-footish, hulking green lizard man with linebacker-wide-plus-some shoulders and a vile smile distorted by the teeth-filled beak.
“Well, aren’t you a cute specimen? Not,” Caleb taunted as he braced against another blow then jabbed out. His shot connected…with a slab-like chin.
Ouch.
“Is your face made of bloody rock?”
The thing hissed at him and jabbed its tongue. Caleb tilted his head to the side, but didn’t quite escape the wet drool.
“Gross, dude.” More than disgusting, poisonous.
Caleb would have cursed his stupidity in not suspecting it except he felt himself fading fast. While shifters had a stronger-than-human ability to process drugs, it sometimes took several exposures to build an immunity.
Having never been licked by a mutant lizard before, Caleb proved quite susceptible. And he saw rainbows, but that might have been an old concussion talking as a fist took him in the jaw.
Reeling on his feet, blinking past the rainbows, Caleb sought to regain control.
Must take out this threat before passing out. Caleb swung, but his movements were sluggish. Laughable even.
A granite fist caught him again on the jaw. A jab smacked him in the stomach.