Rebel Pax (Shifters of the Primus Book 2) by Elyssa Ebbott Read Free Book Online Page A

realize someone tried to stab him and he broke their arm. He’s pushed out of view as a small army of Primus males jostles to attack him. They wear armor and brandish weapons.
    “Pax!” I cry out. Maybe he can fight monsters, but how can anyone win against odds like that? I struggle to think of some way to help. When it seems like the last of the men have passed our room, I try as quietly as I can to move into the hallway. My stealth is probably wasted because the sounds of Pax’s struggle to my left are like a thunderstorm in full swing.
    I step out of the room and into the hallway, but before I can take two steps, a shadowed figure lurches out from the room across the hall and grabs me. I try to scream but he’s shoving cloth in my mouth.
    Something hits me hard over the head and my vision goes black. The man slams the door and throws me hard on the ground.
    I hear his voice. It is like thick and raspy. “You shouldn’t be here.”
    I spit the cloth from my mouth. I could scream, but there would be no way for Pax to reach me before this man in the shadows could hurt me. Better to wait and hope that Pax returns. I need to buy time.
    “Why not?” I ask, wincing as I try to prop myself up. My head is still ringing.
    “Because your fucking shuttle crashed into The Dead Sea.” The man moves forward. He’s human, but large for a human. His face is scarred and he has grey in his dark hair. “One of my men said he saw you and some monster of a Primus strolling through this village. I didn’t believe it until I saw it. . .”
    “Well, maybe you should start believing. And if you were smart, you’d be putting something together right now. You would be asking, how did she survive that? Maybe, just maybe , it’s the ‘monster of a Primus’ I am with.”
    His eyes dart to the side and he nearly turns to look at the door. He’s starting to make the connection I want him to.
    “And. . .” I say slowly. “If he can get me out of The Dead Sea single-handedly and unarmed, what do you think he’s going to do to those men out there? And you, when he finds you?”
    He shifts on his feet, clearly unsure. I’m not sure if he’s going to kill me or run. Instead, he kneels and lifts me, wrapping an arm around my neck from behind and pulling me close. I hear his voice in my ear. “If you’re so special, then I’ll just use you to get out of here. Fucking Admiral Gaius. . . Doesn’t pay me enough for this shit.”
    As he drags me into the hallway and slowly backs away from the pile of bodies growing around Pax, my mind spins. Gaius? Is that why the missile casing smelled like human? But why would Gaius be working with the Toltek clan. And what the hell would he gain by blowing up the shuttle I was on? No, there was more than that. If it was just blowing up the shuttle that mattered, he wouldn’t send men after me in particular when I learned I survived. What does he want me dead for?
    My thoughts are interrupted when Pax turns toward me and my captor. At least ten motionless or nearly motionless bodies are at his feet, and his blue skin is splattered with blood. When he sees us, it’s as if he forgets that there are still several men trying to stab and slash him to pieces. He runs straight through an extended spearpoint, suffering a grisly wound and knocking over the man holding the weapon in the same motion. Spear still in his side, he sprints toward us. He jumps, body stretching. For a moment, I think my eyes are blurring but I realize he shifted.
    He’s now a deep blue panther with bright gold eyes. But I don’t have long to admire his shifted form because he flashes over my shoulder, catching my captor between his jaws. I hear grisly sounds behind me but don’t turn to look. Then men at the other end of the hall are coming toward us now. But in his shifted form, Pax brings them quick deaths with several swipes of his massive claws.
    When he shifts back, he falls to one knee and grunts, face turning down to