"Dane!"
DANE
The overwhelming,all-encompassing noise had stopped, but Dane stayed curled up, his hands pressed to his ears. He was starting to be able to hear again, and when he heard a soft gasp in Mira's beloved voice, he almost lost control—especially with his orca going wild inside him, wanting to get to her.
Not yet. We have to be sneaky now.
It gave him a grim satisfaction that this self-control was something the Colonel had tried to abuse out of him. The Colonel had wanted him to be a wild beast, totally ruled by his instincts, responding to nothing more than a whip and commands to avoid pain.
But he was much more than that. He was a man. And though every instinct screamed at him to leap up and protect Mira, he would only get himself shot and help neither of them.
He had to be smart.
So he played dead. Although it went against all his urges, he relaxed, going limp in the sand. He could feel a wet trickle of blood from one ear, which would only enhance his ruse.
He almost lost his nerve when Mira cried his name. But he kept himself limp, even when a boot prodded his side and then kicked him fiercely.
You fool, Colonel,he thought as the boot kicked him again.You taught me to withstand this treatment. You have no one but yourself to blame now.
The Colonel kicked him in the head. Mira cried out again in mingled terror and fury. This was harder to stay still through; Dane let his head roll limply to the side and hoped he hadn't hurt his neck.
"Pick him up," the Colonel commanded.
Dane was aware of several hands settling on him, lifting his limp body.
They would likely bind or secure him when they got back to the boat. This was his best chance and, in fact, the only chance he was likely to get.
He shifted.
It was clear that no one ever seemed to get used to just how big orcas were. Where they had been carrying a man, now at least half the Colonel's men were trying to carry—and mostly under—several tons of extremely angry, thrashing orca.
Dane clicked to locate the Colonel, who was near his tail. Good. He was dimly aware of bullets hitting him, but a few gunshots, even up close, weren't going to damage him much unless they hit him in a vital location.
He smacked the Colonel with his tail and sent him and, unfortunately, Mira flying. Mira tucked and rolled and hit the ground. The Colonel rolled to his feet gracefully, but Dane wasn't done.
He thrashed his way around, grabbed the Colonel in his mouth, and flopped for the water, scattering a few more men with wild sweeps of his tail. Some of them were now turning into bears and wolves, but that still didn't save them from a hard tail slap. He felt teeth rip through his tail fluke, which hurt, but he was far too furious to care.
With the Colonel clutched in his jaws, he flopped his way into the water. His skin tore on the rocks, but he didn't even care about that. All of it would heal.
But the Colonel wouldn't, if Dane held him underwater until he drowned. And he was exactly furious enough to do that right now.
"Put me down immediately!" the Colonel ordered, in between choking and coughing on mouthfuls of water as Dane swam away from the island with powerful strokes of his tail. Dane could feel the alpha pull of his command even now, but he was far too angry to be affected.
You wish.
"Very well," the Colonel snarled. It came out as a deep growl.
Oh, do I finally get to see what you turn into? Do tell!
He couldn't imagine it could be anything that would give him much trouble. Even a polar bear was little threat to an enraged orca.
The human-sized figure in his mouth writhed and twisted. Abruptly Dane found himself having much more trouble holding on. Sinuous coils covered in pale-colored scales spilled out of his mouth.
What the heck—?
Then a pair of teeth latched onto his back, behind his dorsal fin. It hurt! How long, howbigwas the Colonel's shift form, anyway? Dane still had at least part of him in his mouth!
He thrashed, trying to free himself. The Colonel had to let him go too, and Dane finally got a look at him.
