Rising Storm (Westin Force #2) - Julie Trettel Page 0,1

role of all shifters, to keep the planet populated with our species. I wasn’t supposed to exist, and knowing that I’d always blamed myself for everything that had happened.

My dad was one of the biggest, strongest silverbacks I’d ever seen. I thought he was invincible, but the poachers had proven otherwise.

When the scientists pulled out to bring Silas and me to the orphanage, they’d unknowingly left the bands vulnerable. Neither of our dads had responded well to them trying to take us away. A lot of other gorillas had reacted to their aggression in kind and had given the humans no choice but to tranquilize them.

They’d left a few of their own behind to watch out for our bands until the meds wore off, but it hadn’t mattered, the poachers had just killed them too. They’d killed them all and took home the biggest and strongest, my dad, as a trophy. We couldn’t even give them a proper burial.

When Silas and I finally snuck out that night and returned to our families, we were too late. There was so much blood. The red stained the jungle, leaving a horrifying picture behind. I tried not to think about it very often.

The humans came back for us and whisked us away. They’d apologized and tried to find those responsible, but it was just too late.

We didn’t try to leave again, with no choice but to live amongst the humans. It was foreign to both of us and took some time for us to learn their ways. At least we had each other. Silas may not be my brother biologically, but we were brothers by spilt blood.

Another crash against the cage drew my attention back from the memories. I looked up just to see the dog lying there, whimpering. There was no more fight in him. The larger dog walked over and bit down on his throat.

I wanted to scream, but as I jumped up, Silas grabbed my shoulder and held me to my seat.

“I thought you said we were going to save them.”

“I’m sorry. You know we can’t save them all. The others are almost in position. Just have a little more patience.”

He had lost his mind if he thought I was going to just sit here and let these animals die in front of me.

There was a short intermission while they removed the animal’s carcass and poured some bleach down on the concrete floor to clean up the blood stains. We were close enough that the bleach splashed staining spots on my pants. The combined scents were putrid and made my stomach churn.

“Well that was exciting!” The announcer said from just outside the ring.

“Let that asshole into the cage and he’ll see just how fun and exciting it really is,” I muttered angrily under my breath.

“We’re going to take a fifteen minute break to get things ready for our next round. But stick around folks, you won’t want to miss King Kong!”

I froze and turned my glare towards Silas. “No. Tell me that’s not what I think it is.”

He sighed. “It’s why we’re here. It’s why I pushed so hard for this assignment. We have to save them.”

“How many, Silas?”

“At least two. There could be more, backups in case one of them dies.”

I shook my head trying to control the beast within me. My gorilla was very protective of our kind. There was no way I could just sit here and watch them prod two gorillas into fighting each other.

“I can’t,” I said, rising to leave.

“Let him go,” Silas barked when Ben moved in to stop me.

He put his hands in the air and stepped back at our leader’s command.

“Are you sure about this?” Ben questioned. “Shouldn’t one of us at least go with him?”

“He needs to cool off. The others will be in place soon. I’d hoped it would be before this, but they’re only now arriving on scene and they need time to set up.”

I glanced back briefly to take in the set of Silas’s jaw. He internalized things more than I did. I let it out, blew off steam, whatever I needed in the moment. Not Silas though. He absorbed it all and somehow managed to keep a level head through anything that came his way.

I couldn’t remember the last time he’d let his gorilla free, though I wasn’t exactly much better. It just felt safer to keep him locked inside. But when we were home I made a point to shift, even if only for a few