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A nearby thump shook the ground as Ben in his monster gorilla form dropped from the trees. He stretched out his long forearms and knuckle-walked to us with intimidating speed. Ben may not have assumed his beast form in a while, but the man had excellent control of his movements while in it.

Thinking of the stories he’d shared with me, I tried to do the math in my head of how many years had passed since they had transformed Ben.

Then another thought struck. Would Jack have adapted to his monster form if Rasmus hadn’t forced him to change back to human? The thought of other man-made creatures roaming around looking like Ben gave me a shiver. If Zara and the military scientists had their way, there would be thousands of them roaming the planet.

Ben’s hello grunt revealed his gorilla side.

Rasmus tensed beside me and straightened as he took in Ben’s enormous size. I wanted to laugh at the guardian’s startled reaction but settled for grinning in the dark. Rasmus hadn’t reacted to the giant trolls this much, and they were nearly as big as Ben.

I looked up at the guardian. “Now, ya know how I feel every time I see ya coming toward me, especially when ya have yer wings out.”

The guardian turned to look down at me in surprise. “If my larger size intimidates you, it doesn’t show in your expression.”

“That’s because of myexcellenttraining,” I said and narrowed my gaze. “Intimidation is felt by degrees. With size, it’s purely biological. This is especially true for shorter humans.”

I stopped lecturing and looked around. “Speaking of my fellow shortie—where is Mulan hiding? I thought she and Conn would have been waiting for us in the grove. I don’t want to put Ben through his explanation twice.”

Mulan and Conn emerged from their house as if they'd heard my question. The grove was located right behind their home. They crossed their patio and the small yard beyond it in less than a minute.

Conn merely chuckled at the sight of monster Ben. I walked over and smacked Conn on the arm when he was close enough. “Do not make fun of him. This is nothing he can control.”

Conn laughed at my rant. “I wasn’t planning to make fun of anyone. I was just noting how enormous he is and wondering how in the world you got him here in your tiny, decrepit car.”

I glared at Conn. “He’s here now and in one piece, isn’t he?”

Conn smirked at me worse than Zara had. “The man smells like a demon more than a primate. Is Jack involved in scientific mischief again?”

I rolled my eyes at the snideness of Conn’s tone. “No. Jack’s evil scientists didn’t do this to Ben. His transmutation happened years before Jack and his grand scheme. But it was the military who did this to him. They told him it was to save his life.”

Ben grunted and held up one of his clawed hands. “Can we move on to the solution portion of this conversation? Someone stole my beast suppression charm, and I can’t change back. That means I will be stuck like this for three days to a week.”

Mulan crossed her arms and looked him over. “You look like monkey creature from horror movie. We have no tall blonde woman to calm you down. If you get rowdy, I will use Shaman staff to tame you.”

Ben’s soft growl was guttural and low. “I’m not going to get rowdy. Is my problem not clear here?”

Mulan shrugged at his growling. “We see strange creatures every day. Shifting forms is not a real problem.”

Ben blinked at Mulan. “It would be helpful to get my charm back so I can shift.”

I rubbed my forehead. All this chatter was giving me a headache. “Who knew ya well enough to suspect ya were hiding this secret, Ben? I remember ya said Ezra knew and had offered to help ya learn how to control it on yer own.”

A gorilla speaking with a Southern accent was hard to take seriously when your head hurt as much as mine did.

“Everyone on the Shadow Breakers hiring committee knew I possessed a beast form. We discussed it before they offered me the job. Ezra was among the group, but he wasn’t the only stranger who heard the whole story.”

I nodded. “It’s could ya talked to them. They would had dug until ya told them. Trust me.”

“None of them asked me to shift into my beast to show them, and I didn’t volunteer because it’s a painful process. That’s why I refused to list it as an asset when I took their job offer. They decided not to see my reluctance to use my beast form as a problem.”

I blinked in surprise. I’d always known Ben was hiding something. The Shadow Breakers hiring a human never made sense to me. “Do ya remember the names of the others ya spoke with when ya were hired, Ben?”

He shook his giant gorilla head. “I’m sure they introduced themselves to me, but who memorizes all the folks on their hiring committee? Plus, we did it online instead of in person. Once it was a done deal, I never gave it another thought.”

I covered my mouth to hide my giggle. His alter ego did not diminish Ben’s snarky authority. “I just have to ask ya this, Ben. Is it hard to talk with those fangs? Ya look positively prehistoric with them.”

“I do occasionally puncture my lower lip, but I manage.”

I giggled a little louder. “I’m only teasing ya. Ya’re talking just fine.” Then I sobered and sighed. “Is there any chance the military might have stolen yer talisman to see if ya turned into something after all? Maybe ya didn’t hide yer talents as well as ya thought.”