Page 35 of Shifter for Brains

Chase raised his arms in a peaceful gesture. “Calm down, let’s—"

"Shut up!"

"Be quiet!" Uncle Gary hissed. Both kept their weapons pointed at him.

Dad turned to me. “Lucas, it’s alright. Everything is gonna be just fine.”

"Fine?” I laughed. “You’re… I don’t even know what you’re doing, but it doesn’t seem very friendly."

“You have no idea what’s going on here,” Dad insisted. “This man you’re with isn’t what he seems. He’s dangerous.”

Chase snorted. "And you guys seem so swell."

“Hey!” I wheeled on him, outraged he insulted my family.

"Well, they’re threatening me." He defended himself before glaring atme.“You rushed right in!”

"This is my uncle’s house!"

"Doesn’t mean it’s safe,” he grumbled. “If you’d just let medo my jobinstead of overreacting and distracting me…"

"Overreacting?" I shouted. Would Dad let me borrow his weapon because Chase needed to be whacked over the head with it a few times for good measure.

"Shut up!" Dad and my uncle both hollered threats since we apparently weren’t paying enough attention to their craziness.

Chase glanced at them, nodding to me. "He knows I’m a werewolf."

"Chase!" I gasped. How could he just tell them without ceremony or thought?

"Well, you do. And given this is a magical trap, your family knows something about the supernatural."

"No. That isn’t possible." Even if the scene in front of us indicated otherwise.

Strange crap I didn’t expect my dad or uncle to own decorated the house. Since his divorce, Gary’s home decorating style revolved around two points: leather and hunting. With generous space dedicated to alcohol too. Yet there were fancy candles, pungent flowers, and gemstones scattered everywhere, some of it at the space by our feet.

The weapons they held were also strange, not any of Gary’s standard gear. Almost a cross between rifles and… tasers?

“How about we all take a breath and sort this out?” Chase suggested. “My name is Chase Slate.DetectiveChase Slate. I’m guessing you’re Lucas’s family.” He spoke calmly, like we were all getting to know each other over barbeque or something. “Care to make the introductions, Lucas?”

Dad lowered his rifle-taser slightly. Gary’s grip on his own tightened but he didn’t protest. They both paid attention when hearingdetective.Good. At least they were listening.

“Okay, uh, y-yeah.” Me? Not nearly so calm and collected. “This is my father, Todd, and his brother Gary. He’s Jack’s father.”

Whoops. Bad call.

“Jack?” Uncle Gary said, going rigidly still. “Why would you-do you know my son?”

“Listen—” Chase’s hands rose again, attempting to stop the hysteria before—

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY SON."

“AND MINE." Dad joined in and now both were brandishing their weapons again at the man next to me.

“Alright, cool,” Chase agreed. “I’ll stay away from everybody’s sons, let’s just—"

“No,thisis how its gonna go.” New steel entered Gary’s voice. “Stay right there and don’t move a muscle or we’ll fire.”

"Lucas, step away from him and move over to us," Dad instructed. “Don’t argue, trust us.”