Gummy Bears & Grenades (THIRDS 9.50)

A third almost out. Three to go. Dex smiled at Mack. "You're running out of guys. Not that I'm complaining."

Mack nodded at his two remaining men. They charged Dex, and Dex held his ground. He blocked their punches, ducked, and dodged, looking for the right opportunity to strike. Close quarter combat was clearly one of their proficiencies. One of the many techniques Dex had been learning showed him how to get the job done as quickly as possible, meaning using his strengths to his advantage, and as few moves as possible. It was about hitting quick and hard. No fancy moves. Not when he was outnumbered. He protected his knees, his kidneys, his head. An uppercut came his way. Dex dropped and threw a right hook, putting all his new Therian strength behind it, following with an uppercut under the guy's chin as Dex came up.

Four down.

Mack stared at him. "No Human can hit that hard."

"Unclassified piece of shit," Mack's friend spit out.

Classy.

"I don't think so." Mack shook his head. "He's not a Therian." His expression darkened, and he reached behind him.

"Gun!" Austen shouted as he struggled with the lion Therian whose shoulders he was now sitting on, the belt pulled tight around the guy's neck as Austen tugged hard. Dex tackled Mack to the ground, both fighting for the gun. Dex elbowed Mack in the face when he was grabbed from behind. That's it. He'd had enough of this bullshit. The last thing he needed was for some poor bystander walking by to get hit by a stray bullet. As it was, someone must have heard the shouting by now. Dex gritted his teeth, his claws piercing his skin.

"The hell is wrong with your eyes?"

Goddammit. He really needed to get better control of that.

Dex slapped his hand back, his claws sinking into the cougar Therian's arm, making him roar.

"What the fuck are you?" Mack punched Dex on his side, and Dex growled against the pain. That would have cracked a few ribs at one time. Now it just hurt like hell and pissed him off. Sinking a claw into Mack's wrist had him releasing the gun. Austen snatched it up and pointed it at the cougar Therian holding Dex.

"Back the fuck up."

The guy did. Those who weren't out or writhing in pain put their hands up.

"We gotta go," Austen told Dex, the gun pointed at Mack, who slowly got to his feet. "Who sent you?"

Mack didn't reply. Not that they expected him to.

Austen cocked the gun, and Dex turned to him. "What are you doing?"

"They know about you now, and they'll tell whoever sent them."

Dex shook his head. "So now we're killing everyone who finds out?"

"I'd heard rumors," Mack said, eyeing Dex. "Not Human. Not Therian. I thought it was bullshit. Yet here you are. And they call us freaks."

Dex swallowed hard. He was Human. Always had been. His mutated DNA didn't change that. Did it?

"Don't listen to him," Austen hissed. "He's just pissed off because he got his ass kicked by a Human."

Dex looked down at his hands. Human-Therian hybrid kept getting thrown around when someone talked about him, like he'd been created in some lab. It didn't stop him from being Human. He couldn't shift. He wasn't a Therian, and he didn't feel like a hybrid. Some things were different, but inside, at his core, he was still him.

"Stop," Austen growled at Dex, snapping him out of it. "You really gonna let this asshole tell you who you are?"

Austen was right. Dex grabbed the gun, and in seconds took it apart, the pieces clattering to the ground. "Let him tell whoever the fuck he wants." Dex met Mack's eyes, a challenge in his gaze. "The next time someone comes after me, they won't be walking away. This is your only warning."

Dex waited as Mack and his crew grabbed their fallen guys and hauled ass out of the park. Just as they disappeared into the shadows, Ash, Seb, and Zach came running.

"Fuck. You two okay?" Ash asked, his expression filled with concern. "We came as soon as we could. Those assholes slipped out and locked the place up. It was a damn mess."

"We took care of it. They won't be coming back." At least Dex hoped not.

Ash looked from Dex to Austen and back. Dex knew Ash was dying to ask, but Zach wasn't privy to their TIN connection, or Dex's new filing status as Human-Therian hybrid. Not that there was such a filing status at the moment. He'd just tick off the same box he always did.

"What now?" Seb asked.