Free Bailey Bradford - Southwestern Shifters 07 - Revolution by Bailey Bradford

skin and tissue, ripped away tendons and fractured bones.
His would be assailant screamed and started to shift. Luuk wasn’t letting that happen. He lunged and threw his entire weight at the other shifter, taking him down. “Shift and I’ll tear your throat out,” he growled as he held the man by his neck. The tips of his claws cut into the skin and freed trickles of blood. “You!” he snapped at the one Jamie was fighting. Jamie was beating the life out of him, almost. Luuk’s heart swelled with pride and concern.
“Jamie, stop.”
Huffing, Jamie did, thought he stayed straddling the unconscious shifter. “He almost stabbed you, Luuk, when you dove onto that jerk. He’s lucky I stopped when you said to because I wanted to tear him in half.”
“I know exactly how you feel, but more bloodshed…” Luuk shook his head. “Not in the church, if we can help it.”
“So what do we do?” Jamie asked. “The other ones will be back soon, right?”
Luuk nodded. “But we won’t be here, and neither will Father Norbert. Make sure your man is unconscious.” Luuk grinned down at his captive. “Say goodnight.”
“Good—” A fist to the temple ended the idiot’s parroting.
“Let’s get them up to the room. We’ll bind them with an entire roll of that sticky tape. Sticky side to skin, of course. Should make shifting very difficult, if not impossible.” He wasn’t sure about that, but it would have to hurt more.
Jamie lifted his burden and Luuk did the same. They made it up the stairs and Luuk scowled when Father Norbert opened the bedroom door before they got there. “That wasn’t very”—he bit back ‘smart’—“safe.”
Father Norbert shrugged. “I knew it was you.”
Luuk didn’t have time to argue. “Can you grab the tape?”
They didn’t totally bind the unconscious shifters, but it was a near thing. Luuk grunted and hooked his arm through Father Norbert’s. “Now, we all leave this time.”
Father Norbert tried to dig his heels in but Luuk and Jamie both manoeuvred him to the window. “Think, Father Norbert, please. We need to leave, at least for a little while. Jamie and I can’t leave you here. The other shifters are returning and they know we were here. What do you think they will do to you? And what is the point of letting them do it?” He leaned in until he was almost nose to nose with the priest. “Pride?”
“Revenge,” Norbert muttered with a huff. “Not that I can have that. I haven’t the strength. Even though it is a sin…”
“You don’t mean that,” Jamie said earnestly. “You don’t. You’re hurting and angry, and scared. We have been exactly where you are, for years now. You can’t let those feelings win, you can’t. Now let’s go so we can find somewhere to rest and check up on Father Piotr.”
Father Norbert had turned a fine shade of red as Jamie spoke, and now he murmured an apology before stepping to the window. “I am sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologise for,” Luuk told him. “We brought trouble here, and if we don’t hurry, there’s going to be a whole lot more of it.”
He and Jamie helped Father Norbert to the ledge then quickly joined him. “Try going to the other side. Perhaps the shifters will only think to check the way we came down the first time.” Luuk scouted the area for vehicles. He hoped the Father wouldn’t freak out on him, but they needed a way to escape other than on foot. That meant stealing a car, temporarily. He spotted a likely car and smiled as he imagined what he’d have to do to get Father Norbert to get in the damn thing. At least he could some amusement in this horrid day.
Chapter Fifteen
    Jameson was a little awed at Luuk’s ability to break into and hotwire a car. Just another skill he hadn’t known his mate had. Even their mental link didn’t automatically fill them in on every little thing about each other, which was why they still got to discover interesting titbits sometimes.
    Luuk and Jameson had both