The Lycan Collapse (The Flux Age Book 2) by Steven J Shelley

course, there had been his interlude with Yasmin, but that hadn’t dispelled the tension completely.
    He knew there was something going on behind the scenes. The security detail, headed by that man Barker, seemed nervous and fidgety. They were constantly looking out the ornate windows as if they were expecting something.
    When all the Flux leaders retired to the Gershwin Room the security staff kept looking at their watches as if they were counting down to something.
    The Mother Aurora had been devastated by the news of the dead lycans in the sewers. Not wanting to risk any more personnel, she had imposed a curfew on all werewolf operatives, who were now holed up at the lycan chapter house. Jack and Florence were the only lycans permitted to accompany the Mother to the Ball. They had protested, of course - two lycans seemed inadequate in the face of so much danger. But the Mother would not be swayed. And now violence had erupted in the Gershwin Room and Jack was separated from the Mother. He looked across at Florence, who had been standing close to that fucking bird man Julian all night. They clearly had something going on and Jack found it all a little unprofessional. Wasn’t Florence mourning the friends they’d lost to the sewer wights? He certainly was. He was carrying a heavy lump around in his heart. His friends and comrades were dropping like flies and no one seemed able to do anything about it.
    Jack was relieved to see that Florence had started germing too. The assembled guests had fallen into a panic, sensing danger and either scrambling for the exits or trying to gain access to the Gershwin Room. Only problem was, there were no security staff to speak of. All the men that Jack had committed to memory had simply walked away. In their place was an entirely new set of individuals dressed in black utility suits. They covered the exits and ensured the doors to the Gershwin Room were blocked.
    As Jack’s body heaved and shuddered with the germing process, he forced himself to focus on the suits the new arrivals were wearing. They looked flexible and tough. The crucial feature was the slit across the shoulders. The intruders were wearing suits that allowed for wings.
    They were all aquilans.
    “Motherfuckers,” Jack muttered as his germing completed. He crouched low and snarled viciously. There were so many potential targets he didn’t know where to begin.
    A number of guests had begun their own shifting process. He could see the hideous transformation of a man turning into a large, bulbous spider. Beyond him a woman was shifting into a snow leopard. The aquilan sentries produced sub-machine guns and began firing indiscriminately into the throng. Jack stood horrified as bullets tore through the crowd. Several guests who hadn’t been able to complete their germing process were riddled with bullets and killed immediately. It didn’t matter what a person’s spirit beast was - if he or she was unshifted they were as vulnerable as any human. One or two of the spirit beasts that had been able to form were now fighting back. Jack saw the snow leopard go for the throat of one of the aquilans and tear at it savagely. That seemed like a good idea. Picking his target, Jack leaped across the ballroom and brought down a standing aquilan before he could bring his machine gun to bear. A single, well-placed bite at the aquilan’s neck was enough to open his carotid artery and bring forth a gush of blood. It occurred to Jack that he didn’t know anything about the aquilans - their strengths, weaknesses, preferred mode of combat. He cursed himself for being such a distracted fool lately. All this time he’d been moping around thinking about Yasmin when there’d been work to do.
    Leaving the prone aquilan to deal with his potentially fatal wound, Jack swiped at the next aquilan, shredding his expensive utility suit. Such things were no match for three inches of werewolf claw. The aquilan’s wings extended briefly, perhaps in