Page 71 of Brandon’s Mate

“Without an alpha?”

“You’re as alpha as ever. And no crazier than Flynn, or your dad. You could do it.” He eyed Brandon sideways. “Unless you feel like you have to out-crazy them, too. Because please don’t.”

Brandon gave a huff of rueful laughter. “Cards on the table?” he said.

“Oh, hell.” Colt threw another axe. “You are going to try to out-crazy them.”

“Already done it,” Brandon said. “I see dead people.” The ghosts had already started coming out of the woods, circling the two of them, glaring accusingly at him. Fargo stood right in front of the target, gazing at Colt.

“Dead panthers, you mean.” Colt threw the last axe right at Fargo. It passed between his eyes and thunked low into the target.

Brandon felt like he was the one who’d been hit. “You can see them?”

Colt strode toward the target, glaring at the ghost. “Move or I’ll walk through you, and neither of us is going to enjoy that.”

Fargo drifted into mist.

“Holy shit,” Brandon said. “You do see them. They’re real.”

Colt shrugged. “My dad used to have a personal ghost. My mom could see her too, I think. Why not me?”

Brandon had to sit down. “So let me get this straight. You still wanted to be in a crew with me as alpha. Even though I’m haunted by ghosts.”

Colt shrugged. “They seem okay. I think they were crazier when they were alive.” He grinned. “And we’d be the only crew with a ghost army.”

Brandon couldn’t believe what he was hearing. To cover his emotion, he slung his arm around Colt’s shoulder into a pretend choke hold, like he used to do when they were kids. Colt elbowed him in the stomach and wrestled away.

“Stop being a dick, dick.”

“You’re a bigger dick.”

“You’re admitting my dick’s bigger?”

Brandon faked a punch, and Colt blocked it. Brandon said, “If I’m ever alpha, I’m making you kneel to me.”

“Fuck that shit.” Colt stepped back, his face getting serious. “You really considering it?”

Brandon said, “Let’s get through this mission and talk to the others. But yeah.” He took a deep breath. “I’d be proud to have you in my crew. Both of you.”

Colt pulled him into a bro hug, and then flipped Brandon over his hip in a martial arts throw and landed him on the ground. “Kneel, my ass,” he said, and went to pull the axes out of the target.

Chapter 29

The next morning, when Kitty got out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen to make coffee, she stumbled into a scene of horror.

Her snack cakes had been decimated.

The entire stash had been dragged out of the cupboard and scattered all across the countertops. At least half of them were gone, some were smashed, and a few looked like they’d been opened, sampled, and then dropped on the floor and stepped on.

Someone. Had destroyed. Her snack cake stash.

She looked around, but the only person to blame was Remy, who was in the command center tapping away at his computer.

“Remy!” she yelled. “Dammit, you feathered fucker! Did you do this?”

He stopped typing and came to the door, poking his head cautiously into the kitchen. He whistled when he saw the mess. “Not guilty,” he said. “You’re not going to knife me if I come inside, are you?”

She realized she was holding a carving knife in her hand. How did that get there?