Page 11 of Phantom’s Mate

Colt’s mate, lynx shifter Callie Haugan, ran across the lawn in human form, dodging between inflatable snowmen and light-up wire reindeer, hotly pursued by lion shifter Damien Fernandez. The twins covered her with laser fire as she dashed to the rock pile and did a baseball slide, tagging it with her foot.

Damien ducked out of sight behind a pickup truck, avoiding death at the hands of the twins. “I laugh at your paltry weapons!” he bellowed. “I’ve seen mob hit men’s kindergarteners who are more badass than you!”

The twins and Callie stayed bunched up by the flag. The rules stated that no defenders could be shot within eight feet of the base after they’d tagged in. That kept the attackers from just ganging up on the defenders, shooting them and taking the flag.

Not that anyone had tried—at least, not since the first time had ended in bloodshed. Thus the eight-foot rule.

Damien was still trash-talking, trying to lure them outside the safe zone, and the twins and Callie were conferring—probably about whether two of them could corner Damien while the other guarded the flag.

Nick, watching the whole thing play out, saw Titan, nicknamed Squatch—a giant polar bear shifter almost seven feet tall—appear at the edge of the woods up the hill directly behind the defenders, who were all looking towards Damien. Titan’s mate Mari, in her panda bear form, was next to him.

Titan saw Nick and put a finger to his lips. Nick nodded, waiting to see what new craziness they were up to.

Mari went down the hill a few paces, and rolled into a ball of black and white fur in typical panda fashion. Titan took a running start, and then gave Mari a huge push.

She rolled down the hill, keeping her head tucked in, picking up speed as she went. As Nick watched in disbelief, she barreled down on the three unwitting defenders.

At the same time, Jaeda Changed into a snowy owl and jumped off the edge of the roof into a controlled dive, her bikini top still tied on and sporting a laser sensor as per the rules, the wind blowing the bottoms right off her tail.

Remy looked up at the sudden movement and raised his laser gun, but he was too late.

Mari crashed into the three defenders from behind, catching them all and sending them flying like bowling pins. “Strike!” Titan yelled from the top of the hill, thrusting both arms into the air.

A second later Jaeda swooped down on the ‘flag’ and grabbed the stick in her talons, flapping her huge wings to carry it away. As soon as she was out of laser range, Damien gave several shrill whistles—short-short-short-long—Morse code ‘V’ for victory, telling everyone the game was over.

Nick doubled over laughing as the stunned defenders picked themselves up off the lawn while Mari did a panda victory dance, rising up on her hind legs and swaying back and forth, waggling her black and white butt.

“What the fuck was that?” Colt asked, spitting grass out of his mouth.

Titan had run down the hill and was laughing his ass off. “Panda bowling!” he said. “Team Serial Killer and Friends for the win!”

Damien was leaning against the truck, cracking up at their expressions. “That was fucking epic!”

The others all poured out of the woods, wanting to know what had happened. Damien explained, while Jaeda circled overhead with the Glitter Dick, screeching the victory signal over and over.

“You did what?” Damien’s mate Lila said to Titan, after hearing their winning strategy.

“Fuck me, I would have paid money to see that,” said Brandon, who had been in the woods when all this went down. “Hey there, Nick,” he added, as he saw Nick approaching the group. Nick raised a hand in greeting.

“I don’t suppose there’s video,” Brandon’s mate Kitty said hopefully.

“Fuck yeah.” That was Brock, their newest crew member. “Here.” He handed his phone to Kitty. Most of the others crowded around to see it.

As they did, Brock came over to Nick. “Hey man, what’s up?” he said.

Brock, who was part white wolf and had some of their strange-ass psychic powers, was the only one who could hear Nick talking without magical assistance.

Not much, Nick said into Brock’s mind, shrugging. He knew he needed to tell Brock about Brittany and ask for his help, because one of Brock’s specialties was mind-healing and restoring lost memories.

But he wasn’t ready to do that yet. His unfinished business with Jax was pulling at him, the angry, obsessive feelings churning up again once he left Brittany.

Thinking about her added to his uneasiness—like he should never have left her and he should go back right now. Which meant maybe she wasn’t what she’d seemed—maybe she had been some kind of entity trying to suck him in.

Because he couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to stroke that skin, lose himself in those green eyes.

To have someone to hug and hold close and laugh with, like Titan was doing right now with Mari. She’d turned back to human and Titan had taken off his own shirt and put it on her, because she hated the cold. He was so huge it came down to her knees.

Brandon had his arm around Kitty, laughing with her as they watched the video for the second time. The other crew members were all paired off with their mates, too—teasing or exchanging kisses or small affectionate touches. Jaeda had landed on Remy’s forearm and was nuzzling him with her beak while he waved the Glitter Dick.