Page 14 of Phantom’s Mate

“How the hell should I know?” Nick snapped. “She just seemed like a pretty girl who got a raw deal. But why else would I be obsessed with her?”

“Because she is a pretty girl?”

“Fuck off.”

As if he hadn’t spoken, Titan continued, “Or she could be a human ghost who’s attached to this world by negative energies that have grown strong enough to affect other spirits.”

“Well, you’re just a bundle of joy.”

“People tell me that all the time.”

But he was staring at Nick, again with that weird faraway look in his silvery eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Nick asked.

“The same reason everyone keeps asking if you’re okay.”

It was Nick’s turn to do the eyebrows.

“Your energy is… disturbed,” Titan said. “Brock could sense it, and even Brandon, as your alpha. And I’m seeing a lot of past images around you.” He added softly, “Bad memories.”

“I was an undercover agent who infiltrated criminal gangs. And then I was killed by one. I have lots of bad memories.”

“Uh huh. Where did you say this ghost was, again? Out near Raines’s old compound, by any chance?”

Nick lifted the stones off the porch floor and started them spinning again. “What’s your point?”

“Raines is gone.” He could feel that wintery stare penetrating him, but he didn’t look at Titan.

The silence drew out. As usual, Nick caved first. “Jax isn’t.”

“Nick…”

He let the stones clatter to the ground. “That bastard led the hit squad that killed me. And he almost killed Mari.”

“I know.” He could hear Titan’s bear growling low in his chest. “Although, he didn’t do that on purpose.”

“He sure as fuck had his guys kill me on purpose. And he had them kill—” He broke off. Titan didn’t need reminding about the massacre of his village. Even Nick wasn’t that much of a dick.

Titan laid his hand sympathetically on Nick’s arm. Because his friend was halfway into the spirit world, Nick could feel it. It felt good, which made him feel emotional, which pissed him off.

“I said I’m fine,” he grumbled. “And I’m not going to talk about my ghostly fucking feelings.”

“Even though you’re having more of them now that your ghost can take human form?”

Nick shrugged. “My panther didn’t care as much about being dead.”

He immediately realized he’d just admitted that his human side did care about being dead. A lot. He added, “Taking Jax out would fix all that.”

“You think?”

Silence.

“You clearly don’t,” Nick said, even though Titan hadn’t said anything more. The words burst out of him, words he’d been holding back since that day. “I can’t believe you just let him go—especially since we never got the artifacts and gold back that he stole from your people. Doesn’t that matter to you at all?”

“Of course it matters. We’re keeping a lookout for the dragon artifacts on the black market, and trying to track down where Jax might be. It’s only been a couple weeks. But for me—I have Mari now, and my people’s souls are safe in the bear god’s realm. You heard what the god said to me, about Raines. If you can’t let Jax go, you’ll never be free. Let it be over.”

Nick didn’t say anything.