Page 14 of Mated to Team Shadow

"I'm good," I said.

"I know it," he replied. "But I have to protect my shadow."

A group of jaguars was called a shadow, which was why we called ourselves Team Shadow. That name graced the identifying patches of our uniforms. Other SEALs thought it meant we were advertising our stealth, but we called ourselves what we were—a team of jaguar shifters, put together by top brass five years ago.

"Okay, Chief," I said giving him the wheel. I nodded my head to Gunner and Kane, and Kane went first, then Gunner tossed the backpacks down. After him, I headed into the tiny hold that barely fit all of us.

Jeanine sat on the deck with her knees drawn up and her hands clasped around them. She stared at all of us with her bright blue eyes that made my heart pound. Her too rapid breathing told me that she was excited or frightened, and my jaguar, damn him, didn't care which.

"What's going on, guys?" she said. Jeanine chewed on her lip, and her eyes darted to each of us.

"That's on a need-to-know basis," said fucking Gunner, who hadn't met a bad joke he didn't like. Couldn't he sense her terror?

"We're," I said, "taking cover. Ryker is piloting the boat."

"Will we be okay?"

"Sure," said Kane as he sank to sit next to her. "We trust Ryker with our lives. He'll pull us through."

"Ryker's the one who freed this boat out from the sinking yacht," she said as if she were sleepwalking. I worried that she was going into shock. She was not a soldier and didn't have our intense training.

Gunner sank next to her, the fucker, and put an arm around her.

"It will be fine. We've been in worse scrapes."

Sometimes Gunner's ability to gloss over the seriousness of a situation was an asset. However, a strange look flickered in Jeanine's eyes that told me she didn't believe Gunner. I didn't blame her. The boat rocked fiercely, and I didn't feel the forward motion I should when the engines propelled a boat forward in the water. The boat could stall any minute. She was smart and figured out we were in big trouble.

Kane sat next to her on her left, and I knelt before her and took her hands clasped on her knees.

"We will get you through this safely," I said. "I promise you that."

"So do I," said Gunner.

"Yes," said Kane in a husky voice. His eyes were slits which signaled to me he wasn't thinking about the danger we were in.

No. He contemplated another form of danger—that of touching my mate.

Either it was her fear or her pheromones that filled the hold, but again, my jaguar wasn't particular. Her scent intoxicated me, and judging by Kane and Gunner's blown pupils, they felt that way too.

My jaguar was ready to take her. The urge to mate strikes lightning fast, and before this day I had no reason to deny it. I had no problem attracting women when I wanted. That was a gift from my jaguar side that exuded an animal magnetism that women found hard to resist.

The engine sputtered and stilled, and the boat rocked harder.

Ryker entered the hold in one jump and pulled the hatch tight with a bang.

"I hope that's a goddamn watertight seal," he snapped angrily.

When he turned to face us, his eyes narrowed.

"What the hell is happening?" he said.

"Ryker, you tell me," said Jeanine. Her eyes begged for a good word on our situation, but that was not happening.

"That boat stalled and we're in the middle of a storm, and we didn't get close enough to the island to swim for it."

"Swim?" she squeaked.

"Can you?" he growled.

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