Page 21 of Mated to Team Shadow

The raft slammed in the ocean and bobbed up. I held onto my line and Jeanine's to keep them from getting tangled.

I grabbed Jeanine and with the force of my arms tossed her into the bottom of the raft. She flopped on the yellow raft and then turned and spit out a mouthful of water.

"What the hell!" she yelled.

"Hold on to the lines.," I yanked at the rope that circled the raft. "Don't let go." And to the rest, I ordered, "Fucking swim," because I did not want us caught in the undertow of the overturned boat going under. It hadn't yet, but all I saw was a thin sliver of bow pointing toward the darkened sky. It was a good thing I pulled Jeanine and Gunner out of the hold when I did because otherwise, they'd be dining in Davy Jones' locker tonight.

We swam and pulled the raft as it bobbed on the water. Now our goal was different. Instead of trying to head into the waves, we swam in their direction trying to keep on top of the swells. And hope that as quickly as the bad weather had come upon us, it would depart as quickly.

My team were strong swimmers, stronger than usual because they were shifters, but as I looked over my shoulder, I could see them tiring. Each of their eyes glowed with a green light that told me they were calling on their beasts for extra strength.

As we strove against the might of the sea, a shaft of yellowish light broke through the dark clouds. The winds eased, the rain turned to a drizzle, and the waves calmed. The storm had passed us, and now we were at the far edge.

"In the raft," I said. We all needed a break including me, and I wanted to make sure my, I mean, our mate, wasn't worse for wear.

One by one we piled in. Gunner pulled a water bladder from one pack and passed it to Jeanine.

"More water?" she said incredulously. "I've seen enough water to last a lifetime."

"Strange as it may seem, you should keep hydrated," said Gunner. Jeanine took it and winced when she drank the liquid that had sat in the bladder for a couple days. It didn't taste like fresh spring water, but we'd all moved past that during training.

She tried to hand the bladder to Gunner, but he pointed to Damon. Everyone drank, and I assessed our situation. I didn't see land, and I had no idea how far off course we were. We could drift like this for days. Team Shadow could handle it, but Jeanine? I wasn't sure. It's no fun being adrift in the ocean for days on end, so I made an executive decision.

"Hand me the sat phone, Gunner."

"Wait. You have a satellite phone?" said Jeanine in dismay. "Why didn't you use it before?"

"Because anyone can track a sat phone if they are listening and we were trying to get away. But I'm hoping now that Morgan's associates are too busy with the aftermath of the storm to take notice of us."

"Here you go, Chief," said Gunner. He tossed the phone at me, and I almost lost it in the water but caught it at the last second.

"Way to go, Chief," said Damon.

"But who do you call?" said Jeanine.

"Ghostbusters," smirked Gunner.

"Oh, geez," said Jeanine. "Original, Gunner."

Kane laughed. "She got you, Gun."

"Ha," said Gunner. "No, babe. Ryker will switch on the automatic SOS, and hopefully, that will lead our ride to our location."

"Our ride?"

"And who are you calling 'babe,'" said Damon. He glared at Gunner.

Oh boy. Here we go.

"Stand down, Damon. We've something to discuss."

"What would that be?" Kane rumbled in a low growl.

"Not here. Not now.

"Why the hell not?" said Damon.

"Hey, guys," said Jeanine. "How long will it take for a ship to pick us up?"

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