Page 28 of Mated to Team Shadow

"What are you? My mother?"

"Wait," said Jeanine. "What?"

"It's to avoid attracting sharks," said Damon to Jeanine. "We need to make sure we let our pee dilute, so sharks don't pick up the scent."

"Holy hell," said Jeanine. "And I'm supposed to go swimming to do my business?"

"Don't worry," grinned Gunner over his shoulder. "We'll pull you out before you lose a foot or hand."

"Fuck you, Gunner," I said. Gunner worked my last nerve. "Can't you tell she's frightened enough as it is?"

"I thought laughter was the best medicine, Doc."

"Not when it causes your team to throw you over the side," said Damon.

"Okay, okay," groused Gunner. He turned toward the sea to attend to his private business, which we all had to do.

"And," added Ryker, "let's pull the oars and rig a sunscreen. Do we have a tarp?"

Ryker kept us busy organizing our survival and making things more comfortable. Damn, Gunner even had a pair of sunglasses in his backpack, and we passed them around to the person doing lookout. The two solar stills, which looked like triangular beach balls, bobbed in the water trailing the raft. These things worked damned slow. So while we had water now, by the time we needed more, we would have a few quarts. But Ryker looked grim. It was not that we couldn't survive out here, but Jeanine concerned us all. We knew what could come, but she didn't.

We could fish and get food that way, but it would be sailor's sushi all the way. And we could only eat if we had enough water because there was nothing worse than dehydration clogging up the pipes. Staying healthy was job one in sea survival. And that's hard when you contend with sun and salt. Our lips hadn't cracked yet, and our skin hadn't dried by the relentless salt in the water splashing over the sides. But that would happen if we were out here long enough.

Gunner was always thinking and fashioned a sea anchor from his backpack and saved the dinky plastic cone masquerading as a raft sea-anchor to scoop out the sea water. When Jeanine licked her lips while his arms scooped and tossed water over the side I reached for a water bladder to hand to her when I caught the gleam in her eye. Yeah, her tongue sliding on her pink lips signaled hunger not thirst and not for food.

What could I do to get her to look at me like that?

Yeah, I'd heard Gunner and Ryker discussing the "sharing the mate" thing. I didn't like it, but neither did challenging my brothers-in-arms tickle me. And it was not as if Jeanine was giving any of us the green light, even if she cast covert lustful glances. Women found us irresistible, and that's not a boast. You could call it pheromones or animal magnetism, but we weren't lonely in port if we wished company.

And Holy Hell—mate? Now that's a concept.When did I ever think of one woman as mine? Never. Marriage, kids, the-white-picket-fence were not in my lexicon of life choices. I figured I'd go down in a blaze of glory fighting the good fight. Now there was a woman in my life even if she didn't realize it. Besides, there was the whole shifter thing. What would she think when she learned of our true nature? That would be a shit storm right there.

One time, about three years ago when we were on leave in Calcutta, a woman saw my animal form. She didn't mention she was married. When her husband walked in and yelled, I was so startled I shifted. Then she screamed loud enough to make my ears ring. I jumped through the closed window smashing it to pieces. But slinking through a back alley with paws filled with tiny pieces of glass was not fun. And removing the shards out of my paws was a bitch, and I tell you, Ryker sucks as a medic. But he was the only one I could turn to, and he did the job, though I'm sure he was rough on purpose to teach me a lesson. But it taught me to be careful about not shifting in front of regular humans. So, four horny cats and one woman unaware of shifters would not make for fun times.

A bump under the raft jolted us.

"What was that?" said Jeanine. Her eyes were wide, and my ears caught the uptick of her heart.

"Big fish," said Damon.

"What sorts of big fish?" she said with her eyes narrowed.

"In the middle of the ocean could be anything," said Ryker noncommittally.

"Dolphins," said Damon.

"Sturgeon," said Ryker.

"Sharks," I said.

"Sharks?" Her voice shot up an octave.

Damon

Damn it. Kane better shut his mouth.

Gunner might be our number one jokester, but Kane was our second.How dare he upset Jeanine?If there was a back alley around, I'd take him to it and pound some sense into him.

"Look," I said as I edged closer to her. "Chances are it is not sharks. Fish get curious too when they see something floating on the surface."

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