Page 29 of Mated to Team Shadow

"That's a crock," she said.

"No," said Ryker. "It's not."

"Shark attacks are very rare," I said.

Another bump on the underside of the raft caused her to jump, and she landed in my arms. Or rather, I reached for her and pulled her in. Even after a night on the water, with salt crusted on her skin, she smelled delightful, and the crush of her body against mine made my cat rumble with approval.

"Why do you guys do that?" she said breathlessly. "I mean why do you purr?"

Her blue eyes drew me like a magnet, and she felt "right" in my arms in a way no woman had. My chest warmed, and I breathed in her scent with another deep draw, and my dick tingled. I heard the thudding of her heart and caught a whiff of the cream between her legs that said she wanted me.

Mine.

My cat stuffed deep inside for so much of my life, now hovered below the surface, infusing his wild thoughts with my rational ones. It was instinctual, this thought, that this woman in my arms belonged to me.

Ryker cleared his throat, and I lifted my head to meet his glare. "Bail the water," he groused. "The raft has to be dry, or you know what will happen."

"What will happen?" said Jeanine.

"Salt sores," I said. "Not pleasant."

"That's not the only thing that's not pleasant here so get moving."

"Aye, aye,sir," I said.

Ryker growled because he hated when any of us called him "sir." Because he was a noncommissioned officer, and we shouldn't, but we did it to yank his chain, which today appeared shorter than usual.

"Well, darling—" I said loosening my grip, but then a shadow fell over the raft, and water splashed as the great fish flew over us.

Many things happened at once.

Jeanine screamed and with my cat so close to the surface of my thought the primal instinct to protect my mate overtook my good sense. I leaped toward the creature, causing the raft to wobble in the water. Ryker swore, Kane dove to throw himself over Jeanine, and Gunner whipped out a handgun. His eyes were wide as he watched my body lengthen, my muzzle form, and my fangs flash. I slammed into the gargantuan fish, not sure what I connected with, but the concussive force of head meeting muscle caused my ears to ring. It fell back into the water, and I went over the side and clamped onto to it. The fish's blood filled my mouth and spilled into the water as red puffs. I hung onto as it thrashed by digging my claws in until it finally went limp. Lifeless, it floated upward, and I went with it.

With the tail of my prize in my mouth and proud of it, I surfaced only to hear Jeanine screaming, and the frantic voices of teammates trying to calm her.

"What the fuck was that! No! Don't lie to me. No! You bastards."

Oh hell, I'd frightened her, and I felt sick. What she saw we should explain, though Gunner tried to feed her some bullshit line about the sun hitting her eyes wrong.

"I know what I saw. Damon changed! Into a cat! What the hell? Oh, fuck. Get off me. Let me off this boat. Oh, hell. Oh, holy hell. Help! Help!"

Her panic stroked my protective nature, and I wanted to make this right for her. I shifted, hating myself with my stupidity, and swam to the raft through the water. The blood of that fish would draw sharks, and I didn't want to be their dinner.

I reached the raft and hung my arms over and noticed the raft walls were no longer tight.

"Hey! The raft is leaking!" I called.

Ryker turned to me and swore and barked orders to Gunner to find the leak and fix it. Water sloshed over the weakened side, and Kane rushed to bail it out while Ryker stayed by Jeanine's side talking to her in a low voice. He projected his natural calming presence and held her chin to make her gaze into his eyes. She stopped screaming, but her breathing remained ragged, and her eyes were wide as she stared at him.

Gunner frantically pressed his hands on different sections of the wall of the raft and found where it collapsed because of the leak. After swiping the area around the hole with an alcohol swab from the medical kit, he slapped a patch with glue over the hole. He pressed on it while the glue dried and at least the raft stopped losing air.

I bobbed in the waves and Gunner waved me over and held out the end of the inflation tube connected to the raft.

"Go at it," he said.

"Me?'

"It was your claw that punctured the raft, idiot. And get at it so we can haul you into the raft before sharks arrive."

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