Page 40 of Mated to Team Shadow

Cursing, I considered shifting, but I still didn't know how populated this island was and I was not ready to ditch my clothes yet. Finally, I caught Jeanine's scent and followed it, faint as it was. It drew me deeper into the jungle.

Footsteps crashing the underbrush spiked my attention.Oh, hell. This cannot be good.My team would not make that amount of noise.Who are they? What's their intent?They were moving fast as if alarmed so they couldn't be law enforcement, which would walk the rainforest with deliberation and care.

I came to a small clearing to see Jeanine holding up her hands, with her back to me.

The man pointing the gun at her dripped an aura of danger and ill intent.

So did the man at my back who stuck a gun barrel into my neck.

Gunner

Afew miles into the jungle the green broke onto a one-lane paved road that communicated that civilization of a sort lay nearby. I whistled, and before long my shrill call brought my teammates to my side.

"Yeah," said Kane. "I saw it too."

"When I was up on the ridge," said Damon pointing north, "I saw several boats hugging the shore. There's probably a town there."

"You think?" snorted Kane.

"Man, you are a smart ass," said Damon.

"Nah, that's Gunner."

"No, I've got a smart mouth."

"Makes no difference where the shit comes from, men," said Damon. "It still stinks."

I scoffed.

"What's the move?" I asked Damon. Technically, he was our second-in-command, so both Kane and I waited for his word.

"I say we go back, get Ryker and Jeanine and head north on the shore. That seems to the closest to what passes for civilization here."

"That's what we will do?" said Kane. "I mean, Morgan is out there and probably put word about that his four bodyguards blew up his ship. And he's got to have help from the locals to pursue his criminal activities."

"What's your problem, Kane? Like we can't handle a few locals?"

"That's not it," said Kane. "We can handle it, but what about Jeanine?"

"Yeah," said Damon.

Oh hell.

We glanced at each other, and the realization hit us at the same time. Our first thought was not about our mission, but Jeanine's safety.

"Fuck," I said. "This changes everything."

"How do you figure?" said Kane. "We're still us."

"Are we?" said Damon. "When have we ever bombed a mission this badly?"

"Missions go sideways," said Kane.

"And that's not Jeanine's fault," I said. The need to defend her overrode my good sense, because Damon had a point, and my brain knew that. My emotional center, however, did not, and this was disturbing.

"No, but since meeting her, we haven't had the same amount of focus on our mission objectives. That's a problem."

We stared at each other as the immense depth of the shit we were in crashed on us. With Jeanine as our mate, our focus would always be on her. Our lives were now fundamentally changed.

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