Page 32 of Titan’s Mate

Mari had hoped things weren’t going to get weird after the kiss—not to mention the discussion of boobs with the rest of the crew—but they did.

First of all, she didn’t know what to say to Titan. Kissing him was… she didn’t even know how to describe it because she’d never felt anything remotely like that, any of the other times she’d kissed anyone. Or had sex with them, come to think of it.

Titan seemed to reach inside her effortlessly, touching her heart and her soul, strong and gentle and so so so sexy.

He created that joy her gong-gong had said was around every corner and under every stone. She’d actually found lots of places where there was no joy, and she’d thought maybe the demon had eaten all the joy inside her.

She’d had no idea there was still so much, or that a grieving bear shaman would be the one to help her find it.

But he seemed to have even less idea of what to say than she did. She couldn’t tell if he regretted the kiss, or if he just didn’t want things to go any further.

Or if he just didn’t want her. Although the giant, probably commando peener straining the seam of his pants had hinted he did—at least at the time.

And now she’d started thinking about that again. Involuntarily obsessing about a hot-as-fuck man’s commando peener was not conducive to making small talk.

By the time they got downstairs his face had gone shuttered and remote, the way it sometimes did. He muttered something about having work to do in his studio, and walked off in the direction of the cabin before she could reply.

Like he couldn’t get away from her fast enough. That made the inside of her chest ache.

Mari made herself another mocha and sat out on one of the saggy sofas on the wraparound porch, trying not to feel hurt and bereft. There were thick woolen blankets tossed carelessly here and there, and she wrapped herself up in one. It was a sunshiny day and the weather had gotten less arctic, so the blanket and her coat were enough to keep her warm, and the fresh air felt good.

After a bit, a soccer ball bounced into the yard, seemingly out of nowhere. It was followed by the ghostly panther she’d seen the first night in Titan’s cabin. Nick. She’d almost convinced herself he was a leftover hallucination, but now she was wide awake and he was definitely here.

He crouched, wiggling his butt, eyes on the ball, and then sprang at it, batting it down the yard. Mari tried not to laugh out loud, in case he realized she was watching and it ruined his fun. In her experience, cats of all sizes hated being laughed at.

She heard the door to the house close quietly, and then Brock came out, obviously fresh from his shower and carrying his own mug of coffee. He’d been pretty growly at breakfast, enough to alarm Mari’s bear slightly, so she’d left him alone.

He seemed better now, though. Maybe he wasn’t a morning person? Or maybe he had his own demons too.

He greeted her, and sat down on the other end of the couch, sipping quietly. Nick chased the ball back up the yard, overrunning it and almost tripping himself at one point.

“He’s such a goof,” Brock murmured.

Mari had never actually thought of ghosts as having a personality. She’d thought they mostly just drifted around moaning, or recreated pivotal haunt-worthy trauma from their former lives.

She hadn’t ever pictured one playing soccer. With himself. “You can tell me if this is a rude question, but who is Nick? Why is he a ghost?” That sounded stupid. “Besides being dead, I mean.”

Damn, that sounded even stupider.

Brock grinned. “You mean, why is he being a ghost here, in our yard? With our soccer ball?” She nodded.

Brock sipped his coffee, his face getting serious. “Nick was a friend of Brandon’s. He was killed by rogue panthers, led by a guy named Austin Raines.” He paused, giving her a sidelong look. “The same rogues who killed Squatch’s family.”

Mari involuntarily put her hand over her mouth. “Oh, no,” she breathed. “His clan was murdered? That’s awful.” No wonder Titan was so destroyed by their deaths. She couldn’t even imagine living through that.

“Yeah. That’s why Squatch came here. To take down Raines—the psycho, murderous son of a bitch.”

“And did he?” She didn’t know whether to hope he had, or hope he hadn’t. Living without justice for your loved ones could eat away at you, but so could coldblooded revenge.

Brock glanced at her. “Not exactly. After Nick was killed, Brandon went after Raines and his crew, and Kitty, Colt and Remy came to help. Apparently, Squatch had already tracked Raines here to Farville.”

“So what happened?”

“Well, it’s a long story and it happened before I came, so you should get one of the others to tell you the whole thing sometime. But short version, Raines was trying to take over this town and make it his base, and he’d allied with some local crow shifters. Raines found out about Brandon and set up an ambush for him, and at the same time the crow leader lured Kitty to the road house Callie owned, and tried to burn it down with Kitty and Callie inside.”

Mari gasped. “How could anyone do that?” Although since the crow had allied with someone who’d massacred a whole village, she probably shouldn’t be surprised. But that there was that much evil in the world…

Brock made a ‘no idea’ gesture. “The bar burned, but they got out. It ended up with a huge battle in the road house parking lot—Brandon, Kitty, Callie and the twins, and one of the crows who turned on the leader, against all of Raines’ panthers, with the crows fighting both of them for control of the town.