THIRTEEN
THE MINUTE PHOENIX DISAPPEARED, Travis headed straight for Max’s table.
“What did you idiots do to Phoenix?” he growled, noting that five of the six shots he’d poured were still sitting on the table untouched.
The cougars and wolves exchanged uneasy glances.
“Well?”
“It should have worked,” Pete said sullenly.
“I agree,” Max said. “This isn’t exactly good news.”
“What should have worked?” Travis asked.
“The sixth shot was for her.” Karl nodded at the empty glass. “She downed it fast, but then nothing happened.”
“Shit,” Travis growled. “Are you telling me she just did a shot of The Beast Within?”
“Yeah, but nothing happened!” Karl said.
Travis spun around and scanned the room. The minute he saw Glory, he headed her way. “I need you to take over the bar.”
“What? Why?”
“I’ve gotta check on Phoenix.”
Glory scanned the bar. “Where is she?”
“Just watch the bar,” Travis growled and stormed away.
“You did what?”
Max winced. He wouldn’t want to be Pete right now.
Glory looked like she might claw off his face at any moment. “We have no idea what kind of shifter she is and you thought ripping her animal free with The Beast Within was a good idea?”
Pete shrugged. “Well… yeah.”
“It should have worked,” Karl insisted.
“I’ve never seen a shifter retain their animal after a shot of The Beast,” Dan said.
“He’s right.” Max shook his head. “Which means this is more serious than we thought.”
Glory huffed. “You didn’t see any evidence of a shift at all? No claws, no fur or feathers, nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“I’ve gotta go watch the bar, but you boys better be on your best behavior. You take those shots, you control your beasts. Got me?”
Max and his crew all nodded.
“Don’t worry about us, Glory,” Pete said. “We’re going to do a bit more planning before we have these here shots.”
“Yeah, we gotta figure out our next steps,” Cole said.
Max just rolled his eyes and wondered how much worse things could get.
Travis knocked on Phoenix’s door and waited.
There was no answer.
Remembering how unhappy she’d been the last time he woke her from her nap, he opened the door quietly, but realized almost immediately she wasn’t there.
Closing the door, he crossed the hall, entered his own apartment and headed for the bedroom.
At the center of his bed, Phoenix rested, curled in a small ball, bathed in a pool of moonlight.
He’d never felt the intensity of tenderness and joy that welled inside at the sight of her. She was so beautiful and peaceful. And she was in his bed.
All he wanted to do was crawl in beside her.
Even though he and his bear had both hoped to find her in shifted form, he wasn’t even disappointed. And neither, he realized, was his bear. They were both simply too charmed and enchanted by the sight of Phoenix in their bed, sleeping peacefully in the middle of their territory.
Glory could handle the bar.
He was going to take a nap with his mate.
FOURTEEN
THE NEXT MONTH was the best of Phoenix’s life.
Travis started dropping into the diner each morning for a late breakfast. He’d always sit in her section and tease her with kisses each time she stopped at his table. He usually timed it so that she was just about to get off work. He’d order breakfast for both of them and then when her shift ended, she’d join him and they’d eat together.
Then, she’d follow him back to the bar, where he’d work in his office while she took a nap. No matter what time she woke, though, whether it was forty-five minutes or one hundred and twenty minutes later, he’d always be curled around her, holding her snug to his chest, face buried in her hair.
After long and lazy minutes lying in each other’s arms, kissing and cuddling and indulging their passion, they’d get up, have dinner together and work in the bar side-by-side.
And at the end of each night, they’d go back upstairs and lose themselves in each other once again. Sometimes the loving was slow and sweet and sometimes it was frantic and rough. But always, always, it was amazing. And then they’d fall asleep. And later, much later, she’d wake in his arms, the steady beat of his heart echoing the drum from her dream.
And the best part of it all?
No matter what time of the day, no matter how busy Travis was, no matter whether it was a short nap or a long one, she never woke alone.
It made her chest tight to think about. That after so many years of endless wandering, she might have finally found what she hadn’t even known she was looking for.
The only downside was that she still hadn’t shifted. All the efforts of the wolves and cougars hadn’t resulted in anything.
At first, she’d been upset, but the more time that passed and the more Travis’ attitude toward her didn’t change, the more she realized he really didn’t care.
He wanted to be with her, no matter whether she had an animal inside or not. And that was enough for her.
Of course, the wolves and cougars weren’t exactly giving up.
In fact, they now had a huge betting pool going. They had bets on everything: on when and where she’d first shift, on what or who would cause the first shift and on what animal she’d shift into.
Most of the money was on Travis. That somehow his black bear would pull her animal out.
Some of the bets were disturbing though.
There was a lot of money on fear being the impetus for her to change, which didn’t make her happy at all.
Of course, when Phoenix found out about the betting pool, she decided to place her own bets.
Fifty bucks on never and another fifty on human.
Everyone protested.
“How do you win a never bet?” Karl demanded.
“And there’s no way you’re human, Phoenix,” Pete said. “We’ve told you a thousand times. You don’t smell human.”
“Fine.” Phoenix stomped up to the board, drew a slash after human and wrote the word latent.
Human / Latent
Silence fell for a moment, then Max said, “Well, if it’s true, that’s okay, Phoenix. You’re one of us now.”
Phoenix had to blink back tears at that statement and at the chorus of agreements that followed.
“Still. How do you win a never bet?” Karl asked again.
“I guess we need a time limit,” Pete said. “Otherwise, the money might sit in the pool forever.”
“Yeah, but that’d be like we gave up,” Cole protested. “We’re not giving up on Phoenix, not ever.”
Jeez. She was going to bawl like a baby if they didn’t stop.
“How about an ongoing pool?” Max said. “We can set an initial time limit of ninety days and if Phoenix is still unshifted at that time, she wins the pool. Then we’ll just start a new one for a new round of ninety days.”
Phoenix thought this was a terrible idea. It sounded like the men were going to be betting on her shifter status for the rest of her life.
Of course, Travis loved the idea because the bar got a percentage of the take.
As soon as the wolves and cougars realized they only had ninety days to win the money already in the pool, they immediately intensified their efforts to force Phoenix to shift.
Which meant they were back on their scare Phoenix campaign.
It was beginning to feel a lot like the lottery of her life.
“I just don’t understand,” Cole said glumly. “She didn’t even scream when she saw the snake.”
Max snorted. Not only had Phoenix not screamed, she’d actually carried the snake out to the woods where she’d released him.
“Why on
earth would she scream?” Glory asked. “It was just a snake, and not a very big one at that.”
“I would have screamed,” Pete said.
“See?” Cole waved an arm at him. “Perfectly normal reaction to unexpectedly having a snake drop on a table you’re cleaning.”
“I get not being afraid of snakes,” Dan said. “Not everyone is. But what animal isn’t afraid when surrounded by cougars and wolves?”
They all turned and stared at Phoenix.
“She’s even tamed Travis and that bear’s intimidating,” Pete said.
Max snorted at the same time Glory did.
Their eyes met for a brief moment, before she jerked hers away. “Well, I gotta say you guys aren’t going to be winning this bet anytime soon.” She stood and walked away.
“I’m thinking maybe I should change my bet,” Cole said, “since I’m beginning to doubt my unicorn theory.”
“Oh, you’re just now beginning to doubt it?” Max said dryly.
“Yeah, because I’m pretty sure a unicorn would be thoroughly intimidated by that bear, not to mention all the wolves and cougars in this room right now.”
“Well, I’m not changing my bet,” Pete said.
Max wasn’t surprised. Pete was still convinced that eventually Phoenix would explode into a mythical bird and prove him right.
“I might make a new bet though. I’m thinking if she’s not a phoenix, she might be a snake.”
Everyone stared at him.
“Well, she wouldn’t be intimidated by them if she is one, right?”
“Good point,” Dan said. “But even if she is, how do we get her to shift?”
The question of the hour.
Max didn’t want to admit it, but he was starting to think that maybe Phoenix was right and she was latent. She definitely wasn’t human, but growing up without any shifters around may have permanently affected the development of her shifter side.
At least it didn’t appear to be as big an issue as they’d feared.
Glory was still concerned, but Max was pretty certain that Travis would be okay no matter what happened. He clearly adored Phoenix and his bear seemed happy too.
“You know what every animal’s afraid of?” Pete suddenly said.
Max wasn’t sure he even wanted to know what Pete was thinking at the moment, but before he could discourage him from sharing, Cole asked, “What?”
“Fire.”
“Hell, no,” Max exclaimed.
“Are you crazy?” Karl asked. “Travis would kill us if we burned down his bar!”
“Yeah, but not before Glory castrated us all,” Cole said.
Max winced along with the others.
“Well, I’m out of ideas,” Pete said.
“Yeah, me too,” Dan muttered.
The rest of the men reluctantly agreed.
Max just shook his head. It would be a true tragedy if Phoenix ended up winning the betting pool after all.
FIFTEEN
“YOU OKAY, DARLIN’?” Travis caught Phoenix behind the neck and pulled her over the bar for a steamy kiss.
Long minutes later, she pulled away and murmured, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Max’s crew still giving you a hard time?” Travis threw a glare over her shoulder. Those stupid mutts and alley cats needed to stop harassing his mate.
She shrugged. “I can handle it. I know they’re just trying to help.”
“Did you see their faces when she carried that snake out of here?” A rasping cough preceded Cassie as she stepped up to the bar.
“Jeez, you sound terrible, Cassie!” Phoenix exclaimed.
Cassie waved a hand airily. “It’s just a cold. I’ll be fine.”
“Wait. Shifters get colds?”
Travis grinned at the stunned look on Phoenix’s face. “Of course we do since there’s still no cure for the common cold.”
“Well, sure, but I thought maybe–”
The rattling sound of Cassie’s laugh made Phoenix cringe. “You’ve been watching too many Hollywood movies. Or maybe reading too many steamy romances.”
Travis grinned at the blush on Phoenix’s face. When did she have time to read? All the woman ever seemed to do was work, eat and sleep. And play sexy games with him, of course.
“You should go home, Cassie,” Phoenix said. “Glory and I can handle the rest of the night. You should get some rest.”
“She’s right,” Travis said.
“I’m fine. There’s only an hour left. I just need–” she leaned over the bar and rooted around on the shelf beneath it. “Aha!” She popped up and grinned at them. “I knew I left my cough drops here last night.”
What occurred next happened so quickly Travis could never get it straight in his head – what happened first, what happened next.
Everything just seemed to happen all at once.
Cassie opened her bag of cough drops and several flew through the air.
A brown blur flashed by on the bar, Cassie screamed and then her bag of cough drops were gone and so was Phoenix.
Travis panicked and swung around, but didn’t see her anywhere.
“I don’t believe it,” Cassie exclaimed.
The entire bar had come to a standstill. Everyone was on their feet and they were all staring at a point high above his head.
Travis looked up, but didn’t see anything. He hurried around the bar and looked up.
Deep in the shadows at the very top of the bar, he could barely make out movement. “What is she? Did anyone see her animal?”
“She was brown,” Cassie said. “That’s all I really saw.”
“How in the world did she even get up there?” The ledge Phoenix was sitting on was only about a foot below the ceiling.
“Climbed the wall,” Max said.
“And man, was she fast,” Cole said.
“Here.” Glory shoved her way through and handed Travis the ladder they used to change the lightbulbs. “See if you can coax her down.”
Travis went back behind the bar, set up the ladder and began to climb. As he got closer to her hiding spot, he crooned to her, “Hey, darlin’, it’s okay. It’s just me. I’m so happy you finally came out to play.”
When he reached the top of the bar and finally saw his mate’s shifted form for the first time, Travis’ heart just about melted in his chest, she was that cute. Big nose. Dark, round eyes. Brown fur. White chest. Big ears with white tufts of fur sticking out of them.
She stared at him from her spot just out of arm’s reach.
“You are so flippin’ adorable. Come here, sweetheart.”
She hesitated, then slowly inched toward him, Cassie’s bag of cough drops gripped tight in the tiny black claws of her front paws.
“That’s right, darlin’, come here.” He held out his arms and she leapt into them, her arms and legs latching onto his shirt. She curled into him, much the same way he’d seen her curl into their bed for a nap. He wrapped his left arm around her, anchoring her small form to his chest, and slowly backed his way down the ladder.
When he turned to face his sister and their friends, everyone gasped.
“She’s so cute!” Cassie exclaimed. “She’s like a little teddy bear.”
“What is she?” Pete asked. “I’ve never seen such a tiny bear before.”
“I don’t think she’s a bear,” Travis said. “I think she’s a koala.”
“But aren’t koalas bears?” Cassie asked.
“Yeah,” Karl said, “Koala bears.”
Travis shook his head. “I don’t think they’re bears. She doesn’t smell like a bear.”
“She’s a marsupial,” Glory announced, staring down at her phone.
“A mar–what?” Pete asked.
“A marsupial. They have pouches where they carry their babies, just like kangaroos.”
“But that means she’s Australian!” Karl said. “She doesn’t sound Australian.”
“That’s because she grew up here,” Travis said.
&nbs
p; “Can we pet her?” Karl asked.
“Yeah, bring her around the bar, Travis. Stop hogging her!” Pete said.
Travis rolled his eyes, but after checking Phoenix’s expression to make sure she wasn’t too freaked out – she had her face turned toward their friends and was just watching them – he walked around the bar.
“She’s just adorable,” Glory said, reaching out a tentative hand to stroke Phoenix’s back.
Travis made a slow circuit around the bar, allowing each of their friends to gently pet Phoenix and murmur their congratulations to her.
“What’s she holding onto?” Dan asked when Travis reached him.
“My cough drops!” Cassie stepped forward to take the bag from Phoenix, but Phoenix pulled the bag closer to her body and let out a strange yipping, squeaking sound.
It reminded Travis of the squeaky dog toy Cole had given Max for his birthday last year.
Cassie chuckled. “Okay, you can keep them. I’ll get some more later.” She reached out a hand and gently scratched Phoenix’s head. “You are just the cuddliest thing.” She looked up at Travis. “You’re so lucky. I want to go kidnap a real koala now.”
Travis barked out a laugh. “I don’t think Australia would appreciate that.” He turned to Glory. “I’m going to take her upstairs now. Can you close down the bar tonight?”
“Of course. Go on.” She shooed him away with her hands.
“Hey, Phoenix,” Max called.
Travis turned so she could see his face.
“Welcome to life as a shifter. We’re so very happy for you.” He spread his arms as if to indicate everyone in the bar.
Travis nodded his thanks, turned and carried his mate upstairs.
“So who won the bet?” Pete asked.
“Glory?” Max turned and looked at her.
“Well…” Glory consulted their board. “It looks like Cole was the only one who had money on today, so he won that pool. No one guessed koala, so I don’t know what we’re supposed to do with that money. Let’s see. I’m not really sure what caused her to shift. Any ideas?”
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