Page 15 of Phantom’s Mate

For possibly the first time ever, Titan was the one who caved and ended the silence. “Do you want me to come out there with you, see if I can talk to Brittany? At least I should be able to figure out what she is. We can go on from there.”

“Yeah, I would. Thanks.”

Titan opened his mouth to say something more, and then shook his head and closed it again. Just then, the twins came into the yard.

“Hey!” Colt yelled. “Phantom Nick! Are you okay? Because the barbecue is starting!”

Nick used his mind to raise the stone birdbath and upend it over Colt’s head, dousing him with cold water.

“Aaaaah!” Colt spluttered. “Fucker!”

Titan called from the porch, “He says he’s fine.”

Chapter 8

The next day, Nick and Titan drove out to the place where Brittany had lost her life.

It was another sunny day, so they talked Kitty into letting them borrow her car. It was a perfectly restored candy-apple-red ’64 Pontiac Catalina convertible, of which Nick was jealous as fuck because it was basically his dream car.

Kitty usually didn’t let anyone else drive it except Brandon, but she had a soft spot for Titan, so after issuing a number of death threats if they so much as scratched it (“and don’t think you can’t be killed again, Nick, because I will find a way”) she’d handed over the keys.

Armed with a bag full of snack cakes for Titan, they set off, radio blasting and top down. It didn’t matter that it was December—Nick didn’t feel the cold, and Titan was a fucking polar bear so he didn’t even notice. And if Nick brought himself far enough into the real world, he could just barely feel the wind through his hair.

It was awesome.

Nick ruthlessly shoved aside the anxious obsessiveness he’d felt since he left Britt’s place, and the hot iron inside him that was Jax’s malevolent presence.

He also deflected Titan’s attempts to get him to talk about Jax. Just for an hour, he wanted to feel like a regular guy.

Nick watched the GPS on Titan’s phone, letting his friend know when they were approaching the downhill curve leading to the place where Britt had her accident.

Titan slowed way down, taking the curve at grandma pace. Nick was about to tell him not to be such a wussy when he was hit with a feeling like they were being sucked into a whirlpool, and suddenly they were rushing around the curve at breakneck speed.

The day turned into a stormy night, leaves swirling into the car, rain blinding them. They skidded out, Titan wrestling with the wheel, and Brittany’s tree loomed up in front of them.

Using all the mental focus and will power he’d developed in his nine months of learning to manipulate objects in both worlds, Nick dragged the front of the car back on the road. The Catalina’s back end fishtailed across the shoulder, throwing up mud, and then Titan continued around the bend, driving on until the sun came out and they were back in the real world.

Titan and the Catalina were completely dry, but there were a few stray leaves littering the seat.

They pulled over to the shoulder and stopped. Titan moved himself partly into the spirit world and said, “Fuck. That was close.”

No shit. Nick’s dead heart was racing. “You probably wouldn’t have died,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant. “You’re a big-ass indestructible polar bear with shifter healing.”

“I’m not afraid of the tree,” Titan said. “I’m afraid of Kitty.”

Nick gave a shaky laugh. All jokes aside, though—Titan was fairly indestructible, but too many catastrophic injuries could kill even him.

“So what the fuck happened?” he asked.

Titan shook his head. “Let’s go see if we can get inside.”

They got out of the car and walked back, stopping at the edge of Brittany’s little piece of purgatory. Titan pushed at the barrier. Nick walked through—it was a lot easier this time. He waited, but Titan didn’t follow.

“What are you waiting for?” he asked. Titan frowned and touched his ear, like he couldn’t hear.

Nick came back out. “What’s going on? Why didn’t you come in?”

“I can’t,” Titan said.