Page 16 of Phantom’s Mate

“What do you mean, you can’t? We were just inside. Hell, the whole car was just inside.”

“Nooo,” Titan said. “Well, yes. But no.”

“Thanks. Very illuminating.”

“No, it’s very disturbing,” Titan said. “This manifestation has now built up enough energy so that humans—and shifters—can be influenced by it. Anyone driving around the bend could be sucked in like we were, forced into re-creating what happened to Brittany. The more sensitive they are to psychic phenomena, the more likely they’ll be affected.”

Nick felt his stomach grow cold. “Are you saying she’s doing it on purpose? Trying to kill people?”

Titan was silent for a long time, and then said, “I hope not.” Nick sure as hell hoped not too. “Or it could be that the imprint of what happened is so strong in her mind, and she’s repeated it so often, that the energy is affecting both worlds.”

“That’s slightly less horrific, but still not good.”

“No, it is not.”

“So, how do we get you inside to talk to her?”

Titan shook his head. “I don’t know. Let me try walking up the road while blocking out the spirit world, and then shifting over.”

That was basically what Nick had done the first time. He crossed the boundary again and watched while Titan faded almost completely from view. His friend stepped forward—and vanished. Like Britt’s manifestation blocked him out completely.

He waited a minute or two, but Titan didn’t reappear so he stepped back out of the stormy night into the real world. Titan was waiting there.

“Well, that didn’t work,” Nick said. “What else can we do?”

They tried it with Nick leading him through the barrier, and then they tried it with Titan’s spirit alone, leaving his body behind. If that worked, they’d have to hide his unconscious body in the car trunk or something while they were gone, in case someone came by, but at least he’d be able to get inside.

He couldn’t.

“Dammit,” Nick said. “Can we just break down the damn barrier?”

Titan shook his head. “I might be able to do it, but I don’t think I should. This construct is tied very tightly to Brittany’s mind, and I don’t know what would happen to her if I forced my way in.”

“So why the hell can I get in?”

“Because you’re a ghost?” Titan said. “Or maybe she just likes you.”

“I am hotter than you.” Nick smirked.

Titan, prodding at the barrier once more, said absently, “I am hotter than fuck, and I give the best beargasms ever. Just ask Mari.”

Nick shuddered. “You could not pay me enough to listen to Mari talk about your beargasms. I’m already traumatized because you made me picture it in my mind.”

Titan got a small smile at the corner of his mouth. “It’s not my fault you can’t appreciate beargasms.”

Normally Nick would have had a smartass comeback, but all the obsessive anxiety he’d been trying to push aside suddenly overwhelmed him.

He could feel Jax, so much closer than at the territory. Just out of reach.

But even worse, he could feel Britt. Upset. Scared. Had she somehow been hurt by them coming through in the car? What was going on in there?

For a second, he felt pulled in two directions—like he was coming apart.

But he already knew which way he had to go.

“I’m going in,” he said abruptly, not realizing until he’d spoken that he’d cut Titan off in the middle of a sentence. “I’ll try to bring her out, but if we’re not back in half an hour or so, you might as well go home. Maybe we can figure something else out.”

Titan gave him that all-seeing gaze for a minute, and then said, “See if you can help her remember her accident, and whatever it is she’s blocked out. This place—” He shook his head. “I’m getting the feeling we don’t have much time. She may not intend to be a malevolent spirit, but she’s becoming one.”