Chapter 14
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.