Arctic Spirit Read online

  Chris gave her a kiss on top of her head. “Let’s not let her spoil our day.”

  Charlotte smiled. “I won’t.” Her stomach rumbled just then, making her cheeks flame, while Chris and Drew both chuckled, effectively lightening the mood.

  All their moods improved even further when Bonnie brought out their food. Fortunately, Jill didn’t rear her ugly head again while they dined, but he knew she would not let the new discovery go so easily.

  “Put her out of your mind,” Charlotte said in between forkfuls of her banana nutter pancakes. “I already have.”

  After breakfast when they were finally underway, Drew had a few moments alone with Chris when Charlotte went to use the bathroom. “First thing we should tell her is that we both love her and then go from there.”

  “Agreed. We’ll have to show her then.”

  “Show me what?” Charlotte joined them on deck just then, but Drew sensed something off about her.

  Chris apparently noticed, too. His voice sounded panicked when he asked, “Not feeling well, sweetheart?”

  “I’m fine. Just a little upset stomach.”

  “Let’s turn around then. We’ll take the boat out when you’re feeling bet—”

  “No,” she interrupted stubbornly. “I’m sure it will pass. What difference does it make if my stomach hurts here or at home? Maybe Jill put something in my pancakes.”

  She said her last comment jokingly, but it was enough to give him pause to think, even though he could smell nothing off in Charlotte’s breakfast.

  Thirty minutes later, she was vomiting in the bathroom. “Looks like our talk will have to wait,” Drew said. “I’ll make her some chamomile tea.”

  “I saw that look you wore earlier. I was thinking the same thing, but I don’t think it’s anything serious,” Chris said.

  “Neither do I.” He couldn’t smell any poison, or anything in her system that shouldn’t be there. He finally had to concede that it might just be some minor bug she picked up or something she ate that didn’t sit right. Whatever it was, it just needed to run its course.

  Chapter Six

  “Open the door, Charlotte.” Chris’s incessant banging was starting to give her a headache.

  “Go away!” she said miserably into the toilet. “Let me just throw up in peace.” The truth was, she didn’t think she had anything left to throw up, but she didn’t want to keep doing it in front of the guys. Not to mention the fact that dry heaving was very unattractive.

  “Please, Char.” This time it was Drew’s voice pleading with her.

  It became obvious that they would not go away, so she reluctantly crawled over to the door and undid the latch before they decided to break it down.

  “Ow,” she squeaked. She hadn’t time to back up before Chris opened the door. Thankfully, it was only a light prod against her knee.”

  “Oh my God. I’m so sorry, baby. Did I hurt you?”

  She backed up a little more in the small space, allowing both men enough room to enter. “No, I’m fine.”

  “You’re not fine,” Drew remarked. “You look terrible.”

  “Gee, thanks,” she teased. She gave Drew a sly smile to show that she understood how he had meant it. “Seriously, I’m feeling much better. I didn’t even have to throw up this time.” She’d had enough stomach bugs throughout her life to know that they had to run their course, and that even after they did, it was normal to feel a little nausea. She probably just needed some sustenance.

  Drew reached down and picked her up, cradling her in his arms. He carried her to the cabin bedroom and gently lay her down on the king-sized bed.

  “You guys really like your big beds, don’t ya?”

  Drew’s response was a chuckle.

  Chris reappeared a few minutes later, carrying some ginger ale and a piece of toast. “You think you could eat a little something?”

  “I’ll try,” she replied.

  He held the ginger ale up to her lips and after she took a few sips, she managed to eat a few bites of toast. After she finished chewing, she said, “I’m sorry I ruined our day.” She then playfully jutted out her bottom lip into a pout.

  Drew mussed her already messy hair a bit. “Not your fault you got sick, sweets, and you didn’t ruin anything.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure you both really enjoyed hearing and watching me upchuck a dozen times.”

  Both Drew and Chris suddenly became very serious. Drew cupped her cheek. “Chris and I will always take care of you, Charlotte.”

  “Okay,” she whispered. That was all she could think of to say, especially with the sudden lump in her throat that had nothing to do with being sick.

  They both stayed with her for a little while longer. Enough time for her to take a few more sips and a few more bites. She felt spent, but at least she could keep down the ginger ale and toast.

  “Get some sleep,” Chris said. He gave her a quick peck on the forehead and then he and Drew both tucked her in. They promised to join her shortly.

  When she next opened her eyes, it was early morning, and both men were asleep beside her. She had felt them getting into bed with her, her mind adrift between half-sleep and wakefulness, a state she had gotten used to in her Air Force days. She had also felt the bed dip several times throughout the night with either Drew or Chris getting up and climbing back in. She already knew their nightly routine by heart. They would alternate waking up every few hours to check the weather conditions, sail trim, heading, and the location of other boats. Charlotte took comfort in the fact that The Edna, named after their mother, had the best, most up-to-date equipment and would instantly alert them should anything be amiss. Whichever one of them had gotten up would then check on her when getting back into bed. She had become aware of hands on her forehead or on her wrist taking her pulse.

  Since neither of the guys had slept well for the past two nights, she decided to fend for herself this morning and let them sleep in. She gave them each a kiss on the forehead and felt a warmth blossom inside of her. They took such complete, good care of her, causing that pesky lump to form in her throat again when she recalled yesterday’s events. Her gaze traveled down to their inviting lips. She closed her eyes and imagined what it would feel like to have those lips kiss her own, as well as other places on her body.

  She left them peacefully sleeping before she did something she would not regret, but would probably make things very awkward among them. Her body ached as she walked over to the small dining area to make herself some tea. Perhaps the guys were right—they should turn around and go home. She felt herself wanting to crawl back into bed already, even though she was no longer sleepy. They could always take the boat out again another time during her stay.

  “Maybe I just need fresh air,” she mumbled to herself. She quickly went to use the facilities and brushed her teeth, then when her tea was ready, she wrapped herself up in one of the thick throw blankets she found on one of the reclining chairs, grabbed her mug, and went up top. The cool, crisp air was welcoming, though she mentally chided herself for not putting on her woolen hat.

  Not wanting to take the chance of waking the guys, not to mention the fact that her legs protested moving from her comfortable position of leaning against the railing, she decided to make do without it.

  Charlotte sipped her tea and enjoyed the quiet calm of the North Pacific water. Thankfully, despite her still-weakened state, the nausea had passed. The day would not have to be a complete wash. She could rest for a little as they made their way back to shore and then she could try to fit in some work in the afternoon. By tomorrow, she supposed she would be much better and they could plan something fun to do.

  A sound to her right brought her out of her mental musings. “I’m up here,” she turned and called out, thinking it was one of the guys. It wasn’t. Charlotte was never one to panic, but what she saw in front of her made absolutely no sense to her rational mind.

  A black-and-white-striped tiger was slowly inching toward her, its teeth bar
ed, and pale blue eyes looking menacingly at her. Her first thought was about the impossibility of a tiger coming aboard a ship in the middle of the ocean, but then she noticed a shimmer around it and a slightly translucent quality. A hologram?

  She had no time to ponder anything else, as everything happened in a blur after that. The tiger pounced. It wasn’t solid, but there was a force behind it, strong enough to push her over. She screamed as she fell backward. The water stung as she entered it, both from the impact and the cold. The chill of the water made her veins feel as if they were being filled with ice.

  Her eyes were opened, her mind shouting at her limbs to move as her body began to sink into the abyss. She could have sworn something glowed far below, flickering, as if calling her to join it. Tales of evil spirits entered her mind. And then she saw it again—the tiger—swimming toward her, only it looked a bit different, no longer threatening. The animal wrapped itself around her like a warm blanket and kept her from sinking farther. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around its thick neck and discovered that this tiger was also not completely solid as if she could touch it and sink into it at the same time.

  Moments later, an arm encircled her from behind, gripping her firmly as legs kicked upward toward the surface. The holographic type tiger thing in front of her slid around her and out of sight.

  When her head finally broke the surface, Charlotte welcomed the gasp of cold air into her lungs, coughing and expelling water. She heard a loud, threatening growl from above, but the arm around her gently squeezed, reassuring her that she was safe. “I’ve got you, baby,” Chris said, sounding both desperate and relieved. “You’re all right.”

  Chris held onto Charlotte tightly as he swam around to the other side where the ladder was attached. The guys used it for when they went deep sea diving in the warmer months. The sailboat, though used mostly for recreational purposes, was also equipped for emergencies if need be.

  He turned her around to face him. “Put your arms around my neck and hold on tightly.”

  Charlotte’s limbs felt incredibly weak and partially numb, she realized, but she complied. Nevertheless, he climbed up, still supporting most of her weight, amazing her with his incredible strength. When they finally reached the top, Chris shifting her position to cradle her, Charlotte thought she may very well be hallucinating again. There were two of them now. One very corporeal tiger had the translucent one that had attacked her pinned underneath its paw. The real one roared into the other’s face, eliciting a terrified whimper before removing its paw. The sound sent another chill down her spine. That was one very pissed off tiger, she thought. As soon as the translucent one was free, it sprinted overboard.

  Charlotte could see light beneath the water as the thing practically torpedoed in the direction of the shore.

  “I don’t…” She had no idea what she was seeing, and her body was beginning to shake violently from the cold. She locked gazes with the tiger in front of her who suddenly morphed into a naked Drew. He cautiously walked toward her, palm out, telling her not to be afraid just as she felt blackness descend. The last thing she heard was her name being called by two different terrified male voices.

  ****

  Vaguely, Charlotte became aware of her surroundings again, though she did not know how much time had passed since she had fainted. Probably not long given her soaking wet clothes were being removed from her in an urgent rush. They were inside now, out of the chill of the crisp air. One set of hands was rubbing her skin, attempting to warm her, while another set was frantically drying her body then hair with towels. This was followed by cool air hitting her naked flesh. She felt herself being carried, and then placed gently down on a soft bed. Seconds later, arms encircled her, bringing her close against a warm muscular chest right before another warm body covered her back.

  She tried to focus on bringing her body temperature up and not the two naked males snuggled closely with her underneath several thick blankets, or the fact that their hands were stroking her, coaxing the warmth into her even faster.

  “Tigers,” she mumbled. “You were a tiger,” she added to Drew, whose chest she realized she was snuggled into.

  “Yes,” Drew said. “It’s part of what we wanted to tell you.”

  “Oh,” she breathed. She must still be hallucinating, she thought before the darkness took her again.

  Sometime later, Charlotte found herself in the same half-sleep, half-wakeful state as she had during the night. She still lay in between Chris and Drew, although now her back was to Drew. The feeling of warmth spread throughout her entire body. Her head was nestled in the crook of Drew’s arm as he propped himself up on it. His other arm was thrown over her chest underneath the blankets. Her legs rested on Chris’s thighs and he was slowly gliding his hands up and down the length of them, causing warmth to spread for an entirely different reason.

  She heard the pair of them having a whispered conversation as she drifted in and out of consciousness. “She’s our mate,” was thrown out there, and then later, “I don’t know what I would have done,” and finally, when things became a little more coherent, “I just hope she understands why we had to let her go and she forgives us.”

  “This definitely wasn’t the way I wanted her to find out.” She knew this time that it was definitely Drew who spoke. He then placed a kiss on her head and tightened his hold on her.

  She was all the way awake now, though she kept her eyes closed, listening and pondering all the bits and pieces of their conversation, trying to make some semblance of sense out of what they had said. She heard them use the term “mate” again. They had one, it seemed, and Charlotte was pretty sure they were not using the word in a way that meant just a friend. She had recalled hearing them use terms like “spirit mates” and “shifter destiny.” They had also talked of blessings, but she decided to focus for now on the operative word of shifter. If she had not fallen down a rabbit hole instead of icy water, and in fact witnessed what she had while being of sound mind, then her world had just turned completely on its axis. Her two best friends were part animals, and an evil holographic version of a tiger was out to get her. Her said best friends, the two people she trusted most in the world, hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her about their world all those years ago. And despite all the seemingly impossible things, her heart and mind decided to harp on the fact that Chris and Drew had a mate—one that they shared no less—and said mate was the reason they had said good-bye to Charlotte all those years ago. She began to feel ice in her veins again, only now it had nothing to do with nearly drowning in freezing water. A part of her wished she had stayed below in the depths of the waters of the town that felt the most like home to her.

  As if he sensed that she had woken, Drew whispered softly in her ear, “You awake, Char?”

  She opened her eyes and tilted her head to look up at him. “You can hardly expect me to sleep with all of your yammering.”

  “There’s our girl,” Chris said, playfully squeezing her leg. He smiled widely at her, relief written all over his face.

  She turned back to Drew. “Am I crazy, or did you really turn into a tiger?”

  He gave her his trademark smirk. “You’re not crazy, sweets.”

  She looked at Chris again. “The one under water was different … just like the one that pushed me.”

  “The one you saw underwater was me,” Chris explained and before Charlotte could ask how that was possible since he was also the one in the water with her, he quickly added, “We can separate ourselves from our spirit animal.” He went on to explain that their spirit form can travel faster than they can when they are one—in either shifted or non-shifted form, and though they are not exactly corporeal, they still possess a strong energy force. “I knew that my spirit form would find you and get to you quickly.” He could also see through his spirit tiger’s eyes the whole time and reconnected with it once he found Charlotte. “We can’t shift, though if we let the spirit tiger out.

  “Have you guys alw
ays been able to shift into tigers?”

  “No,” Drew answered. “Our spirit animals are part of us, part of our soul, and born with us. We’ve had the ability to let the spirit tiger out and roam free practically from birth, but the ability to actually transform doesn’t happen until late teens to early twenties.”

  “Kind of like a second puberty, if you will,” Chris added. “We were both nineteen. I went first and then Drew two days later.”

  “Did it hurt?”

  Chris pondered her question for a moment before answering. “It felt … natural … as if my body was becoming complete.”

  “Exactly,” Drew chimed in. “Like finally being able to connect fully with your own self.”

  Charlotte was still reeling from this discovery, but she was also fascinated. Legends she had heard while she lived here were not legends at all. Now that she knew, she wanted to know it all. She saw her best friends in a completely new light, and yet, they still felt like home to her. All the missing pieces of their friendship she once could not explain, were finally filled in, and rightness settled over her as if somehow she had been a part of this knowledge all along. She only wished they had told her all of this a long time ago.

  She also became hyper-aware again that none of them had any clothes on, and she suddenly felt very shy. “Well, this isn’t awkward at all with us being naked.”

  “You’re naked?” Chris widened his eyes, feigning shock and then he slowly and seductively slid his hand up her thigh, all the while sporting a devilish gleam in his eye. “I hadn’t noticed.

  Drew, meanwhile, buried his nose in her hair and remained there, nuzzling her while he hugged her tighter. Chris left his hand to rest on her hip. His head now lay very close to hers, and she could feel his warm breath on her face. He stared at her adoringly, his hazel-eyed gaze piercing her own. She could stay like this forever, snuggled between them as she was. Her entire body tingled with warmth.