Totally Spooked. Zoey Indiana

      1

      Come on Foxy Lady.

      A deep sense of wrongness settled through me. I looked up, staring off into the distance at the ever darkening cloud. My inner beast pushed at me, trying to force me down so he could come to the surface and get us to safety, but I redoubled my efforts to stay in control. Just fifteen more minutes, then I could turn off the new sonar technology I was testing and throw the engines into full gear back to shore.

      The sky lit up, followed a few seconds later by a clap of thunder. Seemed the storm was here, and it didn't care if I was finished. My research boat rocked as another wave from the incoming storm threw my balance off. Grabbing onto the wall of the cabin, I braced myself for the sudden change in direction as the wave passed. The surrounding room shifted, and I looked over the feedback from the sonar.

      "Dammit." I'd decreased the amount of noise and disturbance the detector was picking up from the water turbulence, but it still wasn't enough. At least not from the small display of information I got on the boat. Once I was home, I could pop the data into my computer and analyze it better.

      My hand shot up, bracing myself again as my face narrowly missed a small cabinet while the boat rocked. "Come on Foxy Lady, it's time to get outta here."

      I hit the button to retract the sonar, then fired up the engines. After the array was safely stored back in the boat, I cranked the souped up engines into full speed. I'd carefully designed the boat to look like every other boat in any marina, but the engines could push forty knots with the customized design and engines I'd helped create for the research vessel.

      When I approached shore, instead of pulling up to a marina, I docked Foxy Lady in my high-tech boathouse. With several acres of coastline on my private property, it was easy enough to keep Foxy Lady away from the grubby hands of any government officials. If they knew what that boat could do, it would be seized in a hot second. Stepping off the deck onto solid land left my brain scrambling to adapt to being stationary again. Even after spending more time on sea than land or air, my body still struggled with the change.

      My animal form pushed at me again, demanding to be released. He hated being trapped when I was on the boat and craved to feel the cool water through his fur. The storm was coming, but he'd have time for a quick dip now that we weren't on the edge of it. Except, I needed to get this research uploaded and start the computer analysis.

      "Not now. I'll shift soon, but not right now."

      He shoved at me one last time before he settled down. I finished uploading the data from the Foxy Lady, then headed into my attached house. Just like my boat, the house was specially designed with an open floor plan for the times when I shifted inside.

      "One of these days, Felix, you're going to lose the race against a storm." The familiar voice of Jaden echoed through the living room.

      "And one day you'll realize this is my house, not yours." I grumbled back at the panther shifter I considered a brother.

      We'd spent ten long years working as part of a small team for the shifter subdivision of the military. While most humans didn't know about us, there were select humans we worked with. When they'd learned shifters were real, they knew they'd need ops teams to help protect us from other nations who'd already incorporated them.

      "Su casa is mi casa or some shit like that." Jaden sat on my couch with a beer in his hand. "Besides, how are we going to find mates if I don't tell you about this cool dating event tonight."

      My beast threw itself to the surface at the idea of a mate. A mate? Where is she, I must find her!

      Wrangling him back until I was in full control again took several seconds.