Dead of Winter (Battle of the Bulls #2) - T. S. Joyce Page 0,31

get out of a mud pit, and Quickdraw had made it out front. He cut sharply and settled in front of Dead.

“I don’t think so, Quickdick,” he muttered, taking his hand from Raven’s thigh to turn the wheel sharp. He aimed for a slope on the left and caught better traction. He was still fishtailing, but he was going fast enough now that it made her stomach do a flip like she was on a roller coaster.

She was yelling for him, cheering for him as they caught up to Quickdraw, who was now on their right.

He flipped them off out the window, and Dead did the same to him just as he found another gear and blasted past him on higher, drier ground. They made it to the edge of the clearing first, but Dead wasn’t done. When he cut hard to the right, his back end spun out. They spun in circle after circle, spraying a rooster tail of mud as Raven held onto the oh-shit bar for dear life, her breath trapped in her throat. Dead was yelling a victory battle cry as they spun and spun and spun. When he slowed and came out of the donut, Quickdraw was doing a wide loop around them and Two Shots was doing donuts in the middle of the field. It was like a dance.

“God, I love this,” she huffed out, shaking with excitement and adrenaline.

“Your eyes,” Dead said as they rocked to a stop.

She searched his bright green ones. “What about them?”

He reached over and stroked his thumb gently across her cheek. “They’re beautiful.”

Confused, she popped down the sun visor and looked in the little mirror there. Her eyes were black as pitch. There wasn’t any white at all.

“Oh no,” she whispered, looking away. “I didn’t— I don’t—”

“You aren’t going to change,” Dead said with such confidence. “You’re going to keep having fun. You don’t even smell like fur. Your animal is having fun.”

Raven didn’t feel as sure as he sounded, though. She’d never gotten what she called “the demon eyes” and not changed before.

He leaned over suddenly and kissed her. Hand on the back of her neck, squeezing comfortingly, he moved his lips against hers, and that racing heartbeat of hers slowed.

He drew back and rested his forehead on hers. “It’s just me and you. Having fun. And if you got to the point where you had to change? Okay. That’s natural, and I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

Raven forced the words past her tightening vocal cords. “It’s not me I would worry about.”

His lips curved up in a handsome smile. “Then I wouldn’t let you hurt anyone. You trust me?”

She nodded. “I shouldn’t trust a stranger, but I do.”

Dead snorted. “Woman, you can’t use the stranger excuse anymore. I’ve met your parents. Now, hold onto your panties. We have company.”

“Company?” Her confusion lasted until she followed his gaze to the other side of the clearing they’d just raced across.

Four more trucks appeared out of the tree line. Five. Six. It must’ve been the other bulls and cowboys staying in the RV park.

“Ready to have some fun?” Dead asked.

Quickdraw had stopped right beside them. His truck was caked with mud, and his wipers were slowly scraping the thick stuff off his front windshield. He was facing the new players and revved his engine.

“I see ’em!” Quickdraw called.

In front of them, Two Shots was bogged down in mud and had gotten out to push while Cheyenne was behind the wheel and had the driver’s side door open, yelling directions to him and giving the truck some gas.

“Let’s go help them!” Raven said.

“Yes ma’am!” Dead hit the gas and made it to them in seconds. Quickdraw, too.

The boys skidded to a stop, and Raven, Dead, and Quickdraw bolted out of the trucks. The mud was shin-deep and hard to move in, but this was a rare benefit to being a cow shifter. Raven was strong.

“Need a big push!” Cheyenne yelled.

The other trucks were slipping and sliding toward them, and time wasn’t on their side!

Panting, Cheyenne slogged through the muck in her motorcycle boots, the boys on either side, and put her hands on the bumper.

“Hit the gas when we say!” Two shots called.

“One!” Dead yelled. “Two! Three!”

Raven put all her weight into that push, fear fueling her. Those trucks were getting closer. Too close!

The boys beside her pushed, too, and the truck moved. Forward…forward.

“Keep pushing!” Two Shots ordered.

Raven barely kept her balance as she pulled her boots through that deep