Page 60 of Fastlander Fealty

She blew out a breath, and finished it. “I won’t be coming back. I’m going rogue. I thought about just running, but I don’t need to play that game again. This is me saying it to your face. I don’t want to be one of your Queens. I don’t care that Katrina has been elevated above me. I don’t care that I’m at the bottom of the Pride, and I don’t care about digging out of that.” Her lip trembled and she looked up at Hallie, squatted down and held the phone closer to her mouth as she admitted in a murmur, “My favorite thing about myself is the scar on my face.”

Hallie knelt in front of Silver, and she held the phone between them in her shaking hand as Hallie held onto her wrists and searched her eyes. She was nodding. It’s going to be okay, she seemed to be saying, and God, Silver was so glad Hallie was here while she was doing this. It gave her strength.

There was a heavy silence that hung in the air, and Silver waited, trying to steady her breathing so Rook wouldn’t hear the shake in her lungs.

“You’re different.”

“I was always different.”

“Did you fuck one of them?” he asked.

That was none of his business. “Please forget I exist.”

“Silver!” he roared. “Did. You. Fuck. One of them?”

She felt compelled to answer. He was her King. He had a bond to her lioness. He’d been in control of so much of her thought process for so long. She parted her lips to admit it, but Hallie shook her head and grabbed the phone.

“Rook, is it?” she asked, standing. “This is Hallie, the Second of the Fastlanders, the mate of Gunner. You’re no longer Silver’s King and have no right demanding answers to questions she doesn’t have to answer. You cut her face, you piece of shit. No forgivesies. She has the protection of the Fastlanders now. If you come for Silver, I will remove the leash from all of our people, and there will be nothing but a crater where you used to exist. She’s going to block this number now. Haunt her, and we will fucking kill you.” Truth. Truth. Motherfucking truth.

Chills covered Silver’s entire body as Hallie hung up and poked some buttons on her phone. “He’s blocked now.”

“He’ll find me,” Silver uttered in shock, imagining how badly he was losing his mind right now.

“Well, he knows exactly where he can find you. Here.” Hallie handed her back the phone, and Silver didn’t understand the tears in the Second’s eyes as she knelt in front of her to be eye level. “Do you know how I came to be here?”

Her emotions were overwhelming right now. Silver shook her head. “No.”

This place was a sanctuary from my ex, who wouldn’t stop hunting me. I see you, Silver. I know what that fear is. I understand the habits you form from running, and never feeling safe to connect with people. It’s going to be okay. Not at first, you are going to feel like you are floating in a tailspin out in outer space for a bit, while you try to learn how to be ‘normal’ again. Eventually, things are going to make more sense to you. I see you, Silver.” She leaned forward and pulled her into a back-cracking hug, and Silver melted into it. She didn’t know why she was crying, and she didn’t know why it turned to sobbing. It just felt so damn good to have someone here during this moment who truly understood.

“Fuck your ex,” Silver said thickly.

“Fuck your ex too,” Hallie said with an emotion-filled laugh, and then released her, held her at arms’ length and searched Silver’s face. “Grab your luggage.”

“You’re making me leave?” she asked in a small voice.

Hallie shook her head. “No. The opposite.”

Confused, Silver did as she asked and grabbed her suitcase from beside the door, then followed Hallie outside and across the clearing to the singlewide trailer right beside her and Gunner’s home. Next to the door, there was a house number. It was a crooked one and then zero-one-zero. She recognized the numbers from beside Owen’s door.

“Why are all the mobile homes here numbered the same way?” she asked.

Hallie pushed the door open and smiled back at her. “You’ll learn all about the importance of ten-ten here. It means sanctuary. This is supposed to be Wreck’s trailer, but he chooses to live separately.”

“That’s a probably a good thing,” Silver said, wiping her damp eyes. “He’s terrifying.”

“Right? From my own experience, I think you should have your own space while you are figuring out which way is up. And no pressure to stay either. You could stay as long as you need and not feel trapped in a life. If you stay here, it gives you and Owen a chance to date if you want to, you know? You aren’t forced to depend on him, or anyone else.”

Understanding now what Hallie was saying, Silver stepped inside of the singlewide mobile home and looked around. There was a mattress in the living room with a sheet set and comforter folded up on the foot of the bed. The kitchen was bare, and there was nothing on the white walls. It was a completely new beginning.

“I know it’s just an old singlewide—”

“It’s perfect,” Silver choked out. “I make money. I have a good job. I can pay rent.”

“Would it make you feel better to pay rent?”

“Yes. I want to be independent.”

Hallie smiled and nodded. “How does twenty-five dollars a day sound? That’s about seven-hundred a month. No contract or anything, just stay here as you need. You can leave at any time.”

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