Page 10 of Fastlander Fealty

“I made a second reservation too. If you…you know.”

“You’re inviting me to go with you?”

“I thought maybe you could show me the ropes. If you want. No pressure. You don’t have to. Oh my gosh, I sound so silly right now. You are a stranger. I’m sorry. This is really forward, and I’m…” She parted her lips, but nothing else came out. She tried again. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” Truth.

Everything she’d been saying was the truth. Unless she could hide the lies just like she could hide her animal. Curious.

“Normally, I would be working.”

“Oh, right, I’m sorry.”

He frowned. That was the second apology she’d made for nothing in just a few sentences. He didn’t like that. “As it stands, the mountains are under a fire warning because it’s so hot right now, and we can’t run the machinery tomorrow.”

“Oh, so you’re some kind of construction worker?”

“Logger.”

Her pretty eyes went round. “Like a Lumberjack?”

“Sure. Maybe I’ll meet you there. We’ll see.”

She nodded like a little bobblehead. “Okay, thank you. I mean, that’s great. It’s a maybe.” She began backing away, nearly stumbled on the heel of her sneaker, and righted herself. There was a blush in her cheeks as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “Ha. Clumsy me. Okay, I’m going to leave now. Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow. Or maybe not! No pressure. Maybe I’ll never see you again! Ha.” She seemed nervous and jittery, but there was no way a woman as pretty as her didn’t have any game with men. This had to be an act, right?

He watched her walk jerkily toward a little silver car and get inside. He watched her rest her forehead on the steering wheel and talk to herself, and bump her head twice on it before she rested her head back against the seat, and look heavenward. She heaved the biggest sigh.

Silver wasn’t what Lucia had described was coming for the Fastlanders.

She was different. Not a proper hunter like he’d expected, but filled with uncertainty instead. She didn’t make any damn sense.

Silver was still talking to herself when she looked over at him, realized he could still see her and she froze, pursed her lips, and hung her head as she pulled her seatbelt on.

Then she turned on her car, gave him a little wave, and drove out of the parking lot.

And now he was having second thoughts about what he would tell the Crew tonight.

There was something growing inside of him that told him to protect her.

She’s dangerous. He could hear Lucia’s voice in his head so clearly.

He didn’t know about dangerous to a Crew of monsters like the Fastlanders, but she was certainly confusing.

Chapter Three

What was she allowed to do?

Silver sat gingerly onto the couch and scanned the small den of the cabin she’d rented. It was so quiet here compared to the constant chaos and yelling of her Pride home. She heard the pitter-patter of miniature feet and turned her head to see if she could see the mouse. It must’ve been in the wall because her sensitive eye-sight caught no movement.

The ticking of a grandfather clock in the corner was deafening in the quiet. Silver wrung her hands. She had walked around the cabin, making sure the windows were locked, noting all the exits. Earlier, she’d gone grocery shopping, and all of her food was put away neatly into the pantry and the refrigerator.

She looked over at a bottle of red wine she’d bought for herself. She hadn’t known why she’d bought it. She didn’t even like wine, but one time while she was free, she’d had a glass of wine with a friend and it had been…nice. Peaceful. Lately she craved those moments of peace, and perhaps this was it.

The fireplace was a wood-burning one, so she made her way to it and shoved a few pieces of newspaper under the pre-made triangle of wood stacked in there. She lit it and waited for it to catch before she made her way to the kitchen. She’d bought one of those cheap twist cap wines and opened it easily. Her friend had told her sometimes she would need to let wine breathe, whatever that meant. Silver had watched her, and she’d opened a bottle and let it sit there for a couple minutes before she poured it, so that’s what Silver did now.

While she waited, she pulled a glass from the cupboard, and stared at the clock for three minutes, and then poured the glass half-full.

She sipped it, and truthfully it wasn’t horrible. She preferred a nice dark soft-drink, but this was sort of nice, being alone and sinking into that peaceful moment she’d longed for.

Her phone lit up and she squeezed her eyes tightly closed. Of course Rook would sense her happiness and ruin it.

---