Page 16 of Fastlander Fealty

“Now this is peaceful,” he rumbled.

She smiled up at the blue sky. “Peace is my favorite word.”

Owen leaned over to the floating cooler and pulled something out of the ice and handed it to her. It was a canned mango margarita, and she giggled when she saw him open the same flavor for himself. She liked that he could surprise her, and that he was unapologetically himself. There was something so sexy about a man who was confident in himself.

“I have an admission,” he said.

“Admit away.”

“Sometimes I pour these into other beer cans so the guys in the Crew don’t make fun of me.”

She leaned her head back and squinted at the sparse clouds above. “You should dare them to try it, and then they can secretly like them with you. Men love dares.”

She could feel him staring at her for a few silent moments, and then he uttered, “You’re a genius.”

“Thanks. Did you really mean what you said last night?”

“Which part?”

“The one about my scar being okay?”

“Hmm. Have you been thinking about it?”

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “It’s been on my mind. I’m not allowed to be proud of it where I’m from. It’s a huge shame. It’s the biggest shame a person can possibly have.”

Owen shrugged. “Everyone makes mistakes, and besides, sometimes mistakes turn out to be not-mistakes.”

She rolled her head toward him and frowned. What did he mean? Silver parted her lips to ask but he was pointing to a big falcon in a tree. “I know her.”

Her? A zing of something dark washed through her, but she didn’t understand. Was it jealousy? “Does she watch the river?” she asked, thinking it was a territory line thing.

“Nope. She’s watching me. She’s a Warlander.”

Silver’s frown deepened as they floated by the oversized, statue-still bird staring down at them.

“Does everyone watch everyone around here?” she asked.

“You worded that wrong. Everyone watches out for everyone around here. But yeah, if you are having and up-and-down time with your animal, you’ll get extra attention.”

“And you’re having an up-and-down time?”

“Not really, but the Fastlanders are still fighting a lot. Too much maybe. It feels normal to me, boars fight all the time, but I think the Blue Dragon is wanting us to settle faster.”

“The Blue Dragon. You mean Damon Daye?”

“Yep.”

“Why would he care if your Crew is fighting?”

“Why would you care?” Owen asked suddenly, eagle eyes jerking to her. The smile faded from his lips.

Her adrenaline wrenched up. He knew. He knew something was up.

“Just kidding,” he said lightly as the smile returned to his lips. “Relax, Silver. Today is all fun. Let that guard down and just forget everything outside of the river.”

As quietly as she could, she exhaled the shaky breath from her lungs.

That was easy for him to say. He wasn’t being tracked and watched by a manipulative, vengeful King. He was free. She frowned up at the falcon. Well, he was kind of free.

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