Page 25 of Fastlander Fealty

Females were complicated, but also, he was complicated. He’d been in a war with himself over whether to hate her, or try to understand her since the moment she’d showed up at Moosey’s. It had been the most confusing day. He hadn’t slept at all last night, his body was sore as hell this morning from fighting half the damn Crew at the meeting, Lucia had texted him twice this morning that he was “getting colder,” and now he was doggy-paddling after a female who was definitely here to get himself and his Crew killed. And now his boar was talking in complete sentences.

Everything was on fire.

By the time he dragged the innertubes and cooler float to the Fastlanders, Silver was already talking to them. He’d missed the first part, and Corey and Hallie looked pissed.

“There wasn’t a sign-up sheet,” Silver was saying.

“And yet you’re here!” Corey’s voice echoed through the river clearing.

“Corey,” Owen warned.

“I don’t need your help,” Silver said while Corey yelled, “She doesn’t need your help!”

Ace pulled a face at Owen and then slowly slid out of their raft and into the water. The females were popping hard, and Ace made his way to Owen to hang onto one of the innertubes with him and watch from a safe distance.

Captain nearly fell off his blow-up mattress trying to paddle it to the innertubes, so that dulled the volume of Silver and Corey’s voices a little.

Silver climbed up into the raft too gracefully to be human, and faced off with Corey, but she had her hands out, like she was trying to calm her. “I’ll leave tonight.”

“You should’ve never come!” Corey barked out.

“That’s what she said,” Captain whispered under his breath.

“Dude, shut up,” Ace ground out.

“This is kind of hot,” Owen pointed out.

“What is wrong with you?” Gunner asked frowning down at him from his kayak he shared with Hallie.

“So much,” Owen assured him.

Hallie turned and sighed at her mate, told Gunner, “I’m going to talk to them,” and slid out of the kayak to make her way toward the big raft.

“Oh God, this is getting better,” Captain murmured, smacking loudly on something edible.

Owen looked over at him and the idiot was eating out of a bag of beef jerky. “You got snacks?” Owen asked.

Without even looking away from the girl argument, Captain offered a good-sized piece of jerky, which Owen accepted, naturally.

There was more yelling. Corey was working up to a fire, and now Hallie was trying to calm her down.

Gunner turned to Owen. “If Corey guts her, I’m not stopping it. And if you try to stop it, I’ll let her drown you.”

“You’re a terrible fuckin’ Alpha.”

“No shit!” Gunner whisper-screamed. “I said that from day one. I don’t know why any of you signed up for this.”

“I don’t want you anywhere near him!” Corey yelled.

“Near Owen? He’s fine!” Silver barked back.

“Not Owen! I’m talking about Ace!”

Silver flinched back with a frown, and yanked her sunglasses off her face “Okay.”

She glanced at Ace, but Corey yelled, “Don’t even look at him!”

Silver held her hands up in surrender and lowered her voice. “I’ve never met Ace. I’ve only heard stories of what he and his father did.”

---