Page 29 of Fastlander Fealty

Silver stood and he steadied her out as she chugged the beer, then tossed the empty down on the floor. “Cannonball!” she yelled, and then jumped over Owen and tucked her knees mid-air, and splashed him with her wave.

He belted out a laugh and waited for her to break the surface. When she did, she said excitedly, “I haven’t ever done this before!”

“A cannonball?” he asked through his grin.

“No! Any of this!”

And he could see it now. Her smile was unhindered, and there wasn’t that carefulness behind her soft brown eyes anymore. It looked like a weight had lifted off her shoulders. Was it the honesty? Was it the admissions? Was it the realization that her time here was limited and she needed to enjoy every moment? Was it the truce? Was it the knowledge that Rook, or whatever his stupid name was, couldn’t reach her here, in this moment? He truly couldn’t. She was safe.

It did something good to his insides to see a glimpse of the real Silver. He bet she was fun as hell before the Pride politics got ahold of her.

He reached out just to grip her waist again, because he liked the feel of her skin in his grasp. Her grin widened as she treaded water.

“You’re pretty fun, kitty.”

Her single belted laugh echoed through the river’s clearing. “That’s not something anyone says about me.”

“Your friends sound lame.”

She giggled. “What friends?”

Owen scrunched up his face and tried not to think about her going back to that. “Rule of the day, we don’t have to talk about your stupid Pride anymore. Today you’re free and you’re good. Whatever happens today is meant to happen, just breathe and enjoy it.”

The smile faded from her lips and returned slower. “Deal.” She lifted her gaze to the girls on the raft. “Are you ladies coming in?”

Hallie stood immediately and drank down her can, and then peeled her oversized T-shirt off, exposing a green bikini with little rhinestones all over it. She followed Silver’s lead, and cannonballed right beside Owen.

Corey took longer to decide, but that was okay. She and Hallie had been through hell with Hallie’s ex stalking her, and she was a new bear shifter. There were some mighty big instincts involved in that. Owen could tell she didn’t like Silver anywhere near Hallie or Ace, but she also wasn’t posting up like she was before, and progress was progress.

Corey waited a few minutes before she joined the rest of the Crew in the water, and for the next hour they floated, and drank, and jabbed at each other. Silver was the quietest, but that was understandable. She’d had a tiff with him, been busted on why she was really here, and then faced off with one of the girls, and Owen imagined that up-and-down roller coaster on her emotions was draining. Plus, she was right in the middle of a bunch of dominant stranger-shifters. At least she was hanging with it. She was laughing often enough, and God, that smile she wore could make a man’s heart miss a beat or two.

He stayed close to her. Couldn’t help it. Owen didn’t like how Captain kept messing with her, hitting on her just to get to Owen. He was paying way too much attention to Silver, and it wrenched up something protective in Owen. He hated it, but what was he going to do? He had one day to deal with Captain poking at him by using Silver, and then Silver wouldn’t be here anymore.

Captain would have to find another game to play, and Owen would probably gut him, just like he’d nearly accomplished in the fight last night.

Captain didn’t know him well enough to truly understand what he was poking at. Owen had always been patient, but when he snapped? It was bad and there was no control. His dad had named him Sticks when he was a kid, in reference to a stick of dynamite. He had a long fuse, but when it blew? Owen would create a crater that swallowed up everything and everyone involved in pissing him off.

Captain was going to learn that sooner or later. Currently, he was working on ‘sooner.’

From the calculating look on Gunner’s face as he kept watching Owen, he was catching on faster than his idiot brother. As an Alpha, he should probably put a stop to it, but as Captain’s brother? With their long history of hating each other? Owen bet Gunner would cheer him on and flip off Captain’s carcass when Owen was done bleeding him.

Bad combination.

One. Day. If Owen could keep his cool, just for today, everything would be all right.

“I got an extra ticket to the rodeo,” Captain said to Silver.

Owen rolled his eyes closed and inhaled deep to steady the roar that threatened to crawl up the back of his throat.

“Captain, enough,” Owen murmured.

“Gotta shoot my shot, man,” Captain said through a baiting grin. “I can see the sign to get out of the river. The float is almost done.”

Silver was draped over the side of the raft with the other two girls, just relaxing. “The rodeo where the bull shifters are bucking?”

“You’ve heard about it?” Captain asked.

Owen was floating beside Silver, his hand on the raft, and he leaned his forehead against the cool, wet surface, closed his eyes for a three-count to retain his patience. Captain was really asking her out, and right in front of him.

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