Page 44 of Fastlander Fealty

“Stop!”

The animal quieted, and Owen huffed a breath and made his way back to the couch, turned up the evening news on the television that hung above his fireplace.

The news station showed the shaky cell phone footage of Wreck burning a line into the woods and across the river, and froze the frame just like they had a dozen times already. All it showed was a blur of something big, and dark. The humans around here had no idea what dwelled in these mountains. They thought Damon Daye was dangerous? If any of them knew what Wreck’s fire could do, they would build a fence around Damon’s Mountains and demand he not let any of his shifters loose.

Why the hell had the Blue Dragon insisted Wreck be a part of their Crew?

Bright side, no one could make out what he was. Not even Owen. It was just a smudgy shadow across the screen.

A knock sounded at the door.

“No!” Owen barked out, and turned the news up louder.

Someone had taken a stupid video of him fighting with Captain, and Silver was in the mix. Why had she gone after Owen? That part he still couldn’t work out.

She’d liked him, right? He’d felt it. His animal had felt it, but perhaps she was just a very good actress.

Owen remembered that text from Rook talking about how he missed Silver. The remote shattered in his hand. Shhhit. He frowned down at the shards of plastic. He hadn’t meant to do that.

The knock sounded again.

“What?” he roared.

“Don’t talk to me like that,” Corey yelled, shoving the door open.

“Sorry,” he murmured. “I’m having a bad night.”

“I have something to say.”

He stared at her and blinked slowly. “If this has anything to do with girl feelings, can you aim them at your mate? I’m a little under the weather.”

“I have an opinion.”

“Would you mind shooting me before you express it?”

Corey shut the door hard behind her and paced to the kitchen, picked up a pan and then put it down. She turned on the water in the sink, then turned it off.

“Can you say it fast so I can get back to my show?”

“The news doesn’t expose Wreck. He’s too fast for a human camera phone to pick up.”

“Fantastic story.”

“I don’t think Silver is okay,” she said suddenly, turning toward him.

The emotional look in her eyes shocked Owen into stillness. “She’s probably okay,” he murmured.

“That’s the thing,” Corey whispered thickly. “I don’t think she is.”

Oh fuck. The look on her face was pulling his boar to the surface.

Owen ran his hand down the scruff on his face and ran it through his hair, set the broken remote pieces onto the coffee table. Well, she had his attention. “Why do you say that?”

“I talked to her, and she was open and raw and vulnerable and I saw her tears, Owen. I saw her face. She’s horrible at her job.”

“I don’t understand.”

“She was supposed to come here and gather intel, but she didn’t ask us anything damning. And she answered everything I asked. Truthfully. And she showed me the messages Rook sent her, just to throw her own self under the bus, but she scrolled for so long, Owen and her responses weren’t there.”

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