Page 64 of Fastlander Fealty

Owen’s face went blank.

“It’s a good thing,” she assured him. “I’m officially your neighbor.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I can come over for midnight snacks.”

Owen blinked slowly and deliberately.

“Yep,” she said excitedly. “Hallie showed me the place earlier and I’m paying rent and everything. No more Pride. Oh, and also?”

“Can there be any better news?” he demanded in a joking voice.

“Also, I bought nosebleed tickets for the Fastlanders to come with us tonight to the rodeo. And also, I’m pretty sure me and Hallie and Corey are going to be friends.” She canted her head. “And also, I’m happy.”

“This is the best day ever,” he told her.

“This is the best day ever!” she repeated excitedly.

“Gunner’s going to freak out.”

“Oh, Gunner’s totally going to flip out.”

“What the hell is going on?” Gunner barked from where he was exiting the huge logging machine.

“Don’t be mad, but she’s living with us now,” Hallie said. “I brought you brisket.”

Gunner’s bi-colored silver and blue gaze drifted from Silver to Hallie, and back to Silver again. “What did you do?”

“I might have started a war,” Silver said apologetically.

Gunner pinched the bridge of his nose and huffed a breath.

“But maybe not!” Hallie said, playing devil’s advocate. “Maybe she scared the Holland Pride away from war. There’s really no way for us to tell.”

Silver pointed to her and arched her eyebrows. “I might’ve stopped a war.”

“Maybe!” Corey chimed in.

“You too?” Gunner asked Corey. “Seriously?”

“Look, we’ve already decided we’re going to keep her—”

“Corey!” Gunner exclaimed. “That’s not up to you!”

“Hallie said we can keep her,” Corey argued, “And since she’s the one who lets you touch her boobies, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say we’re winning this one.”

Owen belted out a laugh beside Silver. “This is awesome. Look at his pissed-off face.”

“Look,” Hallie told her mate. “Eat some ribs, and some potato salad, maybe a few jalapeño poppers, a brisket sandwich or two, and then we can talk about this.”

Gunner was just glaring, arms crossed over his chest. The air felt so heavy for ten seconds of torturous silence before Gunner spoke again. “Is there fried okra?”

“I got a double order for you,” Hallie said, a smile breaking across her face.

Gunner glanced at Silver. “We will have a Crew meeting about this. Until then, I’m not talking about it anymore.”

As the Alpha headed toward the food Hallie had laid out on a blanket beside Corey’s car, Hallie tossed Silver a quick thumbs up behind his back.

This was a good thing, right? Gunner was at least considering it? And also, she was learning lessons—Bring food to big dominant male shifters, and get what you want. She looked at Owen and decided she needed to figure out all his favorite foods asap.

“I want to hear everything,” Owen said as he pulled a pair of slightly damp camp chairs out of the back of his truck, and set them up for him and Silver near the blanket.

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