Page 73 of Fastlander Fealty

“Because he will come after us.”

Owen pressed his forehead against hers and then gripped her hair at the sides of her neck gently. “I asked Mason what I could do to reassure you that you are safe. That we are good. He said you should understand what is behind you.”

“What is behind me,” she whispered, looking out at all of these powerful people, who had such a huge legacy built in the shifter community.

“The Fastlanders aren’t alone, Silver. Neither are you.”

“We took the vote,” Gunner called as Owen led her to the firepit. “If you want an official spot in the Fastlanders, you can have it.”

Silver clasped her hand over her mouth as the burning tears welled up in her eyes, and she looked from Gunner to Hallie, to Corey, Ace, and Captain, then to Owen. Wreck would be somewhere close. She had a theory that he was always watching.

“I can be one of your people?” she forced out.

Gunner nodded. “I’ll bond your animal to us tonight, after the celebration.”

“The celebration,” she whispered thickly.

It was Corey who spoke up. “Girl, we’ve been planning this. Just waiting for a day when the most people could make it out here. You’ve been one of us. Now it’ll be official.”

Utterly shocked, Silver dropped her gaze to the firepit and then looked up at Owen. “Is this okay with you?”

Owen laughed. Laughed!

“I’m being serious,” Silver said. “I have a traitor mark, and I’m new around here, and I’m an emotional rollercoaster sometimes, and—”

Owen quieted her by pressing his lips to hers. His hand rested gentle against the side of her neck, and when the chaos inside of her quieted to nothing, he eased back, a smile on his lips.

“Woman, I’m yours. I’ve been yours. I’m trying not to scare you off, but you can have what you want. Claiming mark, my last name, my fealty? Whatever will assure you that I’m yours? You can have it.”

“You want to be mine?” she eeked out in a small voice. “For always?”

“Yes. Easy answer.”

She nodded and looked around at all the people setting up tables and food and talking, and waiting to greet her. “I have an admission. I have been practicing your last name on my first name with my calligraphy pens.”

He belted out a laugh. “I guess we’re on the same page then.”

And how beautiful to be chosen in such a way. He’d seen her at her worst, seen her insecure, seen her hate the person she was. He had seen her when he had no reason to trust her, and he’d watched her grow, and he wanted to stick around for all of it. He wasn’t choosing her because of her genetics or because of how her lioness fought, or because she was some sort of trophy, or something to control. He was choosing her knowing her old people were planning something awful. He was telling her she was safe. He was building a fortress around her, with the keepers of Damon’s Mountains.

She loved him. God, she loved that man.

Tears streamed from her eyes as she lifted her gaze to Gunner, her Alpha, and nodded. “Yes.”

She’d thought getting herself a printer was going to be the highlight of the day, but it didn’t even touch this feeling of absolute acceptance, from her mate—and yes, she knew her feelings were right, Owen was her mate—and from the Fastlanders, and also from the other Crews in Damon’s Mountains.

Whatever came for them, she couldn’t control that, and Owen was right. She couldn’t live in fear. She had to trust that the Mountains had her. And she had to trust in herself that she would protect these Mountains with the same fierceness.

There was too much that was important here.

She hugged Owen tight and then fell into Hallie and Corey’s embraces. Hallie had tears in her eyes that matched Silver’s, and Corey was wearing the happiest smile. Then she began the process of greeting the others who had come to throw a big party out here in the territory of the Fastlanders.

In her Pride, Silver had felt utterly alone.

But standing here in the heart of Fastlander territory, with Owen at her side—always at her side—and her friends cheering on her every triumph, Silver knew without the shadow of a doubt that she would never feel alone again.

She was not Silver of the Holland Pride any longer.

Now, she was Silver of the Fastlanders.

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