Page 78 of Fastlander Phoenix

Silver lifted her chin higher into the air and stalked toward him. “Take it back.”

Owen jumped the porch railing and walked backward, hands out. “You’re being unreasonable.”

“I’munreasonablenow? Keep it up, Owen.” Silver’s voice had a gritty quality to it now, and she was pulling her shirt off. “Say it again.”

“I think she wants you to take back that she’s crazy,” Wreck advised.

“Fine!” Owen said, his voice echoing through the yard. “You aren’t sometimes crazy.” He turned and bolted for the woods. He yelled over his shoulder, “You’re all-the-time crazy!”

Her lioness ripped out of Silver and she went bolting after Owen, whose boar exploded from him at the edge of the woods.

Wreck would care more about his safety if he didn’t know how fast Owen was in his boar form. Silver wouldn’t catch him. And if she did, it would be because Owen wanted her to. He’d probably bone her in the woods somewhere.

Wreck rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. They hadn’t really been helpful, except Silver validating what he thought. Timber was thinking he cheated on her with some chick named Kendra.

He wasn’t even angry with her for accusing him. She hadn’t been yelling at him or cussing him out. She’d been calm, and just stepped back. He was worried about her. He didn’t know why she thought this, but she was a smart woman with a good head on her shoulders. It was a misunderstanding, but he hated that she was hurting right now, thinking something about him that wasn’t true.

His protective instincts were up, and now his skin was heating up.

Calm down and think.

He exhaled slowly, hands on his hips as he stared at his truck. Maybe she was at a bar? Hell, he didn’t know what girls did when they were hurt. He just knew what guys would do, and a bar was the fix. Maybe she went to a friend’s house? Or…her sister. Maybe she went up to the hospital to see Sasha.

He strode for his truck, all loaded down with the supplies he’d bought this morning to repair his house. He unloaded it quickly just to pull some weight off his truck, so he could get to her faster.

He hopped into the truck and sped down the road.

He was going to fix it. Whatever had happened, and whatever had convinced her he would hurt her like that, he was going to fix it and take that insecurity away from her.

She should know how he felt. He’d been trying to show her, but maybe he wasn’t good at saying the words she needed to hear.

Timber was everything.

She should know she was everything.

The trip to the hospital was the longest of his life. He had no idea where Sasha lived, so he was hoping she was on-shift. Maybe he should stop by Timber’s house again? It was getting darker out, the sun was setting over the mountains.No, just go check in and see if she’s with Sasha.

Sasha had hung out with them a couple times already, so he recognized her car in the parking lot. He took a quick look around all three lots, but he didn’t see Timber’s. Crap.

Sasha would probably know what was happening though, right? Maybe? He didn’t fuckin’ know. Did girls talk about this kind of stuff? Shit, maybe Sasha would think he was crazy.

Well, you know what? He was! He was a freaking phoenix shifter, last of his kind, who had bonded to a human, so yeah, he was fucking crazy. He felt so much right now, just thinking his mate thought he was looking at other women.

He parked by Sasha’s car, and strode up to the hospital. His skin was burning. God, usually he didn’t feel the heat this much, but he felt raw and open. He just wanted to see Timber, and hug her, and put her little heart at ease, and then maybe she could conjure the green flames that would cool off his skin.

Inside and down a few hallways, he had to sneak in past a locked door to get to the section of the hospital Timber had said Sasha worked in. The doctor that accidentally let him in with his ID badge yelled, “Hey! Stop right there.”

But Wreck didn’t care. He turned as the man began following, and told him calmly, “I wouldn’t.”

Whatever he saw in Wreck’s face, it made the doctor halt immediately. “I’m calling security.”

“You can. I’m not here for any bad reasons. I’m looking for my sister-in-law to check on my wife.”

He didn’t know where that lie had come from, but it didn’t feel like a lie, and that part drew him up.

“Oh.” The doctor frowned. “Who are you looking for? Maybe I can help.”

“Sasha? Her sister is Timber. I can’t find her.”

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