Chapter Four

Truth be told, Silver had bought this bathing suit when she'd been free from the Pride. She'd run away, and started a new life in hiding, and spent months building up her confidence, and she'd almost gotten to the point where she could rock a bikini.

She'd never actually worn this though, and now she was definitely feeling self-conscious. She tugged her long-sleeved white linen shirt tighter around her, covering herself completely from neck to knees in the morning sunshine.

She wore oversized sunglasses and had purchased a waterproof bag at the little store where she picked up the innertubes, so she could store her keys and wallet.

"Ten minutes!" the bus driver called as other families began piling their innertubes onto a huge rack on the back.

Silver didn't know if she needed one or two innertubes though, so she would have to wait.

Owen wasn't showing. She'd told him to be here at 10:10, but it was 10:25 and he still wasn't here.

She couldn't describe the disappointment swirling around inside of her.

It was okay. Really it was. She could float the river all by herself. She would just tag along behind some of the nice families and figure out where to get out of the river, and everything would be just fine. Probably.

Her anxiety wrenched up. There was so much chaos of parents sternly guiding their kids onto the bus, and the bus driver talking loudly about how there was only five minutes left, and cars were filing into the gravel parking lot next to the innertube rental place and none of them were the truck she remembered Owen having, and everything was terrible.

Rook had messaged her three times this morning, asking for updates. And then he'd sent her a picture with his newest mate, Katrina, in her Queen ceremony, which was apparently happening today, which also meant even if she was reinstated as a Queen, she would forever be put under not only Rook, but also Katrina now. She had been her best friend once. God, Rook was collecting Queens. The entire Pride would be partying today, like they had once upon a time for her ceremony. It was important that she got back to her real life with the Pride. She watched the happy families bustling around her. Yeah. Very important.

"Load up!" the bus driver called.

Silver couldn't wait any longer. Owen wasn't coming.

She forced a smile at the bus driver and set one of the innertubes back in the pile beside her and carried hers to the huge rack piled high with them in the back of the bus, where the driver was tying them down with bungee cords.

The skid of gravel sounded and she turned, startled.

A pickup truck peeled into the parking lot and she stood frozen as she watched Owen get out, and rush around the back to yank the tailgate down.

"Oh, he's with me!" she said to the bus driver as she rushed to grab the innertube for Owen. She put it on the rack and the driver began securing it with the others.

Owen was wearing bright green swim trunks, no shirt, just scars and muscles all on display, and a backwards baseball cap with sunglasses, and a streak of white sunscreen down his nose. He carried a little cooler and a backpack that looked waterproof. That man strode toward her with the confidence of a demigod.

His greeting grin settled every ounce of anxiety inside of her.

"You look so damn cute," he said as he settled a baseball hat over her head.

It pushed her sunglasses down her nose a little, so she shoved them back up and grinned up at him. "Hi."

He laughed. "Hi. Sorry I'm late." He looked up at the bus driver. "You got room for this back here?" he asked, holding up the little blue cooler.

"Absolutely. This is the only cooler on this trip. Looks like you know what you're doing. You a local?"

"Yep," Owen said, settling the cooler onto the back corner of the rack to be secured down. "I appreciate you!" he called as he pulled Silver by the hand toward the door of the bus.

She stared in shock at their hands. Hers was so petite compared to his big strong one wrapped so confidently around hers. He was holding her hand. He was really holding her hand! A fluttering sensation consumed her stomach.

He pulled her onto the bus and sat right in the front seat behind the driver. She settled beside him, and tried not to freak out.

He wasn't wearing a shirt, and he was huge and had lots of muscles, and everyone was paying attention to him, and he was smiling over at her, and everything was wild. He was really here! With her!

She pointed to the angry red cuts on his chest and shoulder that were already half-healed, thanks to his shifter healing. "Those look much better."

"I got up and ate three times last night. That helps. Plus boars have extremely fast healing."

"Oh you're a boar shifter," she said lightly, like she didn't already know. "Why is your healing faster than others?"

"Probably because all boars do is fight, so the evolution of our kind took one look at us idiots and said, ‘they need to heal fast, or they'll all be dead within two generations.'"

She giggled at the self-deprecating way he spoke of himself and his people. She liked that he didn't take things too seriously.

The chatter of the bus wasn't as overwhelming as she'd thought it would be. Everyone was happy and here for a good time, and the kids were excited, especially a little girl across the aisle from them of age six or seven. She had a little pink life jacket on, and her dad was telling her all about the fun they would have on the river.

"Did you eat?" Owen asked.

The question interrupted her watching the father and daughter.

"Oh, I had coffee for breakfast."

Owen snorted and pulled a footlong sandwich from his backpack.

"That sandwich is huge."

"That's what she said. That's why I was late. The sandwich place didn't open until ten apparently. You have to try it."

"Oh, do you want to eat half?"

Owen snorted and pulled out another one. "I have two more in there in case we get hungry on the river. I hope you like roast beef."

Her mouth watered. "Um, I freaking love roast beef," she murmured as she opened up the packaging.

"We've got a good drive up the river, so you have plenty of time. You don't have to rush it," he told her.

She took a big bite and rolled her eyes closed at the explosion of flavor in her mouth. There was some kind of dressing on the sandwich that was to die for. "Oh my God," she groaned.

When she opened her eyes, he was watching her face, with this soft smile plastered to his lips.

"I like your hat," she said around the bite. Some of his blond hair was poking out of the hole of his backwards baseball cap, and she thought he just looked so handsome.

"Yours is pretty cute on you too," he said, flicking the brim down.

She grinned around her mouth full of food and pulled it off, looked at the pink and brown logo. Kong's Lumber. She put it on her head backwards, like he wore his. Okay, she thought she was going to be nervous around him today, like when she'd talked to him in the parking lot yesterday, but the text conversation last night had done her good. She just felt happy and excited—like she was going on an adventure with a friend, which was crazy, because again, she barely knew him.

The drive was long enough for them to finish their lunch in plenty of time. She made a mental note of the name on the sandwich wrapper, so she could go try more of their sandwiches while she was in town, and they were able to exit first off the bus.

Owen unloaded both of their innertubes and the cooler off to the side of the entry ramp to the river, but pulled some sunscreen out and told her to take off her cover-up.

Oooh here it went. Silver couldn't help the nervousness as she struggled awkwardly out of the oversized white linen shirt and stuffed it into her waterproof bag.

When she stood back up, Owen was just staring at her.

"Holy. Shit," he uttered.

She cleared her throat and wrapped her arms around her stomach. "I've never worn this one before."

"You should wear it every day. This should be your entire wardrobe."

A giggle escaped her. A giggle! From her! She hesitated a few more seconds, and then dropped her hands and struck a goofy little pose.

"Trust me, by the end of this float, you will feel perfectly at home in a swimsuit," he assured her. "Look around. No one cares. Everyone is all shapes and sizes, we are here to have fun, not model on a runway."

"You look like a model," she pointed out, her voice dying off at the end.

Owen surprised her and flexed, and then struck another pose and flexed again. "I've been working out."

"Really?"

"No. I just run around the forest a lot, and get in stupid fights with other shifters, and it somehow keeps me in shape. Wait here and I'll get our cooler tied off to our floats."

"Oh, okay," she murmured, watching him drag a bunch of their gear into the water.

"That is a sight to see," a woman murmured distractedly from about ten feet away as she stared at Owen. She wore a high waisted bikini set and a visor, and she had curves in all the right places, and a four-year-old in a life jacket clinging to her leg.

"Of course you would be looking at him, Muriel," her husband groused from where he was preparing a large party raft he was blowing up with a battery-operated air pump. "You want to help?"

"No," Muriel drawled out in a dreamy voice as she continued to stare at Owen. "You've got this, honey."

Silver pursed her lips against a laugh. Indeed, Owen was attracting a lot of attention as he roped together their two innertubes, as well as the floating cooler that he'd somehow come up with a little floatie for from his pack. He looked up at her and grinned. "Ready?"

"I would tie my float to his," she heard another woman say from the river's edge.

Owen sure did attract attention, but he seemed unaffected by it.

He held the float steady for her as she sat into it, and then dragged them out into deeper waters where the current was stronger, and hopped up into his own. He nearly tipped, and she lurched forward to steady his and nearly dumped out right along with him.

Silver was still getting used to the sound of her own laughter. She'd missed it.

She was soaking wet by the time they were both loaded into their innertubes and floating at a crisp pace around the other families. They all started spreading out pretty quickly and giving each other space, and within ten minutes, she and Owen were laid back relaxing with nary a soul around them.

"Now this is peaceful," he rumbled.

She smiled up at the blue sky. "Peace is my favorite word."

Owen leaned over to the floating cooler and pulled something out of the ice and handed it to her. It was a canned mango margarita, and she giggled when she saw him open the same flavor for himself. She liked that he could surprise her, and that he was unapologetically himself. There was something so sexy about a man who was confident in himself.

"I have an admission," he said.

"Admit away."

"Sometimes I pour these into other beer cans so the guys in the Crew don't make fun of me."

She leaned her head back and squinted at the sparse clouds above. "You should dare them to try it, and then they can secretly like them with you. Men love dares."

She could feel him staring at her for a few silent moments, and then he uttered, "You're a genius."

"Thanks. Did you really mean what you said last night?"

"Which part?"

"The one about my scar being okay?"

"Hmm. Have you been thinking about it?"

"Yeah," she said quietly. "It's been on my mind. I'm not allowed to be proud of it where I'm from. It's a huge shame. It's the biggest shame a person can possibly have."

Owen shrugged. "Everyone makes mistakes, and besides, sometimes mistakes turn out to be not-mistakes."

She rolled her head toward him and frowned. What did he mean? Silver parted her lips to ask but he was pointing to a big falcon in a tree. "I know her."

Her? A zing of something dark washed through her, but she didn't understand. Was it jealousy? "Does she watch the river?" she asked, thinking it was a territory line thing.

"Nope. She's watching me. She's a Warlander."

Silver's frown deepened as they floated by the oversized, statue-still bird staring down at them.

"Does everyone watch everyone around here?" she asked.

"You worded that wrong. Everyone watches out for everyone around here. But yeah, if you are having and up-and-down time with your animal, you'll get extra attention."

"And you're having an up-and-down time?"

"Not really, but the Fastlanders are still fighting a lot. Too much maybe. It feels normal to me, boars fight all the time, but I think the Blue Dragon is wanting us to settle faster."

"The Blue Dragon. You mean Damon Daye?"

"Yep."

"Why would he care if your Crew is fighting?"

"Why would you care?" Owen asked suddenly, eagle eyes jerking to her. The smile faded from his lips.

Her adrenaline wrenched up. He knew. He knew something was up.

"Just kidding," he said lightly as the smile returned to his lips. "Relax, Silver. Today is all fun. Let that guard down and just forget everything outside of the river."

As quietly as she could, she exhaled the shaky breath from her lungs.

That was easy for him to say. He wasn't being tracked and watched by a manipulative, vengeful King. He was free. She frowned up at the falcon. Well, he was kind of free.

"Twenty questions," he said. "I'll go first. If I didn't have chiseled abs, would you still be at the river with me?"

"Not a chance. I'm shallow," she teased.

"Lie." He pointed to his ear. "I bet you hear lies too, don't you?"

"I can," she admitted with a nod. "Actually, the muscle boys aren't really my type anymore."

"Oooh, you're into dad-bods now? Nice. Tell me the backstory on that."

She dragged her finger tips through the river water lazily. "I had a muscle boy, and he just uses that to attract other females. I would rather have loyalty than muscles."

He nodded slowly, eyes thoughtful on her. "I get that. There's very little value in a person who doesn't understand loyalty."

"Amen."

"Who is he?"

"It's complicated."

"Your boyfriend?" he asked, a frown drawing his blond brows lower under the hat.

"Once upon a time, he was supposed to be my mate, but currently he is…"

"Is what?"

"He's…" She searched for the right word for Rook. "He's my master. I owe him fealty."

A deep rumble emanated from Owen's chest, and it brought her out of her thoughts, and she realized what she'd just admitted to. She was talking about Rook! Openly! With one of the Fastlanders!

His eyes were such an unnaturally bright blue, she could see them glowing through the dark lenses of his sunglasses. He felt so heavy, and his face had grown sharper at her revelation.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

He ticked his head hard, in a shake. "Don't apologize when you aren't doing anything wrong." He removed his sunglasses, and put them into a little plastic pocket on the cooler innertube, then pushed his hat off and slid off the innertube and disappeared under the water, stayed there for twelve seconds while she internally freaked out. He reappeared near her feet and held onto her innertube, hands on either side of her thighs. He slicked his wet hair back out of his face and stared at the forest they were languidly floating by. "I don't like that word. I don't like the way you said ‘master.'"

"I could tell," she whispered. "I'm…" She barely resisted the urge to say sorry again.

Owen did something that shocked her completely. He turned and cupped her calves, and laid a light kiss on her shin as he treaded water with her pace in the current.

Just a peck of his lips and then he rested his hands on either side of her innertube again. "No one owns you. They don't have the right. I don't care who your people are."

His words were everything. They shifted something inside of her that had been crying for so long. He was saying it wasn't right to be owned. It wasn't right. All she'd heard from the Pride was that was the way it worked. It had never felt right, but it was the rules she had lived by for so long.

"What did you do to get the scar?" he asked.

And it was so tempting. Sooo tempting to tell him more about her real self. About her real life, but she'd just exposed parts of her relationship with Rook that she could get another mark for.

"You're playing the game wrong. It's my turn to ask a question."

"Fine. Yes, I have a big dick."

"Oh my gosh!" she whisper-screamed, looking around to make sure there were no families with kids too close. They were alone in this part of the river. "That's not the question I was going to ask!"

"Yes, I know how to be gentle when I fuck you, but no it won't stay that way unless you ask."

"Owen," she said on a breath, her cheeks on fire.

"Do you like it rough?" he asked, and she could see the hint of that teasing grin.

"You are trying to frazzle me."

"Frazzle? Nice vocab word, are you a nerd?"

"A nerd?"

"You got straight A's in school, didn't you?"

"Oh, definitely not," she assured him with a laugh. "I was homeschooled with my brother, Jaren, and I had focus problems."

"Like what kind of focus problems?" he asked curiously.

"Like I wanted to fight Jaren all the time. He was freaking annoying."

Owen snorted and kicked his legs, turned them in a slow circle, dragging the other attached floats with them. "I used to want to fight my brothers too. All fourteen of them."

She giggled trying to imagine how wild his upbringing must've been. "Did you live in a big house?"

"Hell no. My parents didn't have two dimes to rub together. Numbers give power though, and they were all right with the support of their Sounder."

"Sounder?"

"It's like a Crew for my people. For my old people," he corrected.

"You don't consider your family your people anymore?"

He shrugged. "Those are complicated feelings. I don't think I ever considered them my people. I was different."

She leaned back and dragged her fingertips through the water again as he spun them slowly in the current. "Black sheep of the family?" she guessed.

"Something like that. They all wanted to fight for power in the Sounder, and worshipped the leaders there, and I looked up to someone different."

"Damon Daye?"

"Nope. His right-hand man, Mason. The Boarlander Beast Boar. He was making a name for himself with the Blue Dragon back in the early days shifters went public."

Well this was interesting. She sat up straighter. "How did you hear about him?"

"Do you remember the lumberjack wars when we were kids?"

She shook her head no.

"Well, the Crews of Damon's Mountains would compete against each other in these lumberjack wars. There were a bunch of games in the competitions, and Mason was competing for the Boarlanders the year my Sounder made a big trip up to watch."

"You all went?"

"Yeah, and it was a shit-show. Almost every adult male was drunk out of their minds and fighting everyone by noon on the first day of the games. Two of my uncles got arrested for stealing. My dad got in a fight with Matt Barns."

"Wait, Matt Barns, the mate of Willa? Did your dad live?"

Owen huffed a chuckle. "Barely. Anyway, that was all a mess, but I remember I was bickering with my siblings and I went off on my own just to get away from the chaos, and I saw them—the Boarlanders. It was Kirk, and Clinton, and Harrison and their mates, and then there was Mason, hanging off to the side, and he just looked bigger than life. My animal recognized another boar, and when he looked over at me, I thought he would go after me. He's the Beast Boar after all. But he didn't. I'll never forget it. He got this little smile and he nodded his head in a greeting. Took me an hour to build up the courage to ask for his autograph, and he felt heavy as hell. I knew he could take any one of the males in my Sounder, but he stayed away from it all. He just seemed to be good where he was, on the outskirts. He was throwing jabs with the other males of the Boarlanders, but I was listening. They were…friends. He signed this napkin for me, and then gave me a fist bump, and then I secretly cheered him on at the next three events he was entered in. He was so cool. Just chill. Big and dominant and could maim anyone he wanted to, but he didn't need to showboat like other dominant boars usually do. He was just secure with his place in the world." Owen's eyes had taken a faraway look while he'd been talking about that memory. "Anyway, my siblings were squabbling over rank in the Sounder, while I was counting down the days until I could leave. No boars leave a Sounder. No boars even want to. Black sheep of the family is accurate."

"Clearly Mason wanted to leave his Sounder," she pointed out.

"I don't really know his story. Couldn't ever figure it out. Maybe his Sounder all died or something. War is pretty normal for us."

"You haven't talked to him since you came here?"

"Chhh, no. He's quiet and sticks to the Blue Dragon, his family, and the Boarlanders. I rarely even see him."

This was all so interesting. "So, the Crews of Damon's Mountains stay separate?"

He frowned and looked off into the woods that lined the river. "Why do you ask?" There was a hardness to his tone that surprised her.

"Just curious," she said softly. "You don't have to answer." Truth be told, she'd gotten lost in the conversation. Sure, Rook would be very interested in all of this information, but she'd forgotten about him for a little while. "There's a new leader with my people," she admitted, testing the words to see if she was feeling bold enough to expose some of her feelings on it all.

"An Alpha?"

"No. I mean a new female leader."

"What are they called?" he asked.

This was a dangerous conversation, but out here away from everything, she felt safe. It was just her and Owen.

"A Queen."

"Mmm. Do you know her?"

"Yes. I've known her for a long time."

"She's a good leader?" he asked.

"No. None of them are." It was her turn to remove her hat and sunglasses, and slip out of her innertube and into the water. She stayed under as long as she could hold her breath, and then came back up through the middle of her float, rested her arms on it and forced a grin, then plucked her canned margarita from the little cupholder and took a long swig. "What's your favorite color."

"Lame," he drawled.

"Hey, it's twenty questions. I can ask whatever I want to."

"Green. The color of money. What do you mean none of your people are good leaders?"

Mmm, he was guiding them back to the conversation she'd tried to abandon. She could give him bits and pieces, but nothing important.

"Katrina will be celebrated today after her Queen ceremony."

"Queen. So, you're a lioness."

Chills zinged up her spine, and she ignored the question. Clever man. "I used to be friends with Katrina."

"Why aren't you friends anymore?"

"Because of who I was promised to."

"Who you were promised to," he repeated softly. "It wasn't your choice?"

She shook her head slowly. "If I could've traded Katrina places back when all of it was going down, I would've. I tried to tell her that, but she thought I had attracted him on purpose."

"Well, bright side for her. She ended up in another pairing, and she's being celebrated," he muttered low. "Maybe she'll be even happier."

"Probably so. As of today, she is paired with the one she wanted in the first place."

Owen's eyes turned ice blue. "Someone she knew before she had a crush on your man?" he asked carefully.

"No."

"She's with the one you were with?" he asked, his voice echoing a little too loudly down the river.

She shrugged. "It's normal for some Kings to take multiple Queens, and besides, I was stripped of my rank and title. I am nothing. Katrina is Queen now."

He inhaled deep and his nostrils flared slightly and he got quiet for a bit.

Remembering the game, she asked a question. "Have you ever been paired up?"

"With a mate?"

"No, with a Pilates instructor," she teased. "Yes, with a mate."

He belted out a laugh. "Okay sassy, the answer to your question is yes. I have been paired up. Almost."

That little dark feeling washed through her again and she had to take a few seconds before she encouraged him, "Well tell the whole story."

"If I do, will you tell me more about the King of your Pride?" he asked.

"You're negotiating?"

"Yep. It's fair. You share, and I share, and that way neither one of us can hurt the other with information."

She chewed on her lip and considered his offer. "Fine."

"The year was nineteen-ninety-three, and I was eight years old, and I had a crush on a girl named Lou-Ellen Hudson."

"Oh my gosh, eight years old does not count as almost paired up."

"It's the closest I ever came. Don't interrupt my story. She used to sit in the very front seat of the bus every single day on our way home from school, and I sat in the back of the bus because I was always in trouble and the bus driver, Mr. Craig, made a special assigned seat just for me as far away from him as he could put me."

She giggled and took another sip of her canned margarita. "Did Lou-Ellen fall for the bad boy?"

"Not at first. She was two years older than me, and the prettiest girl in school, and she wore dresses every day and made good grades, and I would always wait until she was on the bus before I got on the bus because then I could walk past her and smile at her and tell her hello."

"Very cute."

"I had a lot of game back then."

"What happened with Lou-Ellen? Did she ever go sit in the back with you?"

"Well," he said, with a dramatic sigh. "It's actually a tragic story."

"I'm all ears," she encouraged him.

"She didn't notice me at all until she was a junior in high school, and I was a freshman, and I was fully in love with her at that point. She said hi to me in the hallway and I thought that was my chance."

"To ask her out?"

"No, to make out with her."

"Oh, you came on strong."

"Too strong. I had listened to him idiot brother, Evan-the-Girlfriendless-Idiot, and my make-out session didn't go well."

"She rejected you?"

"Yes. With the open palm of her hand."

Silver's mouth fell open. "She slapped you?"

"Wouldn't you? If someone tried to randomly kiss you?"

"Oooh, this is a tragic story."

"She never talked to me again."

"Did you get over her?"

Owen snorted. "No. That slap was so hot."

"What?"

"I don't know. I'm a boar! Being toxic is normal. She slapped me, and I jerked off to that memory like eight hundred times."

"That is so disturbing," she punched out through her laughter.

"Look, I learned my lesson."

"Oh yeah? If I slap you right now, what will you do?"

Owen scrunched up his face and looked out at the trees.

"You would get a boner, wouldn't you?" she asked.

"I'm getting one right now."

She belted out the weirdest sounding laugh. It was like the bray of a donkey, but she couldn't stop. He was so honest, and self-deprecating and it was such a relief seeing someone own their shit. Her Pride always pretended to be perfect, but Owen? She could sit here and listen to a thousand of his weird admissions, and live happily ever after.

"Okay, that is my favorite laugh of all time," he said through his chuckling.

"The donkey laugh?" she asked, her cheeks heating with warmth.

"Hell yeah. I like when you let loose. Okay, I take it back. I don't want you to tell me about King Asshole. It will piss me off, and right now, I just want to be happy. No bad vibes on the river."

"I love that motto. No bad vibes on the river," she repeated.

The sound of splashing captured her attention, and up ahead, there was a strange sight. A giant man on what appeared to be a blow-up mattress was paddling his way upstream with a canoe paddle, directly for them.

"Captain?" Owen called.

"It's meee, motherfuckers!" Captain sang out.

"I said no bad vibes on the river," Owen yelled. "Go away!"

"You go away. Hi, Silver."

"Um, hi Captain," she greeted him.

Owen asked him, "Why are you on a blow-up mattress?"

"Because Gunner popped my raft."

"Oh my God, Gunner's here too?" Owen asked, pushing up into his innertube to scan the shoreline.

"The whole Crew is here to meet my new girlfriend," Captain said with an empty smile for Silver. "Hi, honey. Want to tie me to your raft?"

"I'm going to murder you," Owen promised. Truth. Huh.

"She gave me her number first!" Captain growled, shoving Owen's innertube. Captain lost his balance and fell off his blow-up mattress and into the water.

Owen jumped directly on top of him and they both sank like rocks. A great swell of splashing occurred as they apparently were trying to drown each other, and Silver yelled at them to stop.

On the river bank they were passing, a group of familiar faces were launching rafts and kayaks into the water. "Oh my gosh," she whispered under her breath in horror.

The entirety of the Fastlander Crew was here, including the Alpha himself, the Fury, the Monster, Gunner Walker.

Silver was having to try very hard to keep her balance with all the splashing. "Um, hi," she said meekly as Gunner approached. "I think Owen and Captain are trying to kill each other."

"Good," the bi-color-eyed giant of a man said as he pulled up beside her in a two-person raft he shared with his mate, Hallie.

Ace and Corey pulled up onto her other side, and oooh she was surrounded by monsters now.

Owen broke the surface with Captain in a choke hold. "Silver, whack him with a paddle."

"What?" she demanded snatching his dislodged baseball cap out of the water before it could sink. "I'm not doing that!" She was not about to bonk a bear shifter on the head with anything.

"Why not?" Owen demanded, struggling with the flailing Captain.

"Because I enjoying living!"

Hallie snorted, and then cleared her throat to cover it.

"Enough," Gunner murmured, and the reaction of both Owen and Captain was immediate. They pushed off each other, and Owen threw up a middle finger. Captain flipped him off back.

Owen flipped him off with his other hand too. Captain did the same. Owen lifted a foot out of the water and looked as if he was trying to poke up his middle toe, and Silver was trying so hard not to laugh.

"Um, hi," Silver called to the Fastlanders. "I'm Silver." She watched Ace's face carefully, but he was busy digging in the floating cooler and complaining about the plethora of flavored margaritas. If he recognized her or her name, he didn't act like it.

The smile dipped from Hallie's face. Gunner's mate canted her head and studied Silver, and in this moment, Silver realized something truly disturbing—Gunner's mate wasn't human any longer. Her eyes blazed a bright green. Now, usually when a shifter was Turned, they took on the eye color of their maker. Not always, but almost always. No one had her eye color in this Crew except for Ace's mate, Corey, who was also supposed to be human.

Shhhit.

Well, Rook was mistaken in thinking he could get to the girls easily to destroy the males.

Hallie and Corey were watching her like she was prey, and they felt just as heavy as the males in this Crew. Sure, the males were bantering and fun, but she was suddenly acutely aware that they were dangerous, and she was sitting in the very center of the Crew of beasts.

Silver cleared her throat and composed the shock on her face, and said softly. "It's nice to make your acquaintance."

"Likewise," Hallie said, but there was steel in her voice.

Okay, clearly she wasn't doing a great job of hiding her lioness, and their shifter animals sensed hers, and she understood why they were posting up. She'd let her guard down. She feigned business with readjusting herself into her innertube, careful not to meet any of their eyes anymore, and also careful to keep her neck exposed.

Rook was going to be very unhappy with the news that the females had been Turned into…something. They felt big and smelled of fur and dominance.

Gunner knew what he was doing as an Alpha. He'd taken the most vulnerable members of the Crew, and made them into weapons.

She could feel one of the females' attention on her, and when she looked up, it was Corey, Ace's mate who was glaring at her. "What?" she asked low. Her hackles were up under the attention of a Fastlander.

"Let her be," Owen said, appearing out of the water beside her innertube. "She's fine."

Corey's lips quirked into an empty smile, and she didn't say anything else, just exchanged a glance with her cousin, Hallie, and began to paddle to the front of the group with her mate.

She knew.

Silver watched Corey offer her back, and then turn her face just enough that Silver could see how unbothered she was. Oh, that was shots fired. Shifters didn't give their backs to others if there was tension in general, unless they wanted to make a statement. Corey's statement? Silver wasn't shit, and that right there made Silver want to Turn and give her a few new scars to teach her a lesson.

"Control it," Owen said low.

Silver frowned down at him. "What?"

"Listen to that engine going. That's quite the purr you've got there, lioness."

Silver's blood chilled at the confidence with which he said that. "It's not a purr," she gritted out, allowing shards of glass into her tone.

"I'm aware. You sound like you're ready to fight. You want to bleed out in this river?" he asked, his earnest eyes on her. "Pick a fight with Corey or Hallie. If they don't get you, their mates will."

"And what about you?" she asked. "Will you avenge them?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation, his voice stony. "That's Crew. Put the animal away, Silver. She does not want this smoke. Trust me." Truth, truth, truth. His voice was so full of truth, it dredged chills up her spine in waves.

"Would you like to continue having fun?" he asked.

"Yes, but I'm unsure of the company we're keeping."

He lifted up onto the side of the innertube and stared thoughtfully at the Fastlanders, who were creating distance between them. "They'll relax when you relax. Maybe."

"And if they don't?"

Owen shrugged. "Then I hope you are here with good intentions." He shocked her to her bone marrow as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. It was a soft smack, and then he froze inches away from her face, his eyes searching hers. His brows drew down, and he looked at her lips.

"That was…" she whispered.

"I didn't mean it." He slid back into the water and made his way to his innertube. "Stop posting up, Silver. You're making my animal hard to manage. Just relax." There was a grit to his voice that she didn't understand.

What had she done wrong? She'd introduced herself to the Fastlanders, and most importantly to the females of the Crew, as was lioness manners. She'd shown respect and had not received that from Hallie and Corey in return. And she was supposed to relax? After Owen had told her she would bleed out if she crossed them?

Why the hell had he kissed her? And then seemed angry with her for his actions?

If it was Rook punishing her for his own reactions, she would've bowed her head and absorbed it, but she didn't have to absorb it from Owen. A lash of anger worked through her and before she could stop herself, she dismounted from her innertube and swam over to Owen's float, then pulled it, dumping him into the water.

"Hey!" he gritted out as he broke the surface. And annoyingly, he did that hotboy swing of his head that flung his blond hair out of his face. His eyes were ice blue as they landed on her.

Pissed for reasons she didn't understand, she kicked forward and placed her hand on his throat, squeezed gently. "Don't kiss me again if you don't mean it, and absolutely don't get mad at me when you are the one who kissed me in the first place. I didn't ask you to do that. Be mad at yourself."

He'd stilled, his hand on the innertube to keep him above the water, his eyes glowing the color of ice, but he didn't swat away her hand, or grab her wrist and break it like Rook would've done. Instead, a slow, devilish smile ghosted across his face. "Aw, kitty. You're slipping. You're letting her out too much now, aren't you."

"Shut up."

Smooth-as-you-like, Owen pushed closer to her and plucked her hand off his throat, then bit her palm hard enough for her to feel it.

Stunned, she couldn't do anything but tread water.

"I like that you aren't human and fragile, Silver," he rumbled, sinking down into the water so that only his nose up was above the surface. His eyes were nearly white now, and his features too sharp.

She should be terrified. She wasn't a great swimmer, and Owen was dangerous, and playing some game of cat and mouse she didn't understand. She wanted to pull farther away from him, but she was frozen. She couldn't move away. Her animal wouldn't let her.

Damn cat was suicidal or something.

Under the water, Owen slid his hand to her waist and gripped her hard, his fingers digging into her skin as he dragged her closer. He settled his lips right next to her ear. "Have you ever heard of a decoy wolf?"

"I'm not a wolf," she whispered, confused.

"Oh, I know, kitty. I can hear the snarl in your throat, and you lost it back there. You let it slip. If I didn't already know you were a lioness, the gold in your eyes would've given you away." He eased back by inches and canted his head like he would kiss her again. His eyes stayed locked on hers. "The gold remains still. Again I'll ask you, have you heard of a decoy wolf?"

"No," she whispered, fear and excitement warring for her body.

"When the wolves grow hungry enough to hunt domesticated dogs, they will send in a lone female. Night after night, she will visit the dog. Tempting him out of the safety of his owner's yard." Owen leaned forward and murmured against her ear. "Tantalizing him. Getting him so worked up that the dog begins to plan ways to escape his keeper. It's just a lone female. She's scared and alone. He starts thinking about life in the wild with her. Starts thinking about breeding her, and all the while, do you know what she is?"

"Bait," she said on a breath, her blood chilling with what he was telling her.

"Good girl. She's bait." He slid his hand to her throat now, and squeezed gently, eased back far enough to search her eyes with his bright glowing gaze. "And here you are. Alone. Making me think of life in the wild. Making me think of breeding you. Dredging up my animal when I see the way you glare at the girls in this Crew. You want them to like you, Silver? Start with being honest with them. I don't mind playing with a decoy. They're not like me."

Her breath was shaking so badly. So badly. "You know?"

His face twisted into something terrifying for just a moment…just a split second before he composed his features again. He leaned forward like he would kiss her again, but stopped an inch from her lips. "We all do. Decoy."

Adrenaline was pumping through her body, and she trembled uncontrollably. She was caught like a rabbit in a snare. He would kill her now, as he should. She was here to betray him and his people, but as his hand tightened around her throat, and she closed her eyes, the brush of his lips touched hers again. Her eyes flew open and he ended the kiss with a soft smack, then backed away from her. "Don't look at my friends like that anymore, Silver," he uttered. "I don't like it."

"Why…why are you spending time with me?" she asked as he swam toward her innertube, putting distance between them.

He didn't answer, but she had to know. Had to.

"Why, Owen?"

He lifted up into her innertube and when he was settled, he leveled her with a fiery glare. "To see if you're salvageable." He jutted his chin toward the others. "They want to kill you." His chest rose and fell with an inhalation of breath. "I'm still undecided."