Chapter Five

Well, he hadn't planned any of that.

Owen had imagined Silver wouldn't find out he knew why she was here, and she would sneak around while he paid attention for five to eight days, and he would be the one feeding information about her and the Holland Pride to the Fastlanders, and specifically Gunner, who had an acute interest in the lions who were destined to come after them. Lucia had seen it in a vision. It would happen, they just didn't know when.

The appearance of Silver the Decoy said they weren't too far away from war.

He had a freaking plan! Why, then, had he kissed her? Twice?

Probably because she had moments of vulnerability that tricked him into thinking she was actually good, and also because her body was bangin' in that leopard print bikini, and also he liked how she had put her hand around his throat and flashed those pissed off glowing gold eyes at him.

She was messing with his animal.

He'd meant to keep today light and fun, get her to relax and share some stories about herself. She was supposed to grow to trust him while he was supposed to make her forget she was here to do a job. He had wanted to seduce her into slipping up, and saying too much. He'd had a plan, and now that plan was in the dumpster, on fire.

He was giving her space, but honestly? He also needed room to think.

Owen had loosened the rope and allowed their innertubes to float the river farther apart. She was so damn pretty, rocking that little bikini. Her damp hair was drying in loose waves that cascaded out from under her backwards hat, and she was hiding her eyes behind the sunglasses, staring straight ahead. He'd caught her glancing in his direction a few times, but he didn't know what to do about the ruined day.

The Fastlanders had done exactly what they'd intended to do, and that was to come in, break up the moment, jack up any connection they were forming, and bounce. They were still in sight, but floating farther up the river, and staying separate from them.

Even Captain Asshole was keeping his distance. Maybe he really was attracted to Silver, but Owen could see his motivation from a mile away. He would poke at Owen via Silver. Stupid dumb grizzly. Owen didn't even like Silver like that, so it wouldn't work. She was just a mark. Yep.

We kissed her. The boar's voice in his head startled him. It wasn't often he spoke directly to him. Owen was used to this dark rider inside of him who stayed quiet and observed the world around him, assessing their surroundings for danger, but not much more than that. He'd never understood this part, where an animal could talk in his mind, and he could understand it. He didn't speak the same language, but he understood his words so clearly.

"I kissed her," he murmured. "You're just an animal."

"We're just an animal," Owen said out loud as the boar pushed wider in his mind. "Shit. Stop!" His voice cracked down the river, and up ahead, the Fastlanders turned toward him. Fuck their glares. "I'm fine!"

When he glanced at Silver, she was watching him.

"You all right?" she asked softly.

And bless her, Silver's tone was genuinely caring. Owen shook his head hard, trying to shake the boar's grip on his mind. "Just animal shit," he said low.

"Mine talks to me too sometimes," she said. "I didn't sign up for this, just so you know." Silver slipped into the water. "I don't have a choice. Where I'm from, it's not safe like Damon's Mountains. I don't have anyone at my back. I'm a chess piece, just like everyone else, except the worst part is I'm at the bottom of the Pride. I'm the expendable one." She kicked away from the innertube and started swimming up-river.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Being honest, like you said."

He watched her for a few strokes as she eased up toward the Fastlanders, then muttered a curse under his breath. They would eat her alive.

"Come on, dipshit," he muttered to his annoying inner boar.

You heard her. She doesn't have anyone at her back. We remember what that is like, the boar said.

"Really? We're going to revisit old memories? I'm already going," he grumbled as he slipped into the water and began dragging their tubes downriver. "Hey, hold up," he called to Silver, but she ignored him.

Females were complicated, but also, he was complicated. He'd been in a war with himself over whether to hate her, or try to understand her since the moment she'd showed up at Moosey's. It had been the most confusing day. He hadn't slept at all last night, his body was sore as hell this morning from fighting half the damn Crew at the meeting, Lucia had texted him twice this morning that he was "getting colder," and now he was doggy-paddling after a female who was definitely here to get himself and his Crew killed. And now his boar was talking in complete sentences.

Everything was on fire.

By the time he dragged the innertubes and cooler float to the Fastlanders, Silver was already talking to them. He'd missed the first part, and Corey and Hallie looked pissed.

"There wasn't a sign-up sheet," Silver was saying.

"And yet you're here!" Corey's voice echoed through the river clearing.

"Corey," Owen warned.

"I don't need your help," Silver said while Corey yelled, "She doesn't need your help!"

Ace pulled a face at Owen and then slowly slid out of their raft and into the water. The females were popping hard, and Ace made his way to Owen to hang onto one of the innertubes with him and watch from a safe distance.

Captain nearly fell off his blow-up mattress trying to paddle it to the innertubes, so that dulled the volume of Silver and Corey's voices a little.

Silver climbed up into the raft too gracefully to be human, and faced off with Corey, but she had her hands out, like she was trying to calm her. "I'll leave tonight."

"You should've never come!" Corey barked out.

"That's what she said," Captain whispered under his breath.

"Dude, shut up," Ace ground out.

"This is kind of hot," Owen pointed out.

"What is wrong with you?" Gunner asked frowning down at him from his kayak he shared with Hallie.

"So much," Owen assured him.

Hallie turned and sighed at her mate, told Gunner, "I'm going to talk to them," and slid out of the kayak to make her way toward the big raft.

"Oh God, this is getting better," Captain murmured, smacking loudly on something edible.

Owen looked over at him and the idiot was eating out of a bag of beef jerky. "You got snacks?" Owen asked.

Without even looking away from the girl argument, Captain offered a good-sized piece of jerky, which Owen accepted, naturally.

There was more yelling. Corey was working up to a fire, and now Hallie was trying to calm her down.

Gunner turned to Owen. "If Corey guts her, I'm not stopping it. And if you try to stop it, I'll let her drown you."

"You're a terrible fuckin' Alpha."

"No shit!" Gunner whisper-screamed. "I said that from day one. I don't know why any of you signed up for this."

"I don't want you anywhere near him!" Corey yelled.

"Near Owen? He's fine!" Silver barked back.

"Not Owen! I'm talking about Ace!"

Silver flinched back with a frown, and yanked her sunglasses off her face "Okay."

She glanced at Ace, but Corey yelled, "Don't even look at him!"

Silver held her hands up in surrender and lowered her voice. "I've never met Ace. I've only heard stories of what he and his father did."

"He didn't do anything to your Pride," Corey yelled.

Silver gestured toward Ace, careful not to look at him. "He killed the next King, who unfortunately happened to be the father of the current King. He happened to do it in front of the current King, and vengeance has been burned into his mind since he was twelve. Ace has just been hiding really well for a long time."

Corey went dead-silent, along with everyone else on their little floating fight-barge. "You got your story wrong," she growled, her eyes flashing brighter green.

"Wait," Ace murmured. The look on his face was that of someone who had seen a ghost. "Wait, Darius…" His dark eyebrows drew down farther as he lifted his lightening gaze to Silver. "I remember fighting my uncle Darius."

Silver held her hands out again. "Darius was Rook's father. Rook says he tried to defend his dad and you nearly killed him too. I'm not starting shit, or spreading rumors, I am simply telling you part of the reason there is a target on your back. Your dad maimed half the Pride, and you took on your uncle, who was gunning for King."

Ace's eyes widened. "I didn't remember any of this," he murmured in a haunted voice. "They had staked my mother and come for me and my father, and I just...I couldn't remember big stretches of time. It's patchy."

Silver shook her head. "Wait, what do you mean they staked your mother?"

"Vampire, mother fucker," Corey snarled. "Your innocent little Pride killed her."

Owen could see the gooseflesh on Silver's arms from here, and her soft brown eyes filled with shock. "That must be a close-kept secret," she said softly. "There's not even murmurings of that. The stories are of an attempt to overthrow the Pride, and put a submissive on the throne."

Ace laughed darkly. "A submissive? You mean my father? Or me? You should tell them to come now. Come get me."

"Ace," Gunner warned.

There were three loaded moments of silence, and then it was Silver who spoke. "I wasn't in the Pride until a few years ago. I grew up in a different Pride far away from that war. I heard about it when I was a cub, but the stories changed a lot, and fuck! I'm going to die for this, just so all of you know."

A rumble escaped Owen's chest, and Captain gave him a dirty look. Owen didn't care about that idiot's judgement. He didn't like that Silver was talking about dying.

Silver heaved a sigh. "Truce. Please. I don't want to do this either. I didn't fucking sign up to come into the Blue Dragon's territory and expose myself on day freaking one."

"Then why are you doing this?" Corey demanded.

"Because I was one of the Queens."

The silence was back, and the shock on the Fastlander's faces likely matched that on Owen's.

"You're the Queen?" Ace asked, hardness in his tone.

"Not anymore. I was one of them. Rook is King now. He's taking on multiple Queens. I messed up and I'm at the bottom of the Pride. I'm shunned. I went from Queen to shunned."

"That's how he got you to do this?" Owen asked, disgusted.

"Can we just all do a truce? Don't ask anything else of me, and I won't ask about you. If I could leave now, I would, but I'm in the middle of a freaking river in unfamiliar territory. Give me time to get out of the water and get to my rental cabin, and check out, and I'll head out of this territory."

"And give your Pride information," Corey growled.

"You've given me nothing to take back," Silver pointed out. "All you have to do is give me nothing until we get out of this water, and you're good."

"What is the scar on your face?" Ace asked low.

"She said truce, man," Owen growled as he swam toward the raft. He didn't like Silver alone, and that's what it felt like right now—her versus the Fastlanders. "Stop asking her questions."

"I want to know what the scar means," Ace gritted out. "I want to see if it is what I think it is."

Owen turned in the water to launch on him, but he got some back-up from an unexpected ally.

It was Hallie who spoke up. "She asked for a truce and that's fair—"

"She doesn't make the rules!" Corey said.

"I do," Gunner snapped. "Hallie is allowing the truce, I back her. Truce it is. Don't ask the lion any more questions. In fact, let's all go home."

"I don't want to go home," Captain said. "If I have to hang out with you losers today, I would rather be half drunk on…" He pulled a mango margarita out of the cooler and pulled a face. "Never mind, I want to go home."

"I dare you to try it," Owen called, remembering what Silver said.

"Double-dog-dare-you," Silver said.

Captain narrowed his eyes at Silver. "Why would I take a dare from you?"

"You took her number yesterday," Owen pointed out.

"If you don't drink that, I'm going to tell all of my Pride that Captain Walker gags when he drinks," Silver said.

Owen looked between her serious glare, and Captain's angry one, and oh my God, this was awesome. He could barely contain his laugh.

"It's a margarita," Captain said. "In a can."

"Did you bring any beer?" Silver asked.

It was Corey who responded. "If you're seriously asking the man who brought a blow-up mattress as a float if he was responsible enough to bring drinks today, lions are dumber than I thought."

But Owen didn't miss it. There was a tiny smile tugging at the corners of Corey's lips.

Corey might not be ready to admit it yet, because she was protective of Ace, but some part of Silver was entertaining her on some level.

Owen chanted, "Chug, chug, chug."

Silver joined in, and to his freakin' delight, so did Hallie. Even Gunner was fighting a smile now as he watched his brother, Captain, fuming.

"I hate all of you," Captain assured them, and then he sank his canine into the side of the can, popped the top and shot-gunned that fruity little marg.

Hallie was settled into the raft between Silver and Corey, and pulled something out of a back pack, popped the top on a beer and did a little cheers to Captain. "Well done, buddy."

"You have beer?" he bellowed.

"Not for you," Hallie assured him.

"I need one of those," Corey muttered.

Hallie grinned at Captain and didn't even look at her cousin as she pulled another frosty can out of the iced down cooler-pack, and handed it over.

"I don't want to be a part of this Crew anymore," Captain muttered.

"Good, leave," Gunner told him as they rounded another bend in the river. "Rapids," he pointed out as they approached a shallow part of the river that was littered with rocks that caused the rapids.

"I'm not here for you!" Captain griped.

"I still don't know why you're even here in the first place," Gunner pointed out.

"I think we're giving the lion too much information," Corey pointed out.

Silver looked over to her and shook her head. "I guarantee the lions can't do anything with a member who doesn't want to be here but still is here. He's still dangerous as hell." Truth.

Owen's middle warmed as he saw Hallie hand Silver a beer.

"I'm dangerous? I like when you compliment me," Captain called over Gunner's kayak. "And listen, I'm sorry I didn't text you last night. I thought about it—"

"Piss off, dude, she didn't miss you texting her," Owen announced.

"Well, she should have her options laid out in front of her. Not just the consolation prize."

"The consolation prize?" Owen asked, swimming closer to his blow-up mattress.

"Don't pop it!" Captain yelled as Owen pulled his pocket knife from his pocket on his swim trunks. "Why do you even have a knife? You're in the water! Stop! I'll kill you."

Owen threatened to stab his mattress but then eased back, biting back a smile. "Silver wouldn't want you anyway," Owen assured him. "Your spelling is atrocious. Even if you texted her, she wouldn't be able to tell what you were trying to say. She's educated."

"Um, I barely passed high school," Silver enlightened him.

"And yet you ended up a Queen," Owen pointed out.

"Yeah, it's amazing what genetics and a symmetrical face can do for a rank in a Pride. The King doesn't even like me like that."

"Is the mark on your cheek a claiming mark?" Gunner asked.

"Gunner," Hallie admonished. "You said truce."

"It's okay," Silver said, bracing herself in the raft for the upcoming rapids. "I'm a traitor. My Pride marked me accordingly so that everyone knows what I did."

"That's hot," Captain called.

"I will stab your mattress," Owen warned, pushing up into his innertube to weather the rapids.

"Look how possessive you are. Pipe down, pig. She already said she's leaving."

Owen didn't like the awful feeling that snaked through his gut, but he didn't have a lot of time to dwell on such things on account of the rapids. The Fastlanders and Silver went down them as a group, and it took a lot of concentration to keep everyone upright.

Captain's blow-up mattress hit a big rock and began leaking air somewhere in the middle, and by the time they hit calm waters again, it was only half-inflated.

They couldn't stop laughing watching him struggle to plug up the hole whizzing air as it collapsed around him and he sank into the water.

"Silver! I need mouth-to-mouth recitation!" he called out as his little pitiful ship sank.

Silver looked tired and shook her head. "I don't know how you ladies put up with them," she said to Corey and Hallie.

"Constant annoyance," Hallie told her. "If you pay the boys ten bucks, they'll throw each other over a two-story balcony, and they'll be quiet for three to five hours afterward. I learned that recently at my engagement breakfast. The other restaurant-goers were appalled."

Silver laughed. "The visual."

Corey was quiet now, just watching Silver, but she had relaxed some. Owen could tell. Likely for the rest of the trip downstream, she would make sure none of the Fastlanders gave anything important away, but that was okay. Owen actually liked that she was protective of Ace. Sure, Ace was a hybrid lion shifter and vampire, and his power was insane. He didn't need any help from anyone, but that was how it was supposed to be. Mates should protect each other.

Owen's parents had their own problems, but they'd always had each other's backs, no matter what. That was one part of his family dynamic that he had always known was solid.

Owen swam over to the raft just to be closer to the improving vibes between the girls. He fed on good mojo. Always had.

This evening it was supposed to rain, and the storm would cool down the mountains, which meant the fire ban would be lifted temporarily, and he would be back at work at the crack of dawn, and Gunner would be back to bossing him around on the jobsite. Life would normalize. It would be back to Friday night dinners, Crew meetings, fighting the males, and waiting…always waiting for Lucia's vision to come to fruition.

But for today? Right now? In this moment?

They had no problems.

The rest of the world could wait. This was perhaps the most fun he'd ever had with the Fastlanders, and they had a traitor in their midst.

The dynamic was complicated, for sure, but Silver had taken some of the tension away with her honesty. He respected her for it. That couldn't have been easy.

"You did good," he said to her as he leaned up on the edge of the raft, nearly tipping them.

"Owen, be less obnoxious," Corey groused.

He began pushing on it harder, and the girls yelped and cursed, trying to hang on, holding their drinks in the air to try to steady them enough to save the nearly full cans.

Silver stood and he steadied her out as she chugged the beer, then tossed the empty down on the floor. "Cannonball!" she yelled, and then jumped over Owen and tucked her knees mid-air, and splashed him with her wave.

He belted out a laugh and waited for her to break the surface. When she did, she said excitedly, "I haven't ever done this before!"

"A cannonball?" he asked through his grin.

"No! Any of this!"

And he could see it now. Her smile was unhindered, and there wasn't that carefulness behind her soft brown eyes anymore. It looked like a weight had lifted off her shoulders. Was it the honesty? Was it the admissions? Was it the realization that her time here was limited and she needed to enjoy every moment? Was it the truce? Was it the knowledge that Rook, or whatever his stupid name was, couldn't reach her here, in this moment? He truly couldn't. She was safe.

It did something good to his insides to see a glimpse of the real Silver. He bet she was fun as hell before the Pride politics got ahold of her.

He reached out just to grip her waist again, because he liked the feel of her skin in his grasp. Her grin widened as she treaded water.

"You're pretty fun, kitty."

Her single belted laugh echoed through the river's clearing. "That's not something anyone says about me."

"Your friends sound lame."

She giggled. "What friends?"

Owen scrunched up his face and tried not to think about her going back to that. "Rule of the day, we don't have to talk about your stupid Pride anymore. Today you're free and you're good. Whatever happens today is meant to happen, just breathe and enjoy it."

The smile faded from her lips and returned slower. "Deal." She lifted her gaze to the girls on the raft. "Are you ladies coming in?"

Hallie stood immediately and drank down her can, and then peeled her oversized T-shirt off, exposing a green bikini with little rhinestones all over it. She followed Silver's lead, and cannonballed right beside Owen.

Corey took longer to decide, but that was okay. She and Hallie had been through hell with Hallie's ex stalking her, and she was a new bear shifter. There were some mighty big instincts involved in that. Owen could tell she didn't like Silver anywhere near Hallie or Ace, but she also wasn't posting up like she was before, and progress was progress.

Corey waited a few minutes before she joined the rest of the Crew in the water, and for the next hour they floated, and drank, and jabbed at each other. Silver was the quietest, but that was understandable. She'd had a tiff with him, been busted on why she was really here, and then faced off with one of the girls, and Owen imagined that up-and-down roller coaster on her emotions was draining. Plus, she was right in the middle of a bunch of dominant stranger-shifters. At least she was hanging with it. She was laughing often enough, and God, that smile she wore could make a man's heart miss a beat or two.

He stayed close to her. Couldn't help it. Owen didn't like how Captain kept messing with her, hitting on her just to get to Owen. He was paying way too much attention to Silver, and it wrenched up something protective in Owen. He hated it, but what was he going to do? He had one day to deal with Captain poking at him by using Silver, and then Silver wouldn't be here anymore.

Captain would have to find another game to play, and Owen would probably gut him, just like he'd nearly accomplished in the fight last night.

Captain didn't know him well enough to truly understand what he was poking at. Owen had always been patient, but when he snapped? It was bad and there was no control. His dad had named him Sticks when he was a kid, in reference to a stick of dynamite. He had a long fuse, but when it blew? Owen would create a crater that swallowed up everything and everyone involved in pissing him off.

Captain was going to learn that sooner or later. Currently, he was working on ‘sooner.'

From the calculating look on Gunner's face as he kept watching Owen, he was catching on faster than his idiot brother. As an Alpha, he should probably put a stop to it, but as Captain's brother? With their long history of hating each other? Owen bet Gunner would cheer him on and flip off Captain's carcass when Owen was done bleeding him.

Bad combination.

One. Day. If Owen could keep his cool, just for today, everything would be all right.

"I got an extra ticket to the rodeo," Captain said to Silver.

Owen rolled his eyes closed and inhaled deep to steady the roar that threatened to crawl up the back of his throat.

"Captain, enough," Owen murmured.

"Gotta shoot my shot, man," Captain said through a baiting grin. "I can see the sign to get out of the river. The float is almost done."

Silver was draped over the side of the raft with the other two girls, just relaxing. "The rodeo where the bull shifters are bucking?"

"You've heard about it?" Captain asked.

Owen was floating beside Silver, his hand on the raft, and he leaned his forehead against the cool, wet surface, closed his eyes for a three-count to retain his patience. Captain was really asking her out, and right in front of him.

"Yeah, I heard about it from Owen. Sorry, little buddy. I'm busy tonight."

Owen snorted at her calling Captain, ‘little buddy.'

"She's busy leaving," Corey pointed out.

"Technically the rodeo starts in the evening, not at night-time," Captain pointed out. He canted his head and his smile faded as he asked Silver. "Want to go with me?"

Silver seemed to consider it, and a low, feral sound emanated from Owen. Silver's leg brushed his arm and she looked down at him, her eyes harboring the lighter gold color of her animal. She turned to Corey. "Would you mind if I go to the rodeo tonight before I leave? I promise I won't ask any questions or gather intel. I'll just go there and eat corndogs and enjoy the night, and then leave right after. I can even have my car packed and leave straight from there."

Corey narrowed her eyes, and looked to Ace, who nodded slightly. She looked to Gunner, but he was just watching Owen with a thoughtful expression on his face.

With a growl, Corey leaned over and stuck out her pinky. "You pinky-swear not to gather intel on us tonight?"

"Fuck yeah," Captain murmured.

Owen was going to kill him.

Silver reached her pinky out to clasp Corey's, but Corey yanked her hand back. "Before you do this, you should know how serious I take pinky swears."

"Okay," Silver murmured.

"You go back on a pinky swear, I'll kill you." Truth.

"Careful," Owen said low to Corey. He didn't like her talking to Silver like this. She meant it, and Owen had no doubt the threat was real. Corey's inner grizzly was still new and running the show for the most part.

"That's fair," Silver said, and extended her hand farther.

Corey waited a few seconds before she hooked her pinky against Silver's. "You leave right after."

"Deal."

"Wear something slutty tonight, okay?" Captain said. "Booty shorts. Maybe some cowgirl boots. I can take you shopping if you don't have—"

"Owen, do you want to go with me to the rodeo?" Silver asked.

A slow smile stretched across Owen's mouth as he looked up into her pretty face. She was really asking him out, right here in front of everyone. Her blonde highlights were framing her pretty heart-shaped face, and her hair hung in damp waves down her bare shoulders. Her tits were all smashed together with the way she was leaning onto the edge of the raft, and she wore the faintest smile. Her eyes were glowing gold. He didn't know why her animal was loud inside of her right now, but he sure did like the molten color of those lioness eyes on her. Sexy woman.

"Sure. I'll go with you."

"That's so messed up," Captain barked out.

"Yeah, it is. You should stop messing with him," Silver popped back at him. "Are you not paying attention at all? You can't hear the sound he's making every time you hit on me? And I know you aren't doing it because you like me, or you even find me remotely attractive. You're doing it to mess with that one." She gestured to Owen. "I don't give a shit what your issue is with each other, take me out of the equation. I'm not watching anyone bleed because of me, and that one?" She arched her eyebrows and glared at Captain. "He makes the whole river heavy when you pay attention to me. This is not about me and it's not flattering. You're drawing out the boar on purpose, and no one is putting a stop to it. Cut it out."

"Whoo-hoo-hooo!" Hallie said, shaking her hand like it had been burned. "That hurt."

"You're right," Captain growled, sliding off his half-deflated mattress into the waist deep shallows to pull it toward the exit ramp on shore. "You're not attractive to me, and I don't give a shit about hitting on you." Truth. "You're bait, and bait is fun to play with until it isn't. You're not fun anymore. You should leave now."

And that was that.

For Owen, everything went black.