Chapter Ten

Three days was equivalent to a year.

"Not there!" Captain griped as Shane put the wrong sausages on the wrong side. "If you put jalape?o where regular sausage goes, you run the risk of someone cutting the wrong link for a customer who doesn't like spice!"

"Yeah, but whoever cuts it can tell between jalape?o and regular when they cut into it," Shane argued.

It pissed him off. "So you want them to catch your mistake instead of just doing it right in the first place?" Captain gritted out.

"Well…"

"You should just say ‘no sir,' and then do it right," Owen offered from where he was ordering food at the counter.

"I don't need your help," Captain pointed out.

"What's your problem, man?" Owen asked.

"You know what, why are you always here?" Captain demanded, closing the smoker on some briskets that were almost done. "Every time I turn around, there you are, pissing me off."

Owen frowned. "I'm here because my mate had a craving. I'm not even using a discount code, I'm paying full price and supporting Moosey's because it's a big deal to y'all." Owen shook his head and inserted his credit card.

Fuckin' Owen. Why was Captain feeling all guilty and bad now? Owen got on his nerves on purpose all the time.

This time he was being decent though.

"Sorry," Captain grumbled.

"Um, he did use a discount code," Hallie announced. "Also, Silver isn't even here, and Ace just texted and said he stole a six-pack of beers from the gas station side."

"Apology accepted," Owen said, hiding a smile.

Captain hated him. A rush of fury overcame him, and he chucked his metal tongs at Owen's head.

Owen caught them and said, "Whoa there, boss. There's humans behind me. Violence is not the answer."

"I'm taking a ten-minute break!" Captain said, yanking the tie of his pitmaster apron.

"Want company?" Owen called as he walked away.

Captain came back around the corner so Owen could see the honesty etched into his expression as he said, "I would literally rather step in a bear trap than spend my break with you, fuckwad."

"So angry," Owen called after him.

Captain shook his head and tried to stifle the growl in his chest. He was a disaster lately, and he didn't get it. He'd been steady and in control for a while before he came to the Fastlanders, and now all of a sudden he was at war with his animal all day every day?

He tossed the apron on the pile of other ones that needed to go in the wash and shoved the employee exit door open so hard, it slammed against the wall.

He'd spent all day checking the front to see if Sloane was there. Just like he'd done yesterday and the day before, and why? She wasn't supposed to come in. He hadn't invited her. He'd shut her down and refused to go get ice cream with her and her kid, so why the fuck was he searching for her everywhere he went?

"Fuck!" he yelled, gripping his hair in the back as he stared out into the woods.

What was wrong with him?

"She's got her claws in deep, huh?"

At the sound of Owen's voice, Captain rolled his eyes closed and heaved a sigh. "I don't have it in me to deal with you today, Owen. Leave me alone."

"Um, I would, except your brother sent me, and he did his Alpha-order thing, and now I have to hang out with you. Don't blame me. Blame Gunner."

With a frown, Captain sank down onto the picnic table he'd dragged out here for employees to take lunch breaks at out of the line of sight of customers. "Why?"

Owen set a tray of food on the table between them and sat down on the bench seat on the other side. "My guess? The girls. They worry too much and get all involved and start chattering about how one of us needs extra attention, and here you are. Getting extra attention."

"The girls need to mind their own business. Why did Gunner send you? Why didn't he talk to me himself if he's so worried?"

"Because you both hate each other?" Owen deadpanned.

Oh. Right. "I want to fight everyone."

"You always want to fight everyone," Owen said, setting a stuffed chopped pork baked potato in front of Captain.

Captain narrowed his eyes. "Who told you I like just butter and cheese on it?" he asked.

"I pay attention."

"Who told you?" he asked again.

"No one. I really do pay attention." Truth.

Captain glared. "Is this some kind of trick?"

Owen lifted his bright-blue eyes to him and rested his elbows on the table, let the truth in his voice ring as he said, "You can talk to me, and for the next five minutes, whatever you tell me is safe, and I won't go to anyone in the rest of the Crew, including Silver."

Truth. Huh.

Captain stabbed at the potato with a plastic fork to mix it all together with a plan to ignore Owen completely for the rest of his break.

But when he heard a little kid call for his mom, he jerked his attention to the side and tried to see if it was Ruger playing on the playground just at the edge of his vision. It wasn't.

"It sucks at first," Owen said low.

"What does?" Captain growled, annoyed.

"What the females do to us."

Captain took a giant bite and glared at him, considering. After a few seconds, he took the bait. "What do you mean?"

"When I first met Silver, I felt like I was on a roller coaster. Didn't matter how much I didn't want to go after her, it wasn't really up to me. The animals pick just as much as the man picks."

Captain swallowed and took another bite, and then another, stalling for time to think. "She's human."

"Oh shit," was all Owen said.

"And she has a kid."

"Boy or girl?"

"Boy."

"How old?"

"Young. Six. He's in kindergarten."

Owen's blond brows went up. He got real quiet and busied himself with eating.

"See?" Captain said. "Even you know I can't go after that."

Owen shook his head. "No, you cannot. Not unless you Turn them."

"Want to hear something fucked up?"

"Yep."

"It's the first thing I thought. I'm that selfish. I had this stupid vision of kissing her again, and baseball games, and taking him to school, and their eyes are the color of my animal's. What the fuck is wrong with me?"

"Nothing is wrong with you. That's the bear. He knows you can't keep them if they're human."

"I can't Turn a kid."

"No, you can't." Owen pushed his plate of chopped brisket back, ran his hands through his hair, and stared at the table. "Does she feel big?"

"I've checked to see if she's here like fifty times today, and she's not even supposed to come."

"You already kissed her?"

"In high school. I knew her back then. Dated for a minute."

Owen looked surprised. "Have you attached to any female since?"

"What? No. I'm not the settling-down type."

"Well, congratulations are in order, I guess," Owen told him.

"Congratulations for what?"

"For being the new biggest fuck-up of the Fastlander Crew." Owen's laugh sounded stupid.

"I hate you, man."

"Gunner would kill you if you brought a human kid into the Crew."

"I don't give a crap what Gunner thinks or says."

"He's your Alpha."

"He's my idiot brother first."

"So you're going to pursue her?"

"What? No!"

"Okay, so you're just going to go day after day, hoping she comes in here so you can what? Look at her?"

Captain busied himself stabbing the potato innards.

"Captain," Owen said softly. "We don't really get to choose. That was always the lie. The free choice of a mate is just something romance books make up. The animal pays attention to a female, and the man in us falls for them the rest of the way. You can't stop thinking about her because your bear won't let you. He'll never let you, just so you know."

Captain shook his head and felt awful. "She's damaged. Newly divorced. Single mom. Trying to figure out her life, and we are headed for war. I can't put her in the path of the Holland Pride."

Owen offered an understanding smile. "Maybe you should make it up to her then."

He huffed an empty laugh. "We both know what I'll do."

"Seduce her, and then ask her when she's drunk on you."

"Yep."

Owen shrugged. "Make yourself do it right then. Fight the bear."

"Just fight the instincts?" he asked low, feeling defeated.

"That's option one."

"What's the other option?" Captain asked.

"Trust the bear."