Two Rivers Isle careful, i might shoot you by mistake

some feeling in the air; some sense about iseul when she joined him set colt on high alert.
"reckon i am," he answered. any other time he might have climbed the bank by now, joined her with streaming flanks and a foolish joke.
the tiger and the cowboy watched one another.
had briggs a toothpick, he might have switched it to the other side of his mouth. the rogue flexed his feet in the silt and his hard eyes grew a fraction cooler.
he liked her, hand to god he did. but colt also only cared for what kept him fed, what kept him grounded. and that was control, always.
"reckon yew need help aroun' here, iseul," colt said at last, lifting his chin and watching her with the hunger of the adders she hunted in along the riverside. "could move up," the man added conversationally, "deputize me in yer stead."
he was winging all of this, unsure what actions to take if iseul denied him. he didn't necessarily want a fight again, not with her. colt sought to co-exist in what passed for peace these days but he was ganglead here and she wasn't.
unless —"or yew could join us, yew an' th'kids. teach em a trade. teach em how t'never take no one's garbage. yew, free of this place, free t'travel, do as yew please."
mercy? what did colt briggs know about mercy? he offered it to her pretty eyes.