Sassy Ever After: Mate of Honor (Kindle Worlds Novella) (4 page)

She hadn’t known he was the alpha at the time, she reminded herself. Even so, he was next in line, as she had well-been aware. And instead of respect, she’d stared the man down, basically challenging him to a confrontation. And why? Because her inner child couldn’t let go of the shitty way he’d treated her all those years ago.

Grow up already
. Her inner child had had nothing to do with the way her skin flushed, or her nipples tightened when he’d brushed past her.

The appetizer course was finely diced steak tar-tar, vibrant red and seasoned to perfection. The perfect opener for a table full of carnivores. Every once in a while, Bailey would sneak a glance at Forrest. He’d turned his attention to his own food and off of her, thank heavens. She told herself to quit looking at him, but man, there was something about Forrest that demanded her attention. Although, the misery on his face was unmistakable. She’d resembled that expression once or twice. For a brief second, Bailey felt sorry for him.
This is a man who has it all
, she thought. Money, family, and power. There was no sane reason on earth he needed her pity.

Lila Blackthorn leaned forward and drew Bailey’s attention. “It’s lovely to see you again. I was so pleased when Lara told me you were going to stand up for her at the wedding.”

“Oh, uhm, thanks, Mrs. Blackthorn. It’s nice to see you too.” Lila had always been kind to Bailey and her mother, but there had been an invisible line between servant and mistress that was never crossed. “Your home is as beautiful as I remember.”

“I’ll be glad to leave it behind for Forrest,” she said with a blunt honesty that amazed Bailey. “Burn promised me the world when we mated, and I plan to make him keep his word.

Burn chuckled and leaned forward, took her hand in his, and dipped his head and kissed her knuckles. “It’s only taken me forty years.”

“I won’t hold it against you,” Lila said. She kissed him, and Bailey’s heart squeezed. Their love was like that out of a fairytale. True soul mates. If she ever wanted something like that in her life, she’d probably have to move back to Siberia.

“You could’ve have waited another forty years,” Forrest muttered.

Dorian snorted his amusement. For some inexplicable reason, his attitude toward Forrest pissed her off. “It’s a poor man who makes light of someone else’s misery.”

Dorian was unfazed. He winked and with a grin said, “You haven’t seen my bank account.”

“Enough,” Burn said.

Bailey caught Forrest’s gaze again, and this time, there was something in the way he looked at her that sent a zing straight to her lady bits.

Lord, help me. Please don’t let me get turned on in a room full of wolves.
Everyone in the room would scent her pheromones. She made it a point to pretend Forrest didn’t exist for the rest of the meal.

With each course
, Evan and Lara looked more in love, Tory happily flirted with Luke Blackthorn and Landon Gilly, Dorian cracked jokes about marriage, the Pale Blond kept sneaking secretive looks at her, and Bailey fought the urge to run to her car and flee the estate.

“Who is that guy?” she asked Dorian and gestured toward the stranger with the staring problem.

“Oh, got your eye out for a man tonight, eh?”

“Just tell me who he is, and without all the innuendo.”

Dorian frowned, but the smile never left his eyes. “Dale Comfry. He’s a friend of Evan’s.”

“Is he Blackthorn Pack?”

“I don’t think so, but I don’t pay much attention.”

That didn’t surprise Bailey one bit. “Thanks.”

“Save room for me on your dance card, tonight, kiddo.” He nudged her with his shoulder. “I can show you a real good time.”

Ugh. A rumble at the head of the table kept her from telling Dorian to dance off the edge of a cliff. Forrest’s lips were pulled back from his teeth. He glared at his brother and growled. Though he wasn’t directing anything at her, the rawness in his eyes as he stared daggers at his brother made Bailey’s heart skip a beat. She guessed Forrest was as disgusted with Dorian’s behavior as she was.

This. Meal. Could. Not. End. Soon. Enough.

Finally, the dessert came. It was a seven layer cream cake that featured orange sponge cake and chocolate cream filling. If this were any other night, Bailey would have been salivating at the sight of the yummy cake, but by the sixth course, her stomach had soured.

Tory gave her an appraising look as she took one bite then pushed the plate forward a few inches, indicating she was done.

She
was
done. There was nothing in the maid of honor codebook that said she had to participate in a rite of humiliation. Bailey refused to let a wedding game turn into one more embarrassment on a long list of embarrassments when it came to her and men. In half an hour the scenting ceremony would begin, and Bailey planned to be on the road and on her way back to the safety of her two-bedroom townhouse.

“I’ll be right back,” she told Lara and Tory as they party headed outside to the backyard.

“Where are you going?” Tory eyed her suspiciously.

“I just need to pee. Is that okay? Can a girl pee without being interrogated and indicted?”

Tory threw up her hands. “You know I’ll kill you if you bolt, right?”

“I’m not going anywhere but the bathroom.” Bailey crossed her heart. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

She remembered where the nearest bathroom was and made a beeline down the hall toward the library. Since she didn’t have to pee, just needed a moment alone to breathe, Bailey went inside the large room lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves stuffed with literary, educational, and instructional works. This had been her favorite room. She curled up in the big, leather seat and thumb through the pages of whatever tome Burn might be studying while her mother would sing as she cleaned. The acoustics of the room made her sound like an angel.

Bailey sat in Burn’s chair and smiled when she saw
The Must Have Travel Guide
sitting on the end table. He really planned to give Lila the world. She picked the book up and flipped through a few pages before setting it back down where she found it.

She closed her eyes and began to softly sing on of her mother’s songs, a favorite lullaby about a snowball tree, “
Kalinka, kalinka, kalinka moya. V sadu yagoda malinka, malinka--
”

“What are you doing in my father’s chair?”

The abrupt question put a halt to her reminiscing. Forrest Blackthorn stood in the doorway, his wide frame taking up most of the space. Her mouth went dry as his dark gaze raked over her body. Was that heat in his eyes? Her breath quickened, her pulse raced, and her skin flushed. The throbbing ache between her legs scared her more than the new alpha temperament.

She sat up straight, squeezing her knees together and hoping upon hope that Forrest Blackthorn was scent-blind. “That’s the second time you’ve asked me that same question.”

His eyes narrowed as he studied her. His voice was rough, coarse, and low. “I would have remembered you.”

She wanted to shout,
I’m the daughter of the help. The lowly maid’s offspring. The one you didn’t hesitate to treat like a slug when I was a child.
Bailey shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.” She stood up. “Don’t you have a ceremony to attend?”

“Don’t you?”

“There you are, bro,” she heard Evan’s voice out in the hall.

Bailey tensed at his presence. Forrest raised a brow at her.

Evan said, “Dad says you have to get things started out back.”

“Tell him I’ll be right there,” Forrest replied unhappily, but he kept his gaze on Bailey.

“What you looking at?” Evan peeked his head around the corner. He smiled and gave a little wave. “Hey, Bailey. Lara and your friend were looking for you. You coming?”

The throbbing ache that Forrest had incited dulled to a thrum. “Yep. Heading there now.” She shoved past the Blackthorn brothers and fled down the hall toward the back of the house.

****

That was the
second time Forrest had bumped into the strange and stunning woman. The light green top she wore brightened the green in her own eyes turning them to a pale shade of peridot. It hadn’t escaped him that the top also featured her lush breasts like displayed artwork. And her scent…God, she smelled like sweet berries after a summer rain. He’d never smelled anything more delicious. And when she hurried down the hall, the view of her wide hips and rounded ass made him want to take a bite.

Forrest grabbed his brother’s arm before he could get away. “Tell me who that woman is?”

Evan gave him a strange look. “That’s Bailey Corsac.”

“You act like I should know the name.”

“Dude, she grew up here at Blackthorn.”

“I would have remembered someone like her.” A memory came back to him. He’d come home for Evan’s high school graduation at his father’s insistence. There had been a girl at the window. He’d felt her eyes on him before he’d even turned around. For a second, he’d felt as if he were being seen for the first time. Was this her? It had to be. He’d looked for her in the house, but the noise of Evan’s friends proved to be too much.

“Her mom was Lana. You know, the housekeeper. Dad and mom took her in after she and Bailey immigrated to America.” He squinted his eyes for a moment, then said, “About twenty years ago. The lived in the carriage house. How can you not remember?”

“I wasn’t around much back then.”

Evan chuckled. “You aren’t around much now.” He shook his head. “That’s not fair. I’m sorry I said it.”

“Don’t be,” Forrest said. “It’s true.” He pursed his lips and studied his little brother, who was not so little anymore. Evan was twenty-six now, about the same age Forrest had been when he started running the company. Was Evan ready for that kind of responsibility? “I guess I’ll be around a lot more now.”

That was at the same time he’d left for college. His visits home were infrequent. His parents cycled through the domestic staff, not because they were unkind, but because they tended to place them in better situations when opportunities arose. “I don’t remember.”

His brother clapped him on the shoulder. “Well, you’re a busy guy with a million things on your mind. But tonight, the only thing should be finding a mate.”

“Did the folks pay you to say that?” Forrest looked at his brother. “You don’t mind. Dad stepping down, I mean?”

Evan shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me. You were always going to be the next alpha.”

“But?”

“No, buts. Just… you know. Watch your back. No one spoke up tonight because they are afraid of Dad, but I have feeling there might be a few who disagree with his decision to step down now. Some of the older wolves think you should have started your own pack, and the fact that you’re not mated doesn’t sit too well either.”

Forrest stared at his brother. Evan had always seemed flighty. More interested in having his fun than in earning his place in the pack, but maybe… “You’re not dumb, are you?”

“Whatever gave you that impression?” Evan smirked. “Lara’s going to kill me if we don’t get out there.”

“I’m not going,” Forrest said.

His father picked that moment to join them. He stared at his oldest son for a second, then said, “Walk with me.”

****

Instead of going
back to the party, Bailey made her way toward the bathroom. Holy cripes, she’d basically gone into heat the minute Forrest Blackthorn spoke to her, and mercy, she’d practically drooled down her chin staring at him.

Distracted by thoughts of Forrest, she crashed into the tall blond from the dinner table.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his tone high with panic. “How did you find me?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He grabbed her by the arm. “I told you I’d contact you.”

Bailey was more confused than ever. Voices down the hall had the man breaking contact. Before she could ask him who he thought she was, he was practically running away. Bailey ducked into the bathroom. What the heck had that been about? That guy gave her the total creeps. Why did he think she’d followed him, or tracked him, as he’d put it?

She heard Forrest out in the hall at a distance, and her lady bits went all jelly.

“What is wrong with you?” She stared at her reflection in the mirror and ran her fingers under her eyes to straighten her eyeliner. She was a successful lawyer. A respected attorney.

“I’m smart, damn it. Smart women don’t play with fire.” But she didn’t feel smart.

Her nipples stood rigid under her blouse, and even through the lace, they were obviously erect, and the heat that had rushed to her pussy had left her with wet panties. She felt like a lust-filled kit, unable to control her own body. Lord, she hoped she didn’t have to sit down anywhere before the ceremony because that would be a spot she didn’t want to have to explain.

Forrest’s voice was louder now, and Bailey held her breath when she recognized the other voice was his father. She wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. If she could have magically poofed away, she would have, but disappearing wasn’t an option.

“This feels like an ambush, father,” Forrest said.

“Call it what you want, son. Your mother and I have never pressed you to mate, but you are forty now and the new alpha, and you need a mate to help you.”

“Doesn’t love matter?”

“If we waited for you to fall in love, we’d be dead before you married.”

Bailey felt the slice of Burn’s words. Whatever kind of asshole Forrest might be, it had been a harsh comment. Especially coming from his dad.

“You will take part in the scenting ceremony tonight, Forrest. And you will choose a mate.”

Bailey’s gut clenched. Forrest was being forced to participate. To choose a suitable female. One that would make him stronger in the pack. And it bothered her.

Why?
He’s a jerk. He’s cold.
Evan and Lara had both said more than once that Forrest preferred numbers and contracts to people. It’s no wonder he was forty-years-old and alone. So why did the thought of him taking a mate make her want to throw up?

She could still smell him on the other side of the door, his masculine musk lingering in the hall. But it had been quiet for over a minute, so she peeked into the hallway to make sure the coast was clear.

Forrest stood there, his face unreadable as he stared at her. Bailey slammed the door shut between them and put her back to it.

A knock startled her.

“The ceremony starts in five minutes,” he said. “Don’t be late.”

Fuuu-dge knuckles
. She washed her hands as if she could wash the
silly fool
off of her and opened the door again. Forrest was gone. She shook her head. “I am a silly fool.”