Sassy Ever After: Wise Sass Mates (Kindle Worlds Novella) (9 page)

I
an paced
the covered porch of the old Victorian as the wind-whipped trees thrashed around him, colorful leaves flying through the air and sticking on the wet sidewalk.

The weather matched his feelings perfectly.

So many emotions crowded his heart as he knocked on the heavy oak door.

Bianca had called to him. That was all that mattered.

And she had done it through their bond.

Footsteps on the other side of the door signaled her arrival, although he didn’t need them to know she was near. Somehow, he managed to stop pacing and stand calmly.

The door burst open and then she was there, her face so pale, blonde tresses hanging limply over her shoulders.

Her green eyes were luminous. She stared up at him like a ghost.

Haunted - he had been haunted by her beauty, by her loss, and now by this look of reproach. Had he really made her so unhappy?

But he knew she would never have been in the position to have to nearly kill someone to defend herself if not for him.

“Bianca, I’m s—” he began.

“—
Don’t
say you’re sorry,” she cut him off. “What do you want?”

He paused. Hadn’t she been the one to call to him?

“Honestly,” she added quickly. “What do you want?”

“You,” he answered simply.

Her eyes flashed but she didn’t speak, so he continued.

“I’ve always wanted you, Bianca. I’m a selfish, greedy bastard, but all I want is you. I know you didn’t choose this life, and I’m sorry things changed so much without you having a say.”

“Why did you leave me?” she asked.

He could tell by her voice that it cost her to ask.

“You don’t want me,” he said quietly. “You don’t want this life.”

“Why would you think that?” she asked.

“You were afraid of me. You cowered,” he said. “You had to defend yourself against that… monster. You were so frightened.”

“I’m glad I shifted. He was going to force himself on me - I was proud to brutalize him. I wish I’d killed him. But then you came and you were so upset. You were disgusted by me. You were ashamed of me…”

She couldn’t finish.

“And when you woke up, I was gone,” he murmured.

She nodded tearfully.

“You’re right, I was ashamed, Bianca,” he told her gently, taking her hand and wrapping it in his own. “But I wasn’t ashamed of you. I was proud - so proud - that you defended yourself. That was your first shift and you fought, and you won.”

He paused to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear and gather his thoughts.

She leaned into his hand, nearly derailing him. But he was determined to tell her everything.

“But I
was
ashamed,” he continued. “I was ashamed of myself. Ashamed that I hadn’t been there, that I let you end up in that position - having to defend yourself.”

She took his hand and flung it away from her face.

“How many times do I have to tell you
I can take care of myself
?” she demanded.

He stepped back, hands up reflexively.

“No more times, I promise,” he assured her.

“Liar,” she said quietly.

Then she began to laugh.

The sound of it was so lovely that his wolf began to caper in his chest.

“You’re right,” he admitted. “I know you’re smart. I know you’re tough. But I’m going to keep on trying to protect you, anyway. I’m going to make it my job to keep you out of trouble, Bianca Silver.”

“Because you’re a wolf,” she began.

“Because
I love you
,” he said.

“Because you love me,” she echoed with a sweet smile.

“Now it’s your turn,” he said in a stage whisper.

She grinned back at him. But she didn’t say it.

Instead she came close to him again, so close he could see himself reflected in those beautiful green eyes.

She wound her arms around his neck and went up on tiptoe to kiss him lightly on the lips.

The scent of cinnamon clung to her - she tasted like home.

She snuggled herself closer to him, crushing her breasts against his chest.

He pressed her into the wall of the house, angling his hardness against her curves, loving the soft sounds she made as she felt the evidence of his desire.

He kissed her harder, ravaging her mouth with his. He wanted to claim her right there. He didn’t care about the wood floor of the porch, didn’t care that the storm was breaking, lashing them with rain that angled in under the porch roof.

Suddenly his wolf pricked up his ears.

Before he could release Bianca, the giggling began.

It was her friends.

He turned.

It was her friends
and
the alpha’s wife.

“Hey, Barbara,” he said, wincing a little.

“Ian, glad you made it back,” she smiled a little too widely.

“We brought you a milkshake, Bianca,” Addison said, lifting up one of the two she held.

“If you can stop kissing him long enough to drink it,” Mei laughed.

“She can’t,” Ian said firmly.

Pretending they were utterly alone, he leaned in to kiss Bianca again.

She tilted her face up to him, her eyes shining, and kissed him back.

Her friends cheered, and Bianca smiled against his lips.

Ian’s heart shuddered, as if it were unable to bear the joy he felt.

“Should we go in with them?” he whispered into her hair.

She nodded.

He pulled away, but suddenly she was pulling him close again.

And then Bianca Silver looked up at him, her green eyes solemn.

“I love you, too,” she said, shattering his heart with four small words.

B
ianca watched
the lights play on Ian’s face as he drove them home after an evening spent with friends.

Home.

She studied the face of the man she’d dreamt about since she was seventeen years old.

He looked the same as he had ten years ago, his straw colored hair a little too long, wildly handsome features, strong jaw. But now there was a slight smile playing on the edges of his lips.

He loved her. The idea was thrilling and yet still not quite real.

He noticed her studying him and slid his palm onto her thigh. His hand was so warm.

“Penny for your thoughts,” he offered.

Hm.

“What happens now?” she asked.

He turned to her and lifted an eyebrow, causing her to shiver with anticipation.

“Well, I know about that part,” she said, feeling her cheeks turn pink. “I mean after that.”

“You finish your degree in June, right?” Ian asked.

She nodded.

“So what did you plan to do next?” he asked.

“Well, I was thinking I would keep my place here and write,” Bianca said. “But Addison wants us to visit a place called Tarker’s Hollow in Pennsylvania. She said that there was something interesting happening there, an open portal.”

“I heard about that,” Ian said thoughtfully. “If it really happened, then it’s a huge threat to the shifter community - to everyone really. It would be incredibly dangerous…”

Bianca waited.

“So?” she asked.

“So, although I know you can take care of yourself… if you go, I’m coming too,” he said darkly.

Bianca laughed and hugged herself.

“Are you laughing at me?” he demanded with a smile.

“Maybe,” she shrugged.

“If I were you, I’d show my elder some respect,” he advised.

“Oh, yeah, or what?” she asked, giggling.

Suddenly the car was jostling as he pulled over to the side of the road.

Then he was holding her face in his hands, kissing her fiercely, patiently, until she was trembling and squirming in her seat.

Oh.

“Now behave, love, I have to get us home,” he said, giving her a chaste kiss on the forehead.

When they pulled up in front of the fairytale house at last, Ian hopped out of the car, opened her door for her, and then swept her up in his arms as though it were the most normal thing in the world.

“Ian, no,” she protested. “I’m too heavy.”

“You are perfection,” he assured her, “exactly the way you are.”

She buried her face in his neck, suddenly weak with desire.

He couldn’t get them into the house fast enough, couldn’t get their clothes off too soon.

At last, she was naked in his bed, the sheets soft against her skin.

Ian stood over her, his eyes shining.

The moonlight from the window played on his body, highlighting the hard planes of his chest, the ridges of his abs.

“Mine,” he said, looking down at her tenderly.

“Yours,” she agreed. Though she might have agreed to anything just to get him inside her.

Then he was crawling on top of her, tangling his hands in her hair as he kissed her.

Bianca sighed, wishing he would hurry and slow down all at once. Wishing the moment would last forever.

“Beautiful, wild mate,” he whispered in her ear.

She shivered as he ran a hand from her ribcage down to her hip and back again slowly.

He stroked her again, this time extending his thumb to caress her nipple on the way down.

Bianca couldn’t hold back a tiny moan.

Ian’s grip on her hair tightened and he kissed her again, hungrily, and allowed his other hand to trail down to her hip then stroke her belly.

Bianca tried to wiggle his hand back to her hip. She knew he loved her, knew he found her beautiful, but her round belly still made her feel embarrassed.

He pulled out of their kiss and looked down at her, his eyes burning.

“Is there a part of you that you don’t want me to touch?” he demanded.

She felt her cheeks redden, and she looked down, feeling worse than ever. She should have just let him do what he was going to do.

“Look at me,” he said sternly.

She peered up at him.

“I love you, Bianca Silver. I love
all
of you. I love this,” he said, stroking her nipple again gently until she felt almost desperate for him to pinch or tug. “I love this,” he allowed his hand to follow the curve of her hip. “And I love this,” he said, stroking her belly gently. “It’s part of you. I will defend you from all comers, Bianca, even from yourself. So don’t think you can rob this part of your body of its due. I’m going to love it, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

The next thing she knew he was showering kisses on her stomach, tickling her with his five o’clock shadow.

She laughed and wiggled until he finally stopped.

“That’s better,” he said, winking up at her, making her heart ache with love and gratitude.

Before she could answer he was going lower, nuzzling her thighs, pressing them open.

It had only been a few days since the last time they were together, since that night when he had loved her so thoroughly and so many times that she’d felt almost spoiled with overindulgence.

Now she felt as desperate as if she had never tasted pleasure before, her desire so strong it was as if gravity had let her go and she was floating up to Ian, like metal to a magnet.

He growled with lust and buried his face in her.

Bianca tried to hold still and take in the sensations. The warmth of his mouth, the pleasure building as he lapped at her opening, shot through her like lightning as he lavished her clitoris with slow, soft strokes.

She tried to hold back her climax, wanting this to last. But after only a few seconds her whole body was tensing and she came apart, crying out as he slid a long finger inside her.

He continued to lick and massage, teasing every last pulse of ecstasy from her.

But as soon as she was finished, he was crawling back up to nuzzle her neck.

She could feel him, hot and rigid against her belly.

“Are you ready, darling?” he asked.

“Yes, please,” she whispered.

“Mm, so polite. Let’s see if I can make you forget your manners,” he teased, raising an eyebrow.

She wanted to giggle again, she really wanted to.

But the feel of him, her own scent on his lips, the sound of his heart beating, it was like a symphony to her senses, a very serious song, the oldest song in the world.

When she wound her arms around his neck, he must have heard it too. His eyes shone and he cradled her so gently.

He pressed himself slowly inside her and Bianca swore she could hear distant bells ringing.

He made love to her slowly, filling her with his pulsing steel and then rocking gently until she could hardly bear the tension.

When she cried out in frustration, he slipped a hand between them and massaged her clit with his thumb.

And then she was flying, flying above Blue Creek, above the world, and touching infinity, before crashing down, down, down to crush out the otherworldly ecstasy on his pounding cock.

Immediately, Ian swelled impossibly larger and jetted out his pleasure inside her, calling out her name brokenly.

She fell asleep that night with her head on his warm chest as he traced light circles on her bare shoulder blades.

A
few weeks later
, Halloween night was upon them at last. Bianca giggled as another set of costumed kids approached the porch.

“Incredible,” Ian proclaimed, “I can’t believe that Dorothy and the Scarecrow are really right here in Blue Creek. How did you get here?”

“We followed the brick road,” said the little scarecrow in delight, pointing at the brick walkway leading up to the house.

Ian laughed, as did the mother who was standing out at the sidewalk.

“That was an awesome joke, buddy, here’s a candied apple,” Bianca congratulated the kid and handed one to him and one to the little sister too.

The kids tottered back down the steps and across the candlelit path to their mother.

A cold breeze set the wind chimes tinkling. It was getting late.

“Those were our last two apples,” she told Ian, smiling at the way he followed the children with his eyes.

Soon, darling,
she thought to herself. There had been a parade of adorable kids all night long, and his desire to start a family of their own was plain on his face.

But there was something else tonight - he had an energy that was different from usual.

“I guess we’d better close up shop then,” he said.

She nodded and they began blowing out the candles on the porch and walkway.

The last few weeks had been a blur of happy times. But with Bianca’s research project and Ian’s teaching, they had to fulfill their obligations to the real world as well as explore their budding love.

Bianca figured it was lucky they had those obligations, because without work, they would never have left his bed, and surely by now they would have starved to death there.

When the house was dark at last, Ian turned to her, his golden eyes dancing.

“You know what we haven’t done in a while?” he asked her.

She shook her head.

“We haven’t been running. Will you run with me?” he asked her.

Bianca shivered with delight. It was true that they’d spent so much time at work and in bed there had hardly been any time left to let her wolf off the leash. The mere idea had her whole body tingling with excitement.

“Come on, let’s go for a ride,” he offered.

They hopped in the car and he parked near the high school.

The woods behind the school were dark. The bare branches reached for the moon with a cold beauty.

As they hiked away from the school Bianca had to admit that this hardly felt like the same lush forest where she had stood just a month ago, looking for no more than an evening’s entertainment, but finding her mate and herself.

They spotted a large tree and stripped down.

Ian looked away, probably so as to keep his resolve to run rather than ravage.

But Bianca couldn’t resist taking a peek at her mate’s strong physique. Her night vision was fantastic now.

When Ian sank into his silver wolf, Bianca took a breath and then melted into her own.

The sights of the world receded to make way for scents and sounds.

Instantly, she could hear the denizens of the forest moving around her, smell the rabbits and squirrels and the rare red fox.

Her mate trotted forward between the trees and Bianca followed, her paws reveling in the cool wet leaves and the damp soil.

Soon Ian was running, leaping and sailing over fallen logs and puddles.

Joyously, Bianca allowed her legs to pump and churn. She sucked in long draughts of the fresh night air and panted happily as she bounded over the forest floor and through the thicket.

Suddenly, there was something… familiar.

An old scent, but one that made her feel both excited and terrified.

She screeched to a halt, paws splayed, and lowered her muzzle to the ground.

Ian had stopped only a few paces ahead. His pelt shimmered in the moonlight, his golden eyes studied her, unblinking.

At once, he rose into his man form and Bianca was looking up, past his long legs and muscular torso to see those same golden eyes studying her from the face she knew so well.

Closing her own eyes, she rose into her own human form.

“Do you know where we are?” he whispered to her, wrapping his warm arms around her.

His spicy scent and the hard feel of him against her was a distraction, but Bianca tried to figure out where they were, she really did.

“I don’t see anything special,” she admitted at last. “We just seem to be in the woods.”

“This is where I found you,” he told her softly.

She caught her breath and looked immediately down at the ground. Then she blushed and hoped it wasn’t terrible that she would only recognize the site of their meeting from the place where they had consummated their ten-year secret crush.

“Yes, love, right there,” he breathed, stroking her hair.

She giggled.

“What are you giggling at, woman?” he demanded. But he was smiling.

“I don’t know. I mean, will we bring our kids here one day?” she asked with another laugh.

“Yes,” he said solemnly. “But not because of that, because of something else that happened here.”

“Something else happened here?” Bianca asked, mystified.

He didn’t answer, instead feeling along the tree they were standing against, searching for something.

At last, he seemed to find what he had been looking for.

The next second, he dropped to his knees.

“Bianca, I love you,” he said simply.

The woods blurred from her tears.

“Will you marry me?” he asked.

But she was crying too hard to answer him.

“Oh god, you’re not ready,” he murmured.

“No,” she smiled through her tears, “I was always ready.” She had been writing ‘Mrs. Bianca Anderson’ in her journal since the day they’d met, though she would deny it up and down, if anyone ever asked.

“I just… I just… I’m just so
happy
,” she finished.

And with that, she flung herself onto the ground with him, and there between the wet leaves and the scents of the forest, he slid the ring onto her finger.

It was a pretty thing, a diamond held to a slender band of gold by two sides of a scroll. Tomorrow Addison and Mei would squeal and cry over it.

But tonight there was only Ian and the love they shared.

Bianca flowed into his arms and it was the most natural thing in the world for her mouth to find his.

“Here?” he asked her.

Her body was so filled with desire for him she could barely speak.

“Yes,” she managed.

She had just enough time to wonder at it all. How she, indoorsy, neat freak Bianca Silver, had fallen in love with a wild man and let him turn her into a wolf. How the restrained Ian Anderson had finally taken the love that was offered to him, without guilt or apology.

And then he was making love to her slowly and sweetly on the forest floor and there was no more thinking.

T
HE END

T
hanks for reading
Wise Sass Mates.

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www.tashablack.com
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