Sassy Ever After: Sassy and a little Bad-Assy (Kindle Worlds Novella) (5 page)

Chapter Five

It was an itch at the end of his nose that pulled him from his deep sleep. The nagging, ticklish sensation wouldn’t go away.

Cruz went to scratch it with his fingers and ended up slapping the side of his wolf’s muzzle with a paw, instead. The rake of claws sliding down his nose slowly was enough to finish pulling Cruz out of his drugged slumber. Groggily lifting his head, he shook it a little to try to clear the fog from his brain.

What the hell?
Looking down at his wolf’s body curled up on his bed, he tried to remember how he had ended up this way.

When in the world had he shifted? More importantly, why had he shifted?

Sliding off the bed unsteadily, he stood in the middle of his bedroom and focused on shifting to his human form. It took Cruz a few minutes to feel centered enough to go from one form to the next, but finally, his bones started to pop with the change. Fur slowly receded to reveal human muscle covered by skin, and his body lengthened as the wolf turned into the man.

When his shift was finally over, he was on hands and knees, naked, shaking from head to toe.

Snippets of hazy memories started to come back to him: starting his new job at The Thirsty Wolfe yesterday, an old man attacking him with a sword, and Cruz literally throwing the old man out of the bar.

That wasn’t all, though. No, a pair of gorgeous blue eyes flashed through his mind, followed by the sweetest smell of lavender and vanilla. The image of the brunette came to him full-force then as her feisty wrath of slaps and screams bombarded him.

True mate,
his wolf growled, wanting to come out again to track Nikki down. Cruz managed to keep his wolf at bay, though the realization hit him like a bucket of cold water.

Yesterday, he had accidentally stumbled upon his true mate while at the bar … Then he had unknowingly made a very poor first impression by throwing her grandfather out like a piece of trash.

Find mate. Fix this.

Cruz heard his wolf loud and clear. The beast was damned right he needed to find her and fix this between them. At least, he hoped he could. Now he just had to get his ass up off the floor to do it. He wasn’t going to let a little fatigue stop him from what he needed to do.

Pushing through rolling nausea and the general fatigue that was settling over his body, he managed to get to his feet and then to the bathroom. It was slow going, but Cruz managed to get in and out of the shower without falling over as if he were drunk. In fact, with every minute that passed, he grew a little stronger, a bit surer footed.

The rest of his memories also returned while he dried off: yelling at his boss Nathan, the confusion over Nikki being a human named Wolfe, and then Nathan telling him he needed to calm down. Only, Cruz had been unable to calm down and was on the verge of shifting in public when Nathan had someone sedate him. It made him want to find the sneaky bastard and punch him in the face.

After getting dressed, he stopped in his kitchen long enough to devour a thick sandwich with extra slices of lunchmeat. He practically had to force the food down, but he knew he needed something in his stomach so he wouldn’t pass out.

Once he swallowed the last bite, he guzzled an oversized bottle of water to rehydrate. Feeling a bit more like himself, Cruz then walked out of that apartment, determined to kick his boss’s ass.

The walk to the bar went pretty damn quickly. Cruz stormed into the bar, ignored all the greetings from yesterday’s customers, and made his way behind the bar and into the back office. That was where he found Nathan sitting at his desk, looking at some papers.

Nathan didn’t bother to look up at him, but Cruz wasn’t looking for a friendly hello, anyway. The other wolf knew he was there, mad as hell, and definitely at a disadvantage since Cruz was new to this pack and Nathan was related to the alpha. That didn’t stop him from walking forward, slapping his hands down on the man’s desk, and growling low in his throat.

“That was a shitty thing you did yesterday.”

Nathan looked from Cruz’s hands up to his face, utterly unfazed by the waves of anger pouring off of him. “Yeah, well, some would say that you losing control like that in my place of business was a pretty shitty thing to do, too. The difference between us is I’m being magnanimous enough to let your shit slide. Since it’s my place, I’m your boss, and you’re the one who’s starting over in a new pack, I suggest you figure out how to do that, as well.”

Cruz slowly straightened up, jaw clenched, hating the fact that he had to admit he was just as guilty in this scenario.

Cracking his neck, he took a deep, calming breath. “All right, so you’re right. I was losing control, but I want you to know that’s not normal for me, and there were extenuating circumstances yesterday.”

Nathan nodded. “I got that, man. You found your true mate. After hearing your story yesterday, I can see why that might mess with your head, which is why what went down in my office is between you and me. No one else needs to know.”

Cruz cocked an eyebrow. “How about the person who drugged me?”

Nathan shrugged. “You don’t need to know who it was, and I’ll never tell you. At this point, I’m wiping the slate clean between us so we can have a fresh start today. In fact, I’m even going to give you a
welcome to the pack
present.”

Incredulous, Cruz looked at his boss in confusion. “Why would you do that?”

Cracking a big grin, Nathan tossed the papers in his hand to land in front of Cruz. “Let’s just say I want to see you get your chance at happiness.”

When he looked down, Cruz’s entire body froze as he saw a photocopy of two driver’s licenses. One was his mate’s, and the other looked as if it might be her father’s.

Snapping his gaze back up to Nathan, he asked, “How did you get that?”

Nathan folded his hands over his waist and sprawled in his chair as if he were king of the world. “She came to pick up her grandfather’s sword. It was accidentally left here yesterday. I, being the diligent, concerned owner that I am, told them I wanted to copy their identification in case the cops came in here, asking about a stolen sword.”

“You think her grandfather might have stolen that sword?”

His boss’s grin became even bigger. “Nope, but now I can give you her home address, can’t I? It also lets me prove to you that she’s not of my line of Wolfe’s. Check the spelling of her last name. There’s no E.”

Aw, hell, Nathan had done him a serious solid.

Cruz had been on his own for so long he had forgotten what others being there for you felt like. He wasn’t going to get all mushy and shit, but it was something he would never forget.

Feeling all the tension drain out of his body, Cruz looked back down at the paper and stared at his mate’s image. Could he do this? After losing one mate and a child, could he really give in to his wolf’s primitive urge to track down his true mate? He might have survived Lindsay and Laura’s deaths, but if he let himself get attached to Nikki and something happened to her, he would never survive another loss. The cut of that sort of catastrophe would go straight to his soul, destroying him completely. He would either go rogue or literally curl up and let himself waste away until he died. A wolf simply didn’t recover after the death of a true mate.

Nathan’s voice cut through his thoughts. “It’s okay to be scared, man, but don’t let your fear control you. You’ve got a second chance at life and possibly love. There’s a lot of people out there who never even get the first chance. Don’t throw this second chance away.”

Fuck. Hearing Nathan say those words cut straight through his doubts, forcing him to admit the man was right. Well, he would internally admit Nathan was right.

“What are you, a fortune teller now?” Picking up the paper, Cruz gave him a mock salute. “Thanks, boss. Be back for my shift in a little while.”

With those parting words, Cruz walked out of the office and then out of the bar, taking his first steps toward his destiny.

All right, that was some corny shit, but he did walk down the street with renewed purpose. He was going to find his mate and apologize. If Cruz really was meant to have a second chance at life and love, maybe she wouldn’t slam the door in his face.

~~~

“If we break your other foot, you could go back and get another matching hulk cast!”

“Sure, Ivar, why don’t we break my hands, too? Then I can get matching Hulk hands,” Nikki responded. Of course, her satire was utterly lost on the little boy who immediately started giving her ideas on how they could break both her hands and her other foot. Who knew a five-year-old could be so bloodthirsty?

Thankfully, a knock sounded on the front door, giving Nikki a reason to escape the presence of her little brother before he could try out any of his ideas.

She hobbled toward the front door as fast as she could, but with her cast, she was still so slow that even an old man moved faster than she did. Papa Ái beat her to the door, throwing it open without looking through the peephole to see who it was first.

As Nikki rounded the corner from the living room, she took one look at who was standing on the other side of the door and hissed in disbelief.

The bouncer who had thrown her grandfather out of the bar raised his eyebrows in surprise as he shook Papa Ái’s hand. “I didn’t know you were part cat.”

Smartass.

“I’m not, which you damn well know. Why are you here?”

The man let go of her grandfather’s hand, putting them in his jeans pockets. Nodding his head in Papa Ái’s direction, he answered her question, “I was just apologizing to your grandfather here again for what happened yesterday. Thought I would stop by and see how you two were doing.”

Nikki opened her mouth to blast the man with another sarcastic comment, but her grandfather didn’t give her the chance.

“Yesterday?” Looking back at Nikki, he asked, “What happened yesterday, Nikki girl?”

Papa Ái’s genuine confusion broke her heart. Softening her voice, she took a few steps closer and said, “Do you remember going to the bar to look for me?”

The old man looked up, thinking hard, then shook his head. “Did I find you?”

Nikki gave him a gentle smile. “Yes, you did.”

“Did I get an ale and a wench after that?”

Moment ruined.

The sound of a smothered male chuckle came from her left, and Nikki shot a killing glare at the bouncer who had a hand over his mouth, trying to hide his laughter.

“Wait, why are you sorry, young warrior? Did you steal my ale or woman?”

This time, the bouncer didn’t bother to hide his laughter.

Nikki hung her head, deciding that staring at her green cast was better than trying to deal with this situation anymore.

The deep baritone voice that spoke next did something to Nikki that no man had done in quite some time. It made her wet. As in, her thighs tried to clench from the sudden attack of desire that rolled through her as strong as a thunderstorm.

“I promise you, sir, I didn’t take your ale or your woman. You know what did happen, though?”

Nikki glanced up to see Papa lean toward the other man in fascination. “What happened? A raid? A battle? Some sort of glory that will lead us to Valhalla?” With each word, her grandfather got more and more excited until he was shouting in their visitor’s face.

The bouncer smiled but shook his head. “Your granddaughter stole something from me.”

With that accusation, Nikki’s head snapped up, and she shouted, “What?”

Papa was looking at the bouncer warily now. “That’s a grave accusation, boy. What exactly are you claiming my girl stole?”

Dark chocolate eyes looked straight into her own, making her burn with want as much as she burned with anger. Then the jerk said the one thing she never expected to hear.

“My heart.”

For the love of all the corny pickup lines in the entire universe! Really? Was he serious right now? Lord knew her grandfather found the answer amusing, because he was laughing his head off.

Annoyed beyond belief, Nikki growled at him, “Go away.”

Papa was now laughing so hard he was doubled over, clutching his sides as he tried to breathe through his guffawing. The scene seemed to amuse the bouncer whose smile was huge as he looked from Papa to Nikki.

“Not until you agree to come out here and talk to me, pretty girl.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” Nikki seethed.

Her grandfather was still laughing like a loon, and she couldn’t get this annoying jackass to go away. Could her day possibly get any worse?

Frankly, she should have known better than to even think those words. The minute she did, little Ivar piped up from behind her, “I’ve got it, Nikki! We’ll just get Harald to use Thor’s hammer again to break your hands and other foot. Hey, who’s that at the door?”

Unable to accept her life as it was at the moment, Nikki maneuvered her way past her still cackling grandfather, motioned for the bouncer to step back so she could come out on the porch, and then slammed the front door shut behind her.

Trying to regain some of her composure, Nikki took a deep breath then blew it out before she finally looked at her guest. Starting at his overly large feet, she scanned upward, taking in his thick thighs, trim waist, up to his barrel chest with two rather bulging arms crossed over it. By the time she made it to his sinfully good-looking face, she really wished she hadn’t taken the time to check him out. The bastard was wearing a smug grin.