Sassy Ever After_Captivating Sass

by Casey Hagen

  He smiled. “You’re settling into this whole honey-do list thing rather easily.”

  “Shut up. This is one that you usually do anyway. Can you check in on my mom in a bit? She’s being weird.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Weird how?”

  “Well, I know she fessed up to adopting me, but there was no fall out from it. I mean, it’s not like there is another set of parents out there looking for me. She’s my mom. But she’s forgetful this morning. Or maybe she’s just avoiding talking about it in front of Lucy. I don’t know. But she didn’t realize I had to work this morning.”

  His large palms spread over her back and roamed along her spine. “You work every morning.”

  “Exactly. On the other hand, I got to witness her hand not shaking for the first time in two years. I’m sure it’s just a fluke, but I thought she was having a good morning.”

  “Listen, don’t worry about a thing. I’ll call Maeve and have them meet us at the diner. I’ll check on your mom before I head over,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple.

  Her eyes drifted shut with the touch of his lips, and for the first time, some of that weight on her shoulders shifted.

  Keeping that burden no longer balanced on just her shoulders.

  “I love you,” he whispered, the words sliding inside her and winding around her lonely heart.

  She smiled, slid her hand in his, and pulled back to look at him. “I love you, too, Leander. The leap wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I just closed my eyes and jumped.” She pressed a kiss to his lips and let her fingers drift from his before heading around the corner to the entrance of the diner.

  Saturday morning diner traffic always tended to be on the light side since the commuters that frequented the diner were all spending time with their families. Cleona always took Saturday mornings to deep clean the dessert case; this morning, she couldn’t keep her eyes from glancing between the clock and front door as she waited.

  “What’s got you so distracted, mia cara?” Sam said, passing by her with a bucket of dirty dishes from the only two customers who had just left.

  “I’m waiting for some people, that’s all.”

  “How’s the hand?” he said, shooting a look at her palm.

  “What? Oh—that. It’s fine. I must not have caught it as bad as I thought I did or that burn gel works miracles.”

  His shrewd gaze studied her. “Uh, huh. Or maybe it’s something else,” he said with a nod toward the silver streak in her hair.

  “Look—” Cleona began.

  “No excuses, mia cara. I don’t need to know everything. I just worry about you. If you say everything is okay, it’s okay.”

  The diner door opened, and Maeve walked in followed by Orion. “It’s okay,” she whispered, her gaze landing on her sister.

  “Uh huh,” he said, glancing between them. “I’ll hold down the fort. You go ahead and take some time with your company.”

  Cleona rounded the counter, but the closer she got to Maeve, the more unsure she became, and her steps faltered.

  “You mated,” Maeve said quietly.

  “Uh, yes. I guess it would have been better to find out from you two what we were in for before we—well, you know.”

  Maeve smiled over her shoulder at Orion. “Yes, I know.”

  “Things are slow right now. Are you hungry?” Cleona asked.

  Maeve’s fingers twisted in her purse strap. “Oh, we’re good, but we wouldn’t mind some coffee, if that’s okay.”

  Cleona hitched a thumb over her shoulder and smiled at them both. “Sure, take the corner booth over there, and I’ll join you. Leander should be along as well.”

  “Yes, we’re actually staying just down the street. He said he had something to attend to and then he’d be over,” she said, taking a seat in the booth.

  “Yes, my moth—” Cleona’s throat went dry as uncertainty choked her.

  Maeve looked at her with a questioning gaze. “Your mother?”

  “Uh, yes,” Cleona muttered.

  Maeve reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “She is your mother. I also had a mother and father. They’ve passed. Just because we have a history we didn’t know about doesn’t mean we have to let go of the one we know.”

  Cleona nodded. “Thanks for that…let me just get that coffee.”

  She turned and almost bumped right into Sam who had stepped up with mugs and the carafe. “It’s on me. We don’t need any more incidents,” he said, dispersing cups and filling them just shy of the rim. “Anything else?”

  “No, thank you. This is perfect.”

  They sat in an awkward silence while Orion sipped his black coffee and Maeve added sugar and cream to hers. Cleona dumped a small container of French vanilla creamer in hers and took a sip.

  “It’s awkward for you, isn’t it?” Maeve asked.

  “A little bit. I feel bad talking without waiting for Leander, but I guess we can get started.”

  “What do you want to know?” Maeve asked.

  “The silver streak?” Cleona said, raising her brow.

  “Mating can be stressful,” Maeve said with a laugh.

  “There’s a lot I don’t understand.” Cleona glanced out the window and saw no sign of Leander yet. Her mother was likely talking his ear off.

  “He has a mark on his back, like a brand—”

  Orion nodded and set down his mug. “You get the silver. He gets branded with the everlasting love symbol, and if you’re anything like your sister,” he said, casting a glance at Maeve with a sardonic smile, “a bite.”

  Maeve laughed and elbowed him. “He loved it and he knows it.”

  “Doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt like a son of a bitch,” he muttered, picking up his cup once again.

  “Sorry,” Maeve said with a grin.

  He winked at her. “No, you’re not.”

  “Okay, I’m not,” she admitted.

  “How long have you two known each other?” Cleona asked.

  “About four weeks,” Orion said, leaning back against the bench seat and stretching his arm out on the backrest.

  “Wow, it’s like you’ve been together for years,” Cleona said.

  “It’s quick, as it’s meant to be,” Orion said quietly. “I have a lot of the history that I need to turn over to Leander so he can study and prepare since he didn’t have a male figure to teach him.”

  “Do you guys have visions?” Cleona asked, wrapping her hand around her mug. Okay, strangling her mug.

  “Maeve had a doozy the first time she set foot on my land. Like the land tried to draw her in. It took casting a spell to pull her back.”

  She shot up in her seat. “That’s the kind of thing that happened to Leander yesterday,” Cleona said.

  “Happened to me, too…with close proximity to Maeve.”

  “Did either of you have any before that?” Cleona asked.

  “No, why?” they said in unison.

  “Well, my mother pulled out some pictures I drew as a kid. A meadow surrounded by trees, and the tree you mentioned.”

  “You’re the carrier,” Orion whispered as he looked her over with renewed scrutiny.

  “What do you mean?”

  He sat forward and leaned his elbows on the table. “I’ve been working on the histories with my dad. One of The Tetrad is the carrier of memories. It means that not only do we have what your mother, Brigid, left behind, but we can access those memories as well. Memories that by human standards you shouldn’t even have.”

  “You mentioned something there, The Tetrad. What is that?

  Orion leaned in farther and lowered his voice a fraction. “That’s what you and your sisters are. The Tetrad of the Moonstone Guardians Pack. It means the four. The last four remaining members and you were kept hidden so Belen wouldn’t get to you. The only way to fight him off for good is to awaken all four of you and find your mates. Then we’ll have the power to erradicate him once and for all. We don’t know how he knew your m
other was carrying you, but—”

  “Well, I might have a bit of information to help us find that. Mylas, Leander’s father, worked at the fertility clinic that my mother went to. He’s the one who secured our placement,” Cleona interrupted.

  “Our mother was going to a fertility clinic?” Maeve asked.

  “I guess. I don’t know. There’s a lot more information to dig up. All she left us was her necklace and her letter.”

  “And right now, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is making sure Belen doesn’t gain control of any of you or the cuffs,” Orion said.

  “Why would he go for the cuffs?” Cleona asked.

  “They hold power. He was stripped of his. If he could get his hands on ours, he could use them to take our form. I don’t just mean possess us like he did to me before. I mean, he can literally take the same form as us and manipulate you.”

  The hair on the nape of her neck rose. “Wait? What do you mean he possessed you?”

  “Orion stepped out of the bedroom after we mated, and something was different. His reactions just weren’t his own. I don’t know how to explain it. He didn’t move the way he normally did.”

  Dread pooled in Cleona’s stomach, making it sink to her toes.

  “And he didn’t react as though we had just mated. It’s like he didn’t even realize it had happened.”

  Her mother’s hands had stopped shaking.

  “And he pretended to be our mother. He asked about this necklace,” Maeve said, holding up the silver necklace against her skin. “It’s the symbol that rises in our mate’s skin. She wore it and buried it for us where she died. He asked what the symbol was, that’s how I knew for sure it wasn’t our mother reaching out to us from the grave, but Belen manipulating me.”

  Her mother didn’t remember their conversation or that she was going to work that morning.

  Her heart seized in her chest. “Oh, God. Belen’s here!” Cleona cried out as she ran for the door.

  Chapter 8

  With Maeve and Orion on their way to the diner, Leander jogged over to Cleona’s trailer, climbed the steps, and knocked on the door.

  Hearing a thud on the other side, he pushed his way in. “Reanne, are you okay?” he asked, scanning the living room.

  “I’m fine,” she called from the small, round table in the kitchen. She took hold of her wheels, backed away, and rolled out into the living room.

  Her eyes shone with a vibrancy he’d never seen in them, and she smiled. Rolling to a stop before him, she folded her hands in her lap.

  Her steady hands.

  “Where’s Lucy?” he said, glancing around. An eerie silence filled the room, and the temperature remained cool despite the heat kicking up with the rising sun outside.

  “Oh, she just ducked into the bathroom,” Reanne said, her gaze sliding away.

  Something seemed off, but he couldn’t put his finger on what. He listened for the sound of Lucy moving about in the bathroom, but heard only a still silence. “I’m supposed to head over to the diner, but Cleona wanted me to check in on you and see if you were alright.”

  “Cleona, such a sweet girl. Loyal,” she said, again without meeting his eyes.

  He took a step toward her, and the moonstone at his wrist warmed and pulsed against his skin. “Yes, and worried about you, especially after the conversation this morning,” he said feeling her out.

  “Yes, yes, that. She need not worry, it’s water under the bridge,” Reanne said with a flip of her hand.

  “Well, I guess it is, for Cleona. She’s forgiving like that.”

  “For Cleona?” She shook her head, and her lashes fluttered. “Yes, forgiving. A lovely girl.”

  She was talking like she barely knew her. Every other day when she talked about Cleona, there was this tinge of wonder and pride in her voice.

  “Are you on any new medications, by any chance?”

  “Do I seem like I’m on any new medications, Leander?” she asked with a tilt of her head.

  The sound of shuffling coming from the kitchen caught his attention. He shifted his eyes toward the noise, just the briefest glance, while keeping his face aimed at Reanne.

  A foot twitched from where it peeked out from under the dining room table.

  Lucy wasn’t in the bathroom.

  And he wasn’t talking to Reanne.

  His gaze snapped back to Reanne. Well, Reanne’s body. He had nothing. No spells, no idea how to fight something inhuman, and no back up coming to help. But Belen didn’t know that. “Let her go.”

  Reanne’s eyes flashed red before returning to their normal brown color. “You stupid, stupid boy…you think you’re any match for me?”

  “While you’re in the body of a frail woman, yeah, I think I can handle it.”

  “Well, how about this? I’ll come out, but before I do, I’ll squeeze this old bat’s heart until it never beats again. Lucky you, you get to watch. And how will Cleona feel when you let that happen? She’ll never mate with you then,” Belen seethed.

  He didn’t know. He’d been watching, at least to some degree, but he didn’t know the mating had alrady been done. How was that possible? When they mated, it was as if worlds collided. How did Belen not feel it?

  Maybe because Leander hadn’t tapped into his magic. Maybe that was the way he’d been keeping close thus far, but with Leander, it didn’t work.

  And maybe that was the key to the first mating for the future.

  Leander lunged, but skidded to a halt when Reanne’s eyes went from gleaming with arrogance to anguish.

  Reanne’s frightened gaze met his as a dark smoke rose from her chest and she let out a blood curdling scream of agony.

  “Don’t!” Leander bellowed reaching for her.

  “Don’t what?” a voice taunted, rising from thin air as Reanne’s back bowed and the blood drained from her face.

  “Stop, you son of a bitch!” Leander said as lunged for her in an attempt to wrench Reanne out of her wheelchair.

  The thick, black smoke shifted, rising our of Reanne, and swirled into the image of a man who hovered between Leander and Reanne’s slumped form.

  “I’ll make a deal with you,” he said, his sinister smile a cloud of smoke in constant motion. “The old lady for the cuff.”

  “No.”

  “The old lady it is then,” Belen said in a grating voice, followed by a sinister laugh that shook the trailer.

  Belen spun on Reanne and her body lifted out of the chair as the fist of the demon took hold of her, his hands sinking into her chest, holding her by her heart.

  Perspiration dotted her ashen skin. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

  “Stop. Stop, dammit! I’ll give it to you!” Leander yelled, already untying the leather strap from his wrist. He yanked the leather and dangled the cuff in the air, hoping it was enough.

  Belen’s hands pulled free, and Reanne crumpled to the ground before him, her chest still, her eyes open and unmoving.

  Leander dropped to the floor next to her and felt her neck for a pulse. Moving his fingers over her skin three times, he finally found it, but it beat slow and weak as though her life were trickling out of her in that very moment.

  He breathed into her lungs and pumped her chest. Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted Belen. His form took a more solid shape as he held the cuff in his smoky hands.

  Leander breathed into Reanne’s mouth again, desperate to get her lungs working on their own before Belen stopped worshiping the stone and turned his wrath on Leander.

  Reanne rasped below him, her eyes blinking, as she brought her shaking hands up to her face.

  “It’s okay, you’re going to be okay,” he said, patting her hands and pushing up to his feet.

  He spun on Belen and his jaw dropped.

  Standing before him was…

  Him.

  “Jesus,” Leander whispered, looking Belen up and down. His skin, his hair, and the steely eyes matched to a T. Hell, even the clothes we
re carbon copies of the ones Leander currently wore.

  “Jesus can’t help you now,” Belen said, his smile too wide, his eyes too wild.

  The trailer door slammed open, and Cleona burst inside. As she lunged over the threshold, and shifted, her clothes tearing and the shreds drifting to the floor.

  She stood between them, at least four feet high, her silver coat wavy and thick. Her green eyes shot with silver in wolf form, like a core of liquid steel within her.

  She cast a quick glance to her mother on the floor, a whimper rising up from her throat, before swinging her head back to them, her gaze snapping back and forth and a feral, low growl vibrating from her throat.

  Behind her Maeve burst through the door, in the same wolf form, a bit shorter, leaner, but from the sound that tore from her throat, no less formidable.

  Orion joined a second later, taking a spot between the wolves, a hand on each of their backs as he took in the scene.

  “What are you waiting for? Take him out,” Belen ordered with a sneer toward Leander.

  “He’s not Leander. I am,” Leander said, meeting Cleona’s eyes, willing her to believe him.

  “The fuck he is,” Belen bellowed.

  “Come here, you piece of—” Leander said as he lunged for Belen’s throat. The fucker was human now. A human he could put his hands on.

  Locking his hands around Belen’s throat, he squeezed, pressing his thumbs into Belen’s Adam’s apple, the image of Reanne being tortured before his very eyes fueling his fire.

  Belen’s hands came up, one locked on Leander’s ear, and his thumb heading for his eye socket.

  They yanked at one another, losing their balance, then gaining it again. Leander shoved Belen down on the couch, pinning him there. “Hurry up. I can’t hold him much longer,” Leander yelled over his shoulder.

  “Don’t listen to him,” Belen choked out.

  Cleona glanced at Leander before fixing her stare on his wrist. He never should have given up his cuff.

  She growled and took a couple steps, her head moving with the every jerk and shift in the commotion.

  “Cleona, it’s me!” he shouted, turning toward her, his grip slipping from Belen’s throat for just a fraction of a second, but that’s all it took.