Sassy Ever After: Kiss My Sass (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Serena Pettus

  With that she hung up and slammed her phone down on the table. Her hands were shaking, and her temples throbbing with her anger. How dare he insult her father? It wasn’t like he’d been the only one to sense something off about her uncle. Hell, he wasn’t really even a relative since he was adopted.

  “Everything okay, Ashe?”

  Luke’s question brought her out of her head and she realized she’d completely flipped her shit in front of the man who’d just kissed her silly in the garden. Didn’t it just figure her mouth would be the ruin of whatever might have developed between them?

  “Sorry about that,” Ashe sighed, dropping her head into her hands, her food completely forgotten now. “I should have left the room.”

  “No, you should tell me what the problem is with whoever was on the phone. With you and Lilly being pretty isolated out here, I don’t like the idea of anyone possibly showing up to cause you trouble.”

  His voice was sincere, and he didn’t seem put off at all by her display. She’d expected him to make an excuse to leave after that yet there he was, simply wanting to help her yet again.

  Figuring there was no harm in telling him, she explained about how James wasn’t really her uncle, but an adopted brother to her dad. How he’d always seemed a bit off when she was growing up, and that her parents never left her alone in a room with him for any reason.

  As she continued, Luke’s brows drew closer and closer together in a deep frown. Especially when she mentioned James’ keen interest in the upstairs office and master bedroom. “I haven’t cleaned them out yet, but I suppose I should do that soon, if for no other reason, than to find out what’s so damn important that he wants to get his hands on. Although, I wonder if it’s this letter?” She pulled out the envelope and set it on the table. “It’s got his name on it, and the return address on it belongs to my grandfather’s no-kill shelter he used to run. I found it in my dad’s pajama drawer when I was searching for some shorts for you.”

  “Only one way to find out,” Luke pointed out. “It’s not really mail, since there’s no mailing address or postage. Plus, you said yourself that the house and everything in it belongs to you.”

  Sitting up straight, Ashe squared her shoulders. “You’re right. This might hold the answers I need, and why shouldn’t I open it?”

  Laughing, Luke shrugged. “Go for it.” Just then, Lilly began to fuss in her basinet, but Luke hopped up and went to pick her up. He was a natural when it came to handling a baby, and only added to his appeal.

  When he was seated at the table again, she took a deep breath and pulled the papers free. Laying them out, she began to skim over them, but what she was seeing didn’t make any sense.

  Before her was a series of lab tests from the local vets office, pictures of a kennel with a young badger—much like the one which had been in her house—inside, and also pictures of a young boy.

  One page was an adoption certificate from the shelter, for a badger that had been discovered during a fire in a house a few towns over. Firefighters had located the animal locked in a bedroom, cowering under the bed according to the report. With the owners having perished, the animal was turned over to the shelter since it appeared to be tame, and her grandfather was the only one willing to take on the unusual animal.

  It was a few pages down she found the sheet of paper that completely freaked her out. This page had been written by her grandfather, and explained how he’d been sitting in his office at the back of the shelter one evening when he heard a child’s voice asking for something to eat.

  When he’d gone to investigate, he found a naked boy inside the badger’s cage, but there was no animal in there with him. He noted that the boy looked no older than maybe four years, and he asked him if he knew where the badger had gone, to which the child had simply replied, “I put him away.”

  When asked where he’d put him, he told her grandfather he’d put the badger back inside him. Taken aback, her grandpa wasn’t sure what to think about the peculiar boy. There was no way he could have gotten himself in that cage on his own, it was a few feet off the ground.

  This is where the document got even nuttier. It went on to claim that he’d then watched the child change into the badger right before his eyes! Surely that wasn’t right. Maybe he was hallucinating, or had fallen asleep at his desk and dreamt the whole thing?

  Was her grandfather crazy? Was that why the shelter had closed down?

  “This makes no sense,” she told Luke. “Take a look at this stuff and see what you make of it. I think my dad was trying to hide the fact that my grandfather was going crazy.”

  She watched as Luke skimmed over the pages, his eyes wide. He was probably thinking the same thing she was…that there was a very good chance there was a nut in her family tree. Yet as he shuffled through the rest, his eyes began to narrow and his lips thinned.

  Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone and tapped the screen before putting it to his ear. His curt, “Get over here, we have a situation,” did not help her feeling of unease one bit.

  “What’s going on, Luke? Are you making any sense out of that mess, because I’m sure as hell not.”

  “I need Benson to take a look at this, and then we’re all three going to have a very important discussion. He’s close by, so he’ll be here in just a few minutes.” He looked up at her then, his eyes intense. The expression on his face told her that whatever they were about to talk about was extremely serious.

  She’d never seen him look so grave before, and the fact it was brought on by the papers she found had her stomach churning. With her appetite gone, she dumped the remainder of her lunch in the garbage and gazed out the kitchen window to the back yard.

  Just a little while ago, they’d been out there, chatting away about anything and everything. Joking around, playing in the sprinklers, and then there was the amazing kiss too. Such a wonderful day, all dashed to hell by something as simple as a piece of paper.

  “I thought maybe those papers were what my uncle was wanting so badly, but I don’t think he’s interested in the ramblings of an old man who was clearly falling into dementia or something.”

  “Ashe, what did you say your uncle’s name was?” Luke asked, focusing on a tiny piece of paper taped to the back of the picture of the boy from the kennel.

  “James, why?” Moving back over to where he was bouncing Lilly on his shoulder, she took the photo from him and gasped. “What? This can’t be right.”

  Oh, but it was. There, plain as day, was her uncle’s name, a birthdate supposedly provided by the child to her grandfather, along with a line that read “Species: Human/Honey Badger”.

  Reaching out to hold on to the table, Ashe plopped down in a chair. “What does this mean?”

  Luke opened his mouth, and Ashe was hoping to get an explanation that made some kind of sense, but a knock at the front door had him snapping it shut again as he stood. “Here, you take Lilly, and I’ll grab the door. It’s probably Benson. I’ll be right back.”

  Gazing down at her daughter always gave Ashe a measure of peace. At the end of the day, she’d always have her little girl, no matter what level of craziness occurred. They were a family of two, and while she hoped to eventually expand their little unit, she intended to make sure that whomever they allowed in was worthy and had staying power.

  Muffled voices floated in from the living room, sounding urgent and leaving her worried. Ashe moved to the doorway with Lilly figuring Luke was filling Benson in on what they’d discovered, but what she heard only confused her more.

  “I’m telling you, Benson, her uncle is the badger. It explains why the bastard was upstairs, and why he was in that form. Clearly he didn’t want to be seen where she’d recognize him,” Luke insisted.

  Benson rubbed the back of his neck, his face drawn in concern. “I see what you’re saying. As long as she didn’t know it was him, then he’d still be able to come and go from the house, and maybe she’d allow him to be present whenev
er she cleared out up there.”

  “Exactly! I can’t believe I didn’t suspect him of being a shifter before now. He hasn’t shown up here since all this went down, probably because he got a whiff of us when we were walking up to the house that day. He knew we would recognize what he is as soon as he came by.”

  Stepping into the room, Ashe noticed how they both clammed up and looked her way. “I’m not deaf and the walls are thin. Now somebody start explaining why the hell you think my uncle is a badger?”

  Benson stepped forward, taking her by the elbow and ushering her over to the couch. “Have a seat, sweetheart. What we’re about to explain to you is going to sound a little crazy, but you’re going to have to hear us out, because it ultimately affects your daughter too.”

  Ashe took a step back, hugging her baby to her chest. “Lilly? What does any of this have to do with her?”

  “Come sit down and we’ll explain,” Luke coaxed.

  It seemed like it would be the only way to have them explain this shit, so Ashe allowed herself to be lead around in her own home while these two men clearly tried to figure out how to deliver whatever news they had. “Just spill it. I’m a big girl.”

  The two exchanged a look before they each claimed a chair across from her. It was Luke who spoke up first. “Ashe, did you notice anything strange about your pregnancy with Lilly?”

  “What the fuck does that have to do with anything,” she demanded. “Don’t try to change the subject here.”

  “I’m not, I promise. Listen, this is all related, but I need you to answer the question.”

  Ashe narrowed her eyes on them both, holding Lilly a little tighter before she replied, “My term was a little shorter than expected, but what does that matter? She’s perfectly healthy.”

  “And has she ever been sick? Does she become easily offended by smells or sounds?” Benson inquired.

  She thought about the times she’d boiled some cabbage and how Lilly had fussed until the odor had been aired out. Then another time when she’d been at a gas station and the stench of gasoline had been hanging in the air from someone overfilling their can. “Yeah, a few times she’s fussed over some things that stunk, but she’s never been sick.”

  “How about sounds?” Surely Benson had a point, she just wished he’d get to it already.

  “Yes, yes, she has excellent hearing, but what the hell does any of this have to do with those papers?”

  Luke leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees and regarded her before replying, “You want us to just spit it out, huh?”

  Benson offered a small smile. “I was trying to ease you into things.”

  “Do I look that fragile? I’m a sturdy girl, so just lay it on me already.”

  “Your uncle is a shape-shifter.”

  Ashe blinked several times in Luke’s direction, yet it didn’t do anything to change what he’d said. A shape-shifter? She’d heard rumors they existed, but for James to be one? “Is this like a joke to soften the blow? If it is, it’s not funny.”

  Luke sighed. “It’s not a joke, Ashe. Shape-shifters do exist. You walk past them every day and never know it. They’re just like normal people, only they have the amazing ability to change into an animal as well.”

  She considered what he was saying, wondering just how many people in her own town were shifters. Many of the residents were freakishly large, and she’d witnessed the strength some of them had. Could they really change into animals though? The very idea was both frightening, yet intriguing in equal parts.

  With the wrong person, that kind of ability could be deadly, but for the most part, she imagined it would be pretty cool to be able to become an animal at will and roam the wilderness. “Lord knows there’s been plenty of times I wished I could become a bird and just fly away, but that’s just childhood wishing. Are you trying to tell me that my grandfather wasn’t crazy? That kid really did turn into the badger? My uncle can turn into a badger?”

  “Exactly, and that’s why you don’t need to be alone. You’ve been in the dark all along as to what he is, and that’s given him an advantage. However, now that you know you need to be extra vigilant,” Luke insisted. “Badgers are mean little shits, but honey badgers are no joke. Those little bastards go after lion prides and come out fairly unscathed. They eat mainly snakes, poisonous or not. They’re hard to kill is what I’m saying.”

  “Who said anything about killing him?” Ashe demanded. “I just want him to leave me alone.”

  “And he obviously was trying to keep you from discovering what he is. There’s got to be a reason for that, beyond you just not knowing about our kind,” Benson replied.

  “What do you mean by our kind?” Ashe wasn’t sure what was going on anymore, but she sincerely hoped she came out of this without completely losing her shit. Already her concept of reality was being challenged, and now she was wondering if there was more to her new friends than met the eye.

  Luke gave a tentative nod of his head. “We’re shifters too, Ashe. So was Matt, and so is Lilly.” When her eyes snapped down to her daughter’s face, she heard him add, “That’s why someone had to come and check on you. There’s always a chance that a pregnancy with a human could result in a human child, but our genes are usually dominant, and you needed to be made aware so that you could be prepared. Raising a cub is much harder than the average child.”

  “Cub? Did you just call my daughter a cub?”

  “A wolf cub to be exact,” Benson supplied, ever the helpful one.

  “Are you saying I got knocked up by a werewolf? What the fuck?” Ashe exploded. “And you expect me to believe my daughter will sprout fur and a tail on the full moon? What pills did you two forget to take this morning, because this is starting to sound crazier by the minute.”

  Only, it wasn’t. She’d been out hiking with Matt on several occasions, and noticed how he seemed to sniff the air and listen to everything as they went along. She’d thought it was weird then, but now she had also experienced the sniffing thing in the store too.

  “Ashe, we’re being serious. Matt wasn’t a werewolf, he was a wolf shifter, and shifters aren’t ruled by the moon’s cycles. Our kind can change at will, we’re passionate, protective, and loyal to a fault,” he added.

  “Well, the dogs are,” Benson snorted. “Bears are lumbering, laidback and loving.”

  “Hold the hell up! If you guys are shifters, then prove it,” she demanded. “That’s right, I’m calling bullshit.”

  Benson shrugged and looked to Luke. “I’m too big to do that in here. I’d break something.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I got this.”

  She watched, waiting for them to admit to the joke, when Luke’s image began to blur before her eyes. A series of pops and cracks sounded, and Ashe blinked her eyes hard, rubbing them with her one free hand in an effort to clear her vision. When she opened them, there stood Shadow.

  “What the fuck?” Rising to her feet, she took a couple of shaky steps back, putting the couch between herself and the wolf now standing in a puddle of Luke’s clothing.

  “Easy, Ashe. He’s still Luke. The same guy who’s been helping you for weeks and guarding the two of you every night. He’s made no effort to hurt you before and he’s no reason to do so now,” Benson soothed.

  No doubt she looked like a frightened animal herself, but who could blame her? “I’m not so much scared, as freaked the hell out,” she admitted. “Does it hurt to change like that? It sounded like it would.”

  “At first it does, but after a while you get used to it, and the change goes much smoother.”

  Suddenly, Ashe’s face flushed hot with a mixture or anger and mortification. There had been nights when she’d sat on her porch with Shadow and had poured out the details of her crush on Luke, thinking she was speaking to a canine who had no idea of anything she was actually saying. Now, her humiliation over realizing he knew of her feelings this whole time had her seeing red.

  “You little shit! I poured my heart
out to you on that porch, and you just let me?” she exclaimed. “You change back right now, fleabag, we have some talking to do.”

  Benson groaned before casting a disgusted look at Luke. “Please tell me you didn’t.”

  His transformation back to human was somewhat quicker…and left him standing gloriously naked in front of her. Just like that her anger all but vanished, replaced by good old fashion lust. The man looked like every single sinful female fantasy all wrapped into one delicious package. And what he was packing was nothing to joke about either.

  While she was busy ogling his body, Luke was standing with his hands on those trim hips, regarding Benson with an incredulous look.

  “What the hell was I supposed to do? It’s not like I could just leave my mate and her child unprotected. I was guarding the house in case that shifter came back, so yes, I allowed her to unload while she relaxed in the evenings.” Turning to her, he continued. “Ashe, I never have, nor would I ever have, shared anything you said to me.”

  “I basically poured out my heart to you, Luke,” she pointed out, hating that her voice cracked. It was beyond embarrassing to know that this man was privy to her private thoughts regarding him. She’d gone on and on about his striking looks, his sweet personality, how wonderful he was with Lilly, and how much she wished they could actually have some sort of relationship together. Now to find out she’d actually been saying all of that to Luke was a devastating blow. “Well, I hope you got a good laugh at my expense.”

  Breezing out of the room, she walked into her bedroom, closed the door, and placed Lilly in her basinet. Ashe just couldn’t face them right now. Not to mention, something Luke had said was bugging her. He’d called her his mate.

  I’m not necessarily a genius, but even I know that’s something significant, she thought to herself.

  A soft knock at her door had her growling, “Go away Luke!”

  “Um, it’s me,” came Benson’s cautious voice from the other side. “Can I talk to you? I know you must have questions.”

  Yeah, she did, and she sure as hell didn’t feel like asking Luke any of them at the moment. “Come in.”