Sassy Ever After: Sassy and a little Bad-Assy (Kindle Worlds Novella)
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Authors: Jessie Lane
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SASSY AND A LITTLE BAD-ASSY
JESSIE LANE
Nikki Wolf wished that was the beginning of a bad bar joke. Unfortunately, it was her crazy grandfather looking for her … dressed in full Viking regalia. All she had wanted was to get a few hours away from her slightly insane family.
… and gets thrown out on his ass by a sexy werewolf.
Cruz Morales started his first shift as a bouncer at the Thirsty Wolfe an hour ago. His boss said the place could get crazy, but Vikings? Really? At first, he couldn’t understand what the senile old man was shouting about. Then he spotted the sexy brunette hiding underneath a table. He didn’t know who the hell she was to the old man or why she was hiding, but the beast inside him knew one thing for sure: she would be his.
Sassy Mates: Sassy and a little Bad-Assy
by Jessie Lane
Disclaimer & License Notes
Cover by Cover Me Darling
Editing by C&D Editing and Shannon Webb
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Trademarks: This book identifies product names and services known to be trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their respective holders. The authors acknowledge the trademarked status in this work of fiction. The publication and use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
This book contains mature content not suitable for readers under the age of 18. This book contains content with strong language, violence, and sexual situations. All parties portrayed in sexual situations are over the age of 18.
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Dedication
To Milly Taiden: Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to visit your Sassy Mates World!
Table of Contents
After the life he had lived, Cruz Morales didn’t think anything could take him by surprise. Boy, was he wrong.
A Viking walking into a bar in this day and age? Yeah, he never in a million years thought that would happen. At least, he thought that was what the old man was supposed to be. He certainly couldn’t come up with any other reason a human man, who clearly belonged in a nursing home, was wearing leather pants, fur boots, a fur cape, and wielding a sword, hollering about Odin being on his side.
Odin had been a Viking, right?
Just then, the old man hollered again while the whole bar remained silent and still, utterly in shock of the spectacle before them.
“Give me the shield-maiden, and I will leave you damn fanged beasts in one piece. Otherwise, I will call down the wrath of Thor himself to obliterate this puny hall!”
A feminine groan caught his attention, and Cruz turned his head toward the sound. That was how he singled out the brunette with the gorgeous blue eyes and a hideous green cast on her left leg, hiding under the table. He took a deep breath in to capture her scent … then froze.
The aromas of lavender and vanilla hit him like a sucker punch. His entire world tipped on its axis as the truth hit him …
Fate was a fickle bitch. That was the only reasonable explanation Cruz could come up with for his current predicament.
Not the Viking who was screaming again, forcing Cruz’s attention back to the threat near the front of the bar. No, his problem was the brunette. She was the one thing he had never wanted to find: his true mate.
Fuck!
“We will pillage the village to get our fortune!”
Nikki Wolf covered her eyes to block out the spectacle. There was nothing like being confronted by a seventy-year-old shirtless man wearing baggy leather pants and a metal helmet first thing in the morning.
Sighing in defeat, Nikki said, “Okay, Grandpa.”
Peeking between two of her fingers, she watched the senile old man hold his sword up high as he shouted his declaration of, “And if we should fall in battle, we will meet again in the great halls of Valhalla!”
The awful thing about this situation? It was a real sword. She had no idea how he had found it after her mother had hidden it, but sure enough, he was holding a priceless artifact like it was a toy.
Nikki didn’t really want to see this, but it was sort of like a train wreck; you just couldn’t help watching.
Suddenly, he swung the sword down and pointed it in her direction. “Do not hide in fear, shield-maiden. We come from a mighty line of Norsemen who were blessed by the god, Odin himself! You should stand and cheer for the raid we are about to set sail on.”
Just then, Nikki’s youngest brother, Ivar, came into the kitchen. “Oooo … Papa Ái is playing with the sword again. Momma said you’re not supposed to point that at anyone, Papa Ái.”
Nikki’s grandfather pointed the sword at Ivar and bellowed, “You will not tell me what to do, small boy! Now go fetch me an ale and a wench. I need some entertainment!”
Slapping her hand down on the kitchen table, Nikki scolded her grandfather. “He’s five, Papa Ái! He cannot get you a beer or a woman. Now, please, go put the sword back wherever you found it before Mom and Dad see you like this.”
Her parents were both at work and wouldn’t be home for hours. It was a good thing his deteriorating mind also came with a total disregard for time and schedules. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to use the threat of her parents on Papa Ái.
Papa Ái frowned then rested his sword point down on the carpet. Nikki tried not to cringe at the thought of him accidentally tearing the flooring … again. “You would ask a warrior to put down his weapons?”
It was hard for Nikki to make out her grandfather’s facial features underneath the full face helmet, so she couldn’t quite tell what he was thinking or feeling. Though, she might have heard a slight wobble to his words, as if he were trying not to get emotional. The thought of this man, who had once been so big and brawny, being reduced to tears tore at her heart.
Gentling her voice, Nikki answered, “Remember when you told me that the sharpest weapon a warrior has is his mind?”
Her grandfather beamed at her, proud she would remember one of his lessons.
Nikki continued, “So I’m not really asking you to put all of your weapons down, now am I? You’re always armed with your mind, Papa Ái. But we should keep the sword and axe put up so that Ivar doesn’t accidentally hurt himself, right?”
The old man stood silently for a few seconds before he finally nodded his head, causing the large helmet to wobble a bit. “You are right, young shield-maiden. The boy is too young to be around the weapons. I shall put up my blade until it is time to teach him the ways of a warrior.”
Nikki sighed in relief. “Thank you, Papa Ái.”
Her grandfather turned on his heel, his shoulders pulled back and proud, and walked out of the kitchen. Before he disappeared completely out of sight, though, he turned his head and looked back at her. “We need to work on finding you a nice, strong husband, anyway.”
With that parting shot, Papa Ái disappeared, leaving Nikki at the kitchen table with the overwhelming urge to bang her head repeatedly against the wooden surface. It was only nine in the morning, for pity’s sake! No one should have to endure this much crazy so early in the day.
She had completely forgotten Ivar was still in the room with her until she heard his little voice ask, “Why does Papa Ái say you need a husband, Nikki?”
Looking over at the little boy, she signed wearily. “He thinks I need to get married and have lots of babies like Mom and Dad.”
It might not be the most progressive way of thinking, but her grandfather wasn’t exactly a progressive sort of guy. More like, regressive. As in, he had Alzheimer’s. It was a daily struggle to care for the ailing man who flipped back and forth mentally between present day and some point in the past. It might not be so bad; except, Nikki’s grandfather had been an archeologist in his youth, determined to track down his family line through researching old Viking settlements.
Along the way, he had convinced himself that he had uncovered proof that he was from one of the strongest, most bloodthirsty Viking lines in history: Ivar the Boneless. From that point on, his sanity seemed to slowly slip away as he immersed himself in Viking history until it became his life … to the detriment of his family. In other words, Papa Ái spent quite a bit of time thinking he was a real Viking.
Ivar scoffed at Nikki’s explanation. “You can’t get married and have babies! That would mean you would leave us! Who would watch me during the day and know all my favorite foods if you weren’t here?”
Who, indeed?
For a five-year-old, little Ivar was quite the barbarian sometimes. Perhaps it was because he was named after their great Viking ancestor. More than likely, it was because he was a brat, although a lovable one. Nikki and the rest of her family would endure any spectacle from their little barbarian because they were all just grateful the five-year-old was alive and well.
At one time, they had worried he would not make it into this world due to spina bifida. The doctors had not only saved Ivar’s life, but also successfully completed a surgery that would allow him to have a fair amount of mobility. He still required some special care, though.
Either way, her life boiled down to one very unsatisfying yet undeniable fact: Nikki was her family’s caretaker. Not just for Ivar and Papa Ái. No, she also looked after her other four siblings, who ranged from ages eight to eighteen, which was exactly why Nikki had to leave college and her dual Bachelor degrees in English and History behind. Her parents could not afford a caretaker for her grandfather, a medically trained babysitter for Ivar, supervision of the other kids, someone to help cook or clean, and the medical bills.
Was she disappointed she had to put her life on hold in a sense? Yes. Would she do a damn thing differently? Hell, no.
Family was everything. It was one of the life lessons she had grown up learning. It was one of the reasons Nikki didn’t mind helping out her family with her siblings and Papa Ái.
However, what she did mind was their slightly neurotic tendencies, such as little Ivar’s insistence that no one could make decent food like Nikki and their mother. The kid wouldn’t even eat fast food, for heaven’s sake! That alone was all sorts of crazy.
A tap on her arm reminded her that Ivar was still standing there. Nikki looked over to see her brother giving her a determined stare.
Sighing, she told him, “No worries, little man. I don’t see myself getting married anytime soon. Your personal chef isn’t going anywhere.”
Ivar’s face morphed into a blinding grin. “I’m going to have you cook my meals forever, Nikki!” Then he hobbled out of the kitchen on his leg braces to watch his TV shows, all of which were about Vikings.
Nikki tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling. She had been helping her family for two years now, and she needed a break, a chance to get out of this house. It felt like the walls were closing in on her. Even if it was only for a couple of hours, a chance to go out among normal people would be a blessing.
If she had to hear Papa Ái joking with her father about how he was a good Viking son because he regularly invaded his French wife… Well, she just might shove the family’s sword somewhere the sun didn’t shine!
~~~
Cruz stared at the blank wall in his living room, wondering,
What was next?
Not necessarily schedule-wise. He knew what was coming. No, the question was meant to be metaphorical. Tonight was his first shift as a bouncer at the Thirsty Wolfe.
There had been a time in his life when he wouldn’t have cared what was about to happen in his life. He had been utterly content with it. His family life had been perfect. He’d had a mate he loved, even if she wasn’t his true mate, and a little girl he adored. Cruz had also been happy with his job in their pack as an enforcer. In every way you could think, he’d had it all: a home, a family, and a pack he loved.
Five years later, he sat in a barely furnished apartment all by himself, asking the same question he had been asking himself since the night he lost it all:
Why?
Why had he argued with his mate and then stormed out of their house that fateful night?
Perhaps, if he had stayed, Lindsay, his mate, wouldn’t have left looking for him hours later with their little girl Laura. If she had not been driving around, then the drunk driver in the semi wouldn’t have come around the curve too fast in the wrong lane, causing a head-on collision.
Cruz kept staring at the blank wall as the past rolled through his mind and the question that wouldn’t stop haunting him popped up again.
Why?
All these years later, he still had no answers. What he did have was a shitload of heartbreak and a small amount of acceptance. His mate and child were gone, and there was nothing he could do about it. There would forever be a gaping hole in his heart where the pain of losing them had practically ripped the soul from his body.
“It’s time to move on, Cruz.”
His former alpha’s words echoed through Cruz’s mind, reminding him of what else he had lost: his pack.
After secluding himself in the woods, refusing to socialize with the pack for years, Cruz’s former alpha had tracked him down and confronted him.
“You can’t live this way.”
Just the memory of the words caused him to snort. Who really wanted to live after losing their family?
“It’s not fair, but life’s not fair. They’re gone, and you’re still here.”
The man had said it like Cruz should understand. He didn’t.
“They wouldn’t want you to live this way.”
On and on, the Alpha had gone. First, trying to reason with him to come back to the land of the living, only to then tell Cruz that he was sending him away.
“It’s time to move on, Cruz. I refuse to see you wither away out here. I’ve arranged for you to start over with a new pack. Perhaps if I force you into the land of the living, you’ll finally pull your head out of your ass and realize you didn’t die with them.”
So, here he was, forced out of his old pack and into a new one.
“I can’t take the chance that you living out here, isolated like this, might turn you into a rogue wolf. This is for your own good.”
That might be what his old alpha had thought, but to Cruz, the proof of that statement remained to be seen. Unfortunately, there was no going back now. His old pack was on the other side of the continent, and here he was, on day three of being in his new pack’s territory, the Wolfe’s.
The ironic thing about all of this? Cruz’s alpha had utterly misunderstood why he had stayed away, hidden in the woods for all of those years. It might have started out as grieving for his lost family, but eventually, as the pain of his loss slowly ebbed away, he had come to the realization that he never wanted to feel that sort of pain again. And the best way to do that was to avoid making any sort of attachment again.
His wolf’s longing to be around others had disappeared completely, and Cruz had been content by himself in the woodland. The only real battle he had faced was his wolf’s primitive urge to seek out their true mate now that their family was gone. For years, it had been a daily battle of wills between himself and his beast. In the end, Cruz’s agony was stronger than his wolf’s desire.
All the hard work of training the human side of him to have total control over his wolf had gone down the drain. Now he was being forced back into the world.
It pissed him the fuck off.
The alarm on his wristwatch sounded off in the silent surroundings. Reaching over, he turned it off. Then he got out of his chair and headed toward the front door.
The offending object strapped to his wrist had been given to him by his new pack so he would remember what time he had to go to work. It had taken all of his restraint not to tell them that they could take their watch and go fuck themselves. Cruz had withheld his tongue for one reason. It was take the watch or take a cell phone with a digital alarm, an order given directly by the alpha. Since the cell phone would allow people access to call him, he took the watch.
The Wolfe Pack was bound to be disappointed when he didn’t acclimate. Tough shit. Cruz didn’t want to open up his emotions ever again. His only hope was that, if he did his job well and stayed out of trouble, his new pack would allow him to keep the solitary lifestyle he had chosen for himself.
In his opinion, being left the hell alone wasn’t too much to ask.
Cruz walked out the front door, not bothering to lock it. He didn’t have anything of value, anyway. Hell, he barely had any furniture, which was just fine with him. The only things he did cherish were the pictures of his dead mate and child. Anyone stupid enough to take those, he would track down and tear apart.
