Sassy Ever After: Wise Sass Mates (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read online

  “Could it have been a scenting ceremony?” Addison asked, her soft voice unusually low.

  “Oh, yeah, that was it,” Bianca nodded. “I didn’t go though. Clearly.”

  Mei and Addison exchanged a look.

  “Oh, I think you went,” Mei said with a smile.

  Bianca looked from one to the other, confused.

  “What Mei is trying to tell you,” Addison said slowly, “is that a scenting ceremony is not what you think. It has to do with shifters.”

  “What do you mean?” Bianca asked. “Why would shifters need perfume?”

  Mei shook her head in a way that let her know she was seriously missing the point.

  “A scenting ceremony happens once a year,” Addison explained. “Eligible males and females gather at a designated place in the woods to let their wolves… meet.”

  “I’m not a wolf,” Bianca pointed out.

  “It’s not just for wolves,” Mei told her. “Plenty of shifters take humans for mates.”

  “Mates?” Bianca echoed.

  “Who invited you?” Addison asked.

  “There was no name, just an invitation,” Bianca answered, calling up a mental image of the card. “Handwritten. Dropped in my mailbox. No stamp.”

  Her friends exchanged another glance.

  A realization dawned on Bianca.

  “You think he invited me, don’t you?” she asked.

  “You went, he found you, he, um, was glad to see you there…” Addison pointed out. “You should read up on scenting ceremonies, Bianca. Just, you know, to get your head around it.”

  Bianca nodded, pressing her lips together.

  “I will,” she agreed, opening a large box of papers. “Later.”

  Chapter 9

  The rest of Bianca’s morning passed pleasantly. The women divided up the files and read, took notes and occasionally reading a passage out loud when they came across something worth sharing.

  By lunchtime, they still hadn’t come across anything that supported the theory they were here to research.

  That Andrew Jackson had been a shifter.

  Addison had been the first one to float the idea.

  Though the notion that the seventh President of the United States was a wolf had seemed far-fetched to Bianca at first, she had to admit, Addison made a pretty solid case for it. Starting with the story of his assassination attempt.

  The story went that Andrew Jackson was walking out of the Capitol Building when a house painter called Richard Lawrence shot him with two pistols.

  The history books said that both pistols misfired, whereupon Jackson beat the man soundly with his cane until the police arrived to take him to jail.

  But Addison thought it was a little too convenient that both pistols had misfired.

  The assassination attempt hadn’t been Jackson’s first miraculous escape either.

  At thirteen, he’d survived being a British prisoner of war. During his imprisonment, he had been slashed in the head and hands with a sword after refusing to polish a British officer’s shoes, and he had even bunked with other prisoners who died of small pox.

  Yet Jackson emerged unscathed.

  It could have been good luck, but Addison’s theory was that Jackson had the healing powers of a shifter.

  It didn’t take her long to get her two best friends on board. Since then, it had become almost an obsession for all of them.

  The three friends had come to Blue Creek to view one of the nation’s oldest collections of shifter family records, trying to find out if their theory was correct.

  Their work was made more difficult by the fact that the Historical Files librarian, Angus Wolfe, (seriously, Wolfe) was out on extended sick leave. And it turned out it was more than just the flu. He’d been hit by a car while walking home from the library, and was actually in a coma.

  So they were on their own when it came to navigating the records.

  It appeared that Angus’s filing system was akin to Addison’s style of organization. Which was to say that everything in the place was obviously arranged somehow, just not in a way that would make sense to anyone except the person who had organized it. So the women had each begun in one section and were cataloging what they found and searching for references to family names that could be related to Jackson’s family tree.

  Bianca had been leafing through a box of files from the town Fourth of July celebration in the early 1800s. The residents of Blue Creek had been nothing if not thorough. There were even notes on the ladies’ meetings about decorations.

  She had just pulled out a schematic of the downtown area, when there was a knock at the door.

  Addison and Mei looked up from their files.

  Since she was closest to the door, Mei shrugged and opened it.

  A man stood in the doorway, dark hair, blue eyes, a confident air about him.

  Bianca gasped, then looked down quickly at her files.

  But it was too late. He had spotted her.

  “Bianca,” he said softly.

  Zach Greenfield was even sexier than he’d been in high school, and that was saying something.

  Bianca gazed back into those icy blue eyes that looked somehow tortured, and tried not to let her own eyes wander to his broad shoulders, or the well-developed biceps that threatened to burst the seams of his t-shirt.

  “Hi,” she replied curtly.

  “Bianca Silver,” he continued. “I - I came to see you. I heard you were here.”

  “Why?” she asked. “Were you worried I might have forgotten that I’m a fat cow? You thought I might need a reminder?”

  He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

  “I deserve that. That and more. I behaved so horribly to you. I know you’ll never forgive me but I wanted to apologize anyway.”

  “Hold up, is this Zach Greenfield?” Mei asked, pointing at him as if he were a piece of scenery, which come to think of it, he was - damned dreamy scenery, actually, if he didn’t have the soul of a stage coach tilter.

  “It’s okay, Mei,” Bianca said.

  “No. Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh- no,” Mei said, waving a finger in the air. “This jackass made you feel like crap in high school - a time when everyone feels like crap anyway. He will pay.”

  Addison stood, placing the papers she’d been holding down on the table. She didn’t speak but her body language was clear - she wasn’t comfortable letting this guy into their circle.

  “I don’t want to interrupt you ladies,” Zach said, his hands up as if he were demonstrating that he had no weapons. “I just wanted to apologize, Bianca. If there is anything I can do, including help you with… whatever this is… just say the word. I owe you.”

  Bianca studied his face.

  He looked as if he were telling the truth. He was even looking at the files with some interest, as if hoping she would order him to alphabetize them or something.

  “We’re good, Zach,” she began.

  “No,” Mei interjected. “We’re not good, Zach.”

  She gave Bianca a fiery look that clearly said if Bianca didn’t say something, Mei would.

  Bianca sighed.

  “Zach,” she said. “You were a complete douchebag in high school, and not just to me. I get that you want to apologize. It sounds like you’re trying to be a better person now, and I respect that. But you can’t change the past, and I really don’t want to spend any time with you. So thanks for your offer, but I’m all good.”

  “Thanks, Bianca, but I would really like to do something to show you I’m sorry,” Zach pleaded.

  “You heard what she said, go pay it forward someplace else,” Addison said quietly.

  Zach scowled. Somehow it only made him look more handsome.

  “Well, look, if you change your mind, you can find me here,” he said, slipping a card out of his wallet and offering it to Bianca.

  She studied him, hand extended, sorrowful eyes.

  At last she walked over and took the card, half expecting him
to snatch it back at the last second and call her a name.

  He didn’t though.

  He just smiled a sad little smile, and turned to walk out the door.

  Bianca was half tempted to call him back in. But she resisted the urge, figuring it was only the result of seeing his ass in those tight jeans.

  As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Addison began a slow clap.

  Mei grinned like a pirate.

  “Damn, girl. You’re bringing them out of the woodwork!”

  Bianca shook her head, her eyes wide in surprise.

  “You said the teacher was more attractive than the bully?” Addison asked, her dark eyes twinkling.

  Bianca nodded slowly, then thought about it and giggled.

  The others laughed with her, and suddenly the bad feeling that had wrapped itself around her fell to the ground and shattered. Stupid Zach Greenfield couldn’t hurt her anymore. She was an adult, with friends, and self-esteem that wasn’t wrapped up in looking a certain way.

  Zach, on the other hand, was clearly living in the past. Which meant the present couldn’t be so great.

  She looked down at the card in her hand.

  Blue Creek Insurance

  Zach Greenfield - Sales Associate

  Yikes. That was probably punishment enough.

  After the girls had ribbed her a bit for being a magnet for hot locals, they all settled in to work again. Soon the peaceful sounds of papers being slid against each other, and coffee being sipped put Bianca into a sort of a trance and all the regrets and fears of her homecoming melted away as she lost herself in the notes and news of the past.

  When the clock showed it was five, Addison and Mei began to gather their things.

  “I think I’ll stay a while, guys,” Bianca said. “I’m in the zone.”

  “Don’t be too late,” Mei warned her. “I’m cooking.”

  Mei’s cooking was definitely something worth getting home on time for. Her mother was Chinese and her father was Jewish and both were phenomenal cooks. They had taught their daughter well. Pictures of Mei’s Asian-Jewish fusion meals were Bianca’s only regular contribution to social media.

  She made a mental note to stop after the folder she was working through as her friends headed out.

  Chapter 10

  Bianca hustled out of the library far later than she meant to. She pulled the lanyard with the key for the file room out of her blouse to lock the door, then waved to the night librarian and headed out to the parking lot.

  The fall air was cool and the sugar maples outside the library had just hit fever pitch, with leaves the color of ripe peaches under the streetlights.

  Wind whipped at Bianca’s hair and she looked up to see the sky studded with stars.

  She walked down to the lower lot. She’d parked far from the building since she’d known she would be there all day

  She had just turned into the path between the boxwood hedges when she heard it, a soft sound like footsteps ahead of her.

  Before she could react, a tall man in a red ski mask reached for her.

  Thank goodness for all that Aikido. Bianca had really never expected how much it would come in handy.

  Her heart raced as she waited for him to grab her wrist so she could counter.

  Instead, he grabbed the lanyard around her neck, pulling her forward.

  Panic set in when she realized he wasn’t going to grab either of her wrists. She didn’t have a move for this. Her Aikido skill set only went so far.

  Her adrenaline kicked in and she punched the man as hard as she could, right in the face.

  The lanyard popped off her neck, freeing Bianca, and he fell over into the boxwoods.

  She ran for her car like it was the last bastion of safety in the world.

  When she reached it, she locked herself in and tried her best not to weep.

  By the time police arrived, the assailant in the boxwoods was long gone, along with the key to the file room at the library.

  After interviewing her briefly, one of the young officers escorted her out to the lobby of the police station, where her friends were waiting for her - up late over Bianca for the second night in a row.

  Addison stood tall and strong, but Mei was hugging herself in a very un-Mei-like way.

  Bianca got a lump in her throat seeing them there, so worried for her.

  Chapter 11

  Bianca sighed as she walked over to join her friends.

  “Are you okay?” Addison asked, wrapping an arm around Bianca’s shoulder.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Bianca replied, resting her cheek for just a moment against her friend’s warm chest. In moments like this, Addison’s magnificent height made Bianca feel like a child.

  “I’m starting to feel like you need an armed guard,” Mei said.

  “Let’s just get out of here,” Bianca murmured.

  “About that…” Addison paused.

  “Yeah?” Bianca asked.

  “Well, we called Dr. Flavia. Since she was so worried about those key, we figured we should leave her a message to let her know one had been stolen. She called back - like, immediately. She wants us to turn in the rest of them tonight. She already has a locksmith at the library.”

  “Wow,” Bianca replied. “I feel like I’m missing something. Why is there so much security for those files? Haven’t they been there forever?”

  Mei shrugged.

  “If you’re too beat, we can tell her we’ll come in the morning.”

  “No, let’s go now, get it over with,” Bianca said. “I’m too amped up anyway, and besides I left my car over there.”

  They all piled into Addison’s VW bug. Her grandfather had left a provision in his will that Addison should get a brand new yellow VW for her college graduation. He had driven an antique one when she was little and she’d loved it. The women were still broke grad students, but at least Addison’s car was bright and shiny.

  As they drove down the darkened streets, Bianca found herself thinking of Ian Anderson, wishing for him in her moment of fear and confusion.

  She tried to scold herself for such weakness, but there was, underneath it all, the thread of belief that maybe he did actually care about her.

  Hope was a terrible thing.

  There were a few lights on in the library. Addison parked right up front by the big doors and they all piled out.

  Dr. Flavia came to the doors immediately, and unlocked them with one of the many keys she wore around her neck on a pretty chain. She appeared to have dashed straight from her bed to the library. She was wearing a beautiful satin kimono with a fluffy white terrycloth robe on top.

  “Oh, girls, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said. “Come on in.”

  They followed her inside.

  “Are you alright, dear?” she asked Bianca.

  Bianca nodded.

  They turned the corner to the hallway that led to the Files room.

  A wildly gorgeous young man knelt before the door, working on it with a drill.

  “This is my nephew, Hector,” Dr. Flavia said, gesturing at the kneeling man.

  He looked up from his work to smile at them. His eyes passed over Mei and then doubled back to her.

  “Hey,” Mei murmured, sounding almost embarrassed.

  Hector winked at her, nodded, and went back to his work.

  “Hector is an attorney, but he’s very handy. He’s always helping his old aunty, aren’t you, love?” she teased.

  “Anything for you, Tia,” he replied through a grin.

  “Let me get those from you,” Dr. Flavia said, as she collected their keys. “I’ll set you up with new ones so you don’t have to miss any work time. After our little scare tonight I don’t think I’ll be coming in early tomorrow.”

  “I don’t know about us either,” Addison said.

  “Oh, no, we’ll be here,” Bianca declared bravely. “The last thing I want is to stop working - I need a distraction. I’m half tempted to stay here tonight.”

/>   “No,” the others said as one.

  Bianca blinked at them, then finally Mei laughed and they all started giggling.

  “I’m sure I don’t know what could possibly be so funny,” Dr. Flavia scolded them gently. “Poor Bianca has been practically under siege.”

  “Why would someone want the key to this room?” Mei asked Dr. Flavia.

  “Well, I have no idea,” she replied, sniffing. “These files are invaluable because of their age and the quantity of them. That’s why we take such care to guard them. Angus would have my head if he found out a key was stolen and we didn’t change the locks immediately. But anyone who registers is welcome to examine the files. It’s a public library, after all.”

  “Is there anything in there besides files?” Addison asked.

  Dr. Flavia shook her head.

  “Maybe they didn’t care about the key, they just grabbed it because it was around my neck,” Bianca thought out loud.

  “But why did they attack you? Mei demanded. “And why did they break into your apartment?”

  “We don’t know it was the same person,” Bianca countered without much conviction. “But I don’t really have anything of value in my apartment. And I don’t have any enemies - at least not that I know of. I-I just don’t know. The police were asking all the same questions. I don’t—”

  She was cut short by someone banging so hard on the front doors to the library that it sounded like they might fly off the hinges.

  Dr. Flavia screamed and Hector stopped his work on the door and stood at once.

  Bianca felt a ripple of recognition go through her body. Her scalp tingled.

  Ian.

  She ran down the hallway to the doors before anyone could stop her.

  She turned the corner and saw him, silhouetted by moonlight. His expression was fury incarnate.

  The harsh emotion he felt only served to accentuate the beauty of his features. Bianca was spellbound for a moment.

  But when he made as if to break down the doors again, she quickly remembered herself and moved to unlock them.