Vampire.
Gareth had never met one.
The man extended his hand and Gareth took it, held it in a tight grip and pumped. “My name is Thomas Moore.”
“Gareth.”
He looked at Angela. “He’s the one?”
She nodded. “I felt the pull, like you said.”
“And did you?” asked Thomas.
Gareth blinked. “Did I what?”
“Feel the mating urge with Angela?”
Gareth’s mouth dropped open. “Why would you want that? Isn’t she yours?”
“I don’t belong to anybody except myself,” said Angela. “I choose my life.” She winked at Gareth. “And my partners.”
Thomas leaned over and kissed the top of Angela’s head. “Isn’t she magnificent?”
Gareth nodded numbly. Had he fallen into an alternate universe? He’d never imagined finding a mate, much less one who was already in a relationship.
“We consulted a psychic,” said Angela. “She said we would find the one we needed if we went to where the wolves rule. We figured out the Wolfe part—but they owned more than one place. This was the fourth one we’ve tried.”
“Yeah. That makes total sense. Not crazy at all. Um, I should probably go,” he managed, his voice hoarse.
“We have a cabin with a toasty bed,” offered Angela. Gareth suppressed the shudder of delight that accompanied Angela’s hand squeezing his shoulder. Then her slim fingers sifted through Gareth's hair. Gareth swallowed his sigh of happiness. “You know you wanna.”
Yes! agreed his cock, you really do wanna. Occasional lovers had been only sips of water in the desert of his love life. Still, he hesitated. There was an undercurrent of emotion here that he didn’t understand. It rippled between the three of them—a powerful, connective energy.
“Please.” Angela’s blue eyes were filled with naughty promises. “I won’t bite.”
Gareth leaned forward and bared his canines, growling. “I can’t make the same claim, sweetheart.”
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All By My Sass
A Sassy Ever After Story
Pride Command #2
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Chapter One
Abby Shafer stood in the long line of women and wished this scenting ceremony was over with. Seriously, the Valiant werecougar colony relied too heavily on traditions that were no longer relevant. Like when the new alpha and all the other bachelors chose mates from all the eligible females in their small colony. The rest of the world did things like dating and falling in love—but the shifter communities were all, “Let’s sniff each other and see how that works out.”
She tapped her foot on the wood floor thinking about how being viewed and chosen like a steak in a display case was less romance and more grocery store. Why not just go to the Gardner General Store and stand in the deli section with all the rest of the meat?
She looked around the room feeling more and more antsy. Her mother, who sat next to Daddy in the second row of the pews filled with proud parents, stared at her with brows furrowed. The look in her gaze was: Stop fidgeting. Her dad’s expression echoed the same sentiment.
Crap. Abby inhaled a steadying breath and tried to keep her impatience from manifesting as jittery movement.
Abby couldn’t help but think about her life. She had been the fifth child. The only girl. The weakest one born to her family. Some werecougars left weak kittens in the woods -- either to die or to prove they had the strength to survive. But even though she was a mewling, tiny thing, her family chose to keep her. She was nurtured by them. Loved, but not coddled. They expected her to pull her weight. To do as well as her bigger and stronger brothers. To take care of herself.
They also prepared Abby to take her expected place in the Valiant Colony. Her father was among the cougars that patrolled the borders of their territory. He was an enforcer—considered what humans called blue-collar workers, and not part of the upper echelon. Yet he seemed satisfied with his life. In fact, her whole family seemed happy with their lives. But as the youngest child of cougars with lesser rank, expectations for her future were mundane and common. Either she followed her mother into administrative work or she joined her father as an enforcer.
All of them were taught to fight at a young age. Abby learned to defend herself, but she wasn’t one to seek violence when cleverness and intelligence could more easily win the day. Her curiosity made her unafraid to ask questions. To dream bigger. To want more. Her heart yearned for freedom, but her familial duty kept her compliant.
So, when Reese Valiant assumed leadership as the new alpha, custom dictated that all the singles had to mingle. Abby felt anxious, excited, worried, and scared.
Reese Valiant was a little broody and a lot sexy. Abby had watched him from a safe distance since she’d hit puberty and knew what it was to desire. But she had no pie in the sky dreams that Reese would pick her. No alpha in his right mind would want Abby. She was what her Mom called “voluptuous,” which really meant she was thick and curvy. Aside from not being a skinny ninny, her family was too low in rank. So, she wasn’t a serious contender.
Not being considered competition had its advantages. While she was growing up, other girls rarely picked on her. Of course, that may have been because she had four protective older brothers who were handsome and more than willing to satisfy the bedroom urges of willing females. And they did not take kindly to slurs against their little sister. The long-held rule of “I can pick on my sibling, but you can’t,” was very much gospel in their family. Abby had gotten used to being ignored, even looked at with
