Sassy Ever After: Kiss My Sass (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Serena Pettus Page B

?”
    “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