Page 29 of Rebel's Fairytale

“Are we going to talk about how in the hell you have lights behind your eyes?”

Rebel chuckled into her shoulder. “It happens when we feel extreme emotion. Rage, love, passion.”

“Okay… So, if your eyes lit up when you were looking at my boots, that means…”

Rebel lifted his head from her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “It means I was picturing things that I liked a little too much.” When her cheeks reddened at his words, Rebel smiled.

“Oh,” she breathed.

“Yeah.” He stepped back enough to look her up and down. “Now that we’re alone, I can finally say what I wanted to say when I saw you.”

“Wh-what’s that?”

“You look fucking amazing. You should wear these jeans every damn day. I like seeing you more casual, even if I really do like your librarian look. And those fucking boots… Goddamn.“ He cupped her face in his hands and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “This… short-circuits my brain.”

Those lips curved into a smile. “Thank you,” she replied, dropping her eyes to his chest.

“After dinner, I’d like to take you on a ride… on my bike. You up for it?”

Her gaze flipped up to his. “I’d love that.” She smiled. “I have to go change my boots though. I…” She stopped talking and blushed further.

“What?” He was curious what had her blushing this time.

“I… I was driving down main street, the other day. I saw some boots in the window of that one shoe store near the west side of town.” She waved off her explanation of the location. “Anyway, I stopped and went inside. I bought a pair of boots I thought were cute but the store clerk had also told me they would be good to wear on a motorcycle.”

Rebel grinned. “You bought boots so you could go on a ride with me?”

She shrugged.

“That’s so damn cute.” He chuckled and kissed her lips. “Sweetie, there are pegs to rest your feet on. If you wanted to wear these boots, you could, but we’ll go get your biker boots. I’ve gotta see ’em, now.”

“Rebel,” she uttered as she playfully smacked his chest.

“I’m not teasing you. Okay… maybe a little. Keep in mind, Ruby, I’ll want these boots on you when we do other things.” There she went, blushing again. He caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. “Damn, I love this.”

“Kiss me again, Rebel.”

And he did.

Messer

Hunter Messer received the summons while running her recruits through their paces in hand-to-hand training in facility one, the first of three training facilities on the west side of the compound. They weren’t the worst group of soldiers she’d ever come across, and they had potential, but she was working with bare bones skills. It would take them months to be ready for any kind of fight with a human, let alone whatever these shifter monsters were.

The summons told her she had a meeting with Commander West and one of his associates. That was vague, but they hadn’t really set up policies and procedures yet, so it didn’t surprise her.

When she reached the main building, Messer took the stairs on the west side of the building up to the second floor and the hallway down to Commander West’s assigned office. She knocked on the door and was immediately granted entrance by a shouted command from Commander West. Messer opened the door and stepped inside.

Commander West’s office was pretty bare. The navy walls were empty as were the built-in bookshelves behind his desk. He had a dark wood executive desk, three dark brown Queen Anne style chairs, and a white board. She didn’t doubt that it would be filled with bullshit before long.

“Sir.” She stopped just inside the door and stood at attention, staring straight ahead, an old habit from the military.

Commander West snorted a laugh. “For fuck’s sake, relax.”

Hunter Messer relaxed and looked over at her commander who was standing to her left with another man she had never met. He was shorter than Commander West and had graying hair that looked to be thinning. He had a large gut and was wearing an ill-fitting blue suit.

Commander West was a large man with dark brown skin, a muscular body, and a permanent scowl on his handsome face. He was grumpy as hell and rarely found humor in anything, but he seemed to be a good boss so far.

“Messer, this is Ambrose C. Thompson. He is the owner and investor of this academy.”