Page 4 of Rebel's Fairytale
Ruby giggled. “I am. Figured I ought to get to know more about the man who is going to take me out for tea.”
He bit the inside of his lip to stop the grin that threatened to appear, not wanting to look more like an idiot. “So, you aren’t planning to lose my number?”
“Considering you have yet to give it to me…”
“Oh, shit!” He took out his phone and asked, “What’s your number?”
She rattled it off, and he called her. When her phone rang, she pointedly added his number to her contact list and showed him.
“Now, to answer your question… No way.”
Rebel let the grin grow as Ruby’s face turned the lovely shade of red that made his cock twitch. “That makes me happy.” He reached over and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. “Just so you know, we aren’t a danger to you or anyone else in this town. You’ll always be safe with me.”
She gave his hand a squeeze and replied, “I know.”
Her acceptance of that made his wolf let out a low howl of approval, and Rebel wanted to do the same. There was so much more he wanted to say, but the mayor was approaching the microphone in the middle of the stage. Instead of saying the words in his throat, he turned his head and leaned toward her. He pressed a kiss to her temple and stayed close to her as they listened to the town hall meeting. The content sigh that slid from her lips had him doing a mental happy dance.
Bri
The Howlers and the Tiger’s Claw MC spent two hours taking questions from the audience. Axle was more patient than she would have been as the townsfolk asked everything from how they shift to whether they knew anything about aliens. The point was to prove to them that the shifters weren’t a threat, as if they hadn’t already proved that from their decades of service to the community. Bri had spent most of the meeting stopping herself from rolling her eyes at the questions.
Once the last question was answered, Axle motioned to where the other members were sitting. Rebel kissed her temple again, and whispered, “Duty calls. Be right back.”
Then Axle held the microphone to his face and uttered, “We will now show you. Keep in mind that while we’re in our animal forms, we are still us. We still think as humans, for the most part. We recognize people we know and remember what happens while we are in animal form. If anyone is interested in touching our animals, we ask that you form a line and remain respectful. While we’re willing to do this to make you comfortable, we’re not a circus show.”
As he put the microphone back on the stand, half of the town began to line up at the edge of the stage, while the other half either remained in their seats or left the building. Axle motioned toward a large black man, and the man joined Axle and the others on the stage.
Bri watched as two women and three men were lined up at the edge of the stage and shifted into a tiger, a mountain lion, a wolf, a lion, and a brown bear. After a collective gasp from the crowd, the rest of the members, the mayor, and Hawkin congregated on the stage as the townsfolk walked up the steps and crossed the stage. The reason for their presence was obvious — cross a line, and there would be consequences.
Ruby’s eyes rarely left Rebel. He was so handsome with his medium blond hair pulled back in a man bun and his thick reddish beard. She loved it was long enough to get a grip on, but also trimmed and neat.
He must have felt her eyes on him because he looked over at her, smiled, and winked. She felt her cheeks heat, but she couldn’t pull together enough embarrassment to care. She liked the way he looked at her.
Most of the townsfolk didn’t touch the shifters. They just looked and seemed to be curious, and the few dozen who touched them had remained respectful.
After the last of the line crossed the stage, the shifters returned to their human forms. Axle approached the mayor, and the others started to file out of the room. Rebel jogged down the steps from the stage and returned to her side.
When he reached her side, Rebel lifted a hand and ran his knuckles along her cheek. “Fuck. I love that.”
Ruby shrugged and smiled. “It’s your fault.”
The smile that grew on his face made her clit throb. She was surprised that her body reacted so easily to him, but she couldn’t say she hated it. There was something about him that called to her in ways no man had before.
“That’s blame I’m willing to claim,” he said under his breath as he took her hand in his.
Rebel
With Ruby’s hand in his, Rebel led her outside the high school and over to her car in the parking lot. As they walked, he noticed Rock and Mary over by Rock’s bike. Rock’s face was hard, and his body was tight, his movements mechanical. The expression on Mary’s face was what had Rebel worried. There was a fear in her hazel eyes that had his gut clenching.
“That looks serious,” Ruby softly commented from his side.
He swung his gaze around to look at her. “Yeah. That’s my brother, Rock. Club brother. Uh… the mother of his children died the day before yesterday. The woman with him is his new woman. Well, not new… They’ve been together for like a year or something. I imagine he’s struggling with how to deal with all of it. It’s got to be hard for both of them.”
Ruby’s brow creased and her eyes softened with the compassion she was obviously feeling for his brother. Without allowing himself to question it, he leaned toward her and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss wasn’t deep or wet. There wasn’t a deep, urgent passion, but he meant it all the same.
When he pulled back, Ruby looked at him with amusement and a hint of lust in her pretty blue eyes with the gold flecks sprinkled throughout. “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”
“Someday, you won’t have to question it. This time, I’ll fill you in.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “You showed care for my brother. That means something to me.” It meant everything that she cared for the important people in his life, even minutely.