Page 77 of Rebel's Fairytale

Rebel just stepped around the idiot, shaking his head, and walked over to Ruby’s side. He bent down and kissed her lips. “They need you on your feet, Ruby.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see.” He smiled at her and took her hands, pulling her to her feet. Then he moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, letting her rest back against him.

His wolf was perfectly content, lounging, tail swishing. Their mate was claimed and safe in his arms. Rebel and his wolf were happy.

The Howlers lined up in front of her and the Ol’ Ladies stood off to the side. Right in the center, Ranger stepped out in front of Axle and grinned.

“I’m so excited,” Ranger expressed and wiggled his eyebrows, making all the women laugh.

“This is fucking serious,” Pike grumbled.

Ranger flipped him off. Then, he took a deep breath and looked into Ruby’s eyes. “Axle will have to get over allowing me the honor of doing this. And it is an honor, Ruby.” He winked at her. Raising his voice a bit, he said, “By tying yourself to Rebel, you tied yourself to us and to our pack. By having his back, you have ours. We’re a package deal. And we understand we’re getting more out of the deal than you are. You will never need for anything for long. You will never want for anything for long. You will never suffer again. And if for some reason you do,” the room filled with growls and hisses, making Rebel even more proud of his family, “the one who caused it will suffer far more for their efforts. I’m honored to call you my sister.”

He pulled his phone from his pocket, pushed a few buttons on the screen, and then read, “‘My bounty is boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.’”

Rebel looked at him like he lost his mind.Why in the hell did he keep quoting Shakespeare and other classic literature?When Ruby giggled, Rebel stepped to her side and looked at her face. She winked at Ranger, making Rebel wonder what the hell that was about.

“For you,” Ranger said in a ridiculous pompous voice and handed her the cut.

Giggling, but with eyes full of tears, Ruby took the cut and slipped it on. She looked down and ran her fingers over the patches that read,Rebel’s OLandRuby.

“You look good in that, Ruby,” Rebel commented and nipped her earlobe.

She looked up at him. “Love you.”

“Love you too. Now, you wanna tell me why you winked at Ranger and why you… the quote…”

He was confused, but his gut was telling him there was more to the story.

Giggling, she held up her phone. Glaring at him from the screen was a text string with Ranger’s name at the top. “Where do you think he was getting the quotes?”

“High five,” Ranger called out.

Ruby turned and slapped her palm against Ranger’s. “You did such a great job with that one. I’m impressed.”

Ranger gave her a ridiculous bow. Then, the club bombarded her with hugs and shots.

Remembering all the times he saw Ruby sending mysterious texts, and all the times Ranger had tortured him with ridiculous quotes, Rebel smacked her ass and laughed as he realized she had been bonding with his brother for days, and he was clueless about it.

While she was busy drinking with her new sisters, he approached Ranger and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Thanks, brother.”

Ranger shrugged. “She’s a good woman. Getting to know her wasn’t really a hardship.”

“Still… I appreciate it.”

“Love you, man.”

Rebel shook his head and sighed. “You just had to make it awkward, didn’t you?”

Niles

The evening after he skipped town, Niles ran out of money. He had spent hours at the strip club in Grand Rapids, but it was basically a bikini bar, so it wasn’t like he saw much. He tried to talk his way into going home with one of the dancers, but she was an uptight bitch, like she had a right being self-righteous when she flaunted her body for money.

Stupid bitches always thought they could look down on him, and he was fucking sick of it. He just needed his Mary back. He’d teach her how to be a proper wife. Then his life would be on the right track.

It wasn’t his fault that he was living on his mom’s couch and driving around her car. Mary had left him paying for everything. There was only so much he could do on a part-time maintenance worker’s pay. If Mr. Henderson hadn’t been a dick at his last job, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Just because he flipped off a homeowner, the bastard canned him, like he was the only one who had ever had a bad day.