Page 98 of Rebel's Fairytale

The man’s face was red and twisted with anger. His hands were balled into fists at his side. His chest was heaving, and his breaths were harsh coming from his lungs.

“This is the part when you ask why.”

“Why?” Niles growled.

Rock grinned. “You hooked up with that ragtag group of assholes trying to scare themonstersout of town, but there’s something you didn’t realize. We’re onlymonsterswhen assholes become violent and force our hand. I might not be able to shift and tear you apart, even though you’ve most definitely forced my hand, but they can.“ He used his free hand to motion to Brute standing to his left and Siren standing to his right.

“No,” Niles said. When Rock’s brothers shifted into a large brown bear and a full-grown lion, the idiot’s voice became shrill. “No! No!”

Then, like the fool he was, he did the number one thing you’re not supposed to do when dealing with predators — He ran.

As the bear and lion took off after him, Rock turned Diamond around and led her to the passenger side of the Jeep. After getting her settled into the seat, he rounded the vehicle and got in the driver’s seat. Putting the vehicle in drive, he glanced over at her.

“You okay?” Rock watched her face for any sign of distress.

Diamond looked over at him and gave him a sweet smile. “Yeah, Wes, I’m good. Let’s go enjoy the carnival with our kids.”

“Remind me to never piss you off,” he joked and chuckled.

She raised a brow. “Think my brothers would chase you down like they’re doing to Niles?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m positive they would.”

She giggled. “Smart men.”

He hit the gas and headed down the path to the turnoff that would take them the long way back to town, knowing Brute and Siren would take care of Niles and the car. “I’m pretty sure they are more scared of pissed off women than of each other.”

“They should be.”

He reached over and took her hand in his. “Seriously… you okay?”

She sighed. “I would have liked if he would have just left us alone, but that was never going to happen… So yeah, I’m okay.”

Lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed the back of it. “Time to have some fun with our kids.”

Chapter thirty-one

Next night… Axle

After the two-day carnival had wound down, Axle was in his office crunching numbers in between bites of his burger that Gorgeous had brought him. She had insisted he take a break and eat, since it was close to midnight and he hadn’t eaten since lunch, but he told her he would when he was done.

Ten minutes later, she showed up with a plate that held two cheeseburgers with the works and half of a plate of fries. Then, she kissed his lips and told him she was heading home. She was such a good woman. He’d won the jackpot with her.

His wolf gave a low howl in confirmation as Axle thought about his woman and took another bite of his burger. Without her, he’d be lost.

Chewing, he turned his attention back to the books. He’d have to go over them again to double check, but it looked like they managed to raise half of what the library needed to maintain the same budget. They didn’t just want to replace any donations that were lost with Sharon White and her friends. The Howlers wanted to give the library enough to survive even if all their donations disappeared.

Ruby was family, and the Howlers took care of their own. If they could make sure she could continue the career she loved and was damn good at, they would.

Covering the other half wouldn’t be too difficult. He had already been in contact with Xander, who was pissed and said he’d use his influence and his wallet to save the library if they needed him to.

Hell, Mama Hen had called and asked if she needed to set up a continual donation with the library to help out.

Axle had already spoken to each of the members individually, as well as asked Crush to do the same with the Claws, to find out what they felt comfortable donating.

Truth of the matter, they had achieved their goal. He would share the news with Rebel in the morning, after he gave the totals another run through.

He closed the laptop and the books and focused on finishing his food. Axle had just popped the last fry into his mouth when there was a dock on the door.

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