Page 15 of Kiss My Sass

“Then he started coming to the diner more often, and one day it was like he was there every afternoon during my shift after my classes,” she mumbled through that part.

“You went to college?” Thor asked.

“Yep. I know I don’t sound very educated, but yes, I did. I liked school. A lot.”

She shrugged as if it were something to be embarrassed about, and Thor frowned. She deserved a chance to follow her dreams. If that meant going back to school, then why the fuck not?

“First, I think you sound just fine, Nica. Real fine. Smart, funny, caring. I’ve been watching you for weeks, and I don’t think you’ve ever said an unkind word about anyone,” he murmured.

“That’s not true. I called Leo a fathead one day when he criticized my shot pouring.”

“Leo is a fathead. So again, you were just being honest,” he told her with a grin he couldn’t hide if he wanted to. “Second, how old are you?”

“Oh, I’m twenty-six. I know it’s still young, but I feel older sometimes. Much older,” she mumbled, and his heart squeezed for another reason.

Twenty-six. Fucking hell. It seemed the Fates were more fucked up than he’d thought. Dire Wolves aged even slower than other Shifters, and Thor was almost twice Nica’s age, though he looked about thirty tops.

“Third, what did you study?” he asked, scrubbing a hand roughly over his face. He needed to focus on something other than their age difference.

“Well, I had to take some regular classes like English and Math. But I was really into these horticulture classes,” she told him.

He watched, interested, as Nica’s cheeks turned pink, and she averted her gaze. Was she embarrassed? He grinned and asked her for more details, delighted when she spoke about hydroponics and raised garden beds, experimenting with different soil types and experimental filtration systems. There were so many layers to this woman, he mused. And he wanted to know them all.

“Horticulture? Wow! I wouldn’t have guessed that,” Thor replied.

He had one hand on top of his head, rubbing the stubble that had grown that day, and the other on his hip as he stood shaking his head and grinning at her. It felt like a present, this little snippet of information she was giving him about herself. Yeah, like a really good present, and he liked it so much, he wanted more. But Nica was just staring, so he dropped his hand.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she blurted, and he could scent her embarrassment now.

“Nica, what is it?” he repeated.

“You just have a really nice smile, is all. Like a really, really nice smile. And you don’t do it very often. Smile, I mean. So I don’t get to see it very often. It surprised me, but like, in a really nice way. You look good when you smile. Well, you look good all the time, but you look fantastic when you smile, and I am talking way too much now, so I am going to shut up,” Nica finished with a popping sound on the finalp. Now Thor was smiling even harder.

“Tell me why you said that Crow was your mate,” he said, needing to know before he did what he was dying to do.

“H-he told me he was. That is, he started courting me. He was sweet at first. Said all the right things, brought me gifts, won my mother over right away. She couldn’t have said yes to him when he suggested a pairing any quicker than she did. At least, that was what I thought.”

“Did you love him?”

“I thought so,” she replied honestly. “But understand, I’d never had a boyfriend till Jack. The things I should have questioned, I didn’t because I thought maybe I was wrong. Maybe that was what love was supposed to be. He hid stuff. He left for days on end. He told me what he liked me to do, how I should act and what I should wear, and I tried to make him happy. But he would leave, and when he came back, he’d be different. Sometimes happy. Sometimes cruel. I was very green, you see. Jack liked to make fun of me for not knowing about stuff,” she confessed.

That black rage inside Thor grew as she told her story, but he held it in. He did not want to make it any worse for Nica. Keeping his Demon Wolf hidden was necessary. So, he zipped his lip and listened. He wished he could smile for her right then, the way she’d liked, but that grin was nowhere to be found.

Not then, anyway.

“Mama conducted a promise ceremony that spring under a cherry tree in the local park. He gave me a ring, and I was floating on air, thinking I was gonna be married and mated. We went to a motel, and we, well, you know,” She muttered, cheeks red now, and he could scent her discomfort. “Jack was so angry after. He made fun of me, said I didn’t know a damn thing about being a mate. After that humiliating experience, he brought me to the Pine Murder trailer park, where I was placed with two other women. I didn’t know till after he took off that they were his mates, and that I was going to be his third.”

By the time Nica finished speaking, Thor was trembling with rage. That motherfucker. He’d taken something precious from her, and instead of being grateful and easing her into it, he’d humiliated and abused her trust. Thor’s fury intensified. And her mother! How could a mother give away her innocent young daughter like that? It was revolting, and more black fury filled him. But there was something he didn’t understand.

“He had other mates. Living mates and he wanted you, too?”

“Yes. Ella and Denise are both alive and both wear his mating mark. Crows don’t bite like other predatory Shifters, they scratch and offer a token. He got Denise on the right side of her face, and Ella on her left. Used to call them a matched pair,” she whispered, shivering before she continued.

“Poor Ella was not well when I got away. He broke them, and he wanted to break me.” Horror leaked into her voice.

“Nica,” Thor said her name and took a step closer to her.

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