Free Sassy Ever After: A Hot Piece Of Sass (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Melanie James Page A

Hannah turned her head, showing him the vicious mating mark she had been given. “Besides, I’m only a quarter of your size. There’s no way I could have inflicted that much damage.”
    Trying to sound like the voice of reason, Hannah decided that now was not the best time to mention that the second she got free, she was going to kick his ass up around his eyeballs, then lop off his balls for shits and giggles.
    Scott eyed her warily. She could almost see the hamsters running on the wheel in his head as he tried to process what she’d told him. She imagined him playing a game of eenie-meenie-miney-mo in that enormous revolting head of his, trying to decide if she was telling the truth or not.
    Hannah guessed that he would want to believe her, because if he didn’t, he’d have to hang his head in shame at being beaten by a woman who was a quarter of his size. That would be a hard pill for any man to swallow, and Hannah surmised it would be even harder for someone like Papa Redneck.
    “Why would Mac restrain his mate with silver?”
    “I was scared at first when he claimed me. Maybe he thought I was going to run? Either way, it’s all a huge misunderstanding.”
    “How did he find you?”
    “I stumbled upon this giant wolf in the woods. It looked like he was trying to attack everyone around him. I tried to run away from the fight, but Mac captured me.”
    “Lies, lies, lies.”
    “Would you hush? He doesn’t know what happened. He was out cold. Why not pretend to be innocent? Maybe we can use it to our advantage.”
    “Let’s hope you’re right.”
    Hannah’s wolf perked up as the howling started up again, this time closer to their location.
    “He’s coming for us,” her wolf warned.
    “Who?”
    “Tanner. And he’s bringing company.”
    “You’re lying to me.” Scott struggled to stand once again, and this attempt proved to be successful. He pressed one hand against the wall for balance. Sneering in pain, he closed his eyes and forced his shift in order to heal his wounds.
    Once Scott was in his wolf form, he crept deliberately towards Hannah. A snarl covered his hideous, mangled face and strings of saliva dripped from his misshapen mouth. She had no idea why the gashes on the side of his head hadn’t fully healed with his shift, but one thing was crystal clear—unless there was a divine intervention, Hannah would not survive. Tanner and whomever he had with him would not be in time to save her.
    Saying a few dozen prayers, Hannah closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. The last thing she wanted to see was Scott’s snaggle-toothed face coming at her with the intent of ending her life.

Chapter Fourteen
     
    T ristian shifted back to human form so he could speak to Tanner. Yeah, it was a bitch, but there was no way around it: They couldn’t communicate via the standard pack link because they were from two very different packs. “The cabin should be just ahead. I still can’t pick up her scent. Can you?”
    Tanner shook his head and whined. His nose worked strenuously trying to locate the sweet strawberry scent of his mate, but he found nothing, not even a tiny whiff of her deliciousness. Wherever she had been taken, her feet had never touched the ground. If they had, he would have picked up her scent in a heartbeat.
    “If you had left me in charge, we would have already marked and claimed her. And we’d know exactly where the fuck she was.” Tanner’s wolf was not a happy camper. He was seconds away from unleashing his berserker and killing anyone who got in the way of finding his mate, along with anyone who dared to look at him wrong.
    A blood-curdling scream made Tanner’s fur stand on end.
    Hannah’s in trouble.
    Tanner’s heart stopped. Chills covered his body, head to toe. The cottage was still too far away. By the sound of the terror in Hannah’s scream, he’d never make it in time to save her.
    Abruptly the world spun around him. Time seemed to stand still. Losing his footing,