Free Sassy Ever After: Sassy and a little Bad-Assy (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Jessie Lane

justice. “I’m just glad I get to see you today, pretty girl.”
    Nikki nudged him with her shoulder. “You’re one of the sweetest guys I’ve ever met, you know that?”
    He couldn’t help barking a laugh at that statement. “Somehow, I never imagined you would say that after the way we met,” he teased.
    Giving him a big grin, she replied, “I guess first impressions aren’t always the most important. Besides, everyone has their faults. Mine is that I’m related to an entire tribe of crazy people, and I love every minute of it. Besides the first day, I haven’t been able to figure out what your faults are. Help a girl out? You can’t possibly be perfect at everything.”
    Although he knew she was teasing, Cruz couldn’t help flinching at her words. He was far from perfect. The powers that be knew he still blamed himself half the time for Lindsey’s and Laura’s deaths. It had made him feel as if he couldn’t protect his family. Would Nikki think that of him if she knew the truth of his past?
    “Hey.” His mate smoothed her hand down the side of his face. “What’s wrong, Cruz? Did I say something to upset you?”
    Looking around, he took in the many people surrounding them. This hadn’t exactly been how he wanted to tell his mate about the family he had lost, but it seemed as though fate once again had different plans.
    Grabbing her hand with his own, he pulled it from his face and placed it on the table in front of them. Then he smoothed his thumb over her knuckles, memorizing the satin feel of her skin as he built up the courage he needed to bare his soul.
    “No one is perfect, baby. I’m far from it. I don’t know if you would say I have a fault, but I do have a past, one that I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you about.”
    “You’re starting to scare me, Cruz.”
    Taking another quick look around the bar, seeing everything was fine, he brought his face closer to Nikki’s and lowered his voice so only she would hear what he had to say. “I was mated once before.”
    Nikki gasped in surprise, and her eyes widened in pure shock. “But I thought you told me you only got one mate!” Her voice was almost shrill with worry, and Cruz cringed at her outrage.
    Holding his finger up to her lips to stop her, he continued, “I told you that shifters only get one true mate. Lindsey wasn’t my true mate. We grew up together, and she was my childhood sweetheart. We loved each other so much that we decided we wanted to get mated without looking for our true mates. It was pretty unconventional for our pack, but our families supported us.”
    His mate’s lips moved against his finger as she asked the question he dreaded most, “Where is Lindsey now, Cruz?”
    That familiar knife of pain slashed through his heart. This time, though, it didn’t make him want to curl up and die. It hurt like hell, but it was the sort of pain he finally felt he could survive, all because of the beautiful woman in front of him and the second chance she meant to his life.
    Not knowing how to tell her the truth without just giving it to her straight, Cruz explained the best he could. “She was in a car accident with our little girl Laura. A semi-truck hit them, and they both died instantly. At least, that’s what the medics told me. They promised me the girls didn’t feel any pain at all. It was quick.”
    It was hard to say the words … to see the way Nikki’s eyes clouded over with pain for him. She had to be the first person he wasn’t mad at for feeling sorry for him, but that didn’t mean he liked it, either.
    “You lost a child and a wife?” Her whispered words sounded tortured.
    Feeling a huge lump of emotion choking him, Cruz nodded, unable to answer with words.
    “How long ago, Cruz?”
    It took him a minute or so to force the words out. “Five years.”
    He braced himself for her pity, tried to steel himself so he wouldn’t resent her for the common reaction to someone finding out what had