Free Romance: Tied To The Wolf: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (Werewolf Romance, BBW Paranormal Romance, Shifter Romance) by Ashley Hunter Page A

sweetheart,” Rocko had soothed.
    “You did nothing wrong.”
    Yet his words could never reach her like she needed.
    For three months, Cecilia worked and took no misbehavior from the patrons at the bar. Where she had once expressed she had been happy to work and be content in this little town, all she did now was stare out the windows, distracted and forlorn. Rocko was worried for her, but he didn’t know what to do for her and so he left her alone.
    Her distant stares slowly focused back into her work and her smiles slowly returned as well, but they were not as bright as they used to be. He wondered why, but she never said and so he never pried.
    Until one day when someone walked through the door of his tavern. He was a man of tall stature, bronze skin, jet black hair and deep green eyes.
    His expression was certain, decisive.
    “What can I get for you?” Rocko asked when the man sat at the bar.
    “I’m fine,” the stranger spoke.
    “Are you Rocko?”
    “The one and the same.” Rocko replied, slapping a towel over his shoulder with a scowl. “Who’s asking?”
    “Aaron…”
    Rocko blinked curiously in the direction of the door, not seeing the way the stranger stiffened.
    Cecilia stood by the doors of the kitchen, her hands dropping an empty tray to the ground. The clatter was loud and made what patrons were around suddenly pause in conversation.
    “Cecilia,” the stranger spoke and his voice was desperate.
    Cecilia’s eyes crinkled painfully, lips tightening in an expression close to a wail. Rocko watched in surprise as he watched the young girl he had seen grow up from a tiny little orphan to a beautiful woman run into the arms of this stranger. The reunion was abrupt, stunning everyone to stare.
    “Why did you leave?” Aaron (his name must be Aaron) asked into her hair.
    “I couldn’t take it…” She replied, her arms tight around his shoulders.
    “I couldn’t…”
    Rocko cleared his throat, and the two pulled away to glance over to him.
    “Hate to interrupt but, who are you?”
    Aaron’s lips parted, but Cecilia cut through. “I’ll explain later, Rocko.” She then turned to face the man in her arms.
    “Come with me.”
    Without another word they exited through the main door and Rocko could only stare in surprise and even concern.
    He trusted that Cecilia would explain… fixing his patrons a sharp stare, Rocko snapped.
    “Back to your business, folks!”
    Conversations burst once more, and Rocko busied himself with tending to his costumers, hoping that Cecilia would be alright—although right now, he had a feeling that she would be able to take care of herself.
    --

Cecilia’s apartment was small and dingy in comparison to the lavish mansion Aaron lived in, but it was filled with personal effects that made her home feel like an extension of his and so he dared not turn his nose up at it.
    He could smell the anxiety ebbing from her in waves, and as he followed her deep into her apartment, he knew he had to do something to put her at ease.
    “This place is a mess,” Cecilia muttered as she spewed apologies left and right.
    “I like it,” he interrupted her, earning him a wide eyed gaze from her hazel eyes.
    “It’s lovely.”
    She settled down, urging him toward the small couch next to her small round dining table.
    When he sat, he caught a strong whiff of salt and old fabric. She had been crying here.
    “I haven’t seen you in a while,” Aaron began, smiling softly.
    “You just disappeared.”
    “Marlo helped me return home.” Cecilia replied. “He…I couldn’t stay there after everything had happened. I needed to get away.”
    A slow silence passed between them before Aaron reached over to touch her fingers. Cecilia gave a small flinch at the contact, but she didn’t shrug from his grip.
    It was incredible how easily their skin fell together.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’s all my fault.”
    Aaron blinked in surprise.
    “What?”
    She nodded.
    “I… I was