Marisa Chenery - Roan's Fall

Beowulf chuckled. “I know Roxie means well, but sometimes it’s best to go with instinct. I may not have told Roxie I was a werewolf, and what it meant to be mated to one, but in the end it all worked out.”

“But what about giving Ansley a choice?”

Beowulf gave him a hard stare. “If you explain everything to Ansley and she refuses you, will you just walk away?”

Roan ran a hand through his hair. The very idea that Ansley would refuse him made him want to throw back his head and howl. “No, I wouldn’t walk away. She’s mine.”

“Then don’t give her a chance to refuse you. I know Roxie would call me a Neanderthal if she heard me tell you this, but I’m going to say it anyway. Go to Ansley, throw her over your shoulder and take her some place where you two can be alone. Then show her exactly how good it can be being mated to one of our kind.”

Beowulf got up and walked back into the house. Roan stayed outside as he thought over what Beowulf had said. He felt torn between doing what every fiber in his body demanded he do, and what he thought would be fair to Ansley. When he had finally reached a decision, Roan stood up and went back inside.

On his way to the front door he walked by Beowulf, who wished him good luck. Confident Beowulf would tell his brothers where he went, Roan walked out the door and headed for his car. Ansley was about to find out he wouldn’t be so easily put off.

Arriving at the hair salon, Roan parked his Lexus in the parking lot at the back of the building and headed around to the front. More prepared this time for the harsh chemical smells that seemed to permeate the whole salon, he tried not to take too deep of breaths as he yanked open the glass door and stepped inside. Ignoring the stares of the staff and clients, Roan kept his eyes glued on Ansley as he walked over to her chair. Now so in tuned to her scent, he easily picked it out from the harsher smells around him. Her scent caused the wolf inside him to come to life.

Ansley had her back toward him. She was putting the final touches on the hair of the client she had in her chair. Using the element of surprise, he grabbed her shoulder, spun her around and brought his lips down onto hers. At first she didn’t respond to his kiss, but when he threaded his fingers through her hair and hungrily slanted his lips across hers, she melted against him with a sigh. Ansley may be angry with him, but that didn’t stop her from wanting him. More than satisfied with her response, Roan ended their kiss. Then doing what Beowulf had suggested, he bent down and picked her up over his shoulder. As soon as he stood to his full height, Ansley started to struggle. Roan slapped her shapely ass. “Stop that or I’ll do more than tap you on the butt.” To show her he was serious, he turned his head and nipped her bottom with his teeth. With a shriek of outrage, Ansley reached down and slapped him on the ass. “Roan, put me down this second. You can’t just barge in here and haul me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes.”

He snorted. “I just did, babe. Now I’m taking you out of here.”

“Like hell you are. I have other clients waiting.”

Roan turned and met the eye of one of the other girls, a pretty brunette that worked in the salon. “Can you tell your boss that Ansley has to take the rest of the day off? For personal reasons.” When the girl gave him a small smile and nodded, he said, “There, Ansley, you don’t have any more clients to worry about today. Where is your purse?”

Ansley slapped him on the butt again, hard. “I’m not telling you.”

The girl, who Roan had spoken to, came around him and pulled open the bottom drawer on the counter in front of Ansley’s chair. She reached inside and pulled out what Roan presumed had to be Ansley’s purse. “Here it is.”

Roan smiled and he took it from her. “Thanks.”

“Sherry, how could you?” Ansley wailed at his back.

Sherry gave Roan a wink. “Ansley, if a guy this good looking came into the shop, kissed me the way he did you and threw me over his shoulder, honey, I wouldn’t fight him.”

Spinning around, Roan headed out of the salon. He heard whispered comments as he walked by the other people in the shop. More than one woman whispered that she wished a man would come and sweep her off her feet as he had done to Ansley. Outside, he kept Ansley held over his shoulder and made his way to the parking lot.

“Put me down, Roan.”

“I don’t think so.”

“All the blood is rushing to my head. It isn’t exactly comfortable.”

“We’re almost at my car. I’ll put you down then.”

Obviously not satisfied with his answer, Ansley pinched his butt. “Put. Me. Down. Now.”

Roan grunted, the only outward sign that showed he had felt her pinch. “No. You only brought this on to yourself when you hung up on me and then refused to talk to me. You left me no other choice.”

At his car, he opened the passenger door and put Ansley inside. He buckled the seatbelt around her before he shut the door and hurried over to the driver’s side. She turned to glare at him as he settled in the seat and started the car. “What about my car?”

“We’ll come back for it later.” He pulled out onto the street and headed in the direction of Ansley’s apartment.

Ansley crossed her arms over her chest and stared out the windshield. “Why are you doing this?”

“I’m not letting you go that easily.”

“So says the man who said last night was a mistake? How else would you expect me to react? I let you do things to me and then you left me naked on my couch wondering what the hell I did wrong.”

Roan cringed. “I know it looked bad from your perspective, but I really did have a very good reason for doing what I did. Once I explain everything you’ll understand.” He shot a quick glance in Ansley’s direction to see she stared daggers at him.

“I’m sure that bullshit line works on some women, but it won’t work on me. I have no intention of listening to a word you have to say and you can’t make me.”

That was like waving a red flag in front of the wolf’s face. “We’ll see about that.”

They drove the rest of the way to Ansley’s apartment in silence. After Roan parked the car, she got out before he had even shut off the engine. He caught up to her just before she reached the front entrance. He smiled to himself as Ansley stomped up the stairs to her apartment. His mate may be on the shy side, but once riled, she had no qualms about standing up for herself. A trait that would hold her in good stead being a mate to a werewolf.

Ansley unlocked the door and walked inside. Roan closed it behind them. She then went and threw her purse on the kitchen table. “How about we sit down on the couch and I’ll say what I came here to say.”

She made no move to go into the small living room. Ansley leaned back against the kitchen table and glared at him. “I don’t think so. I’m not going anywhere near that couch while you’re here.”

He crossed the distance between them until he stood close, but not too close to make her uncomfortable. “Fine. We’ll talk here. About last night—”

She quickly cut him off. “I told you I don’t want to hear it. Just leave, Roan.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“This is my place, not yours. I decide who I invite over, and I didn’t invite you.”

“I can understand that you’re a little pissed off with me right now.”

“You think?” Ansley asked sarcastically. “Let me make this clearer for you. Get. Out.”

Ansley had no idea that the harder she pushed him away the more the wolf inside tried to take him over. With the mating urge still riding him, Roan had a harder time holding back the wilder side of his nature. “No.”