Scratch The Happily Ever After

Scratch The Happily Ever After
“Where are all the kids who love their Witchy-wolf auntie?!” Brenda shouted as she entered the castle. She let out a yip when Ezra, Caysen, Aiden and Erinne tackled her. She laughed. “Alright! Alright! Yes, I love you—and yes, we brought gifts!”

Essence chuckled and gave her a hug. “We thought you three wouldn’t make it back in time.”

“Please, and miss the first family dinner of the summer? Good traditions are made to be honored, Luna, you know this.” Bending down, she handed Erinne her gift. “Here. Don’t tell your mother that—”

“You brought her an expensive locket from Romania,” Ericka said, playfully cutting her eyes as she approached. “I told you she didn’t need it.”

“I know but”—she pouted—“we both know she’s going to look beautiful in it, and we both also know when her powers come in, you’re going to charm it for protection, so just let me live my life! Plus, it came from the Alora collection, Eri! How could I pass that up?!”

“You know that’s just a myth, right?” Ericka sneered.

Brenda pulled her sunglasses down from her eyes. “Yeah, well, check the history books, so is ya girl.” Essence gave her a high five, and the three cackled loudly.

Phil shook his head, approaching them. “That still doesn’t change that you, Fontaine, and Stephan are determined to spoil our children rotten.”

She shrugged. “Eh, what’s the point of having nieces and nephews if you can’t spoil them?”

“And you three are still one hundred percent committed to no children?” Essence asked, smirking.

“Hell to the motherfuc—freaking yes…watch this,” she said before she called over her shoulder, “Taine, Steph, I was thinking we should think about having children.”

“What?!” Fontaine shouted, rushing into the den of the castle, completely frazzled. “What did you just say?! Stephan, get your as—butt in here! Our wife is talking about something.”

Stephan walked in. “What, and why in the world are you being so loud?”

“Brenda said she thinks we should consider having kids,” Fontaine said, grabbing his chest.

Stephan cocked his head back. “Oh, hel—heck no! No, no, no, especially not after what she did that time Phil asked her to watch over his class.”

Phil nodded. “Yeahhhh, still trying to explain to the kids that the silver nitrate monster won’t eat them in their sleep if they don’t give Mrs. Brenda their lunch money.”

She yawned. “What? It’s not like I kept the money. I should have though because they signed a verbal contract, and y’all know—”

“Business is business!” Fontaine and Stephan shouted in unison. Their laughter stopped when she glared at them.

“Shaddup,” she said. They kissed her cheeks, and she rolled her eyes playfully before a look of panic found her face. “Babes, y’all know I was just playing about kids though, right? No, seriously, I scared my damn self trying to scare y’all.” She grabbed her chest. “You all just keep giving me nieces and nephews that I can love on and spoil, okay? By the way, where is everyone else?”

Anastasia joined Essence’s side. “Caitlyn and Chip are upstairs helping Kanon pack to leave with Greg and Raf tomorrow—they will be over in a few, with Jeremy. Savi and Tre are on their way after they close up the restaurant. Double B, Shari, Chuck, Ava, Little Ricky and Mia are all coming over together after their daughter’s little league football game.” She scrunched her face, trying to make sure she remembered everyone. “I just realized it’s a lot of us,” she said. Sensing Cayden, she quickly ducked, avoiding his hug. “Don’t you dare touch me,” she fumed. “I know you planned this whole triplet fiasco.”

Giving her a wide grin, he folded his arms to his chest. “Perhaps, but we’ve always discussed having a big family. It’s not my fault that I’m virile. I think we should go for quad—oww!” he shouted when she swatted him with a nearby broom.

“You will not knock me up again!” she screamed before swatting him again.

Entering the castle, Tremaine laughed at the sight. “What does that remind you of, Savi? You used to swat me like a damn mosquito back in the day,” he said.

Savina cut her eyes. “I never swatted you. I told you to stop telling those lies.”

He chuckled. “You know I just be playing… it was more like swatting a big as—oww!” he yelled when she swatted him with a newspaper.

“You wanted to be swatted, well, here you go!” she yelled.

“I was just playing!” he said as he ducked alongside Cayden. Hearing the others laugh at their misfortune, Cayden and Tremaine grumbled loudly under their breaths.



Walking around his wing of the castle, Kano paused his search for Essence when he saw the door of a familiar bedroom ajar. Peering inside, he found her laying on the bed.
Sensing him, she turned around. “Remember this?” she asked, smiling.

He smirked. “Yes, though you weren’t smiling at me then.”

“You balled me up in sheets.”

His eyes gleamed. “And you paid me back by stealing my heart.” Seeing her blush, he joined her on the bed. “I mean, it’s not every day you meet a woman who can knock an alpha on his ass.”

She belted out a laugh. “That is very true. Speaking of fond memories… Alpha Kano, are you ever going to let me live down my blimp request?”

“Nope. You wanted those for our wedding reception, I had them planned—and they were ruined—so now they’ve become a staple.”

She arched her brow. “Yeah, but a blimp to remind me to bring home toilet paper, and another to alert me about a sale on wigs?”

“Well, in my defense, I had no paper on hand, and the wig request was from Rafael. Plus, you returned home with so many new Stellas, I ran out of hellos to give.”

She cut her eyes at him. “I wouldn’t have had to get so many if you hadn’t set fire to my wig closet.”

“You knew that was me?!”

“You’re a horrible liar, Kano. Blame it on your desire to be an honorable alpha.” She laughed at his red face. “Oh, and don’t you ever send another blimp congratulating me on a normal pap smear again.”

Kano’s face turned almost purple. “Yes, admittedly I didn’t know offhand that it was such a personal matter. However, now that I know exactly what it is, you must admit our routine of dancing when the little blue card arrives in the mail has also become a wonderful tradition.”

Shaking her head, she touched the lines of his chiseled jaw. “I love you, weirdo,” she said.

“And I, you, maniac,” he replied. Kissing her gently, he murmured against her lips, “Before we join everyone for dinner, I have another blimp.”

She smirked. “Okay, I’ll bite. What does it say?”

He pulled her up and walked her towards the window. Opening it, they let in the night air and looked up at the stars. “I know you’ve always said never to say, and they lived happily ever after because it’s corny...”

She nodded. “Not to mention that it sounds so final… I don’t know… love just doesn’t work like that in my mind.”
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the back of her head. “I agree. So instead, how about this? I love you, Belle—” He pointed up to the blimp that glided across the sky.

Seeing the words, she grinned brightly, and turned and kissed him. “I love you too, Adam. Until the last petal falls.”



Dedicated to all my melanated queens out there. I see you, I am you, I love you.

Author's note: Thank you all sooo much for taking this journey with me. If you’ve enjoyed this novel and would like to own a paperback copy, Beastly is now available for purchase on amazon. Six new chapters included; and the start of a whole series. Next up, Alora (A Sleeping Beauty retelling).