is your mate?
I have not yet found one. He leaned forward and sniffed me. He cut his eyes to Wolf again. She is the sort for whom I might become human. A fine choice.
Whoa. Random.
He licked my cheek and got to his feet. He let out a brief howl to gather the others. Over my shoulder Marianne was feeding the pup a small bit of jerky. He gobbled it down, licking at her fingers greedily. Marianne was smiling for the first time since I’d met her. The alpha howled again and this time the pup obeyed. With a little yip in Marianne’s direction, he bounded off with his pack. The wolves melted away into the darkness of the trees, vanishing the same way they’d come.
I sat down beside her. “So what do you think?”
“I don’t know,” she said, sounding as though she were surprised at how little she knew.
I put my arm around her, hugging her close. “I understand. Think you can sleep now?”
She nodded and nestled into me, closing her eyes.
“Is there room for one more?” Wolf asked above me.
“Only if it’s okay with Marianne.”
She opened her eyes and stared up at Wolf. After a moment, he hopped back and crouched on the ground.
“I can stay over here if she wishes,” he said, gazing longingly at me.
After a few more minutes, she nodded. Wolf immediately moved to my side, putting one arm around my shoulders and resting the other hand possessively on my leg. He pressed his face into my hair and inhaled deeply. I laughed to myself. Within a few moments more I drifted off, my head resting comfortably against Wolf’s chest.
Chapter 16
The next morning felt like any other. Cool. Full of bright sunlight. The perfect time for camping. A shame we weren’t actually camping for fun. A tent would have been nice. At least I felt cleaner.
Our breakfast consisted of rabbit, courtesy of Wolf, cooked over a newly built fire courtesy of my lighter, which delighted both Wolf and Marianne to no end.
Finally we were on our way again, traipsing along the path until Wolf informed us that we had to leave it in order to get to Marianne’s village. We marched through the leaves, probably the strangest group to travel through the kingdom since the days that wolves and humans were friendly. Wolf led the way with me and Marianne behind holding hands, and Alex in his Sentry uniform bringing up the rear. Probably enough to make anyone who saw us think he was hallucinating.
“Do you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood?” The question had nagged at me ever since I’d heard the name of the kingdom and the apparent problem with wolves.
Wolf gave me a funny look. “No.”
“So no story of a wolf eating up a grandmother and then a little girl, only to be rescued by a huntsman? Kind of tragic?”
Wolf scoffed. “Do you mean the story of how the House of Red and House of Hood came to be?”
“Uh, sure.”
“That’s not how it goes. The only truly tragic stories are the ones with love in them.”
“So if I’m wrong, tell me the real story.”
“It’s a story long forgotten by humans. That or most of them muss it up to know it the way you know it. There was a lovely girl named Adria Red, and she was the next queen of the kingdom. She was in love with a wolf, and he was very much in love with her. They might have made things better for wolves in the kingdom, had they married. But a huntsman by the name of Teron Hood wanted Adria to himself. The kingdom was just extra fat on the bone.”
“Is this going to be a Romeo and Juliet story?” Alex asked, less than thrilled at the prospect. I shushed him, and Wolf continued.
“One day Adria set off to visit her grandmother who lived in a small house in the forest. After living so long in the castle, she wanted to be free and out in the open—some say the grandmother might have been part wolf herself, but no one really knows. The wolf wanted to surprise Adria by showing up at her grandmother’s, and when the huntsman saw him heading that way, he decided this was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the wolf. He got to the house first and poisoned the grandmother. Then he snuck out to wait for the wolf.
“When the wolf arrived, he saw the grandmother was dead and didn’t know