Except, Riley tugs her cloak closed in front of my muzzle as if she’s shutting a door. “Lay off, you pervert! I’m not a dog!” And then a sharp twinge shoots from my nose up to my eyes as she boxes me on the snout.
Yipping in pain, I back down, crossing my front paws over my muzzle on the forest floor. Tears spring to my eyes. I actually forgot how much this hurts. Like someone’s doing a root canal without anesthetic. The smack was enough to clear the haze from my mind. I’m back in control but, hell, that was close.
As the pain eases, I lift my head to look at Riley. She’s still pressing against the tree, and the fright is quite apparent in her eyes. Only now, she’s holding her bow, arrow aimed at me.
To give her the proof of safety, I change back to the man I am ninety percent of my life. Slowly coming to my feet, I don’t let her gaze escape mine. She’s good at trailing tracks. The apology in my eyes shouldn’t be hard for her to read. “I’m sorry. You can lower the bow now. I won’t hurt you.”
A weak, almost hysteric, and very, very insecure “huh” escapes her.
I step up to her and carefully lower her weapon. “Promise.”
After some resistance, she relents with a deep sigh. But then she runs a hand through her wild hair. “Holy land of plenty, Jack! What got into you?”
There’s no use lying to her now. That was a close call, and with her stupid idea of going on tale strike, she’s not only casting a painful spell of abstinence on me but also putting herself in deadly danger.
“Instincts took over. It’s a damn struggle, and it hurts. I don’t know how much longer I can withstand the call of the woods. Or the story.” When she tucked the arrow back into her quiver, I take her hand, pleading with her. “Don’t you feel it, too?”
Her eyes widen in shock, but not from fear like before. I think there might be sympathy shining in them now. “Well, yeah. Probably. It feels weird. Like someone’s constantly trying to meddle with my mind and make me go in another direction than what I want. But I guess it’s harder for you than for me because you also have to fight against the Wolf inside you.” Her gaze turns a notch softer. “I’m sorry, Jack. I didn’t mean to hurt you with all this. But I can’t just turn back now. Can you understand that?”
Yes, I can. It doesn’t mean I have to like it. And since we’re obviously going on with this odd adventure, we need to take some precautions—put rules in place—for her safety. Because it won’t be long before the Wolf comes out again. And the next time, I’m pretty sure he’ll choose food over the shag. I tug at her hand and head off along the path leading back to her house in Glitter Hollow.
My strides are fast, and she’s falling in and out of a jog to keep up with me. “Where are you taking me?” she demands, panting.
“Home.”
“Why? I haven’t caught me a prince yet.”
“Your love arrow is lost, and it’s getting late,” I growl. “You can go on a prince hunt again tomorrow.”
I don’t know if it’s my commanding voice that shuts her up, or the sympathy she still holds for me because of what I told her earlier. Whichever, I’m just glad we don’t have to start a discussion over it now.
A little while later, her hut appears in front of us. Pulling Riley up the steps of the small porch, I open the door and then push her inside.
She whirls around to me with worry in her eyes. “What’s going on?”
Sweat is beading on my forehead. Shit. I was hoping I could hold the Wolf back for a little while longer, but it’s rebelling inside me so hard that I’m actually thinking about eating Riley in the form I’m in right now.
Get a grip, Jack!
Squeezing my eyes shut, I shake my head once. Then I turn back to her with stern insistence in my gaze. “Lock the door and all the windows. And if I come to you tonight, you better not open.”
Her lovely lips part with shock. Good. Finally, she understands the gravity of her decisions. I force my hand to remain steady as I gently stroke my knuckles over her pale cheek. “Riley?” I rasp, demanding her acknowledgement.
Reluctantly, she nods, giving me her promise. Releasing an actually painful breath, I turn around and trudge down the steps, walking away.
“Jack?”
At her quiet voice, I stop but don’t turn around, only grumble, “Mm?” with my hard gaze on the dark forest in front of me.
The sound of her soft footsteps on the wooden planks drifts from the porch. “Will you be all right?”
Without giving her an answer, I leave.
Hopefully, the girl does what she’s been told for once. Since I have no idea what my Wolf will do if freed in this agitated state, I better not take any chances with her. She’s so breakable and innocent. In her naivety, a simple lie might be enough for her to let me in. And that will probably be the end of Red Riding Hood altogether.
I don’t want to hurt Riley. Desperately running my hands through my hair, a deep growl erupts from me. Fuck. It already begins. In this unpredictable state, I can’t return to my own apartment. A locked bedroom door won’t keep me trapped for long.
The forest hazes through my vision as I take a turn to Castle Grove and forge on through the clutter of trees and bushes, stumbling from one side to the other, sometimes catching hold of the rough bark of a tree trunk, other times just falling to my knees. It takes an immeasurable amount of willpower to fight against the Wolf on the rise. He can’t come out yet.
Rubbing the sweat from my face, I try to figure out where I am. The pink tips of a castle loom behind the crowns of a line of ash trees. Thank Grimm, it’s not so far anymore.
As I fight forward, my breathing becomes increasingly labored until I cross a stone bridge over a moat and finally fall against a heavy wooden door. With a weak fist, I hammer against it as hard as my waning strength allows.
Even though it’s probably only seconds, it feels like hours until someone opens up. A shooting star of relief zaps through me as I look into the shocked blue eyes of the only person in Fairyland I trust my life to.
Grabbing the doorframe for support, I pant, “Phil! You need to help me!”
Chapter 7
Riley
With Jack’s warning still ringing in my ears hours later, I huddle behind the couch and point Uncle Elmer’s old shotgun at the door, too scared to even blink. The only company I have through the lonely night is the annoying tick-tock of the grandfather clock by the wall. Sometimes, I wonder if it wants to deliberately lure me to sleep so the big, bad Wolf can come into my house and eat me.
But Jack doesn’t return. In the early morning hours, and after three visits from the sandman, I finally lose the fight and let my eyes drift shut, my finger still on the trigger…
A pack of ravenous wolves chases me through the forest in my dreams, a handsome prince waiting and waving at me ahead. But no matter how fast I run toward him, he continues to hover just beyond my reach.
As a sharp knock on wood echoes, the prince and I both jerk our heads. The gun in my hand fires—
My eyes pop open at the thunderous bang, and I find that, luckily, the bullet went through the ceiling and not the door.
Panic grabs me for a moment at the thought that Jack has finally come for me. “Who is it?” I call out, wiping drool off the corner of my mouth as I straighten from the couch and walk to the door, the gun at the ready.
Alarmed not by my voice but more than likely by the shot, someone outside shouts back, “Riley, are you okay?”
Thank the thirteen fairies it isn’t Jack. I lower the rusty, old weapon and rush forward to open the door. “Phillip! Sorry, I didn’t mean to shoot at you. I…fell asleep…” My face crumples. “With the gun.” Okay, even to me that sounds odd.
Quietly, his guarded gaze drops to the smoke steaming from the barrel of my shotgun before it slowly wanders back up to my eyes. “I see you took Jack’s warning seriously.”