Red and Her Wolf (Kingdom, #3)

Jinni had never been a gregarious sort, but it wasn’t hard to see the twinkle in his once vibrant brown eyes turning a dull shade of gray. He was disappearing, becoming nothing more than a pale imitation of his former self.

“For what?” Jinni asked. “I’m no use to anyone anymore.”

Ewan had to strain to hear over the wail of the winds. Black sky ripped open with a jagged streak of yellow light, thunder exploded in their ears.

“To scare away the Jabberwocky should he come.” Ewan cupped his mouth to be heard.

He rolled his eyes, crossed his arms over his chest, and said, “And how am I to do that? Cry boo?”

When Ewan had first come to Danika, he’d hated her. Hated his life. To have found his mate and have her stripped away on that very same night; it’d driven him to madness. Hatter had been useless, his lunacy more than Ewan could bear. Gerard and Hook, neither one could be counted as friend. But it’d been Jinni, who’d brought him back from the brink. He still wasn’t sure why the genie had done it for him, but he was grateful. Those had been dark days, dark times. He trembled remembering.

“Have ye seen your face lately, ghost? ‘Tis a frightful sight. Ye’d scare anyone with a glance.”

Jinni snorted, but something of the old twinkle came back to his face. “I’m not good company today, Wolf. Leave me be.” He turned, clearly intending to disappear once more into the goddess forsaken excuse he called a home.

Ewan snarled. “I’ll howl the entire bloody night, be a constant source of irritation in yer miserable existence. Ye will come. Now, or later, but ye will come. Decide, Jinni.” He narrowed his eyes at the still visage of his floating friend.

Seconds ticked past, then a minute, two. Jinni didn’t turn, didn’t move or even flinch, for a moment Ewan considered he might have to put his search on hold just to make good on his threat when the specter finally heaved a loud sigh of disapproval.

“Lead the way, filthy mongrel,” Jinni said, but there was no heat behind the words, more a detached acceptance.

It wasn’t in his nature to be particularly thoughtful of the feelings of others, especially another male, but Ewan worried at this rate the genie may not be around another year.

A particularly strong gust barreled into Ewan just then, nearly knocking him flat and forcing him to shove thoughts of genie aside. He needed to become the wolf again; next gale might drive him below sea. Gods forbid that should happen, t’was nigh impossible to extricate oneself from within a sea maiden’s clutches for at least a fortnight should she catch you. Lustful wenches they were.

Calling his power, he shifted, content to be back in wolf form. Sounds were sharper, smells richer, and his senses more keen.

He shot like a bolt away from the cliff’s, not worried about going slower. Jinni could follow with a thought.

The moment Ewan entered Hatter’s woods the landscape shifted. Trees, once tall with trunks thick and brown, were now contorted monstrosities painted in rainbow hues. Some were speckled, others striped. Leaves the color of rust reached out on twisted limbs, attempting to wrap their snake like ends around his tail.

The magic in these woods distorted and twisted everything. Anywhere else in Kingdom a tree was just a tree, but not here. These trees did not bear fruit for others, nor were they attractive to gaze upon. They were carnivores, seeking easy prey to devour.

But that was only the beginning of the surprises to be had within the mad realm.

Birds and insects flitted by, resembling that which they were named after. Horse flies whinnied at his passing. Wolf could not stop, and would not look back. Only the unschooled did so. Before Alice, the woods still held an element of the arcane, but it’d been tame, innocent, and not nearly so dark.

Since her return, the woods were full to bursting with the Hatter’s mad magic. Trees that’d seemed mundane in years past were once again treacherous and capable of killing an unwary soul.

Pollen dusted his nose when he ran headlong into a thicket of posies and thorns. Ewan sneezed, clawing at his nose, but never stopping. Not when the hooked thorns tore into his side, nor when Jinni laughed.

“Your obsession with finding your mate is not worth this, surely, Wolf?”

Ewan ignored him.

Morpho butterflies erupted from the brush, filling the sky with their electric blue shimmering. Pads of butter squirted from them, coating Ewan’s fur with the sweet hint of clover. He curled his nose, hating when they did that.

A distant howl rang through the woods and the fur around his neck stood up. Lips curled back, teeth gleamed as he growled low and pushed harder, kicking up dirt in his wake. Demonic laughter zigzagged all around him. High, low, in the sky, in the ground. A crescent slice of teeth materialized in his sights.

“Whom, do you seek?” Cheshire asked. “Oh wait…” A tiger striped face manifested within a plume of smoke. “We all know the answer to that riddle, do we not? Big. Bad. Wolf.”