Ruby Red and the Wolf

Prologue

 – THE PROPHECY

Saira could hear the heavy footsteps outside her door and cringed inside while keeping the stony façade of her race plastered on her face. She had, after all these years, been able to distance herself from the touch that her captor forced on her body. Though now she had more than herself to worry about; she had a life growing deep within her that she needed to protect.

The door slammed open, hitting the stone wall then bouncing back toward the opening. Large rough hands grasped the door before it slammed into their owner. She flinched just the slightest at the violence of her captor's entrance. This small reaction brought an evil smile and a chuckle to the rough face that looked at her from the door. "So my lady, am I finally getting through that icy mask of yours?"

She admonished herself for reacting even that little bit, knowing that a creature such as her captor would be able to see even the smallest change in emotions. Saira stepped forward, smelling the liquor fumes that rolled off the being that stood before her. "Though you can take my body without my permission, Marcus, I will never give in to you in spirit. That will always be mine and mine alone. I will never stoop down to being an animal like you, dog."

Marcus looked the slim tall lady up and down and his smile grew. "Yeah, well we have all the time in the world to change your mind, my lady. Sooner or later you will kneel to me as your master."

Saira moved with surprising speed and lashed out with her right hand, connecting with Marcus's face. The strike never even caused Marcus to blink or move and he slowly reached up to rub his hand over the red mark that heated his cheek. "For that, my lady, you will pay dearly. I think maybe I have been too lax in your treatment." The man turned and left the room slamming the door closed behind him.

Saira waited until she could hear the footsteps fade and moved over to her bed and sat down with a small sob. She sat there thinking through all the possibilities for escape not only for her sake but for the new life she carried. She needed to get out soon before her condition became obvious to those around her. If Marcus found out about the baby that she carried within her there was no way that she would ever make it out of this prison alive. The cold stones of her prison with their wards against her magic seemed to mock the tall thin silver-haired women as she looked around the walls and started once more to figure a way out of this hell she was in.

After a few hours of thinking and planning, she lay back on the bed in despair knowing that escape from this place would be hard if not impossible. A large pop sounded in the middle of her room, jerking Saira upright and once more putting that stony look on her face.

As a small cloud of smoke cleared from the center of the room, Saira cracked a minuscule smile at the dragon that stood before her. "Hello Percy, what are you doing here? How did you beat the wards that the mutts placed around my prison?"

The four-foot green dragon wearing a bowler hat and dark black shades bowed before the lady in front of him, the smelly smoke from an old lit cigar curling above his head. "Hello Princess Saira, I have come to take you out of this place. As for the wards that these shifters use, well let's just say that I have had help from a higher power to beat them."

Saira stood looking at the dragon, suspicion clouding her eyes. Dragons, especially this dragon, were not known for meddling in other creature's lives and when they did it usually lead to no good for the unlucky person. "And why, after all this time, would you trouble yourself with my welfare, dragon? And there is no higher power than a fae."

Percy glanced at Saira's middle and then his face softened with a smile. "Why Princess, because you are with child, is there no better reason for me to come get you? As for powers, in this world, there are some powers that even the fae cannot understand, such as the power of the One."