Little Red's Riding

Ruined?

"It seems that your parents are quite accepting of our relationship. Have you given more thought to the possibility of an engagement? There's no reason we couldn't be wed quickly. We could have a dress made by the seamstress here in town. Or you could wear your mother's. Or my mother's. Whatever suits your fancy. As I said, the house is built and it's quite lovely. There are four bedrooms and I built bunks for the children that we will one day fill the rooms with."

Dahlia stared at him, her bright eyes wide.

"I think I do feel quite unwell Archer. And when my stomach and head feel as I do now, it seems as if it's not the best time to be discussing such important matters." She stood, feeling a bit dizzy, and walked halfway across the room, still keeping her distance from him.

"I guess I should probably go then?" He looked surprised as he stared at her long, bare legs, frozen for a moment before he shook his head and moved towards the door.

"It seems like it's for the best. We can discuss this on another day."

Dahlia threw herself back on the bed, letting out the breath she'd been holding when she heard the door click shut behind the Woodsman. Even without Silas' existence blocking the way of her courtship with Archer the bunk beds would have pushed her over the edge. She was not ready for that level of commitment just yet.

Unless it was with a tall, dark, handsome, brooding werewolf, who had pressed her against the wall of the house the previous night and left her longing for more. Then she just might have to consider it.

Silas paced back and forth, still unable to sleep. He had heard Oliver enter the house without knocking and he fell back into his chair, unwilling to admit that he had been nervously moving about since his Beta had set out early that morning.

His second in command strode into the room and dropped into the seat across from him, reaching out and pouring whiskey into a tumbler.

"You're a fool, Silas." His Beta echoed the words that he'd been thinking since he'd left her at her door, but he still growled when he heard them coming from Oliver's mouth, his eyes turning dark in warning. "You should never have left her there. She's your mate. She's our Luna. She belongs here with the pack. I don't know what the fuck you were thinking."

"Tell me what you saw." Silas was driving himself half mad imagining what Dahlia was doing back in her village. She was so beautiful. And he knew she already had multiple proposals, one from the Woodsman of all people. So he'd spent the night tearing himself in two, trying to convince himself she'd be better off with a human by her side, living out her life in the peaceful little village, while his wolf was nearly beside himself at the mere suggestion of anyone else touching the dark haired beauty.

"I would really rather not." Oliver sipped the amber colored liquid.

"What happened Oliver?" His Beta was, without a doubt, the only person who could talk to him this way and get away with it, but in this situation he was pushing the limits of what Silas was willing to put up with. Especially after a sleepless night.

"You're just going to explode or self-destruct, and what you need to do is not ask me what happened and go get the girl and bring her here. She's your mate." Oliver looked up and met his eyes for a long moment before quickly looking away.

"Fine. It's your funeral. I went and lurked in the woods in my wolf form to do your bidding, because you ordered me to." Oliver swirled the whiskey around the tumbler, not meeting Silas' eyes.

"I lay in the woods across from the house you said was hers. She came storming out mid-morning. She looked upset. I thought I could hear yelling in the house and the door slammed behind her when she left. The girl ran for a minute-"

"She ran?" Silas interrupted, looking upset.

"Yes, that's what I said, isn't it?"

"Was she alright?"

"Will you let me tell the story? You really are impossible." Oliver shook his head and when Silas didn't say anything he continued on. "She ran for a minute until she passed by a man, who she apparently didn't notice. But he noticed her." Oliver glanced down at Silas' hand, which gripped the arm of the chair he was sitting in so hard Oliver wondered if it would splinter into pieces.

"He grabbed her about the waist and pulled her into a nearby shed." Silas jumped to his feet and paced to the window, and Oliver saw that his claws and canines were both fully extended. He was honestly surprised that his friend had fought off a full shift.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Silas growled the words.

"You told me not to speak to her or to interfere but simply to watch. You said it in your Alpha Tone. I couldn't disobey if I'd wanted to." Silas turned towards him, his eyes flashing. "And of course, I wanted to but, Alpha Command and all." Oliver shrugged.

"But whatever he planned didn't last long because less than a minute later the girl came stumbling out of the hut retching, and she vomited, just steps away from the door."

"And then?" Silas was taking slow, deep breaths as he continued to fight off his wolf's insistence that he shift and run to her.

"She walked to another house, where I could see her sitting with another young woman before she hurried home, looking very upset. Again."

"Is there anything else?" The Alpha had turned back to the window, his fists clenched tightly.

"Must you ask." Oliver shook his head. "Yes. The same man went to her house later and her mother let him in. I could then see him, a few minutes later, for a brief moment, through the attic window before he disappeared from sight. He was in there for maybe ten or fifteen minutes before he came back out."

"And who was the man?" Oliver watched as blood trickled down from his friends' hand, where it was clenched tightly closed and he winced in sympathy.

"I think you know." He ran a hand through his dark hair, willing Silas not to force the answer from him.

"Say it, Oliver." Silas insisted.

Oliver shook his head, as he stared out the window, the name torn from his lips. "Archer Dubois. The Woodsman. But Alpha, you must go to her. She is your mate. Forget whatever it is her grandmother said and go to her. I know a lovesick girl when I see one and she needs you every bit as much as you need her."

Silas shook his head and threw himself down onto one of the couches across from where Oliver now sat. "If she can be happy with the Woodsman then let her be. I will not take that from her. Let her have her normal life and human children and eventually I will find a Luna from one of the She-Wolves from another pack, because it is my duty."

Standing Oliver shook his head before bending and slamming the tumbler down onto the table. "I've seen you be wrong before Silas, but never wrong like this." He growled. "Ignoring the Luna the Moon Goddess gave our pack will help no one. You're making the mistake of a lifetime. I just hope you see that before it's too late."

A/N- And to read up to chapter 19 today, and to get more frequent updates check out my Patreon at:

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