A.N.D. - Wolf Woods

Wolf was testing the air, smelling around for likely prey, when he heard snarling behind him. He turned to see-and the blade scored along his ribs instead of plunging into his heart.

Squalling in pain and surprise, he grabbed his attacker’s knife arm, twisting until the blade dropped at their feet. Any other night he’d be afraid. Any other night, he’d ask “why?” But the full moon made it all so primally simple.

With a scream of sheer fury, Wolf lunged at his attacker’s throat.

The rival male got his arm up in time to save his life, and with the other hand punched Wolf in the face hard as Wolf bit down on his forearm. Wolf snarled, but had to let go and breathe through his mouth before the sudden gush of blood smothered him. Then it was Wolf’s turn to bar one forearm across his throat, backing off. The rival lunged and a swing of Wolf’s claws sent him screaming to the ground with four deep scratches down his cheek. A flashing hand, a hooked ankle, and Wolf was down too.

Still snarling nonstop, they lunged in unison from their knees, grappling and clawing at each other in a deadly wrestling match. Wolf had grown softer since his marriage, his opponent was younger-but while the youth was struggling with great intensity, he didn’t really know how to fight. He’d lost the advantage of surprise, and Wolf took animal delight in pounding him into unconsciousness.

Still dominant! He howled his triumph to the skies, wiped blood from his upper lip, and loped off into the night to kill something that would be fit for his pack to eat.

Virginia woke with a shiver-with the bedclothes off and the warmth of Wolf’s feverish body gone, the night was suddenly much colder. She pulled a robe on and padded to the window, which had been left open. A breeze tickled her and she shivered again. Winter was coming and she couldn’t avoid it forever. Seasons between the dimensions didn’t match; it had been late fall when they left New York and midsummer when they’d arrived here. Now it was fall for the Kingdoms as well, and winter wasn’t long off.

Dell was quietly sleeping in his crib. Suddenly inspired, Virginia pulled it over to where the full moon could shine on him. “Someday, you’ll be out running with your daddy on nights like this,” she whispered.

A tentative knock on the door heralded the arrival of Edwina, who peeked shyly around the door. “Lady Virginia? Are you...”

“Alone? All right? Dressed?” Virginia laughed at her nursemaid’s expression. “Yes, I’m all three.”

“I thought I heard Wolf leave, but I didn’t know if... I mean, I haven’t been here for a full moon before, I don’t know what...”

Virginia shrugged. “It’s fine, really. You’re safe, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Edwina smiled, just the tiniest crook of her mouth. “He ate up just about everything in the kitchen.”

“He does that. Don’t worry, he’ll hunt up plenty more tonight.”

“I saved this for you. He didn’t want anything that wasn’t meat. When I heard him leave I heated it up; I thought you might like it.”

It was a turnover, the pastry drenched in sugar and cinnamon, as tempting a dainty as ever showed up in an upscale New York bakery. “Oh, thank you, how kind!” Virginia cooed, coming to take the plate and the glass of milk that went with it.

“It’s my pleasure,” Edwina said, backing out of the room.

There was a rocking chair in the corner, for the few nights that Dell had trouble sleeping, but Virginia bypassed it for the naughty thrill of curling up cross-legged on the bed with her treat. The first bite was mostly crust-crumbly, buttery, sugary crust. The second bite proved it to be a juicy, tangy apple tart. “Mmmmmm”ing in ecstasy, Virginia swallowed... or tried to.

The necklace around her throat tightened like a noose, preventing Virginia from swallowing-or even breathing. Her hands flew to the chain, tugging futilely on the slender gold links, which held as rigidly as steel. She tried to cough, to spit out the food, but the suddenly bitter apples were stuck to her tongue. They were burning her, searing her mouth... the apples were poisoned! They must have come from the tree by Snow White’s cottage!

She was still trying to scream when the world turned black.

Good, it hadn’t taken long. As soon as she heard the body thump to the floor, Edwina moved from her hiding place in the hall back to the bedroom. She took the plate away, making sure to wipe up all crumbs.

“I’ll tell, I’ll tell, I’ll tell them all,
For this crime you will fall,” a tinny voice warned her.

What the-oh, it was that stupid senseless ring! “You’ll be quiet if you know what’s good for you,” Edwina hissed at it.

“You’re as evil as the queen,
I’ll tell everyone what I’ve seen!” the pearl musically snarled back at her.

Edwina snarled back. “If you want to open your big mouth, here’s something to put in it!” She shoved the uneaten part of the tart onto the ring until it stopped spluttering. When she cleaned Virginia’s hand off, the pearl had gone white and faceless, as dead as its owner. Good!

It didn’t take much longer to arrange Virginia back on the bed as if she was sleeping. The necklace slopped loosely around, rapping her stingingly on the hands several times as she moved the body. It was very tempting to steal it, but there would be questions if it was missing later. So she centered it very nicely over Virginia’s heart, sneering as she did so. “So much for your great Cinderella magics, sweetie! They haven’t saved you.” She leaned in to whisper Virginia’s ear, in case any part of the traitor to humanity could still hear her. “And that trinket won’t save your precious abomination, either!”

She turned her glare to the crib. “Your time is coming, as soon as your nasty sire returns!” Turning on her heel, Edwina stomped out of the room.

She never noticed the seed in Virginia’s pendant flicker with fairy lights, settling into a steady flash like a heartbeat.

The dominance fight already forgotten, Wolf joyfully ran down rabbits and snatched panicked birds from the air. He couldn’t scent-hunt because his nose kept bleeding again every time he pounced, but he was too excited to care, and his luck was running good enough anyway. Lots of prey here! Cub and mate would eat well! Mate will be proud of him! He ran back to the house to empty his catch onto the kitchen table, then bounced back into the beckoning moonlight without even a pause to brag to Virginia. Get more! Make mate prouder!

Dawn was still hours away when Littlebit slunk back to the house. Not fair. Can’t hunt. Can’t even catch in a pen! Not fair! She’d spent hours running down that stupid lamb, always missing the kill because of her curse. She’d finally caught it by accidentally tripping over her hem and falling on it... and just when she was finally going to get to kill and eat it, a more dominant wolf jumped the wall, slapped her, and took it away. NOT FAIR!

She was going to go to her back room and sniffle, but she stopped at the sight of the kitchen work table mounded high with rabbits, birds, lambs, and even a deer. There’s so much. He wouldn’t know... She snatched as much as she could carry from the table, started for her room, realized what Wolf would do when he caught her “stealing” from his son, and headed for the deep woods instead. If she found a good enough hidey-hole, she could eat herself into a stupor without being disturbed, and Wolf would never realize what was missing.

Wolf plodded home, his arms once more full of dead animals. He lumped them on the table and headed back up to bed, sniffing mightily against the blood that once more threatened to fall. The smothered human side of his nature muttered something about a broken nose that the wolf ignored. All that could be taken care of in the morning. Right now, he was too tired to care. He trudged up the stairs, fetched Dell out of the crib, and crashed into the bed next to the sleeping Virginia. He was so exhausted that he fell instantly asleep, even with the pull of the moon.

He never twitched when the troll dust splattered over him and Virginia, nor when hands reached down and pulled Dell from his snug nest between his parents.