The queen sat in her suite in Wendell's castle. These chambers had belonged to her before she had been so unceremoniously thrown into prison, and now they were hers once again. She gazed in appreciation at her surroundings, loving the way the satin upholstery and the highly polished exotic woods of the tables and cabinets glowed in the candlelight. For although it was a lovely, sunny day in the Fourth Kingdom, the heavy velvet drapes were drawn and the room was dimly lit. There was a knock at the door and she bid, "Enter," in her soft, regal voice.

A manservant dressed in dark livery stepped a few paces into the room and bowed to her.

"What is it?" she asked.

"There appears to be a wolf at the door my lady. He says you are expecting him."

"Does he?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Well then, I suppose I am. You may show him in."

The servant bowed and stepped backward toward the door. To his surprise she spoke to him again.

"This Wolf. Does he look disreputable?"

"He looks like a wolf my lady... They all look disreputable."

She smiled.

The servant left and she rose and crossed over to the window, parted the curtain slightly with her hand and gazed outward.

Wolf entered the room with a halfhearted bravado. His splendid red velvet suit was dusty and disheveled, his face looked pale and he had dark circles under his eyes. He bowed awkwardly, his usual natural grace missing from his movements.

"My queen, I have returned as you bid me to."

She let the drapery fall back into place and turned to him, smiling sadly.

"So here you are. My Wolf. My disobedient, disloyal Wolf."

Wolf's shoulders slumped dejectedly but he met and held her gaze.

She came over to him and placed her palm on his cheek. "How could you do it?" She quietly admonished. "After all I have done for you. I found you rotting in prison, destined to live out your days in a dank, dark cell." She moved her hand upward and stroked his hair, running her fingertips through the silky strands. Her voice was soft and sorrowful. "I could have left you there you know. I could have just walked out those prison doors without a backward glance. Instead I resurrected you. I gave you back your freedom and your life." She clasped her hands in front of her and stepped back from him. "All of that in exchange for one small request. And what did you do? How did you repay me?"

Wolf said, "I can explain, things..."

"Silence." She didn't raise her voice but the softness was gone. It was replaced with an edge as sharp as a finely honed blade.

Wolf flinched but continued to meet her gaze.

The queen paused for a moment and then continued in a calm, clipped tone. "I'll tell you what you did. You tucked your tail between your legs, like a love sick puppy at the first sniff of a bitch."

Wolf's shoulders stiffened and his chin rose as he responded defensively, "It's not like that! It isn't all about animal passion!" He paused for a split second, reconsidering. "Well, maybe it started out that way," he acknowledged. His eyes closed and his voice roughened, "Ohhhh, from the very first, her scent captivated me." He shook off the memory and continued, "But that's not all it is. Virginia is..."

"Is what?" the queen sneered. "The love of your poor, pitiful life? Your life belongs to me. Don't you ever forget that. You're my creature. Mine and mine alone."

Wolf whimpered and looked uneasily about the room, as if for a way to escape.

The queen stepped closer to him, captured his eyes with her own, and stared him down.

His head dropped in submission.

Her face filled with contempt. "You have changed since we last met. Where is your wolfish cunning? Your animal courage? Why, you're more man now than wolf."

She began to circle around him as he stood there looking down in shame. Tears streamed from his eyes and soft whimpers escaped from him.

"Tell me, just how did Snow White's little stand-in tame you?" A sly look crossed her lovely face and leaning into him she brushed his cheek with her own and crooned into his ear. "Did she seduce you? Did you trade your lust for blood for a sweeter pleasure? Did you sink yourself into her warm, soft flesh?"

"Noooooo!" Wolf wailed in anguish as he fell to his knees and struck his thighs with his fists. "She hates me! She said she never wants to see me again!" He looked imploringly at the queen. "Everything I've done was for her! To make her happy! But does she even care? NO! All she wants is to go back through that mirror! Back to her old life where no one loves her! I love her! I'm her mate for life!" Wolf raised his clenched fists level with his passion filled face. "How can she be so selfish? She broke my heart, and then she just walked away and never looked back." He suddenly reached up in desperation, and grabbed the queen's skirt. "That's why I came here. I'll help you but I want something in return. I want you to keep her from leaving the Nine Kingdoms. All I need is time. If I can keep her here I know that I can make her love me. It's our destiny. I know it is."

The queen looked at him coldly. "And if you can't? If all your wolfly charms don't work?"

Wolf rose to his feet and a cold gleam shone through his tears. "If I can't, then Huff Puff, I want her to be as miserable as I am."

"Excellent!" Now that you have found your spine again, we'll see what we can do." She smoothed the fabric of her gown where Wolf had grabbed it and continued, "Everything may not be so hopeless. There is a chance that we can correct the error you have made with the girl. Stop sniveling, and tell me the truth. Did you mate with her?"

Wolf wiped his eyes and rubbed his nose with his sleeve. "No. I only kissed her once," he whimpered. "The most perfect, kissable kiss, there ever was." He shrugged his shoulders. "But then we were in Kissingtown."

"Good," said the queen. "You would be useless to me if you had bedded her. Perhaps it isn't too late. Your heart may not be broken after all. Only badly bruised."

"It is broken!" Wolf said argumentatively. "I told you it was broken! I oughta know. It's in a gazillion itty-bitty pieces. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't." His voice grew mournful and his eyes began to glaze. "I'd be with her. I'd be with my delicious, delovely girl."

"Oh please," the queen said derisively, "Spare me." She walked back toward the window and then turned and faced him again shaking her head in disgust. "You do have it bad, don't you? You may not have lain with her, but you actually let yourself fall in love. That was a foolish mistake. You've had none of the pleasure and all of the pain." Parting the curtain again, she looked out into the courtyard and the trees beyond. "You've gotten it all wrong. Love doesn't exist. It isn't real. Only Power is real. Love is simply another tool for the strong to control the foolish and weak," dropping the curtain she once again approached him. As she leaned into him she softly spoke into his ear, "She used you. You know that now don't you? It's the oldest trick in the book. She played you for a fool, and when you were no longer useful to her, she treated you like troll dung." She patted his shoulder sympathetically. "How awful it must be. I don't envy you, spending the rest of your days pining for someone who will never love you. Imagine the endless longing and sorrow." She watched him appraisingly and, satisfied with the effect her words were having on him, continued, "Poor Wolf. You will spend the rest of your life alone. No mate to cleave to. No cubs to watch grow, to run and play with. No loving family to comfort you when you are old." She paused for effect and then said, "You'll be all alone. But will she? No, I don't think so. Sooner or later a man will come along." A small smile touched her lips. "They always do." She looked at him questioningly, "Is she so very beautiful?"

"Cripes," he exclaimed, "She's the most beautiful girl there ever was anywhere. Snow White and Cinderella together couldn't match her."

The queen sighed deeply and took up her narrative. "Yes, another man will touch her beauty. Kiss her parted lips. Claim her for his own. She'll sigh his name and never...think...of you...again."

Wolf growled now, his eyes a baleful green. He groaned through clenched teeth. "Never! Never! She can never be with anyone else. Anyone touches her and I'll rip his throat out! She should love me! After everything I've done for her! It's not right. It's not fair!"

"It may not be fair," said the queen. "But it will be... unless."

"Unless what?" Wolf snapped.

She swallowed her irritation and replied. "Destiny is what you make of it, Wolf. The two of you haven't mated yet, so the bond between you is not fully formed. If she were to, oh let's say, have an unfortunate accident and not survive, the bond that ties you would be broken and you would be free."

"Free?" Wolf whispered, his eyes haunted.

"Yes, free. Free to take a willing, eager mate. Maybe one of your own kind the next time. Perhaps that is your true destiny."

"Free?" His eyes darted left and right as he thought. "I don't know," he said. "Wait a minute. You're confusing me. Free? No more heartache? No more pain? That would be good." He smiled a little. "That would be great!" Then his face darkened with concern. "But wait a minute. No more Virginia? Huff Puff! That would be bad! Badder than bad! That would be horrible! No! No! I don't want her dead! Miserable, maybe, but not dead!"

The queen finally lost her patience, "You can't have everything!" She snapped. "Make up your mind! It's the girl's future or yours." Her voice dripped with menace. "I warn you. It may be true that no man has ever died from a broken heart. But wolves have... Or from worse."

She collected herself and walked over to stand in front of another drapery-clad window as she continued in a more cajoling tone, "Don't worry your pretty head about the details, all you have to do is bring her to me, and I'll take care of everything." Turning she flung open the fabric, revealing an archway through which Wolf saw a room that was filled with shapes and shadows.

Wolf was stunned. He hadn't even noticed the draperies or sensed that there was another room connected to this one! He should have! He was a wolf after all and a wolf's survival depended on his wits and his senses. Had the queen cast a spell on the room? Had she cast one on him?

As she strode into the room she spread her arms wide and pirouetted slowly in the center of a circle of mirrors. Wolf noticed that as the queen got closer to the mirrors the darkness retreated and the room grew brighter. The only light in the room was coming from the mirrors!

The queen beckoned him to follow her. "You say she wants to go home. Fine. I'll send her home. She can use my traveling mirror. After all, her threat to me is only in the Nine Kingdoms. As soon as she's gone the danger will be too. And your connection to her will end as well. Why keep her here and suffer when in helping me you can free yourself? Find her. Bring her to me."

Wolf walked hesitantly into the room. He didn't like this place. As he moved closer he was able to see the queen's reflection in four of the five mirrors surrounding her. Three of the mirrors reflected the queen smiling back at him, one of them reflected nothing, and one showed her holding a bloody dagger, crimson droplets spattered on her face and smeared on her clothing.

Wolf's voice shook. "You won't kill her?"

"I swear on the grave of Snow White's stepmother that I will not harm her."

Wolf still looked uncertain and took a step backwards. "But why send me? You have your Huntsman and the trolls looking for her. She's like a babe in the woods out there. They're bound to find her. What do you need me for?"

"Because the search is going too slowly. My Huntsman has been injured and the trolls..." she sighed, "The trolls are idiots." She paced back and forth in front of the mirrors as Wolf watched her closely.

"I need to have the girl here by the night of the coronation ball." She paused before each mirror as she spoke.

Smoothing her hair before the first she gloated, "This will be my greatest triumph. My revenge on all those inbred royals who thought they could cage me up and forget me."

At the second mirror she ran her fingertips along her collarbone, adjusting the necklace lying there as she crooned, "Everyone who is anyone in the Nine Kingdoms will be here and I have a small surprise for them."

At the third she simply smiled at herself in approval. Her image smiled back at her and then, independent of the queen, turned its head and staring straight at a startled Wolf, winked and blew him a kiss.

Moving on to the fourth mirror she reached out and reverently touched the mirrors surface. Her bloody reflection left a rusty smudge where her hand had touched the glass. "I'm going to poison them all. Only then will I truly fulfill my destiny and rule all the Nine Kingdoms."

When she reached the fifth mirror she didn't look into its blank face. Instead she turned and pierced Wolf with her gaze.

"So you see I don't want any loose ends. You can find the girl faster than anyone. After all, she's in your blood isn't she? For now anyway."

With one last slow turn before her mirrors she left them and came to Wolf, taking both his hands into her own. Her eyes were bright, and with morbid fascination Wolf watched her lips part, revealing her small, white teeth.

"We can change that, you and I, and then I will be able to help you in so many ways." The queen reached up with one hand and stroked his jaw with her fingertips, sending chills down Wolf's spine. She gently squeezed his fingers with the hand still holding his.

"I can do more for you than that ungrateful girl could ever imagine. Serve me now, and I will give you a position of great importance afterwards. You will have wealth and power and all the tender little shepherdesses you've ever dreamt of. To do with as you wish."

The queen felt her senses tingle as Wolf' eyes flashed and a soft growl escaped him.

"Listen to me, Wolf." She dropped his hand and ran her palms down the velvet lapels of his deep crimson coat. "All of this mating for life nonsense that you wolves spout doesn't have to apply to you. Have you forgotten the fact that you are not just a wolf? You are also a man, and men are not so noble when it comes to matters of the flesh. They take their pleasure wherever they can find it. Maybe you should start listening to that part of your nature more. You're young, virile, and hot blooded. You'll recover from this infatuation. Trust me."

Wolf's eyes had begun to gleam eagerly. "Ohhhhh, trollops on parade." He growled, tilting his head side to side. "Maybe this love thing is overrated after all!" Grasping both her hands firmly in his own Wolf looked at her in amazement. "What has it gotten me anyway? Nothin! She just used me! You're right! You've been right all along! She'll never love me! She's too buttoned down and buckled up to ever love anyone!" He threw his head back and laughed bitterly. "Love! Who needs it? Who needs her? Not me! I'll show her! I'll show them all!" He threw their arms wide and danced a whimsical little two-step. "You want her? You've got her! Special Wolf delivery!"

The queen laughed girlishly and let him lead her in a dance that took them back into the front chamber. She reluctantly dropped her hand from his shoulder as he drew the draperies closed behind them.

"You won't regret it," she assured him. "Perhaps when you return you can assist me with the poisoning. You can have a ring-side seat."

Wolf bowed with a flourish, his panache restored. "It would be my pleasure, your Majesty."

"Good. Go now. Time is of the essence and we have none to waste."

"I hear and obey," Wolf said giving her his most charming smile. Then he turned and sauntered toward the door.

"But remember!" Her voice no longer held the warmth of the moment before. "I have eyes everywhere. Some walk on two legs, some on four. Some even have wings. I will be watching you. This is your last chance. Do what you need to do, but betray me again and I'll destroy you, the girl, and every wolf and part wolf in the Nine Kingdoms. Down to the smallest cub."

Wolf turned and looked at her fiercely, then he bowed deeply and with his eyes gleaming yellow said, "There is no need for threats my Lady. I know where my duty lies."

"See that you do."

After Wolf left, the queen returned to the inner chamber and while rubbing her brow with a bejeweled hand spoke to her mirrors. "Such a lot of effort spent on one simpleminded, lovesick wolf. Although he may be more useful than I first imagined." She hadn't failed to notice how much silver was now in the huntsman's once thick golden hair. It was unfortunate that while she was untouched by the passage of time, the years had taken such a toll on him. Yes, she might need a new consort and now that Wolf was no longer obsessed with Snow White's understudy he might suit admirably. At least for a time. She raised her chin and checked her profile in the mirrors. "He had better be worth all this trouble," she said as she admired the firmness of her neckline. "I want my wendells' worth before I have to kill him."

An hour later Wolf ran into the beginnings of the forest that edged the Fourth Kingdom's cultivated land. Only then did he stop to catch his breath and drink from the stream running just inside the trees. "Cripes that was close." He shuddered and sat down, feeling suddenly weak in the knees. All this scheming and scamming was hard work. It had once been fun to charm and connive people but the queen wasn't just any lonely farmwife. It had taken all his Wolfy cunning to fool her into thinking that she could twist and turn him to her will. "Ohhh, I hope I haven't made it worse," he said, stripping off his jacket and tossing it to the ground. Risking his own skin was one thing but he hadn't anticipated that the queen would threaten his whole race. He had no doubt that if his scheme failed she would show no mercy, not even to the little half wolf cub back in the gypsy camp. His mouth quirked at the thought of the cub and the time they had spent together. Wolf had surprised himself with how much he had enjoyed talking to him. It had made him realize how much he would like to have cubs of his own one-day. With Virginia, of course. Whether he was half man and half wolf, or half wolf and half man, Virginia was the only girl for either half, or both.

Bending low over the stream he splashed the icy water over his face and head, letting it run down his neck. He was determined to wash away any lingering trace of the queen's scent from his skin. He splashed it over himself again and again, then shaking the water from his hair and wiping his face on his sleeve he stood and sniffed the air. "Nothing." Virginia was too far away for her sweet scent to carry to him. With both hands Wolf raked his wet hair off his face. "Ohhh huff puff, where can you be?" he asked. "I'd bet every penny of the Jack Rabbit Jackpot, if I hadn't spent it all that is, that I could find your scent anywhere." Now he had no choice but to return to Kissingtown and pick up her trail up from there. That would add at least another day to the time he had left to find her. "Oh Virginia, you quirky girl," Wolf muttered to himself, "This is no time to go hopping around the countryside like a slap happy rabbit! You're in danger and there is nothing recklessly romantic about it!"

He thought back to what the queen had said to him and his tail started to twitch. He looked at his surroundings to see who might be watching him. There was that crow perched quietly in the top of a nearby tree. Suspicious. And that squirrel should be busy hunting for acorns not peeking at him. Wolf growled low in his throat and the squirrel squeaked in alarm and disappeared into its hole. The crow was still there. But that didn't matter. Let her watch. She'd only see what he wanted her to see. Gathering up his coat he continued on his way.

As Wolf ran through the forest on his way toward Kissingtown he glanced now and then into the trees and underbrush until eventually he slowed to a jog and then stopped before an ancient Willow tree. Walking to the south side of the tree he carefully examined its bark. Sure enough six feet up, carved into the bark of the tree was the traditional crescent moon. The universal symbol proclaiming to all wolves that here was a cache.

Wolf scrambled up the tree and looked for a hollow or bowl in the trunk. Finding none, he nimbly dropped from the branches and, standing under the ancient symbol, stepped twenty paces away from the tree. Kneeling, he quickly began to dig at the packed earth with his hands and feet until he uncovered the corner of a tin box. A few minutes later he had it completely unearthed and opened it to find a set of traveling clothes and a pair of boots wrapped in oilcloth.

He was pleased to see that the clothes were clean, not too badly worn and seemed vaguely familiar to him. "Cripes!" he exclaimed, "I borrowed these years ago from that horse trader with the pretty red-headed wife." He quickly stripped himself of the fine velvet suit and the thin-soled dress boots he had been wearing. He had to hand it to that horse trader. He'd had good taste in women and boots. This pair had a thick sole and the leather was still soft and supple even after spending years buried in a box. They would be much better suited for the hard traveling he was going to be doing.

As Wolf pulled on the homespun shirt and fastened the ties of his breeches he thanked his luck that he'd found one of his own caches and not that of a fellow Wolf who was much larger or smaller than he was. You should never look a gift cache in the mouth but it isn't easy running for miles in pants and boots three sizes too small or too large. Not that there were many Wolves in the Fourth Kingdom these days. Less than a hundred still remained in Wendell's kingdom and most of them didn't stand much chance of getting fat in these desperate times. Still it was tradition to tuck away any extra clothing or provisions that you might find lying about and stash them in the time honored way. Wolves liked to travel light but they weren't fools. They knew they had a better chance of surviving if they looked out for one other.

Wolf spread out the oilcloth and wrapped the dress boots and red velvet suit up in it. He held the package for a moment remembering how he'd foolishly thought it so important that he look fine and dandy and put on a big show to impress Virginia. That was a hard lesson well learned. Still they were the finest clothes he'd ever owned and he hoped they brought better fortune to the next wolf to wear them. Then he shoved the bundle back into the box and returned it to its place in the ground, packing the soil and camouflaging any sign of disturbance to the forest floor. He shrugged on the dark blue jacket and hoped that it would bring him luck. Blue was his color after all.

Twilight descended as Wolf ran on through the night. He paused only once to rest, stretching out underneath a tall cedar, the deep nest of needles soft beneath him. He closed his eyes and his mind filled with thoughts of Virginia. Would she forgive him? Would he be able to win her trust again? He'd blundered so badly back in Kissingtown that he really didn't hold out much hope for a warm reception when he saw her again. Rolling onto his back he began to talk to himself as he thought. "I have to find some way of convincing her to trust me, but how? She's not gonna believe anything I say." He looked up into the night sky. "I can't even blame what I did on the moon." He sat up, "Wait a minute! That's it! I can tell her that I was still under the influence of my cycle. That I'd been caught up in a... What was it my books called it? Euphoria? I'll tell her that I was the victim of a post cycle euphoria that affected my judgment!"

He leaned back against the tree. She might believe that; after all she had been sympathetic when he'd first told her about the moon and how it affected him. She'd even stood by him and defended him from the mob in Little Lamb Village. "Oh, Virginia," he sighed, "I hope I can make it up to you."

Too restless to sleep, Wolf rose and started off again. The creatures of the night sent word ahead to worn their numbers of the somber wolf passing swiftly through their forest. Not a rabbit or deer crossed his path and even though he never stopped to hunt, no one in the woods felt safe.

Wolf himself was uncharacteristically oblivious to his surroundings. He was too busy thinking up two or three other plans in case his first one fell through. Cripes, he hated the idea of lying to Virginia again, but if tricking her was the only way his plans could succeed then he was determined to do just that. "She's such a terrible liar," he thought fondly, "If I did confide in her the queen would easily be able to winkle out the truth and that would be the end of us all." Wolf had long suspected that for him the days of Happily Ever After might truly be over but he swore a solemn wolfy oath that Virginia would have her happy ending. He'd help her to get back home or die trying and he'd make sure the old spider would never be able to hurt her again.

Daylight broke as Wolf reached Kissingtown. Walking into the deserted streets he felt uneasy. Something was wrong here. It didn't smell or feel the same. Instead of the resonance of joy and romance that he had felt before, the town now reeked of anxiety, fear and anger. Wolf heard the squeak of a shuttered window being opened followed by the muffled sound of voices muttering in agitation, he immediately turned on his heel and headed back the way he came, thankfully passing no one as he once again left Kissingtown. His instincts told him that it would be safer to edge his way around the town and pick up Virginia's scent where she had exited this miserable burg. One mob had almost done him in, he wouldn't do Virginia any good if he stumbled into another and they finished the job.

An hour later he had reached the town's south gate when he stopped in his tracks, closed his eyes and after taking a deep sniff smiled like a man who had just smelled heaven.

There. There she was, it was faint but Wolf had no doubt it was she. No one smelled as delicious as Virginia.

Suddenly a rancid stench filled his nostrils.

"Hey what's wrong with you? Standing in the road like that? You want you should get run over?" Wolf opened his eyes to find himself nose to nose with a donkey. Behind the stinky animal, in a rickety old cart that looked like it was ready to fall into pieces, sat a gnarled old fairy.

Wolves like horses even less than dogs do and donkeys even less than horses. Wolf curled his lip and the donkey backed up nervously.

"Whoooaaaaa! What's the matter? The Kingdoms gone crazy?" the fairy said as he calmed the donkey. "First trolls and now wolves?"

"Trolls?" Wolf asked, "What trolls?"

The old fairy pulled from his belt a short stick that was as twisted and bent as he and waved it at Wolf. "Never mind that! You just be on your way now, or I'll spell you!"

Wolf grabbed the donkey's bridle. "You answer my questions or I'll... I'll... I'll bite your donkey!"

"Hah!" The old fairy said, "You wouldn't!"

Wolf smiled ferociously. "Try me."

The old man dropped his stick in disgust. "All right, all right, enough already." He grumbled, "There were three of them. Ugliest ones I've ever seen."

"Where were they?"

"Heading south on the road to the Ninth Kingdom."

"Were they alone?"

"Yes, but there was a tall man with a limp a few miles behind them."

"You didn't happen to see a dark haired, balding man and a deliciously petite girl did you?"

"No and it's a good thing too. I wore my wand out casting invisibility spells on Daisy and me so those nogoodniks wouldn't see us. Fat lot of good it did. Next thing I know we get mauled by a wolf."

Wolf released the bridle. "I wouldn't have really bit your Daisy. Donkeys taste terrible."

"Humph, I'll keep that in mind next time I run into a poorly behaved wolf. You'd think your mother would have taught you better than to pick on poor old fairies. Cubs these days, no respect." With that parting shot, the old fairy steered his cart in a wide arc around Wolf and passed through the gate into Kissingtown. When he felt he was far enough away the fairy looked back over his shoulder and cast a jaundiced eye at Wolf. "The games afoot, eh Daisy?" he said as he slipped a hand mirror out from a deep pocket in his coat.

Wolf walked down the road until Virginia and Tony's scent pulled him into the forest again. "Good, at least they're staying off the road. That will make it more difficult for the Huntsman to follow them or the trolls to track them." He, on the other hand, would have no such problem for after all Virginia was in his blood, as the queen had so correctly observed, and if he was very, very, lucky and very, very, clever it would be the last thing she would ever be right about. With that thought, Wolf struck off through the forest, following his nose southward toward Dragon Mountain, determined to find his mate and to meet whatever fate his destiny held for him.