Page 20 of Little Etheldreda Riding Hood

“I’m fine. I’m a big girl. I know whether I need medical attention or not.”

The paramedic stops a few feet away, watching us carefully.

Here, out in the open, I get a good look at Zach. He’s in dark slacks and a white button shirt with his sleeves rolled up. The muscles in his forearms are evident even through the massive amount of body hair the partial shift brings to the surface.

His long dark hair falls in waves down his back, and the ears of his wolf are visible high on his head. He’s too young to be an alpha, but the way he stands and stares at me sends slivers of fear through me. It’s too much like Morgan when I didn’t obey.

The Zach standing in front of me is a completely different person than the one I spent the night with. This one is ruled by his wolf. This Zach is demanding and thoroughlycontrolling. Had he been in partial shift the other night, I doubt I would have even spoken to him.

His face grows dark and his eyes narrow in on me. “As a favor to me,” he says quietly through gritted teeth. “Have yourself looked over. Please.”

I sigh. “You have to let go of my arm in order for me to make it to the ambulance.”

“Will you actually go with Manuel, if I let you go?” I want to roll my eyes, but instead I nod. Manuel, the paramedic ushers me over to the ambulance without a word. He has me lay back on the empty stretcher and puts an oxygen monitor on my finger, then a mask on my face as he asks me half a dozen questions about the fire and my proximity to it.

“Are you doing okay?” Darla asks, sticking her head into the back of the open ambulance. I sit up halfway and give her a thumbs-up as she hops inside.

“You nearly gave Zach a heart attack, trying to put out the fire,” she says, settling herself on the bench seat in front of me.

I make a face. “Don’t care.” I manage to say.

She smiles slightly. “He seems really fixated on you.”

I lift the oxygen mask slightly and Manuel gives me a look, “Is that how everyone knows my name?”

She raises an eyebrow. “So what’s the story Red?”

Her eyes flick to Manuel who’s leaning over into the driver’s compartment of the ambulance.

I sigh, lifting my mask while Manuel turns away. “On my way here I had to pee. The only thing open was the Wild Hare, so I stopped to use their bathroom and accidentally busted Zach in the nose with the bathroom door.”

Darla snorts. “How romantic.”

“One thing led to another and we ended up back at his place.”

I hurry and set the mask back on as Manuel turns back to me, checking the oxygen monitor.

“Did he scent you?” she asks softly.

Manual clears his throat, clearly not wanting to be in the room for this. “You okay if I leave you for a sec?” he asks. I nod and he hurries past Darla, hopping down into the crowd.

“What do you mean scenting me? He kept telling me I smelled amazing, but I thought he was just bullshitting.”

“Scenting you, you know, deciding you were his mate.”

I shake my head. “Zach’s mate? No. Definitely not. I’m human.”

“You’ve grown up with wolves, though. Did he mention it?”

I sigh and look away.

“Red,” Darla says sternly.

“He said he thought I might be his mate when he walked me out to the truck.”

She sucks in a breath against her teeth.

“It doesn’t matter, Darla. I’m not interested. Wolves are fine with fucking around with humans, but when it comes to actually settling down, they will always want another wolf,” I tell her.

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