Page 49 of Little Etheldreda Riding Hood

“What happened?” Randy asks, looking between the two of us.

With a sigh, I tell Randy and Zander about having to be rescued by Dr. Morales and her husband. The entire time Zander and Randy share glances, I can’t read as Zach paces.

“I’ll report the incident to the counsel,” Randy starts.

“I’m not going to wait around for the counsel to get off its ass and do its job. What if her professor hadn’t seen her stuck out there with Morgan? Am I supposed to just let him get closer and closer? What happens when he gets pissed off? She’s not a wolf. How is she going to defend herself if he shifts? Do I just–”

“Zach–” Randy interrupts, his tone a warning. “You have my blessing to go after him.”

Zander claps his hands together as he jumps up from his chair. “Sweet, I’ll be your second. Let’s go.”

“Not sweet. You can’t just go off and fight him,” I say, meeting Zach’s gaze.

Zach looks incredulous. “He’s putting you in danger. I have every right to protect my mate. I am one hundred percent justified. If you still have feelings for him—“

Randy sucks in a breath and Zander shakes his head as I stand up so quickly my chair falls back. “First of all, you can fuck right off with that bullshit, Zach Lamar. I don’t have feelings for Morgan anymore and you’re a fucking asshole for even thinking that. I love you, jackass, even though the whole point of coming here was to get away from wolves. Second of all, I’m not saying you aren’t justified, but if you are going to keep saying that this is because you need to protect your mate…what about me? Aren’t you my mate too? Don’t I get to protect and worry about you? Don’t I get a say in whether you fight another wolf to the death? Is this a partnership or not? Or am I back to where I started with Morgan? I told you I wouldn’t go back to that, and I mean it.”

Zach opens his mouth–I can tell he’s fighting his wolf–but I don’t give him a chance to respond. He keeps his gaze locked on mine as I step back from him. “I’m going to go walk over to the clinic and sit with Darla until she’s off.” I say softly.

“I’ll walk you.”

I shake my head. “I want to be alone. Eddie’s at the door already. He can watch me from there.”

I turn away from the men and leave without looking back. I wait until I’m out of the office to wipe the silent tears that begin to fall. I walk through the bar blindly and head across the street to Campbell’s Vet Clinic, my thoughts spinning in circles. Is Zach different from Morgan? Have I been wrong all along? Am I Red to him or am I just sitting in this vague “mate” slot in his brain–completely interchangeable with some other woman?

It’s near closing time for the clinic, and thankfully the receptionist is already gone. Darla comes out of her tiny office at the sound of the door opening, takes one look at me and sighs. “You look like you need a kitten. Hold on.”

She disappears into the back and returns with a small tabby. “This is Marcel,” she says, handing me the ball of fur. I burst into full-on ugly crying as she lays Marcel in my lap.

Darla is not good at comforting. I remember awkward pats on the shoulder when I’d get hurt as a kid. But she surprises me and puts an arm around my shoulder as I blubber on about admitting that I loved Zach while also telling him off.

“Men are…” she starts to say, stops, and then sighs. “Why don’t I drive us home? You’ve been working your ass off lately. You just need a meal and some sleep. It will all look better in the morning.

I wipe my swollen eyes and nod, unable to speak. Darla puts the kitten away, locks up the office, and drives us home.

Back at Darla’s, I mope around until dinner. I have no appetite, even for the delicious-smelling beef roast Darla’s been cooking in the crock pot all day. After dinner, Darla calls in for me, then insists I take a shower. She sets me up on the couch with the remote and a blanket as the cats angle into all the cracks and spaces around me to get the best spots.

“I have to cover for Eddie tonight at the Wild Hare, but I’ve asked, uh, I’ve conned the pigs into coming over. They’re on the porch.”

“The pigs?” I ask, slightly amused.

She nods. “They’re good guards. Hungry all the time, but good at protecting people. You’ll be safe until I get home.”

I take her word for it.

“Anything I can get you before I go?” she asks one last time.

I shake my head. It aches from all the crying, but I’ll be better, eventually. “Good luck tonight.”

She smiles a wry smile. “Thanks, it’s another bachelor party. Last time we had one of those, one of the dancers punched some asshole wolf in the face. Lucky for her, her boyfriend got in between them, but Randy had to jump in and smooth things over with the groom.”

“Well, let’s hope tonight’s party is a lot quieter for you.”

She nods and leaves, locking the door behind her. I flip through the streaming services Darla subscribes to, avoiding my usual history documentaries, and look for something lighter. I skip all the cheesy rom-coms and settle on a show about baby animals of the African savannah. The cats scoot closer to me as a lioness is followed around by her cubs, and I drift off to sleep.

I wake up certain I’ve been snoring. My throat feels weird and dry, and I still feel wrung out and tired. I look around, wondering what woke me, though in all honesty if I was snoring, I probably woke myself up. Morgan used to complain about it all the time.

The old clock on Darla’s wall says it’s only ten. All the cats are still asleep. Morticia, Gomez, and the joeys are all curled up by the floor vent across the room.

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