Page 52 of Little Etheldreda Riding Hood

“Let me guess, that was another lie?” I ask Zach.

“You grew up with wolves and never once—“ Zander starts.

I want to roll my eyes. “I was sheltered. People in my pack aren’t like yours. They freak out at the mere mention of the word sex.”

“It’s actually a pretty crazy night, if you choose to shift and you’re single–” Zach starts.

I hold up a hand to stop him. “Got it, I’m tracking.”

I look back down at the wolf, trying to study it in the light of the bright waxing gibbous hanging above us. “I guess we’ll just have to wait for—“

A woman’s voice cuts me off. “Morgan! Morgan! Hello! Is anyone home?”

“I guess that answers our question.” Zander says.

I’ve never spoken to her in person, but I know the voice from my social media snooping. “Willa! We’re back here.” I call out to her. There is a long pause and then Willa appears around the corner.

“Morgan? What the hell? Who are you?” she demands, backing up. She pulls her jacket off and drops it on a nearby chair.

Zander puts up his hands in a gesture of surrender and moves closer to her. “Don’t shift. We’re not here to hurt you or Morgan. We’re trying to get him to shift back so we can get a pig off of him.”

“A pig?” she takes a step closer. “You’re supposed to be talking to Red, not wrestling with a pig.”

“Talking to Red? Why does he want to talk to Red?” Zach demands.

Willa sighs, “He was hoping to win her back. It didn’t take us long to realize that what we had was really just nostalgia and not true feelings.”

So you blew up my life for nostalgia? I want to ask, but keep it to myself.

“So why are you here, if he’s trying to get her back? It seems kinda counterintuitive to have your last girlfriend with you–” Zander says, asking the question we all have.

“He thought if you heard it from me that things were over, you’d be more likely to say yes to trying again.”

It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.

“And you agreed to that? To drive all the way here to help some loser get his girlfriend back?” Zander asks, incredulous.

“But what about all the other girls?” I ask.

“Other girls?” she repeats.

“Yes. Is he going to bring all of his side chicks by and have them promise it’s over, too?”

Zander snickers.

“What are you talking about?” Willa asks. Luckily for Morgan, the blue and red lights of the sheriff deputy’s car light up the front yard. A car doors slams and metal jingles as a person comes around the side of the trailer and into the backyard.

“Looks like y’all are having an interesting night out here, Darla,” a female deputy says, stepping up close to Morgan and Frigg. Frigg grunts proudly.

Darla huffs a laugh. “You know us. We’ve always got something going on out here at the trailer park.”

The wolf’s whines grow louder as we all crowd around, waiting for him to make up his mind.

“She sees you as a threat, Morgan,” Darla says, sounding exhausted. “If you’ll change back, it will be easier to convince her to let you up.”

The change happens slowly. The wolf’s face shrinks, hair becomes skin, legs and arms grow long, and soon, Morgan is there in front of us, buck naked.

Frigg grunts in disgust and hops off immediately, grunting all the way back to Porshetta as Morgan curls up, groaning. His eyes meet mine and he says, “Please, babe, can you get me some clothes?”

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