Page 34 of Little Red Riding Hood
“Setting up camp.” Wim didn’t look up from smoothing out the fabric. “Unless you’d prefer I sleep in wolf form and shed all over you again?”
Red’s heart performed a frenetic tap dance. “That’s not—I meant why are you setting uphere?”
Maybe Astrid had told Wim he needed to sleep closest to Red, so that he’d be the one eaten if Wim turned feral in the middle of the night.
“Astrid snores.” Wim’s lips quirked. “Like a bear with a cold. Trust me, you don’t want to be anywhere near that.”
“There’s plenty of space by the fire.”
“Ground’s all bumpy over there.” Wim stretched out on his bedroll, folding his arms behind his head. The movement pulled his shirt tight across his chest. “Besides, you’re hopeless at keeping warm. Consider this a favour—I won’t have to listen to your teeth chattering all night.”
Red flopped onto his back, yanking his hood over his face. “Fine. But ifyousnore, I’m pushing you into the stream.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetheart.”
That word was starting to do crazy things to Red every time he heard it, though he knew Wim only used it to annoy him. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing his racing pulse to slow.
The rustle of fabric indicated Wim settling in beside him. Red could feel the heat radiating from the other man’s body, calling to him like a siren song in the chilly night air.
This is going to be a very long night.
“Has Astrid really killed enough wolves to make a necklace of their teeth?” Red whispered as quietly as he could. This shift in conversation would steer them towards safer ground.
He glanced at Wim, only to find the man struggling to suppress a chuckle, his shoulders shaking as he barely contained his amusement. With a grin, Wim finally let out a hearty laugh. “She looks scary, but Astrid’s soft as butter, really. The teeth thing? That’s just what we do. When our milk teeth fall out, we hang onto them if wecan. Then when we find our mate, we give them the teeth instead of rings. Most of us make them into trinkets, like what Astrid’s wearing.”
“Those were milk teeth? They were huge!”
“Have a closer look at the size of mine next time.”
Red would rather not get too close to those razor-sharp incisors.
“Most of us don’t bother wearing them. They’d get lost too easily when we’re shifting all the time. But Astrid lost her wife, so she likes keeping them close. Tobias wears them sometimes when he’s missing his mum.”
A heavy weight settled in Red’s chest. Loss carved deeper wounds than any blade. Every morning he touched the red hood, wondering about the mother who’d left him, imagining what could have been. And here was little Tobias, clutching his mother’s teeth, trying to hold on to memories before they faded like footprints in fresh snow.
Red’s fingers brushed against the worn fabric at his neck. The hood held no answers, no whispered secrets of who he was or why he’d been abandoned. Just thread and cloth, as silent as the palace steps where they’d found him.
His throat tightened. At least the boy had known love, had memories to cherish. Had someone who’d wanted him enough to leave a piece of themselves behind.
Disgust flooded his system, overriding his jealousy. Was he truly going to be resentful of this kid’s childhood memories?
Pull yourself together, Red.
“So, you wildlings mate for life, do you?” said Red, trying for a playful tone.
“What’s so funny about that? Loving someone forever?”
“It’s the stuff of tales. Not real life.”
For a long moment, Wim shuffled about. “I hope someone proves you wrong someday, Red.”
Something in Wim’s tone made Red’s stomach flutter, and he found himself wishing, just for a moment, that he could believe in such things.
A long silence stretched, and Red had almost drifted off when Wim’s deep voice next rumbled through the darkness.
“By the way, loved your wolf howl back there, sweetheart. Sounded real… delicate.”
“Oh, stop.” Red yanked his hood lower, grateful for the darkness hiding his burning cheeks.
