Page 31 of A Little Red
“Yes, Wolf,” she said, and saw his shoulders relax a fraction. “Monday.”
Episode 16
The Homestead
Liam
Liam completed his transformation and wandered into his family’s house. He grabbed one of the long night shirts off the hooks by the door, shoved his left foot into one of the assortment of slippers and then spent an annoying amount of time looking for the match. The original portion of the house had been built in the 1700s, which explained the shitty plumbing and low ceilings, but not why no one could fucking put the shoes back in order. He eventually found the right slipper and shuffled through to the kitchen.
“Hey Uncle,” he said scooping a still hot biscuit off the sideboard.
“Hey Liam,” said Uncle Marcus with a sleepy smile from his place beside the wood stove. “There’s honey in the cupboard.”
“Thanks. I think I just want the butter.”
“You get anything good?” asked Uncle, shifting in his chair and lacing his fingers over his plump stomach.
“Got a nice buck,” said Liam, choosing to omit the brace of rabbits he’d snagged for Scarlet. He’d already gotten a few laughs and odd looks at the dressing house. Rabbit was not his usual game.
“Oh, that’s nice,” Uncle said around a yawn.
“Anybody out by the fire?” asked Liam.
“Dunno. There was for a bit, but it’s been quiet the last hour or so. Someone threw a shoe out the window at the Brown brothers and they finally took the hint.”
Liam grunted. His cousins were still in his shit book despite their repeated apologies for the incident with Scarlet.
“I feel like the military has gotten lax,” said Liam. “Dad would not have allowed their kind of behavior.”
Uncle gave a dry chuckle. “Yes, well your father had extremely high standards and very hard fists.”
Liam gave an agreeing noise and finished buttering his biscuits. Then he took the plate out back to the fire pit. He dug a beer out of the cooler, poked the fire back into life, and sat down to enjoy his snack on one of the long low benches covered in cushions. The winter air nipped a bit at his legs, but the fire was warm and wolves never got cold in the human way.
He wished Scarlet was with him. Snuggling up in front of the fire had a definite appeal.
“Hey,” said Paxton, coming out of the house wearing sweats.
“Hey,” said Liam, smiling. “Were you waiting up for me?”
Paxton looked around and then nodded. “Yeah,” he said looking serious. “I thought we should talk.”
“What now?” asked Liam, trying to sound amused.
Paxton rummaged for his own beer and settled on the bench closest to Liam, but he looked around again before answering.
“About Scarlet,” he said quietly.
“Doofus and Dumbass already apologized like eight times. Although, I’m not sure it counts as apology if you try to justify yourself by saying how much you’d been drinking and how good the girl smells. Scarlet should have hit them harder.”
“Yeah, I figure you already know what she smells like,” said Paxton.
Liam frowned, trying to decipher the tone of his brother’s voice.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Paxton looked around again and leaned in. “It means that our cousins may have been drunk and stupid, but I wasn’t. The two of you… she smelled of you! The first time I met her I thought it was because you work together, but this time… You were all over her. You’re sleeping with her!”
“Ah,” said Liam.
