Alison Paige - Little Red and the Wolf

Maizie straightened, pushing from Gray’s embrace. She kept her eyes on him, but her mind searched her senses, listening, smelling, tasting the air.

A snap of twig off to the left, then a rustle of leaves farther over. The hairs at the back of her neck bristled, invisible fingers thrumming down her back, icing her spine. “What is it?”

“The pack. Wolves. They think it’s a game, but they’re too upset. It’s not safe. Things could get out of hand.”

“Well, let’s go back to the car.” She turned to leave, but he caught her arm, pulled her back.

“We won’t make it. My house is closer. They’ll think clearer there.”

“Who?”

Gray caught her chin between his fingers, brought her gaze to his. “Stay with me. You’ll be fine. Don’t look back. Don’t look around.”

“But-”

“Don’t. Just…trust me.” His voice was soft and steady, utterly confident. She let the sound of it wash over her, calm the jittery nerves tingling her muscles, edging an instinctive panic.

Without taking his eyes from hers, he reached down and took her hand, his big palm swallowing hers, his fingers holding tight and firm. The simple touch did more for her than any drug. She was safe. No matter what.

Without another word, he turned and used his full long stride to lead them into the forest. Barefoot, their pace never faltered, yet remarkably each step found soft pliable ground.

The paths she’d always been so aware of were nowhere to be seen. Gray made his own way, somehow slicing through low branches, tumbled trees and prickly brier patches without effort. Without pain. The forest floor should be rough against her feet. It wasn’t. Why?

They were moving fast, Gray’s strides a half step longer than hers, but she managed to keep up with little effort. Her body was light, easily pulled and turned like a kite on a string. On either side of her the trees blurred, the forest becoming a smear of green, flashes of light, a tangle of browns.

Wind hissed past her ears, raking through her hair so the loose bun tumbled free, strands snagging on branches. She kept moving. It wasn’t hard. Like a drop of water tumbling down a river, a part of the whole but separate. The scents and sounds of the forest cascaded over her, honeysuckle, a crow’s caw, pine sap, a burrowing rabbit. Everything mixed and melted into her, through her, around her. She was the forest, every bit of it, and the forest was her-one and the same.

And then they stopped.

She nearly rammed her nose into his shoulder. She held his arm for a moment, her head against his back, waiting for her mind, for the world, for time itself to catch up. She peered over his shoulder.

“What the hell was that?” she asked. “Felt like we were doing some low flying. That’s not possible. Right?”

Gray glanced over his shoulder at her. “I’ll explain later. Okay?”

He looked worried, or like he had bigger things to worry about at the moment and he hoped she wouldn’t add to it by insisting on answers. She could do that. For now.

They both turned back to the mansion ?

Maizie blinked, her brain struggling to reconcile what she thought possible and what her eyes were seeing before her. “No way. Cherri was right. You do have a mansion hidden in the forest.”

Three stories tall, the size of a small hotel, the huge gray-stone monolith was nevertheless dwarfed by the surrounding forest. Maizie glanced behind them, the forest’s edge was at least ten feet back, dense and shadowed. She could imagine walking within feet of the clearing to Gray’s yard and not seeing the enormous mansion through the foliage.

Gray tugged her hand and Maizie stumbled after him up the cascade of stone stairs to his patio. Three enormous glass doors opened the lower portion of the house to the patio and offered a clear view into the room beyond.

At the back of the room, carpeted stairs filled the far wall. She could see a huge stone fireplace, a big sectional couch and a smoky mirrored bar. Maizie watched as three pairs of silky long legs descended the stairs into view.

The women were lovely, the second two a slightly younger version of the woman to her right. The oldest and youngest of the trio had hair the color of brown sugar while the woman in the center was a shimmering corn-silk blonde. They wore matching green kimono-style robes, with lapels and sash a complementing blush-pink, radiant against their tawny skin.

The women sauntered out in order, curvy feminine hips swaying. The middle woman turned toward the small patio bar in the corner the moment she passed the threshold. The other two walked a determined line toward Gray. Maizie tried to wiggle her hand free of his, but he held her.

“Gray, my sweet boy,” the older woman said as she neared. “Back from your outing so soon? We missed you, dear.”

“Mother Joy,” Gray said, by way of greeting.

Clearly the oldest of the three, Joy still looked years younger than Gray. Her soft brown hair fell in long waves over her shoulders and down to midback. Her skin was flawless, her body tight, shapely. There was a thickness about her though, a way of walking, speaking, which comes with experience if not simply age.

She pressed her hands to his chest, pushed up to her toes and kissed his cheek. He stood as he was, body stiff, head straight, scowl firmly in place.

“She’s my guest, Joy.” He stared straight ahead at nothing, as though he didn’t want to look at her. “I expected more from you. Couldn’t you make the slightest effort to behave, set an example? At the very least dress…your age?”

The woman laughed, a soft chuckle, and playfully slapped his chest. “We were just curious, sweetheart, and Lynn had us convinced you were keeping secrets from us. Said you’d chosen a mate. You can imagine our disappointment.”

“That’s what had all of you worked up?” His gaze flicked to the woman at the bar. “You should know better than to go out in that state of mind. Could’ve gotten out of hand fast.”

The older woman rolled a shoulder. “Yes, well, you could’ve told Lynn about your flavor of the week here and saved all of us the trouble.” Her bright blue gaze shifted to Maizie. “No offense, dear. I’m sure you’re perfectly pleasant.”

Maizie shook her head, though she had no idea what they were talking about. The woman couldn’t be more than forty-five and Maizie wasn’t sure what about her dress or behavior Gray had taken issue with. If Maizie looked that good at forty-five, she’d wear skimpy silk robes too.

Joy turned away and found a seat on a wood chaise lounge. The youngest of the threesome sauntered across the stone patio to Gray, not as graceful, her pretty face marred by the pucker of skin between her furrowed brows.

“Save your breath, Uncle Gray. Totally don’t need a lecture. It was Mom’s idea. And we were just looking. Y’know this kind of thing wouldn’t happen if you’d stop bringing these human skanks around.”

“Enough, Shelly.”

She looked at Gray’s tense expression, his jaw muscles flexing with restrained anger.

Her gaze shifted to Maizie then to Gray and back again. “What? Was Mom right? Something different about this one? No. Of course not. Whatever.”

The young beauty stretched to her toes, her hand smoothing up Gray’s chest to his neck, forcing him closer. Her pretty pony-tailed hair swished across her back as she kissed Gray’s cheek, leaving a fresh pink smear of lipstick behind.

The junior femme fatale stepped back, pouting. The silken robe slipped loose, flashing a flat belly to her navel. At least her breasts managed to stay hidden, nipples tenting the luxurious fabric like erect little soldiers. Maizie glanced at Gray. He stood as stiffly as before, his eyes focused straight ahead, lips a flat line.