Little Red's Riding

Back to Her

There was not much that was helpful within the cottage, at least to Silas' eyes. It appeared to belong to three sisters. Or at least, three women. Silas wasn't quite certain why Mrs. Lemp was so certain that they were sisters, but she was.

"Do you know nothing of witchcraft?" she muttered as she swept around the room, picking through their things with careful fingers. "After less than three minutes inside the cottage, while Oliver kept careful watch near the front door, she announced that she was done.

Silas blinked. He had seen nothing out of the ordinary. There were three single beds, that were neatly made with lovely quilts tucked in over the edges. There was a small table with room for four people to sit, but if breakfast had been eaten there it had long since been cleared away and the table wiped clean. The cabin might have been any cabin if it weren't for the stench outside.

"Come on Silas. I can lead you through it all once we're out of their part of the forest. Believe me, you do not want to be here when they come back. Because as lovely as I'm sure they appear to be, I don't want to see if the three of us would be any sort of match for the three of them."

This time Silas followed her unquestioningly to the door. As he ran through the forest, struggling to keep up with Mrs. Lemp his mind was too focused on the cabin behind him to marvel at the older woman's strength and speed. Nothing about the cabin had been what he had expected. In his mind he had already had a picture of a dark, dingy place, filled with cobwebs and cauldrons. Instead the cottage smelled of roses and lemons and hadn't had a single speck of dust, much less a cobweb.

They finally slowed when they reached the other warriors who were waiting nervously where they had been left. Silas fully expected Mrs. Lemp to share her thoughts, but instead she headed straight towards the village, walking briskly, her lips pursed, her eyes serious.

Silas looked over and met Oliver's eyes, but his Beta only shrugged. "How bad can they be?" Oliver finally said over his mind link. "Did you see that garden? They must spend all their time out there, playing with the flowers." Silas smiled weakly, but he couldn't agree. His mind kept flashing back to the two wolves who had been smashed to death, and the smell of blood that had turned his stomach back before they'd gotten to the cottage.

This enemy was unlike any that he had faced before and that unnerved him. He didn't know what to expect or if his own superhuman properties, which while considered "magical" by humans were mostly physical when they manifested, would help him in any way if he faced these witches in battle. He had superhuman strength and healing, but what good would that be against these unknown witches. His warriors had had much of the same powers and it had done them little good.

With a sigh he trudged on after his mother-in-law. She would tell him her thoughts when she was ready. He'd only known her for a handful of days altogether but he was already getting a feel for her personality and if there was one thing Silas already understood about the Widow Lemp it was that she did things on her own terms and she would not be rushed.

Dahlia was wearing a crown of flowers on her head and holding hands with a dozen of the older girls, and Tucker, while they skipped around in a circle, singing a song about the moon that Dahlia had never heard before that day, when Silas came through the woods and into the meadow beside the school house and saw her with her head thrown back, laughing. Looking around he saw that every eye in the meadow was on his mate as she moved, gracefully, singing a word occasionally, always off tune, for she had begun to learn the words to the old-wolf-song that the children were singing.

It was lunch time for the children, and it looked as if most of them had already rushed through their meals so that they could play with their Luna before the afternoon session of classes began. With a true smile on his face, Silas strode over to where Miss Dorian was sitting on a bench near the stairs of the school house, eating her lunch out of her tin lunch box and watching the scene unfold with a smile.

"No kickball or Red Rover today, eh?" Silas settled down beside the older school teacher with a smile as his eyes followed his mate. If she were fully a She-Wolf, or if whatever powers she had were unaffected by the medicine her mother had given her throughout her life, she would have smelled his scent the moment he entered the meadow. But as it was her senses were little better than a normal human and she had yet to realize that he was there, watching her enjoy herself.

"Not today Alpha. Everyone is so enchanted with our new Luna that they only want to play with her." Silas nodded, smiling happily.

"Is it alright if I steal her away for the afternoon, after the lunch break ends?" After the morning he had had, all Silas wanted to do was hold his mate in his arms and smell the sweet scent of her hair and reassure himself that she was fine.

"Of course you can. But I do ask a favor of you for tomorrow. Tomorrow morning Lottie and I are taking the class to the Fey circle on a small field trip. We were hoping your Luna could accompany us, both because having an extra pair of hands would be so nice and because all of the children seem to be on their very best behavior whenever she's around."

Silas' mind went back to the cottage he'd stood in that morning. The Fey Circle, the entrance to the world of the faire folks, or at least, one of the entrances, was west and north of the village. The witches' cabin was nearly due east, although also slightly north. And of course she would have her guards with her the entire time.

Silas glanced over at Atlas, Felix, and Apollo. They were all superb warriors, hulking brutes, and most importantly they were all happily mated. Well, perhaps that wasn't the most important thing, but if Silas was honest with himself he knew he wouldn't have selected an unmated male to guard his little mate, except perhaps his Beta and only because he knew his Beta was crazy in love with Lottie, even if he wouldn't admit it to himself.

"I'm sure she'll love that Miss Dorian," Silas said with a smile. "Now I'll just go rescue her from this little one who seems to think she's his own mate." Silas laughed as he watched how Tucker clung to Dahlia's skirt even after the dancing circle had broken apart.

"Oh yes. Little Tucker is quite taken with your mate. You probably know Alpha that he doesn't speak. But he spent the day pointing out pictures in books to our Luna and he was really able to get his point across to her and let her know exactly what was on his mind. It was remarkable."

Silas smiled proudly at Dahlia and at that exact moment she turned and looked over at Miss Dorian, realizing that he was there. Bending she hugged Tucker quickly, as if she knew already she wouldn't be back that day, and then headed straight for her mate, her eyes fixed on his face, her cheeks flushed from all the running and skipping she'd done during the lunch hour.

A/N- I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! If you did I'd love it if you'd comment and click that little star button to vote for it.

This is Chapter Thirty (and I will continue posting weekly updates here until the entire novel is finished). You can now read up to Chapter Sixty-One on Patreon. And for those of you who want more stories, long and short, right this second and who want to read Patreon exclusive short stories, you may also want to check out the link below:

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