Riding Red (Fairytale Shifter 1)

My wolf wants to leave his scent on her so others will know she’s spoken for, but this is the exact reason I haven’t. My grip on him isn’t tight enough. If I could’ve just left my mark on her from the start, this wouldn’t have happened. Xavier would’ve smelled me all over her because no one mate-marks a female unless she’s going to be theirs on the next full moon. I’m sure Ruby saw the change in my eyes. She probably told herself she didn’t really see it or that it was a trick of the light.

I knew my wolf started to show the second he scented her fear from two blocks away. It took everything in me to hold my skin and not shift right in the center of Main Street. The sight of the local sheriff turning into a wolf would have sent any lingering tourists running and screaming down the street.

Taking a few deep breaths, I try to calm myself further. I want nothing more than to use the key I have in my pocket to the bakery. I kept a copy when we closed the sale; no way would my mate be living somewhere I couldn’t easily gain access to. I needed to protect her, something I’ve been doing every night since she moved in, quietly slipping in the backdoor of the bakery and sleeping at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to her room. It calms my wolf—and me—to at least be close to her scent. I’m sure Gwen smells me all over the place in here, but I don’t care; I have to be near her.

I’m running out of time, and I have no fucking clue what I’m going to do. I need to get close to her and get into her good graces because come Saturday night when the moon hits high in the sky, my wolf will take control.

But right at this second I have a more pressing issue. Looking out into the woods, I hope Xavier hasn’t gotten far. I let my wolf out a little, picking up his scent, and then I dart into the woods, hot on his trail. I’m not a half-mile in when I finally catch up to him, sitting next to a stream, his head buried in his hands. He doesn’t act like he hears me, but I know he does as I slowly walk up and sit beside him,

“I thought—” He lets his words hang in the air because they are hard to finish. I know just how hard it is.

“You thought you found her, I know.”

He turns his head and glares at me, his wolf always present in his eyes. That’s what happens when you let yourself stay in the wild too long. You become more beast than man. I’m surprised his wolf hasn’t taken him fully already, never letting the man in him break to the surface again.

“You have yours and you haven’t even marked her,” he snarls at me, clenching his jaw tightly. He’s clearly agitated that I haven’t claimed my own mate. That makes two of us.

“You know I can’t fully mate her until the full moon,” I respond in a level voice, not wanting to provoke him. It’s not fair to beat down on a broken man, even with all the aggression coursing through my body. My wolf wouldn’t even enjoy it.

“You haven’t even scented her. I smelled nothing of you on her. What if a human takes her from you?”

“They won’t. I stay close, and she’ll be mine.” I say the words through gritted teeth, thinking about some human coming and snatching her up. Another wolf wouldn’t. Wolves can only mate with fated mates; they’re the only mate a wolf wants.

His eyes narrow a little on me. “If she was mine, I would’ve taken her home, scented and marked her, and she wouldn’t be running around giving my cookies out to everyone.” I know he believes that’s true, that he could just stomp off with his mate. Maybe he could if she was a wolf like him. That would make things a whole lot easier. But what if his mate was human? Even if she wasn’t, wolves don’t like being picked up and carted away. Females hold a lot of the power when it comes to mating.

That’s all I need—Xavier actually scenting his mate and charging into town to steal her. With the way he was acting today, I guess Ruby’s scent must match the scent of his mate pretty closely to have drawn him out of the woods. Xavier never leaves the woods, not since he lost his sister and mother to hunters a few years back.

I know there’s no telling Xavier he can’t chase down his mate like a dog in heat; it would be lost on him. He’ll do what he wants to do. While I might be stronger than Xavier right now, I couldn’t take him if I really stood between him and his mate. Shifters lose all reason when it comes to mates.

Before Xavier lost his sister and mother, he could probably take our alpha on a good day if he wanted, but Xavier wasn’t an alpha nor did he want to be one. He had to have a desire to lead, and that often comes with backing down and doing what’s for the good of the pack. That wasn’t Xavier.

Now it looks like Xavier barely eats at all. As if he heard my thoughts, he reaches down and snatches up one of the cookies, chomping down on it. I go to reach for one, but he growls at me and snaps his teeth.

“Mine.”

Raising my hands in the air to show him I’m not going to eat one, I debate my next words, but he beats me to it.

“My mate. I taste it on my cookies, but it’s not the woman who gave them to me.” He picks up another cookie, eyeing it, clearly confused. I’m just as confused. How could he taste his mate?