Rules of a Fairytale

“As you know, there hasn’t been a true pack in centuries. After your father saved the Lady Lisette, we haven’t been hunted as badly and have started coming together. I’ve tried to keep the pack in one piece, but it’s been difficult without the rightful Alpha. You know how stubborn our kind can be without a leader to make than submit, and that leader is not me.”

I stopped in my tracks. “And you think this Alpha is supposed to be me?”

“Yes. Don’t you feel it? I can sense the power in you. You’re the only one that can save us. We are in disparate need of your help. A few months ago, wolves started disappearing. Not long after that, the cloak of Red Riding Hood was stolen and we were blamed. We’ve had to go into hiding, but Red’s kingdom still hunts us. They are certain we have the cloak and they won’t stop until we are all extinct.”

“So who really took the cloak?”

“I don’t know. But there has been talk of a new evil threatening the kingdoms. She calls herself The Empress.”

My blood ran cold. It took several tries to swallow back the lump clogging my windpipe. “The Empress? The witch at the gingerbread house mentioned her, too. Who the heck is she?”

“Trouble. The only thing we know for sure is that she’s after you.”

By then we’d reached the small village Ryder and Brooke were at. The delicious smells of breakfast drifted from the single restaurant and I could smell them inside. I pushed open the door, focusing on my hunger instead of the knot growing in my stomach and the migraine eating away at my brain.

Tate rubbed his head and scrunched up his brows, obviously just as confused as I was. “What does this Empress want my sister for?”

“There you are,” Brooke gushed suddenly as she threw herself into Tate’s arms. “I was getting worried about you. Are you okay?”

He winced slightly and arched his neck away from her. I could tell he wasn’t fully in control yet and Brooke’s scent was a temptation he didn’t need right now. “I’m getting better. But I’m still starving so you might want to be careful.”

“Who’s your friend?” Ryder’s voice cut through sharply. His sharp, ice blue gaze zeroed in on me.

I met his steely look with one of my own. “This is Bo. Someone who can actually help me figure out what the exactly is going on here. Bo, that’s Ryder, Brooke, and you’ve met my twin brother Tate.”

“Nice to meet you,“ Brooke said almost shyly and I could see the light pink that colored her cheeks. I wasn’t sure if she was attracted to him or wary from what happened before.

Ryder glared daggers between Bo and me. I rolled my eyes slightly and turned back to the werewolf. “Why would anyone want to steal some stupid cloak, and why is it such a big deal?”

“The cloak is one of the ancient relics. Each relic holds an incredible amount of power. Whoever has the relics controls their magic and can actually change the outcomes of the stories you know. They can make it so Little Red loses and the her descendants are off the throne.”

A lightbulb flashed on. “And wolves were so easily blamed because a wolf was the villain of that story. If anyone wanted to change it, it would be us.”

“Well that’s completely stupid,” Tate snapped vehemently just as the waitress arrived with everyone’s orders. The poor girl jumped in surprise and from the fierceness of my brother’s wolf. She didn’t linger after she set down steaming plates of food.

“No, it’s genius, actually. Dad was a lone wolf, but he still protected other wolves. He would never stand for that kind of injustice so it was a perfect lure. And the one sure way of getting Mom back here was to take Grandpa.”

“So what? You really think the hag was right? You really think it was all a ruse to get you here?”

I glanced up at Ryder but he was busily digging into his eggs to avoid my gaze. That was the one part of the equation that made absolutely no sense. I bit my lower lip and shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe, but I highly doubt anyone would find me that important. All I do know for sure is that we took the wrong path at the fork by Ryder’s castle. We smelled the gingerbread house, not my mom, and the other wolves around here made us think it was Dad. The trail was already getting weak when we picked it up and will be gone by now, so we’re at a dead end.”

“I know where you are talking about,” Bo piped up. “The road leads to a small town in the elves’ land. We can cut through the forest and won’t have to backtrack to Redgrove.”

“But I thought we were still in Redgrove,” Brooke complained. Considering she’d gotten lost driving to the Keys earlier this year for the welcome back party, I wasn’t surprised she didn’t know where we were.

“No. We left my kingdom a little after the pig house. This is all Gretel’s realm- Panderia.” He finished off with his million-watt smile.

Okay, why was Ryder always so sweet to her but snapped at me for every little thing? She was more annoying than I was, though I was biased in that opinion. He was probably so nice to her because she was a pretty, pretty princess. Ugh. Whatever. I didn’t care that the prince was a jerk to me, but I was getting annoyed with everyone babying her.

My hands curled into a fist and I had to control my wolf instincts that wanted to use her as a chew toy. I didn’t like Ryder or anything, but an animalistic part of me didn’t like the female competition. So soon after a Full Moon, my two halves were still at war- most of the time I didn’t care about getting attention or not.

Bo, sensing I was out of whack, placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. I sighed and relaxed into the touch. My father being alone before he met my mom was such an oddity because wolves craved contact, even something as small as that friendly gesture. It was enough for me to be able to focus on the task at hand. “Do you think you could get us to that Elf town?”

“For you, anything.”

I noticed the slight tightening of Ryder’s jaw at that but I ignored it. Of course he wouldn’t like having another wolf on this quest, but he’d have to get over it. Bo was a perfect gentleman and kept up a steady stream of conversation with me as we finished eating. I won’t lie, it was kind of nice to have some attention when I was used to being ignored when girls like Brooke were around. It did wonders for my ego to have a guy’s focus on me instead of her for once.

We left Haston after breakfast. Bo said the trip would take less than a day but I still made sure we had plenty of food to go. When we got into the forest, the tension that had been building at the restaurant took on a new level. The forest was eerily still as if it was staying clear of the inevitable explosion that surrounded our group.

Ryder and Tate fawned over Brooke, who complained about everything. I led the way with Bo at my side like a faithful hound. He helped me over large rocks and even caught me when I lost my footing at one point. Just like at the restaurant, he made me feel important. We walked in companionable silence, only talking about little things a few times before I asked, “How do you know I’m supposed to be Alpha? What if you’re wrong?”

“I’ve tried to lead the pack but I’m not its true leader so it’s been chaotic. Werewolves don’t like to take orders if they don’t have to and they only listen to a rightful Alpha. I asked several fairies and oracles and they all said our real ruler is the one touched by Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent. The girl with magic inside her.”

“Then I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong girl. Yeah, I’m descended from both of them, but I’m completely powerless. I’m actually a nobody to be totally honest with you.”

He smiled gently and pushed some loose hair that had escaped my elastic back behind my ear. “You don’t see yourself very clearly, my queen.”

Bo took the lead at that pome, leaving me to obsess about what he meant. As the only person I knew that had never dated, the language of boys was lost on me. Bo’s actions confused me and I was lost in thought analyzing them.

It wasn’t long during my contemplation before Ryder fell into step beside me. “Hey.”

“Hi. So you and Brooke made it to town okay? I was a little worried.”

“Yeah, we did. She got a little freaked when we heard howling, though.”

I winced slightly. We were lucky the village didn’t go on a wolf hunt. “Yeah, we were pretty close to the village and the boys kind of got into a fight. I’m sorry she got scared. But it looks like you dealt with it okay.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to have him here?” he asked with a nod in Bo’s direction. Bo cocked his head to the side and sniffed before pushing away some pine branches, not paying attention to our conversation in the slightest. “He’s a wolf. Do you really think you can trust him?”

My jaw twitched and I glanced down at my feet. His comment stung and I couldn’t ignore the hurt that flared up in my chest, even as I wanted to hit him for the remark. I’d seen this kind of prejudice my whole life. Most people didn’t treat Tate and me poorly because of who our mother was, but that didn’t mean we were immune. I still heard all of their little comments around Steven’s castle when people thought I wasn’t paying attention. Maybe because this time was more direct was why it made me feel worse than normal. “I’m a wolf, too,” I muttered softly. “Does that mean you don’t trust me?”

His sky blue eyes widened. “No, Tasha, I didn’t mean that at all.”

He sort of reached out for me, almost as if to put his hands on my shoulders, but I sidestepped him and his arms dropped. I shrugged. “I get it. Wolves are the bad guys in Riding Hood’s world. You can’t trust us. We’re nothing more than murderers, right? That’s how the story shows us. And to answer your question, Prince Ryder, I trust Bo with my life. So if you’ll excuse me, your highness,” I sneered with an exaggerated bow.

I stomped away from him towards the older wolf. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes. Why did his opinion hurt so much? He was just a spoiled prince. He didn’t know my life, didn’t know the challenges I faced just because of what I was. I really needed to just ignore him.

Bo held out his hand to help me wade across a small creek with slippery river rocks. “My queen, are you okay? You seem troubled.”

I’d mastered the fake smile at school when I got bullied (mostly by Brooke and her posse) and shot one at him. “Of course. Thank you. But please, stop calling me queen and Alpha. My name’s Tasha.”

He grinned and gave my hand a little tug. I stumbled right into his chest and gasped. My eyes were wide as I looked up into his. “Tasha,” he murmured my name like a caress. “I like it.”

My face burned but this time when I smiled, it wasn’t forced.