Little Red's Riding

He's a Beast

"It's good to see you too, Deckard. Maybe watch the language a bit. We're not alone." He'd unclasped one of the shackles on her ankles and began working on the other as soon as the first clattered to the floor.

"Is it true you ran off with a werewolf, Dahly?" Dahlia discovered that rolling her eyes was painful and that she really needed to keep her movements to an absolute minimum.

"He's my mate, Deck." As her big brother, who she realized was technically really her nephew, unlocked the last shackle she tried to sit up, but immediately discovered that that was a horrible idea. "And he's a good man."

"He's not a man, Dahly. He's a beast. And an Alpha at that, if what Mom says is true. They're the worst of the worst. They're absolute monsters. Why would you debase yourself like this? Hell if I'd known you were this desperate to get out of Mom and Dad's house I could have brought you to the capital and gotten you a job in the palace as a maid at least. The pay's alright and they provide room and board. And you'd be free."

"He's my mate." Dahlia had brought her hands up to touch the back of her head. Her dark hair was sticky and wet. The discovery made her stomach turn.

"You aren't a wolf, Dahlia. I don't care what he's told you, but he can't be your mate. Listen to me Dahly, since maybe I'm the only one who might get through to you. And I know I'm the only one who can tell you what I've seen these beasts do. I've been in a part of the King's Guard that hunts down and kills monsters like him. We wipe out entire packs. It's my job. I do it to keep all of you back home safe." Dahlia heard Willa whimper on the other side of the room and wanted to slap her hand over her brother's mouth. She might have tried if every movement she made wan't making her feel so nauseous.

"Stop. Please. Deckard. They're people just like us." Dahlia drew in a deep breath and let it out in a pained whoosh. She was calculating the risk she was about to take.

This was Deckard. It didn't matter if technically Lilia wasn't her mother. He was her big brother. He had taught her how to swim and how to fight. She had been his shadow for a number of years and he had been her defender. Even as a small child at school she had stood out as different from the other students, especially the girls. And Deckard made sure no one picked on her, at least while he was still sitting in the back of the classroom with the other big boys at the one room schoolhouse.

She knew that Deckard hated werewolves. She had known this before in a "he wanted to grow up and kill monsters" sort of way. His earlier little speech had driven the point home. But surely once he realized what she was and that she was still the kid sister who had grown up by his side, he would begin to see things differently.

"Deckard. I am a werewolf. Or half of one anyways. And I would probably be even more of one if your mother hadn't been injecting me with dangerous drugs every week as long as I've been alive to keep me from shifting."

"You're-" Deckard stared at her as if she had lost her mind. She might as well have said that she had been born on the moon and traveled to earth on fairy wings for all that she could see that he believed her, based on the expression on his face. "No. That's impossible. Mother hates werewolves. She would never-"

"She's not my mother." Dahlia interrupted his train of thought, a realization sweeping through her as she struggled again to sit up. This time she managed to push herself into a sitting position. Her brother's arm wrapped around her shoulders, supporting her, and she felt him stiffen as the blood that was still damp in her hair brushed against his skin.

"But you should know that, shouldn't you?" She closed her eyes for a moment as the realization hit her. "You're six years older than me. I know that's young still, but it's old enough to remember a baby coming home. And it's old enough for you to have known whether or not she was pregnant before. Unless she pretended."