Little Red's Riding

"Beast, Scoundrel, Dog..."

When Dahlia woke she was entirely naked and tucked into a bed that was not her own. The white sheets were incredibly soft and the mattress was so comfortable that she wondered if she'd slept there for days. Sitting up, her dark hair falling about her shoulders, she clasped the sheets to her chest as she tried to think back to the last thing she could remember.

Oh yes. She had been in the woods. She had gotten Silas to come to her by walking into them, in the dark, all by herself. They had finally made love. And then he had sunk his teeth into her neck. She gasped, her finger tips flying up to the place just above her collar bone where she remembered him biting her.

Dahlia half expected to feel blood oozing down her body, or at least a large bandage. Instead she felt only small swollen bumps around the place where she had been bitten. She dropped her hand, perplexed, and began to look around the room.

It was quite lovely. The bed that she was in was made of large logs, that had been stripped of their bark and sanded until they were smooth, and then polished until they shone. The blankets were cotton, with a thick down comforter, wrapped in a white cotton duvet that was every bit as soft as the sheets. One side of the room was covered in enormous windows and even without getting up she could tell that she wasn't in her own village, and that she was not on the ground floor of the house.

Off to her right there was a door that presumably led to the rest of the house, although the room was quite large, so it was at least fifteen paces away, and on her left there was an open space and then a place with four large leather chairs with a table between them, several enormous bookshelves lining the walls and further away a fireplace, and two doors that were open far enough that she could see that one seemed to lead to a closet and the other to what she thought might be a bathroom, by the floor tiles that she could barely make out.

"Oh good, you're awake. I thought you might sleep all day and all night." Her head jerked around at the sound of Silas' voice and she was surprised at how nervous she felt as she turned to face him, gazing at him through her thick dark lashes as she continued to clutch the sheets about her chest.

He was standing several paces inside the doorway, holding a cup of tea in his hands, looking very much as he had the first day that she had met him.

"You bit me." Her tone bubbled over with the accusation, and it might have sounded quite similar if she had been accusing him of murder.

"I marked you." He corrected. "And I know you don't understand what that means yet." He took a step towards her and she frowned at him, but did not shrink back as he half expected her to.

"I'm not sure I want to." She tried to sound firm, but he saw that her face had already begun to soften, likely because of the bond that was already working its magic between them.

"Here," he put up his hands as he moved slowly to the end of the bed and sat on the edge, while she watched him rather suspiciously, as if she expected him to attempt to bite her again.

"Where are my clothes?" Dahlia glanced around as if she expected to find them draped over a chair or folded at the end of the bed, although if they had been, she surely would have seen them before that moment.

"They're being laundered. They were a bit grassy and dirty." He watched her, his bright green eyes focused on her every reaction. "But here. Why don't you put this on, I have a feeling it will help you relax." Standing he quickly stripped off his own shirt and tossed it to her, turning towards the window while she pulled the smooth linen fabric over her head. She was immediately engulfed in his scent and felt her muscles relax instantly.

Dahlia let the sheets she'd been gripping fall from her hands and cleared her throat to let him know that she was ready to continue their conversation. He turned, a smile immediately lighting his face as his eyes found her.