Scarlett and her mate lay in the flower field, holding hands.
“So…God, where do I start. What do you know about red wolves? To be honest, I thought you’d be more like, ‘Gasp! Red fur! The king must know!’ or something along those lines,” I joked.
“Not much, apparently,” he replied, grinning. “Usually, the condition of the coat is more important than the color—in the capital, at least. I will admit, this is the first time I’ve seen red fur on anyone, though.”
“Yeah, there’s a reason for that.” Scarlett sighed heavily.
So, he really didn’t know anything about it.
It was… confusing, in all honesty. If the king was supposedly so obsessed with red fur, then why didn’t the nobles know about it?
The townspeople were aware of the red wolves being descendants of warriors — Velma and Gavin had thought she was super cool and mysterious back when they were children because of it. Though they were now aware she was a major dork.
It crossed Scarlett’s mind that she needed to take these questions to her parents. But if she did, then she’d have no choice but to reveal how she learned this new information, meaning she’d also be revealing her mate.
“There’s a myth about red wolves,” she began. “I won’t go into story mode, it’s too confusing with the whole ‘fur dyed with blood, a symbol of power’ and all that.”
“Ha!” her mate barked. “Oh no, I think I’d like to hear it now. It sounds like it’d be an amusing story. Still, I’ve never… I’ve never heard it before.” He admitted, intrigued and upset at the same time.
“I’ve just heard it a lot. It was a good bedtime story, but then it started to get old after a couple hundred times,” she huffed, nose wrinkling. “Alright, fine. So, once upon a time—”
“In a kingdom far away—”
“Shut up, it was this kingdom. So, all the dozens of packs of shifters were fighting for territory and what not until one day a pack rose up, dyed with the blood of their enemies. The Moon Goddess, impressed with their battle prowess, permanently turned their fur red. These red-furred wolves became the elite soldiers of the kingdom, fighters who were a cut above the rest.”
“Well, I don’t know anything about ‘the blood of your enemies,’ but you’re certainly better than a lot of the soldiers I’ve seen,” he said, looking at her fondly. “You have real skill, Scarlett.”
She giggled. “Well, my dad worked me to the bone for that. Nice to know it paid off.”
“And where are they now? The other red wolves, that is.”
“I don’t know, I’m... supposed to be the last of them,” she said solemnly. “That’s why I’m so hesitant to show people my fur. My parents were scared that if the king found out I’d be summoned to the capital and taken away from them.”
She turned toward him. “Do you…do you really not understand what my fur implies?”
“Well, I’m starting to, but you have nothing to fear. It IS just a myth, and the king probably won’t care about something like that.” He waved the matter away.
Scarlett frowned. Maybe it was a difference in their upbringings, but she was pretty sure the king WOULD care.
“Besides, would going to the capital be such a bad thing?”
Scarlett couldn’t stop herself from scoffing. She had a lot of feelings about the Kingdom, King, and capital and not a lot of it was nice.
Her mate turned to her with his brow furrowed, caught off-guard by her reaction.
“If you’re not from the capital, you’re not exactly worth their time,” she explained. “Traders are the only ones who can get by there, but someone from one of the towns? It’s a big gamble to survive there—also the king’s soldiers are…hmmm…how do I put this…a bunch of arrogant f*ck sticks. Completely useless beyond terrorizing the towns! I bet they don’t even know how to do their jobs.”
Her mate’s frown deepened. “I know some arrogant soldiers, but they can’t all be like that. They have a duty to the kingdom.”
He sounded sincere, but Scarlett knew otherwise.
“Yeah right, most only think of the kingdom in terms of the king and the capital, not the towns. Why do you think we got attacked yesterday?”
“Who were those shifters from before?” her mate asked suddenly.
“The Shadow Stalker Wolves. They’re a bunch of rogues notorious for their pillage-and-burn style of raids against villages. Last night, I think they were angling to step things up and raid the town.”
“Surely the king’s soldiers have something planned.” her mate exclaimed.
He looked so upset that Scarlett honestly felt a bit bad but at the same time, such a thought was deeply amusing to her. The King’s soldiers being competent?
She made a derisive noise. “Suuuure, and that’s why we fought them off last night. All part of their ‘master plan’.”
“So they messed up. You can’t let one group of soldiers ruin your opinion.”
“It was multiple—” she broke off the argument and sighed. “Can we not do this tonight?”
She rolled over, hand on her mate’s chest, hovering over him slightly, seeing his conflicted expression, something angry bubbling up to the surface as she continued to speak.
“I know you’re from the capital or somewhere similar,” she said quietly. “It’s different for you. They give you respect. They give us nothing but work and sorrow.”
“You’re a part of this kingdom, too. They should respect everyone,” he protested, gritting his teeth and pulling back his lips just a bit to bear his fangs. Strangely, she didn’t find the gesture threatening.
“Well, they don’t,” she replied simply. “Can I finish telling you about everything? We can argue how much I hate the politics happening and you can try and tell me how wrong I am later—but this is an emotional story for me, and I’d rather not spend our third secret date night shouting at each other.”
“I have many questions for you.”
“And I’ll try to answer them—now stop interrupting me. It’s bad manners, you know.”
He chuckled as she playfully whapped his chest.
“Sorry, sorry, I’ll behave. You were telling me about the soldiers and the king… maybe give me some more details on that…” he pressed, and Scarlett gave in rather easily.
“Alright. I suppose I should try and be more… eloquent about it. I’m not just saying crap to complain. The soldiers… they don’t treat the people well. Just recently, they dragged off a trader from his family and sent him to the mines for a late payment on his taxes.”
“Traders are supposed to be exempt from late payments for at least a few months.” Her mate frowned again, eyebrows furrowing.
“I know. Doesn’t mean they follow the rules. And I told you how my father was an omega soldier, right? He and the other soldiers in town are all we have protecting us from rogues. The king might declare that his soldiers protect the borders, but really, they just hang near the town squares and harass us. They never enter the outskirts either. It’s ‘beneath them’.”
“And the king?”
“He doesn’t care about the people. He has his little circle up in the palace but outside of that, there’s too much suffering for me to believe otherwise.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” he said quietly.
“I’m just sorry it is that way.” She looked away from him. “Everyone here works so hard just to make ends meet and stay safe, and the king and his soldiers just watch as we struggle. I hate it.”
“…let’s change the subject,” her mate said. “You’re right, I don’t want to spend our time together with you obviously distressed.”
“What DO you want to talk about then?”
“I believe we had a bet, and if I’m right, I beat you here.”
“Oh, you cheating b*st*rd!” she laughed, not at all upset that she had lost.
He just gave her a wide smirk.
“Fine, you beat me. Am I supposed to reward you now?”
“I’ll take one if you’re offering. Hmm, what do you think — a kiss for being so brave to take on two rogues all by myself?”
“Hey, mine was bigger,” she teased.
He snickered, sitting up. Then he pulled her into his lap, and she wound her arms around his neck.
“Alright, you get one kiss. One,” she stressed.
His eyes gleamed with mischief.
“Alright, then I better make it last.”
He leaned down, cupping her cheek and tilting her head—and Scarlett met him halfway.
He was warm, so very warm, and his touch made her heart ache like she’d never have enough of it. He kissed her as if assuring himself she was real, never pressing harder despite how they only grew more passionate, everything else dissolving away as she melted into the kiss, his touch.
Scarlett had never been to the sea before — her parents never had the time nor the means to take her — but they used to tell her stories about it, and she’d seen plenty of photos.
Strong, unrelenting, overwhelming and powerful in ways that couldn’t be understood.
And now, she had an idea of what that truly meant.