Red Riding Hood

Chapter Twenty Seven

Forgiving is not forgetting.

It's letting go of the pain.

A gentle breeze carrying a melody of birdsong coos Scarlet from her restless slumber, cold sun light filtering down through the dispersing clouds and canopy of mismatched trees. She shifts from side to side, eyes still closed, a cloud of amnesia disbanding from her mind as her eyes snap open – as she remembers last night's events. She spins around to quick and almost topples out of her perched position. After a small moment, she regains her bearings and forces herself to use slow movements to get down from the tree. She looks around, a slither of fear washing over her as she braces herself for Luca's expected absence. But instead of a sigh of heartache, a sigh of relief passes past her lips as her eyes find Luca's limp body laying against the old tree, where she had left him.

Her muscles ache and clench once she jumps those few centimetres to the ground, she hisses at the pain and shivers at the coldness of the morning – looking down at her flimsy tattered dress which is doing nothing to shield her goose-bump covered flesh from the icy breeze. Huffing, she straightens her posture and storms over to Luca – his tall body now back in human form. Upon nearing him she takes notice that he's wearing nothing but an old rag which covers his ... important bits ... leaving the rest of him exposed, his beautiful chiselled body resting peacefully without a single goose-bump in sight. Scarlet unwillingly drinks in the perfectly sculptured masterpiece, including his blood covered shoulder. Scarlet cringes slightly at the sight (as well as blushes) wondering if she should wake him gently and tend to his wound, but her anger quickly engulfs the thought and she continues her march and slams her foot in to his uncovered abdomen. Luca's eyes fly open in alert upon the collision and whines in pain, which is joined by another whine as Scarlet delivers another powerful blow to his stomach. She kicks him again and again, screaming in frustration before starting to pace furiously back and forth in front of him.

"Good morning to you too." He wheezes, adding fuel to Scarlet's fire, she turns back to him and kicks him again.

"What's good about it?" She screams, nostrils flared and eyes blazing. Luca winces as he slowly eases himself onto his hands and knees. "How could you?" Scarlet screams and kicks him again in the stomach, he moans but it doesn't falter his movements to get up. He pushes himself on to his knees with his hands supporting him on his thighs while his head falls back, revealing his Adams apple.

"You asked me to stop the wedding from going ahead. And I did as you asked." He winces as he clenches his shoulder, which is almost completely healed – just a few more tendons to reconnect.

"Yeah well, not once did it cross my mind that you would turn in to a werewolf and terrorize the entire village and try to kill everyone!"

"Hey! I didn't kill anyone! And I was never going to!" Luca snaps back, bouncing to his feet, the brown cloth slipping slightly to reveal the V lines that follow the front of his hips, leading down to his manhood. Scarlet conceals the blush in her cheeks with the red hot rage that is coursing through her veins. "I have never killed a human! And I don't plan on starting." Luca's nostrils flare to match Scarlet's.

"Are seriously expecting me to believe you? You're the wolf!"

"No! I'm a wolf!" Luca retorts, rolling his neck and stretching out his limbs – his bones cracking loudly as they fully readjust. He bends over whilst keeping his legs straight, grabbing hold of his ankles his back and hips crack. "Scarlet, I've been in your village for a month. I'm not the only one of my kind – and un-like the rest of my kind, I don't kill humans!" He tries to convey that message very clearly.

"There's two of you?" She exclaims hysterically.

"Yes..." Luca walks around the tree and pulls his bag down from the branches, retrieving a fresh set of clothes. A part of Scarlet's mind scolds herself for not noticing that earlier – as the rage pumping through her veins is the only thing providing her warmth right now.