The Forbidden Forest was only a few miles away from the tavern. Even though most people avoided it, Red had spent enough time in the forest to know that she was safe on her own. She knew how to defend herself and didn't believe the rumours One Eye had been spreading about the werewolves. She knew it was nothing more than a scare tactic.
The Forbidden Forest was more than one thousand years old and it had been called that since Red could remember. Apparently, some elders in town believed that people wandered off out there to die. Several years ago, a local huntsman found a body hanging from a tree, and since then everyone was too scared to go out there. Wolves, bears and other wild animals occupied those parts, so people knew that only certain places within the forest were safe.
Red was walking quite fast, feeling like she was letting herself down. She never had to rely on a man before, even when she was in a relationship with the forest ranger. She hated being dependent on the opposite sex, but she had to think about the future.
She hid her hands in her pockets as the temperature slowly started to drop. Red shivered and tightened her red cloak around her waist. Her thoughts were racing, and after an hour of constant walking, her feet started to ache a little. Eventually she realised that she was deeply lost in the forest.
Red looked up and saw that the moon was shaded by dark heavy clouds and it was pitch black around her. She swallowed hard, telling herself to get it together. This wasn't the time to be scared. In the past, she’d wandered off around the forest many times, even as a child, so this time wasn't any different.
A few minutes later, her stomach contracted when she heard movement to her right. She told herself that she didn't have to be scared, but right then she was out of her comfort zone. Red kept reminding herself that this wasn't different from any other time. Once when four thieves tried to rape her she managed to escape them, with a little help from the Vampire King. He distracted the thieves and she ran away. At the time she didn't even know that it was the king himself, because he pretended to be a huntsman. Sometime later her friend Cindy revealed that Caspian was able to take on the appearance of other humans.
After some time, Red stopped hearing noises in the bushes. She swallowed hard, and told herself that it was probably just a deer. Her heart was beating frantically in her chest. Fear had become her companion and no matter how much she picked up her pace, it kept following her closely behind.
Finally after crossing over the man-made path, she followed it out into an empty space surrounded by trees. A smell of burning wood wafted through the air. She noticed some logs that were scattered around. Several meters later, she saw that someone had made a fire there, maybe only an hour ago.
She moistened her upper lip and glanced around, trying to see through the pitch blackness. Then she saw two men stepping out of the trees. One of them was holding a fire torch and when they approached, Red gasped. She recognised them from the tavern—they were One Eye’s accomplices. How could she be so unlucky? The highwaymen weren't supposed to be there tonight. This could only mean that she was wrong about the wolf men, because now she suspected that One Eye was nearby.
The two highwaymen looked filthy. Their clothes were muddy and the one without teeth kept staring at her boobs. Red shuddered with repulsion. Fear kept patting her on the back. The tiny voice in her head kept saying that she wasn't brave enough to stand up to them.
Then she remembered that she had her knives hidden under her cloak, but she had a better chance of surviving if she started running.
"John, look who we have here. It's the lovely girl from the tavern," said the blond one holding a torch.
Red backed away. She had a feeling that maybe One Eye wasn't around, and the two highwaymen were snooping around the forest, waiting for an unsuspecting traveller to pass through. She couldn't believe that she walked straight into their path. Either way, Red needed to do something and fast.
"Stay away from me or I’ll slash your balls with my knives and then feed them to the wolves," she barked at them, trying to act brave, but the one on the left who had been silent in the tavern started laughing.
"Sorry, love, but you're all alone out here and our boss isn’t going to mind if we have a little fun with you right now," he snarled, then spit on the ground and lunged for her.
Red wasn't ready and the blond highwayman caught her off guard. Her cloak was zipped tightly around her and she didn't have time to reach for her knife. After trying to dodge to the side, she ended up too close to the other darker man, who snatched her arms. He locked her from behind, and she couldn't move. He was breathing hard into her ear. Red was trapped, but she yelled, kicking the blond highwayman in the chin with her boot. Blood poured from his face and he swore loudly, stumbling back, then slammed to the ground.
"Get off me, you imbecile, or you're going regret that you ever touched me," she snapped, trying to pull away from him, but the man squeezed her arms painfully. She gritted her teeth refusing to make a sound. Then his cheek touched her, and Red inhaled a strong wave of whiskey. Her stomach rolled with nausea. Unfortunately, by this time the other highwayman was back on his feet and he looked furious.
"Pass her to me, Craig. Soon enough she’ll be squealing like a monkey when I sink my dick inside her!" He started ripping her cloak, then touching her beasts. Red screamed, jerking away, furious with herself that she wasn't quick enough. She was ready to scalp them both with her collection of knives, but first she had to find a way to break free.
The injured man became frustrated when blood kept pouring down his face. He grabbed her by the throat to keep her from screaming. Red started to panic and she was losing focus. Normally, she would have kicked their asses, but tonight she felt useless. Those two imbeciles were ready to rape her.
"I'm going to rip your clothes off and then fuck you hard while John makes sure that you don’t do anything stupid. And then you’ll suck his cock. Your tavern is going to be One Eye’s soon enough. Our boss will be glad that we took care of his problem for him," the one behind her snarled.
Red was suffocating. The blond highwayman had a vise grip on her. She could feel his erection by her thigh and felt sick. Tears slipped down her face. She couldn't believe that she was going to die like this, away from her tavern, away from her gran. Soon blackness started to swallow her—but then she heard howling. The blond highwayman released his tight grip and Red fell to the ground, choking.
When she glanced up, she saw that the darker one was looking around, turning a little pale. Red was breathing normally now, trying to gather her energy. Red really, really wanted to punch him in the balls, but she felt too weak. Her hands were shaking and she couldn’t manage to stand.
"Move her to the tree and let’s see what's underneath that dress. I bet those tits are fucking amazing," the blond one said, ignoring the wolves that were probably around. He smiled at her and then licked his lips. The darker highwayman yanked her up and began pushing her towards the woodland.
Red's vision was a little blurry and when she tried to reach for her knife, the man punched her in the side of the head. Excruciating pain jolted through her. Things were going to get ugly and she had to do something. Her scream was muffled when the highwayman pushed her over to the large tree. For a long moment she waited for him to hit her again, so she closed her eyes knowing it would come. Nothing happened, and when she opened her heavy lids, she spotted a huge black wolf that appeared a few meters away from her.
Her chest kept rising and falling in rapid movements, staring directly into his yellow eyes.
"Lucas. You better leave her alone, there’s a huge wolf over here," the blond highwayman snapped, so the dark one turned around abruptly. The wolf snarled and bent his front paws. Red felt the animal’s energy rushing through her, connecting with her soul. Her breathing was laboured and her chest felt heavy. The beast was massive, at least several times bigger than any ordinary wolf and its fur was shiny and thick.
"Give me the knife, man. I'm going to scare him off," the
dark one snapped, taking a few steps towards the animal.
Red tried to lift herself up, but the highwayman standing behind her slapped her hard causing her to fall back to the forest floor. She could have sworn that she was seeing stars, but that sudden movement must have angered the wolf because the beast launched himself at the highwayman in the next moment.
Red had no idea what happened after that. She must have lost consciousness for several long seconds, which irritated her, because she had missed the grotesque show—she wished she could’ve watched the men suffer.
When she was finally able to see again, she realised that there was a dead body lying next to her. It was the dark-haired highwayman. Red felt sick when she noticed that his throat was ripped out. His eyes were still wide open, and the smell of dead human flesh wafted through the air. There was no sign of the other highwayman.
Her head kept throbbing and she had a metallic taste in her mouth—blood. She could hear more wolves howling around her and wondered for a second if she was ever going to see her grandmother again.
Surely if the wolf killed One Eye’s accomplices, he wouldn’t be coming for her next. He seemed to be protecting her, but that still didn’t calm her racing heart. She lifted herself back to her feet.
Moments later, the enormous wolf was back—staring at her with its inhuman yellow gaze. Red froze and stopped breathing for a second. She had no idea if it was going to attack her or not—then something amazing happened. The wolf howled loudly, then began shaking wildly, bending his paws and arching his back as if he was in agonising pain. Red could have sworn that she heard the animal’s bones cracking and breaking; even its skin was stretching at odd angles all over its body. It grew taller and leaner, looking more humanoid by the second. Its paws transformed into human legs and hands.
The voice of reason kept telling her that this wasn't really happening, and maybe she hit her head too hard. Terror kept her chained to the ground where she stood when she witnessed firsthand how the wolf turned into a full-grown man—a very handsome and very much naked man.
The wind ruffled her hair and then the moon moved from behind the clouds. Red wasn't sure where to look. The man in front of her was tall, dark, and in the moonlight he had the most mesmerising brown, almost whiskey-coloured eyes. His hair was dark and curly. He had broad, muscular shoulders, and she noticed that he had sharp Eastern features. In any other circumstances maybe she wouldn't have cared, but he was standing in front of her completely naked.
A cold shiver moved down her spine, and despite the throbbing pain in her skull she felt heat rising in the pit of her stomach. It took her several seconds to realise that she’d seen him in the tavern before. At the time, he was with a bunch of other men, but he left right before she had a chance to get a better look at him.
Red's eyes travelled down further, stopping on his private parts, and she gasped again, this time because she felt herself instantly growing wet. Yep, it was official: Mother Nature had gifted the wolf man with a massive penis. She was in shock, but for some reason she couldn't look away.
"Like what you're looking at, honeycomb?"
His question threw her for a loop a bit, and she quickly diverted her gaze to his face. She’d somehow forgotten about the pain in an attempt to deal with the overwhelming lust that was taking over her body. She knew that this was completely inappropriate and wrong.
The naked stranger approached her and Red definitely liked what she was looking at, but he didn't need to know that.
"Is that your pick-up line?" she chuckled nervously and he grinned at her. She noticed that he had a nice smile too—bright, and it instantly warmed her up from the inside.
"Yes, it normally has a positive effect on women. In the end, they always come home with me, and I rock their world," the man replied, and then winked at her. He didn't seem to mind at all that he was standing in front of her just like nature had created him. Well, Red didn't mind either, but he was distracting her, and she was trying not to stare at his manly bits, but that was becoming incredibly difficult. They were just out there on display. The man had no shame.
Red never thought she would admit it to herself, but she instantly wanted to be in his arms.
Chapter Five
"If you want me to thank you, then don't get your hopes up. I would have taken care of those scumbags myself," she said, trying to forget about her previous thought. No—she didn't want him. This man was a stranger and she’d just gone through a very traumatic experience. What was she thinking?
Maybe she should thank him. After all, those disgusting highwaymen were planning to rape her, but the wolf man was arrogant enough and she didn't want to feed his overgrown ego even further.
The man frowned a little and then took a few steps towards her. For some reason, Red felt like he was invading her space. She even caught a glimpse of his scent— earthy, musky—and it sent a jolt of electricity directly to her core. It was strange, she even felt her body temperature spiking slightly. This had never happened to her before, but her hormones were all over the place, letting her know that it had been a while since she felt an emotional connection to anyone other than the forest ranger. Even then, it was nothing like this—this was something she couldn’t explain or rationalise in her own mind.
"I doubt it. Those scumbags were all over you. And to be perfectly honest, I don't think you could have fought off two grown men. This has nothing to do with the fact that you're a woman, honeycomb." He grinned at her again.
Red’s jaw dropped. She was at a loss for words. The stranger kept calling her honeycomb, and he obviously thought he was irresistible like silky smooth chocolate. She clenched her fists, still feeling the throbbing pain in her head, but that didn't change the fact that this guy was getting on her nerves. She soon forgot that he could turn into a werewolf at any given time, because he sounded just like the rest of the men in town. They all assumed that she couldn't look after herself because she was a woman and they couldn’t be more wrong. She had proven herself more than enough times already.
"It looks like I'm wasting my time talking to an arrogant moron like you. I need to get going," she snapped, knowing that he was either winding her up or simply annoying. She took a step forward to move past him, but then noticed that two more monstrous wolves appeared between the trees. Red could see their huge yellow eyes glowing in the moonlight. Red had a feeling that they weren't friendly. She swallowed hard and then glanced at the handsome stranger who was watching her like a hawk.
She felt soaring heat yet again; it was spreading to every nook and cranny of her body.
"Come on, honeycomb, I just saved your butt. At least try to be a bit more grateful," he said, and something flickered in his eyes—Red saw something that looked like lust, but she refused to believe it. Her heart was beating way too quickly in her chest.
Small goose pimples appeared on the surface of her skin, and Red couldn't explain what was happening to her.
She felt like he was looking straight through her soul, seeing all of her flaws and insecurities. Then images of them together kissing each other started flashing in front of her eyes. It was as if there was an invisible pull between them that she couldn’t explain. And she really hated the fact that he was calling her honeycomb. She definitely wasn't his honeycomb and to her that kind of nickname was insulting. "And these are my wolves, so you don't need to be scared. They won't harm you in any way."
"I'm not scared," she said, even more annoyed now that he sensed her fear and apprehension.
She had no idea what he meant when he said that these were his wolves. He couldn't own them like property.
The problem was that Red was having trouble concentrating because he was still naked. Didn’t the man have any clothes lying around nearby? She was doing everything physically possible in order to not stare down at his crotch, but it was just there—hanging around in all its glory. She needed to clear her head. She suspected that the alpha king wasn't far from there. She had already wasted en
ough time in the Forbidden Forest and she felt it was time to leave.
"Whatever you say, honeycomb, but I wouldn't want you to get hurt again. The Forbidden Forest is filled with other creatures that might be very unpleasant, even more so than the men that tried to have their way with you," the stranger added, and ran his hand over his jaw.
Red walked toward him, aware that he smelled heavenly—she could get lost in that scent. In general, men weren't supposed to smell that good, but Red felt lost around him. Maybe a meter or more divided them, and now it was becoming increasingly difficult to put her thoughts in order. Red thought that she was hallucinating, because the wolf man’s skin seemed like it was almost glowing in the darkness.
The wolves hadn’t moved from their spot, and they were watching her.
"Let's get a few things straight. I'm not your honeycomb, and I’ve been taking care of myself for over twenty-five years. You don't need to worry about me," she told him, but her voice was trembling too much, not so much from fear, but the fact that she was aroused. This man, wherever he came from, was a walking, talking sex-on-a-stick. She kept asking herself what was coming over her—what was she thinking? She needed to move.
Then one by one the wolves started trembling, scowling and arching their backs. Red widened her eyes, seeing that their shapes began to change. They were shifting back into their human form. She stared, mesmerised and unable to comprehend how any of this was even possible. For years she never believed in any kind of magic or what she thought to be creatures of folklore, and now she was witnessing something truly mind-blowing.
In a matter of moments, Red was surrounded by three very good-looking and extremely naked men.
"Boys, I believe we have a sensitive one here, but I can forgive her that, she seems fierce too," the man said, and his eyes flickered with a warmth that made Red even more turned on.
She tried taking deeper breaths, but nothing was working. She couldn’t shake the strong physical and unexplained attraction to this stranger. He’d saved her from One Eye’s men, killed one and most likely the other too, so she just couldn't ignore her feelings. But the overwhelming attraction and the way her body was reacting confused her. She’d never in her life had such a strong connection to a man she didn’t know.