Little Mischievous Red Riding Hood

Chapter 7 (Goodbye Kisses)

GEORGETTE spent the most splendid time of her life, helping her aging grandma with their household chores, starting to learn to cook meals specifically, baking goodies for their small trading while going out in the woods and sneaking to meet her lover, Wolfram at night.

They would spend a blissful evening, dancing, singing and making love under the velvet night sky and taking shelter in his warm arms, wondering if they could finally announce their marital union.

“I didn’t want this to end, Wolfie,” she sighed while nestling in his chest.

Wolfram kissed her temple, shifting to accommodate her with his body as her bed and providing warmth for both of them. Sighing while looking aimlessly at the atrium of the cave.

Keeping his silent and anticipating the impending tears that were threatening to fall anytime soon in her eyes.

They just spent a romantic evening, ate their sup together in the candlelit banquet and made love after. Lying comfortably on his thick wool blanket and fur carpet, serving as their makeshift cot. They were at the solarium of his humble home. Savoring the afterglow of their love and the remaining days they would spend together.

“I don’t want you to go, please, just stay with me,” then she said. The unspoken clamor inside her head was finally revealed.

“Even if I wanted to stay, I can’t, I have to serve the next ritual for the harvesting season, don’t cry, my little sweetheart, I’ll be back soon before this babe will come out,” he reassured her and teased her instead placing his wide palm on her flat tummy.

She dabbed his arm and sent him chuckling, her best reaction still gets him.

“I’m not with child yet, you always pulled out whenever you were coming,” she spoke in chagrin.

Which made him even more laughing. “I’m just protecting you, from the malice and foul words coming from your kind,” before sighing. He ran his fingers on her golden silky hair, slipping through his fingertips.

Her big curls and the smooth texture made him wonder what made her long locks grow strong and silky smooth, not to mention, fragrant.

“We both know they are not my kind, I’m an outcast, we both are, except you, are much more acceptable because of your upbringing and bloodline supremacy, while me? A half-bred sired by mongrel, a creature that crawls and feasts on the dead, that’s what people say on my back,”

He felt the hurt in her words and let out another sigh. “You still have your grandma with you and your rambunctious tribe backing you up, have you heard the phrase ‘count your blessing’ yet?”

“Yours is different, way bit different, your tribe is known to be the greatest, revered and respected by many people for centuries,”

“Yet close to extinction, I don’t even know if I have a clan to rule over, we are failing, emasculated by tragedies and I don’t even know if there’s other white wolves left other than me, do I have someone to take me home? I only have you,”

She paused and looked at him. He smiled and then kissed her forehead. “We have something in common, both ostracized by humans and even neglected, we share the same root yet are different in other perspectives, we have carried our scars created by mankind, and even inside our tribe, we are walking while carrying this kind of thorn to make us strong, it could probably kill us in the long run but it will never be the cause of our destruction, because one thing is for sure, my love for you will never change and will never end,”

The trickling tears finally fell onto her cheeks and hugged him. “I love you, Wolfram, I will die if they take you away from me,”

“I will never leave your side, Georgette, I’m planning to stay here with you,” he closed his eyes as he spoke, professing his ultimate love for his mate was always a source of his strength but he was also terrified, for the future of their union.

He vowed to stay pure and away from any distractions. Including having an illicit affair with a girl who came from his rival clan. Their love is forbidden, and heaven knows what will happen if both of their tribes find out about their secret affair.

She sniffled and looked at him, her lovely blue eyes were enchanting, and they always captivate his soul.

Without further words, he pulled her closer, cupped her face and captured her lips. Her mouth always tasted so sweet and so divine.

Loving her is his religion.

He inhaled her scent—her feminine scent and her breath, infused with rose wine and fruit bread. He chuckled, hinting at a flavor of mint and lamb.

He never partook in any meat for he is a devoted vegetarian but, tasting her and her luscious body made him break his own rule.

He wants to devour her, in the carnal sense.

Groaning loudly, he felt his groin acting strange again. But he chose to restrain it, he had to if he didn’t want to leave her pregnant, and let her face the consequences all alone while he will be away for months, all the ruckus and vile contempt from the good 'ol folks, those hypocrites.

Being pregnant out of wedlock is still frowned upon by many, an unchaste lady was likely to be shunned, called by disparaging names and considered undesirable for marrying an eligible husband, in the human perfect sense.

While in their condition, falling for a monster like him is already unacceptable for both humans and their tribe’s crazy rule, having a brood or spawning children from the union is considered a crime and punishable by burning at the stake, stoning to death, hanging or beheading and other dead sentence punishment reinforced by the cruel and unjust people. The world had just gone mad. And this century posed no difference from the previous millennium.

“Please come back to me, my love, Wolfram,” she brought him back from his long reverie and agony and spoke those words.

“I will, I promise,” so he sealed it with a kiss.

He pulled her snuggly and tried to clear his mind from worry, for the ominous fate they would face if this love they shared would bring forth tears and tragedy.

******

Georgette suddenly became gloomy and quiet which made her grandma worry. Lucinde would often be asked what was a miss, she would say nothing and gave a bleak smile.

It had been two weeks since Wolfram departed to act on his duty as the chief guardian of the seven mountains of Gaia and Nautilus and the wolf mediator of the ancient earth and dark abyss. He came from a moon wolf clan that was considered holy and honored by their tribal ancestors even his rival clan, her tribe and human alike, he is far more admirable than hers in comparison.

She was what they called the half-bred mongrel, the intercross of a human and a werewolf, the most disappointing truth was, that the tribe that she came from had a notoriety, a bad reputation that painted her and her clan for a century as the evil scheming monsters. Feasting on the carcasses of animals and humans, creating havoc and mischief, the reason why werewolves from other clans had been hunted and killed, for bounty or fame.

That is why like her grandmother, Wolfram also despises her clan. But not her, she is the only exception.

She smiled at the thought of him, and the numerous times he teased her about being a lovechild of a wild and carefree milkmaiden and a despicable and unruly chieftain of the Rugabaga tribe, a direct descendant of Amon-Amal, a black bzou who happened to be a human that once tricked a demon whom he met in the street, known to be a trickster and boastful, he challenged the demon in liquor drinking contest of which he tricked the demon because the wine cup he held, had a hole in it and left the demon snoring, he took his belongings and joined in a merrymaking nearby when the demon was awakened and found his stuff went missing, he was enraged and decided to punish the man.

Because Amon was known for his glut and hubris, the demon cursed and turned him into a horrible beast with an insatiable appetite for flesh. Amon became the first ever bzou and became the progenitor of Wolfen-noir.

It was an old tale that had been passed by generation and her mother knew this too, her grandma told her this, many times over when she was just a wee lass and up until now, her grandma couldn’t accept what her mother had turned into.

They said she was lucky to have a nice upbringing, she was brought up as a well-bred maiden, unlike her brother, who probably didn’t even know how to read or write, and a loving grandmother who filled her longing for a complete family but she still felt the void within her knowing she was not recognized by both races. She had it both and yet she felt she didn’t belong to any of them.

There was a pang of disappointment about her complaint to Wolfram and she felt he was not taking her seriously. About her bloodline and her unconventional family. She was shunned even before, being called the ‘daughter of mongrel’ ‘sired by evil fiend’ ‘daughter of the abyss’ and many more that she lost of count.

That was why she didn’t have a friend in both races. Humans were pretty ostentatious and double-dealing, she couldn’t even tell if what they showed and said was true or false when she was facing them.

On the other hand, her so-called tribe, the Rugabaga, didn’t even know her, despite the fact that she was the first daughter of their chieftain, Joachim, the black brazen bzou, they never recognized her as their kin because she couldn’t turn. She tried but she failed, which made her even more crestfallen. Unlike her younger brother who turned after her mother gave birth, on the first full moon, under the month of Samhain, which made her mother’s midwife, run away in fear.

Her mother turned when she was on the brink of death, after being severely attacked by townspeople with their spear and stake, she was under the punishment of beheading for the crime of practicing witchcraft when her father came and rescued her. Her father had no choice but to turn her into a werewolf.

They were together and living a happy complete family, while she, was left to fend for herself, and to look after her old and weak grandmother, and all that her mother left when she was still a human.