It had not even been a full month since he had told that scrawny wolf to get lost. And again his little sister was telling him that there had been a suspicious-looking man watching her in the woods. So, groaning inwardly but never showing anything else than a soft, loving smile to her, he donned her red cape and set out to lure that stalker out of hiding.

But the man he found was not that wolf disguising himself as human. He was wearing a hooded cloak, but it was easy enough to tell just from his shorter height and rounded build that this was a different person.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as a way of greeting as he approached the stranger. "You are not from these parts, are you?"

Only a few hunters and woodcutters – and their families - lived in the forest. And of course people like his own grandmother, even rumored to be witches with their miracle-working salves and tonics. Anybody else was suspicious by default.

"Well, well, if it isn't Red," the man spoke, accompanied with unsettling belly laugh.

He pushed his crimson hood back. "You're mistaken. That's what people call my sister. And unless your intentions are honorable, you will stay away from her."

"She's your sister? That's interesting. Maybe we should pay her a little visit later." He raised his voice. "Right, boys?"

Red pulled his gun as five other men dropped down from the trees around him.

Now he recognized that voice. It had been years ago, back when he had been a soldier. He had earned the nickname "Red" – or "Red Riding Hood"- for the hood his mother had sewn for him before he had left home. The last gift he had ever gotten from her. Soon after, he had received word that she had succumbed to a grave illness.

"Not so much of a hero now, eh?" the gang leader mocked him. "Saved His Lordship and all you got was to go home and live in the dirt."

"What do you want?" he asked coldly. He might not be a match to six men in this close combat, but the first one to approach would at least get a bullet to his skull.

"What do you think?! To repay you for all these years in hiding! If you had been sensible and worked with us, we could have all walked away as rich men! But you just had to go and rat us out to that sissy."

"He was the rightful heir. I do not betray anyone I've sworn my loyalty to." He had also tried to talk sense to his companions who had been blinded by the gold offered for assassinating their liege. All so that his half-brother could inherit instead. But it had not gone well. He had lost one eye and barely made it back to the castle with his life after one of them had not liked what he had said.

He didn't care to remember how many of those he had once called his friends he had slain during his escape.

"Yadda yadda yadda. You still haven't figured out that loyalty doesn't fill your belly, have you?"

~*~*~

Golden eyes framed with black fur watched the exchange between the humans curiously.

Red was being as arrogant as ever. Admittedly the man wasn't half bad as a hunter - he had been watching - and could stare down even bears without as much as flinching, but he wasn't the only one smelling of gunpowder. One of them would shoot him before he could shoot all six.

That was, unless he offered a little help. No reason not to, either, as he hadn't eaten yet today.

~*~*~

Everybody quickly turned to stare as one of Red's assailants fell under a huge, black-furred beast. His body had barely hit the ground as the creature lunged at the next one and tore his throat open with one bite.

The others fled for their lives. Red didn't move from where he stood and calmly shot two in the back before they escaped among the trees.

Then he turned to the wolf. "Hey."

He stopped eating at the single, emotionless word and raised his bloodied muzzle from the carcass to look at the man not in the least fazed of his sudden appearance.

The scrawny wolf was not scrawny at all anymore. He had gained weight remarkably fast and was quite a force to reckon at probably closer to seven feet tall and toned muscles bulging under the sleek fur.

"I told you I'd shoot if I see you again, didn't I?" he stated flatly.

The wolf laughed. "I just saved your life, you know?"

"I had not gotten ambushed in the first place if you hadn't been stalking my little sister again."

"You're barking up the wrong tree, Red. It wasn't me." He moved close enough that they were almost face-to-face, towering over the human. "I've been busy stalking -you-."

Red aimed his gun at him without a word.

The wolf raised his hands a little and took a few steps back. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Put that away! I haven't been stalking you to kill you!"

"Then what?" he snarled. "You tried to eat me last time."

The first reply was a canine grin. "I want to dominate you completely."

"What the hell?!" He wasn't even sure what that beast was saying. Then he shook his head and turned on his heels. "Whatever. I don't have time for this."

"Hey!" The wolf stopped him with one large hand on his shoulder. "Where are you going?"

"Those backstabbers have a lair somewhere. I will track them down and kill all of them before they get any ideas to take their revenge on my family." His father and sister were everything he had left. He would not allow anyone to harm them.

"Sounds interesting." The wolf licked his chops in a way that "interesting" might have meant "tasty" to him.

"You will stay out of this. Those men are not playing around."

He turned Red to face him by his shoulder, a confident grin still playing on his features. "Who do you think you're talking to? I'm the terror of everything that lives in this forest. A few bandits are nothing."

Red just watched him in silence for a goodwhile. Then he said, "Just don't get in my way."