"Joyeux anniversaire!" Andrea exclaimed as she and Derrick came into the house. 

"Merci!" Mum gushed, hugging them both. 

We had been here for a few months now yet it felt like they had always been apart of our life. My London days were becoming a thing of the past. I had some great friends and was really getting settled so I prayed Mum wouldn't have the urge to move again anytime soon. Even if she did, I would consider staying. I finished serving the roast vegetables and set it all out on table as Mum opened her present from them. It was a beautiful cashmere scarf in a deep emerald color.

"Il est beau merci," she hugged them again and led them to where James and I were finishing setting the table.

"James my man." Derrick high fived my brother who grinned like a maniac at him.

"Hope you're hungry?" I greeted and we all sat down. 

Mum and Andrea chatted away in French while Derrick, James and I discussed if it would be better to be Spiderman or Batman. Well James and Derrick discussed, I listened because I could understand them. Just.

As we waved them goodbye and headed inside, something in the frost that covered the lawn around the front caught my attention. Large paw prints went up to the lounge window and then back towards the forest that separated us from Mr Callas. I looked around seeing nothing, and noticing the concerned expression on Mums face as I entered, I smiled halfheartedly.

"Happy Birthday, Mum." I gave her another hug and smiled seeing our present already on her ears.

"Goodnight my darling girl." She kissed me on the forehead and we went up the stairs to bed. 

As I got settled I wondered what would await me tonight. My dreams usually involved running around the forest as a wolf with another one by my side. I tried to see the wolf that I saw the world from the eyes of but she was never visible in reflections and looking down or around at myself I could never see. I knew it was a girl and I had control of her. It was a dream so who knew how these things worked. I wanted to know more about Red Riding Hood well that's what I called her, as no one had ever said her name and it seemed fitting. Getting comfortable I waited for sleep.

Opening my eyes it was cold, the kind of cold where your nose will go numb in seconds and your breath hands in the air. I felt like I was floating, perhaps a bird and seeing my target I lingered near. The man stood in the shadows, watching a deer before it disappeared. In the distance a wolf howled, seconds later the brown figure came before the man, shifting to a human. 

"Alpha, I came to find you, a few rogues were found near the cottage south of here" The black haired man nodded, "I will go, monitor their movements. Kill them if they enter our land" 

The light brown haired man nodded, shifting back to his wolf as the dark haired man ran. His speed was fast yet I kept behind him as if a balloon on a string.

An old woman greeted the dark haired man. 

"William, it has been some months". She frowned slightly; raising her hand towards his head. After a few seconds she spoke, "You came to protect me?" she croaked, almost amazed. 

He nodded, "A witch may be useful to me one day." 

The old woman nodded, "I will indeed be in your debt. But my granddaughter is due to visit with me before the winter snows arrived. She left the village this afternoon and should have been here by nightfall. What if they have her?" 

The fear the witch felt was thick in the air. "I will find her. I promise" he growled as he shifted into a large black wolf, bigger than the brown one from before. 

I knew this wolf from my other dreams. William.

William soon found the girl and shifted back to his human form. As if she sensed being watched the girl stopped, the red hood falling to reveal long chocolate curls. He held his breath as she turned in his direction, large green eyes wide with uncertainty. The girl shrugged away her uncertainty as she pulled the hood of her red cape back up as the cool air began to sting her cheeks giving them a rosy tint. He followed her curiously, smiling as she hummed a tune as she walked further into the woods when finally he joined her at her side. She stopped her walking, turning slowly to look up at him beneath long dark lashes. 

"Hello Little Red Riding Hood" he purred. Her dress was ivory and fitted around her bust, where his eyes lingered longer than necessary. "I don't think little big girls should go walking in these spooky old woods alone" he snapped his jaws teasingly at her as if he would bite her. 

The girl held no fear for him, instead her eyes seemed to get brighter and a tiny smile appeared on her lips. 

"What big eyes you have" he purred, taking a step closer. "What full lips you have" his hand cupped her face as his thumb lightly brushed over her lips sending shivers down her spine. She took a step closer as her smaller form pressed against him. 

"What a big heart you have" Her hands reached out to press on the hardness of his chest and rested her head against him.

"The better to love you with" he replied.

My eyes fluttered opened to greet the morning light, a smile on forming on my face I had never felt so content. The wolf loved me. I suddenly sat bolt right up in bed; the girl is not me. Though the resemblance was almost as a mirror image, she could have easily been a twin but everything I felt and think, it had been as if I was her. 

'He loves us' the voice in my head repeated. What was going on?

"Muuuuuuum!" I screamed, my heart now racing. Seconds later the familiar face of my Mum appeared.

"What is it?" she asked sleepily, sitting beside me on the bed. Her hair was messy from sleep and her eyes were not fully open. A few minutes later James came in to see what was going on too.

I quickly told her about my dream, how I was certain I was the girl and how real it had all felt. Plus, I was certain I was going mad hearing voices in my head now too. She frowned, and spied the book on the bedside table. 

"Where did you get this?" she asked picking it up cautiously as if it would bite her.

"The bookstore when we first got here. Remember I told you about it. Why?" Mum opened the book, the pages now empty which only confused me more.

"My great grandmother told me some things," she stated, pausing as she tensed, her gaze going blank. "She used to tell me the story Little Red Riding Hood but not like the story people tell children now" 

I nodded, like I needed more evidence after my dreams.

"I am worried this is leading you into danger, Elizabeth" Without saying another word she got up and left the room. 

James followed. More confused than anything I threw myself back down on my bed, sighing heavily.

An hour later I grabbed the keys to Mums car and headed out. I needed to go into the forest, as if an answer for what ever was going on would be there. Deciding to wear the red trench coat I lied and said I was heading into town to see Andrea despite the early morning. Mum believed me. I had never lied to her before so why would she suspect anything? 

Pulling up in the field where we had parked for the bon fire I got out and headed into the forest. 

'Come out come out where ever you are wolfy' I thought. 

The trails had signs of being well used and looking in the dirt faint paw prints were seen. They looked old though so I carried on in my walk. It was nearly midday now and I decided to go back before getting completely lost. My legs were starting to ache from the sudden introduction of exercise. Since coming here, I had gotten a little lazy. I had only taken a few steps when the soft thud of paws on the earth was heard, a light pant following. Taking a deep breath I turned to find the large black wolf standing in the middle of the path where I had just been.

Recognition seemed to flash in his blue eyes, as the head lowered slightly as he looked me over. He was huge. Bigger than I expected, easily the size of a large pony. Images of the first dream came to mind and hesitantly I extended my hand towards him. He looked at it then at my face and then back to my hand. Finally his large paws bought him forward. The second my hand made contact with his soft fur everything went black.

"Well what do we have here?" The common drawl from the man interrupted our moment and I knew he had surprised William. 

In a swift movement he stood glaring at the intruder as he pushed me behind him blocking me from view. Williams's eyes changed from blue to black, a growl breaking out from his chest. I held on tightly to his arm; a whimpered of fear escaping me. Stories of the horror his kind could invoke came to me and I pressed a little tighter against his body.

"Seems the alpha here has himself a mate," he mocked; taking a quick look four wolves began to emerge from the forest. He was out numbered, this didn't look good for us.

"Daniel, I am not surprised you know how to recognize mates. I guess it is in your nature to kill them" I gulped at Williams taunting words, he must know what he was doing.

"Perhaps. Shall we find out how your pretty little mate screams?" The other wolves lunged at William then and fear he would be hurt raced through me. 

He knocked one down as another grabbed my red coat and tugged, causing me to stumble as the other two-grabbed hold of him. William shifted then but I was unable to appreciate his wolf as Daniel came over, shifting as he did so. I gathered my coat around me as he advanced. I stepped back slowly as a tree came against my back, trapping me in. Sounds of the fight were getting quieter but I didn't dare look away from Daniels wolf. He lunged towards me and on the ground a large branch sat. Grabbing it I hit him in the head, it deterred him for a second before he snatched it from my hold tossing it aside. Gasping a clung to the tree, closing my eyes I expected the end. 

'I love you William' I thought.

Daniels yelp was soon heard and opening my eyes more wolves surrounded me. William quickly shifted and his eyes were racing over me checking for injuries. Satisfied he lifted me against him, as a groom would carry his bride, and instinctively my arms wrapped around his neck, unable to stop the tears that escaped me, not only for the fact I could have died but also because he could have been killed too. Grandmother was waiting at her garden gate and seeing us she began to run over. I couldn't help but smile at familiar old form. William put me down gently grandmother hugged me tight. Gasping she stepped back, looking at us.

"What is this about?" she demanded, not sure what she meant I looked to William confused. He had told me she knew of his kind so what did she mean?

Before anything could be said William shifted as the gunshot echoed in the quiet night and as his wolf went to charge towards the attack another sounded out. I screamed, realizing he had been hit. After the fight, he gets shot? Did the gods hate us? As I went to run to him Grandmother pushed me inside the cottage and before she could leave the doorstop Lucus, a hunters son from the village emerged.

"Go inside old woman. I will kill this beast for you" he commanded. Distracted, I got out of the door, sprinting past Grandmother to Williams still form. Tears streamed down my face as an unbearable ache grew in my chest.

"What have you done Lucas?" I screamed at him angrily, the hurt inside crippling as I tried to glare at him. I heard his gun drop as he stepped back, looking back at my love his was human again.

"Leave now boy," grandmother ordered, her hands moving over William's body as golden sparks emerged from his body where the bullets had been. I clung to William's hand as if that act alone would save him.

"Please, please don't leave me!" I cried.

"Never," he croaked, managing a smile. Grandmother mumbled words I didn't understand, and soon his hand went limp in mine.

"No!" I screamed, throwing myself over his chest, the ache in my own unbearable. 

Grandmother finally lifted me up, offering a goblet of what looked like wine. A final look at Williams's body had me gulping it down in one go. The world swayed, and I soon found myself falling to lay on the snow beside him. Movement from the forest edge caused my eyes to drift up finding two sets of yellow ones staring back as fresh tears spilled out. I could die with him now; we would be together in the next life. 

Closing my eyes, I wished for death.