Page 63 of Red's Beast

Sadness washes through the bond and my face feels wet, though I haven't shed a tear.

You don't have to go into it. I understand. If you come out on the full moon, then that is your last time out of the woods. You'll be stuck there forever after that with no escape. I'm not sure what the condition is that would break it, but I don't want you to waste it on saving me.

I feel exasperated as she states the obvious. She is correct. I will become trapped here if I go rescue her on the full moon, but there is more to it that I can't explain to her. I'm technicallytrapped either way you look at it, unless that one condition is met.

You're going to get out of there, I know it.

She pauses for a moment before she comes up with another question.Did the witch tell you how to break it?

Yes, she did, but I cannot share those details, as it could interfere with my freedom.

I get sleepy and lay my head on my paws. As I drift off, I feel her nudge in again.Wait, are you from this village?

My eyes open in alarm. I hadn't told her that, had I?

I feel her at the back of my mind, but it doesn't seem like she sorted through my memories.Lily, you shouldn't be thinking about those things or trying to figure out who I am.

Fine. How about I tell you the story that my parents told me? Think of it as a gift for telling me part of your story.

She lets out a hiss as the cuffs burn her arms again, and I whimper with her.A story will be nice.

My parents told me this story when I was a little girl. It's not like I could explore the world, so they told me through stories of a time when things were different. There was once a young boy, who was about twenty years old, that loved a woman verymuch. He hunted for her in the woods, but she was cunning and would disappear on him. Eventually, he came to a babbling brook to get a drink. As he leaned down, he caught sight of her in the water. The moon rose high, and she shifted into a beautiful white wolf. He wanted to be with her so badly that he asked the moon to make him a wolf, so he could be with her. They lived happily ever after together in the woods, roaming wherever he wanted to go.

My heart sinks to my paws. There in the story she was told as a child is the condition to freeing me. It’s been perverted into something it’s not, though. The woman who longed to become a wolf to stay with me was Natalia.

That was beautiful, my Lily. Now, rest.

But I don’t want to. You’re the one who comes into my dreams, aren’t you?

Her question catches me off guard, and I don’t know how to answer it. Technically, yes I am and have been since we started meeting in them sometime after she turned nineteen.

Yes.

There’s a slight pause as thoughts roll around in her mind.Can you distract me again? Those dreams are sometimes the only peace I have.

With us being awake, I’m not sure how much she will see, but I know she might feel it.

I imagine myself caressing her face and feel her surprise. Then I continue to think of running my hands along her body as I lean in to kiss her like the man I used to be.

You’re kissing me?

This is what you asked for and I have waited so long for you that I’m having a hard time holding back.

There’s silence and then I feel her, the gentlest caress against my mouth.

I wish this was happening instead of only in our thoughts.

Me too, Lily.Oh, how I wish I was free and could have you as mine, but I don’t let that thought slip through our bond.

Now is not the time.

Lillian

As I sit against the cold hard wall, I can’t help but wonder if the reason he grew so meek and seemed glad we stopped talking about the story is because it is somehow related to him. I won’t dare ask, though, because I know he will never tell me.

But what if someone loved him so much that they wished they were a wolf to be with him? Could that be why he was cursed? Maybe something went wrong.

I just can’t bring myself to say anything, especially after I asked him to distract me.

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