Read Little Red (Not Quite the Fairy Tale #5) for Free Online

regret his words, but he wished they hadn’t upset her.
    “You may not make a habit of dismembering people, but others amongst your kind do,” he stated, matter-of-fact.
    She nodded her agreement and looked away from him, making him feel even worse. He wanted her dark eyes back on him.
    “There, there,” Mimi said softly, her hand on the woman’s knee. “It won’t be so bad. If elves can turn up and announce themselves without any issues, I don’t see why we’d reject wolves.”
    “I never understood it either, before today,” she admitted. “Your grandson has a point: we’ll be mistrusted because wolves are hunters. We are threats. I shouldn’t have forgotten that.”
    She turned to him, her eyes ablaze, yet cold as ice.
    “Feel free to announce to the world what a menace my kind represents, but if you point a finger in my direction and endanger my pack, you’ll become my enemy, your highness. Trust me: you don’t want to find out what that means.”
    Then, as regal as anyone in the room had ever been, she pushed on her feet and headed out. When she’d reached the door, she turned back to add: “We’ll be out of your hair by morning. Thanks for the hospitality.”
    The latter part was addressed to Mimi, and said with a faint smile. Then, she was gone, without sparing him a glance.
     
    And that, gentlemen, is how you utterly, completely fuck up.
     
    None of what had occurred had been part of the plan. His idea had been going in, actually introducing himself, asking about the pack leader, and getting her opinion on the best way to get rid of him. He’d also wanted to thank her... and perhaps even ask her out. That was left to be determined. He was so confused, but in the midst of everything, the sole thing that hadn’t wavered was his inherent attraction towards her. If there was any way it could be reciprocated, he needed to know where it might lead.
    Somehow, he ended up offending her instead of charming her.
    Great.
     
    Chase slept rather badly that night; by dawn, he was resolved: he had to apologize.
    With some distance, he could see that what he said could be interpreted in various ways, including some that weren’t in his favor.
    He’d generalized, throwing every wolf in one basket, and that probably bordered on racism.
    Chase had met one horrible Wilderling, as well as ten cowards who hadn’t chosen to fight against him; but the same day, he’d met two hundred individuals who were just normal people – fur notwithstanding. The only thing he knew for certain about them was their strong sense of family; they had each other’s back, like no other community he’d ever heard of. Classifying them all under one umbrella had been stupid.
    Hell, he’d actually said monsters. To Lana’s face. Frankly, he’d meant that the Alpha had been a monster, but he hadn’t exactly clarified that.
    Chase wished someone could have punched some sense into him before he opened his big mouth.
    When it became quite apparent that he wasn’t going to get anymore sleep, despite the godforsaken hour, he got up and started the day off by blowing some steam in the gym, punching a bag as hard as he could. First, he’d imagined it to be the cocky alpha, and he’d bruised his knuckles. Then, he visualized his own face, saying and repeating “They need to understand what kinds of monsters roam their lands.” He hit the thing so hard he broke his skin, and knocked the bag off its hook.
    After wrapping his hands, Chase tried his luck at casually lingering in the corridors, hoping to bump into Lana like it was a coincidence, but the palace was quiet, eerily silent.
    Around nine, he went up to Mimi’s drawing room; the women had seemed to get along, so he hoped Lana might popped by.
    The Queen sent him an icy stare and looked away, returning to her knitting; never had he seen her wield her large, intimidating needles quite so fiercely.
    “Grandmother,” he greeted her, trying to smile his way into his good