Samantha R. Cichella - A New Successor

The group traveled the rest of the day, only stopping for a few minutes at a time. Since they had gotten such a late start, they traveled as far as they could before stopping that night. They ate a light dinner, everyone except Wolf, who ate to him what was a light dinner whereas to everyone else it was a larger than normal dinner for them. There wasn’t much talk that night either. When they were done eating, they settled down for bed.

Wolf and Virginia watched as Wendell helped Evelyn set up her blankets and get settled. Wolf had an amused expression on his face. He didn’t understand why Wendell just didn’t come out and tell Evelyn he liked her. It was obvious enough. After all, Wolf had and he'd gotten the creamy girl of his dreams. He looked over at Virginia and found her giggling. Following her gaze, he saw that Wendell had run into a tree and was now flat on his bottom rubbing his head. His face was a bright red and he was trying to avoid looking at Evelyn. Tony was doubled over laughing which only caused Wendell’s face to turn even redder.

“Oh, Virginia,” Wolf whined. “I can’t take this, can’t I help them just a little?” Wolf spread his fingers apart to emphasize how little. Virginia shook her head.

“No Wolf. If it’s meant to happen, it will happen on its own. Come on, let’s get some sleep.” Virginia got up and headed to where their blankets were. Wolf whimpered. Virginia was right. Destiny had its own way of doing things. He shouldn’t interfere. With one last look at Wendell and Evelyn, he got up and followed his mate.

Wolf was first to wake up the next morning. The sun was just starting to rise. He lay there for a little while longer before getting up. He decided to wake Virginia up last, since he figured she needed all her energy for her and the cub. He went over to Tony. He was the hardest to get up. Wolf tried shaking Tony and calling his name, but nothing seemed to faze him. Wolf looked over and saw the canteens of water. Smiling evilly, he picked one up. He unscrewed the lid and poured half of its contents on top of Tony’s face.

Tony shot up and yelled. When he saw Wolf standing there, grinning like an idiot, he stood up and chased Wolf around the campsite. Wolf laughed and ran in and out of trees, thinking he could easily outrun Tony. However, Tony was just barely behind Wolf and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t lose him.

Wendell, Evelyn, and Virginia had heard all the commotion and sat up. They watched as Tony was able to grab hold of Wolf’s tail, which he had left out, not having had time to tuck it in yet. Wolf yelped. Evelyn and Virginia sat laughing while Wendell quickly made his way over to Wolf and Tony. Tony had managed to get Wolf to stop and was pulling him closer to him. Wolf was no longer laughing. Wendell managed to separate the two, or rather, he was able to stop Tony from strangling Wolf. As Wendell was trying to push Tony back to the campsite, Wolf was making faces at him from behind Wendell. Wendell sensed something and turned around. Wolf quickly put on his innocent face and started stroking his tail to try and soothe it.

“Should have left him to the Peeps. Don’t know why I had to come all the way out here to save him,” Tony said to no one in particular.

“Aww, come on Tone, is that anyway to talk about your future son-in-law?” Wolf grinned.

“Don’t remind me!” Tony walked back over to his sleeping area.

“I feel so loved.” Wolf laughed and went over to Virginia. Tony didn’t stay mad very long, by the time they had all packed up their blankets, he was already cooled off. They had a quick breakfast of bacon sandwiches and fruit. Once they were done eating, they double-checked to make sure they had everything and that the horses were ready before leading them to the road.

When they were on their way again, Virginia brought her and Wolf’s horse next to Wendell’s.

“How far away is Dragon Mountain from here?”

“We’ll be getting there by tomorrow.”

“That soon? I thought it was longer than that, especially the time it took us last time.”

“Yes, well, last time, we didn’t have horses and there’s a quicker way than having to go through Kissing Town. That will save us about two days.”

Wolf whined. He was hoping that they would have a chance to stop in Kissing Town for a few days, for a couple different reasons. The main one was that the last time he was there with Virginia, it hadn’t turned out all that well and he wanted to spend time with her there now that she loved him back. The other reason was he wanted Wendell and Evelyn to spend some time there as well.

Virginia heard his whine and knew what he was thinking. “Wolf, we don’t have time. Remember? We’re supposed to be hurrying. Besides,” She leaned into whisper in his ear, “we can go there for out honeymoon.” She smiled when she felt Wolf’s tail thumping against the saddle. She turned back to Wendell.

“Wendell? What happened to the other magic mirrors? I didn’t see them when I came through the mirror the other day.”

“Oh, yes, we returned all of my step-mother’s mirrors to the dwarves. We figured that they were safest with those who had made them. We only kept the traveling mirror, and of course my Truth Mirror.” Virginia nodded and let her and Wolf’s horse drop back so it was next to Tony’s again.

As they rode on, Virginia mind went over a lot of things. Like how much her life had changed in the last few months. She remembered that her old dream was to open up a restaurant and all she needed was a guy interested in food. Virginia smiled and leaned back so that Wolf’s chin was resting on her head. Wolf was more than just a little interested in food. But opening up a restaurant wasn’t important anymore. She wanted to spend more time with Wolf. She had almost lost him twice now and she didn’t want it to happen again. It was weird, she'd never believed in love before meeting Wolf. She just figured it was something people imagined they felt. She had had a ton of boyfriends before, but she never felt anything with them. It could have had something to do with the fact that her mother had left them and most of her friends had divorced parents and if they weren’t divorced they were arguing. Virginia smiled at the next thought. She had used to think love was only in fairy tales. Well, she was in one now.

Wolf had been watching Virginia, wondering what was going on in her head. He couldn’t see her face so he never caught the smiles. So he decided to ask.

“What are you thinking about?”

“About how much my life has changed in the last few months. How my goals or dreams have also changed.”

Wolf nodded. He had been thinking about that a lot lately too. They both fell silent again. After awhile, Virginia said, “Wolf?”

“Hmm?”

“What happened to your parents?” Virginia felt Wolf wince and tense up. She waited for him to answer but he stayed quiet. Virginia turned around the best she could and looked up into his face. In his eyes, she saw pain and loss. Wolf whined quietly and Virginia saw that his eyes were now watery. She slowed their horse down so that Tony would be ahead of them. She put her arm around Wolf and squeezed his hand. Some of the tension left but not all.

“It’s okay Wolf. You don’t have to tell me. You can wait until you’re ready.” Wolf didn’t say anything. He saw that Virginia’s eyes were full of understanding and sympathy. Wolf felt worse. Virginia deserved to know. He was grateful that she was so understanding and caring though. She had told him all about her past, and hers was just as painful as his. At least his parents hadn’t tried to kill him and he hadn’t had to kill them. He sniffed and shook his head.

“No, you deserve to know.”

“Wolf, really, it’s okay. I understand. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” This was making Wolf feel worse instead of better. Virginia was so understanding.

Tony realized that Virginia and Wolf were no longer next to him and looked back. He saw Wolf’s face and slowed his horse down as well.

“Wolf, you okay?”

Wolf smiled and tried to act normal. But Tony had already seen him before. “Yeah Tone.” He thought a minute and then added, “But do you think we can take a break for a few minutes?”

Tony nodded and decided not to badger Wolf. He rode ahead to tell Wendell. Wendell glanced back and then nodded his head to Tony. They pulled their horses to a stop and led them to a grassy area just off the side of the road. Tony, Wendell, and Evelyn sat near the horses and had a snack. Wolf took Virginia a little way away and they both sat down on a log. Wolf was silent at first, trying to decide the best way to tell her. Although, there wasn’t a good way to tell this story.

“I wonder what they’re talking about. Wolf was upset about something.” Tony said and glanced over at the two sitting a little way off. Wendell shrugged.

Virginia took Wolf’s hand in hers and said “Take your time.” Figuring that he was having a hard time figuring out how to start she added, “Why don’t you tell me about what your parents were like? Before they were burned.” She said the last part quietly. Wolf looked at her in surprise.

“How did you know that they were burned?”

“You told me that much during the full moon in Little Lamb Village.” Virginia swallowed. She hadn’t known that Wolf didn’t remember that, and she didn’t want to tell him all of it if he didn’t. It would make him feel worse if he found out that he'd scared her into grabbing a pitchfork to keep him back. She knew the reasons he had had such a hard time during that full moon. It was his first one after being cooped up in prison for all those years. In prison, he didn’t have any room to roam or hunt or anything. So he had more energy than usual. Also, it made it worse that her mother had been trying to get him to do her bidding. He had been having a hard enough time fighting her before and when she was contacting him during the full moon it made it five times worse. His two full moons in New York had been much better. All he needed was lots of meat and Virginia. When they had gotten back to New York at first, they told each other everything that had happened when they were separated. So even though Wolf hadn’t wanted to tell Virginia about her mother being in contact with him through out their adventure, he didn’t want to lie to her either. Virginia had felt really bad when she found out what he had gone through. He had needed her help but she had been so worried with getting that mirror back.

“What else did I say?” Wolf’s voice brought Virginia back. Virginia wanted to lie, but found that she couldn’t, not to Wolf. Wolf saw her hesitation. “Virginia?”

“Well, that was pretty much it about your parents. The only other thing you mentioned was that your mother loved the moon and used to drag you out to watch it.” Wolf noticed that she was still not telling him everything. It might not be about his family but she was still hiding something.

“How did we get to talking about that?”

“Um, well, do you remember anything about that night?”

Wolf scratched his head and thought hard. “Let’s see...I remember going to the bar and eating. I don’t really remember much after that.”

“Well, you were flirting with Sally Peep and her sister.” Wolf flinched. What else had he done? He looked regretfully at Virginia. “Some Peep guys got mad that you were talking to them and were going to take you out back and beat you up. I went over there and made up a lie to get you away. Then I took you back to the barn.” Virginia stopped, hoping Wolf would be satisfied with that but he wasn’t. She still hadn’t answered his question. He looked at her expectantly and nervously, so she continues hesitantly. “You started loosing your temper when I told you that you didn’t know what you were saying and that you should get some sleep. I got kind of scared and...I...picked up a pitchfork to keep you back. It was the only thing near me at the time and I wasn’t going to do anything. But you asked me if I was going to stick it in you. That’s what other people did when they saw a wolf and that farmers built a fire and burnt your parents on it.” Virginia stopped and saw that Wolf was on the verge of crying again. She hugged him and they sat like that for awhile.

Wolf felt even worse. He had made Virginia so afraid of him that she had to pick up a pitchfork to keep him back. Even though that had happened, she still wanted to be with him. He really was the luckiest guy in all the kingdoms and he didn’t deserve it. Virginia should be with someone better, who would be able to treat her properly. He looked down to her face and his heart almost broke. He couldn’t stand to loose her, he loved her too much. But he would do anything to make sure that she would be happy and well cared for. Wolf didn’t know what to do. He had never been so happy in his life. The time he had spent with Virginia these last few months had been the greatest. He would always cherish the time that they had spent together. Wolves really did mate for life and he knew that he would never find anyone like Virginia and he wasn’t going try. He would be miserable without her, but if it were for the best... But how could he do it? He should ask Virginia if she was truly happy but what if she lied and said what she thought he wanted to hear? He could ask Tony and Wendell. After all, they were her father and brother. If they didn’t think Wolf was good enough, well then he would have to leave.

But Wolf remembered how it felt when he found out that Wendell really did care for him. Then there was the day before when Tony had said that he was part of the family now. Wolf had felt so happy when Tony had said that. He knew that Tony was not particularly fond of him. That’s when Wolf remembered the baby. Cripes! He had forgotten all about his cub in the last few minutes. If he left Virginia, he would be leaving behind his cub as well. That almost broke his heart again. All his life he had wanted a big family, a mate and lots of cubs. If he left Virginia, he would be leaving his dreams behind as well. Wolf didn’t know what to do. He would ask Wendell and Tony. They would know what to do. Until then, Virginia wanted to know about his past. She deserved to know it, even if he might not be staying.

“Well, my parents were burned. When I was about twelve, they were accused of eating a flock of sheep and killing a young girl.” Wolf tried to ignore Virginia’s gasp. This was going to be hard. He had tried not to think about what had happened for years because it hurt so much. “They didn’t do it, I know that because they had spent the whole day at home, I never saw them leave. You see, my father was a wolf and my mother was a human. My father was a silver-black wolf and my mother had the most beautiful green eyes and golden red hair. They loved each other a lot...” Wolf sniffed and tried to continue. He felt Virginia hug him tighter and her touch helped calm him. “I had two little brothers also. We were all very close. We lived in a village in the Second Kingdom. Mama never really talked about her family much. None of us did. Her family wasn’t very fond of us, in fact they hated us because of what Papa was. They pretty much ignored us and told everyone that they didn’t have another daughter. My father’s parents were killed before I was born so we didn’t really have any family other than us five.”

“What were their names?”

“My mother’s name was Rose, and my father’s name was Jacob. My brother’s names were Lucas and Edward.”

“Why did they name you Wolf?”

“They didn’t. My real name is Warren, but after my parents died, I never really talked to anyone and everyone just called me wolf. So that’s what I used.” Virginia nodded. It would feel to weird calling him Warren. She would just stick with Wolf.

“Ok, so tell me more about what happened. Where did your brothers go after your parents...died? What did you do?”

“Well, when I was twelve, my brother’s were each six and seven. I don’t remember much, just that one night, a bunch of farmers and villagers came to our cottage and took my parents away. They said that they found a flock of sheep torn to pieces and a young girl dead as well. Since we were the only known wolves close enough they blamed Papa. Mama had gotten all upset and had hidden us in the cellar and told us to stay there. She didn’t come back; neither did Papa. After a while, I left and told my brothers to stay and I followed my parents trail. The farmers and villagers had taken them to the town center and when I got there I saw them burning...” Wolf broke off and began to cry softly. He could still remember that part clearly. It had been burned into his mind forever. Virginia let him cry. She pulled him close to her and he sobbed in her arms. When he had stopped, he continued, his voice breaking every now and then.

“When I went back to the cottage, I couldn’t find my brothers anywhere. Their scent was crossed with some other people I didn’t know. They had taken them somewhere. At the time I was scared and cold and I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t able to follow the scent very far. I eventually found a small cave and curled up inside of it. After that, I didn’t really care about anything anymore. I knew that it was my fault my brothers were gone. I just hoped that they were with somebody who could look after them. I wouldn’t have been able to take care of them. I couldn’t even take care of myself. For a few years after that, I just wandered around, not caring what I did. I would steal sheep and meat from farmers. I was constantly in trouble. They never could catch me. Not until I was maybe about twenty. That’s when they finally caught me. I had eaten a whole flock of sheep during a full moon and was found near the pen in the morning. They would have burnt me if it weren’t for who I was.”

Virginia looked up in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Wolf was silent. This was the part that he had dreaded the most. He didn’t want to tell her but she wouldn’t rest until she knew. He had already given too much away the other day when he mentioned his cousin. He sighed.

“My mother’s family...my mother was...a Riding Hood.” Virginia gasped and pulled away to look at him in the face. She was thinking that he was kidding but when she looked into his eyes, she could see that he was telling the truth.

“So...That makes you a Riding Hood? Which means...you’re royalty!” She looked at him astonished.

“Yes.” Wolf growled. He wasn’t proud of it, not at all. “My mother was Red Riding Hood the First’s youngest daughter. When she met my father, she fell in love with him. Her family disowned her, it was their greatest fear, they hated wolves and their daughter ran off with one. They didn’t slacken up on the wolf laws afterward either. In fact, they made them harsher. They never tried contacting us and my mother never tried getting in touch with them. They just acted like she never existed. Which was fine by me. I hated the Hoods and I still do. Doesn’t matter that they are family. Red Riding Hood the Third is my cousin.”

“That’s what you meant when you said your cousin, a couple days ago. You were talking about Red the Third,” Virginia said thoughtfully. “Well, I always knew you were my Prince Charming, but I didn’t think literally.” She chuckled and Wolf smiled.

“Yes, that’s the only reason I was able to be sent to prison instead of getting burned at the stake. Cousin Red was informed of what I had been doing. She didn’t want me to die, but she didn’t want me around either. So she had me sent to Snow White Memorial Prison.” Wolf sighed. It felt a little better to have told Virginia. He hadn’t told anyone about his past before, he had always kept it bottled up because it hurt so much. But he knew that Virginia would understand. She had gone through a similar experience loosing her mother.

They sat in silence for a while. Virginia still had her arms wrapped around Wolf securely. She couldn’t believe how much he had gone through. And he had kept it all bottled up this whole time! To think, he lost all his family at such a young age. At least I had Dad there for me after Mom left. Wolf didn’t have anyone. His relatives didn’t want to have anything to do with him, and his own cousin had him sent to prison! Virginia felt anger begin to boil up inside of her. Poor Wolf had spent all those years in prison and his own cousin had sent him there. Sure she had kept him from being burned but the least she could have done was help him out some. Virginia squeezed Wolf harder. They had both gone through so much. Wolf was done crying, now he was just silent, staring off into the woods.

Virginia watched him and she had a feeling that there was something else on his mind. Not necessarily something to do with his past but something he was afraid to say out loud.

“Wolf? Is there something else? You look... distant, like something is on your mind.” Wolf looked at her in mild surprise. He was shocked that she was able to see right through him like that. He didn’t want to voice what was on his mind, at least not yet. He was still not sure what he was going to do. But Virginia’s eyes were staring a hole right through him. He wouldn’t be able to hide it.

“Virginia? Do you...Are...are you happy?” When Virginia looked at him confused, he tried saying more. “I mean, with me.”

“Of course I am Wolf. I’ve never been happier. I love you. What’s wrong?” She turned so that she was completely facing him. Wolf sighed.

“Well, when you told me what I did in Little Lamb Village, I figured that you...I wasn’t good enough for you and that you deserved someone better than me, someone who could take care of you properly. Virginia, I love you and I don’t want anything to happen to you. I want to make sure that you’re happy.”

Virginia brought her hands up to Wolf’s face and she pulled it so that they were looking into each other’s eyes. She brought her lips to his and she kissed him passionately. When they broke, Wolf smiled and said “Cripes.” Virginia smiled and said, “Wolf, I love you. You’re my mate. No one else. I know that you’ll do everything you can to take care of me and our cub.” She took his hand and set it on her stomach. He smiled and rubbed his hand on her abdomen as she had her hand over his. “And I wouldn’t have anyone else for a mate. Besides, we’re getting married next month remember?” They hugged and Virginia moved up onto Wolf’s lap. Wolf still had a big smile on his mouth. Virginia loved him and she wanted him as her mate! He had never felt happier. This was better than when Virginia had first told him that she loved him. Now he knew that she meant it. When they were ready, they made their way back over to the others.

Wendell watched as they made their way back over to where they were sitting. Wolf looked better, his eyes were red so he could tell that he had been crying. Although, he looked a lot happier now.

“Ready?” Wendell asked as he stood up. Tony and Evelyn stood up as well. Virginia nodded and they untied the horses and headed back to the road.

When they were on their way again, Virginia whispered to Wolf, “Are you going to tell the others about you being a prince?”

Wolf shrugged. “I don’t know, not right now. You’re the only person I’ve ever told, and I don’t want it to change anything. Red won’t acknowledge me as family or ever have me heir to her throne, and I don’t want to be. I guess I can tell Tony and Wendell later on.” Virginia nodded.

“I won’t say anything. That will be up to you tell them.” She leant back into him and watched Wendell and Evelyn who had their horses next to each other’s and were talking about something. Tony was unusually quiet, staring off into the woods. It was only then that Virginia realized why her father was so quiet. He felt left out. Virginia had Wolf, and now Wendell had Evelyn. Tony was all alone. Virginia felt guilty. Wolf noticed Virginia’s expression and followed her gaze over to Tony. It didn’t take long to figure out what Virginia was thinking. He took their horse up closer to Tony and decided to try and start a conversation with his future father-in-law.

“Tony, what have you been doing since we went back to New York? Have you started working on those bouncy castles yet?” Virginia had shown Wolf what bouncy castles were when they had returned to New York. He had thought they were really neat. Tony’s face brightened up a little. He launched into a long discussion about his progress so far. Wolf was interested at first but grew bored after a half-hour. He didn’t show it though. He wanted to make Tony feel better and this was definitely helping some. Every now and then, Wolf would offer some ideas about different designs. Tony agreed to most of them. They came up with some like, Snow White’s glass coffin, Rapunzel’s castle, beanstalks, and even a gingerbread house. By the time they were done, Tony was quite excited. Virginia smiled. She was glad that Wolf was able to cheer him up. She knew that her dad and Wendell had grown close and so it had to be hard on him for Wendell to want to spend time with someone else. Her father needed to find someone else, like a girlfriend. As much as Virginia didn’t want a stepmother and she still felt it would be to soon since her mother just died, she figured it would do Tony good.

Virginia became lost in her thoughts as Wolf and Tony moved onto other things to talk about.