Page 30 of Little Red Riding Hood

Toby gripped it tight and pulled himself up. The moment he put weight on his injured leg, he crumpled with a yelp.

Red steadied him. “You need to shift. Your wolf form will heal faster.”

“But it hurts somuch—”

“I know, little friend. But the sooner you shift, the sooner the pain will stop.”

Toby’s face scrunched up in concentration. His small frame trembled, then blurred. Soon, where the boy had stood, a black wolf pup now balanced on three legs, his fourth held carefully off the ground.

“Good job.” Red smiled. “Think you can make it back through the tunnel?”

The pup limped forward, determination evident in every step. Red followed close behind, ready to catch him if he stumbled.

“Is my mum really mad? I bet she is. But I bet she isn’t as angry as I was, when I heard they were making Wim leave our pack.”

“Is that why you tried to follow him?”

“Yeah! It wasn’t his fault he ate those people. His sickness made him do it. It’s not fair he had to leave all by himself!”

Red hummed in agreement.

“And before that, he was hiding away in his cottage for months, all by himself! Alpha wouldn’t let him out even to continue to train me to hunt. It’s so stupid. Like he would hurtme?I’m his best friend!”

Red snorted, quickly turning it into a cough. “Best friends? How… nice!”

Tobias stopped his three-legged hop. “I’m not joking.” His black ears twitched. “He’s been my best friend since I was five, when a storm came while we were out playing. I was a stupid scaredy-cat and started crying like a baby, but he made a shelter with his own body, keeping me warm until the rain stopped. He always puts others before himself, just like a brave knight does.”

“I believe you,” Red replied. Hadn’t Wim acted similarly towards Red? Taking care of him, at the expense of himself?Did you think you were special, Red?A cruel voice whispered in his mind.Wim sees you like a child—weak, helpless, needing protection.

“He sounds like the perfect best friend,” Red forced himself to say.

“He is!” Toby said forcefully.

Red’s chest tightened at Tobias’s earnest defence of Wim. The child’s unwavering loyalty struck a raw nerve—memories of his own desperate attempts to gain Queen Schön’s approval bubbled to the surface. He’d spent countless hours practising perfect posture, memorising etiquette, trying to hide his mismatched eyes by styling his long hair just so. All for nothing.

Yet here was Wim, who’d earned such devoted friendship simply by being kind. By sheltering a frightened child from the rain, by teaching him to hunt.

How different would his life have been if someone had wrapped him in their arms during storms, instead of leaving him wrapped in wool on cold palace steps?

Red untangled the strange knot of envy that had formed inside him before pushing the vile feeling deep down. How pathetic to be jealous of a child.

“Are you alright?” Tobias asked, his wolf head tilted to one side. “You look sad.”

Red strode briskly ahead. “Let’s focus on getting out of here.”

“Who even are you, anyway?” said Tobias, curious.

“I’m Red. I’m from the palace.”

“The palace?Do you know the Queen?” The pup whispered the question, as if even uttering the phrase might summon Queen Schön to strike him down. “Is it true she’s ruled for over two hundred winters? That’s what Ma said!”

“It’s true,” said Red. Two hundred winters, and no sign of weakening, not a single wrinkle on her brow.

“So are you a prince?”

“Definitely not! Do I look like one?”

“Not really.”