Mr. Red Riding Hoode

breathe?”

Steve nodded, then pulled up his hood. Breathing was good. He figured it would give him a few more minutes of life before they found his frozen corpse somewhere in the woods, because this had to be one of those life-and- death hallucinations he’d read about.

It was the only thing that made sense, really. He’d die, they’d find a Stevecicle, and they’d send flowers, the end. He closed his eyes and prayed his ass would stop hurting.

He should have gone to Bermuda.

Chela glared at Dave and snarled as her mate passed out.

“What?”

She chuffed at him. This was why she didn’t let her Packmates deal with the straights.

Chapter Four

“Go away, Ben!”

Chela shook her head as Steve bellowed at Ben through the closed doors. Because of his severe freak-out, they’d decided to move him to one of the employee cabins until they could get him to calm down.

Instead, he’d gone ape-shit, locking himself inside the cabin and refusing to come out at all, even with bribes of steak. Hell, Dave had stood under his window and sung “Kumbaya” for hours, scaring away birds and causing the rest of the Pack to hide in the lodge, hands over their ears, until he gave up.

Steve had done absolutely nothing, and that had scared Ben more than he was willing to admit.

Chela rolled her eyes. She could already feel that, after three days of Ben’s begging and Dave’s laughing, the fear was slowly turning into annoyance. Rick had stayed out of it, allowing the men who knew Steve best to get him past his fears, but she was pretty sure the Alpha wouldn’t stay out of it for much longer. He wanted this resolved and his Pack back to normal.

Most of all, he wanted Dave to promise never to sing again.

Ever.

Chela, however, was done waiting. She wanted her mate, and damn if she wasn’t going to get him.

Chela leaned up against the side of the cabin, wishing she could just walk through the door and greet her mate the way she wanted to. If she could bite him, he’d feel the mating pull and all of this would be just a weird memory. “Give me his cell phone number.”

Ben sighed. “He’s refusing to answer.”

“You think I’m going to call him?” Chela gave him her best Belle look, enjoying the all-over shudder that ran over him.

“Shit. Here. Just don’t do anything I’ll regret.”

Chela put the number in her phone and immediately began typing. She hit send with a grin.

“What the fuck?”

The confusion they heard through the door had Ben giving her the evil eye. “What did you do?”

She shrugged and started typing again, hitting send when Ben tried to look over her shoulder. “Nuffing.”

“Chel.”

“Trust me.”

She could already feel the amusement warring with the fear and annoyance in the man behind the locked door. Chela bit her lip to hide her smile and sent another picture.

Bless you, Belle. This was the best idea ever. It had taken her a few hours to gather all the images and quotes and load them on her phone, but she was willing to bet this would be what broke the ice with her frightened mate.

The amusement was fading. Time to send the next picture.

When Ben saw what she was sending Steve, he started to chuckle. “Droopy Dog? Really?”

She typed out the quick message in her best Droopy. Hello, all you happy people. You know what? I’m the hero.

She could almost hear the snicker, but he didn’t respond, so she sent him another cartoon dog. This one was just a simple GIF of a puppy wagging its tail, with the message, Please come out to play with me?

The response was swift and decisive. No.

She sent him Marvin the Martian and his green dog, K9. Aw, c’mon. How can you resist that face?

His amusement spiked, but he still sent her No.

This time she sent him the Grinch and Max. You’re mean.

No! But she could almost hear him laughing.

Odie accompanied her next message, drooling all over the place. I promise, I’m harmless.

No answer. She dug up Peg from Lady and the Tramp for her next message.

If he’s a tramp,

he’s a good one,

and I wish that I

could travel his way.

She waited a moment, but all she sensed was confusion. Damn. For a moment she’d forgotten. He didn’t feel the mating pull yet. She should have saved that one.

She dug out the next image, one of Courage the Cowardly Dog. Something fishy is going on, or my name is Aloysius… And it’s not.

Snickers answered that one, making her smile. Her mate had the best laugh.

“Where did you get all these?”

She’d forgotten Ben was still looking over her shoulder. “Which, the pics or the quotes?”

“Both.”

“Belle.”

“Ah. Yeah.”

She grinned. So far it seemed to be working. At least Steve was talking to her, even if it was to say no.

The next message from him was followed by a swift dash of fear. You’re a werewolf. Ben’s a werewolf. That’s not something you get over with cutesy text messages.

She typed back, I know, but…

She sighed and sent him a GIF of a little boy hugging his dog.

Silence. Not even his emotions bled through.

The next message she sent was Blue from Blue’s Clues. Isn’t it time to get out of the Thinking Chair?

That got a reaction. She’d been afraid he’d somehow snuck out of the cabin despite Ben and Chela sniffing for traces of him, his emotions were that quiet.

No. But she could sense he was wavering. By proving she was goofy, she was making herself human again. She needed him to see her as human first, wolf second, even if that wasn’t always true.

If you came out, we could finally go to dinner. A picture of Lady and the Tramp eating spaghetti followed her text.

Silence again, but this time she felt more amusement than anything else. When her cell phone dinged, she looked at the image and broke into laughter.

He’d sent her Snuffles, from Quick Draw McGraw, pointing toward his open mouth to beg for a dog biscuit.

Just you, though. No one else.

She didn’t need to even think about her response. Yes. Hell to the yes. Have her