Red by Kate Serine Read Free Book Online Page B

“Don’t you want to fall in love, settle down, live happily ever after?”
    I cringed before I could stop myself. “I don’t believe in happily ever after. Not anymore.”
    “I know Wolf hurt you,” Nate said, “but how can you not believe in happily ever after? You’re a fairytale.”
    “I’m not a fairytale,” I snapped. “I’m a parable. A moral. And a misguided one at that. The first time I heard my own story it was being told to a group of young girls as a cautionary tale about the evils of men and sexuality!”
    Sad but true. And, honestly, I don’t know which part pissed me off more—that Seth was maligned as a villain in the tale, that I was portrayed as a little girl too naive and delicate to decide my own fate, or that all these young women were being spoon fed horrific lies in an effort to preserve their chastity by keeping them dangerously ignorant.
    I sat brooding over the tragedy of it all for a long moment before Nate said, “So, if the story everyone’s always heard is bullshit, you want to tell me what really happened? Call me crazy, but I’m guessing there was no cross-dressing involved when Seth seduced you.”
    “No—there was no cross-dressing,” I replied, laughing a little in spite of the heaviness in the center of my chest. I let out a long sigh, then said, “I met Seth when I was eighteen. He was a hunter who lived alone in the woods near my village.” I felt a grin curving my lips. “The first time I saw him, he took my breath away—he was wickedly handsome. But it wasn’t just that—he was unbelievably kind, and exceptionally gentle.”
    “Unfortunately, he was also a werewolf.”
    “Yeah, there was that.”
    “I assume that didn’t go over so well with your parents,” Nate guessed.
    I grunted. “To put it mildly. And when the villagers found out the truth about Seth, they went into full panic mode—complete with torches and pitchforks.” I turned my head so Nate couldn’t see my face as I remembered that horrible night so long ago. “When I heard what they were planning, I went to Seth to warn him. I planned to run away with him, be with him forever, but he thought it’d be safer if I stayed. He promised he’d come back for me.”
    “But he didn’t.”
    I shook my head.
    “Maybe he thought he was doing you a favor by staying away.”
    “Some favor,” I drawled. “My parents disowned me and the village cast me out into the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on my back. I wandered around for a few days until I finally collapsed.”
    “What happened then?” Nate asked, his voice carrying an edge that made me turn and look at him.
    I shrugged. “Don’t know. I only remember feeling really cold. And hopeless. I was sure I was going to die—and I didn’t much care. Then . . . ”
    “What?”
    “I just . . .” I paused, trying to put what happened next into words. “I felt like someone wrapped his arms around me and held me. It was so warm and peaceful. . . .” My words trailed off and I closed my eyes for a moment, remembering the inexplicable comfort I felt in that dark embrace. I’d never felt anything quite like it before or since.
    Suddenly recalling that Nate was sitting next to me, waiting for me to continue, I forced myself to snap out of it. I could feel the blood rising in my cheeks as I said quickly, “Anyway, when I woke up, I was at Gran’s. When she heard my story, she insisted I stay. She didn’t have any family either, so I became like the granddaughter she never had.”
    “And the rest is history?” Nate supplied gently.
    I shifted in my seat. “Yeah. Something like that.”
    “You know what I think?” Nate asked.
    I gave him a sour look. “Can I stop you from telling me?”
    His incredible laugh burst from him, and then he turned those amazing black eyes on me, reading me a lot better than I would have liked. “Whether you like it or not, Red,” he said, “there’s more to you than your story. You may think it