Russel, Lola, and the brothers waited over an hour and thirty minutes before Ray ran back into their makeshift camp. They all heard him coming, even Lola, a lot earlier than they saw him. His fully-shifted wolf form was not the stealthiest of creatures. During that time, those left behind barely said anything to each other. Lola spent maybe ten or fifteen minutes talking to Russel, attempting to make him back down from fighting his father. Judging from what the brothers said and even the grim look on his face, he didn’t think he would be able to beat him. Which meant, he was going to die.

Pain blossomed in her chest at the thought, making her feel queasy and sick. She clutched her chest, trying not to cry at the thought of losing him. She didn’t want the brothers to have even more ammunition to throw at Russel. The battle, however, was a losing one and the tears fell anyway. He saw them, put an arm around her, and pulled her in closer to him. He kissed the top of her head, ignoring the raised eyebrows and inquisitive looks on Reid’s and Rutger’s faces. Roland, thankfully, was still snoozing away, loud, squeaky snores rumbling out of him every few seconds.

“Don’t worry.” He tried to console her but his words felt hollow, like he didn’t believe them himself.

“You can’t tell me that,” Lola whispered back, her voice thick with emotion. “This fight is because of me. You should have just killed me in Gloucester like he wanted. Then none of this would be happening.”

He jerked at her words, his body stiffening. She felt something boiling deep inside him, a terrifying sort of energy. When she looked at him, she was shocked to see he was not just pissed, but enraged. He reached out and firmly grabbed the lower part of her face with his hand. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t comfortable either. He forced her head up so they could look into each other’s eyes again.

She didn’t think she’d ever seen him so angry before, not even when his brothers showed up and taunted him.

“Never say that to me again. You understand?” he asked, his voice iron-hard and, frankly, terrifying. “The second I saw you, I knew I could never hurt you. And when you told me your name, that didn’t change, Lola. I would battle a thousand oni, or ghouls, or whatever the hell else tries to hurt you. I would give up everything just to protect you. Facing my father is much easier compared to all that, wouldn't you agree?”

He brought his lips to hers and kissed her so deeply, she felt a pleasant, heady sensation. She returned the kiss with equal amounts of passion and for those brief few moments they stole, it was just the two of them.

No monsters hunting them down.

No deranged werewolves coming for her.

No werewolf brothers.

No big bad king wolf trying to have her killed.

Lola didn’t want to let him go or break away but as is often the case, reality intruded on them in a blunt, irritating fashion.

“So she’s got ya pussy-whipped then,” Reid said. “At least something is making a bit of sense then.”

The kiss broke off and Russel looked about to run at Reid. Ray bursting back into their spot stopped the two’s potential confrontation though. He shifted back into his human form, standing there butt ass naked and looking nowhere close to ashamed about it. Lola looked away, not wanting to see all the unpleasant, and extremely hairy, nooks and crevices of Russel’s brother.

“This comes as no surprise to anyone but father has agreed to the Blood Challenge,” Ray said, not even breathing hard.