The woman smiled. Other women in the crowd were talking excitedly to each other. Even a few men looked intrigued at the prospects that such a future alliance between their kind could bring. Not everyone looked convinced or happy about it. Arie knew it would take some time to sway the more resistant members of the community after a lifetime of firmly held beliefs.
Turning away from the crowd, Arie approached her cousin and hugged her tightly before pulling away to look Maddi in the eyes. “Are you sure you want to stay here? I am sure if you come with us, we could help you find a nice triad of your own,” she said with a suggestive grin.
Cyrus tensed, his chest puffing out with indignation, but Maddi set a restraining hand on his chest and laughed. She smiled up at him as she spoke. “No, cousin. My place is in the Citadel. There is much that needs to be done here, especially if we plan on welcoming Ragoru among our midst. I am needed. Besides, I have grown rather fond of Cyrus here. He has convinced me that he would be lost without my level of planning and strategy.”
The Guild Master laughed and set his arm around her shoulder possessively. “All too true, my lady.”
Arie raised her brow. “And what will become of the Guild now? Surely you don’t plan to continue to rob residents blind.”
“Not at all. We have a new mission. We have elected to fracture into several task-oriented guilds. The Artisans Guild to bring some color to this depressingly pallid Citadel. The Guardsman Guild to protect the city. The Theatrical Guild to put some of the more thespian talents of our members to better use, and so on.” His smile softened. “What of you? Can we not entice you stay and help us rebuild?”
Arie exchanged a long look with her mates and shook her head. “My place… our place… is out there in our territory. We will continue to work from the other side to bring peace among us. There has been hostility toward humanity because of the deeds of the Order. Much needs to be settled among the Ragoru.”
Cyrus and Maddi nodded solemnly.
“The luck of the gods be with you, then,” Cyrus said.
“And don’t forget to call on us if you need us for any reason,” Maddi added. “You have done so much for the Citadel. We can never repay it.”
“Just keep looking after things here. That is more than enough,” Arie said. “We will drop in sometime to check on how you are doing.”
Rager rested a hand on her shoulder. “It is time, mate.”
Maddi sighed. “You have to go now, don’t you? It seems that we barely had any time to really get to know each other.”
Arie smiled and leaned forward to press a kiss against her cousin’s cheek. “I will see you again soon.”
Without warning, Warol scooped her up in his arms and darted through the crowd. The people gave a startled gasp as they parted for the Ragoru running among them. Smiling faces whipped by Arie’s vision, one after another, but all that she was truly captivated by was the smile in her mate’s yellow eyes.
“Are you stealing me or rescuing me?” she asked.
His teeth flashed in a predatory grin, just before he put on a burst of speed that took them outside the city gates. She wrapped her arms around him as tall flowers waved in the breeze and the wild grasses flashed by. A laugh burst from her lips as Kyx slid up beside them and blew her his facsimile of a kiss before darting past, taking the lead. But then her eyes found Rager, his large, muscled bulk taking up the rear at an easy clip, his blue eyes shining with love as he looked upon her.
Arie flushed with the heat of their adoration, desire slicking her thighs. Warol growled with lust as she grinned up at him. She had a feeling he would make it to a cave in record time. As far as she was concerned, there was no great hurry. She would enjoy teasing her mates until they had a moment alone.
They had all their lives to love each other.
Epilogue
Arie stretched languidly on the fur pelt in front of their hearth. Summer had been a beautiful season full of new adventures. Spring had just ended when they arrived at the border of their territory, and as Kyx had predicted, his parents were there waiting. By that time, Arie was round with her pregnancy and Emala had been overjoyed after she fussed for over an hour over the scars that were still minimally visible on Kyx. His fur had filled in over most of them as they’d traveled, but they were still noticeable if one looked close enough.
More than anything, Arie treasured her first view of their den, hidden away amid a briar of roses and various flowers that had grown in thick during their absence. Things were tight in the large den with the two families living together while the smaller second den was built in their territory, but Arie appreciated that time of closeness, especially when her labor pains came around midsummer. She delivered a fat, healthy son with black and red brindled fur. Warol had barked out a laugh at the sight and proclaimed their rog to have the most poignant blessings of both worlds.
Arie couldn’t disagree, especially not when she looked down into the clear, icy blue eyes of her baby. All four eyes. Like Kyx, their son Fazel was largely Ragoru in form, his human side only softening the features. He snapped at her fingers as he clung to her with his four tiny arms. His hold weakened and he tumbled into her lap.
Warol laughed from where he reclined behind her as Rager scooped up their son from the other side, growling a small reprimand at their frisky rog. Winter had come, and they were snug in their den just the way Arie had imagined the winter before when they had nothing more than a cave. Kyx was already making plans for the Withering Days this year, and Arie couldn’t wait.
Her belly tightened at the idea of the lavish attention her mates would pay her. Thankfully, Emala had found the herb that Arie needed to delay another pregnancy so they could enjoy rutting without fear of another rog too soon. Fazel needed some time as the only baby before they considered breeding more. Her mates had initially been disappointed with the idea, wanting a litter of rogs running around, but ultimately agreed that it was sound logic.
Her mates contented themselves with showering their love on Arie and their son.
Arie smiled as she watched Rager toss Fazel in the air and catch him. Fazel certainly didn’t suffer any lack of attention between the four of them, even less when Emala and her mates visited. Everyone made time to play with their rog, chief among them Rager, who doted on their son. Sometimes it seemed as if everyone else in the family had to fight to hold the baby when Rager always had the tiny male tucked into one of his arms. Floor time for their son was a concept that her huge mate struggled with.
She snuggled into Warol’s chest as his fingers played through her chin-length hair. He flicked a lock against her nose and smiled at her.
“I love you, my red treasure,” he whispered in her ear.
Author’s Note
Writing Red was an entirely new adventure for me, all spawned from a though of what if we took a popular fairy tale and reinterpreted it as an alien love story. You see this a lot with werewolves in the paranormal romance genre, but it seemed like an exciting thing to attempt to do for a dystopian science fiction romance. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it. While it is entirely possible that I may revisit this world in the future, at this point my only plans is a novella telling the story of Emala and her mates with a slight Snow White theme just because I became so captivated with their family while writing Red. Although I don’t have any further immediate plans for the Ragoru, I do have other fairy tale science fiction romances planned though set in different versions of Earth or in space and on other worlds.
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Thanks for reading!
S.J. Sanders
Other Works by S.J. Sanders
The Mate Index
First Contact
The VaDorok
Hearts of Indesh (Valentine Novella)
The Edo
ka’s Destiny
The Vori’s Mate
Eliza’s Miracle (Novella)
A Kiss on Kaidava
The Vori’s Secret
A Mate for Oigr (Halloween Novella)
Heart of the Agraak
A Gift for Medif
The Arobi’s Queen (coming soon)
Monsterly Yours
The Orc Wife
The Troll Bride
The Accidental Werewolf’s Mate
Sci-Fi Fairytales
Red: A Dystopian World Alien Romance
Ragoru Beginnings Romance
White: Emala’s Story
Huntress
Dark Spirits
Havoc of Souls
The Mirror (also part of Mischief Matchmakers)
Forest of Spirits (coming soon)
Shadowed Dreams Erotica
The Lantern
Serpent of the Abyss
Red: A Dystopian World Alien Romance Page 30
