A sneer took me out of my torpor! My fists are still in front of the Master of Wolves' steel blue eyes. He laughs without opening his mouth.

"Oh how sweet!" he mocks. "So... you're not an Ewe."

I froze in terror. Did I speak out loud? No. He... he read in my mind. No... it's worst than that: he's the one who triggered this flashback. Him! How?

"Wolf!" says Shawn annoy while coming behind me. "Don't do that with us! You don't read the thoughts of someone else in the group."
"Pfff" says the strange creature while sitting at the table. "Poor sheep, if you knew... you friend the Vixen..."
"Shut up!" I yell. "If you open your mouth I'll put in a stake. Even a master wolf couldn't survive. Am I clear?"
"Aggressive and romantic?" he sneers. "It's so refreshing. Come on the Vixen, sit. I'm hungry."

He opens a pizza box and starts to eat. I look at him with mistrust and rage. He read in my mind. What tells me that he doesn't continue?

"Nothing..." he says between to bites. "I read what distracts me and you... you are so entertaining."
"I'm going to kill him."

I walk toward him but Mimi is quicker.

"Wolf deeear! Give me a slice."
"Don't touch my food, the rat! It makes me nervous! Eat your four cheeses quietly... grrr. You're so noisy!"
"Wolfiii, be niiice!"

She sits beside him and pleads while squirming on her chair.

A hand falls on my shoulder.

"Let's eat, tomorrow will be a long day," announce Shawn.
"Listen the sheep, I..."
"I will answer all your questions tonight," he said. "We will have more time just the two of us."
"If you think that you are going to sleep in my bed, you are wrong!"
"We will see," he said while giving me a slice of pizza.

Photomontage by @Chocolat122

I watch the Master of Wolves in silence. He looks really strong... even if, now, his biggest problem is to avoid Mimi who ogles in his plate. Shawn is a talented hunter but... a master wolf is a high level.

"He didn't blow my head," said Wolf. "He put in back in its place."

I peer at him. He read my mind again?

"Shawn is a persuasive person and he knows how to do," he continues. "I have the same goal as him so let's say we will do a part of the road together."
"The same goal?" I repeat.
"Yessss! We all want the same thing," applause Mimi.
"What does a mouse riding hood, a sheep hunter and a wolf have in common?"
"The same thing as you, Diane," smiles Mimi

Surprised, I turn around by reflex toward the sheep who's serving himself soda while fixing me, backed to the fridge. His gray eyes smile.

"Of course, Diane... I always keep my promise!" he says. "You want to do like Red, so first we have to find her. These are the people who will help you. Wolf wants to find her as much as you do and Mimi is an exceptional riding hood. Together, we have all the chances to find her."

Find Red?

"But this is a secret that we won't reveal. It's our oath. We are bound by this promise, let's say it's going to be our course of action... our code!"
"Our code?"
"Red code!" says Mimi happily.

I stare at her.

"I'm one of the first encoder riding hood," explains Pinkilocks. "I'min charge of coding the news for the other riding hood. I'm also one of the hacker in our village and time to time, I hack the Wolves's website. I'm known as 'The mouse of the web' because I make wholes in the firewalls and protection systems, like a mouse in cheese! Outside, I'm a normal high school girl. It's my cover."
"Wolf is our watchman, he is infiltrated into the moles and Wolves' moving base. He is also an informant. He's an old double agent," explains Shawn. "Currently, he's a barman in the trendy neighborhood of the capital."
"And you?" I ask
"I'm a student in economy. The most banal..."
"And me?"
"You? You will be my provincial girlfriend, ridden at the occasion to study and rejoined me."
"Your girlfriend?"
"Do you prefer to be my sister?" mocks the sheep.
"I prefer that you are his sister," sulks Mimi. "Your sister, it's very good."

@GraceTheBigQueen

"You stopped to eat?" asks Shawn
"No..."

All of this is so surprising that it cuts my appetite.

"In that case, 'my sister' and I are going to bed."

He grabs my wrist and we enter in my bedroom...

"Tomorrow, it's the graduation."
"I know," I whisper while he push me toward the bed.
"So, you have to sleep."
"I'm going to put on a pajamas."
"You can sleep naked if you want."
"Idiot!"

I head toward the bathroom and get out with a big gray T-shirt and black short made in cotton.

The sheep look by the window. There's no shutters. From here, we can see the silver moon and I like that. Usually, it soothes me.

"Shawn... explain me, please.."
"If you promise to sleep in my arms..."

I frown.

"Only this time and just 'sleep', " he specifies. "You trust me, right?"
"I... I don't know..."
"Did I ever lie to you?"
"No... never."
"Did I ever hurt you?"

I shake my head.

"No. Never."
"So, just for tonight, I want to protect you one last time. After, you will be a riding hood and I will be a hunter, everything will be different."
"That doesn't change anything!"
"It does, Diane. It changes everything but you've never been outside and you can't understand yet."

He attracts me to him, close the light and our faces on the pillow are facing.

My heart will explode.