It had been two months since Christine had failed to take over the Nine Kingdoms. She had failed to even take over just the Fourth Kingdom. The Swamp Witch was not all that surprised. She had only chosen Christine because she could be so easily corrupted and persuaded into doing whatever she required. She could almost have predicted the outcome. But that still didn't dismiss her fury. She still fervently wanted her revenge on the House of White. She had hoped that Christine would surprise her and actually fulfill the Swamp Witch's wishes. But, no, that girl Virginia had defeated her. Snow White had helped as well. She needed to find someone stronger, someone who would not be so easily be defeated.
The Swamp Witch then focused the rest of her energy and power on her mirrors. She had not given all of her mirrors to Christine. She had kept a few for herself. The Swamp Witch was not dead, but neither was she alive. So she was kept to the confines of her cellar in her coffin. She was unable to get up, so she had to focus her energy to connect with her mirror. Her spying mirror was her most prized possession. It showed her anything she wanted to see. It also told her everything she needed to know. This was how she was able to watch Christine's progress. She called on it now, asking it who could take Christine's place as her successor. Who could be stronger than Christine, yet not strong enough to withstand the Swamp Witch's power. Since the Swamp Witch was not all that strong, she could only think of the request, not say it, so she had to focus all of her power on the mirror.
The mirror complied with her request, and within a minute, an image of a girl appeared on the mirror. She looked to be about 16 years old. She had brown hair with blue eyes. She looked strangely familiar. The Swamp Witch had her precious mirror tell her about this girl. By the time the mirror finished, the Swamp Witch was smiling. Perfect
Chapter 1Wolf sat up quickly. He was covered in sweat and was twisted up in his silky sheets. He breathed a sigh of relief, as he remembered where he was. He sat there for a few moments, letting the cool night air chill him, as it flowed in through the open window. Wolf took a few minutes to think back to his dream that he just woke up from. It was not the first time he had that dream since he came back to New York with Virginia. However, each time he had it, the more detail came to him.
For the past two weeks, Wolf had been having a strange dream. It was the same one each time. He was running through a dark forest as fast as he could. He was trying to get somewhere, but he didn't know where. Each time, though, he got closer. But then he would wake up. For some reason, the dream always left Wolf with a sense of dismay. It was as if he didn't get to wherever he was going fast enough.
He glanced over to the other side of the bed where Virginia was curled up peacefully. He smiled to himself as he thought that not that long ago, she didn't want to have anything to do with him. He lay back down on his back, as his mind went over the events of the past few months. It still shocked him how much could change in just a short amount of time.
Three months ago, he was cooped up in Snow White Memorial Prison. All his hopes and dreams had long since shattered. He had no purpose anymore, which is why he had gladly accepted the Evil Queens offer. He often wondered why the Queen had chosen him to capture the newly turned dog, Prince Wendell. Was it just a coincidence that she turned to him instead of all the other begging prisoners? When first told the offer, he didn't even give it a second thought, what else did he have to live for? Nothing. Until he met Virginia.
He knew the moment that he laid his eyes on her that he had to be with her. She had to be his mate, and he hers. She did not feel that way about him at first though. Wolf chuckled quietly to himself, as he recalled their first meeting. He had just tied up Virginia's grandmother and had planned on eating her, when he had heard Virginia's voice calling "Grandmother?" He had gone off to hide in the old lady's bed and had taken a big cleaver with him. But the second he saw Virginia, he knew that he could never hurt her. He would give anything to protect her. However, his sudden mood swing did little to comfort Virginia at the time. She had pushed him out the window of her grandmother's apartment building, where he landed in a pile of garbage bags and passed out.
It took quite awhile for her to eventually warm up to him. He had saved her life many times, knowing that even if she never learned to trust and love somebody back, that he had to be there for her, to protect her. But that still didn't mean that he wouldn't try and win her heart. He had turned his whole life around after seeing that Dr. Horowitz and reading all of those self-help books. He followed Virginia after the trolls had taken her to their palace; he had climbed up to the top of the troll palace, nearly falling off three times, and rescued her; climbed up her unnaturally long hair, from the gypsy's curse, and rescued her from the Huntsman; saved both Virginia and Tony in the Swamp Witch's forest; and had stopped the Huntsman from shooting Virginia at Wendell's Coronation. After all of this, Virginia finally admitted her love for Wolf.
Wolf turned onto his side so he could watch Virginia sleep. He found himself doing this more and more often. She looked just as beautiful asleep then awake. His heart was filled with joy as he noticed that her stomach was finally beginning to show that she was pregnant with his cub. At first he didn't know how she would take it. After all, her own mother had abandoned her at the age of seven after trying to drown her in the bathtub. He knew that the reason it had taken her so long to trust him, was that she was afraid that if she got to close to someone, they would only leave her, just like her mother. Virginia had finally gotten past that, although not completely. Wolf knew that she would never fully get over the trauma of loosing her mother for all those years and then finally finding her, only to have to kill her.
That was why Wolf didn't know how Virginia would take being pregnant. Would she try and get rid of the cub? Just like her own mother had tried to do to her? Or would she realize that she was not her mother, and just like she had learned to love and trust Wolf, she would learn to accept that she would become a mother herself? But Virginia had surprised him when she clearly stated (after she found out what Wolf had been so worried about) that she was going to raise their child with the love a mother should have for their children.
Despite all of this, Wolf still felt that he had rushed everything on her too fast. He had proposed marriage to her not even a full month after they had met. Then, she became pregnant not all that much later. But Wolf knew that together, they could handle everything that came their way.
They had been in New York now for almost two months. It had taken a little while for Wolf to get used to the crowds and lack of space to run around. At first he hadn't been too thrilled about returning to Manhattan, but he would do anything to make Virginia happy. Besides, it turned out that it wasn't all that bad here. He could walk around without having to worry about somebody discovering him being a half-wolf and getting burned because of it. Here, everybody was different. People would glance at him and keep on their way without a second thought. But, deep down, Wolf knew that he could not stay here forever; he would have to visit the kingdoms soon, but how to tell Virginia that?
With another glance at Virginia, Wolf drifted back off to sleep.