Chapter 5: Let's meet under the shadows.
Their meetings slowly started to progress from there on forward. An unspoken routine was set up between the two. It started with seeing each other every other night to eventually the need to see each other every night won over.
Soon Regina and Ruby were sneaking out every night.
Ruby's actions didn't go unnoticed by Granny. At first granny questioned Ruby about her whereabouts. Make sure to let her know that she was being careless and inviting danger to herself by being around humans. Granny tried many times to probe Ruby about why she decided to be around humans suddenly. When she wouldn't get a response, she made sure to remind Ruby about the beast inside of her and how she wasn't fully able to control it yet. But all of that didn't seem to matter to Ruby. All she wanted to do was see Regina and talk to her about whatever came to their minds. That was the only time Ruby felt at peace. Regina just helped her escape the burdens of being a werewolf.
Regina wasn't in the same predicament yet. She was sure that no one knew or noticed her gone at night. She made sure to sneak out and sneak back in as quietly as possible as to not alert anyone in the castle.
Unknown to her, there was someone who always followed her to the forest and made sure she was back unharmed. At first, Daniel decided to find out where Regina would go at night. He wasn't sure if it was so to see a lover that she kept undercover so her mother wouldn't find out. But then he noticed that Regina would just go sit under the apple tree and sometimes lay there looking at the stars. He decided to keep his distance to just watch over her so she could have a peaceful time to herself. He knew of Queen Cora being overbearing and deciding everything for Regina. It wasn't a surprise that Regina felt suffocated and just wanted to escape occasionally. He wasn't going to take that away from her.
But what surprised Daniel was when he noticed Regina being out of her room every night. He eventually found out about another person being there with Regina. He automatically assumed it was a lover of hers. Although it hurt his feelings, he continued to watch over her and made sure she came back safely. Daniel had fallen in love with Regina the moment he laid eyes on her a year ago. The day he was assigned to be her personal royal guard. He was aware that there was no way Queen Cora would ever marry her daughter off to someone like him. So, he made up his mind to protect Regina and put her safety first in any situation. It wasn't easy for Daniel to swallow this truth, but he wasn't going to let this get in the way of his duties.
Even though Daniel couldn't tell who it was Regina decided to meet each night. Ruby could smell his presence around them. Even though he kept his distance, Ruby noticed that his presence would be present right after Regina would arrive and would be gone the moment Regina would disappear from her sights. At first, her Wolf wanted to go out there and kill the intrusive presence, but Ruby tried her best to keep it under control in front of Regina. But soon with each night, she and the wolf got used to the presence around them. It also helped that she never sensed any danger coming from the presence which put her mind at ease.
They lost count of their meetings; they were again under the apple tree. Ruby had her arms wrapped around Regina as they lay together. Regina had her head against Ruby's chest listening to her heartbeat. Both were very content with the moment they were sharing.
"I have been meaning to ask you something, Regina…" Ruby broke the peaceful silence they were sharing.
Regina tilted her head up to look into Ruby's eyes to give her full attention. "What is it?"
"Do you know someone is always following you when you come to see me?" Ruby inquired hoping to not scare off Regina with her discovery. She could have kept this secret to herself but felt the need to share or at least make Regina aware of the situation they were in.
Regina's eyes went wide for a quick second and then Ruby noticed there was a small smile on her red lips.
"I assume you were already aware of it." Regina nodded at the statement. Ruby couldn't help but look up at the sky with a confused look on her face.
"Don't worry," Regina said as she rubbed Ruby's cheek with her hand and tilted her face, so Ruby was looking right into Regina's eyes.
"His name is Daniel, he's my royal guard. He is just doing his job to protect me." Regina assured Ruby. It took her a while but soon enough Regina felt that she was not alone when she would venture out at night. At first, she was horrified at the discovery wondering if whoever was following her was sent by her mother. Then one night she was able to uncover the identity of her late-night stalker and it gave her immense relief to know it was her royal guard all along.
"I figured your wolf might have picked up on his scent. I am surprised you were able to control yourself from killing him instantly." Regina continued as Ruby stayed quiet, lost in her thoughts.
Ruby released a sigh of relief and turned around to lay Regina on the grass and sat up to look at the trees in front of them where their little sneaky friend was hiding at the moment.
"Well…. the thought did cross my mind, but I was able to sense he was harmless." Ruby turned her head around to look down next to her at Regina's face. The moonlight was draped perfectly on Regina's facial features, making her look even more elegant than ever. Ruby couldn't help herself but turn and place her body on top of Regina's.
They both started into each other's eyes, gazing, and waiting for one of them to make a move.
Ruby brought her left hand up to Regina's face to move her loose brunette locks behind her ear. Regina held her breath and closed her eyes at the slightest touch from Ruby. Her lips parted halfway, Ruby noticing the reaction and the slight spike in Regina's heartbeat made her mind foggy.
Before anything could be said, Ruby decided to close the distance between their lips and closed her eyes as her lips touched Regina's.
They both melted into the kiss, Regina couldn't help but let out a low moan at feeling Ruby's lips and body pressed onto her. They both clenched to each other's clothes as their breathing got heavy and were flush red on the face. They continued kissing each other until it got harder to breathe, slowly they parted their lips from each other. Both looked at each other with excitement and the urge to just devour each other.
Ruby shook her head and closed her eyes…trying to keep the wolf at bay. 'Let me out…. Ruby. Let me take control…...child….' the wolf sang.
Regina brought her hand up to place it on Ruby's cheek, "Hey what's wrong?" Regina asked as she noticed the troubled look on Ruby's face.
Ruby opened her eyes again and looked at Regina. Her breathing got heavier and as she noticed the shocked look on Regina's face, she closed her eyes again.
"Ruby! … Ruuuby… calm down…. your eyes are red….is the wolf trying to come out?" Regina asked as she cupped Ruby's face in her hands. She placed her forehead against Ruby's forehead, "It's okay…. you are okay. You can do this Ruby. You can control it. I know you can." Regina whispered assuring words to her.
Meanwhile, Ruby was battling the wolf in her mind and still breathing heavily and fighting to keep control of her body. She could hear Regina's encouraging words and tried to keep her focus on her voice.
She finally decided to throw herself off Regina's body and lay next to her.
"It's okay, love. I am here next to you." Regina turned over to Ruby's body who now had her arm draped over her eyes but still trying to breathe normally. Regina placed her hand on Ruby's chest and Ruby decided to bring her other hand to place on top of Regina's hand.
"I'm sorry, Regina," Ruby spoke out after several minutes. "I'll never let the wolf get the best of me when it concerns you, I swear on my life and my love for you." Ruby guaranteed.
Regina couldn't help but burst out crying at the statement. She didn't know she would ever have the chance to feel so much love for someone and that someone could return that love as well.
Ruby couldn't help but smile a small smile as she wiped away Regina's tear. "Hey, now don't cry on me, my love."
"I am sorry, I didn't mean to get emotional," Regina spoke up as she wiped away her tears with her own hands. "I am so in love with you, Ruby. I never want to lose you."
"I know my love. I never want to lose you either." Ruby spoke as she grabbed Regina to pull her closer to her body.
Both lay under the big apple tree, embraced in each other's arms. Forgetting about the time passing them by.
"I should go." Regina finally broke the silence as she got out of Ruby's embrace and got up to dust herself off. Ruby stayed on the ground looking up at Regina as she prepared to head out.
"I'll see you soon, right?" Ruby asked as she got up from the ground hugged Regina from behind, and snuggled into her neck.
Regina couldn't help but giggle at the touch of Ruby's lips on her neck. "Yes, my love." She said as she brought her hand up to Ruby's head to pull it closer to her neck. "Mark me." She whispered ever so slowly.
Ruby couldn't help but give in to the urge and bit down on Regina's neck and sucked the spot she bit. Regina couldn't help but moan out loud a little bit. Her breathing was getting heavy again as she sucked the air into her lungs. Her eyes closed as she grabbed onto Ruby's hair hard. After a couple of seconds, she let go of Regina's neck and licked the spot she had just bit and sucked on.
"Mmm….." Regina let out as she let go of Ruby's hair and turned around in the embrace to face Ruby. Her breath got caught in her mouth as she noticed those same red eyes looking right back at her and Ruby breathed heavily again.
Ruby held on to Regina's hips as tightly as she could and shook her head to clear her mind off of the wolf.
Regina noticing the troubled look on Ruby's face decided to lean in to kiss her softly. She as pulled away she noticed Ruby's eyes slowly starting to get back to normal.
They hugged again for the last time that night. Both looking forward to seeing each other again as soon as possible. Ruby watched as Regina once again vanished from her eyes into the tall trees. She decided to stay for a little while longer under the apple tree as she had no desire to face Granny's wrath again.