Once Upon A Time... On a dark and lonely road, Lady Rhiad of the Ryding Hoode's met a Wolfe on the way to her grandmother's house. But little did Rhiad or the Wolfe know that their meeting was a scheme put into motion by her grandmother, for the countess had laid a trap for both lord Wolfe and her grand-daughter, weaving a tale all her own until both the Wolfe and Rhiad were firmly in her clutches at last, helpless to escape. Rhiad did not remain unscathed as her grandmother's brilliant plan was her betrothal to said Wolfe, Damien by name. Though she knew her grandmother's intentions were good, she could not help but feel betrayed. After all, what sort of grandmother offers her own grand-daughter up to be made a meal of by a hungry predator - even if said predator was completely human and fed solely on the virtue of innocents? Still, Rhiad cannot deny being tempted to bait the delightfully cunning Lord Wolfe. His every move tempts her, every word makes her yearn. Would it truly be so bad to surrender herself, body and soul, to the heat in his gaze, the pleasure of his bite? Does the tale of Rhiad Hoode and Damien Wolfe end in fiery passion or perhaps there is something else? Maybe something in red?

Once upon a time a young English lord lost his brother in a terrible fire. Unable to bear the guilt of not being able to save his beloved sibling, the young lord soon fell to a curse through which his mind deceived him into believing he faced the fiery flames which had taken his brother's life, night after night, and his family was forced to send him away. Five long years passed, years in which stories of the young lord-turned-mad-earl were bandied about from parlor to parlor, each more embellished and frightful than the last until all London began to quake in secret, silent fear of the beast he had become. Then one night at a ball, said beast stole away with Lady Jane Cerrigwyn and made her his reluctant bride. Lady Jane is horrified to find herself wed to a madman, but perhaps, she thinks, all is not as it seems for by day the earl wooes her as carefully as any lover might. But by night, bound by terror and the tragedy of his past, he locks himself away, far beyond her reach. Dare she try to save him from the madness that consumes him, or will the demons he fights each night prove too strong for any to defeat? Either way, Jane knows she must somehow find the courage to confront the beast of Edenmaine... This is a novelette of around 12,000 words, or about 40 pages. A sweet, short story.