Page 29 of Fire of the Fox

I shrugged. “I’d like to. Who wouldn’t after something like that? It was so dumb now that I think about it, but before I left, I actually put my favorite necklace on him, kind of in hopes that if we did meet again, it would still somehow be around his neck. That way, I’d know it was the same fox. Although, even if he did lose the necklace, I feel like I’d still know it was him.”

“Why do you say that?” Akira asked as he bit his lip, like he was fighting to hold something back.

“Because of his eyes. They were the most striking eyes I’d ever seen.” My gaze flicked to Rune who still stared at the window. “His eyes actually look a lot like yours, Rune.”

Rune looked sideways at me then. We held each other’s gaze, and the more I stared into his perfect, amber eyes, the more they reminded me of that fox. It felt like everything in the room had suddenly slipped into the shadows and all that remained was Rune and me again. I held my breath, waiting for him to break the eye contact, but he didn’t. He stared back at me with unwavering attention, and the longer he did, the softer his eyes grew. They no longer seemed judgmental or hard at the edges. They were getting a lightness and tenderness to them, one that both thrilled and confused the hell out of me.

Akira cleared his throat to remind us that others were in the room.

I quickly averted my gaze to my lap as heat swarmed my cheeks.

Akira chuckled and said, “Well, I just thought of a great nickname for you!”

Smirking at him, I asked, “What would that be?”

He jumped to his feet and excitedly threw his hands into the air. “Kitsune-chan!”

“Kitsune-chan? What does that mean?”

He nodded in approval at his own nickname. “Kitsune is Japanese for fox. Cause, I mean, you did hit it off with a fox, so it makes sense. What if you kissed him and he turned into a prince like in that fairytale? That would be pretty interesting!”

I giggled at the idea, but before I could comment, Rune stood up. He gave an annoyed snort. “That would never happen.”

Akira made a pouty face. He poked Rune in the chest. “You’re no fun.”

Rune rolled his eyes, then turned to me. “May I ask you a question?”

I hesitated before slowly nodding. “Sure.”

“Why did you save the fox?”

His gaze grew intense, and the question was posed in such a serious tone that it caught me slightly off guard.

I shrugged, thinking it was obvious. “I guess because when I looked into his eyes, the only thing that mattered was making sure he didn’t die or get hurt anymore. What animal deserves that?”

Rune darted across the living room until he stood right in front of me. He hovered so close that I was forced to lean back until I was sitting all the way against the couch. He cocked his head to the side, wisps of his white hair falling into his long lashes. “What if that fox really was a man in disguise like Akira said?”

I had no idea what was making him ask such a ridiculous question. Everyone else in the room had large smiles on their faces as they waited expectantly for my answer. Was I missing something? It was like they were all taking the question to heart and expected a real answer. Hell, with the way they all grinned at me, it felt like they may even have an answer already in their minds, and I was the only one left out of this seemingly funny loop.

I looked back at Rune. His eyes bore into mine, and they really did mirror that fox’s. They were both a crisp amber that promised power and danger.

Finally, I said, “This isn’t a fairytale. Magic, animals turning into people, none of that exists. Things like that don’t happen in real life.”

Rune straightened. His eyes went from sparking with amusement to pinched in confusion. Akira was starting to bounce on his heels, and I could tell that he really wanted to say something. Everyone looked at me, their easygoing expressions replaced with perplexed frowns. What had I done? They were the ones being weird.

Bassel scooted all the way over on the couch until our legs touched. He stared hard at my face as if he were trying to figure something out. He squinted his eyes and said, “Aren’t you—”

“Fae!” Akira screamed. He started panting after finally releasing the breath he’d been holding. His excitement went from ear to ear as he said, “You don’t have to pretend around us. We’re all Land Fae, too.”

Eyes wide, I stared at them, waiting for the punchline or something. Land Fae? What the hell is a Land Fae? Not following the conversation, I shook my head.

“I’m sorry. I have no idea what you’re talking about or what a Land Fae is.”

Marlow, Akira, and Bassel all exchanged puzzled glances. Rune was the only one who kept his eyes fixated on me. His brow furrowed as he worked through something in his head. The laid-back atmosphere from earlier was gone, and I found myself suddenly wary of these people as they kept talking about things that didn’t exist.

Rune tilted his head to the side slightly and asked, “You’re human?”

I stared at them all in disbelief and started to back away from them on the couch. “Yes? What else would I be?”

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