Page 35 of Fire of the Fox

Akira, Marlow, and Bassel nodded. Rune scoffed and sauntered back to the other side of the room with his tail dragging behind him. That in itself was beyond bizarre. I needed to process everything from today. I mean, how was I supposed to believe all of this and be okay about it? This was huge! It still had me on edge, and my entire body felt heavy with the news of it all.

“Well,” Akira said, standing up straight. “Will you still meet Rune every day to prepare? Just in case you decide to come?”

My eyes met Rune, who now regarded me with a blank expression. Turning back to Akira, I slowly nodded. “But it has to be in public. More so now than ever.”

“Understood. I’m glad you’re being so cool about this.”

I held up my glass of water. “The effect water has on me. It’s always soothing and helps keep me calm.”

Akira patted my head as his eyes glowed iridescent once more. His wings retracted, and his eyes were back to their normal brown. Marlow and Bassel followed suit, transforming back into their human forms. I was glad to see them looking normal again, at least on the outside.

They were far from normal.

All of them.

Including Rune.

Pushing past the shakiness in my legs, I stood up. “I should really head back to my dorm now.”

Akira nodded and ran a hand through his dark hair to make it settle back down. Rune stepped forward, his eyes glowing gold again. A flame wrapped around him as he approached us, and when it was gone, he looked human again.

He crossed his arms. “Your car is still at the mall.”

I closed my eyes and hung my head in frustration. With a sigh, I met his eyes again. “Crap. You’re right.”

Bassel shrugged and raised a hand. “I could drive you back to get it if you want.”

“No,” Rune said, grabbing his keys off the coffee table. “I’ll drive her back to get it.”

My nerves kicked up a notch, and I took a step away from him. “No. I’d rather Bassel or someone else take me.”

Rune glared at me. “You’ll either let me take you or you can walk there.”

Italy. Luca Romano. Think about the big picture, Bria.

I swallowed hard before slowly picking my bag off the floor. I pulled it onto my shoulder and mumbled, “Fine.”

Looking at Akira, Bassel, and Marlow, I gave each of them a half-hearted smile. “Bye guys.”

They all waved at me while giving Rune curious glances. They felt uneasy about him driving me, too, which didn’t do a whole lot to make me feel better. I turned to follow Rune to the door, but I stopped when Akira called my name.

He fidgeted and said, “I’m sure you already knew this, but please don’t tell anyone about us. We don’t really want anyone to know about our existence. Since we messed up and said too much before confirming who you are, you’re in the knowing club, but others don’t need to be.”

“Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

He nodded, his eyes warming. With our gazes locked, he said, “Take your time figuring everything out. We understand that it’s a lot.”

A frown was quick to form, despite my attempt at hiding it. Not wanting him to see it, I looked away from him. It was a lot, and I didn’t think it was going to be easy to grasp. I mean, I could still see myself spending time with them and coming to terms with everything that they had shown me today, but that didn’t mean it was going to be easy. Especially with Rune because he seemed to hate me now, which threatened my chances at getting his money. I had to get on his good side to make sure Italy was still on the table.

With my back to Akira, I gave a quick nod before walking the rest of the way to the door.

Chapter Sixteen

RUNE AND I rode to the mall in silence. My body leaned as far away in my seat as the passenger door would allow, and I glanced at him every few seconds to make sure he wasn’t going to lunge at me. His eyes remained fixed on the road in front of us, and his knuckles were white from where he gripped the steering wheel so tightly.

I swallowed hard, trying to think of something to break the tension. Looking at him out of the corner of my eye, I said, “So, you’re a fox. That-That’s cool. I like foxes.”

I like foxes. Nice one, Bria. Real smooth.

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