Page 37 of Fire of the Fox

The quiet tone of Rune’s voice startled me. Glancing over at him, I found him watching me with soft, worried eyes. Not expecting to see that expression on him or to hear the gentleness of his voice, I swallowed hard and looked down at my hands in my lap.

“You know,” I started, pushing past the emotion clogging my throat, “back in high school, I hated gym or any class that required physical abilities instead of intellect. Sports, not my thing. Running, absolute hell for me. Strength, none to speak of. I didn’t see the point in really honing those skills. You never think that one day you might be in a situation where you need to be strong or quick on your feet. Or at least, I didn’t.”

My emotions were starting to show, so I forced myself to stop and take a deep breath. “You never think you might be attacked one day and need to fight back.”

“Hey,” Rune whispered.

I met his blazing eyes.

“None of that stuff was your fault. You know that, right? You were being held at knifepoint. There’s no way you can be at fault for not fighting back. Same with today. It was four against one, Bria. No one could fight against that.”

“You did.”

His mouth turned up ever so slightly. “That’s because I’m not human. My abilities supersede many things, so that doesn’t count.”

Turning back to the spot where they’d ganged up on me, I took another steadying breath. “I don’t want to be weak anymore. I want to know how to protect and defend myself so that I don’t have to rely on anyone else to do it for me.”

Glancing back over at him, I made up my mind. “Do you think since we’re gonna be spending so much time together anyway, you could train me? You know, to fight?”

He dragged a hand up the side of his face, shaking his head. “Self-defense isn’t really my fighting style. I know actual combat techniques and hand-to-hand fighting for opponents on my same level.”

“Please?” I turned to face him fully, my eyes practically pleading with him. “If I can learn half, no, even a quarter, of what you guys know, I won’t have to feel weak. I won’t have to be scared anymore.”

His eyes held mine. They were piercing, as if they could see right into me. See the deepest parts of me, see the bitter insecurities as well as my greatest desires. His amber gaze was all-knowing, and for a brief moment, the air in my lungs stilled. I froze, lost in those endless depths, drowning in him.

Finally, he took a breath and nodded. “Okay. We can work on teaching you self-defense.”

Warmth flooded my chest, and my earlier fears seeped away, replaced with a new found eagerness. “Thank you. I appreciate it. I also want to thank you for how you helped me earlier with, you know…” I looked out the window at my car.

He understood what I was trying to say, so he shrugged and said, “It wasn’t a big deal. Just try to avoid any strangers until you know a few things.”

I rolled my eyes and mumbled, “Sure thing, Dad.” I opened my door and stepped out of the car.

Rune leaned across the console to look at me through the open door. “What time do you get out of class tomorrow?”

“My last class ends at four.”

“Then we’ll meet after that. Where would you feel safest meeting me, since, you know, you’re supposed to be frightened of me now?”

I ignored the slight smirk that played at his lips as he said that last part. I shrugged and glanced at the mall. “We can meet here again.”

He nodded and asked, “What time will you get here?”

“Probably around five.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow at the coffee shop at five.”

“Five,” I repeated.

I dug in my purse for my keys as I stood by my car. Once I got in, the car roared to life, and I stole one last glance at Rune, who still hadn’t pulled away. It was odd that he was sitting there, but I chose to not worry about it.

Pulling out of my parking space, I made my way to the exit of the mall. Glancing in my rearview mirror, I found Rune’s car following right behind me. My dorm was in the opposite direction of his house, so it was weird that he was going out of his way like this. I shrugged and kept going. Maybe he was heading to the strip near campus to get some food. After a few minutes, I glanced in the mirror again and found him still following me. My eyes narrowed. What was he doing?

When I reached my dorm parking space, Rune circled around the parking lot to face the way out. It hit me then that perhaps he’d come all this way to ensure I made it back safely.

When I stepped inside the glass front door to my dorm, I turned to look at where Rune sat. Not even a second later, his car pulled away. I was rooted to the spot as my eyes followed his red taillights as they grew smaller.

He really had been making sure I got in safely. The rush of warmth filling my chest was impossible to stop. He had his sweet moments. If only he would stay that way all the time. The chances of that were slim, though.

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