Page 46 of Fire of the Fox

“No, no. It wasn’t him. It was—” I paused to take a deep breath.

His worry was so clearly etched in the crease of his brow and frown. His mind was probably going to the worst-case scenario after everything that had happened lately. Even so, I wasn’t sure how to explain why I was crying. I wanted to tell him. But how? Part of me was embarrassed that I had been brought to the point where I was so livid that I had started crying.

Rune was quiet for a long moment before asking, “Is it me or something I did?”

My head snapped up to meet his guarded gaze.

“What?” I asked incredulously. “No. You haven’t done anything. I promise.”

The concern embedded in his features now mixed with guilt and remorse. The look was so foreign on Rune, and seeing it made the ache in my chest expand to new lengths.

With a final second to steel myself with courage, I told him what happened. As I recounted what Dax did, all of the looks previously in Rune’s eyes were overshadowed by a thick coating of venom. His jaw clenched, and I saw loathing simmer in those golden orbs. When I told him of how I’d done exactly as he instructed and aimed for the goods, a new emotion warred with the anger.

Pride.

He was proud of me.

I waited to see what he’d say or do. There was no telling with Rune. As a Fox Fae, he had primal instincts that came from his nature, so I was never sure which side was going to win out with him—the animal or the human.

“I’m glad you put him in his place,” Rune finally said through clenched teeth. “But I’m still gonna go pay him a visit.”

He brushed past me to head to his car, and I quickly turned to go after him.

I clutched onto his arm. “Don’t go, Rune. It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine!” he yelled as he turned all the way to face me. He looked down at me with his face scrunched in disbelief. “He hurt you after you made it very clear you weren’t interested. He talked to you as if you were an object. So now I’m going to teach him a lesson, in addition to the lovely precursor you’ve already delivered.”

He started to turn away again, so I let go of his arm. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged myself tightly to his back. He grew rigid under my touch, but I didn’t care. I pressed my face into his back as I begged, “Please Rune, don’t. I just want to go inside with you. I already handled it, remember? Let’s go inside together. Please.”

He stood there frozen for a moment. Being so close to him like this made some of the dark emotions fade away. I felt safe, warm, and at ease. It was so strange how he could make me feel that way. I still didn’t understand it, but I didn’t need to. The way he made me feel was enough.

He was enough.

He turned around to face me, so I let go. My arms hung down by my sides, and I looked away before he could meet my eyes. I had held him so tightly and for so long that I was sure he was going to say something snarky to me about it, so when he crooked his finger under my chin to tilt my face up, my body froze. My eyes went wide as I soaked in his gentle touch.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded. “I am now.”

Taking a deep breath, he brushed a strand of hair that had fallen loose from my bun back behind my ear. His fingers lingered on the edges of my jaw before slowly trailing to my chin. His thumb barely brushed against the skin below my mouth, igniting a fire deep within me. I swallowed hard, and his eyes locked onto mine. Something in his gaze changed. A flash of swelling desire blossomed in those endless depths, but then he looked away. When he met my eyes again, the fleeting emotion was gone.

Clearing his throat, he took a few steps back and nodded at the house. “Well, if you’re sure you’re okay, then we should get inside. Our friend, Avana, is going to be here soon.”

Nodding, I followed him to the house. My nerves were still rattled from having him so close, but I couldn’t think about that right now. Or at least I tried not to. That didn’t work out too well.

My heart pounded. I wasn’t sure how to label my feelings for Rune, but there was definitely something there, some flickering flame in my chest, trying desperately to ignite. I wasn’t blind. Rune was clearly an attractive man, so I could admit that I was definitely attracted to him. But did it go beyond that?

Every time he got close to me or touched me, it got harder to tell what either of us was feeling, and if it really was affection blossoming, I had to stamp it out. Having either of us acknowledge it would only add gasoline to that flame, making it consume me. That was something I didn’t want and couldn’t afford right now. Not with my trip to Italy on the line.

Or my heart.

Chapter Twenty

BASSEL, AKIRA, AND Marlow sat around the living room. As soon as they saw me, they greeted me with enthusiastic voices.

“Bria, good to see you.” Bassel said, his dark eyes meeting mine. He patted the empty space next to him on the couch. “How was school?”

I smiled, accepting the offer for the seat. “School was school. Not much to say. Honestly, it’s been hard to focus ever since I’ve found out, you know, the truth of the world. I keep trying to figure out if my peers or professors are actually something besides human.”

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