Page 24 of Foxes of Legend

I pushed myself off Vince, his body completely still. I watched his chest rise as he took in a struggling breath, squeaking like I’d crushed a tube or two.

Kairos called out as he saw the movement, “Next person who touches her, we won’t allow to live.”

He grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the crowd. Nobody dared meet me in the eyes. They all broke away, leaving a huge opening for me to pass through.

Kairos froze and I nearly slammed into him. He focused ahead.

A breeze blew her scent to me, her long white locks flowing out around her head. Her soft brown eyes widened in horror. An expression with which I’d hoped my Fated never looked upon me. Where she’d never had to see what I was capable of…and thecontrol that I wasn’t. Her lips parted and her little gasp escaped as her eyes flashed around, from Vince’s motionless body to my fists covered in his blood. Everywhere but my eyes. I moved forward. She flinched, stepping backward.

She was terrified of me.

My breathing turned heavy, going from rage to panic.

“Enko, she’ll understand. We’llmakeher understand,” Kairos was saying, his voice distant. “She’s our Fated. You did it to protect her. Everything is fine. She will understand what happened. Enko, come on, chill out, man.”

I shrugged off Kairos’ arm, wishing there was something I could do to make Dove understand. But how could she?

I was a monster.

More animal than human.

A beast.

The trees flew by me before I noticed I had shifted. Seven could overtake me, but thankfully, he minded his own business. Unlike Kairos, who wanted us all to be a fuckingfamily.

He wanted to pretend he understood. How could he understand what I’d been through, what I had to do to survive? When he had only lived his cushy rich life in his mansion?

I ran for as long as I could until my brownish red fox form collapsed, curling my six tails around myself as though I could hide from what I’d done.

I remained in my fox form until I calmed down enough to shift back, going straight for the gym after grabbing a set of clothes out of my locker. Usually my excessive daily workouts would curb my feral fury. Not since I’d met Dove. When it came to her, I couldn’t control myself. I’d tried so hard to hide it from her, my true self.

Now I’d shown her I was worse than the others. Far worse.

I wasn’t a loner freak like Seven. Or a pompous rich boy like Kairos.

I snapped the weights onto the bar and began my workout. A few of the guys from the team were there, all avoiding me. They must have heard about my psychotic break. News traveled fast.

It was bad enough when I’d taught that tiny first-year a lesson for sparring with her in class. But Vincedeservedit for what he did to her. Deserved worse, even.

A few of the guys muttered from across the gym, their weights left forgotten as they continued to glance over at me. My heart throbbed, whooshing blood into my ears, I couldn’t make out their words, even with my super-hearing.

“Got a fucking problem?” I yelled, resting the bar above me and sitting up, my fists clenched, ready to launch across the room and shut them the fuck up the only way I knew how.

They scattered back to their own workouts, a few mumbling a response, “Nah, bro.”

I jacked up the treadmill to full speed, putting in my headphones and tried to run off the crazy. When that didn’t work, I headed for the boxing bag. I couldn’t feel my knuckles hit the duck-taped leather bag. They were already numb from hitting bone.

In the locker room, I cleared out the shower. I had it all to myself because everyone jumped out of my way, doing their best to avoid me.

Kairos appeared out of the corner of my eye as I changed clothes. Maybe I should find a better hiding spot like Seven. It had been two hours, but my rage boiled up rapidly. “What the fuck do you want?”

“Glad to see your workout calmed you down,likealways,” he said sarcastically, crossing his arms.

“Kairos, I swear to the goddess—”

“Hey, chick, this is the men’s locker room!”

A few of the guys whooped in the distance and that feral rage came back. I could smell her before she even came around the corner.

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