Page 8 of Foxes of Legend

When I turned back to the room, three pairs of eyes watched me. One with curiosity, one with uncertainty, and one with disdain. My cheeks heated.

Kairos approached—his palm trying to calm me like a wild horse—giving me a goofy grin, “I’m sorry about earlier. That joke went too far.” When I didn’t respond, he continued, “It’s so good to finally meet you. We’ve been waiting years to find our Fated mate.”

Seven laughed cruelly, his scar scrunched up. “There must be some kind of mistake. You saw her in the arena. We’re the best at the academy and she has no fox form, no magic, and no fighting skills. She didn’t even pass the fucking test!”

“Because you pass all your tests?” Kairos snapped, his kind demeanor slipping.

“You just wait, she’ll be out of here before next week, so don’t get too attached to your new little toy,” Seven growled. “She can share your bed, since you’re so obsessed.”

Toy? Share a bed?“I don’t know what the hell you guys think is going on here, but I’m not your toy. I’ll sleep on the couch until this is sorted out.”

Enko rose from the armchair without a word, gazing at the other two with disappointment. When he stood in front of me, he said, “Don’t mind these two dicks. They’ll grow on you or maybe you’ll kill them for me. Either way, you can have my bed until then. The bottom drawer is empty, and I’ll clear out more space for you later tonight.” He pointed at one of the disheveled beds.

He was definitely the kindest of the three. My heart fluttered as his eyes watched mine. A drop of water fell between us from a strand of his wet hair. Everything else around us had ceased to exist. It was just me and this gigantic gorgeous protector, alone in our own world—

Seven stormed from the dorm room, slamming the door behind him.

“Don’t mind Seven, he’s like that to everyone. I have to go to practice, but I’ll be back later,” Enko said, a hopeful shimmer in his eyes, as if to ask,will you be here?

I nodded, holding his gaze. “Practice?”

“For Skirmish, it’s a combat sport,” he explained. Enko smiled, waving goodbye and leaving me alone with Kairos.

“I’ll get your stuff,” Kairos said, moving back to where I’d left my bag and picked it up. As I opened my mouth to tell him that I could get it, metal clanked inside, and one of the blades pierced through the worn cotton lining as he jostled the bag over his shoulder, slicing the bottom of the bag open.

A mess of my weapons spilled onto the floor, along with several of my favorite books, and my clothes—both clean and dirty. The embarrassing items sprawled all over the clean beige carpet. I knelt down, hurrying to scrape it all back into the bag.

“Weapons collector, huh?” Kairos joked as he crouched down, beginning to help clean up the mess and put it back into the bag.

My hand darted out to stop him. “I can get it myself.”

Touching him surged electricity into my body. I was electrified, every nerve hypersensitive, the foxfire zinging in my veins. I could feel it, just under the surface. A spark of want ignited within me. His hands retreated from our touch, stopping midair, hesitating as our eyes locked into a staring contest. Did he feel it too?

“What was that?” I asked.

Kairos’ tongue ran over his lips as he stared down at me. “The foxfire forging our bond.” He scratched his head as he returned to his feet, backing away from me. He added my name as an afterthought, “Dove.”

His lips wrapped around my name like he caressed it, kissed it. My eyes were drawn to his mouth, and my tongue slipped across my dry lips.

And then he mumbled something about having to go and darted out of the dorm room to escape my presence.

6

Kairos

“Shit.” My hand slammed into the thin metal near Enko’s head as he pushed his locker closed. “How perfect she is for me. Handpicked by the goddess forme. And I fucked up our first interaction.”

“Watch it,” came Enko’s harsh warning, glaring at my hand. A flame of anger that he instantly subdued. It always lingered within him.

I hit it again, a dent forming underneath the blow, causing one of Enko’s opponents to poke his head around the corner. He scurried back to his hole when he saw it was me doing it. “What were the chances she was my Fated?”

Enko shook his all-knowing head, like he’d seen this coming a mile away. “If you didn’t pull that shit all the time, maybe then I’d call it bad luck.”

“Ass.”

“Yeah, you are.” Enko strapped his sword handle to his belt. “And you shouldn’t have left her alone.”

“She wanted to be alone.”

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