Page 21 of Vow Of A Fox

I nodded, unsure what to say.

Was there a right thing to say in a moment like this?

“So… I’m a fox shifter,” she began, her eyes locked on mine, as if bracing for my reaction. “And the world you think you know—it’s just the surface. There’s so much more beneath it, things that would sound impossible but aren’t.”

The glass of water in my hand suddenly felt heavy. I set it on the counter and then met her stare again.

“A fox shifter,” I repeated. The words felt foreign, yet oddly fitting, as they rolled off my tongue. My mind reeled as I tried to merge the version of Sienna I thought I knew to the reality of what she was. “You can turn into a fox.” It wasn’t a question, but more of a statement.

Basically, I was thinking out loud.

She nodded, tension entering her stare. “Yes.”

“At will?”

She nodded again, but didn’t speak this time.

I exhaled a slow breath. “Okay,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “And this is just normal for you? Turning into a fox and what, living a double life?”

Her lips twitched, not quite a smile, but close. “Something like that. It’s normal for shifters, but I don’t exactly advertise it.”

“No kidding,” I muttered, a chuckle slipping free.

“It’s not exactly something I can explain in a coffee shop conversation or through a text.”

I nodded, even though my world felt like it had tilted, and I was now scrambling to find my footing again.

“I can understand that,” I said. “What about that raven? Xander, right?”

Her expression darkened. “Xander is complicated, but yeah, he’s a shifter, too. A raven shifter. He’s also something more.” She pinched the bridge of her nose as though struggling to word her next few sentences. “This is going to sound batshit crazy, but Xander is possessed by an evil spirit of another shifter who was alive not too long ago. He’s not fully in control of his raven or himself anymore.”

Okay, so, apparently possession was real.

Damn, this night just kept getting stranger.

“The spirit possessing him—Lucius—controlled a group of shifters here in town using his power to manipulate a shifter’s mind,” she said, her tone dripping with disgust. “I was one of those shifters. My whole crew was. We were able to get out from under his thumb when he was killed by another shifter tribe, but that was short-lived. His spirit took up residence inside Xander shortly after.”

“Wow. That’s a lot to unpack,” I insisted, doing my best to soak everything in. “And you’re what, trying to stop him for good now?”

“We are.” Her gaze hardened. “He’s dangerous, not only to me, but to every shifter in town. If we don’t deal with him, he’ll hurt more people.”

She stared at me, as though waiting for me to say something. I crammed my hands into the front pockets of my jeans and locked eyes with her. “Shifters, dark spirits, possession.” The words rolled off my tongue, sounding nonchalant, but they felt like anything but. “I don’t even know where to start, honestly.”

“I get it. Trust me.”

“I’m not saying I’m running for the hills,” I said quickly, the vulnerability in her tone and expression catching me off guard. “I’m only trying to wrap my head around it all.”

Her lips curved into a faint smile. “Good luck with that.”

A thought came to me then. “Have I ever treated one of you? Like, a shifter pretending to be a regular animal?”

Her lips twitched, and for the first time since our conversation started, I thought I saw a hint of her usual smirk. “It’s unlikely. Shifters heal fast. We rarely need outside help. Sorry, Doc.”

“I don’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed.”

Her smirk softened as her gaze drifted to a nearby window. I could see the weight of everything settling back onto her shoulders.

My mind should still be reeling. Unease should be twisting through me with everything I’d just learned, but it wasn’t.