Page 18 of All Foxed Up

“Did I say that out loud? Fuck. Look, I get it. You want to rush in and fix shit, like you always do, but I don’t even know what shit there is to fix right now.”

“So we find out together,” she insisted.

“I can’t.” My heart beat way too loud in my ears. “I can’t, Nat. I’m the support person. That’s what I do, remember?”

“And you’re too scared to let me in enough to do the same for you.” Jesus, she was bringing out the big guns now. “I went through this already. It’s disorientating and overwhelming and weird, because the guys are basically all in from the moment they lay eyes on you, and you’re like who the fuck are you, and why are you turning furry all of a sudden, and why are your ears so little, cute and furry and…” She let out a shuddering sigh. “Who else is going to help you through this?”

“See, that’s the problem right there.” I dropped the bags to the floor. “This situation is completely different. Your guys swept in, kicked Paul’s arse, took you away from fucking Langston to live in this palatial home in the posh end of Adelaide, and gave you two beautiful babies. Mine—”

I had a whole speech ready, to make clear the shitty hand I’d been dealt, but instead I felt it again. Like all of my skin started to crawl at once, I managed to suck in a breath right before the fox shoved forward.

I knew Nat, but the fox didn’t and she jumped up on the bed, tail whipping back and forth, ears flat to her skull, trying to seem bigger than what she was. All she knew was talking to this woman made me stressed out, so she took over.

So not helping.

I let Foxy know that, screaming inside her skull, but she just snarled and snapped at my bestie. More noisy footsteps and then the guys came rushing in, because of course they did, because right now I was a threat. But they weren’t the only ones. Kai and Sven came as well, their grandmothers rushing after them, and the only reason why the grandfathers weren’t here was because the bloody cricket was on.

“I touch the foxy!” Kai declared, ducking between his parents’ legs. “I touch the foxy!”

But Foxy’s instincts were kicking in hard. There were too many people in this room and we needed to get the fuck out now. She leapt off the bed, making terrible noises, right as she scuttled between their legs. We were forced to duck between stamping feet, the sounds of their shouts and shrieks ringing in our ears, until we made it to the stairs, then we stampeded down them, making for the door.

Foxy!I snapped.Give me control.I know a way out of this. Give me control, you little furry bastard.But she just paced back and forth, rising up, trying to turn the door handle and failing, until I showed her a mental image that I could do that, and of course that’s when she let me come back to skin.

Leaving me standing naked in the foyer of Nat’s fancy house, right in sight of the lounge room.

“Erm… Holly?” one of Alaric’s dads said.

I grabbed the curtains that hung over the window by the front door and wrapped them around me.

“Sorry! Sorry! Having a little shifter emergency. Only just learned I could shift today, so still ironing out some kinks.”

“Righto.” He grabbed a throw blanket from the couch and tossed it to me, the other men only just turning around. “So Australia’s trouncing the Poms.”

“Great. Great. Go team.”

But right as I made myself an impromptu toga, the rest of the family arrived.

“Do it again!” Kai announced as he jumped off the bottom step. “Be a foxy!”

“Soon,” I said, ruffling his hair right as my heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest. “But only if you’re a really good boy for Mummy.”

Dear god, between the two of us we were using all the bad tricks from our parents’ playbook.

“Holly, Rye said—” Nat began to say.

“That he’s going to leave me the hell alone? That there’s a cure for what the fuck—”

“Fuck! Holly said fuck!” Sven said, chortling like an old man.

“Sorry, whatever this is,” I corrected myself. “Sven, do not say that word again.” His mouth shut with a click. Ooh, apparently there were some benefits to being a shifter. “Does he have a way for me to get in my car, drive home and have my life back?”

I knew the answer before she even opened her mouth, yet was somehow disappointed when she shook her head slowly.

“The opposite.” She held out a small piece of card. “He said this would get worse the longer you left things. You need to talk to them.”

I didn’t need to do anything of the sort. Part of me had always wondered what it would be like if I was the one that met my fated mates, not Nat, but now I had my answer. Chaos. I shook my head and then headed back upstairs, getting dressed again and grabbing my gear, relieved when I didn’t take fur. I couldn’t reason with the fox, but I could show her some very explicit pictures of what would happen if she didn’t let me maintain control. That seemed to keep her quiet and still, hunkered down in some small part of my soul.

“Keep it,” I told Nat as I made for the front door. “If I need it, I’ll call.”

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