Page 24 of Foxin' Around

Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she leaned gratefully into him as his arm slipped around her shoulder.

“Come on, sweetheart, forget the wood for now. Let us return home and get you dry. We can have a nice little walk later in the afternoon. What do you say?”

She shuddered and nodded. “Sounds perfect to me,” she whispered as she burrowed into his strength, trusting him more than she had allowed herself to trust anyone in recent memory.

He buried his nose against her hair, nuzzling her and she instinctively melted into him with a contented sigh. She only glanced once at the bear skull in passing but it was enough to make her wonder if there was any connection between the lamia and the cabin.

“Syrix, do lamia ever take over the dwellings of other species… like a human home, for instance?”

He glanced over at her, his brows rising, but he smiled and shook his head reassuringly, in a way that made her knees weak with relief.

“I see the direction your thoughts are taking, but no. Lamia prefer subterranean caverns and will dig out a burrow if she has no other option. A cabin will hold no interest for her as it isabove ground and therefore render her more vulnerable during the day.”

Krystal murmured in acknowledgment, but she couldn’t help but feel that there was something important that she was missing.

Chapter

Eighteen

After the incident with the bear skull, Syrix not only gathered necessary firewood while his mate soaked in the bath, but also dragged back several fallen trees that would fill the woodshed once chopped—and with little extraneous effort on his part. Chopping wood was hardly the most demanding of tasks and he rather enjoyed the physical exertion of swinging the ax and neatly stacking the split logs. It gave an outlet for his nerves and soothed his mind despite the fact that he was obsessively mentally chewing on what had happened out there.

It suddenly made the incident by the lake far clearer to him. Of course she was frightened to go around the lake. She’d been curious, and her need to see to the welfare of her neighbors was admirable, but when it came to actually doing it, her fear had overwhelmed her to the point that his ability to soothe had been rendered useless.

He had felt it through the subtle connection that all foxes enjoyed with their mates. The same connection that allowed them to feed from casual sexual encounters was the sort that with his mate expanded and grew into an ever-deepening bondthat made him sensitive to her needs. It was also what helped him soothe her when required, though it was frustratingly useless when it came to the Mallory cabin. So, he did what a good fox would do for his mate. He had shielded her from the source of her fear as much as possible, making a point to not return to the tranquility of the lake with her. Had he known that it was the cabin itself, he never would have allowed them to wander so close to the edge of his territory.

Returning to the cabin, he checked in with his mate, a cheerful smile on his face when he found her clean and nearly dry beside the fire. “Shall we try that walk now?”

The smile she gave him was sweet but there was a lingering hint of shadows within her eyes that made his heart ache for her. “Actually, do you think we can just stay here today? Maybe read on the porch? That tired old porch swing may be about ready to fall down but I’m willing to chance it if you are.”

“Of course. There is no rush,” he assured her. “We will just take a couple pillows from the couch and carry them out with us,”

In truth it was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon. They cuddled together on the swing, enjoying the warmth of the sunbeams and the perfume of the roses as they spent the day reading while Syrix rocked them gently with one foot. They only briefly abandoned it throughout the day to enjoy a small midday meal or brew some tea before returning to it once more. He thought of nothing else and desired nothing else but being right there with her. Even when the sun began to set and they retreated indoors so to read more comfortably, he did not entertain any thought of leaving the cabin until Krystal stood and stretched with a yawn.

“I’m heading to bed,” she announced with a contented smile.

She appeared so warm and happy despite the episode earlier in the day that it lightened Syrix’s heart as he stoodand accompanied her, as usual, to her bedroom door. To his surprise, she did not immediately go inside but turned to look up him, her expression soft and inviting as she rested a hand on his forearm.

“Thank you for today. And for being patient. I really enjoy enjoyed it even if it may have felt a bit repetitive to you.”

He shook his head in denial. “Not at all. Every moment with you is one that I cherish. Beside which, the swing was certainly a new pleasure. Today made me very glad that I chose to restore and keep it despite initially seeing it as a frivolous and useless thing. I could not have been more wrong, and I now understand why they are enjoyed so much by lovers,” he teased, enjoying the blush that rose to her cheeks. “I very much enjoyed our day together.”

Her lips curled in a shy smile. “I’m glad. Well, goodnight, then.”

Syrix inclined his head and watched as she slipped instead and shut the door between them. It was only when the door was firmly closed, and he listened to her retreating footsteps that he decided to venture outside and do a quick patrol of his territory. The night air was cool but welcoming and it teased his fur as he took his four-legged form and ran into his woods.

With his mate’s welfare firmly in mind, he scouted every nook and cranny, sniffing at every fallen tree and crevice between the rocks just to make sure he was not missing any kind of hidden entrance where the lamia might be hiding herself. He scouted toward the Jensen cabin at the farthest edge of his territory and slowly circled around, not once catching even the faintest hint of the lamia’s putrid scent. His trek eventually took him to the lake and he peered at the cabin illuminated by the rays of the moon, recalling his mate’s fear and revulsion.

But what was it about the place? Other than looking somewhat foreboding due to the lack of life within it, it didnot spark any instinctive warning within him other than general unpleasantness. But he did not doubt his mate. If Krystal said there was a sense of wrongness to the cabin, then he believed her. That sense of wrongness had clearly overpowered his ability to soothe her when she was in its grip. It was no laughing matter.

His head fur rising warily, his gaze drifted from the cabin at the water’s edge to the trees that stood as silent sentries. He half expected the lamia to drop from one of them to taunt him, but when his eyes shifted to the trees nearest to him, he startled when something burst violently in a rush from the branches nearest to him. His legs bracing, he promptly fell into a widened stance only to blink quizzically at the bats as they swooped over the water, chasing insects.

Bats? He did not recall seeing bats around his territory before. But then again, he had arrived in the winter. Perhaps they had been sleeping. He would not have immediately noticed a cavern of roosting bats, given that bats flew long distances from their caverns to hunt and eat. He would not have even scented their heavy musk at such a distance, not like he would if they were roosting somewhere within his territory. Because of that, their presence did not concern him as much as it amused him to watch them flit over the pound.

It was unlikely that the lamia would take advantage of nesting someplace that was likely in an inopportune location.

Taking a deep breath, he sniffed the air and filtered through the scents of the night in search of the one he was looking for. Nothing. It was as he suspected. The lamia had gone to ground to digest.

Growling softly to himself, he drew back from the lake and returned along the path back to the cabin he shared with his mate. Fixi darted among the brush, pausing for only a moment to look over at him questioningly, his tail stiff. Syrix nodded to the male and the fox’s body relaxed before bounding downthe path—eager to rejoin his mate. Syrix well understood that feeling as eagerness thrummed through him in anticipation of seeing his female again.

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