Page 10 of Foxin' Around

He nodded in agreement. “It is a shame that we polished off the duck first because it would have been a lovely accompaniment. Next time we will enjoy this luxury,” he replied as he offered her a fork from the kitchen drawer and took one for himself.

It was all he could do to keep his tail pinned when she took a bite and moaned with pleasure. His tail stiffened in the chair behind him even as he felt his cock twitch and harden slightly in reaction. He swallowed thickly, glancing over at her with pleasure. “I am glad you like it.”

“You spoil me,” she replied as she hastily took another bite.

Syrix grinned but he did not reply, instead he took a bite and shifted the conversation to a more important topic of conversation.

“There is something important that we should discuss,” he said, and her gaze sobered as it fastened upon him. “Nothing bad, I assure you. It’s just that I would not recommend entering the woods at night without me by your side, especially with this present danger to consider. The lamia prefers to hunt at night, but I would suggest staying among my groves and gardens, which will be safe enough during the day. Few things will dare to cross into my territory, but it is better to be cautious with your safety for the time being.”

Krystal swallowed her bite of food and nodded. “That sounds reasonable. I honestly can’t see anything that would make feel inclined to step foot into those woods after dark at this point.”

He dipped his head in acknowledgement but could not help feeling a tickle of unease. Some things were never anticipated until they struck.

Chapter

Eight

Krystal yawned and stretched, and a familiar warm lump beside her brought a smile to her face as she sat up and blinked at the large red fox cozied up with her. So, he was back, was he? She would have to ask Syrix if he had a name. If not, then Jasper he would be. Smiling at the sleeping fox, Krystal carefully shifted the blanket, intending to slip out of the bed without disturbing the fox, but bit back a laugh when she spotted Fixi and another fox with a pair of kits curled up on the bed at her other side. She almost felt guilty because they must have abandoned their usual sleeping partner to curl up in bed with her, but she couldn’t feel too bad for Syrix. It was hard to feel anything but pure delight.

She was giddy, in fact, until she set her feet on the cold, wood floors and winced. Hissing beneath her breath, she hobbled over to her shoes and shoved her feet in them. She stomped them on as quietly as possible, but winced when she couldn’t quite manage to muffle it and glanced up guiltily to meet Jasper’s mellow, brown eyes. The fox yawned, showing his impressive set of needle-sharp teeth, but watched her with an expression akin to amusement, if she felt comfortable assigningsuch a humanlike trait to him. But then again, what fox stared at someone the way he was currently watching her, his eyes focused so fully on her that something within her unsettled.

“What are you, secretly half cat?” she muttered.

Now that she thought about it, he was quite an unusual fox. Not only was he uncommonly large but his mannerisms seemed odd. He wasn’t nervous or shy, and he didn’t wiggle with excitement like Fixi. He watched her with absolute stillness, as if he was the predator and she was the prey.

She shook her head and chuckled uneasily but couldn’t quite make herself look away from the fox. “Krystal, you are starting to go off your rocker. Next thing, you’ll be thinking he is plotting some clever tricks as if this was some sort of old fable.”

Jasper blinked at her and for a moment she could have sworn that he grinned. She immediately squeezed her eyes shut for a long moment as she inwardly scolded herself for her overactive imagination. When she opened again, she laughed weakly as the fox dropped casually to the floor and trotted out of the room as if nothing had ever happened and he hadn’t just been sitting there, watching her and understanding every word she said.

Giving her arms a brisk rub—all the while telling herself it was just the chill in the air that was currently making her feel so unsettled—Krystal left the bedroom she’d claimed as her own and glanced around the cabin curiously as she stepped out into the kitchen. Her gaze at last landed on Syrix just as he straightened and stepped away from the fridge, a thick chunk of meat in his hand as he closed the door and greeted her with a smile.

“Good morrow, Krystal.”

She blinked at him, confused by his odd phrasing, but nodded a greeting in turn. “Good morning. Did you happen to see a red fox come this way?”

The perfectly shaped, high arches of his red eyebrows lifted curiously, his lips tipping in amusement. “A red fox, you say?”

She sighed. She was not even remotely awake enough to play whatever game he had in mind. “Did he or did he not? I wanted to ask you about him.”

His lips twitched but he inclined his head in acknowledgement. “He entered the kitchen,” he replied elusively.

Krystal rolled her eyes and headed toward the kitchen sink, eagerly washing her hands and face while he stood there, standing in place with a hunk of meat in his hand, watching her. Grabbing a towel, she stepped out of the way and turned toward him, giving him room to approach the cutting block.

Her eyes fell on his long, graceful fingers as he handled the meat and drifted upward. The outer robe of his attire pulled back, along with his sleeve, to reveal a hint of his powerful and yet slim forearm. The way he projected strength while having such a slender build was wild to her. It was like he was some kind of elven prince possessing inhuman strength without the brawn.

“You were wishing to ask me something?” he murmured, and her eyes flew up to meet his gaze.

There was a flash of a sheen of red in those depths—a trick of light that dazzled her for just a moment before fading away. Gods, she was being silly.

Forcing a cheerful smile to her face, she nodded, her eyes following his movements as he set what appeared to be pork on the cutting board and grabbed a large knife. “Sorry, yes. It was about that fox. Is he one of the foxes you mentioned who live here with Fixi? I saw Fixi with his mate and kits, but wasn’t sure how the big red one fits in with their little family. He doesn’t really seem to be a part of their unit.”

Syrix’s blade faltered on the down slice, but he recovered quickly and chuckled. “No, he is not kin to either Fixi or his mateFata. That one comes and goes as he pleases, but they know he means them no harm and they are quite accustomed to his presence.”

“I see,” she mumbled, her eyes drifting around the kitchen, searching for some sign of the fox while the thump of the blade against the board seemed to echo with every beat of her heart.

She was experiencing some crazy levels of attunement with Syrix if such a basic activity from him was affecting her so strongly. Attunement that she didn’t even understand. Having the welcome distraction of the fox to focus on was a relief.

“Do you happen to know what his name is?”

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