Page 7 of Foxin' Around

“Krystal.” He savored her name as he said it, caressing each sound with his tongue so that it made him shiver erotically with pleasure.

He said it twice, and three times, enjoying the experience more and more. She had such a beautiful name. It was positively magical, like the name of some lovely water sprite dancing on reflective pools. What made it even better was that her eyes took on a glazed look as she reacted to the way he verbally caressed her name. It seemed that they were both affected, and he took that as a positive sign.

“Dinner then, my precious jewel? Night will come soon, and I am sure that you will be far more comfortable in here.”

She hesitated for a moment and a sly look gleamed in her eyes that filled him with excitement. Ah, she was a true vixen. The gods had chosen well for one such as he.

“I would,” she agreed as she put her foot on the top step and slowly ascended. His eyes fastened on her eagerly and he waited with bated breath to see what she would do. She was so close that he could almost touch her if he lifted his hand. “I wouldn’t even object to you cooking for me since I’m sure you have access to much better stuff than I have, but there is just one little thing.”

His ears pricked with interest. They were bargaining, were they? He nearly grinned, eager to play the game, but bit it back so as to not betray his excitement.

“And what do you require for your comfort?” he whispered, his lashes lowering seductively. “I put the entire cabin at your disposal and everything within it for whatever you may need tonight. What is mine is yours.”

A smile curled her lips. “I’m so happy that you agree… now get out.”

Syrix blinked and barked a laugh at her clever manipulation. She did not even know what he was and had cleverly trapped him within his own words. “For tonight,” he agreed easily in reminder as he swept past her, “since my offer did not extend beyond that. If it helps you sleep easier for this one night I will sleep in my woods and relinquish my home for your comfort. Enjoy it, clever little vixen,” he teased.

The blush that rose into her face was just as charming as her sly plotting just moments earlier, and Syrix sighed wistfully as he left the cabin. There was no trickery he could play with this time. He was stuck out in the cold, but his smile did not slip from his face as he walked into his woods. The gloom deepened around him as he walked and his smile grew until he threw backhis head with laughter, sharing his joy with the woods around him.

Krystal would make a good mate for him, indeed.

Chapter

Six

Dinner wasn’t so impressive when Krystal was confronted with the reality of the raw goods that Syrix had filling the pantry and cupboards. There wasn’t a single thing canned or boxed, or even enough that was immediately recognizable that she could easily make a meal out of it. What was worse, the old stove had been pulled out and replaced with some kind of wood stove that she didn’t have the first clue as to how to operate. It left her little choice but to graze upon some bits of fruit and vegetables that she found while her stomach grumbled in complaint that she’d been too hasty in acquiring use of the cabin before enjoying the promised meal. It didn’t help that tantalizing smells of roasting meat drifted into the cabin every so often until she wanted to punch something.

She was debating chewing on a chunk of raw meat from the icebox and just suffering the consequences when a small scratch at the door alerted her to the presence of something out there. Frowning, she abandoned the kitchen and headed toward the door, but when she opened it, she found nothing there except a split half of a duck wrapped in a cabbage leaf, and left waiting there for her. She picked it up, her brow puckering slightly at thegift as she carried it inside. Drawing out a chair, she sat down and set the meat on the table in front of her. Had Syrix left this for her? She hated to feel grateful to a strange man when it could potentially make her beholden to him, but tears welled up in her eyes and her stomach gurgled loudly with its demand to be properly fed for the first time in months.

When was the last time she had fresh meat, much less meat cooked to perfection and still sizzling with heat? With her demands, he could have left her to go hungry or figure out how to prepare herself something to eat and yet he had the consideration and forethought to provide for her, even when ousted from the space that he had stocked and made comfortable in her family’s absence.

“Well, damn, I guess I would be both ungrateful and crazy to chase him away now,” she whispered, and her lips hitched in a reluctant smile as she pulled a leg of duck free and lifted it to her lips. Her smile disappeared and she moaned with pleasure at its smell first and then again at its taste when the flavorful juices ran over her tongue with her first bite. “Oh, shit, this is good.”

She ate quickly, ravenously, without any sense of manners or needing to put on a show for anyone. Every bite was a delicious prelude to the next until she was sucking the last remaining bits of meat from the bones and licking her fingers clean. Settling back in the chair, she sighed contently and peered over at the door as she ran her tongue over her lips to capture the last traces of flavor. Fixi and a smaller silver fox peered at her curiously from around the doorframe, their large ears pricked toward her. She smiled at the pair. She was not entirely surprised to find that she had left the door open when she had been distracted with tasty food, but at least the foxes were polite visitors and not an intrusive pair.

“Is that your girlfriend, Fixi?” she called over to the fox and chuckled when the male yipped and raced away with his companion.

“All right, I can take a hint,” she mumbled. A small groan escaped her as she placed her arms above her head and leisurely stretched out her back. “I know I must be poor company for a fox.”

Truthfully, she was exhausted more than anything. She hadn’t slept well since the Ravening and even less while walking north toward the cabin. She wasn’t particularly good company for anyone, not even herself, if she were honest.

“I guess I should see what Syrix did to the bedroom,” she observed aloud, and she grimaced.

She hoped that talking to herself didn’t become a habit. It seemed that the whole bit about humans being social creatures and how isolation wasn’t good for one’s mental health wasn’t wrong. More so was the pity since she couldn’t exactly control her circumstances. Of course, she was sort of forced into close confines with Syrix at the moment, but there was no telling how long that would last, especially since she practically drove him from the cabin. He may have decided to wash his hands of the whole situation and find another place to renovate that didn’t include dealing with a crazy woman who made him sleep out in the woods. It’s not like there weren’t cabins all over the woods.

She knew of one just a few miles down that was actually a much nicer cabin than the one her family had—it belonged to rich folks. She could have just gone to that one after finding him here, but dammit, this was her family’s home, and all of her memories were anchored here. He would probably leave for that cabin or another in a heartbeat and just replicate whatever he had done here over there. It shouldn’t even be hard for him since he did it all in just a matter of months. He didn’t need to stick around and argue with her.

“Fuck, and he cooks such good duck, too,” she complained to herself. “Why did you have to be such a suspicious bitch, Krystal? Especially when you never learned how to cook more than what was absolutely necessary before the world got upended. He might have hung around and fed you more. He’s probably going to ditch your dumb ass now. If he hasn’t already left.”

That was a sobering thought. What if he had already packed up and headed out? Not only would she not have anyone around to feed her, but she would be in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with no one to talk to but the wildlife. What had seemed ideal suddenly wasn’t sounding so great.

She sank her face into her hands with a groan. She really knew how to screw herself over. What did her grandmother used to say—cut off her own nose to spite her face?—yep, that was exactly what she’d done. She was now the noseless wonder. Maybe she wasn’t too late? If she could catch him before he decided to just leave. Scrambling up from the chair, she grabbed her aunt’s shawl that, despite all the improvements to the cabin, still hung from the coat tree, and wrapped it around herself before plunging out the door.

The chilly night air stung the tip of her nose, and she rubbed it absently with her palm. It was warmer than previous nights and certainly better than the misery she’d gone through when winter had set in with no electricity, so it didn’t slow her down any. She swiveled her head left and right as she walked from the porch into the woods, her gaze skimming over the trees. In the short time since she’d eaten, the sun had slipped below the horizon, turning the forest nearly black. Only the light from the cabin provided any sense of direction. So long as she didn’t go so far in that she lost sight of the cabin, she would be fine.

“Syrix?” she shouted. “Are you still here?”

“And where would I have gone, sweetling?” his deep voice whispered, his breath fanning her ear.

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