Where Foxes Hunt with Wolves (Folk Lore 2)

The fox had woken in the cage Yev had in his truck for situations like this, and kept crying until Yev relented and spoke to him in a soft voice. The harsh sounds became whines once Yev moved the cage inside the cab, and he’d gotten so used to the little thing hurting his ears throughout the drive that its current silence was weirding him out.

“It’s no use,” Karolina said in the end, petting the shiny fur, and Yev was glad the fox had been anesthetized and couldn’t hear this verdict, even though it wouldn’t have understood human speech.

“You sure? He’s otherwise healthy,” Yev said from the chair farthest from the examination table. The main lamp had been switched off, which left only the bright spotlight bathing the unconscious patient in a white glow.

The young vet tightened her lips. If he hadn’t known she was over thirty, he’d have taken her for a high-schooler, but despite the round, child-like face and big blue eyes, she was one of the most competent vets he’d met in his career. If she said the situation was hopeless, then it surely was.

Still, he couldn’t help but take it personally.

Karolina’s small hand raised and fell with the fox’s side, as if the animal tried to prove that it was still alive and didn’t need to be put down. “The damage is too great. The paw’s practically severed in half, and there really isn’t anything I can do here. Were this a dog, we’d just amputate, but this is a wild animal. It won’t be happy living in a cage, and it won’t survive in its natural environment.”

The lush tail twitched, and Yev rose to his feet just as Karolina took a step back when the little one’s eye opened.

“I could have sworn I’ve given him the right dose,” she mused, but when the fox didn’t try to get up, and lay there, letting out a harsh panting noise, Yev stepped in and placed one hand on the slender neck, and the other—on the animal’s thigh.

“I can hold him, if necessary, but are you sure you want to do this? He seemed friendly. And not like a rabid animal can be. More like… you know, a dog.”

The fox let out a tiny whimper and just as Yev was expecting a bite, it nuzzled his wrist with its cool nose.

Karolina cocked her head. “He is awfully clean for a wild animal. And well-fed for this time of year too. Maybe he’s someone’s pet. But he has no collar, no chip. Without the owner here, my boss wouldn’t allow me to go forward with the amputation. If someone local kept a fox as a pet, we’d have known about it, which makes me believe someone came here with the purpose of abandoning it far away from home,” she said in a low voice that pulled at Yev’s heartstrings.

The fox’s golden eyes opened wider and he stared up at Yev, its heart picking up pace in an instant.

It was asking for help. Whether it had the capacity to understand how badly injured it was or not, it understood that a human could be its ally.

“Maybe it’s… one of those foxes people fed by bottle? You know? It doesn’t act as if it was raised in the wild,” Yev said, swallowing when he sensed the fox shiver.

Karolina shrugged. “Maybe, but who’s gonna take care of him? The nearest charity that takes care of foxes is two hundred kilometers away, and the last time I spoke to them they were over capacity. I’d consider fostering him myself if I didn’t have cats. He’s so terribly pretty.”

The lush ginger tail with a white tip started tapping against the table as if the fox wanted to show off how gorgeous it was, and the animal whimpered softly as it licked Yev’s hand.

Fuck.

Karolina shook her head. “Would you consider taking him in for a while? Otherwise, I’ll have to put him down, I’m sorry.”

The fox’s whimpers became louder, and he tried tapping at Yev with his healthy paw, but didn’t have much strength after the tranquilizers and looked at him, pleading for this one chance it had at life.

Yev should say no. There was no place for a pet in his life, and if all went well, he’d be back with his pack within a couple of months.

But… could he really let this poor animal die just because most humans were cruel and selfish? If the fox was wild, the answer would have been obvious but someone had tamed this ball of fluff. He could take care of it for now, and once it had healed, Karolina would surely help him find a permanent home for the little guy.

It shouldn’t take more than two months, and he had a lot of space in the lodge anyway. If the fox stank the place up, it wouldn’t be his problem once he left.