Where Foxes Hunt with Wolves (Folk Lore 2)

“Um… Didn’t you study tourism? Should be interesting to you,” Jan said and stretched on the bed.

Radek scowled, losing all interest in fucking Jan again. “Why are you taking his side?”

“I’m not taking a side!”

“You are. But that’s only because you haven’t visited him at home. He’s recently gotten into bread-making, and last time I’ve been here, he and Adam spent days making preserves for winter. He became an old person within the span of two years,” Radek said, opening the bottle to smell the homemade liquor. He knew it was good stuff the moment the alcohol kicked the insides of his nostrils with its sharpness, but the first swig of the thick, sweet beverage confirmed that one thing had not changed about Emil.

His booze-making skills.

“Whatever,” Jan said, rolling his eyes as he stood, holding up Radek’s underwear, which had somehow found its way between the sheets.

But Radek shook his head. What was the point of getting fully dressed when there were so many hunks around, other than Emil?

Jan shrugged and started putting his clothes back on. It wasn’t midnight yet, so they had a hell of a party to look forward to. They shared some of the liquor, smoked more pot and headed downstairs where the gathering of misfits was in full swing.

Radek’s friends were a whole rainbow of characters. Most of them he knew from university, and they still hung out, even though he’d graduated in the summer. He had no doubt his property in the mountains had a lot to do with their eagerness to keep in touch, but they weren’t inherently greedy. It was just that… who didn’t like a party filled with free booze?

Iga smiled at him and grabbed his hand, her white teeth bright against her olive skin. She used to be his closest friend in Cracow, but now had a very demanding job that offered excellent pay too. He’d have assumed working in marketing and finance would be excruciatingly boring, but Iga not only got to meet some celebrities through her projects, but also went on frequent work trips, with the recent one being all the way to Shanghai. She used to be envious of Radek calling a serene place like Dybukowo home, but now she was the one with an interesting life.

“Radek! I was just telling people about that trick you do, and they wanna see it. You know, where you can recognize people just by their smell?”

The room furnished with natural wood and wicker spun slightly when he faced everyone while the fire crackling nearby. There were about two dozen people in the cabin, and while he wasn’t sure he’d invited so many, he was fine with the excess as long as they didn’t run out of booze.

Radek glanced Iga’s way again. “Yeah. Yes. My nose is like a spaniel’s,” he declared, spreading his bare arms wide before taking another swig of Emil’s gift. Had he already drunk almost half the bottle?

Iga grabbed a scarf from the stack of coats in the corner. “Can this be a blindfold?”

Several long howls echoed outside.

The laughter and talking died down, and Daniel, who served as an impromptu DJ, turned off the music.

“Did you hear that? Or was it just me?” he asked, rubbing his face. “Sorry, I’m stoned out of my mind. I don’t know.”

Radek ignored the scarf and glared at the door instead, his back breaking out in goosebumps. “Wolves.”

Jan whistled and threw his arm over Radek’s shoulders, pulling him closer to the muscular body that still smelled of sex. “Maybe it’s the same pack that ate your dad.”

Fury erupted in Radek’s head so intensely he didn’t care how insensitive Jan’s comment was. “Come on everyone! Get dressed! I’ll show you how we deal with those fleabags in the mountains!” he yelled, his head hot with anger.

“You sure?” Iga asked, but Radek was already pulling his jacket out of the pile, and as soon as he threw it on, he sought out his boots as well, surrounded by the excited chatter and squeals of city rats who’d never seen a wolf in their lives.

Fuck yes, he was sure. He was killing a wolf tonight.

Chapter 2 – Radek

They poured out of the cabin in a bloodthirsty procession with Radek as the deranged cult leader set to come back home with a wolf head on a pike. He didn’t have a pike, but that wasn’t the point. The point was he had a rifle in hand and a whole box of extra bullets shoved down the pocket of his coat.

The freezing wind blasted snow into his face, clutching its icy fingers on his bare head, but this was his land, and he would not be chased back home by a bit of cold. There definitely were wolves around, he could smell them, so he waved at his hunting party and jumped over the simple wooden fence surrounding the house. The snow he’d touched left a biting presence on his fingers, but Radek’s body was burning, even under the skin on his exposed torso. He probably should have put on a T-shirt before venturing out but there was no time for that now.