That wasn’t the shutdown Yev would have wished for, but he understood why Radek wanted to take these steps first, so he bit his tongue. The boy needed to familiarize himself with the company, perhaps look through his dad’s old documents or consult a lawyer to come up with a solution. As unpleasant as this would be, they might need to return to his mom’s sometime later.

Golonko’s lips thinned, and it seemed he wanted to say something but he managed to bite his tongue. “Fine. Tomek will make it happen.”

“Could we have your phone number?” Yev asked, stepping closer to Tomek, who was some kind of day-to-day dealings manager.

They exchanged numbers, but Radek kept staring at the nearest fox house. Yev could only imagine how distressing this was if Radek understood the whining and screeches.

“I’d also… like to buy one of the foxes. A black one. I saw him last month, with a badly infected eye,” Radek said to Mr. Golonko who raised his arms in the air.

“Sure! Why not! Make yourself a scarf out of it for all I care!”

Gawron eyed Radek with a scowl, massaging his jaw as he finally stood. “You gonna pick up the shit you left here during your disappearing act too?”

A fox?

Yev cleared his throat when he sensed the scent of Ember’s musk in the air. They needed to get out of here fast.

“Find the ‘shit’ while we get the fox,” he said, nudging Radek’s foot with his boot.

Radek nodded and rushed toward the shed, but Yev was still aware of Mr. Golonko complaining to Tomek about ‘doing his best’. Golden eyes looked back at him, and Yev swallowed hard, because Radek glanced at him with Ember’s vertical pupils.

“I’m sorry, it’s just this little fox. He needs my help,” he said, panting as if he were about to faint. If they weren’t being watched, Yev would have hugged him or straight-up carried him to the truck, but that would have gone against Radek’s plans.

“I don’t think you should go in there,” Yev said, his nose picking up the strong odor inside.

Radek leaned against the wall of the shed, shivering as long white hairs rapidly grew out above his top lip. “He’s black, the only black one. Very small,” he uttered.

Good. That was good. If he was small, there was a chance he hadn’t been skinned so far. Yev was sure Radek was reacting to the coppery odor of blood that became stronger in the air when wind carried it from a large building in the very back of the property. He kept in a scowl and nodded before ducking in order to enter the dusky space where air was heavy and filled with fear.

The foxes went silent. Did they know who he was? What he was?

He’d entered a dungeon. Bitterly cold, filled with air so dense with the stink of rot and death Yev needed a moment to steady himself before he switched on the weak light, revealing the narrow walkway with small cages on stands on either side. The ceiling was bare sheet metal, too low for him to walk straight even in the middle, where the interior provided most space. Instinct told him to drop everything and run, but if he wanted to help Radek, he couldn’t waste any more time.

His gaze slid over small bodies tucked into the far-off corners of cages that didn’t allow them much freedom to move. He tried not to focus on the sense of misery this place carried, but it clutched at his throat, refusing to let go as he found the tiny black ball at the very end.

His brain provided horrid images of his own family tucked into cages, unable to shift into the form of the alpha animal, prevented from roaming free, and breathing became a challenge.

He was against keeping exotic animals on principle, including foxes, as pets, but these poor creatures hadn’t been taken from their natural environment to become a pampered ego boost. They were in an endless meat grinder that would devour parents and children in a cycle of cruelty.

“I won’t hurt you. I know, you’re in pain,” Yev cooed softly. He didn’t need to understand foxes the way Radek did to know the distress in the little whimpers.

He was preparing for a bite when he opened the cage and grabbed the little fox with patchy fur, but the animal was so subdued it didn’t even fight him when he pulled it against his chest.

Shit. Its breathing was so painfully uneven. And it stank so bad.

A frosty sensation danced down his back, and he pulled off his scarf, to wrap it around the shivering animal, whose one eye was a giant ball of puss that couldn’t still be functional. Fury danced in his veins when he saw the proof of what he’d known all along without even visiting this place, at all the remaining foxes he couldn’t rescue, as unfair as it was.

Tags: K.A. Merikan Folk Lore Paranormal
Source: readsnovelonline.net