Where Foxes Hunt with Wolves (Folk Lore 2)

He avoided looking at the other cages on the way back, but as he burst outside, his skin felt dirty—not due to the ugly scent in the shed, but because this mindless cruelty was happening in the first place. It made him ashamed to wear this human skin.

“He needs…? a vet,” he said, meeting Radek’s eyes. Yep, he still had vertical pupils, but at least he hadn’t transformed in front of all the men conferring by the cars.

“Okay. Can we go now?” Radek was pale when he stepped closer and ran his fingertip over the ridge of the fox’s nose. “I’ll take care of you,” he whispered, and the sad little thing let out a whine, rubbing its muzzle, which, Yev now noticed, had bald patches, against Radek’s hand.

They walked across the yard as the entire staff looked on, anger and worry oozing from their bodies like the ugliest cologne. Yev didn’t bother to address any of the workers, and grabbed a backpack someone had left on the hood of his truck. Radek’s scent was faint on it, but still designated him as the owner.

Radek grabbed a jacket and some other clothes Tomek pushed at him too aggressively, but with the fox in his arms, Yev didn’t want to escalate the conflict, since Tomek did back off and seemed like the most dependable person of the bunch.

Once they were both in the truck, Yev passed the squeaking ball of black fur to Radek, and hit the gas to back out of this hellhole.

“Breathe. Breathe, Radek. You need to take care of him,” he whispered, speeding up, so no one would notice the visual changes happening to the boy.

Blood rushed to his head as he drove into the empty asphalt road and pressed on the pedal, eager to reach Karolina’s practice in Sanok as soon as possible.

But then Radek let out a fox-like shriek, and it was a lost cause. He trembled, and shrunk in a split second, the clothes he was wearing collapsing onto him. At least the black youngster had a soft landing into the empty jacket. Ember’s muzzle peeked out of the collar, but then he slid out of it as if it were his den and gave a loud mewl. When Yev reached out to him, itching to provide some comfort, Radek licked it, but then settled around the black fox, cushioning it from harm.

Yev slowed down to avoid too much shaking on the uneven road, but there was no point trying to help Radek shift back now. Even without speaking fox he could easily understand Ember was telling his new friend everything would be all right.

Chapter 16 – Yev

Radek snorted. “I just realized your last name means ‘wolf’ in Ukrainian. Hiding in plain sight?”

He was joking, but the insistent way he tapped his boot on the laminate floor spoke of stress. Radek had shifted back to his human form when they got to Sanok and had to change in the back seat. So at least this time it didn’t take a month, but Yev was still disturbed by the possibility of Radek shifting in some random moment and place.

He smiled and stroked his shoulder to offer comfort in a socially acceptable way. “It’s an old family name.”

Radek looked up at him with widening eyes. “Wait. You bit me. What if I now become some were… fox… wolfox?”

Yev shook his head. He shouldn’t have been finding Radek this cute, but he couldn’t help it. From the tip of his freckled nose, to the weird and random questions that spilled out of his mouth, Radek was just as cute as Ember had been.

Yev smirked and leaned closer, so his shoulder nudged Radek’s. There was just one other person in the waiting area, but this was Sanok, and he didn’t want to start gossip. “What if you do? What if you turn into a big, bad fox man each full moon?”

Radek’s face scrunched, and his lip trembled. He gently pushed Yev away. “It’s not funny. Is that how you turn others?”

Yev shook his head, curling his toes in his boots, and when the other vet in the practice called in their only company, he let his hand slide down Radek’s forearm, until the touch of the warm, slender fingers shot a jolt of electricity up Yev’s arm.

“That’s a myth. We breed like any other species. Though we do live in isolated pockets and occasionally meet up with other groups to mingle and get fresh blood into the pack.”

He shook his head as nostalgia passed over him, like his grandmother’s shawl used to when he played with it as a kid. The last of those meetups, with a pack from Finland, had been a complete disaster for him. He’d rejected a woman Father had kept pushing at him and caused a minor scandal. Just fantastic.