Wolf’s Fox by Juniper Hart

16

Summer was fully upon them now, and Nicholas drove Ruthie out to one of his very favorite spots. She stared at him with curious blue eyes as he packed a picnic.

“You’ll see,” he replied in response to her confused expression. Over the past months, he had learned to read her animal faces almost as well as her human words. It hadn’t been an easy haul, those endless weeks in between shifts, waiting to share a conversation with Ruthie, but they were finding ways to communicate with one another.

The worst part for Nicholas was the waiting, knowing that Ruthie was trying to keep track of all the things she wanted to say on those rare nights when the full moon finally came through for them.

He broached the topic of finding a witch to lift the spell every time he could, but Ruthie had been adamant about her position, and he had no choice but to respect her demands, tempting as it was to look into a solution.

I hate it when Mom meddles in my life. I can’t do the same thing to Ruthie. Still, he couldn’t deny that the desire to do just that was overwhelming.

He was forced to take Ruthie’s lead and merely appreciated the limited time they had together.

And it’s not limited. She’s always with me.

But it wasn’t the same, and they both knew it.

“Come on. Let’s go,” he told her, nodding at the backseat. Ruthie hopped into the back of the Jeep, and Nicholas closed the door.

“That’s one beautiful dog you have.”

Nicholas flinched and turned to see his next-door neighbor watering his grass. He managed a tight smile. “Thanks, Steve.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever really seen a breed like that. What is it?”

Anger surged through Nicholas. He caught Ruthie’s plaintive expression through the window, and his heart broke slightly. He knew it wasn’t Steve’s fault. The human didn’t know anything about shifters or white foxes. The only one to blame here was Luthor, and Nicholas still had no idea where to find him.

“I’m not sure,” Nicholas muttered, climbing into the driver’s seat and closing the door before Steve could ask anything else. Ruthie let out a low whimper, and Nicholas groaned.

“Well, if you’d let me look into how to lift this curse, we wouldn’t have this problem,” he snapped, annoyed with having the same conversation over again. Ruthie growled and sat back, turning her white fur to stare out the window.

“Aw, come on, Ruthie. Unless you want to hide out in the house all the time, this is the way it’s gotta be.”

She made no sound, and Nicholas stifled another groan, laying heavier on the gas. The silence was getting on his nerves, but as he drove, he found himself wondering if maybe his mother wasn’t onto something.

If Ruthie and I were to have a child, Luthor couldn’t claim her. He would be no threat, and we could see about lifting the curse.

He peered at the fox in the rear-view mirror, but she was still staring out the window. This wasn’t the time to rouse the subject, not when she couldn’t respond, but excitement started to grow inside him. In two days, she would be human again, and it was a plan if there ever was one.

As if she could feel his thoughts, Ruthie whipped her head back around, narrowing her eyes, but he smiled at her.

“I think I might have a solution to our problem,” he told her. “But you’re going to have to wait.”

* * *

Ruthie staredat him in disbelief.

“You think having a baby is going to end this nightmare?” she demanded, sounding so angry, Nicholas wished he hadn’t done anything but kiss her lips the second she shifted. “That’s your solution? Getting me pregnant just like Luthor wanted to?”

“Okay, when you say it like that—”

“What other way is there to say it? Is that all I am to you people? An incubator? I am more than a walking uterus, capable of creating little dragon or little wolf babies!”

“Ruthie, we love each other,” Nicholas reminded her, reaching for her hands to calm her down. “It’s not the same as—”

“Just because we’re mated doesn’t mean I need to pop out a baby!” Her voice raised to such a pitch, Nicholas cringed slightly.

“I understand what you’re saying, but—”

“No! There’s no ‘but’! I’m not having a baby to get the other baby-crazed being off my back!”

“I’m suggesting we have a baby because we love each other,” Nicholas countered weakly. He was embarrassed, and Ruthie wasn’t about to let him off the hook.

“You’re no different than him, are you?” she shot out. It was Nicholas’ turn to be indignant.

“I’m going to ignore that because you’re upset, but please, don’t ever compare me to Luthor again.”

“If the shoe fits, Nicholas…” Ruthie was on her feet.

“Where are you going?” he demanded as she stalked toward the door. “You only just shifted!”

“I need some air,” she shot back. “And maybe some space.”

“Ruthie…”

“Just give me a few minutes,” she growled, slamming out of the house. He thought about going after her, but he didn’t want to make matters worse. Nicholas flopped back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling.

How much longer are we going to be able to do this?

He didn’t have a chance to answer his own question. He could sense someone outside the house, someone that was not his mate. Nicholas was on his feet, flying toward the door from which Ruthie had just left.

“Ruthie?” he called out into the night. Nothing but silence followed his yell. “Ruthie?”

Out of the corner of his eye, a flash of movement caught his attention, and before he even realized what he was doing, Nicholas was in his wolf body, leaping toward it. The figure was knocked to the ground beneath Nicholas’ heavy paws. An unattractive troll face peered up at Nicholas, startling him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen a troll out in the open. They tended to live underground and far away from human interaction. The sight of it alarmed him.

“What are you doing here?” Nicholas hissed, his body half-shifted. “Who are you?”

The ugly face curled into a sneer, but Nicholas could taste the fear radiating off him.

“Unhand me, peasant!” he growled in the ancient tongue. Nicholas applied more weight to the troll’s body.

“If you want to walk out of here in one piece, I suggest you tell me who the hell you are,” he snarled. “I won’t ask again.”

“I come for the fox,” the troll spat back, this time in common English. “I know she’s here.”

Dread consumed Nicholas. His keen eyes shone out into the blackness as he looked for signs of his mate.

“Who told you that?” he demanded. “What do you want with her?”

Again, the troll sneered, but only slightly more pressure wiped the smirk from his body as he struggled to breathe.

“I come at the behest of Lord Luthor!” he choked. “He has it on good authority that the white fox, Ruth Edwards, resides here.”

“How? How does he know that?” Nicholas insisted, the blood draining from his face. The troll had no answer. “Where is he?” Nicholas growled. “Where is Luthor?”

But he had put too much weight on the hideous beast, and the troll ran out of air abruptly, passing out under the incensed wolf.

“Nicholas!”

The sound of Ruthie’s shocked cry caused him to turn, releasing the troll. His limp body flopped to the side, but Nicholas wasted no time.

“Come on,” he said urgently, seizing Ruthie by the arm. “We have to get you out of here.”

“W-what’s going on?” she demanded, looking from him to the troll. “Who is that?”

“Trouble,” Nicholas sighed. “Let’s go.”

* * *

“I knew it!”Ruthie sobbed, shaking her head. “I knew I hadn’t seen the end of him.”

“You need to calm down,” Nicholas said quietly, his fingers curling around the steering wheel as they drove. “Luthor isn’t going to get to you.”

Ruthie scoffed through her tears. “How can you say that? He came to our home, Nicholas. If I hadn’t been in the back…”

She shuddered, and he extended a hand toward her, not slowing the Jeep as he touched her skin.

“He’s still out there,” she said dully, composing herself. “He’s out there, and he knows where to find me.”

“I’ve told you a million times, Ruthie, Luthor is never going to get his hands on you. I swear that I’ll keep you safe.”

“By getting me pregnant?” she demanded, wrenching her hand back.

“Ruthie…”

She turned her beautiful profile, and Nicholas caught a tear slipping down her cheek. His heart twisted to see the fear on her face.

“Maybe I should just give myself up,” she said dully. “I can’t run forever.”

“The hell you’re giving yourself up,” he retorted, but his mind was whirling.

“What are we going to do? Just keep driving?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

She exhaled and shook her head. “Just stop the car. Turn around.”

“No.”

“Nicholas, in a few hours—”

“I know what’s going to happen in a few hours,” he snapped. “Let me think, please.”

Her mouth tucked in at the corners, but Nicholas didn’t apologize. His mind was racing.

Why now? She’s been staying with me for months. How did Luthor only find her now?

A chill of apprehension snaked down his spine, and he eyed his cell phone sitting on the dashboard holder. Whispers of the last conversation he’d had with Catherine came echoing through his ears.

Did she lie to me about knowing Luthor? Did she somehow hunt him down?

She had managed to find Ruthie. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine that she had found the elusive dragon the same way. And it wouldn’t be the first time that Catherine had crossed him. He didn’t want to think that his mother was that unscrupulous, that she cared so little about Ruthie and him, but what other explanation was there?

“What are you thinking?” Ruthie’s voice was sharp, and for a moment, Nicholas had forgotten how telepathically bound they had become to one another over the last months with no other means of communication.

“Nothing,” he said quickly. He didn’t want her to know what he was thinking about his mother. If he was wrong, there would be no eliminating that shadow of doubt inside Ruthie’s mind.

But even then, Nicholas knew he wasn’t wrong. His mother had set them up because he hadn’t honored his end of the deal.

“I need to stop for gas,” he said, noting the low gauge reading. Ruthie looked petrified at the idea.

“You can’t stop! What if we’re being followed?”

He didn’t remind her that she had just suggested turning herself in.

“We’re not being followed,” he reassured her, nodding toward the rear-view mirrors. “There hasn’t been a car behind us for miles.”

“Nicholas, we can’t stop…”

“Then we’re going to run out of gas,” he insisted. “You can’t shift until dawn, and we’ll really be sitting ducks then.”

“If we stop, we’ll be sitting ducks!”

“There’s a gas station in two miles. I’ll fill up, and we’ll keep going.”

“Where?”

“I guess we’ll know when we get there,” he said lightly.

Ruthie pressed her lips together, depicting her unhappiness, but not another word was spoken as they drove toward the Shell off the interstate.

“Why don’t you go inside and get us some snacks?” he suggested, tossing his wallet at her when they stopped. She eyed him balefully.

“Really?”

“Who knows when we’ll get a chance to stop again,” he said. “And get some water, too.”

Again, she didn’t argue, accepting the money, but she shot him a begrudging look over her shoulder as she moved. Her eyes darted around the quiet rest stop before hurrying into the store. Nicholas seized the opportunity to call his mother.

“What did you do?” he rasped when Catherine answered the call.

“Whatever do you mean?” his mother replied innocently. Her tone made Nicholas’ blood run cold.

“Call him off, Mother,” he hissed. “Do it before it’s too late.”

“It’s already too late,” Catherine barked back. “You could have avoided all this if you’d just done what you said you’d do.”

“I’ll do it! Just get Luthor off our backs.”

“He only wants what belongs to him,” Catherine insisted. “Just return his property, and you’ll be done with him.”

“She’s a living, breathing being, Catherine, not a piece of chattel!”

“I don’t make the rules, dear. I only enforce them. Bring Ruthie to her master.”

“What did you get for this? Money?”

“A fair sum.”

Nicholas’ stomach flipped. He thought he was going to be sick.

“One day, Mother, all your ill deeds are going to catch up with you,” he told her, his voice cracking. “There will be a day of reckoning.”

“Perhaps, dear, but today isn’t it.”

Unable to take any more of her voice, he hung up the call, his mind whirling. On impulse, he dialed again, connecting to another number.

“Nicholas?” His brother’s voice was thick with sleep. “What’s going on?”

“I need your help, Lincoln. It’s important.”

Lincoln was quiet as Nicholas explained his plight, his voice racing as he kept an eye on the store in front of him.

“I’ll see what I can do, Nicholas, but I make no promises,” Lincoln said quietly.

“Thank you.” He saw Ruthie exiting the store and hung up the call, tossing the cell phone back through the open window as she neared him.

“Who were you talking to?” she asked suspiciously. Nicholas swallowed.

“My mother,” he replied honestly. He didn’t want to lie to Ruthie, but he also didn’t want to tell her the entire truth.

“Can she help us?” Ruthie asked hopefully.

“No,” Nicholas said dully, removing the gas nozzle from the car. “Catherine can’t help anyone but herself.”

He didn’t add that he wasn’t sure anyone could. Time was of the essence right now, but it was running out yet again.