Wolf’s Fox by Juniper Hart

8

‘Stunned’ did not begin to describe the feeling rushing through Nicholas. The urge to go after the half-naked wildling battled with the desire to let her be.

She thinks I’m the enemy because Luthor was a Baneist. Is he still?

His head was swimming, and he was forced to sit on the steps as he struggled to understand how Bane still managed to infiltrate every aspect of his life, over a century later.

I’ll never escape the umbra of that man, he thought bitterly, but he knew that his mother had just as much to do with that as his father had before her.

The light of dawn began to peek through the windows of the house, and a deep sense of loss swept through Nicholas. He had missed the opportunity to keep Ruthie there with him, but a small part of him had known from the start that was what was bound to happen.

As she had bathed, he had done a broad search for Luthor online and, unsurprisingly, found nothing. He realized now that he had to find this dragon, if only to figure out fact from reality. Given the way that Ruthie had reacted just now, it was impossible to know if she had been fed lies or if what she had told him was true.

Nicholas rose and headed back upstairs to find his cell phone. There was only one person he could think of that might be able to help him in this situation, much as he loathed to admit it.

“Aren’t you up early,” Catherine cooed into his ear.

“I haven’t slept,” he replied curtly.

“Are you still honoring the full moon, dear? That’s good to hear. We have a lovely ceremony on nights like this. You really should come by the Ministry—”

“Mom, I need to talk to you about something,” he interjected.

“Sure, darling. Why don’t you come by this afternoon? I’m having a little luncheon for some of the disciples.”

“I need to talk to you alone. Can I come over now?”

There was a slight pause. “Are you all right, son?”

“No,” he admitted. “I’m not.”

“I’ll come to you,” Catherine said. “Give me half an hour.”

“I’ll put on the coffee,” Nicholas sighed. He was going to need it.

* * *

Twenty minutes later,Catherine pulled up in her Mercedes. Unlike her husband, she had exploited the wealth behind the Movement. Bane had been content living on the compound and enjoying his perversions within the simple homes his congregation had built. His only drive had been sexual, but Catherine had much more business sense. There was no longer a commune, and the orgies had been eliminated, even if the parishioners still hailed Bane as their leader.

Now, there was a hefty tithe required and a handsome donation paid every week into the collection plate, most of which went into Catherine’s own pocket.

Nicholas had long ago stopped accepting his “share” of the Ministry, knowing that his mother was unscrupulous. She didn’t care if families couldn’t afford their grocery bill. The tithe had to be paid, or the family would be ex-communicated indefinitely. Nicholas had not been able to sleep at night knowing that his bank account was being lined with the money of the poor.

“When are you going to buy a nicer house, Nickie?” Catherine sighed, entering the front hall and shaking her head. “Or at least hire an interior decorator to redo these dated walls?”

He immediately thought of how appreciative Ruthie had been of the house and grimaced.

“Not everyone spends their money on frivolities, Mother,” Nicholas told her gruffly. “And I didn’t call you here to discuss my house decorating.”

“Then what did you call me here for?”

“Come.” He waved her inside, and she closed the door. Suddenly, her nose raised into the air, and Nicholas watched her through his peripheral vision.

“Do you have a female in here?” she asked, her eyes narrowing with piqued interest.

“No,” Nicholas replied honestly.

“But you did,” Catherine insisted. “A fox?”

Despite her unsavory ways, Nicholas had to admit that his mother had many talents. It was what made her such a good con artist.

“A white fox, in fact,” he answered honestly as he entered the kitchen.

“Not Nia!” Catherine rushed in after him, her faux mink stole flapping as she moved. She hadn’t bothered to remove her high leather boots, and she tracked slush inside. Under normal circumstances, Nicholas would have made a snide comment about the mess she was making, but he was too distracted with where Ruthie had gone.

“Who’s Nia?” he asked absently.

“The white fox from Saint Paul. John said he told you about her, but she’s engaged to bind with another white fox.”

Nicholas thought of the pair he had seen in the Ministry when he had been looking for Ruthie.

“No, not Nia.”

“Tell me,” Catherine purred, flopping onto the very same stool that Ruthie had been sitting on not two hours earlier. “I can smell her so vividly, but I don’t know any other white foxes in the area.”

Nicholas turned his back to fix coffees for them, his mind whirling. He wasn’t sure how much he wanted to tell his mother. He had been burned too many times by Catherine to pretend that she had his best interests at heart. At the same time, he could see how she would want him to find this missing white fox. It would only amplify her standing in the Ministry, should she have a white fox in her family.

Aren’t I getting ahead of myself? Even if I manage to find Ruthie, she made her sentiments about me pretty clear.

Nicholas had to focus on one thing at a time.

“Nickie, what are you hiding?”

He scowled. He loathed it when his mother used that nickname, but he also knew she did it on purpose to irk him.

“Well, Cathy,” he replied, enjoying the way she flinched at his own moniker.

She forgets whose kid I am.

“I have found a white fox, but she is elusive.”

“They tend to be,” Catherine agreed. “Who is she?”

He hesitated again.

“Let me ask you something before I go on,” he said, watching her closely. “Do you know a dragon named Luthor? He’s from around here, apparently a Baneist…”

He trailed off and peered intently at his mother.

“Luthor…hm…” Catherine shook her head and met his eyes. “It doesn’t sound familiar.”

“Are you sure, Mom?” he pressed, unsure if she was truly considering his question. Catherine chuckled.

“If he’s from around here, I would know, wouldn’t I?” she replied. “I mean, I can check the roster.”

Nicholas pressed his lips together. I was right. Ruthie has been lied to. I have to find her and make her realize that she’s being played.

“What does he have to do with this fox?” Catherine wanted to know. She reached for the coffee mug and curled her manicured fingers around the ceramic.

“Nevermind,” he sighed.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Who is she? Don’t leave me hanging, son.”

Nicholas bit on the insides of his cheeks.

There’s no point in enlisting her now. If Luthor isn’t part of the Ministry, I’m at a dead end again.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t think you can help me after all.”

Catherine snorted. “Nicholas, if anyone can help you, it’s me. Name one person you know with more resources than your dear, sweet mother.”

He didn’t bother correcting her self-assessment.

“That might be true, but in this case, your minions aren’t going to be able to help.”

“You’d be surprised.” There was a note of insistence in her tone that told Nicholas that she wasn’t going to give up until he gave her something. He thought of what other options he had. He’d had a hard enough time finding Ruthie when she hadn’t known he was searching for her. Now, it was bound to be impossible.

“Her name is Ruthie Edwards,” Nicholas finally relented. “She spends most of her time in her animal form.”

He didn’t offer anything about the curse or how she had come into his life, nor did Catherine ask, but he did see a gleam of interest spark in her eyes.

“She’s from the area?” his mother questioned. Unsure of how to respond, Nicholas nodded.

“Yes,” he answered simply. “And I need to find her.”

Catherine raised a dark red eyebrow. “How did you come to find her in the first place?”

“Does it matter?”

“It might.”

Nicholas was losing patience. “I doubt you can do anything about it,” he grumbled, realizing just how tired he was. He just wanted his mother to finish her coffee and go, but the glimmer in her eyes told him that she was getting warmed up to the idea.

“And what are you going to do about it once you find this Ruthie Edwards?”

I’m going to convince her that I’m on her side, Nicholas thought, but he didn’t say it aloud. It would invite too many more questions.

“I just need to find her, Mom. Again, I don’t know how much you can help, and the last thing I want is your goons cornering her.”

“My goons,” Catherine sighed. “You should show your brothers the same respect they show you. They’ll be over the moon to have an opportunity to prove themselves to you.”

Nicholas wasn’t sure why her words filled him with a modicum of dread.

“I don’t want to be owing you anything for this, Mother,” he said curtly. “Tell me what you want, and let’s square up.”

Catherine frowned. “I know you find this hard to believe, Nicholas, but you are my son, and I would do anything for you. In fact, I have done everything for you, even if you refuse to see that.”

Nicholas raised his head and met her eyes squarely. “If you’re talking about what you and the others did to Bane, you’ll have to do a rain check on my gratitude.”

Anger crossed over Catherine’s face. “You kids have no idea what we endured for you,” she hissed, rising abruptly from her spot. “What we did, we did to protect you from a tyrant, a deviant.”

“Whatever you tell yourselves to sleep at night, Mother.”

Ire radiated from Catherine’s face, but she seemed to think better of arguing with him.

“You were too young to remember,” she snapped. “But I don’t expect your thanks, even though your lives would have turned out very differently had we not acted.”

“You mean had you not murdered Bane, your savior and the cornerstone of your fortune,” Nicholas whiplashed back. “Don’t get all righteous on me now, Catherine.”

She opened her mouth and then slammed it shut, whirling toward the door.

“Thanks for stopping by!” Nicholas called out after her. “And forget about what I asked of you.”

Catherine paused for a second, but she didn’t turn. Then, she continued forward, reaching for the handle of the front entrance. The door opened and closed, the sound of Catherine’s car starting the only sound to be heard for a long moment. Then she was gone, and Nicholas was left on his own again, his muscular frame falling back to sit on the steps once more. He was suddenly overcome with exhaustion, the events of the past hours wearing thickly on him.

That was a complete waste of time, he thought bitterly. What was I thinking calling on her for help?

Hindsight was always twenty-twenty, but he saw now how useless it had been to allow his mother even slightly into his life. All it served to do was give Catherine insight to him that he didn’t want her to have. It didn’t benefit her in the least to help him find Ruthie, and if she didn’t know Luthor, what good was that?

I need to get some rest, he thought. I’m no good to anyone when I’m miserable and tired.

Yet when he rose, he moved toward the door, rather than the second floor. Rest could wait. He needed to find Ruthie before she was too far gone, and he never got her back.