What the Fox

by Emma Dean

  “Well, of course they did little fox. After all, everyone wants a favor from someone in my position.”

  Fuck. That was old magic. The songs the fae had been using for millennia to lure humans to their capture or death. And somehow this asshole got one and tuned it to Kenzie. So when she heard it she would get up and walk right out of the heavily warded house without a fight – not even aware of what she was doing.

  Ash had only seen it done once before and the person targeted had basically been sleepwalking. Their Kenzie hadn’t been mentally present to do anything like grab her phone or give them some kind of warning. How were they going to be able to find her?

  The mate bond could only do so much.

  Finnick whined, covering his snout with his paws. Ash didn’t blame him. The word ‘favor’ was too specific and for a fae to want it? It had to be someone high up in the paranormal world – like a god. Or something like a god. Maybe someone on the Council since that position gave a boost of power to any race.

  Ash scratched behind Finnick’s ears and then started putting on his body armor.

  They were going to hunt this fucker down and tear him apart – slowly – and get Kenzie back in one god damn piece if he had anything to say about it.

  “Go wake up Edith or Selene,” Ash whispered to Finnick. “Maybe one of them can do a locator spell.”

  The fox jumped off the bed and slunk into the hallway without his usual sass. That more than anything worried Ash. Finnick was feeling guilty no doubt – just as he was. How had they not woken up when she got up and walked right out?

  Kenzie had been right in the middle of all three of them for fuck’s sake.

  What the hell was going on?

  “How does this asshole even know about the portal?” Ash hissed.

  Hunter opened his mouth but the man cut him off. “You have until dawn fox-boy.”

  Then the line went dead.

  Ash watched his alpha carefully. On the outside he seemed calm and collected. His face was blank – staring off into nothing.

  And then he crushed his phone in his hand. The glass cut into his palm and it shattered into a million pieces. Ash gritted his teeth knowing it wouldn’t make a difference if he said anything or not. Hunter was now in a place no one could touch – except maybe Kenzie.

  “Lucifer?” Ash finally asked.

  “No.” Hunter didn’t bother with the blood running down his hand. He just shook off the glass, picking out the one large piece stuck in his palm. Then he got up and started getting dressed for a job.

  “Then who?” Ash asked, grabbing the second case under the bed full of all their toys. And not the sex kind.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Hunter finally said, strapping his boots on tight enough to make Ash wince. “We’ll find him and skin him alive – Lucifer or not. I’d even bet Brad has something to do with this after yesterday. A cockroach like him usually has his strings pulled.”

  Ash had known this would be dangerous. He’d known things would go sideways as it all got more and more complex. A contract to take down someone without killing them? There was a reason he’d refused the contract to begin with.

  But Hunter had insisted this would be fine. That everything would be great. It would just be a fun game – finally something challenging.

  No one had anticipated on the wrench thrown into their plans.

  How could they have possibly known the thief they tracked for one job would be tied to their second job? And that she was their mate?

  The universe was a piece of trash and Ash really hoped he got to meet those who ran things one day so he could kick them in the crotch over and over.

  Hunter was still bleeding but it was slowing down, already healing thanks to his shifter blood.

  Ash didn’t know what to do or say. They had no idea where Kenzie was or where they were supposed to bring the portal even if they did manage to get it out of that fucking closet.

  And now Hunter’s mask of polite humanity was completely gone – the real man under the psycho that Kenzie had revealed was just…gone.

  There had been a few times he’d seen Hunter get close to that howling void, but he’d always made it back.

  But this was Kenzie. And Hunter loved her – in his way.

  If Hunter was prepared to destroy the world for a few laughs, what would he do when motivated?

  Then Edith and Selene burst into the room with Finnick on their heels, still in fox form. He was basically a large dog in size and seeing him sit down like a ‘good boy’ next to Hunter was weird with those pointy ears, but also heartbreaking.

  Kenzie’s disappearance shattered any illusion that Finnick was a normal dude. They all forgot how feral he was – even Ash. Finnick always did such a good job of pretending, just like Hunter did.

  Ash would have to hold it together for all of them. Kenzie was scared, but she was alive and that gave him hope.

  “You just let her walk right out of here?” Selene demanded.

  The rage Ash could feel permeating the room surprised him. Selene was normally so calm and quiet and reserved. This was what she hid underneath. A rage so cold it burned – the opposite of Kenzie’s but not any less consuming.

  “We didn’t let her do anything,” Hunter snarled, strapping on his armor. “She walked right out in a trance. There were no thoughts or feelings for us to pick up on. There wasn’t a struggle. You expect me to wake up every time she gets up to take a piss?”

  It was hard to argue with logic and common sense.

  Selene fumed and crossed her arms over her chest. “And where is she now?”

  “Some guy has her. Wants the portal in exchange for her life,” Ash explained. “We have until dawn.” Which was only a few hours away.

  “Where are the raccoons?” Edith asked. “Weren’t they supposed to be our bodyguards?”

  All the questions were trying his very thin patience. Only respect for Kenzie kept Ash from snapping at her grandmother. “They were. Guarding you. So, if there aren’t any other questions can we please figure out how to get her back right now?”

  “I’ll go unlock the closet,” Selene murmured, watching how Ash and Hunter selected their guns and knives and tucked them away.

  They’d done this kind of thing a lot and they were very familiar with a sharp blade, an assault rifle, or a pistol. Grenades were fun sometimes too.

  Finnick wasn’t going to shift back to human. Ash knew that without a doubt. Not when he was barely more than an animal at the moment. Those teeth would be more than enough. Ash gave a whistle and held up the vest they’d made based on the one for military canines.

  In his fox form Finnick was slinky and stealthy. More than Ash or even Hunter. All those years spent in his animal form gave him an edge. Finnick was vicious with his teeth and just as deadly as Ash was with his guns.

  “Are we actually going to give them the portal?” Ash asked, securing the vest around Finnick. It was bulletproof at least. He shoved his worry about the other fox down deep. They couldn’t afford for him to be distracted about Finnick and Kenzie right now.

  Not when they were about to do something very stupid.

  But Kenzie was their mate. There was nothing they wouldn’t do for her. Ash didn’t even have to ask the others to know that. He just knew it deep in his soul. Each of them would die for her if that was what they needed to do.

  Ash accepted that he could die tonight. That Finnick or Hunter could. They didn’t know what they were going up against. Was this guy a witch, or a demon? Or even worse, some kind of demigod?

  For Kenzie though, they would do anything. Didn’t matter how stupid or dangerous.

  Selene walked in with that device in her hand; the other clutched her robe closed.

  “No, I’m not going to give that man a portal,” Hunter said, taking it from Selene with a nod of thanks. “But it’ll get us in.”

  “Do you need us to do a locator spell?” Edith asked.

  Ash studied her closely, noting how p
ale she was. Edith was scared for Kenzie. He’d doubted a few times whether her grandmother actually cared, but now he knew. He could smell it on her. Edith loved Kenzie more than she would ever admit.

  “Yes.” Hunter grabbed Kenzie’s phone from the nightstand – a shitty reminder of her obvious absence – and started texting, dried blood on his hand with no cut to show for it anymore. “I want to know exactly where she is and if she’s even at the drop. I texted the number that called for the location. The non-specifics of this trade make me doubt our kidnapper’s honesty.”

  Then Hunter grabbed the grenade launcher from the case on his bed and inspected it. “I’ve also texted Eisheth and Jessica, but we don’t have time to wait for them. Dawn is only a few hours away and we don’t know where we’re going yet.”

  Ash was stuffing magazines for his various guns into his pack and froze. Would this creep kidnap her for the portal and then kill her anyway once they delivered? And then probably kill them too.

  “We’re going to need the raccoons,” Ash muttered, stuffing more ammo in the pack, cataloguing what else they might need. “And the deadliest charms you’ve got.”

  Edith and Selene nodded.

  “I’ll get the charms from Kenzie’s stashes first,” Selene said. Then she turned and walked out of the room with renewed vigor. Ash was relieved they had witches on their side.

  “I’ll get started on the locator spell,” Edith said, eyeing the weapons on the bed. “Do you need a witch to come with you?”

  Ash doubted Kenzie would ever forgive them for bringing her grandmother or sister with them. He shook his head at the suggestion. “Kenzie wouldn’t like it.”

  “Kenzie’s not here,” Edith snapped, rubbing her temples like she had a headache and it was his fault. “Selene is too important to risk. I can go with you.”

  The offer made his heart ache. Ash missed the family he had as a boy, but at the same time…he knew Edith would do the same for him.

  Selene came back with a box full of charms of various different colors. “You’re not leaving me here either. This is my only sister we’re talking about – the one who’s been protecting me all my life. She’s in this predicament because of me.”

  That was true in a way. Kenzie wouldn’t be a part of this operation in the first place if she hadn’t been bargaining for the potion to save Selene’s life. But Ash assumed Kenzie would have tried to bring Brad down regardless.

  He looked to Hunter and shrugged, one hand on Finnick’s shoulders. The fox was pressed up against his leg, just listening. Ash wished they had some of Finnick’s stupid jokes right then. It would help keep them all from spiraling out of control.

  But Finnick was already spiraling. The faster they got Kenzie back the better.

  “We could definitely use two powerful witches.” Ash didn’t look away from Hunter. He wasn’t going to back down on this one.

  Hunter looked at Edith and then Selene, considering with that deadly calm of his. “If you die she’ll never forgive us. I can’t have that.”

  Selene took a step forward and glared. “We won’t die. And you can’t order me around, fox. I’ll go whether you take us or not.”

  This was already spiraling into madness. Kenzie was somehow their center. For all of them. Without her presence to anchor them…his wild mate was somehow an anchor – even for Edith and Selene.

  And Kenzie thought she wasn’t important – that she was nobody. Ash shook his head. She was about to find out otherwise.

  “I’ll go get the raccoons ready.” Ash gave Hunter a nod, reminding himself she was still alive, they still had time – over and over again. “Let them come. Gear them up. They know how to shield. We’ll do the rest. Because if Kenzie’s locked behind magic you’re going to need someone to open the door. And two witches are always better than one.”

  Hunter waved his hand dismissively. “Fine. Get it done. Find her.” Then he loaded a grenade into the launcher. “I want to find out why they want this portal so badly. I’ll make sure to take my time asking them.”

  Ash grinned and went to go inform Jace of the situation. Finnick followed closely, still pressed against his leg like they’d trained to do.

  This man had assumed Kenzie would be an easy mark – that they would roll over and give him what he wanted because they were just foxes with only raccoons for friends. This man had no idea what kind of damage they could do.

  Or the pain they could inflict even though they were ‘just’ foxes.

  After all. Foxes fed on chaos and pain. And Ash was starving.

  Chapter Twenty

  Kenzie

  She woke up with her head pounding. Her mouth was dry and tasted funny too, like pennies. Kenzie groaned and rolled over, feeling something extremely hard beneath her. Like she’d fallen off the bed and slept on the ground for hours.

  Opening her eyes was more painful than she’d anticipated. Gunk had practically welded them shut. But when she did finally get them open, Kenzie felt like she was losing her mind because she couldn’t see anything. There was only the pitch black.

  Her hand brushed against a wall and Kenzie used it to try and anchor herself. So far this wasn’t any worse than some of the training she’d done with the Shaolin monks. But this wasn’t training, and she knew she was in danger.

  The fact that her watch was gone, and her wrists had metal bands around them, meant she was a prisoner. Chains linked the cuffs to the wall.

  She’d been trained for this situation to some degree. Step one was use your senses. If one was missing, use the others.

  The air was dry and cold even though she could hear the sound of water dripping somewhere. She couldn’t pinpoint where exactly as the sound echoed in the space. The floor was clean, but hard. It felt like cement. Her hand on the wall told her it was rough, but also cement.

  She was probably in some kind of basement. It didn’t smell, so not sewers. There were no other sounds so she couldn’t figure out where she might be. The basement was soundproofed which was not a good sign.

  Serial killers and rapists soundproofed their basements.

  Her heart pounded and Kenzie tried to tell herself this was fine. She could definitely get out of this. It would just take some doing. Her foxes would notice she was gone at some point and come find her if she wasn’t out of here before then.

  Make it a game. Don’t panic. Play with me – is what Hunter would say.

  Kenzie shoved down the panic and bet herself she could get out of this place before the foxes showed up. Easy peasy, right? She tried not to think about how in the hell they would even find her. Kenzie couldn’t afford to doubt they’d come for her – not when she still needed hope.

  The cuffs around her wrists were tight, thick metal. Even if she broke her hands the cuffs wouldn’t come off. She would have to shatter every bone to pull them over her hands – that was how tight they were.

  But that was fine. There were other options.

  Kenzie fumbled in the dark for where the chain was connected to the cuffs. The links of metal were thick. She yanked, testing them. Definitely needed a bolt cutter or bear shifter strength to get out of them.

  Okay, so what about where they were anchored into the wall?

  Kenzie ran her hands over the wall that felt strangely damp, but it was probably just the cold. Finally she found the anchors and pulled on those. A bit of dust rained down on her. They were up high which would be more difficult, but she could do it.

  Still, she’d need a boost of strength to get those out. They were probably anchored into the cement.

  Now time to do inventory on her body. Kenzie had been avoiding this part. She didn’t want to know what her captors had done to her while she’d been knocked out. Sometimes ignorance really was bliss.

  The chains were long enough she could run her hands over her legs, all the way down to her feet – which were bare. That was going to be problematic, but she’d figure it out. There was no pain at the bottom of her feet so she wasn’t cut or
hurt.

  Kenzie was in clothes at least. It had been cold enough she’d pulled on sweats and a long sleeve shirt before falling asleep. The basement was cold too. Her muscles were tight and her bones ached. She must have been shivering when she’d been unconscious.

  Well, fuck. This wasn’t good.

  But she could do it. She would find her way out.

  Then she remembered her earrings. Her necklace and bracelets were still on the nightstand where she put them every night, but…her shaking fingers reached for her ears and she found the earrings still there. All of them. Her hair had been covering them and people – even witches – never thought twice about earrings.

  It wasn’t always easy to enchant metal.

  There was the charm for her hearing, the one for her eyesight. Ah, there was the night vision one. Kenzie pressed the nearly invisible trigger and instantly she could see everything in strange shades of green.

  She still had her strength charm too, but she was going to save that for when she was ready. If she couldn’t get the chains out of the wall she’d use it.

  What else did she have?

  Kenzie traced the one that enhanced her speed. If she used both in the same hour her heart could fail. The charms used up too much of her energy to have both. It was frustrating to say the least.

  That was all she had with her. Any of the dangerous charms she usually favored were worn on bracelets and necklaces so she could take them off while sleeping. The last thing she needed to do was accidentally activate one in her sleep.

  All right, now that she could see Kenzie studied the space they were holding her in.

  It looked like a basement so at least she’d gotten that right. There were two doors – one that looked like a closet and one that was probably to some stairs. She looked up at the ceiling, inspecting each corner.

  Cameras were watching her. Well, that meant once she yanked free of the wall she had to move because they’d be on her hard. Kenzie needed to get to the top of the stairs before anyone came after her. Otherwise she’d be trapped and it would be almost impossible to escape again.