Zero Fox to Give (Misfit Shifters Book 1)

by Rae Foxx

  I guess all I needed to jerk me out of my fear of flying was a good fuck in an airplane or two. Owen had introduced me to that bit of 'fun' on airplane number one, which had taken us from Seattle to Phoenix. Evan on airplane number two, which had gone from Phoenix to Chicago.

  I had been looking forward to figuring something else out on plane number three, the plane that was supposed to take us from Chicago to middle of nowhere Missouri, but the thing was a tin can and had no bathroom. Probably for the best anyway, the low buzz of the prop engine had lulled me right to sleep before we even got into the air.

  Leave it to my aunt to book us the longest, most confusing journey ever. Knowing her, she hadn't wanted anyone to follow us. Which was fine with me, I didn't want anyone to follow us, either.

  “Stop shaking me," I mumbled, Evan now trying to lift me into his arms, but in my half-awake state, I flopped right into the old metal-framed seat in front of me. "I’m awake, okay? I’m awake.”

  "You sure?" Owen teased, head popping over the chair I had just lunged into. "You look like you forgot to use your limbs."

  "Maybe I have," I said through a yawn as I finally pushed myself to stand. Well, crouching. Damn, this plane was small.

  "Figured," Owen said, giving me an exaggeratingly large wink that I could have sworn sent shock waves through the air. "It was all that mile-high fucking we did."

  "You did?" Evan gave one loud, heartless laugh as he pulled our tattered suitcases from the equally battered overhead compartment. "I am pretty sure I pleasured her better than you ever could. If you recall we received applause upon leaving the bathroom."

  "Just because—"

  "Can we just get off the damn plane?" I yawned again, not really wanting to get into this again.

  "You will tell us who fucked you better, right?" Owen teased, leaning forward to whisper in my ear, although it sounded more like a warning threat. I rolled my eyes. What was it with guys always measuring the size of their dicks?

  "Keep wishing," I mumbled, muscling past them. They had been trying to get that little piece of information out of me since Evan and I had left the bathroom, and I was having none of it.

  They kept comparing "audience" reactions like they were success scales, following me as I yawned my way off the tiny stairs connected to the airplane and onto the tarmac and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Like just standing on broken-ass concrete in this middle-of-nowhere airport was the best thing to have happened to us.

  “I was afraid we weren’t going to land in that tiny-ass plane. That fucker was scary," Owen announced as we waited for our other bag to be dislodged from the underbelly of the plane. “I was actually surprised they weren't just strung up in some cargo sac. Well, they might have been considering the look of this thing, I think the farm tractor back home had less dents.”

  "Agreed," Evan said, grabbing the bag before either of us could. "I thought we were going to have to jump out with parachutes."

  I looked from one twin to the other. “Wait, you were scared too? Goddamnit, I thought it was just me.” They both shook their heads.

  "We’re cats Scar, but we don't always land on our feet. Especially not when thrown from an exploding plane," Owen announced like he was reading from a rule book as we all made our way to what I guess was supposed to be the airport. If airports could be double-wide trailers in the middle of nowhere.

  No trees.

  No cars.

  Nowhere…

  Well, unless you counted flat land, sagebrush, and what may or may not be a cornfield as somewhere.

  The trailer was sandwiched between the cracked cement strip we had landed on, and what looked to be a dirt road. Two cars were parked along the side: a brown truck, and a turquoise VW bug from the 1970s with baby poop gold tires that looked like they belonged on a tricycle instead of a vehicle meant for the road. That wasn't the most shocking thing, however. The whole thing was coated with paint-chipped psychedelic flowers, and each and every one of those flowers looked like—

  "Are those vaginas?" Evan asked, Owen already snickering having caught sight of the car as well. Not that it was hard to miss. It was the only color for miles.

  "Yes," I said, still staring at the car, my heart falling to my knees as the back doors to the double-wide slammed open and a woman with just as much color burst through them.

  I had already guessed who the owner of the vagina bug was, but now I was sure.

  "Child of the perfect dawn! You have arrived!" A melodic titter rang through the air as my Aunt Nancy spread her arms wide. With as much fabric that was draped around her, she looked like she was about to take off. She was wearing what looked like three skirts sewn together, but the number of skirts was rivaled by the number of scarves wrapped around her neck. “Child! You are the spitting image of your mother, I swear!”

  I was still staring at the fabric, trying to understand where it ended, and she began when suddenly I was inside them. I wasn't sure if I was being hugged or kidnapped. Scarves and skirts swarmed over my head, surrounded my body as hands far too small for the amount of draping she was under wrapped around me.

  “Aunt Nancy?” Yes, it came out as a question. I wasn't sure how to respond to this. Hell, I was having trouble breathing what with the aroma of skunk and incense that seemed to be dripping from her.

  “Oh, I haven’t been Aunt Nancy in ages, child. I’m Poetry." She stepped back and waved her hand as though a mosquito were attacking her, making her bangles and bells tied around her wrists jangle like a rusty windchime.

  "Poetry?" I did my best to choke down a laugh, but the twins were not so successful. She didn't seem to care.

  "Yes child, it is my soul name. You will find your soul name, too. But until then, I welcome you with love and acceptance. My soul recognizes yours, dear. I bow to the goddess within you.”

  Ooookaay.

  "And I bow to you..." I tried to mimic her bow, and it was awkward as fuck. The wide grin she gave me as I finished my half-curtsey-half-bow said as much.

  “Oh, Scarlet,” she put her warm, yet weirdly moist, hands on my shoulders. I should’ve worn long sleeves. “You’ve evolved into a goddess in your own right. There is strength and pleasure abounding in your aura. I’ve never seen such a...magenta. Yes, it is definitely magenta.”

  Oh, boy.

  “Oh, um, thank you?” I answered, and she did the European kiss thing while I tried to bow to her goddess again. Instead, we ended up doing some kind of do-si-do and smacking our heads together to the music of Poetry's jangling bracelets.

  Evan and Owen were still trying to choke down a laugh, but seeing the display, they ended up just choking. The sound pulled Poetry's focus, but she just grinned wider, bangles jangling and fabric swishing as she moved from me to them.

  "Ah, I see," She nodded to each of us with her index finger wrapped around her chin like she was trying to stroke a melodramatic beard that didn't exist. “Now I see why all this sexual energy is coming off you in waves of ecstasy. No wonder they kicked you out of that masochistic pack. You were too much for them to handle. I would’ve loved to see the looks on their faces."

  She laughed at that, looking to all of us for a story, but I just shook my head. I had left out the whole bit about killing the Alpha in our phone call and I didn't think that now was the best time to bring it up.

  "Ahhh wonderful," she continued as though we had answered. Owen gave me a look that didn't need translating.

  ‘Yes, she's weird and I don't know what the fuck is up with her...’ To bad he couldn’t hear me.

  "I trust the plane trip was more than satisfactory?" Poetry continued, now leading us to the car. "I made sure to pick the best legs for the most energy transference, and it seems you have made good use of that... I am sure these two must be the males responsible for that.”

  I shook my head to try to leave the cloud of weirdness I’d drifted into sometime while she spoke about my sex scent and my magenta aura. Jesus Christ, I would have to get used
to her. “This is Evan and Owen. They are my mates. They’re twins.”

  “Oh! Twins. What a lucky girl.” I really didn't like the way she said that, or the way she was looking at them. Both boys cleared their throats and shifted behind me, like I was going to shield them for once.

  Trust me, boys, I can take her if it comes to that. Although it did look like it would take little more than a strong breeze to do her in.

  “Get in. Scarlet, you’re up front with me," she said as we reached her car, which was, sure enough, the vagina-mobile. "I can’t wait to catch up, I want to hear everything about your plane rides...”

  Oh god, why did it sound like she wanted to hear about one part of the trip in particular? As we approached the vagina-clad car, dread built in my stomach. Catching up? Sure! I just had no interest in talking about my sex life with an aunt I hadn't seen in ten years.

  The boys ogled as she threw our suitcases in the trunk under the hood before they climbed in the back. They instantly began poking at everything, from the spring poking through the worn leather to the fabric that was sagging from the ceiling. I half expected the whole thing to smell like rot and mold, but it was just that skunk and incense smell again. Although this time it was more skunk than anything else. When she started the thing up and pulled away from the curb, the damned car sputtered and puffed like it was fighting a bad case of tuberculosis.

  "Okay, we’re in the car," Evan announced from the back seat, both boys leaning forward to poke their heads through the front seats and thankfully saving me from talking about my vagina. Or listening to the AM station that was repeating the weather over and over. "Now can you tell us where we’re going?"

  "Ahh yes," Poetry began, turning from one dirt road to another and angling toward what was clearly a small town nestled against a low mountain range. It looked like an oasis, there were no other trees or buildings for miles from what I could tell. "The outcast’s village. We have made quite a home for ourselves, considering that most of us are misfits from packs cast out generations before... Welcome to Cummings Cove!"

  "Come in cove?" Owen snickered from the back seat, both of them busting up laughing again. "Don't mind if I do. I've got my cove all picked out."

  He popped forward and kissed me on the cheek, causing me to flush a bright shade of red. Thankfully Poetry didn't see, she was still smiling at the town like a proud mom.

  "I've already come in my cove," Evan added, taking his own turn to plant a kiss on my jaw.

  "Beautiful! The energy in this place is absolutely divine. Can’t you just smell it?” Poetry motioned to the window and sighed like she was inhaling the energy. Or maybe the skunk smell. “Go on, take the energy into yourself and let it blossom into something new.”

  "I can feel it..." Evan sighed, both of them breathing so deep they could have been hyperventilating. "I can feel it! It's coming! It's coming!"

  That's it, for fuck’s sake! I turned around and smacked him upside the head. I'm not sure Poetry noticed, she was still breathing as deeply as they were.

  "I came," Evan continued and I smacked him again, although I froze when I caught sight of the large welcome sign right on the edge of town...

  "Come Inside for a Cummings Good Time," I said aloud, my jaw dropping. Oh god... The twins were stuck between shock and laughter as we twisted in our seats and stared at the inn that sat right on the edge of town.

  "Big Dick's Cummings Inn." The old motel-style building had far too much peeling paint and fogged over windows to be used for just wayward travelers.

  "Cummings Watering Hole." It was clearly a dive bar, but the neon logo of the busty girl made me question what other entertainment happened inside.

  "Cummings Liquor."

  "Master Bait at Cummings."

  Poetry ignored us as we kept listing the names, and they kept getting worse. She was muttering something about the businesses being bought up left and right.

  I would say that the innuendo business names were all done on purpose, except most of these businesses were in pastel-colored buildings with old brickwork and gingerbreading. The whole thing looked like a picturesque village that plopped down from a storybook into the middle of a brush forest a hundred years ago. I was actually impressed the roads were paved. If I had to guess, they had no idea.

  "Here we are," she announced, and we passed a handful of businesses with so much innuendo there was no way it was a fluke. "This is my haven. My anchor in the storm of life. My beacon of light in an otherwise dark world. My…”

  “Your store?” I cut her off before she hurt herself with the metaphors. I leaned forward to look through the windshield at the neon lights that spelled out the name of her precious sanctuary Surrounded of course, by the same flowers that covered her car.

  "Vagile Ajna." I nearly choked on the name.

  “Your beacon of light is a vagina?” I didn't even know which one of the twins said it, I was still staring dumbfounded at the sign.

  “Yes,” She whisper-sighed, and I wasn't sure what she was answering. “Vagile means freedom to move about and Anja is the sixth guru chakra. My favorite one.”

  “Vagina is her favorite one,” Evan whispered as he got out more laughter from Owen.

  From the outside, the store looked like the rest of the businesses on the block, although this one had the unfortunate glory of being next to an empty lot that was full of broken glass and what I really hoped weren’t condoms.

  "You’ll live upstairs until we get you settled, but you are of course welcome to stay as long as you want. Come in... come in..."

  She swept us from the car and into the shop that was so dark I couldn't make out much besides what looked like a display of overly large dildos. Great, we were going to be living above a sex shop in a place called Cummings Cove. Not that I was really surprised given the name of her store, or the names of anything else in this sex-driven town.

  She said nothing as she led us up a set of steep, rusty stairs to a slim, white door that protested with a groan as she pushed it open with her shoulder. The tiny space was fully furnished and thankfully didn't smell as much of skunk as the rest of the place. An eggplant purple futon was pushed against the wall and a king-sized bed had been shoved under the window, the thing so big it clearly didn’t fit. A tiny kitchen was in one corner with the bathroom right next to it. It had a half stove with only two burners and the sink was dripping. I was sure the curtains were made from some of Poetry’s leftover skirt material. They billowed with the wind coming in from the open windows. The twins plopped down, one on the bed and one on the futon and closed their eyes immediately.

  “Thank you, Poetry. This is perfect.”

  A soft smile formed on her face. Her eyes crinkled at the corners, showing her true age. “Tomorrow morning come to the shop so you and I can chat. I’ll have hot tea waiting.”

  She flounced out on her Mary-Jane fabric flats, and as the door shut, I let out a breath I’d been holding since the three of us had gotten caught in my bed.

  We were safe. We had a roof over our heads. We were together.

  "All right," Evan announced, both boys already snickering, "Who's going to come in the cove first?"

  I threw a pillow at his head.

  8

  “Come back to bed,” Owen said in a half moan as I tried to pry myself away from the naked and sweaty bodies of my two mates. Owen grabbed at me, but his tired hand slipped off my elbow as I continued my sashay down to the foot of the bed.

  “Go back to sleep, Owen, I’ve got to pee.” It was only half a lie. I really did need to pee, but I also needed to breathe, something that was proving hard to do with two sexy sand cats snoring in my ears.

  You would think with a whole king bed they would have been able to find somewhere to sleep that wasn’t plastered right next to me. Not that I could complain, not after last night.

  I was, however, going to need a triple espresso to fully pull myself from the grogginess that clung to my bones.

  Dawn was tinti
ng the dark skies pink as it washed away the stars, the whisper of a chill floating through the open window as I tiptoed across the room to the bathroom. A wash later and I was back in the tiny kitchen in search of some form of coffee and instead finding a can of tomato sauce, a tin of sardines, and a bag of dried green leaves.

  Oregano maybe?

  Great, so I could make a killer tomato sauce, if I could stay awake long enough to make it.

  I would have to go grocery shopping later with some of my cash. Maybe if I was lucky, they would have some of that witch-spelled coffee, Perky juice.

  I licked my lips in delight just thinking about it.

  “Morning, kitten,” Evan half mumbled as he stumbled naked into the kitchen and began his own search through the cupboards. “Well, that’s disappointing.”

  “Agreed. Coffee?” I asked, and he nodded yes through a yawn. “I’m sure this place has a store; we should have enough to buy some… or some food. Damn. I’m going to need a job.”

  “We are all going to need a job, if we can find one in this one-horse town,” Owen rumbled from the other side of the room, his face still buried in the pillow.

  I didn’t want to admit it, but he was probably right. From what we’d seen coming in, there were more vacant buildings than not. But since we were stuck here, we would have to get creative.

  “Maybe my aunt has some ideas.” It was worth a shot anyway. I shrugged on my clothes from last night, throwing the boys the shorts that I had ripped off of them. Thankfully they didn't look too shredded. It was the first time I had them to myself in a while, I might have gotten a little bit carried away.

  “True,” Evan said, stepping into his shorts backward before yawning and putting them on the right way. “Let’s go down and talk to Rhyme or Reason or Verse… What was her name again?”

  “Poetry.” I’m not sure that would ever feel normal to say. She would always be Nancy to me.