Heart's Desire

Chapter 10 - Monty

The little white fox lies curled with its nose tucked in its bundle of tails and its long ears folded against its head. Its fur looks silky soft, and without even thinking I reach towards it and run my hand over the curve of its back.

At my touch, it awakens, lifting its head and blinking bright black eyes at me.

Familiar eyes.

"Kit? Is that... you?"

The fox gets to its feet, stretches its front paws towards me in a low bow as it yawns, and then spins in a quick little circle, chasing its tails. Then it sits before me again, its many tails arrayed behind it like a fan, and transforms.

In its place, Kit kneels before me, as prim as the little fox, with his hands resting on his knees. Disconcertingly, the fan of tails continues to wave at his back a moment before he tucks them away with a self-conscious blush and they vanish.

He smiles shyly, sharp teeth glinting at the corners of his mouth, his dark eyes veiled by golden lashes and his dusky cheeks tinged bronze.

"Good morning, Monty," he says.

"Good—"

I choke on nothing and cough.

When I can speak, I wipe my eyes and blink at him. I might not be as bright as Noah or Freya, or have Dane's quick instincts, but I don't need to be a genius or a detective to know something strange is going on. I've never heard of a Shifter with more than one form before — or of a fox with more than one tail.

"Kit, what the hell...? What happened last night?"

"You claimed me, Monty," he says happily, and glances up to meet my eyes. "I'm yours now."

"What does that mean? And what in the hell are you, anyway?"

His expression dims. "You aren't pleased?"

"Pleased?" I squint and rub the side of my brow. "I'm damn confused, Kit. Help me out here. Like, are you a Wolf, or a fox, or a... a whatever this is?"

I gesture at him and he blushes, ducking his head to hide his face.

"Forgive me, Monty. I never meant to deceive you."

"What do you mean, 'deceive' me?"

"I... I don't have a wolf form. I can make myself appear larger, though. I hoped, in the darkness, a very large fox would look enough like a wolf, you would accept me as such."

I sigh, thinking Dane won't be too thrilled to hear this. "And the tails? Are you mutant or something?"

Keeping his head lowered, he whispers the answer to his knees.

"Alpha Obadiah said it's because my father wasn't an ordinary Shifter. He was a 'demon fox.' That's why I need someone to claim me; Alpha said that unless I have a human master, my fox's soul will leave me, and I'll die."

"Your dad... What else did the Mortaines tell you about him?"

Kit shakes his head. "I learned not to ask."

I scrub my hand over the back of my head and sigh. If Kit is a demon, I'd thought Sam would have known; then again, Sam himself has impressed on us that 'demon' is a catchall word for a lot of things the English language lacks the proper terms for.

"So what happened last night?"

Kit shakes his head. "I don't know. I... I had a dream that I was lost in a forest, as a fox, desperate and alone. And when I woke, I couldn't catch my breath. My heart raced, and it felt as if I couldn't hold on to anything. I realized it had to be the claim. I'd weakened it by running away, and then... it must have broken."