The Alpha and the Fox

Chapter Three

     Ryan hesitantly slid into the back seat of the car, shut the door behind him, and buckled. Maria then climbed into the passenger seat while Henry got into the driver's seat. Ryan quickly gripped onto the door handle so tightly his knuckles had turned white as he was already beginning to panic. Maria gave him a small smile trying to comfort him before buckling herself in as well. Henry buckled without looking at Ryan, hoping it would help soothe the boy slightly, and began to drive them home.

Ryan stared straight ahead at the back of Maria's seat as he tried to keep himself from having a panic attack. Henry turned the radio on low, so it would play as soft background noise, in an attempt to sooth Ryan's anxiety.

Ryan, with his free hand, began to mess with the fur of his tail. The car hit a bump in the road and his already down ears tightened against the top of his head. He tried to lose himself in his thoughts to escape reality for the rest of the car ride.

Maria and Henry stayed quiet not wanting to disturb the boy in the backseat, who finally seemed to be calming slightly. Neither mentioned the ears and tail. They already knew as they had read in the file that Ryan was a fox-human hybrid. While hybrids weren't extremely common, they weren't the rarest thing out there. It was possible to see a few here or there in the bigger cities, but the further from them, the less you would see. After two hours and some odd minutes in the car they arrived at their house.

The house was a three story brick building. It contained five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, living room, and basement. When Ryan felt the car stop, he opened his eyes and stared in wonder at the huge house. Maria and Henry exited the car, Ryan shyly followed. Henry retrieved Ryan's suitcase from the trunk and led them to the front door. He unlocked it and held it open for his wife and Ryan to enter. Maria took the suitcase and turned to Ryan.

"Follow me, I'll show you to your room." Maria said softly, and began to lead Ryan up the stairs.

Ryan followed quietly. They got to the second floor, Maria leading Ryan to the last bedroom at the end of the hall and set his suitcase on the bed.

"This one's your room. The door next to your room is the bathroom up here other than the one in Henry and I's bedroom. Feel free to arrange your clothes however you would like in the closet and dresser that's in here for you. Also feel free to place your bathroom things in the hallway bathroom. No one else lives here and we use the bathroom in our room so that one's all yours. Whenever you're ready, come back down stairs and we'll show you around, talk, eat dinner, and maybe even get to know each other better. Okay?" Maria stated looking at Ryan with a calm, compassionate look.

Ryan nodded slowly, walking over to the bed where his suitcase laid. Maria left quietly, shutting the door behind her and returning downstairs. He slowly unpacked his suitcase, hanging his shirts on the hangers that were already in the closet. Then he placed his underwear and socks neatly in the top two drawers, his pajamas in the next drawer, and lastly his pants in the final drawer. It took maybe ten minutes as he didn't have many clothes. It would have taken even less time had he not folded and neatly stacked everything in each drawer.

He cautiously made his way back downstairs. As he entered the living room he saw Henry sitting on the couch with the T.V. on, its volume low. He silently made his way into the kitchen where Maria was humming softly and making dinner. Ryan stood silently and observed, unsure of what else to do. Maria turned to grab something from the island counter and saw him standing there.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't hear you come down." She said softly. "Would you like to come help me finish dinner?"

Ryan nodded. After a moment he silently padded his way over to her looking up at her questionably.

"Here, why don't you cut up the carrots on the cutting board." Maria stated, leading him to the cutting board where washed carrots and a knife were placed.

Ryan nodded and began to slice the carrots. Maria returned to humming while she skinned the potatoes before placing them in a pot to boil. Once he was finished Ryan brought the sliced carrots to Maria where she slid them into a pan of water and placed a lid over them to steam cook.

"All that's left is to let them cook and then dinner's ready. Why don't you go see what Henry's up to?" She asked.

Ryan silently padded to the living room sitting down on the rug in front of one of the chairs. Henry looked over at him confused.

"Ryan, you can sit in the chair. You don't have to sit on the floor." Henry stated.

Ryan hesitantly got up off the floor and sat in the chair he had previously been in front of. Henry gave him a soft smile.

"Do you watch sports?" Henry asked, to which Ryan shook his head no.

"Hmm what about movies? Comedies? Action? Horror?" Henry asked. Ryan shrugged, and looked at him confused.

"Have you ever watched movies or T.V.?" Henry asked, perplexed. Ryan thought about it for a bit and then nodded. He did the number fourteen in sign language.

Henry stared dumb founded. "Fourteen?" He questioned. Henry stayed silent for a moment while thinking. Then his eyes went wide. "Wait. It's been fourteen years since you've watched T.V.?"

Ryan nodded, but he seemed to be slightly surprised and maybe even a little happy that Henry had known sign language and figured out what he was trying to say.

Henry went to reply but was cut off by Maria poking her head into the living room to let them know dinner was finished.