Sage smiled, recognizing him immediately. “Dex, come meet my mate.”
Canyon laid down on his belly and put his head on his paws. Dex crept forward slowly, chest and muzzle close to the ground, tail out long, eyes on the wolf.
Sage knelt. “Scent his renqua please, Dex. Tell me what you smell.”
The fox crept forward, his red and white tail swishing, then he darted in quickly, touched the wolf on the back with a dark paw, then darted away again. Canyon did not move. Dex darted in again, pressed his nose to the renqua, then ran off.
It’s fox fur, the orange circle is fox fur,he yelled, jumping over foxes in his way and running in a mad circle.Smell it, smell it, it’s fox fur.
Sage grinned. Canyon lifted his head and met her eyes.Really?
She nodded, smiling wider.Really.
Timber came over. “Lemme see.” He bent and pressed his nose to Canyon’s renqua, sniffing audibly. “Shit,” he said. “It sure is.”
Canyon met Sage’s eyes and spoke in privateruhi.We don’t know who our dad is.
She shook her head.I’m not saying he’s part-foxen, although anything’s possible. I think yourrenquawas a gift from Rhen tofoxen.
Canyon whuffed, seeming pleased.
Across the glade gunshots rang out. Sage crouched and Canyon looked that way. The foxes in the trees scattered, disappearing from sight.
“Fucking clowns,” Timber said, striding across the ravine toward them. “They’re shooting targets. I’ll tell ‘em to knock it off.”
Sage stared into the forest, her heart sinking. No foxes were visible. Nobody said a word. Not one leaf in the forest moved.
A truck drove in near the others, calling her attention. Canyon took a few steps that way.
Let’s see who it is,he said.
Sage followed, picking her way around boulders and avoiding the ravine in the center. The male driving wore a camouflage baseball cap, and the female in the passenger seat was a strawberry-blonde with a baby face. Sage watched her get out and the other females swarmed her. She had a hand on her belly, and then the males came over, too, talking animatedly.
Beckett and Cerise,Canyon said.Her power is mind-control.
Wow,Sage breathed.She can mind-control shiften?
Yeah, but not for long. She says it’s easier with humans.
As Sage and Canyon drew closer, they heard her talking. The group had circled around her and was hanging on her every word. “It was all my fault.”
“Nah,” Beckett said. “Not you, darlin’.”
“Not your fault,” Troy agreed.
“We’re all responsible. I should’ve been in the room with you.”
Dahlia looked at Cerise’s still-flat belly. “How’s the baby?”
Cerise rubbed her belly. “Rowan says the baby is fine.”
Sage and Canyon approached the group. Reed saw her and pointed. “Look, here’s Sage. Sage, this is Cerise and Beckett!”
Cerise smiled at Sage and opened her arms. Sage smiled back, hugging her. Beckett tipped his hat.
Another truck drove in with Serenity Fire Department down the side, the rear windows tinted.
“Bruin,” several males yelled.
