“Oh, all right. Hi, Cordelia, I was thinking about you all night.”
She gasps again, and I chuckle. Fox is oblivious to her panic.
My alpha love turns to Sully. “Hello, my feathered friend.”
The seagull lowers its head, feathers rising with distinct malice. It spreads its wings and hisses in a serpentine like sound. I stare in shock, not once in all the years of knowing Fox have I seen an animal dislike him so intensely.
“All animals like you. What is wrong with that bird?” I ask in complete confusion. “Is it rabid?”
“Come on, we can be friends,” Fox coaxes, but the seagull snaps at his fingers and starts screaming.
Over and over and over. It doesn’t stop.
Cordelia throws the bird a chip, but it doesn’t even eat. It just keeps screaming bloody murder.
“Should we go?” I ask uncertainly. I’m not sure this is what Mack meant.
I glance around and freeze when I spot my alpha. Fox is standing there, staring at the bird, looking absolutely heartbroken.
Aw, damn it. How am I going to fix this for him?
”What’s wrong with me?”
I rub his back. “Oh, sweetheart, there is nothing wrong with you. There is something wrong with the bird. Don’t even think about it.”
“Katsu, I’ve never had an animal hate me before.”
He rushes off before I can stop him. I put my hands on my hips and glare at the now silent bird as it inspects the chip, then swallows the whole thing without any hesitation.
“I have never, ever seen Sully behave like that with anyone,” Cordie murmurs. “That was freaky.”
Fox comes jogging back, and the seagull backs up, flapping its wings and hissing, the same display as before only more assured.
“I got you a yummy present to prove I’m a friend,” Fox says.
He crouches and holds out a raw sardine.
“Where did you get that from?” I ask curiously.
“Harry had some.”
The chip shop owner and Fox have become fast friends, much like the rest of Sunshine Cove. Fox waves the fish, trying to make the flappy dead thing look appealing.
Sully opens her mouth and screams.
Cordie doubles over laughing so hard she’s in tears.
Sully lets out a warning hiss.
“Um, Fox, you better come back-”
The seagull attacks, not one, but two, then three.
Fox shrieks and struggles to get away from them, but they keep diving at his head. A black and white blur swoops through the air; the sound of wings slapping and a beak cracking together has me instinctively stumbling backwards.
“What is that?” I shout. Alarm spreading through me. It sounds like a dinosaur.
“Magpie!” Cordie calls. “Run!”
