Page 10 of The Quiet Alpha and His Fox

"You named them?"

He put down his project and came closer. "Yeah. And the rooster over there, that's Elvis. He's her boyfriend."

I laughed at his sense of humor. That was the most I'd heard Waylan say all week. He was standing close enough for me to feel the warmth that radiated off him, and I leaned a little closer. "You don't strike me as a chicken-namer."

The corner of his mouth lifted into a smile. "What do I strike you as?"

I paused. "A chicken eater."

Waylan laughed for the first time and turned to look at me, almost as shocked as I was.

When I smiled back, the air between us filled with the electric charge that seemed to take over whenever we were close to each other.

My gaze dropped to his lips, and I reflexively licked mine and then swallowed. When I looked back into his eyes, his breathing had slowed, and he was staring at me with an intensity I’d never seen before.

I wanted to touch him and started to raise a trembling hand when I felt a sharp stab on the back of my calf. "Ow!" I turned just in time to see Elvis come at me with another stab of his sharp beak. "What the fuck?" I kicked at him and stumbled backward.

Waylan caught me and steadied me, laughing. "It's because you called his girlfriend Trixie."

Waylan's hands were holding my arms as I caught my balance. I wanted to step closer into his arms, but the stupid rooster kept coming at me. I yelled and kicked at him as Waylan laughed harder. I was equal parts amused and embarrassed. No way was I going to let a rooster dominate me in front of Waylan.

I stomped my foot toward the bird, and he backed up. Then he lunged at me, and I yelled and lunged back. Next thing I knew, I was chasing him around the barn to the sound of Waylan's laughter.

"Go, Joe, go!"

I dodged left and right after the nimble rooster, and a weird feeling started to come over me, like a heat spreading up my spine. My limbs began to tingle, and my ears itched. I suddenly felt compelled to catch the rooster, as if my life depended on it. I let out a strange sort of barking sound, and next thing I knew, I was on the ground.

But rather than staying on the ground, I was speeding above it. I looked down and saw furry gray legs racing beneath me. What the fuck was happening? My body had taken over, and I continued after the rooster with a relentless focus.

From behind me I heard Waylan shouting, "You're a fox, Joe? Why didn't you tell me?"

Chapter 7

Waylan

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Why hadn't I sensed that Joe was a shifter? I laughed and clapped as I watched him zip around the barn after Elvis. Joe had a huge grin on his cute little face.

I'd never met a fox before, at least not a shifter.

He was gaining on Elvis, and I suddenly realized that I actually needed to save my rooster. I shifted and felt an instant sigh of relief course through my body. I hadn't been shifting as much with Joe around, afraid I'd weird him out, but now I knew we could've been racing in our fur this whole time.

I bounded after Joe and quickly caught up with him. I tumbled over him and swept his legs to the ground so he toppled and slid. Elvis, spotting his chance for escape, quickly fluttered back to the coop.

Joe cautiously stood up and eyed me.

I wagged my tail and looked at him, hoping he wasn’t too disappointed to lose his prey. Surely, he'd put the pieces together by now and knew I was the coyote he’d met.

I trotted over to my pile of clothes and stood by them, cocking my head at Joe. Then I walked to his pile and stood by those.

A look of panic swept into his eyes, and he backed away from me. What was going on?

I shifted into my skin and quickly pulled my pants on. "I thought you knew. Why didn't you tell me you were a shifter, too?"

Joe looked up at me, panic still in his eyes. It slowly dawned on me what was happening. Slowly, I walked toward him. "Joe, everything’s okay. More than okay. You've turned into a fox, but you're still you, and you can turn back."

He walked toward me, trembling. He must've felt terrified. I sat down on the ground, and he walked right up to me and put his paws on my lap. I scratched his ears.

He was adorable.

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