The Fox’s Tale

She’d made one of my favorite meals: pork chops stuffed with goat cheese with garlic mashed potatoes and baked apples. That should have clued me in that something was afoot, but I was too happy and hungry to be suspicious.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a pretty good relationship with my parents, but they both work full time at their law firm so fancy meals on a weeknight are rare. I was halfway through my pork chop when my mother struck.

“So when will we get to meet her?”

I stopped mid chew and looked at her with suspicion. I finished what was in my mouth then said, “who?”

“Oh Xander, sweetie, don’t play coy. I know there’s a new girl.”

“Katya, leave him alone. If he has something newsworthy to share he will.”

“Max, you’re impossible.” My mom swatted my dad on the arm before turning her attention back to me. “At least tell me something. How you met, what her name is, what she looks like?”

“At school, no, and no. Right now she is just a friend.” A gorgeous friend that sucked me off on Monday, I thought, and couldn’t hide my grin.

“Ha! You don’t smile like that over someone who is ‘just a friend,’ or go running in shifted form at all hours of the night over someone who is ‘just a friend.’”

“Katya! Stop. He just turned eighteen in September; don’t get your hopes up. It took me until I was nineteen to find you.” Dad reached out and squeezed her hand.

“Yes, yes, but I was one week past my eighteenth birthday and Xander has always taken after me more than you.”

“She’s not a Shifter, Mom.”

My mom visibly deflated. “She’s not a Shifter?” She looked at my dad who gave her a reassuring smile and then back at me. “I thought…well, never mind what I thought.”

She turned back to her dinner, but I knew my mother well enough to know she wasn’t through with her interrogation.

After a few more bites of her meal she said, “How do you know she’s not a Shifter?”

“Katya.” My dad pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What, Max? It’s a perfectly reasonable question under the circumstances.” She turned her attention back to me. “How do you know, Alexander?”

“Because she doesn’t smell like one.”

“Female Shifters often wear perfume to mask their scents, especially when they first start going into heat.”

“Mom!” I sat there gaping at her in horror and disgust. “Can we not talk about going into heat at dinner? God, now that memory is going to be associated with this meal for the rest of my life.”

“You need to know these things Xander.” She was matter of fact about it. “You’ve been eighteen for two months and any day now you’re going to find your mate and your father,” she glared at Dad, “clearly wasn’t thorough in his explanations about how things work in our world.”

“It’s not perfume, okay? I don’t know what she is, but she’s not a Shifter.”

“Oh. So she’s not human either then? I wonder what she could be.” I could practically see my mom scrolling through a book in her mind, looking at any known matches between a Shifter and someone other than another Shifter or human.

“Might she be a Selkie?”

“No, Mom, she’s not, because she doesn’t have a briny scent, and she’s not on the swim team. Those are the two biggest tells for a Selkie. Before you ask she’s not a Water Sprite either because those girls smell like dew on grass.

“She’s not a Forest Nymph, a Dryad, or any other supernatural forest dweller because I know what all of them smell like. Hell, half the girls I’ve slept with were some kind of forest spirit. I’m pretty sure I know what I’m talking about here.”

If I had hoped to shock my mother into changing the subject I was in for a disappointment.

“Well then, what does she smell like?”

I dropped my fork in exasperation. “I don’t know, Mom. She smells….she smells unbelievable, alright? The closest thing to it is that honey mead we had last summer when we went to the midsummer festival. Can we please drop this topic of conversation?”

Mom made this squeaking noise that she only did when she was about to burst with a happy emotion. “Oh Max!” she cried as she threw her arms around my father. I rolled my eyes to the ceiling.

“Katya, stop, you’re embarrassing our son.”

“I’m not embarrassed. I just don’t want to talk about her when we’re both still dancing around each other. Besides, you’ve always told me if I had to wonder if she was my mate then she wasn’t. She’s just an intriguing person that I want to get to know better.”

My father’s eyebrows shot up. “I don’t think I put it quite that way.”

“Yeah, you did.” I looked at him in disbelief. “I was there.”

Mom smoothed over our hackles by asking about basketball. “Your first game of the season is tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, we’re playing a school called Central. Will you guys be able to make it? I know your case loads have been heavier than usual.”

“One of us will definitely be there, I promise. Do you think your team has good chemistry?” my mom asked.

“It’s one of the best I’ve ever been on. The coaches have a lot of innovative ways to teach us skills, and footwork, and plays.” I stopped talking, realizing that I sounded a little overenthusiastic. I coughed to clear my throat.

“Um, I’m really looking forward to the games starting.” I could feel both sets of my parents’ eyes boring into me, and I blushed. I was only there because of their concerns for me, and I had never acknowledged it. “Thanks,” I bit my lip, “thanks for choosing to send me there.”

My dad squeezed my shoulder. “Make sure to thank Sean Hendrix. He’s the one who suggested you come.”

“I will, Dad.” I made eye contact with him and he gave a nod of his head before turning back to his meal. My mother, on the other hand, pounced.

“Will ‘just a friend’ be there?”

“Katya!” Dad threw his napkin on the table in exasperation.

I sighed, knowing when I was bested. “Yes, Mom she’ll be there.”

“Wonderful! I’ll try and guess who she is.”

“You’re incorrigible, Mom.”

“Where do you think you got it from?” She grinned at me and I couldn’t help but grin back.

Dad interrupted us. “Did you say Central? I seem to remember hearing something about that school.”

“Oh, oh yeah, El, um that is, the team told me about them. There have been lots of fights at that school; something about there being a lot of coyotes.”

“Coyotes?” Dad’s eyes went wide. “Katya, you need to stay home.”

My mom’s face fell. “I’d hate to miss the first game of the season. Surely, if you’re with me it would be okay?”

“I’m only thinking of your safety.”

I looked back and forth between my parents, perplexed. “Why wouldn’t it be safe for Mom to come?”

“Coyote Shifters don’t care if women are mate bonded or not. Hell, they don’t even care if a female is of age. And they sure as hell don’t bother with consent. If they smell something they want they try to take it. Just like their animal halves. How many are on the team?”

“Just three, but Matt said the bleachers will be full of them.”

Dad nodded. “Makes sense, they like to congregate in inexpensive public places where rowdiness is encouraged.” He turned back to my mom. “Liebling (darling)…I’d be worried sick the entire game.”

“Dad, I realize Mom looks great, but I don’t think you have to worry about teenagers trying to get into her pants. No offense, Mom.”

My father pinned me with a look. “I’m not worried about them. I’m worried about their fathers.”

His words hit me like a punch to the gut. The sinking feeling only grew worse when my mom turned to me and said “Xander, you need to tell ‘just a friend’ to stay home.”

“I can’t,” I said and then swallowed hard. “She’s going to be keeping book.”