The Minx

I stood in the middle of the dark forest alone as I waited. I would never admit it to Aspen, but I was a bit nervous. I waited as I adjusted my jacket, but I didn't have to wait long. A breeze blew before a figure appeared before me. That charming face that could only belong to a fox.

"Why are you out here all by yourself?" Kieran asked as he came closer. I resisted the urge to take a step back.

"Why does it have to be me?" I asked a counter question. Kieran smirked as he stuck a hand in the pocket of his expensive-looking suit pants.

"You still have no idea what you are, do you? Do you really think you shifted late because of what I did to you?" He asked candidly.

"If not you, then why?" I asked impatiently. He clicked his tongue before taking a step back.

"I can't help but to feel like this is a setup, but I'll still bite because my intentions aren't evil. I'll tell you everything you want to know on one condition: you come with me. It bugs me a bit that I'm still on that dirty wolf's land," he countered. I took a breath before grounding myself. I couldn't back down now. We knew this would happen. This was all part of the plan. I was supposed to go with him. I couldn't run away.

"To where?" I asked.

"My house, of course. I'm not so uneducated and uncultured that I live in a cave or something," he replied.

"Fine, but I have a condition too: the attacks on the wolves stop. And the past will not repeat itself. The torture, the... abuse... it doesn't happen again. I need your word that it doesn't happen again," I said with conviction in my voice. Kieran smirked before holding his hand out towards me.

"Fair, but for the record, I was testing you and saving you. I wasn't purposely trying to torture you," he excused it. As if I would believe that. I stared at his hand for a moment before I just went for it. I took his hand, and suddenly, we weren't in the forest covered by night anymore. We were standing in the middle of a huge living room. I looked around confused. We were in a house... a very nice house at that. I let go of Kieran's hand as I looked around. Expensive leather furniture, glass tables, porcelain vases, marble floors, high ceilings, this house had top-dollar everything.

"What just happened? Where am I?" I asked. Kieran sighed and poured two glasses of water from the coffee table.

"We teleported to my house. I told you, I don't like being on that mutt's land. Make yourself at home," he said casually as he sat on the couch and drank from one of the glasses.

"What did you mean in the forest about what I am? If I didn't shift late because of you, then why?" I asked, getting straight to the point as I stood there. Kieran sighed before setting his glass down on the coffee table and staring at me.

"Have you always been this impatient, or is this a recent development because of that mutt?" He asked instead. I didn't dignify his rhetorical question with an answer. Kieran sighed before motioning to the open spot on the couch next to him. I eyed it warily before choosing to sit in the single chair off to the side. Kieran rolled his eyes before leaning forward slightly.

"You are a wolf, but you're not just a wolf. If you were just a wolf, shifting would be second nature to you, but it isn't, is it?" He asked. I didn't want him to know that he was right. After the first shift, I expected shifting to be painless, but every time I had to bite my tongue at the pain it still caused me.

"Forcing something unnatural will undoubtedly be painful. When I approached you all those years ago, I already knew what you were. Despite the mated mutts who so loving left you in the forest to run together every day, they're not your real parents. They're just a nice couple who accepted you after not being able to have kids of their own. Hate to break it to you this way, but your genealogy is a lot more complicated than a normal pair of werewolves," Kieran finally explained. I let out a scoff as I rolled my eyes. It was one thing to drag me to his house, but to lie about my family?

"You don't believe me. When I took you at eight years old it was in part to test you, and in part to save you, but it wasn't my first time seeing you. Like wolves, we foxes have soulmates too. You're mine. I never lied when I called you my mate back then. I tested the silver on your skin to see how much of the wolf gene was active in your body. Mating with that mutt ruined all the work I did to save you all those years ago," he said. I stood suddenly as my fists balled at my sides. I was angry. I was beyond angry.

"If it was all a test, or to save me or whatever, why did you… push yourself on me? I was eight years old, for God's sake," I asked as tears of frustration clouded my vision. Kieran looked confused before leaning back against the couch.

"I think years of the confusion and fear have caused you to highly over romanticize what actually happened, love. I admit to my wrongdoings. I should have told you about yourself earlier so you won't be so confused, but I have nothing to hide. I did hurt you with the silver. I did inject you with serums. I even gave my own venom to you when I bit you to keep you alive, but I never touched you sexually as a child. I'm pretty much immortal, I have all the time in the world to wait. I would never do something so disgusting. Plus, I've known you since you were an infant," he explained. I felt confused. Granted, things from back then were a blur and I always avoided trying to think about that trauma, but it didn't seem like something my brain would just make up on it's own.

"Your venom?" I picked out.

"Ah, the part that actually matters. Listen closely because you're probably not going to believe me, but it's completely true. You're only half wolf, love. The other half…is fox. You go against all the laws of nature just existing. You're a hybrid," he finally admitted.