The Minx

It's like Kieran could see where my thoughts were heading. He sighed and rolled his eyes as he came closer.

"I'm not killing anyone. The same way you get energy from touching my hand, I can get energy from humans by just touching them," he explained. Kieran glanced at the curious faces before he took my hand in his again.

"You're my shield, and I'm yours. The fox aura is one that creates attraction. People will be less inclined to approach us if they think we're together," he said before walking beside me with my hand in his. I glanced at him before decided to concede to him this time.

"Where are we even going?" I asked.

"You're curious, right? Where we are? Where I work? What I do? How I blend in? You're probably hungry too. There's a company dinner tonight. I've decided to bring you along," he explained. I sighed before following him to the restaurant and going inside. He led me to a long table where people were already seated.

"Mr. Devoss, you made it. Who's this?" A young sprightly girl with shorter brown hair, full cheeks, and blue eyes asked when we arrived.

"Ah, this is Mrs. Devoss," he introduced me with a slight smirk. I shot him a small glare before removing my hand from his.

"You can just call me Camilla," I corrected him.

"I didn't even know there was a Missus," another guy muttered to himself.

"Cami has been with her family, recovering. She only recently came back," Kieran gave a believable excuse. We were seated next to each other as the food was served. I found out that the girl was Kieran's secretary, Amanda. I also met a lot of the other completely normal humans that he worked with. It was odd but also refreshing seeing him interact with humans. It made me feel a little normal too. It made me realize just how much I started to miss out on when I began holing myself up in Aspen's house. I was supposed to be graduating high school. I was supposed to be having somewhat of a normal existence, and my life had been anything but that. Kieran was partially to blame, but he also saved my life three times now so the good outweighed the bad.

"Camilla, what's it like being married to our boss? I mean, a lot of writers have tried to hit on him before but it makes sense now why he never responded. He already had you," Amanda asked softly. I glanced at Kieran keeping light conversation with his subordinates.

"He's very caring, and as intense as you would think when it comes to love," I answered vaguely.

"I thought some of our authors had good looks, but you have all of them beat. You're stunningly gorgeous," she admitted out loud. I smiled lightly in her direction as I blushed but inside I was feeling incredibly timid.

"Thank you," I replied anyway. I was honestly a little taken aback but I didn't want to be impolite. Outside of Aspen and Kieran, no one had ever called me beautiful before. In my old pack, I was made to feel like I was always less than; like I could never be good enough to even scrape the bottom. Now I knew it was probably just because the werewolves were detecting the Fox genes in me. Being natural enemies, they would be naturally repulsed and diverted by the fox in me. As a fox in a human world though, I was on the cusps of being glorified. The thought of it was a little surreal. Kieran held my hand in his gently to bring my attention to him.

"Cami, if you're tired at any time, we can leave early," he assured me. I smiled lightly as I shook my head.

"I'm actually having fun," I admitted. It was the truth. For once, there wasn't this heavy burden being placed over my head to be someone I wasn't and to act a certain way. I felt like I could relax, and just have fun. It was something I'd never been able to do before. For the remainder of the evening, I just relaxed and didn't worry about anything.

"Not that our boss is old, but you look really young, Camilla. Do you mind me asking how old you are?" One of the workers, Gray, asked while we chatted after eating.

"21 years old," I replied without thinking. It wasn't the truth. I was only almost 18 years old. In fact, my birthday was a week away, but I had been drinking alcohol with them all night, and I knew Kieran had his age set for his late 20s. I didn't want to make him look bad. Plus, if everything went according to Kieran's plan, I would become immortal after pulling out the fox genes anyway. My age wouldn't really matter by then.

"I wouldn't believe it, but then again, our boss never ages either. You are surely someone who can shine next to him. Most people are overpowered by his looks, but honestly, I think you've got him beat," Gray joked. I was glad he let it go for now but I didn't miss the question in Kieran's eyes as he glanced at me.

"It's getting late. Before you all get too drunk, make sure everyone gets home safely. I, myself, need to get the missus back home. She hasn't had much time to adjust to being back yet," Kieran flat out lied easily. He took my hand gently as we we said goodbye to everyone before we went to retrieve the car. He didn't say anything until we got in the car.

"What was that earlier?" He asked.

"I didn't want to make you look bad, so I told one lie. But you lied first when you called me Mrs. Devoss," I explained. Kieran only chuckled as he drove.

"Making you 21 is easy, but once you start going down this road, you start to forget who you really are, when your actual birthday is, things just start to blur together," he warned.

"Is my birthday even my real birthday?" I asked out of curiosity. He sighed before nodding.

"Next week is your actual birthday. When I gave you to that couple I left as much accurate information as I could without ruining your chances at a normal life. Obviously, I didn't tell them you were part fox, but I did give your real birthday," Kieran answered.