Nevada cleared her throat. “I’m Nevada Foxburg.” She looked from Vyr to Torren and back to Vyr. “It’s sort of nice to meet you. I think.”
“I would shake your hand, but mine is currently covered in urine,” Vyr said. “Torren, stop shooting people. Nox, please stop Nevada Foxburg’s car from driving into my pond and hurting my swan.”
“I killed your swan,” Nox muttered as he stomped off toward her slowly moving vehicle.
“What?” Vyr yelled.
“Just kidding, lizard-breath.”
Nevada pursed her lips against the laugh that was bubbling out of her throat. “You guys are a mess.”
“Speak for yourself,” Vyr said in a strange, emotionless tone as he stood gracefully. He canted his head and narrowed his eyes at her, like he was looking straight through her. A sharp pain behind her eyes made her wince and press her palms to her temples.
Vyr approached, one slow step at a time, eyes drilling into her. “Submissive. No…something more. You panic. You don’t like people. No. It’s not that you don’t like them. You don’t like talking to them. You don’t like being seen.”
“Stop it,” she murmured, backing away.
Vyr followed her step-for-step and cocked his head the other way. “How many times did you get put in your place as a kit, Nevada Foxburg? I see hundreds.”
“Vyr,” Nox called from where he’d stopped her car by the pond. “Cut it out!”
Vyr was stalking her faster now, and she stumbled then righted herself as fast as she could as she backed away.
“And every time you fought an order, your people cut you down,” Vyr said. “Over and over and over until you ended up like this. Scared.”
“I’m not scared of you.”
Vyr frowned. “No, you aren’t. Why?”
“I…” She let the explanation taper off because she didn’t really know.
“Why?” he growled out.
“I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because you tried not to Change. You were trying to protect the world…from you.”
“I’m not safe.” He twitched his head toward the gorilla shifter near the house. “He’s not safe.” He flicked his fingers at her neck at her claiming mark. “The mate you chose? He’s not safe.”
“But he feels safe to me.”
“Who, Nox?” Vyr asked. “Your instincts are completely broken. He’s a loose cannon.”
“Vyr!” Nox yelled, jogging toward them.
She was getting too close to the burning truck. The heat would blister her skin if he kept backing her up like this.
The snow was falling harder, covering all their footprints in the clearing. She was glad for the white downpour so she didn’t feel so naked and vulnerable.
Vyr stopped in his tracks, a look of sheer puzzlement on his face. “I don’t understand you.”
She dipped her voice to a whisper and looked at the snow on the ground. “You don’t understand Nox either. He’s good. He just reacts differently than other people. He’s different, but different doesn’t always mean bad.” Nevada locked eyes with Vyr. “Surely you can understand that.”
Torren now hung behind Vyr, shifting his weight from side to side, as though his feet were cold from the frozen ground. His attention was on her, though.
“I like you, Nevada Foxburg,” Vyr said. “It was disgusting what you did to my hand, but after seeing into your mind, seeing what has happened to you to make you submissive like this, it seems very brave that you tried to stop a dragon from Changing.”
“Correction,” she said, lowering her eyes to the ground. “I didn’t just try. I did stop you.”
“Look at me.”
The weight of his dominance was overpowering now that her adrenaline had run its course. Now, he felt like the monster he was. It was as if she was trying to inhale snow instead of oxygen.
“Nevada,” he said softer.
Nox’s fingers brushed her hip before he placed himself between her and the dragon. “Back off, Vyr. She doesn’t like being crowded.”
“It’s okay, Nox,” she murmured.
He stepped out of her way after only a second of hesitation. Good man, letting her stand strong on her own. Oh, she knew he would go to war for her, but he also had no problem letting her speak for herself.
She forced her gaze to the dragon’s silver eyes with those elongated pupils. “What?”
“I know about foxes.”
“No one knows about foxes,” she argued. “We’re secretive.”
“You’re wrong. My father makes shifters his business. He knows a lot. Maybe he knows everything. I inherited his curiosity about the different cultures, and I know what your den is going to do to you. I’ve seen your memories. In the country club? The way they reacted to Nox? They’ll shun you.”
“I know,” she whispered, feeling miserable.
“Do you know what happens when they shun a fox from the den?”
Her eyes burned, and her chest hurt just to think about it. “Yes.”
“What?” Nox asked, confusion tainting his deep, rumbling voice. “They push her outside of their protection, right?”
Vyr sighed and gave his focus to Nox. “You need to make it right with her people, Nox. You need to keep her from being shunned.”
“Why? They’re assholes. They don’t deserve her anyway. I can keep her protected.”
“Because they mark the foxes they shun.”
“Mark,” Nox repeated in a quiet, lethal tone.
“They’re gonna mark up her face. Maybe her body, too. They’re gonna make it to where any fox who ever sees her knows to ignore her with one glance.”
This was the part she’d dreaded telling him. This was the part she’d agreed to when she’d denied a pairing with Darren.
Horror in his eyes, Nox arched his silver gaze to hers slowly. “I won’t let them.”
“You can’t watch her every second. Foxes are clever, patient hunters. She will never be safe from them.”
“Then I’ll take her into Damon’s Mountains.”
“And bring more war? My father won’t allow her there. Not when the media is watching so closely. Everyone has to be perfect right now.”
Nox shook his head back and forth slowly. He looked like he wanted to retch. “What do I do? She’s my mate. I claimed her. She claimed me back.” He gestured to his neck. “She’s mine to protect. I can’t put her back in that den. If you saw in her mind, you know how they treat her. Those are my choices? Let them scar her on the inside or let them scar her on the outside? Fuck that. No more scars. Those stop right now. Over my goddamn dead body will they hurt her anymore.”
“You can’t go after a den, Nox. They’re a hundred strong, and the quiet kind of lethal. You’re in way hotter water than you even realize. You took one of their breeders.”
“Breeders?” Nox spat in the snow and hooked his hands on his hips. His profile was terrifying. His face had morphed into a monstrous expression. “She ain’t no breeder. Not anymore.”