Chapter 3

"Corporate wanted to test a new market segment with him."

She hesitated."But most humans won't take foxes.Too unpredictable.He's scheduled to be sold to an underground beast arena tonight."

"A fighting pit?"

She nodded.Didn't look happy about it."He was raised for companionship since he was a kid.Temperament conditioning,emotional regulation,all of it.And they're sending him to a cage."

She lowered her voice."The ones they send there get torn apart.Sometimes there's not even enough left to send back."

I looked at the photo again.Gray eyes straight into the camera.Not angry.Not sad.Just waiting.

"I don't care about fertility,"I said."I just wanted someone—or honestly,maybe a dog—to come home to.Is he really obedient?"

Her face lit up."Extremely."

I looked at the photo one more time.Another fox.After everything Taylor put me through,I was really about to choose another fox.

"Then I want this one."

"…For real?"

"If nobody else wants him."

They brought him out for inspection.

Taller than I expected.Broader.But the way he carried himself was small—shoulders curved in,chin tucked.

He lowered his head."I hope you'll take me with you."

A pause.

"The sooner the better."

Then he knelt.Right there on the tile floor.This six-foot-something fox beastman,on his knees in front of me.

I didn't move.Nobody had ever knelt for me before.Not once.

He looked up and his ears—somewhere between a dog's and a cat's—pricked slightly toward me.Like he was already listening for what I needed.

A good-looking guy with zero confidence.That got me.I won't pretend it didn't.

I was done for.

The paperwork took another hour.The receptionist handed me a sealed contract folder."Ivy,I think he's really lucky to have met you.We'll deliver him to your registered address this evening."

"Thank you."

After finishing at the center,I headed to the mall.Place was packed the way it always was.Everyone tired from work.

But happy.