time of year too. Maybe he’s someone’s pet. But he has no collar, no chip. Without the owner here, my boss wouldn’t allow me to go forward with the amputation. If someone local kept a fox as a pet, we’d have known about it, which makes me believe someone came here with the purpose of abandoning it far away from home,” she said in a low voice that pulled at Yev’s heartstrings.
The fox’s golden eyes opened wider and he stared up at Yev, its heart picking up pace in an instant.
It was asking for help. Whether it had the capacity to understand how badly injured it was or not, it understood that a human could be its ally.
“Maybe it’s… one of those foxes people fed by bottle? You know? It doesn’t act as if it was raised in the wild,” Yev said, swallowing when he sensed the fox shiver.
Karolina shrugged. “Maybe, but who’s gonna take care of him? The nearest charity that takes care of foxes is two hundred kilometers away, and the last time I spoke to them they were over capacity. I’d consider fostering him myself if I didn’t have cats. He’s so terribly pretty.”
The lush ginger tail with a white tip started tapping against the table as if the fox wanted to show off how gorgeous it was, and the animal whimpered softly as it licked Yev’s hand.
Fuck.
Karolina shook her head. “Would you consider taking him in for a while? Otherwise, I’ll have to put him down, I’m sorry.”
The fox’s whimpers became louder, and he tried tapping at Yev with his healthy paw, but didn’t have much strength after the tranquilizers and looked at him, pleading for this one chance it had at life.
Yev should say no. There was no place for a pet in his life, and if all went well, he’d be back with his pack within a couple of months.
But… could he really let this poor animal die just because most humans were cruel and selfish? If the fox was wild, the answer would have been obvious but someone had tamed this ball of fluff. He could take care of it for now, and once it had healed, Karolina would surely help him find a permanent home for the little guy.
It shouldn’t take more than two months, and he had a lot of space in the lodge anyway. If the fox stank the place up, it wouldn’t be his problem once he left.
“Okay.”
The relief in the vet’s smile warmed his heart. She’d do everything in her power to help the fox. The furry body under his hands relaxed as if the fox understood his intentions, and it closed its eyes, whimpering its sadness.
Shit. Yev needed a name for it, didn’t he?
Chapter 7 – Radek
Radek woke to the scent of venison, herbs, and dry wood. He was aware of his arm hurting, but the pain was muted somehow, as if his flesh had gotten numb. The soft cover kept him warm, so he drifted in and out of sleep until heavy footsteps jerked him into attention, and he lifted his drooping eyelids.
He’d had the weirdest dream.
He’d understood foxes at the farm, and then became one himself and got caught in snares. And then… then Yev came to save him. The rest was a blur, but what mattered was that he was awake now, even if sore.
Someone hummed, and metal cutlery clacked against porcelain. Was he home?
It couldn’t be. His home smelled of lavender and wood polish, and his room was so far away from the kitchen even the aroma of cookies baking in the oven didn’t reach him in bed.
He forced himself up, only to yelp and fall on his face when he tried to stand on his right—stump? And his voice didn’t sound human either. He was still dazed, but there was no denying the reality. He didn’t have hands. Just a paw at the front, two at the back, and a tail that wouldn’t stop twitching. He whimpered his fear to the world and crawled out from under the blanket placed in an open cage.
The memory of the vet hit him like a truck, and he searched frantically for Yev. This place did smell like his house had, but everything looked different from the floor, and the orange glow from the fireplace transformed the space further. But the longer he took in his surroundings, the more confident he was that this was in fact the forester’s lodge, even if each piece of furniture