to nuzzle her jaw. “Sorry to wake you, lady, but you were having a bad dream. You need anything? I can get your friends or a healer. Or a drink of water. Or we could keep you company until you fall asleep.”
The we must have caught her attention. She angled her head to get a better look.
“This is Gregor. He’s not mine exactly, though I helped raise his daddy.” Scooting back to make it easier for her to see, Ginkgo lofted one of the pocket crystals he carried for nightlights.
Copper eyes blinked in their glow.
“Well, now,” he said. “Aren’t you a beauty?”
Straightening so he could reach, he fondled her ears in the way he knew felt awesome. Her nose bumped his belly, a good reminder of how vulnerable he was, but Ginkgo smiled. It was best to let a wolf—or dog—know that they had the upper hand. She could easily push him back. Or with a single snap, he’d be a goner.
Instead, she lowered her head to butt his hip, allowing his rough caresses. He explained about his years running with the Elderbough pack and sang his pack nickname. His wolvish wasn’t great, but it earned him an amused huff.
She nipped his ear.
“Curious, are you? That’s fine. Everyone is.” Ginkgo wiggled his ears at her. “I’m half fox, which explains the ears. And the tail, for that matter. How about you? If you don’t mind my asking, you look like a wolf, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t part of the dog clan.”
She snuffled him, then Gregor.
“Guess it’s not fair to ask questions you can’t answer. Wolf?” he tried.
Her ears flattened.
“Dog?”
Her tail flashed an affirmative.
“Guess that means you’re related to Glint?” At her soft growl, Ginkgo revised his assumptions. “Right. Sorry. With your coloring, you’d be related to Radiance Starmark.”
The Kith’s posture remained neutral, which could indicate a snub.
Ginkgo decided to go all in. Sitting between her forepaws, he leaned back into the thick ruff of fur covering her chest. “Y’know what? How about we hang out with you until morning? It’d do Gregor good to get a feel for a canine. We would have bundled him off for Harmonious to cuddle, but this trip came up, and that dog’s schedule is always ridiculous.”
More ear nipping. But a quick lick reassured him.
“If I hang around long enough, will someone come by who can cover your half of the introductions?” He resettled Gregor and reached up to touch her muzzle. “Bet you have a beautiful name.”
She crooned a few notes.
“Did you say … frost? Wait. I take it back. If I guess wrong, you’ll be insulted, and my shaky grasp of wolvish nuance will ruin our friendship right from the start.”
A tongue bathed his cheek.
“I wonder why you’re here, of all places. I know she-wolves who withdrew into their dens for the last few weeks before whelping.” Ginkgo asked, “Is it getting close to your time?”
She whined.
“Hey, it’ll be fine. Better than fine. Pups are almost as cute as kits.” He chuckled. “That’s what my dad used to call me when I was just a squirt. It might have been the only joke he ever made. Or just his version of an endearment. Kit was short for kitsune, which is a kind of fox spirit from folklore.”
Ginkgo rambled on with no real purpose except to distract her from her troubles.
“Any chance you were brought in to strengthen bloodlines?”
That earned him another nipped ear.
“No offense. It’s just a guess since that happened to a friend of mine. Only he never mentioned it to anyone, and then all the sudden our Kith was having kittens under the kitchen table.” He smiled at the memory. It’d been a fiasco at the time. “Quite the feat, since Minx is considerably larger than the table. At least she spared my couch.”
A thought occurred.
“Anyone figured out how many pups you’re carrying?”
She made a low sound that was decidedly inconclusive.
“Want me to check?” He stroked her jaw. “I got pretty good at it. Guessed right for both of Minx’s litters.”
A small lick felt like permission.
“Okay. Mind the baby for me.” Ginkgo bundled Gregor in his shirt and nestled him between the Kith’s paws. “I need to push and prod a little, but it shouldn’t hurt. I’ll watch your ears. Flick them back sharp-like, and I’ll stop.”
She rolled an eye.
He knelt at her side, petting before adding any pressure. “I’m sure if you’re here, you’re under all kinds of watchful care, so let’s face it. I’m just being nosy.”
The