Outfoxed (The Fox Witch #1) - R.J. Blain Page 0,121

the same way with me and your mother, Sandro. You’ll get over it. Charm her or not, have kids or not. We didn’t buy her to fulfill some fantasy of yours. We bought her because if we didn’t, someone else would. It took your mother years to tame me. If you want your fox other than as a partner to help you run the family once we step down, well, I don’t know if wine and roses will work on vixens, so you’re on your own for that. Good luck. I didn’t look into what is attractive for her. What the family needs is for you to have a woman at your side when you take over the family.”

“I had been doing just fine without help,” Sandro replied.

Sandro’s mother snickered. “I did better.”

“Mother!”

Poor Sandro. I could understand, after having met his family, why he might want to run to the Alley and chase me around. “Are you saying you’ve adopted me for a ridiculous fee in the hopes I might find your eldest son attractive?”

Adoption by crazy rich people went down a whole lot easier than the alternatives, although I couldn’t deny I found her eldest son attractive. In any other circumstances, I might’ve attempted to seduce my way into his life.

I needed to make better decisions in my life.

My question captured everyone’s attention, and Sandro’s mother nodded. “Basically. You have the basic skills a Moretti woman needs to survive, and you have a reputation for being protective. Those are traits we want in the Moretti family. Marco is those things, as I’m a Moretti by birth, which means I’m stubborn on a good day. Sandro’s good at a lot of things, but he needs someone who is capable of fighting him when he decides to be stubborn. You’ve been dodging him for years, so I’m confident you can handle him.”

“Well, more like a week, but that’s close enough. I mean, I did move around aware there was a small bounty on my head, but I hadn’t known how large it had grown until recently.”

Sandro stared down at me, raising a brow. “You just hadn’t known you were dodging me, which makes this even more frustrating. You were just dodging a generalized bounty, but you were doing so well it took me this long to corner you.”

My fox wanted me to claim Sandro as our territory. Yet again, I ignored her. “Well, my good luck ended, that’s for sure.”

“Well, you didn’t get killed during that swarm, nor were you killed when you were shot, although I played a part in that. I may have given the shooter a reason to run. As you’re very lucky to be alive, I’d say your good luck has held just fine.”

“You did? Did you see him?”

“I didn’t see him. Let’s just say I offered him some motivation to stop shooting and start running. I didn’t get a visual on the bastard. If I had, he’d be dead right now. I did the equivalent of light fireworks in his face to encourage him to leave rather than finish the job.”

“I don’t remember that.” Then again, I hadn’t lasted long before passing out. “You’d think I’d remember something that loud and flashy.”

“Considering you were at high risk of bleeding out on me when I got to you, you were likely unconscious before the bang went off or you confused it for gunfire. Either is possible. I flash flamed the rooftops for several blocks. It’s a little noisy, but not that noisy.”

Sandro’s mother sighed. “How many buildings did you burn down?”

“None. The goal was to drive off the shooter, not have to rescue her while the city burned around us. Really, Mom. I only light things on fire when I need to. Give me some credit. Also, I’m rather miffed at you over this whole thing.”

“I am giving you credit. I’m assuming when you’re angry and have a target, the target will be catching on fire and being reduced to a greasy ash pile.” His mother shrugged. “That’s how you operate. What’s this about a swarm?”

“Twister swarm. We got caught in the middle of one, and she offered to share one of her cellars with me. We negotiated a truce. The Alley is not exactly a safe place.”

My fox regretted we hadn’t negotiated for a seduction instead, and I wondered if some of his father’s soup might help restore me to sanity. I lurched to my feet and wandered to the kitchen. Sandro followed me, observing while