by J. E. Cluney
Aura, ha! As if I needed that for this.
I growled softly before I readied all my muscles, feeling them quiver beneath my fur.
I kept close to the deer as it dashed madly, bounding over a fallen log and trying to zigzag away. We continued racing alongside it, and I drew in its scent, my heart hammering as I focused on its throat.
I waited for the right moment, before springing up, snapping my jaws onto its neck and clawing at it as I used all my strength and weight to drag its head down.
It stumbled, and Samson snapped onto its legs, the last blow needed for it to crash to the ground.
I clung to its throat, sinking my teeth in, the hot blood gushing into my mouth, tasting bittersweet as I snarled and tore at it.
Soren was beside my side instantly, snapping onto its neck as well.
With both of us ripping into it, the buck was dead in seconds. Not the most humane way, but despite that, I’d never felt more alive and at one with my kitsune side.
I felt completely free and wild, every fiber of my being riding a strange contented cloud. Like I had no worries in the world except for my current meal.
This was going to be our dinner tonight, so at least our kills wouldn’t go to waste.
I lay with my father and brother as we ate, and all my worries were washed away as I enjoyed the moment with them.
Leon and Damien were enjoying their kill with Lachlan and Lionel, and my father had said Benny and Bernie had been successful too, and Nate had joined them. They’d chosen to take down an old buck that was clearly injured and wouldn’t survive the next winter.
I liked that they chose to never go after the does, it gave the herd the chance to continue breeding and keeping their numbers up.
‘We only hunt deer a few times a year, figured having you here was as good a reason as any. Normally we only hunt small things,’ Soren explained as he stripped meat off the buck’s side.
I stared at him, at the swirl marking on his head. Samson had the same marking too.
I snorted softly. It actually looked like an ’s’, which was comical considering their names.
‘It’s for the Dorian lines. The moon crescent is your mother’s lineage, the Nakima,’ Soren explained.
‘If you look carefully, I have the half moon barely visible beneath my swirl. Like a faded shadow. You have the swirl faded under your moon,’ Samson said as he rose and touched my forehead with his nose.
‘A kitsune child will have both lines within them, but the markings of one will be more predominant. Your mother came from royal lines, but she could handle herself well. The Nakima line is less known. Long ago, they were a smaller faction of royals, not as big as others,’ Soren said.
How come Dominic and Mr Oxley had only found information out about my Dorian lines? They’d looked into my mind, how come the Nakima line wasn’t brought up?
‘The mother’s lineage is the less dominant of the two. So, even though you got her markings, my bloodline would be the more obvious line in you. I know, it’s strange, considering she carried you, you should have more of her. At least you got her markings,’ Soren said tenderly.
I guess that made sense. Although I would’ve thought the mother would’ve been more dominant, but supe stuff was always unique.
Nakima.
I liked that name. I still liked to be known as Dorian though. A warrior, but Nakima was beautiful.
It’d be the perfect name for a daughter one day.
‘I think it’d be a perfect name,’ Soren said softly, his ears flattening on his head as he padded over and licked my head softly.
A daughter. Maybe the idea of a family wasn’t too terrifying and weird anymore.
Could I be like Izzy though? Give up everything to have a family?
No, I couldn’t, but carrying on my lines was now a bit important to me. The Nakima and Dorian lines had to live on.
‘Do you know if my mother had any other family?’ I asked softly as I chewed on a hunk of meat I’d torn off the still warm buck.
‘Your mother was the only child in her family, and they were tragically slaughtered by the order when she was only a child. She was taken in by a witch who raised her and taught her of kitsunes as best she could. She too passed though, only a few years before you were born. So as far as I’m aware, you and Samson are the only surviving heirs of the Nakima lines,’ Soren said sadly.
I sighed as I rested my head on my paws. So we really were the end of the line for the Nakima.
Then I had to make sure it continued.
I wouldn’t let it die out.
‘Renee will carry the lines too,’ Samson reminded me.
Right, little Renee. I smiled inwardly at the thought. I was oddly excited to meet my niece eventually.
‘What about the others? They’re part kitsune,’ I noted.
‘They are, but they won’t pass the gene along. It is the less dominant one in them, their true supe sides will be passed, so only you and Samson can pass the Nakima and Dorian lines on,’ Soren explained.
So it was up to us.
I guess that meant that only a child with Nate would pass on my lines. Children with the others would die off once they reproduced.
What kind of children would the others give me?
Leon and Damien, would our children be werewolves with angel grace? And Tristan, I didn’t even know what the go was with demon-born. I’d never spoken with him about that. And Wes. Would I have a phoenix child?
‘Your kitsune side will be less dominant, so your children will be more like their fathers with their supe sides,’ Soren said. ‘Demon-born can have demon-born children, although I can’t say I’ve ever met one. I’d be curious about that. And Wesley, well, phoenixes can reproduce with other supes. But the child will be fully phoenix, no kitsune will be passed on, the phoenix gene is too strong. They may still look like you, but they’ll not have any kitsune aura to boost their abilities.’
Well, now that was interesting to know. My dad really did know a lot.
‘We work as high-end bounty hunters. Samson and I have seen many unique supes, and I’ve been doing this all my life,’ Soren said. ‘I met a phoenix a long time ago when traveling with your mother. I got enlisted to hunt a supe while overseas, and the one who aided me in finding it was a phoenix. The supe in question was a basilisk. Very rare, they hunt phoenixes for their immortality. They can take away the immortality of a phoenix and claim it as their own, although the phoenix will die permanently. So I had to help find and kill it. Not an easy task, considering how powerful a basilisk is,’ Soren sighed as he stared off into the trees as he reminisced.
A basilisk. I’d seen one in the tubes at the Collector’s, but I’d never really known of them before.
I wanted to know more about them.
Soren chuckled softly. ‘I can you tell all about my hunts and the creatures I’ve met, but we’ll save that for another time. Enjoy this moment,’ he murmured.
I grumbled but accepted his words as I licked at my bloody paws, sated with my meal. There was still much of the buck left, but we’d leave our scraps in the forest for the scavengers to enjoy. We’d let the cycle of life continue.
Right now, I did feel at one with nature, the energy of my kitsune swirling peacefully inside me, content with the current moment.
‘A daughter. I think I’d like that,’ Damien said softly.
I snorted at the thought from him.
And yet, I knew he’d make a great dad. Sure, he’d be a hard-ass at times, but he was just a big softie under all the gruffness.
I could just picture him now, helping braid a little girl’s hair and playing tea time with her.
I barked out soft sounds of laughter as I envisioned him in a tutu, with over-the-top pink makeup and glitter as he sat at tea time with a little girl.
Our little girl.
The thought made me inwardly smile.
Children.
Yes, maybe one day. When the world was right and I had not
hing to fear for them.
When this Collector was dealt with.
17
Tristan.
They returned from their hunt, happy and content. Even Damien was amazingly relaxed and at ease, along with Lachlan and Lionel. Maybe werewolves really did need to let their wolf out every once in a while.
Leon was still himself, but he was always more inclined towards his angel side than his werewolf.
I watched with great amusement as Bernie fussed over Sav.
He wanted to know everything he’d missed, and she was willing to oblige, although I knew she secretly wanted to rest.
The remainder of the night was spent playing various board games, although we had to divide up into groups for it.
I was set up with Lachlan, while Wes and Chris were a team, Sav was with Izzy, Benny was with Damien, Lionel with Nate, Leon with Soren, and Samson was with Bernie, and we played a game of Mummy, where we had to try to make a mummy the fastest with our partner.
Lionel and Nate ended up winning the first Mummy round, and then it was Leon and Soren for round two with the now torn up paper.
We had plenty of laughs as we played the game, struggling to wrap up our partners faster than anyone else.
Sav had cursed like a trooper, ignoring how Bernie scolded her for her language.
Lionel had said she was an adult, and if she wanted to swear, then she could.
Damien and Lachlan were getting pissy with it, clearly the most competitive of the younger group.
Guess the Drawing came next, on a board that Izzy pulled out of the hall cupboard, and we remained in the same teams.
Wes and Chris went first, and Wes began drawing away.
I watched his strokes with the marker, struggling to work out the picture.
It was starting to look like a man, and the guesses started pouring in.
“Man.”
“Plumber.”
“Dancer.”
“Teacher.”
All were wrong as Wes shook his head.
“Man singing?” I suggested, considering the crudely drawn stick figure seemed to be holding something. As to what was beyond me.
“Eating a hot dog?” Chris offered, but a harsh head-shake was the response as Wes drew a ring and jabbed clearly at it.
“He just fingered a woman and has period blood on it?” I scoffed, and Lionel snorted with laughter as snickers and shocked gasps surrounded me.
Wes gave me a stupefied look as Izzy covered her mouth and giggled softly.
“He fingered a guy and it’s shit?” Sav said with a wicked smirk.
“Sav!” Soren chided her as he shook his head in dismay.
“You think that’s bad, you should hear some of her threats,” I muttered, causing Bernie to give me a horrified look, followed by Sav narrowing her eyes at me.
Hey, she’d threatened to ram a dildo up Wes’ ass one time when he’d not finished her off quickly enough in the library. I’d overheard before joining in with them.
“He has… hemorrhoids?” Lachlan said slowly as Wes groaned and pointed at the circle again.
I snorted back laughter as Sav laughed, and chuckles and laughter filled the room as the timer ended.
“Husband. It’s a wedding ring,” Wes pouted at the group. “He’s wearing a ring on his finger.”
“That is not how you draw a husband,” I snickered.
“You could’ve done better?” Wes growled.
“Definitely,” I quipped.
“He is an artist,” Sav added.
Wes just hung his head as he sat down, and Leon and Nate got up for their turn.
Nate was up for the drawing, and he plucked out a piece of paper from the bowl of drawing ideas.
“No telepathy, I can hear you too,” Sav warned. Well, she could sense when she was being blocked. We’d learned to talk to only one of the others we were bonded with if we needed privacy, but Sav could tell if she was being blocked like that. None of the rest of us could.
“We won’t cheat,” Nate chuckled as he stared at the board for a moment.
He began drawing, and I laughed as Izzy and Sav got aggressive with their suggestions.
“Condom?” Sav called out, and Nate shook his head.
“Water bottle, one from a carnival?” Leon suggested, but Nate shook his head.
“Fucked up balloon animal?” Izzy said, ignoring Samson’s shocked gasp at her swearing.
Izzy was not much of a swearer it seemed.
“A mountain?”
“Chocolate coated apple?”
“The north pole?”
I smirked as everyone kept throwing out ideas, all wrong.
I eyed the drawing. It really did look like a condom.
“Sex toy?” I asked, loving how Sav snickered with the guys.
Wrong as well.
“Oh! An injured penis? Like he tried to go into the wrong hole and fucked up the top?” Izzy said excitedly, causing her mates to give her utterly blown away looks as Sav laughed with me.
Nate shook his head as he added something to the top.
“Ejaculation!” Wes practically screamed.
“Sex?” Leon muttered, although I could tell he was just tossing anything out there.
“Pre-cum?” Damien mused.
“What is with you all and sex?” Bernie cried, shaking his head in joking despair as he smiled sadly.
“Kitsunes, dad, they taint their mates,” Benny chuckled, earning him an eye roll from his father.
The timer went off and Nate crossed his arms.
“You all have dirty minds. It’s the Space Needle,” he stated, arching a brow at us.
Oh. Now that he said that, it was quite clearly the space needle with a flag on top.
Or a weird condom.
We continued on, and laughs were had all around as we enjoyed the childish, albeit dirty, game.
And seeing Sav laughing with her family only made it so much better.
I sat at the training field with Wes as we watched Soren show Sav an array of weapons. We’d taught her at the institute how to handle quite a few, but Soren and Samson wanted to show her everything that they knew.
Wes and I wanted to watch, while everyone was back at the house.
Lachlan and Chris had brought out the PlayStation, and they were taking turns playing the game while Izzy rested after the tiring morning of stories and a huge breakfast for everyone.
“Samson always had a knack for archery, ever since he was a kid. I chose the crossbow growing up, something my father taught me,” Soren said as he stood at the wooden table with all the weapons laid out.
“Is your father still alive?” Sav asked.
“Sadly he passed away during a bounty hunt. My mother only took on two mates, and she and my other father are still alive, but we don’t talk. She doesn’t like that I bounty hunt despite what happened to my biological father,” Soren sighed.
“Do you think she’d like to meet me one day?” she asked softly, and I could see she was excited at the idea of having more family.
“Probably not. She’s not family orientated. Dad was their only child, and she never wanted to meet me or the others. She’s not visited any of us,” Samson said sadly as he pursed his lips.
“My mother is better off considered gone. I don’t talk to her anymore since she chose not to have anything to do with my family,” Soren stated.
Sav nodded sadly, and my heart ached for her.
At least she had this family, and us.
“So, we know you’re good with blades, and Wes has informed us you’re equally good at throwing them,” Soren smirked knowingly as Wes grumbled.
He was never going to let that go.
“Let’s see how you do with our weapons of choice,” Samson said as he offered her the bow and quiver.
She accepted them, walking over to the targets.
Samson instructed her on how to use it, fixing her posture as we sat in the grass, watching expectantly.
Sa
v loaded the bow, and took aim carefully. The arrow shot off, hitting the target in the second ring.
She tried this a few times, each shot getting closer and closer to the bullseye.
It didn’t take her long before she was hitting the center spot on, and Wes just gave me an equally horrified but proud look.
Dorian lines apparently. She picked up weapons easily.
“Your adoptive father taught you with many weapons, right?” Soren asked carefully as Sav returned to the table as Samson collected the arrows from the target.
“Knives, machetes, pistols. Only the basic hunting weapons,” Sav shrugged, and I knew she didn’t like Thomas being referred to as her adoptive father despite how things were no longer as tense between them. Sure, they weren’t talking, but he was changing, which was something.
Not that it made me suddenly like the bastard. I still hated him with a passion, but Sav was doing her best to change our opinion of him.
I knew she wanted to see if there was a chance at any kind of relationship with him eventually.
“Well, how about the crossbow, it’s different to the bow and arrow,” Soren said as he picked up his crossbow and offered it to her.
We watched as she quickly mastered the crossbow as well, and then they were moving onto the rifles and assorted unique weapons.
She even managed to get pretty good with a goddamn blowdart.
I’d make sure not to piss her off anytime soon, or I’d probably find myself unconscious from a dart and strung up in my dungeon. I could just see it now, Sav strutting around in my sweet dungeon, brandishing a wickedly large dildo, probably covered in barbs or some shit.
I shuddered at the thought as she caught my eye and winked.
Fuck.
Wes was gobsmacked at how easily she wielded all the weapons, and then they took up sparring with dummy swords, maces, and more.
Seeing her move so gracefully, dodging their attacks and using her aura to her advantage was a sight I’d never get tired of. The way the hot pink and white wispy aura encased her, working with her and projecting out was mesmerizing, and Wesley and I were dead quiet as we watched in awe.
Fights between kitsunes were like watching a carefully choreographed dance, so graceful and fluid with their movements, sensing incoming attacks before they struck and either dodging or deflecting them.
