Vixen’s Run Read Online Free

One of my second cousins was retrieved, but she had only been in the lions’ custody for a week.”
    He sighed as if a weight had been lifted from him. “I have been dreading telling someone about that.”
    “It explains a lot. You aren’t in touch with yourself because your mind defended you by disconnecting your attachment of mind and body. Those collars were brutal units.”
    Davus cocked his head. “You actually do know about it. I thought you were being kind.”
    Tiff shook her head. “Nope. My cousin was returned to her mate and kits, but she was a little off. We don’t like being caged.”
    “How did her mate take it?”
    “He is dealing with it but he keeps taking off. I don’t think they are going to last long.”
    Davus blinked, “What will she do?”
    “Her sisters and mother will take care of her. It is our way.” Tiff finished her dessert and set her spoon down.
    He looked as if he was mulling something over, and finally, he asked the question that had been obviously been burning in him. “Why are you here?”
     
    * * * *
     
    Davus watched the emotions flow across her features. There was dismay, anger, disappointment and finally resignation.
    “Thank you for reminding me. I am here to find a mate so that my brother can get married. I am the eldest, so in our family, I have to wed first. He’s stuck if I don’t make a move.”
    Davus nodded; it was tradition in a lot of shifter families to have the eldest children settled first. “He has found love?”
    She shrugged. “That is what my gran says. I hope so. He is a little too attractive for his own good.”
    Davus grinned. “Maybe he found the right woman.”
    “It is possible. Or, perhaps, he has just found a woman that satisfies what he feels is his position. My brother is a bit of a snot.” She grimaced.
    “That is what I used to think of my sisters, but they all turned out all right.”
    “Foxes get worse as they age.”
    He loved watching the expressions flit across her features and the gleam of fire in her hair. Just looking into her leaf green eyes, he wanted to strut, to prove that he was worthy of her. He wanted to capture her attention so that she never cast that devastating smile toward another waiter.
    The suddenness of his attachment to her shocked him, but he had never had a woman look at him and see into his soul before. Her clear green eyes were bright and unflinching. When she had mentioned her own trauma, there had been shadows in that gaze and he wanted to clear it so that joy overtook her instead of darkness. He also wanted to do more than bite the men that had hurt her.
    The darkness in his thoughts surprised him. He had never imagined that meeting the right woman would bring out a protective instinct. His own issues were forgotten in his urge to keep Tiff safe and happy.
    Davus wanted Tiff to want him; he wanted it more than anything. If she were a peahen, it would have been easier. He would show off his feathers and she would either ignore him or be receptive.
    With a fox, it was different. She was direct and had no problems being at close quarters with him, but she was cold. The petty masculine part of him wanted to kiss her until she responded, but the intelligent part of him mentioned that it was the wrong tactic to try with her.
    He was going to have to wait until she made the first move. After the year of being cooped up, he was tired of waiting, but he was going to have to fight his own instincts to win his mate. That was not in doubt. Tiff was destined to be his.
    He just had to convince her.
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    Dawn the next morning was fun. She played hide and seek with him in the forest. If she dodged him for more than five minutes, he would buy breakfast at the café.
    Tiff ran through the trees in her workout gear and found the waterfall that she had located on the second day. She eased in behind it and checked her watch. He would be looking for her right about…now.
    He had cheated a little by