Jessica Sims - Vixen

“Information,” said the voice on the other line. “What city and state?”

“I need the police department in Little Paradise, Texas.” Miko took a deep breath and lowered her voice. “I have a crime to report.”

The woman on the line made a startled noise. “A crime? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Miko replied. “The crime hasn’t happened yet.”

“Oh.” The operator got very quiet, and then cleared her throat. “I’ll connect you through.”

The line got quiet, and then a second operator picked up a few moments later, this one male. “Little Paradise police department. Can I help you?”

“Hi. I’m going to give you an address,” Miko began, realizing she probably sounded a little crazy. “There’s a crime in progress.” She quickly rattled off the street address, and since she was outside of the city, gave them landmark specifics.

The cop paused for a moment, and she could hear him typing. “What kind of crime is it?”

Oops. She hung up on him, wincing. Hopefully that vague threat would still get them to come out. Because if not, her little plan was going downhill fast. She tucked her phone back into her jeans pocket, and then began to remove her shirt.

The plan? Set herself up as fox-bait, drag the hunters right to the cops, and then escape before anyone would even notice she was gone. Her problem would be taken care of, the local foxes would be safe from the idiot hunters, and she’d finally get the two men out of her hair and her house back to herself.

So why did it feel like such a lousy idea? Why was it so very depressing to think of waking up and having an empty house tomorrow morning?

The sound of a nearby hunting horn caused both men to come out of their funk. Sam cocked his head slightly, listening for the telltale thunder of horses’ hooves in the distance. To his side, Jeremiah got to his feet, a grim expression crossing his face.

“Where’s Miko?” he asked.

Sam put down the wrench and wiped his hand on his shirt. Thinking about how dinner had turned sour had bothered him, and when Sam was bothered, he worked with his hands. He’d spent the past hour fiddling with the leak in Miko’s faucet, and had completely lost track of time. He’d thought that Jeremiah was in the other room, placating her or trying to make her understand his – their – frustration. But maybe not. “She’s not with you?”

“No. I haven’t seen her since dinner.”

The hounds bayed nearby, and the hunting horn sounded. The skin on the back of Sam’s neck prickled. It was obvious they’d found something. On a hunch, he ran out to the porch…and stared at Miko’s discarded t-shirt and the pile of her clothing. “Shit! Jere, she’s run off.”

Even as he stripped down and began to transform, Jeremiah was at his side, doing the same. Their goal was Miko’s safety, and as the horn sounded again, off in the distance, he desperately hoped they weren’t too late.

Run, run faster. Dart under bushes, weave through the grasses. Wiggle down a foxhole and come out the other side. Miko’s brain rambled directions to her, as if that could make her small black paws move faster, or stop her tail from twitching in anxiety.

The hounds were nearly upon her, the hunters hot on their heels, the horn braying in her ear. Her plan had seemed better from the safety of her porch. In fox form, her thoughts became frantic, fleeting and wild, and she struggled to maintain a sense of control over her emotions, even as she ran for her life. All she had to do was get to the road, where the police would be waiting. The fox-hunters would be caught red-handed, and her life would be her own again.

Providing she didn’t get caught first.

Providing she still wanted things – all things – to go back to normal.

A beagle bayed in her ear – too close. She slammed to the left, darting under a bush and veering away from her path toward the side of the highway. She had to – they were trying to corral her, shepherd her in a roundabout way toward safer ground for them, whereas she kept picking paths through bramble and under barbed wire fences and whatever she could to throw them off. It still wasn’t working, though – one was so close she could smell the scent of cheap dog food on his breath.

Something snapped at her tail, and it stung, fur ripping. He’d nearly caught her by her tail! Miko gave a little yelp and darted again.

She heard a growling roar, and then the sound of a cougar-scream. Miko’s already fraying nerves splintered, and it took her a moment to calm and realize that the men had come to her rescue, again. She could smell them now, a mixture of Sam, Jeremiah, and wildcat blending with the scent of the hounds and the hard, earthy smell of the dirt beneath her feet.

Behind her, the hounds scattered as the two cats appeared. One yelped, and just like that, Miko felt the heavy pressure of her followers lift off her back – they weren’t so close on her tail any longer. A rifle shot rang out, the horn brayed again, and chaos reigned.

One of the cats – the lynx, moved in step behind her, and she knew what he was thinking. He’d trail her, make it seem as if he were hunting her, and the dogs would scatter because of the difference – and dangerousness – of the new hunter. The hunt would be over.

They were going to ruin her plan.

She was out here risking her neck, and they were going to destroy everything for her. Fury shot through her mind, and when Sam sprinted forward slightly, moving to her left – an obvious herding motion – she darted through his legs and cut across the underbrush.

Back toward the highway again, where she could hear the faint wail of a siren.

The hounds began to bray once more, sensing her escape, and the chase was on again – this time it was dogs, hunters, and shapeshifting felines all chasing after her tiny fox form.

If it wasn’t for the fact that she’d be dead if they caught her, Miko would have laughed at the situation.

There, in the distance – the highway. Red and blue lights flashed, and she could hear the jingle of a police officer, the buzz of his radio. Don’t see anything out here , he was saying to the radio. Confirm address?

She ran straight for him.

It must have been an unusual sight – a tiny fox darting out of the woods to cross the empty highway. A pack of dogs hot on her heels, then behind them, a wild cat or two, and then hunters on horseback. She wanted to stop and admire her handiwork, to see the expression on the hunters’ faces as they realized they’d had the worst of luck and had landed in the lap of a law-enforcement official. But the hounds were still on her tail (literally), and so she continued to run, circling wide. She could skirt the edges of the golf course and trot her way back home, safe and sound.

“Stop there,” she could hear the police officer yell at the hunters. “Put down your weapons and call off those dogs!”

Excellent. The horn rang out again, and the dogs began to fall back. Miko wanted to do a happy dance, but she kept running, because she wasn’t an idiot and–

Something grabbed her by the scruff of her neck.

Panic shot over her again, and Miko writhed, feeling the bite of hot jaws over the back of her neck. A predator had her! She squirmed, paws flailing, as she was lifted off the ground.

But then a moment later, she was overwhelmed with the scent of Jeremiah and cougar, and she realized that the jaws on her throat were merely carrying her, like a kitten, and she relaxed slightly, though her instincts would not allow her to completely relax with his mouth around her vulnerable throat.

The lynx stepped in place next to them, and then shot ahead slightly, taking the path that Miko normally did, back to her house.