19

The house was quiet as I sat in the hallway and looked out of the large window at the nearby woods. It was nighttime now, and things had been quiet since we'd gotten back from that fire.

Of course, there had been a lot of discussion about it too. I'd listened for a while l before I'd decided that I'd heard enough and excused myself to come upstairs. I'd wanted some time to myself to think over everything that was now happening.

I was worried about what was going to happen with Anna now. I doubted that she knew yet that the reason her dad had gone crazy and tried to kill her and her mother was because of another fox that was after Sean. I wondered what she'd do when she found out. Would she blame Sean, blame me and my family, for destroying hers? And what would happen between her and Raziel if she did?

The image of the two of them together replayed in my mind. I'd never been stupid about their relationship. It was definitely a serious one.

But now, it was making me think seriously about my current relationship. I knew how much liked Sean. I'd always had an attraction to him, and I'd been able to accept that I cared about him more than my memories of Zane. He was always so gentle and kind towards me now too. I just wished that he'd stop being so reserved about things.

Maybe he thought he was doing the right thing by acting like a gentleman, and it wasn't like I could complain that much about it. Most guys wouldn't have kept that up by now with a girl they were truly interested in.

But I confess that it bothered me too. Even though he'd claimed before that he loved me, were his actions proving that he was changing his mind?

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of someone walking towards me and looked up to see Sean standing there.

"Mind if I join you?" he requested.

"Sure." I allowed. He sat down beside me as I continued, "So, I guess you got tired to listening to things too, huh?"

"I'd heard enough for now, but I was also more concerned about you. You've been up here for a while, so I wanted to make sure that you were okay. Besides, I didn't think that it would be right if I wasn't around after everything that's happened." Sean responded.

So he'd wanted to make sure that I was okay. Well, that was a start. At least, that was how I'd begun thinking since we'd gotten back.

"I'm okay, but I feel bad for Anna. He's turned her life upside down." I told him.

Sean let out a long breath, "I know. This is all my fault. If I knew I could face that fox, I would do it in a heartbeat for what he's done. But there's too much at stake right now for me to risk something stupid, and I don't think that you'd forgive me if I actually did die."

"You'd seriously be that worried about me?"

"Of course I would. It bothers you enough when I leave here for a while, doesn't it?" Sean asked, a hint of a smile crossing his handsome face.

I had to look away, "Of course it does. But you never tell me when you're leaving either. It's not fair." I pouted.

"I'm sorry." Sean apologized, "I guess I'm still not that good at being in a relationship yet. But all of this has been very new to me. Sometimes I worry that I'm going to do or say the wrong thing."

"You really worry about those things?"

I wasn't expecting that one. Sean had always seemed very confident in himself.

"I do. I can put on a good front, but I have a lot of my own insecurities. I've never been someone who's been good with normal people before, and I certainly can't say that I've ever considered have a woman in my life before now. There are times that I truly wonder if I've lost my mind." Sean went on, sounding a little amused at the last part.

"Very funny." I moved closer beside him, resting my head on his shoulder, "I could say that same thing with how I feel about you, but you're also the only guy that I know for sure likes me for me. Or, at least, I think you do."

"I do. You're different from everyone else to me, and have been since the day we met. I've always meant it when I've said that I love you, and that's not going to change." Sean responded, putting an arm around my shoulders.

The two of us sat there in silence for a few minutes. It was comfortable there now with just the two of us.

"Hey Sean, do you think you'll really end up fighting that fox?" I finally asked.

"I don't know. Manake's trying to make it so that I won't, but I don't know if he'll be able to make it in time with how quickly things are escalating." Sean answered.

"Where'd he go anyway? He left you and Sara with us and disappeared."

"He went looking for another of my family members. My dad's brother, Musket."

"I didn't know your dad had a brother." I said as I sat up to face him again.

"He did have two, but one of them died when they were young. Musket's as old as he was, and Manake swears that he's the one who would be able to stop Flint without any real problems. But he's hard to keep tabs on too. You could say that I wasn't the first one to carry the nick name Renegade in our family." Sean explained.

I smiled, "I could imagine. But why only Musket? Couldn't Manake take care of it too?"

"Well, that's one of the things about foxes. Typically, challenges in the family have to stay within the family. It's like an unspoken rule of thumb." Sean answered.

"I guess, but that's still kind of weird."

Sean chuckled, "Well, it's not like you picked a normal boyfriend."

"Of course not. I don't think I could've handled a normal boyfriend. I don't even know how I handle you. I swore after Zane that I'd never have another. I wonder what happened."

"We both moved to Madison and happened to meet. To be honest with you, I don't think that anything ever happens without a reason, and in the end, you and I are both one of a kind."

"Hmm. You might be right."

It was funny, but somehow, we'd ended up getting closer like this lately. A part of me wondered if this was just normal in a relationship. Maybe I wanted something to happen too quickly.

Sean sat up a little straighter, "Hey, want to lay out with me and relax? I don't think anyone would mind." he suggested.

I couldn't see the harm in it, "Sure. It's getting uncomfortable on this floor anyway."

The two of us headed to my room, keeping the door cracked so that no one would get suspicious of us being in there alone together. We didn't bother turning on the light though. The moonlight coming in through the windows was enough.

"You know, for being nervous about this, you've been really bold too." I pointed out as we laid on the bed facing each other.

"I'm not sure if I'd call some of it being bold or just taking my chances. I doubt your father's been that happy about me coming here at night like I've been, even if nothing happens aside from us spending time together." Sean responded.

I could see the amused smile on his face. Yes, both of us were well aware that Michael knew he'd been coming there at night, even if he didn't say anything to us about it. I guessed that he just trusted Sean enough to allow it, and he was okay with nothing else happening aside from us hanging out.

"You know Michael trusts you with me now, and I trust you too. I know you'll never try to hurt me again." I reminded him.

"Not at all." Sean agreed. He held my hand as I touched his face, closing his eyes, "Mia, when all of this is over, do you want to stay with me?"

"Of course I do. You're my fox, no matter what happens, and none of this is your fault. Flint's doing this because he has the same stupid instincts that you did before." I answered, moving closer to snuggle against him.

I felt him chuckle, "You know, you're really cute at times."

"Not funny. I'm being serious."

"I know. It just helps to laugh with everything that's been happening. But I am serious about you being cute. It's just one of the many things I love about you." Sean went on.

"Ah, you're hopeless." I complained as I pulled back a little from him. He obviously wasn't going to take me seriously.

Sean pulled me close again, and the next thing I knew, his lips were on mine. I immediately melted into this first kiss. It felt as beautiful as I'd been imagining it would be.

"I love you Mia, and I promise that we'll make it through all of this. I won't let him kill me or hurt anyone else." he whispered as he pulled away.

"I love you too. Please be careful Sean. I don't want to lose you." I whispered back.

"I will. Although there is something else I was thinking about as well tonight."

"Hmm? What is it?"

Sean shifted a little, reaching into his pocket. I stared as he pulled out a beautiful silver ring with a blue stone set into it. I recognized that stone right away. It was the same that I'd seen back at Jameson. The stone glowed in the moonlight as he held it, as though there was fire trapped within it.

"I've been thinking about this for a while, and now seems like the right time. I know that there's been a lot of questions about our relationship, and I wanted to cement it between us, especially since I don't know for certain how all of this will play out. This ring is a special one that foxes can make. We infuse the stone with a small portion of our own essence, and it forever connects us to the one we give it to." he explained.

"It's beautiful." I managed to whisper. My heart was beating hard now, "Are you sure you want to give it to me?"

"I am. You're the one I love, so it's only fitting for you to have this. Think of it as my way of proposing, even if we wait a while to do things formally."

I let out a long breath, not able to contain my happy smile, "If it is proposing, then I'm saying yes."

Sean slipped the ring on my finger, and I felt a soft surge go through me as the stone flashed. I knew then that I was to be forever connected to him. But I was happy too as we shared another long kiss. No matter what happened now, no matter what road lay ahead of us, we could face it together.

I was feeling a lot better about things as the next morning came, even if there was still the looming worry of what might happen next with Flint. At least I knew that Sean would always stay with me, and I was trying hard to look forward to our future together in the years to come.

Yet I also couldn't deny the nervousness rising within me as we headed to school. A lot had happened over the weekend, and I didn't doubt that there would be a lot of talk about what had happened with the Smith family.

I was very surprised to see Anna when Sean and I arrived at school. She was waiting out in the parking lot with Raziel. I braced myself as we got out. Raziel had said that he was going to tell her the truth about what had happened with her dad, so there was really no telling what she'd say once she found out that another fox was involved, and that he'd come there after Sean.

I did my best to be both normal and sympathetic as walked over to them.

"Hey Anna. I didn't think that you'd be back today." I greeted her.

"I couldn't just sit there at my aunt's house. It was getting pretty depressing." Anna admitted. She looked at Sean for a moment before forcing herself to continue, "You sure know how to make enemies, don't you?"

There it was. It wasn't really accusing, but I could definitely see the hurt in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Anna. I never thought that he'd go after you or your family. You haven't been that involved with me." Sean apologized.

Anna let out a long sigh, shaking her head as she looked at the ground.

"It's okay. Maybe Dad was losing it anyway. It wasn't like he was that easy to get along with. But you still better get rid of that thing to make it up to me." she informed him.

"She's been wanting revenge ever since I told her the truth." Raziel admitted as held her.

"How's your mom doing?" I asked her.

"She's okay. Well, kind of. But Mom's always been good at acting stronger than she feels, and we keep getting those phone calls. Everybody wants to know why my dad suddenly went crazy. It's all so stupid." Anna responded, sounding bitter now.

"It is what it is to them right now, and they need to leave it alone. I told you that you could stay at my house today if you wanted too. You didn't have to come to school. Dad would've taken care of it." Raziel reminded her.

"It's okay. I'd rather be around people then hide my face in shame. It's better for me this way. You know that." Anna responded.

Of course, such things are usually easier said than done. A lot of people were watching her like hawks when we got in there. I felt bad, but I wasn't that sure if there was anything more I could do.

Thankfully, with Raziel there beside her, no one approached her about any of it. None of them were willing to go against him, not to mention they might not have wanted to upset her more in doing so.

Anna was quiet though. Far more than what I was used to. In fact, as we were sitting in our second class, I kept glancing over at her. I finally couldn't take it anymore, and quietly pushed a note under the side of her notebook. She looked at it for a moment before reading it. Then she wrote back.

I'm okay. I just keep thinking about things, and it makes me be quieter when I do that.

What are you thinking about? I wrote back.

Her response surprised me.

I keep wondering if we'll see that fox today.

That was right. Flint was supposed to be there in our last class, but he hadn't been showing up, and it was obvious that Raziel would've told Anna the truth about who Flint had been posing as when he talked to her.

I made sure to talk to her about this as we stood up after the bell rang for lunch.

"Hey, you're not thinking of doing something, are you?" I asked her quietly.

"No. I promise I'm not. Actually, I've been hoping that he won't show up." Anna admitted.

She looked over at Raziel, who was across the room and talking to the teacher. He'd called him aside right as class ended, and it looked like they were talking about something important. Raziel didn't look happy about it.

After another minute or so, he finally walked back over to us, looking defeated.

"Is something wrong?" Anna asked him.

"It's nothing too bad, but Mr. Wright's asking me to stay after for a little bit to catch up on this assignment. Do you think you'll be all right without me for a bit?" Raziel replied.

"We'll be okay. Mia's with me, and Sean should be there once he's done with his office errands." Anna assured him.

"Yeah." I added, "Besides, we haven't seen anything since we've been here, and it's not like he's shown up in the last few days."

"I guess. Just make sure to keep your guard up. I'll be there as soon as I can." Raziel reluctantly agreed.

I couldn't blame him for feeling that way. We'd seen what had happened with Anna's family. It was beyond scary to think that Flint had caused all of that, and it blew my mind thinking about how he could change someone's personality so drastically, although Sean had told me the night before that it really wasn't that unusual for a fox to be able to do so. All they needed was someone who already had a cracked personality to begin with. Ben Smith had apparently had a lot of issues with anger before all of this. Flint had just allowed him to feel no more remorse about what he did anymore.

But as Anna and I walked to the cafeteria, I suddenly heard my name being called over the loudspeaker. They were summoning me to the main office.

"Why are they calling you to the office now?" Anna wondered as the two of us stopped near the cafeteria.

"I don't know. Can you come with me?" I requested.

Something about this was making me uneasy. Could something else have happened where Michael needed to come get me?

Anna nodded, "Sure. I don't think I want to face lunch all by myself, and I'm not that hungry anyway."

The two of us headed towards the main office, which wasn't very far from where we'd been. But as I walked in from the left side door, I stopped dead in my tracks. I couldn't believe my eyes.

A woman was sitting in there, waiting patiently for me. She was dressed very nicely in a long skirt and blouse, and her dark brown hair cascaded over her shoulders and back. I stared at her in disbelief. I would've known her anywhere, even if I'd never seen her look so good before.

This woman was my mother.