Yev closed Radek’s hand in both of his before pressing a kiss to each of the knuckles. “What should I tell her? That you caught a last-minute flight to Maldives?”
Radek snorted. “No, I need to stay in her good graces, so don’t antagonize her. Just tell her I needed to go to my mom’s or something like that.” He stared at the floor, meeting a clear brown gaze. “Let’s go, Coal. Your best friend Ember’s coming!”
The black fox screeched with excitement and twirled, as if he didn’t even remember the horrors that left him with only one eye and a shortened tail. Yev smirked and rested his hands on his hips. He looked as if he was expecting a strip show, but Radek didn’t have time for that now.
When changing into a fox, he usually left the pile of his clothes without issue, but for some reason, his head pushed inside the sleeve of his sweatshirt during the fall to the floor, and he groaned when Yev snorted and tugged on his tail.
“Aren’t we a clumsy little fox,” Yev said, and before Radek could have complained, the big hands gently pulled him out of the bundle of fabric and lifted him up so their eyes could meet.
Yev looked so big and strong from this perspective. Now that Radek felt so safe with him and had a good handle on the transformation, he kinda loved being this tiny thing in Yev’s arms, so he let out a cackle and tried to tickle Yev with his tail.
Below, Coal kept twisting and yelping to draw Radek’s attention, but when Yev kissed the tip of his muzzle and cradled Radek in one arm, no one and nothing else but him existed.
“Maybe I could just eat her?” Yev asked with a charming smile.
Radek cackled even louder at his big bad wolf, but they both knew treating the spoiled Instagram princess to well-behaved foxes was the only way to get on her good side. But Radek could be dangerous too—sometimes—and snapped his jaws a few times with a quiet growl to suggest he'd join in.
Yev snorted and pushed his face under Radek’s jaw, kissing his throat several times. “Good, good fox. Let’s just get this over—” he stilled, and when Radek wondered why, he also heard the sound of a car.
Radek licked Yev’s chin in encouragement, and when Coal fled under the sofa like he usually did when encountering strange sounds, Radek barked a few times to call him over.
“Wow, this really is the middle of nowhere,” Jessika said outside, slamming her car door.
Yev scowled and shook his head at Radek but opened the door in time to see her leave her dad’s SUV in a knee-length coat made of beige fluff, and leather boots that reached halfway up her thighs. And since her coat’s sleeves ended just below the elbows, the gloves she’d chosen were adequately long.
Yev did watch TV, and he’d lived in Lublin for a few years, so Radek was sure he was familiar with this kind of woman, but in Dybukowo, Jessika was still comparable to an alien. Even Radek, who knew her, was baffled when she frantically grabbed the roof rack of the vehicle, losing balance in high heels.
“Bartek,” she called out, and a tall, broad-shouldered man in a short woolen coat burst out of the driver’s side and jogged around the SUV. His boots were polished, with fashionably open tops, which were useless in the deep snow. Radek would hate to see him fall over with the expensive-looking camera hanging from his arm.
“Babe, I’ve got you!” Bartek extended his arm to Jessika, but she’d already caught sight of Yev.
“You’re the ranger Radek told me about?” She squinted at Coal who poked his head out from behind Yev’s leg, so Radek barked in greeting, trying to make a good impression on Cruella de Dybukowo.
Her face relaxed the moment her eyes settled on Ember. “Aww, how adorable,” she said, accepting Bartek’s help as she slowly wiggled her way along the beaten path to the porch. Even with the support, her feet seemed unstable on the icy ground, but maybe the possibility of breaking both ankles was a price she was willing to pay to stay fashionable deep in the sticks.
“It’s me,” Yev said and offered her his free hand as soon as she placed her feet in the safety of the porch. “Yevhen Vovk.”
Bartek blinked, and Radek itched to roll his eyes, knowing something stupid would leave the guy’s mouth any second. “Never met a foreign forest ranger. Is this an unpopular patch to work?”
Jessika groaned at her boyfriend. “Of course it’s unpopular. This place is, like, the edge of the world. Go too far into the woods and you’ll fall off the planet.”
Radek squinted, unsure whether this was a metaphor, or if she was literally a flat-earther.