Chapter 118: Welcome to the Foxhole

Ren peeled herself off the floor, cleared her throat loudly to break the tension, and quickly looked away from Vex’s… situation. She focused her attention instead on the interior of the magnificent treehouse.

Her eyes widened at the sight. Then, slowly, a deep frown curled her lips downwards.

From the outside, the structure promised multiple rooms, elegant design, and serene arboreal living. The inside was just one gigantic, sprawling testament to the fact that foxes are genetically predisposed to be messy hoarders.

It was a disaster zone of organized chaos. There were no walls separating spaces, just huge supporting branches that acted as shelves for an alarming amount of stuff.

Bundles of dried, suspicious-looking herbs hung from the upper branches like dusty chandeliers, shedding flakes onto piles of vibrant, shimmering ores and stolen jewels that were heaped carelessly on the floor.

There were furs, shiny trinkets, strange mechanical contraptions made of wood and bone. It smelled of earth, musk, and faintly of rotting fruit.

The house had no true roof, but the canopy of giant, thick leaves above was so dense that only thin slivers of moonlight breached the green ceiling, illuminating dust motes dancing in the cluttered air. It was a sturdy structure, expertly woven into the tree, but it was undeniably primitive. A bachelor pad in the truest, wildest sense.

Ren was profoundly disappointed. Given the majestic exterior, she wasn’t expecting… this.

’Okay, calm down,’ she reasoned with herself. ’The fox is a man. And yes, he has thumbs and walks upright, but he’s still a wild animal. This is probably five-star living for a canine.’

“It’s… cozy,” Ren managed, her voice dripping with displeasure. “If you’re a raccoon looking through a dumpster.”

Vex finally moved, sauntering over to a large log covered in clutter and snatching up a scrap of leather. He tied the loincloth around his waist.

It did absolutely nothing.

If anything, the dark leather only framed the impressive bulge, highlighting exactly what she was trying to ignore. The blood that had rushed south during the climb clearly had no intention of returning north anytime soon.

“I wasn’t expecting company in my den tonight, Little Rose,” Vex said with a casual shrug, kicking a stray femur bone under a table. “I didn’t get a chance to tidy up.”

’Tidy up?’ Ren thought incredulously. ’It looks like a tornado hit a thrift store and then threw up in here. You have never cleaned in your life!’

Surprisingly, Vex didn’t make a lewd comment or tease her. Yet, the way he was staring at her—his orange eyes dark, hungry, and predatory—made it clear he wanted to do a lot more than just stare. He looked ready to pounce and thoroughly devour her among the piles of junk.

Feeling heat rise to her cheeks under his intense gaze, Ren instinctively tightened the massive fur coat around her body, turning herself into a shapeless wooly caterpillar.

She looked around the messy space once more, her brows furrowing deeply.

“Where is Kael?” she demanded. There were no doors, no stairs, no upper levels. Just one big room full of hazards.

Vex looked at her like she had just asked why the sky was blue.

“The tiger isn’t in my den,” he said nonchalantly. “The Tiger King is as heavy as a boulder. How would I carry him up that climb?”

Ren gritted her teeth so hard they squeaked. Her face turned beet red with sudden, explosive anger.

“Then why did you bring me up here?!” she yelled, throwing her arms out and nearly knocking over a stack of precarious wooden bowls.

Vex smirked, leaning against a support beam. “As I recall, you were the one begging to enter my den, Little Rose.”

Ren’s mouth opened, then closed. Then opened again.

He was right. Damn him.

“But…” Ren sputtered, trying to reboot her argument. “Why else would I want to enter your den other than to see Kael?”

Vex pushed off the beam and took a slow, deliberate step toward her. His voice dropped to a husky, vibrating purr that sent shivers straight through the coat.

“Oh, I can think of several reasons a shivering, naked female would want into my warm, private den,” he murmured, his eyes twinkling mischievously. “None of them involve a tiger.”

Ren’s blush deepened to a shade of nuclear crimson. She fought to regain her composure, standing up straighter.

“Where. Is. Kael?”

Vex sighed dramatically and turned away, beginning to sort through a particularly chaotic pile of furs and leather goods near the back wall.

“He is in a hidden root cave. At the base of the tree, on the other side of the trunk,” Vex explained over his shoulder.

Ren’s eyes widened, and her stomach dropped through the floor. She looked down at the floorboards, imagining the terrifying drop beneath them.

“Do we…” Her voice trembled with dread. “Do we have to climb back down?”

She was filled with despair. Her nerves couldn’t take another trip of the terrifying vertical climb.

“No,” Vex said, tossing a badger skull over his shoulder. “I have a much faster way down.”

He triumphantly yanked something from the bottom of the pile. “Aha. Found it.”

He turned and held up a garment.

It was a dress made of meticulously cured, spotted leopard hide. The material looked soft but durable, stitched together with thick leather laces up the front that would create a plunging neckline. Amazingly, the shoulder strap featured the preserved, taxidermied head of a small fox, its glass eyes glinting. It was primitive, savage, and strangely cute.

And it smelled overwhelmingly of rose soap. Vex had apparently used her bath bar as laundry detergent.

“Right now, my scent is all over you,” Vex explained, tossing the dress to her. Ren caught it, admiring the surprisingly good quality of the stitch work. “If Kael wakes up and smells me on his mate, the feral instinct will take over completely. This will mask it perfectly.”

Ren ran a hand over the leopard hide. “Did you make this?”

“I got it from a friend.”

Ren nodded slowly. “Ah,” she muttered under her breath. “You stole it.”

Vex ignored the accusation. “Well? Are you going to put it on?”

Ren clutched the dress against her chest. “Are you going to turn around?”

Vex blinked at her, an incredulous grin spreading across his face. “Why? I have already seen all of you, Little Rose. In very vivid, crisp detail. There is no need for privacy between us.”

Ren’s face heated up instantly. She screamed at him, “Turn around, you perverted fox!”

Vex chuckled in amusement, taking slow, predatory steps toward her. He didn’t touch her, but his eyes were doing things that would be illegal in most civilized societies.

Ren backed away until her back hit the rough wooden wall with a soft thud. There was nowhere left to go.

Vex leaned in, placing a hand on the wall beside her head, trapping her.

“It is so sexy how red your face gets,” he teased, his hot breath fanning her cheek.

Before she could react, he reached up with his free hand and snagged something from her messy, wind-blown red hair.

It was the beautiful hairpin Syris had gifted her.

Ren’s eyes widened in horror. “Hey! You can’t take that! That’s important!”

“Consider it payment,” Vex purred, twirling the hairpin between his clawed fingers, “for the immense willpower it is taking me to resist taking you right here against this wall, whether you want me to or not.”

With a flick of his wrist, Vex threw the hairpin over his shoulder. It sailed through the air and vanished with a quiet clink into the abyss of his clutter. Ren couldn’t even track where it landed; it was swallowed by the sea of junk.

Ren stared at the spot where it disappeared, devastated.

Vex pushed himself off the wall and finally turned around, facing the opposite direction.

“Quickly, get changed,” he commanded, his voice suddenly serious. “The Tiger King should be waking up any minute now.”

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