REDEMPTION

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 44
The Demons Within
 

Sofiya smiled as Charity snuggled closer with Richard, the silver fox having slipped out of bed almost an hour earlier. The sense of another cuddling up was comforting and the red fox let herself drowse happily as the other vixen ran her claw tips through the white belly fur of the former Ukrainian. It was an unconscious act as the other vixen was still sound asleep, not that Charity had ever really been an early morning person anyway. The pleasant contact was enough to keep the Abeona colony leader in bed a little longer, despite the amount of work that needed to be done with the autumnal harvest approaching.

It wasn’t until the smell of brewing coffee tickled her nose that the she even considered getting up. Evenings were far more restful now that Nikoli was sleeping the night through, and his graduation to solid foods meant that he was less dependent on his mother for his nutritional needs. Granted, that part of her son’s development meant that her body had returned to its normal state and she vaguely lamented the loss of her bust line, but not overly much as she’d anticipated, discovering that having a figure meant needing a bra, not to mention that particular vagary of the female form actually got in the way quite often than she remembered. The important thing was that Richard still found her more than attractive and demonstrated such on a very frequent basis.

The window incorporated into the ceramic block wall of the house showed that the sun was near rising, but still almost an hour away from peeking over the eastern escarpment, and the red fox realized that there was more than enough time for her to laze about. With a smile she rolled over onto her side and pulled Cherry closer, the grey fox vixen sighing happily with the contact, her tail thumping a little on the mattress as she worked her head under the coppery colored vixen’s chin. Letting herself drift into a delightful snooze, Sofiya couldn’t help but be happy, the moment filled with a deep sense of contentment.

When she opened her eyes again, Sofiya found that the light streaming through the window was substantially brighter and that neither she nor Charity had moved at all. While reluctant to get up, there was simply far too much to do. The other vixen whimpered softly as the red fox sat up, though Sofiya mollified the other female by tucking one of the pillows up under her chin and letting her finger pads caress Charity’s brow, the touch calming and soothing. By the second pass the grey fox was again asleep, a happy expression on her muzzle.

The smile that Charity had was mirrored on Sofiya’s face as she passed through the curtain that separated the bed chamber from the simple room in the center of the house that held the dining area and modest kitchen. The scene that greeted her only increased the magnitude of her happiness as Richard sat at the table with his son on his lap, sharing a plate of meat and lightly roasted vegetables with Nikoli gobbling down everything he was offered with gusto. This was the type of moment the blond haired vixen relished, the simple beauty of being where she was with those that meant everything to her, and hugged herself in an attempt to hold that feeling in.

“You look far too happy,” Richard said softly with a grin of his own that turned into a slight wince as Nikoli took the bit of meat that his father held out for him, the kit’s sharp, tiny teeth piercing the silver fox’s finger in his exuberance. “Hey! Easy. I need those, you know,” the fox told his son, getting a giggle as he snuffled the child’s neck ruff.

“I cannot be helping it,” Sofiya answered as she sat down next to the silver fox, her mate pouring her a cup of coffee. Dwindling supplies of the precious commodity meant that most of the Furs that enjoyed the drink could only have it once a day, and morning coffee with her family was one of the vixen’s greatest pleasures. “I am having you, I am having Cherry, and I am having our son. To me this is being like a small part of heaven.” She was able to sip from the cup before putting it down then reached out for the kit that began flailing his arms, his tiny paw-like hands clutching for his mother with an accompanying “Grrrr-yip! Muma-yip-urrrarrr!” his wildly flailing tail wagging excitedly.

“I think Nikoli’s fur is starting to get darker,” Richard pointed out. “I think it’s going to be the same shade of red as his Mommy’s.”

“And he is having my hair,” the vixen pointed out. “But he is having his Poppa’s eyes.” Sofiya hugged her son and nibbled his neck, much to the delight of the kit before setting him on the floor and watched Nikoli make his way on all fours to his favorite toy. The ball was made from soft rab-zelle hide and stuffed with dried grasses that he loved to alternately chase and gnaw on. To add to its enticement there was a long strip of furred hide like a tail that would flail madly when it was rolled.

“You know,” Richard said with a smile as he pulled the vixen onto his lap, “we really did make a good looking kid.”

Sofiya giggled at the way the silver fox tickled her neck as he buried his nose into the soft fur of her throat and nipped at her playfully. “If you are not being careful you will make me forget our son is in the room…”

Richard persisted, liking the way his mate pressed against him. “He has a full stomach and he’s playing with his tumbly-ball. He’s not paying attention to us in the slightest.”

When the fox began to let his paws roam, the vixen sucked in a breath and batted at him gently. “Behave yourself,” she admonished, though the gleam in her yellow-green eyes said she felt otherwise.

“Can’t help it,” Richard said before pulling the vixen closer and onto his thighs, nestling his face against her cheek to trade scents. “I was already half in love with you before we even met, and every day that’s gone by since then has just made what I feel stronger and deeper. Well, that and you make me feel like a randy teenager sometimes…”

“You…you were already being in love with me?” Sofiya asked and pulled back to look into her mate’s bronze eyes. “How was this being?”

“When Ásmundr sent that broadcast to the different Institutes. I saw you and thought you were one of the most beautiful things that I’d ever seen. Of course, by then I was getting use to thinking as a Fur, but you really were something to see. And then it was even better seeing you in person.”

“Oh?” the vixen asked playfully, her claw tips finding the place behind Richard’s ears that he loved to have scratched. “What other beautiful things have you been seeing?”

“Well, definitely you. Cherry, our son…” the silver fox said as he closed his eyes in pleasure. “My family is the most beautiful thing I know of.” When he opened them again, Richard saw his mate making sure that the kit was properly preoccupied and that there was nothing within reach that could harm the child. “You’re thinking something.”

“How can you be telling?” the vixen inquired with a chuckle.

“Whenever you’re planning something, your left ear dips a little lower than the right.”

Sofiya grinned and snuggled her head beneath the other fox’s chin. “You are being correct. I am thinking that we have time to ourselves before the others are getting up and that we can be waking Cherry in a very special way.” She licked her mate’s chin teasingly. “She is not so far along that we cannot be having fun, as long as we are not being too energetic…”

Without saying anymore, Sofiya slipped off of her mate’s lap and padded to the bed chamber on all fours, pausing in the doorway to give the silver fox a pointed look as she flipped her tail up before slipping past the curtain. The flirting was particularly potent as she was still clothed only in her own luxurious fur and the visual was almost intoxicating.

Richard quickly got to his feet with a hungry expression in his eyes that had nothing to do with food, and he realized that there were certainly far less enjoyable ways to start the day.

***

“If you don’t stop nibbling, we won’t have as much to put in our winter stores,” Kurt admonished his mate with a laugh as he laid more strips of meat to smoke and cure next to the four buckets of fish that had been pulled from the river.

“I blame you,” Siobhan said with a grin, still chewing on a strip of meat as her paw ran over the slight swelling of her stomach. “You got me in this condition.”

The filet of meat that the platinum fox draped over the rack was already rubbed with salt and other seasonings and would provide four Furs a solid two meals during the winter months. Once it was laid properly over the rack with the aromatic smoke and heat from the coal bed seeping into it, Kurt wiped his paw-like hands on a small towel before stepping up to the Irish red fox and nuzzling her affectionately. “If I remember correctly, you weren’t complaining at the time,” he mumbled happily.

“That’s true,” the vixen agreed. Siobhan luxuriated in the contact for a moment before pushing her mate away. “I think I should get back to work, though. I’m distracting you and you still have a lot of meat to smoke.”

“You know, it really is rather bothersome when you go and point out things like that when I’m enjoying myself,” Kurt said with a grin.

Siobhan gave the other fox a languorous kiss before stepping back. “Then I’ll have to find some way to make it up to you. Maybe I’ll get my things so I can finish my sewing out here with you. Would you mind?”

“Would you like me to get a chair for you,” the speckled male offered trying to be helpful.

“Kurt, I’m not so far along that you need to do things like that, yet.” The vixen gave the other fox a look that was appreciative. “When I look like a blimp with your wee ones and waddle like a holiday goose that’s ready for the kitchen then you can fetch and carry for me. Besides, Maria wants to learn to sew, especially as she and Daniel are working on their next batch of kits. She’ll need a few extra blankets and sleep sacks and I can get her to help carry things.” Siobhan patted her mate’s backside. “Back to work with you.”

“Ja, mein liebe,” the platinum fox replied with another grin as he turned back to the cutting table that he’d made himself.

Kurt lost himself in his work, rendering the different parts of the game animals he’d taken into strips and filets, though some of the choicer cuts would go into the freezers for special meals. The rest would be preserved through smoking. He was rather proud that there were already two full cooler units full of his particular contributions, and with the different fruits and vegetables that some of the other Furs were working on, they should all do rather well making it through the winter, despite the number of children that seemed to be increasing at a rate of every six months.

“Need a hand? Or paw in our case?” Richard asked as he neared the table with Matthew. Both Furs were in good spirits, as it seemed the entire colony was, and had cleaned up from their earlier work in maintaining the irrigation ditches for the crops.

“That would be most appreciated,” Kurt replied with a warm smile for his friends. “I still have a little over two hundred pounds of meat to cut.”

“What are you doing with the bones?” Matthew asked as he doffed his vest and pulled a quick survey of what needed to be done.

“Ah, the ribs and like are being trimmed and smoked as well,” the platinum fox replied as he used his trousse to shave a decent sized sheet from the flank he was rendering down. “With all of the children that are about and the ones that are coming, we’ll need them for teething and chew toys…” Kurt paused and blinked as he thought about what he’d just said. “I never thought that I would say something like that about children!” the German laughed. “Especially ones that I would be having!”

“Well, I know having a couple of bones saved us from having Nikoli chewing on the furniture or random sticks he found,” Richard said with his own chuckle. “He sees a bone now and his eyes absolutely light up!”

Matthew looked up from where he began to work on a series of shoulder joints. “But…waitaminute. Our kids our born with teeth, right?”

“Milk teeth,” Richard said as he took the slices that Kurt passed over and rubbed them down before racking the cuts over the smoldering fire. “When wild fox kits are born, they need sharp teeth to puncture their mother’s teat for milk. Vulps kids aren’t like that, but they still have milk teeth, and let me tell you they are sharp! Found that out this morning. He’ll lose those in about a month, but even now he feels the urge to chew and gnaw, so Kurt had the idea of giving him a bone after dinner together one evening and he really liked that! I think he actually growled at Sofiya when she tried to take it away to put him to bed.”

Matthew grinned, the beaming joy making the red fox from West Virginia look a little comical, though it was an understandable expression. “I’ll have to double my order with the butcher shop, then,” the soon-to-be father said with pride.

“You know, I’m glad that Sofiya and Cherry are taking turns,” Richard admitted. “I don’t know if I could handle having both of them preggers at the same time.”

Matthew made a dismissive gesture though the smile remained. “Naw, it ain’t so bad. Neelu’s takin’ it better than Pi-lei. She’s so small that it really tires her out at times, but Suzette’s keeping an eye on her along with Valerie. We’re doin’ ahright.”

The trio bantered lightly back and forth and discussed being fathers, the love and admiration they had for their respective vixens, and found that the chore was far less work than it might have been. They finished up more than half of the remaining game and had started spitting the fish when Sofiya, Siobhan and Maria appeared, each carrying something. For the Irish and Italian Furs, it was chairs and sewing supplies, the former librarian just barely showing that she was carrying her second batch of kits.

“I was thinking that this is being hot work and that a treat was being called for,” Sofiya said as the other two vixens set themselves up with their projects to work on. The blond fox opened the hand woven basket she carried and pulled out clay bottles that had the distinct look of something Petra would turn out. “Rupert has been working very hard on this and asked I would be bringing some to his friends for testing!”

Richard accepted one of the clay bottles after his friends received there’s and looked at his mate with a wry expression. “Is this the secret project Rup’s been working on for the past half year?” grinning when the red fox vixen only smiled and nodded. The silver fox worked the waxed plug out with a claw tip and sniffed at the contents, his mouth suddenly watering at the remembered scent.

“Mein Gott!” Kurt exclaimed with a stunned expression after tipping the bottle. “Beer! Real, wunderbar beer!”

“It’s like being back home…” Matthew whispered. “Outside, barbeque fired up, cold beer…” He grinned wildly. “Who’s up for some football? We can make it a party!”

Richard let the rich drink wash over his tongue, the flavor definitely wheat with a good finish of malt and hint of honey, though as there wasn’t honey on Bastien, the silver fox was as curious as to what ingredients his friend had used, though he was no less appreciative of the gift. “You know, that’s not a bad idea.”

“What, football?” Matthew asked.

“Sort of,” Richard said as he turned to Sofiya and pulled her close, offering her the bottle. “You know, we haven’t had a lot to celebrate since our First Day Anniversary, and that was a little, well, subdued. Maybe a harvest festival is in order.”

The vixen took a sip and then licked at the remaining flavor on her bifurcated upper lip. “Everyone has been working very, very hard,” Sofiya agreed. “It would be a good thing to be letting everyone enjoy something, and even though this was being a difficult year, we do have a great deal to be celebrating.”

“Yes, we do,” Richard agreed.

***

The announcement that the end of the week would be set aside for a harvest festival was greeted with delighted anticipation from the rest of the colony. As before everyone chipped in with dishes that they had made or in other ways to ensure the party was enjoyed by all. There was almost no end of food varieties, though instead of large meals many of the Vulps simply nibbled as they wished, trying to sample a little of everything.

Different games started up, one of them being football, with Matthew right in the thick of it. Other Furs played Frisbee, Enola surprising many of her fellow colonists when she jumped almost her full height in the air and caught an errant throw of the plastic disc in her mouth. As she tossed the toy back to the group that had been playing with it, the English red fox shrugged off her acrobatic display. “Myao’s been teaching me and Shen-zhyi Tai Chi,” she offered in explanation.

Suzette and Etienne watched as their children played with some of the other kits, most of it involving chasing one of the balls made from hide before it turned into a game of ‘chase-the-prey’. Abrielle and Jean Michel seemed to be aware that they were larger than the other children and were very cautious, both exhibiting their parents’ gentle and caring natures when it came to playing with their peers.

A little after midday Kurt set up a series of targets and got out a couple of the bows, making the announcement that he and Ruiz had been working together as time permitted and had made two more crossbows. He wanted to give them to away to others that enjoyed hunting, but as he was unable to decide who, he figured an archery contest would suffice. Many of the foxes, Richard included, agreed to participate, though the silver fox was the first to admit that he was better with a rifle or pistol and that bows really weren’t his style. Out of the ten Furs that participated, the two best shots turned out to be Rupert Campbell, the mason from Great Britain having always been interested in archery since catching one of the many renditions of Robin Hood as a young boy, and Charity.

The grey fox vixen was stunned that she’d done so well as Kurt handed her one of the crossbows and a quiver of bolts. “I didn’t think I was that good!” she admitted.

“You are a natural, I think,” Kurt said as the grey fox also accepted a hug and kiss from each of her mates, acting embarrassed at having done so well.

“Does this mean you’ll take me hunting more, now?” Charity asked Richard with a bright expression and wide smile.

“I think we can arrange that,” the silver fox replied with another hug.

“Then you will be needing to take both of us,” Sofiya told her family. “I have not done nearly as much hunting as I would be liking.”

Siobhan used the celebration as a chance to dole out many of the projects that she’d been working on such as blankets and sleep sacks for the various females that would be adding to the colony’s numbers and no few requests for outfits similar to what Sofiya and Charity were finally wearing outside.

It wasn’t until later in the evening that anything amiss happened when Richard looked up from where he was lounging on a throw blanket on the soft Bastien grass with Sofiya. Ruiz and Tipper were playing a duet that many of the others were dancing to and Matthew was getting the bonfire that would burn most of the night set up with Toshiro assisting.

The silver fox looked around, his ears drooping a little before jerking erect as he saw a small figure close to the edge of the river. With a snarled string of swearing, Richard rolled over and launched himself forward on all fours, his running spurred on by a ball of icy fear as the claws on his feet and paw-like hands ripped the turf. That the kit he saw near the river was his own son only drove the Fur on with greater desperation.

Charity looked up from where she followed the red fox kit, the end of the nanny tether that was fastened about Nikoli’s body tied to her wrist and looked up with surprise when Richard skidded to a stop and snatched up his son, cradling him to his chest, an uncharacteristic expression of smoldering anger in his bronze colored eyes.

“What the hell are you thinking letting him so close to the water?” the silver fox inquired hotly. “You should know better!”

“B-but I have him on a tether,” the grey fox began, shrinking back at the fury in her mate’s expression and posture, her tail pressing tight against the backs of her legs. “He wasn’t really that close…”

“The river’s dangerous, you stupid girl!” Richard persisted. “I would have expected you to keep a better eye on him!”

There was more, and before long Charity was reduced to a quivering mess, tears streaming down her furred cheeks as her lower jaw trembled. It wasn’t until his name was barked out harshly that Richard turned around to see a furious Sofiya glaring at him. “That will be enough!” the red fox vixen hissed as she pried Nikoli from her mate’s arms. “He was not being in any danger and you are having no right to be speaking to Charity so!”

It was as effective as a dousing of cold water and Richard realized that he had said some extremely hurtful things. Almost as if the hot anger and fear that gripped him had kept him upright, the silver fox seemed to deflate and lowered his head. “Cherry…I’m…I’m sorry,” he stuttered. “Sofiya’s right…”

It took several moments for Richard to realize that he’d made quite the scene, and despite the other colonists looking away or pretending that they hadn’t witnessed the uncalled for tirade, he knew that he’d been in the wrong and overreacted. The worst part was understanding the damage he’d done to one of his mates and not knowing how to make amends. Seeing the way the grey fox vixen flinched when he reached out a paw to her was like a knife in the heart and Richard turned away, walking off into the gloom, his tail all but dragging on the ground as his head was lowered in shame.

At a loss of what to do herself, Sofiya simply stepped up to the other vixen and put her arm around the younger Fur’s shoulders. “I-I r-really w-w-was keeping an eye on N-Nikoli,” the grey fox whispered tremulously.

“I am knowing this,” the red fox replied softly.

Both turned when gentle paws were placed on their shoulders and found Suzette looking at them with sympathy. “I do not think he has ever really come to terms with losing Elena and Amanda,” the red fox physician said quietly as the celebration resumed behind them, though far more subdued. “Has he ever talked about it?”

Sofiya shook her head. “No. At least not to either of us,” she said, Charity shaking her head as she continued to compose herself.

“I think he is still carrying that event with him,” Suzette told the other two. “He is brave and very resourceful, but I think he is still fighting with what happened, and this is an enemy that he cannot face alone because he is unsure how to defeat it.” The vixen turned to Charity and wiped the moisture under one eye away with a gentle touch. “Do not take his words to heart. Richard is one that feels deeply. Not just the love for both of you and Nikoli, but all of his emotions, including fear. He has been taught to hide that, to not let that fear show, and it sits deep in his heart and soul. He did not mean to hurt you, little one.”

“We are hurting the ones that we are loving the most,” Sofiya said as she looked into the gloom where her mate had gone.

Suzette nodded. “Very much so. Do not think that this diminishes his love. Please try and be understanding of the demons that he has been fighting with all of this time.”

“He was saying that night that we were losing Amanda and Elena that he was feeling as if he failed them, that they were depending on him and he was unable to do as he promised of keeping them safe,” Sofiya told the other red fox. “I did not know that his pain and suffering were being this bad, though.” She drew in a shaky breath. “Is there anything that we can be doing to help?”

“I can attempt to talk to him, if you wish,” the French Fur informed the other two vixens. “I worked in a hospital for a while that treated the victims of a terrorist bomb. The physical injuries were easy to treat. It was the wounds to the heart and soul that were the more difficult to tend, though no less important. I learned much about that kind of hurt.”

Sofiya looked hopeful. “You are willing to be helping?”

Suzette smiled warmly. “Of course I am! I would be a poor doctor indeed if I were ignoring one of those I have dedicated my life to helping when treatment is needed most, would I not? And I believe the sooner the better.” She embraced both vixens warmly and graced Nikoli with a kiss between his ears. “It may be a little late, but fear not. Richard will be home tonight.”

“You’re going to go look for him?” Charity asked in surprise.

“Certainly. The sooner that I can begin helping him, the better, yes?”

The pair watched as Suzette made her way to her husband and spoke with him, the other red fox nodding firmly before his mate headed off in the direction the silver fox had taken. Then his eyes met Sofiya and Charity’s before winking at them and giving them a look that was both confident and comforting.

***

Richard didn’t hear the soft foot falls that approached him, nor the sound of his name being called as he sat with his back to a fribbon tree that had a strange bark that hung down the trunk like streamers of velour. His misery and self-recrimination for the way he’d treated Charity and the things he’d said seemed to be tearing him up inside. The silver fox was only aware of the red fox’s presence when she tentatively touched his shoulder.

“Richard? I came out here to talk to you,” Suzette said with a smile that was warm and full of compassion.

“How did you find me?” he asked without shifting or trying to get away.

The vixen chuckled and tapped her nose. “Believe it or not, I have learned how to use this. Etienne and I spent a very long time alone and it was important to be able to find each other.” She gestured to the ground next to the other fox. “Do you mind if I join you?”

Richard shrugged. “Unless I plan on exiling myself, I don’t suppose I’ll be able to get away if someone really wants to find me.”

Suzette sat down so that she could still see the other Fur if she turned her head, but gave the impression of giving the other fox a sort of personal zone. “I am hoping that you aren’t thinking such. We, all of us, need you far too much for you to be leaving.”

“Even after what I just did?” Richard snorted. “Maybe Sofiya and Cherry are better off without me.”

“And why would you think this?”

“C’mon, Suzette. You heard what I told Charity. Hell, the entire colony heard me!”

The vixen nodded. “This is true. We did. But do you think that you, above all of us, are exempt from forgiveness?”

“What I did was unforgivable. Cherry didn’t deserve me yelling at her like that or the things that I said.” The silver fox shook his head. “If I’d heard someone else saying those things to another, I’d have beat the tar out of them.”

The vixen shook her head. “You are a fallible mortal, just like the rest of us, I’m afraid.” Suzette then looked intently at the other Fur. “The important thing is to discover why you reacted that way. Then once we find out why, we can work on fixing it so that you don’t do it again.”

The smoky colored fox mumbled something that Suzette heard clearly, but feigned that she’d missed it so that he would have to repeat it louder. It was one of the simpler tools for getting another to recognize the problem they were suffering from.

“I said it was because I was afraid,” Richard repeated louder. “I…I saw Nik close to the river and it was like…like I could see him getting washed downstream with Mandy and Elena.” The fox’s bronze eyes had a far-away look as the scene replayed over and over in his head with the additional image of his son being washed down the water course with the fennec and platinum vixens. A feeling of terror filled him and set his entire body trembling as in the persistent vision all three looked at him with accusing expressions and disappointment. “I... what’s going on with me?” he howled and wrapped his arms protectively around his own body.

Suzette turned so that she could hold the larger Fur. “It is called Post Traumatic Stress, Richard. You have had much trauma in your life. Both here on this new world of ours, and long before you became furmankind,” she almost whispered and gently plucked one of the other fox’s ears.

“Not all wounds can be seen, and the ones that are invisible, the ones on the heart and soul can be as dangerous and deadly as physical ones,” the red fox continued. “You and I will work on healing these hidden hurts. Etienne will help, of course, and we will be with you every step of the way.” Suzette smiled at the faint spark of hope that she saw and nodded. “This does not make you weak, my dear friend. It is something we can take care of, though.”

“I didn’t mean to blow up at Cherry,” Richard murmured sickly.

“She knows this. You have demons hounding you, and when we are frightened it is common to lash out in anger. Charity knows that you wouldn’t be hurting her intentionally and that you would die for her. Sofiya knows this, too. What they are needing though, and the rest of us as well, is for you to live for us, to not give up.”

Richard allowed the vixen to pull him to his feet and took his paw as she steered him back to the colony, the bonfire a point of bright light out in the gloom of night.

“For now, though, it is time to be putting you to bed. I am going to give you something that will prevent dreaming, though I will only do that for tonight. Nightmares are a way of our minds dealing with some of the terrible things that many of us have had to go through, but you are in too much need of rest. And tomorrow you and I will begin the journey to heal you.”

The silver fox nodded and felt as if a weight or some kind of pressure had been lifted and he stood straighter and took a deep breath. “I don’t like being broken,” he grunted as he stumbled a little on a divot in the texture of the ground.

“You are not the only one, mon ami Richard. I have also helped Sofiya and others.” She nodded at the look the larger Fur gave her. “Oui. I am knowing about her past. It was something that we discussed when she first learned of carrying Nikoli and was filled with doubt.”

Richard was about to speak when he realized that the reddish-orange vixen knew exactly what he was going through. After all, she and her husband had had to bury all of their friends from the previous colony. As the pair slipped through the gate, avoiding the other Furs, he paused and smiled as the French fox looked up questioningly. “Suzette? Thanks.”

The smile that she gave was warm and full of friendship and honesty. “It is what friends, and those that are like family, do, mon ami. It is what we do.” Suzette nodded to his house and gestured with her head. “You go on in and I shall return shortly.”

Richard nodded and opened the door to the house he shared with his mates and paused after stepping inside, the scents that wafted over him bringing a sense of peace as he closed his eyes. He took his familiar place at the low table in the center of the main room and waited, looking up when the door opened. It wasn’t Suzette, though, but Charity, the grey fox vixen pausing and looking at Richard with trepidation filling her eyes.

It was impossible for the dark colored anthrofox to keep his eyes from filling, large tears spilling down his tufted cheeks as his expression crumbled. “I’m sorry, Cherry,” he whispered, his words hardly louder than his breath and agonized. “I’m so very sorry…”

Charity closed the gap between them, letting the male come the rest of the way, her head tilted at an angle when he didn’t stand but made his way to her on his knees. When he wrapped his arms around her waist, his face nuzzling into the soft fur of her belly, silent sobs shaking his shoulders, the vixen couldn’t help but reciprocate, her arms pulling his head closer as she leaned protectively over her mate.

Sofiya found the other two in the same position when she stepped out and felt her heart lurch at the raw, vulnerable pain that gripped Richard and realized that by trying to shield her and others, he’d taken on too much; the loss of Elena and Amanda had been more than the fox could cope with. Almost every Fur in Abeona had seen Suzette or one of the other physicians at some point, even the colony leader. Everyone save Richard who had provided a solid emotional base and foundation for all of the others.

He hadn’t truly been angry at Charity, but the moment had brought everything to the front. Moving silently, her heart thudding in sympathy with what one of the foxes she loved was going through, Sofiya moved closer and held her two mates in silent support.

“We are always being here for you, miy lyubov,” Sofiya whispered.

“We really are,” Charity agreed fervently, “and both of us love you very, very much.”

For the first time he could recall, Richard felt safe enough to let the walls that he hadn’t even known existed fell and he sat before the two Furs that mattered the most to him feeling more naked than ever before in his life.

What was more remarkable was that it felt right.

“We will be making it through this, Richard. We will be there because we are loving you and the is nothing more that needs to be said,” the red fox whispered as the silver fox put an arm around her and held on.

As she clung to the male, Sofiya recalled how he had been there for her after losing her father and so many other moments when doubt, anxiety and fear had gnawed on her resolve and knew that it was time for her to return the strength and love that he’d shown.

“We can do this,” Charity said with a tender smile and touch to Richard’s cheek as she hugged his head to her belly, using the unofficial motto of the rest of the colony.

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.