Page 16 of Purrfectly Outfoxed
‘Consider it payback for last night. And for eating my chicken. And for existing in my space.’
‘You vindictive little?—’
“Sox?” Bea’s voice cuts through my internal tirade. She’s looking at me now, and the disappointment in her eyes makes my stomach drop. “Did you... did you do this?”
I lower my ears and try to look as innocent as possible, but it’s hard when there’s literal evidence of destruction everywhere and my door was wide open.
‘Tell her it was you,’I think desperately at Tabitha.
‘Can’t. I’m just a cat. I was locked in my room all night. I couldn’t have possibly opened that door by myself.’
‘You’re a shifter!’
‘Prove it.’
Bea kneels down, and I notice she’s still in her nightgown and robe, her silver hair mussed from sleep. “Oh, sweetheart. I know you’re probably not used to being inside, but this...” She gestures at the chaos. “This is very bad. Very, very bad.”
I whine, trying to convey that I didn’t do this, that I was asleep in my basket, that the actual culprit is sitting right there looking smug as hell.
“I’m going to have to put you back in the laundry room,” Bea says, her voice sad. “With the door locked this time. I can’t let you in the living area until you’re a little more tame.”
‘Tabitha, please.’
‘Should have thought about that before you got all up in my space last night.’
‘I wasn’t—we were just?—’
‘Just what? Flirting? Trying to prove we’re fated? Well, we’re not. And I still want you gone.’
Bea scoops me up—I’m too shocked to resist—and carries me back to the laundry room. She sets me down gently, then checks the door latch.
“This seems fine,” she murmurs. “I don’t know how it came open. Maybe I didn’t close it properly.” She looks down at me, and the disappointment is still there. “But, Sox, you can’t do that again. Do you understand? This is my home, and I’d love to share it with you. But you’re going to need to learn some manners.”
I lower my head, ears flat, the picture of remorse.
Even though I didn’t do a damn thing.
“I’m going to get dressed and then clean up this mess,” she says with a sigh. “Then I’m going to go to the library and see if they have any books about fox care and training. In the meantime, you stay in here and think about what you’ve done.”
She closes the door. This time, I hear her test the latch and flick the lock.
The moment she’s gone, I reach out to Tabitha in my mind.
‘That was low, even for you.’
‘That was strategic. You needed to be reminded that this is my territory, my home, and I make the rules here.’
‘By making me look like a destructive wild animal?’
‘You ARE a wild animal. You said so yourself. Wild’s in your blood, remember?’
‘That’s not—’I pace the small laundry room, frustrated. ‘You didn’t have to trash the place!’
‘I didn’t trash much. Just made it look that way. Most of the damage is superficial. I know how to stage a scene withoutactually destroying Bea’s things. Unlike you, I care about this house. And her.’
I want to be angry. I should be angry. But underneath the frustration, there’s something else.
Respect.