Page 14 of Wrong Number, Right Fox (Dial M For Mates #6)

JOSS

Human. Did he just say human? No. That wouldn’t make any sense, would it?

“Human,” a voice from the other side of the door the fox had just exited through said.

Garner barked in reply, “Go home.”

The door handle turned, the door pushing open as if in slow motion. The scene before me was making absolutely no sense, and it was about to get worse.

Standing there, like it was no big deal, was his brother, Booker. Only he wasn’t the same Booker I knew from work. Nope. He was buck-ass naked. Not a single stitch of clothing on him.

“I told you to go home,” Garner snapped again, this time sounding less annoyed and more… nervous? I couldn’t quite tell.

There was a full-grown naked man standing in his doorway, and nobody seemed as concerned about that as I felt they should be. How did he even get here? Was he wandering around like this? Was nude jogging a thing?

I flinched at the thought of my family jewels bouncing as I ran. No, thank you.

“Do you want me to get you a towel or something?” I asked, because what else could I offer?

Hospitality seemed like the only rational path forward, because at least it had some semblance of rules.

Even if my brain was short-circuiting and I had about a hundred and twelve questions, I didn’t think I’d have the nerve to ask why he was standing there with his dick out.

But Booker just shook his head. “Yeah, no. I don’t need a towel.” His voice was calm. Almost too calm. And he didn’t even pretend to get a bit of modesty.

“My brother needs me to go home,” he continued, “but I needed to come here and give my brother a push. He can be so stubborn.” Booker rolled his eyes, a gesture I didn’t fail to see because my eyes were on his, unwilling to look anywhere else.

Then, without warning, Booker wasn’t standing there anymore. One second, there was a man. The next, on the floor in his place, was a fox. A real one. Cute and furry and not a man.

The creature trotted off into the back yard like this was just any normal Tuesday. Like he hadn’t just shapeshifted into woodland wildlife in front of my face.

I gawked at the spot he’d vanished from like I could rewind time, watch it play out again, and make it make sense.

“Did we have any special mushrooms in dinner?” I muttered. “Because something’s not— I…” I stammered, unable to even finish the thought.

The next thing I knew, Garner’s arms were around me, his warmth enveloping me. He pulled me in, holding me close, his cheek pressed against mine.

“Don’t be scared,” he whispered.

“I’m not scared,” I said honestly. “Confused, yeah. Maybe a little scared, but not that kind of scared.” Even with all of this, the worry over him not wanting me rose above all else. “But mostly confused.”

“Let me show you something.” He pulled back just enough to look me in the eye. “Do you trust me?”

I nodded. My heart was trying to beat its way out of my chest, but I did trust him. He would never hurt me. Even if I was nothing more than a fuck buddy to him, I knew that was true.

“I do trust you.”

“There were no mushrooms of any kind in dinner,” he said. “No drugs. No alcohol. Nothing. Let me show you.”

He stepped away, and I felt the absence of his touch like a sudden chill. He went to the door, shut it, and pulled his shirt off.

“I’ve seen that before,” I teased weakly. I had. A lot. Not that I was complaining.

“Stop looking at me like that,” he groaned. “You’re making this harder.”

“What way?”

“Like you want to lick me from head to toe.”

I grinned. “I don’t know if I can control that… because I do.”

He sighed. “Do me a favor, sweetheart. Hold on to that, okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed, but my voice wavered. I could feel something coming, something I hadn’t prepared for, and nothing could have.

He stripped completely, eyes on mine the whole time. He was shaking slightly. “Remember… no matter what…. I’m still me, okay?”

I nodded, bracing myself.

And then, just like his brother, one moment he was a man, and the next, he wasn’t. He was a fox. Beautiful, sleek, and real.

I stumbled backward until I hit the wall. I stared at him, at his small body and wide eyes, and tried to process it all.

His words echoed in my mind: I’m still me. Don’t be scared.

“Okay,” I breathed, sinking to the floor. “You said you’re still you in there. Does that mean you understand me?”

The fox nodded. Actually nodded. Or, well, did a fox-ish version of one.

“This can’t be real.” I shook my head. “It’s not real. This is some weird stress dream. Or a hallucination. Or maybe—maybe it’s the coffee. It didn’t taste right this morning.”

The fox cocked his head at me. I took that as a sign.

“I feel like we need to talk about this with… words.”

A few seconds later, Garner, the man, was there, every bit as naked as his brother had been.

I remained seated as he pulled on his jeans, leaving himself shirtless. My mouth went dry.

“I wanted to tell you,” he said softly, inching toward me. “I’m… I’m a shifter. That’s why we hired Denmarke.”

I blinked. “I don’t get it. What is this?” I waved my hand up and down his body, then gestured to the door. “What does this have to do with Denmarke?”

“You don’t know?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Remember when I was looking for Harold?”

And suddenly, it clicked. My partner was like them. “Oh. He’s a fox?”

Garner smiled. “He’s part of our world, yes.” Which was not the same as yes.

“You can’t say anything,” he added. “We’re not supposed to talk about it.”

I groaned. “So I have to pretend to my best friend that I don’t know what he is?” And technically, I didn’t, but I pretty much did know he wasn’t human.

“No—yes—I mean…” He exhaled, rubbed his temples, and then took my hand. “That’s better,” he said.

And yeah, it was. I didn’t even realize how tightly wound I’d been until that moment. His mere touch gave such comfort.

“Let’s sit and talk. There’s a lot.”

So we did. We went into the living room, and he explained everything—how they were all foxes, how the company was owned by shifters, how being a shifter meant they were human but carried an animal inside of them.

He told me what it meant to him, to his family, to his den. What hiding that part of himself had cost him… especially when it came to me. How much it meant to him that I didn’t run or cower when I saw him shift.

It was a lot to take in. I wanted to understand, I really did, but somewhere in the middle of his explanation, my brain latched onto one thing: This was why we weren’t more. This was the secret. The reason he didn’t want me.

“So that’s why we’re not… more?” Saying that one sentence took all of my strength.

“No, no, no.” He took both my hands again, firmer this time. “I knew the very first day I met you,” he said, voice low. “I knew you were my forever. That you were my mate.”

There it was. That word. Mate.

He’d said it a couple of times in the past, but it had always been vague, nestled into the afterglow or whispered nearly too low for me to hear. Never directly. Never this seriously.

“A mate is like marriage,” he continued. “Only… more.”

“But you acted like?—”

“I acted like someone who was scared that if I put it all out there the first day, you’d freak out and leave.”

I wanted to argue with that. To say I wouldn’t have . But I probably would have.

“I’m still kind of worried you will,” he added with a sheepish, or was it foxish?, smile. “It doesn’t help that you thought Booker was a wild animal in my kitchen.”

“That’s because I did think he was a wild animal.” Looking back, poor Booker. Or maybe not poor Booker, given he did it on purpose.

“He’s just a meddling brother,” Garner said. “That was what that was—he wanted me to tell you.”

I nodded slowly. “This is a lot. I… I think I need some time to think.”

Garner pulled back slightly, not offended, but bracing himself.

“No, it’s not a rejection,” I rushed to clarify. “I just need to absorb it all. And honestly, with you here, it’s really… distracting.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“All I can think about is why you don’t have your clothes on when I’m still fully dressed,” I teased.

He laughed. That easy, honest laugh I’d fallen for.

“I… I think I might talk to Harold,” I said.

“Yeah. Or you can call me. Or Booker, even.”

Booker. I thought about all the times he’d barged in on us while we were away. Was that him being helpful? I still didn’t understand their dynamic, but I didn’t have siblings, so maybe that was just a thing.

I stood, reluctantly. “I need to go.”

Garner nodded. “Okay.”

“Would it be okay if I got a hug first?”

He didn’t answer, just stood and pulled me into his arms. I stayed there until I felt like I could breathe again.

Until I felt strong enough to go home.

I didn’t want to leave. Not even a little bit. But it was true—thinking clearly wasn’t going to happen with him standing that close, smelling like cedar and wild air, and holding me like I mattered more than anything.

And I did matter to him.

That part, at least, I believed now.

I just didn’t want to mess it up. I wanted to do it right.

Because at the end of the day, this was still my Garner—and I was terrified of losing him.