Chapter Nineteen
Felix
Locus called, but I couldn’t answer the phone. Someone, apparently related to Patty, had found a family of foxes in the grove out past my house. They were in bad condition. The way Locus came in looked like a beauty pageant contestant compared to these animals.
I reached into their minds and found they were all from the same family.
Patty and I brought them into the examination rooms together since they yipped at us when Patty began to head in another direction, the male in hand.
“Why is your lovely mate calling me, Felix?” she asked, looking at her phone for a split second and then pulled on a pair of gloves and began on the largest female, the weakest-looking one.
“She’s torn up badly, but no broken bones.” I listened on while I inspected the others from the outside only.
“I’m worried about Locus. Give me two seconds.” I stepped out of the room and phoned my mate. He answered in a frantic mood. “What is it?” I asked, my thoughts immediately going to the babe.
“It’s my family. The deer. They spoke to me from the forest.”
“Where are they?” I inquired, but at the same time realized that the four foxes in my office were the same my mate referred to. “They are in my office,” I interrupted him.
“Come get me, Felix. This is my family.”
I got ahold of myself and thought it through. “Locus, you have to wait. They are torn up and maybe have disease. I can’t put you and Renie in danger. I won’t do it. Let me get them cleaned up and comfortable then I will come get you.”
I hung up, not even listening to his reply. He would probably be angry with me, but I had to protect my mate and my young at all costs.
“Let’s make fast work of this,” I boomed opening the door to the exam room. Patty, from the looks of it, had already cleaned up three of the four foxes and had IV drips hooked up. The four males had some scratches and badly matted fur, but for the most part were a little underweight and needed some hydration.
The female had clearly been in some kind of scuffle, but now that I knew they were Locus’ family, I didn’t feel right delving into their minds.
I didn’t want to offend my in-laws before I’d even met them.
We finished cleaning up the female and moved them all to one large cage. They were lightly sedated just to make sure they slept and didn’t nip at their pic lines.
“I have to call him.”
“He’s gonna kill you or deny you goodies for a while.” Patty tsked.
“I know. Damn it.”
I called Locus, and he demanded that I get to him in the next ten minutes. I did as he asked. I would be that way if I hadn’t seen my family in years, too.
After rushing home, I opened the door slowly not knowing what mood my mate would be in. I couldn’t blame him for any of them.
“Rogue?” I called his pet name, hoping it would sugar him up.
“We are ready,” he called down the stairs and bounced to the bottom carrying Irene in her car seat, diaper backpack strapped to his back. His eyes were red and puffy. I’d made him cry. Or the situation had made him cry.
I hated when my mate got upset.
“Come here, omega mine. Don’t cry. I’ll get you there. I’m so sorry. But if they had a disease or something you or the young could contract, I’d never forgive myself.”
“It’s okay. It’s been a hard day. Can you take her?” I looked down and cooed at my babe, sleeping like a log with a little drip of her daddy’s milk at the corner of her mouth.
“Let’s go,” I said and by the time we got to the truck, my mate was shaking so hard that after I buckled in Irene, I had to buckle him in as well.
“Calm down, Locus. They are fine. It might not even be them.”
“Two females and three males,” he said and I didn’t answer him. “That’s what the deer said.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him it was not them. By his calculations, there was one female missing.