Fox Life

Idleness was not characteristic for Kyro. He never just sat and did nothing, unless Lucy bullied him into it. There was no other moment in his life that he ever just sat, spaced off.     

That's why when Gale entered his apartment and saw him like that, he knew that something was wrong. Exceptionally so.     

"You called?" he asked the man just sitting and staring into the nothingness of the wall. It didn't seem like he even heard the words. "You called me?" Gale repeated again, louder this time, and it finally had some effect.     

Kyro slowly turned his head to him, but his eyes were empty, lost. Could something had happened to Lucy? Gale looked around to see either of the two pets, but neither was present. That could only mean the hunt had been unsuccessful, but so fast? Only half a day had passed. What kidnappers would have already dealt with their charges this soon?     

With a sigh, Gale sat down on the sofa and demanded, "So tell me, what did you find?."     

He expected silence, so Kyro opening his mouth to answer surprised him. That was not normal; Kyro never shared details of his plans, just like Gale himself. His demand was just a random first thing that came to his mind when he didn't know what else to say.     

"I got in contact with Mark, and he was quick in finding out who was dealing with pet kidnappings in my area. In a few hours, I had their base's address, and even a rival gang to raid them. Apparently someone else wanted their place, and this new gang was ready to quicken their plans of taking over for a price."     

Gale listened quietly, not saying a word. This was nothing out of the realm of possibility, nor even something they hadn't done before. When dealing with his father's company, they had gotten acquainted with a few unsavory characters and done some things that were in the gray zone of the law.     

"We were too late, however. The higher ups of the gang had gotten a sweet deal for the fox, so they came early to collect their prize. By the time we arrived, the place was almost cleaned up."     

After this, Kyro didn't say anything else, falling into the maze of his own thoughts, and Gale wondered what the hell was distracting him so much. He himself had just left a meeting with the board, and it had been a dirty business, so his patience for bullshit was stretched thin.     

Without a word, he stood up and went into the kitchen to get a drink. Since Kyro was still dead to the world, he went to the study and saw a naked girl enlarged on his screen.     

'What the fuck is wrong with him?'     

He went back into the kitchen, poured a cup of water, and then went back to the living room where he poured the whole cup over Kyro's head. "Feeling better?" he asked, his voice deceptively friendly.     

"Shit, what is wrong with you?" Kyro shouted out, spitting water and brushing it out of his eyes. "Did you go mad?"     

"No, you did. Why the hell do you call me over when you're too busy thinking about sex to even explain anything? I'll come back in the evening, so you better sober up till then."     

He turned and went for the door, pissed at the wasted time. A whole hour was gone, and the stuff he needed to do was not decreasing. He agreed to take over much of the load in the company because of what happened with the party last week, but it wasn't like he didn't have his own problems. There were things that needed his attention, and he couldn't give it to them if he was running all over the city for someone gone crazy over the loss of his pets.     

"Wait! Listen, I need your assistance, to tell me if I'm going mad or reality is just that messed up."     

'Reality messed up?' "What did you do? Tell it right now, or I'm seriously leaving. I don't have all day."     

Kyro sighed, looked sideways, then motioned him to the study. "I wasn't watching that, it's the camera footage from the warehouse the pets were dropped at."     

"And you just happened to pause on a naked woman? Nice try, friend, but that's not gonna roll here. Try again."     

"I— Just come and see it from the start. I can't even give voice to such absurdity."     

This was sounding weirder and weirder. Gale had trouble making any sense of Kyro's reactions, but he didn't think it was a problem with his judgment. The guy was simply acting out of character.     

Rattled. That was the word. He was rattled, and Gale didn't like that in his business partner, and even less so in someone he trusted to have his back. This whole trust thing between them might have to be reevaluated soon.     

Inside the room, Kyro rewound the video, and it showed up that at least the fact that it was footage from the warehouse camera wasn't a lie. Gale could see people entering and leaving, bringing pets, and taking them out once in a while.     

"Here's the three of them," Kyro said, and Gale saw two people come in. One of them was carrying two small sacks, while another a much larger one. This latter one they opened up and took out a drugged white dog, which they placed in a cage on the ground. The other sacks were then left alone, neither of the two people bothering to open them up.     

"They're careless, what about it?" Gale asked, not finding anything interesting here. This was something one might expect from a minor gang dealing in pet theft.     

Kyro gave him a wry smile. "Wait a moment, the fun is just about to start."     

They skipped five hours, and one of the small bags started moving. Something inside it stood up, shifted a little, and then there was a flash of light. The next moment, a girl with a head in the sack pushed herself off the ground and stood up.     

"This kind of low level illusion got you so—"     

Gale's words got stuck in his throat when he saw the girl's face when she removed the sack. Even if she didn't face the camera fully, he could instantly recognize her. It was clearly the young woman who had entered the apartment and gotten into Kyro's bed.     

This kind of set up… Wasn't it a bit too large-scale? And the girl was even nude once again. She quickly found a coat to cover herself, but she looked just as bad as when she was wearing nothing. If she went outside looking like that, every sleazy bastard would be upon her the instant she came into their sight.     

"Who do you think would want to play you like that? This is clearly a set up," he said shaking his head. It was hard to believe how much work someone had put into this to make it flow so seamlessly.     

Kyro frowned at the screen, then shook his head as well. "I thought so too, but some things just don't add up. I had my apartment checked out, and there's no way to enter it besides the windows and the front door. It was impossible for her to get in without me bringing her in myself."     

"What do you mean?" Gale looked over at him, sensing that he wouldn't like the words that left his mouth next.     

"Before you say anything, just know that I think I sound like a lunatic as well." The wry smile showed up once more. "Now, do you remember that instead of the girl, we found just the fox in the bathroom? And she was even lying underneath the blanket?"     

"Yeah?"     

"Now look here, this girl, she's actually wearing Iris' collar. I didn't notice it last time, but if I try to recall it, I could swear she had it at that time, too. Then, at this moment, she barely grazes her right leg by the corner table here, but she reacts like she hit it at full force."     

"What about it?"     

"At my parents, the fox injured her right back leg one night, and it hasn't yet healed."     

"So you're saying…" Gale couldn't finish the sentence. It was simply too crazy, but he could see where Kyro was coming from, and it unnerved him. This was the real world, not some fantasy; it was impossible for foxes to turn into humans here.     

"Yes, I'm saying we've both gone crazy. Either this set up is next level, or I've been living with a woman for the last month and didn't know it."     

Kyro didn't look too happy with that kind of conclusion, and Gale sneered at him. "I always thought that fox of yours was too smart."