As one, we exited the restaurant and joined the rush of people outside. I expected this place to be similar to my previous place of residence in how everyone seemed to hide in their houses relatively quickly after the sun set. “Why are there so many people out and about?”
“Why wouldn’t there be?” Pendragon asked as his brows furrowed in confusion.
I didn’t quite know the answer to his question but, thankfully, Ginger was able to answer him. “I think she is thinking about how most games and such put the NPCs into their houses as soon as it is nighttime.” So it wasn’t exactly what I had been thinking but it might get me the answer I needed.
“You do know that this isn't a game, right?” He shot me a pointed look. One that said I better agree or he would smack me. A simple nod and he continued. “Also, you have to remember that this place is made up of mostly travelers.” Which meant that the people here were used to walking around even if it was dark out. Hell, the lights that lined the streets probably made it seem like they were back on Earth. The only thing missing were the trains.
Without warning, we came upon a wall of people, their murmurs blended into a cacophony of excitement and concern as they tried to get a good look at something. We tried to go around but they were everywhere as people gawked at whatever was on the other side. I looked up to see if there was a roof we could scale. Was it all that odd that I wasn’t surprised to find others had the same idea? It seemed as though just as many people hung off the surrounding roofs and walls as there were on the ground.
Lucky for us, the crowd parted to let a group of guards through. Brandi and Captain Young were amongst them. A few of the guards were also carrying a stretcher with a beaten and sliced-up dwarf. I looked past them and toward the now-visible store.
It was destroyed. It was safe to assume that the windows were shattered from the inside given the amount of merchandise scattered around the place. Some of it even looked to be sticking through the wall and roof. If I didn’t know better, I would assume a bomb had gone off. Then again, maybe it was a magic bomb that didn’t leave any burns or smoke.
Pendragon stepped into their path. The group stopped. While the captain and the werewolf glared at him, the rest of the group chorused out “Commander” and “Guildmaster” as they gave him a slight bow. While I had expected the guy was high up given that he talked to Xander as if they were coworkers and not simply acquaintances, I had not expected just how high up he was. I mean, Guildmaster? Of which guild?
“What happened?” He asked the captain.
While Captain Young looked to be clenching his jaw, he managed to grit out, “It is not something for you to worry about. You are currently on vacation. I suggest you return to it and leave this to us.”
“But…” I started. A hand wave from the dwarf stopped me from arguing as we all turned to give him our full attention.
Steven let out a few pained groans and grunts as he forced his body up. His fearful and tear-stained eyes met mine as he whispered “They stole it…” With those words, he collapsed back into the stretcher.
The guards looked between him and our group. I held up my hands as if to say I had no clue what he meant. I just hoped that my tail and ears didn’t give me away because I was both pissed and scared. My orb was gone and I had no clue who had it.
Captain Young either didn’t want to question us or didn’t care if we did know because he shook his head and pushed Pendragon out of the way as he resumed walking. Save for Brandi and a pair of guards, the rest of the group followed him.
With the excitement over and a lack of anything to see, the crowd started to disperse. I debated running in the hopes that the person holding my orb would be required to talk to me to order me. While the idea had merit, it had one major flaw: the person could just destroy the thing out of frustration. Did I know what it would do to me? No, but it couldn’t be all that good considering the amount of pain I was in from a simple scratch.
With how many times I lost the thing, there came a point in which one wondered as to why. Was I just doomed to become someone's slave? Or was it one of those cruel jokes that the universe played on people? Fuck, was it a god or something targeting Kitsune with the simple goal of creating chaos?
Pendragon’s hand on my shoulder pulled me out of my spiraling thoughts. “I will find it.”
My knees shook as I whimpered, “How?”
“I don’t know but I will find it. I will not stop until I find that thing.” He promised. The guy shot a longing look at Ginger as he continued. “It wouldn’t be right to leave anyone in this situation. Not even if it required me to leave you for a time. Just know, I will be back.”
Pendragon moved to follow the guards but Brandi stopped him. “How about you wait until you meet with the Alpha?”
“Why would we need to meet that beast?” At Ginger’s words, the two guards that had stayed behind growled.
“Don’t you call him a beast you wannabee shifter!” One of the guards said.
“Oh great, more racism,” I muttered as my eyes rolled.
“What did you say?” The other one shot at me.
“Now now,” Brandi spoke as if she was the voice of reason. I was starting to wonder though. She had to know how Ginger would react, let alone her own people. “You are right in asking why. He doesn’t typically talk to new shifters, but Kyren here is an oddity. He felt that he couldn’t delegate this to an underling.”
“And why would she need to meet him at all?” Ginger shot back.
Pendragon spoke as if something just occurred to him. “Because she is a shifter.”
“Correct,” Brandi smiled. It was the first time I had seen her teeth and they looked, predatory. Each of the tips seemed more pointed than they should have been. The sight shot a brief spat of fear racing down my nerves and into my legs as I started to seriously contemplate running. It was as if she knew what I was thinking as her eyes met mine. “You can try and run but you won't get far. Even if you did the guards at the gates would bring you to our compound if you made it that far.”
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“Why the fuck did you bother to ask me to come with you if you were just going to force me to anyway?” I demanded.
“Because we don’t like to force people to come see us. We want their stay to be their choice.”
“Their stay? You mean once I get there I won't have a choice in how long the stay will be?!”
Brandi sighed, “I am making a mess of this. Come meet the guy. Only then can we know what comes next.”
I debated taking my chance. I even debated attacking her. While I knew that would be suicide, I was fairly sure that my spawn point was likely still set to that church. I would then be able to go anywhere and there would be nothing the fucking Alpha could do to me.
As my hand reached to retrieve my Chisa Katana from my inventory, Ginger’s hand stopped me. “Just go with them. My brother will deal with them when he gets back if they try and keep you against your will.” Her words calmed me because she was right. Xander would do something like that for me. Hell, he was paying for doing something similar.
“Fine,” I said in a cheerful voice. “I will meet with this Alpha of yours.” Brandi nodded at this before pivoting on one foot and leading us down another street. As we followed her, I noticed that the places turned from small businesses to box stores before morphing into apartments. Given how many of the massive towers there were, the city had to support quite a large population. Probably larger than most countries back on Earth did.
Then came the rich residences. Whereas the apartments were in large towers, these places looked like townhouses. They even had fences to prevent people from destroying their lawn. Of course, the things were designed so they didn’t block one's view of the property.
Of course, while there were those that everyone considered rich, there were those that even the rich considered over the top. Those that built compounds for themselves or even close family. One of the largest looked to contain an impossible-looking forest inside its walls. The gate to the property swung open as we approached.
“Welcome to Hunt’s Hollow,” Brandi announced as we stepped over the threshold. I barely noticed as the gates shut behind us. My eyes were locked onto the village that the wall had hidden. This far from the forest, the trees were fairly well spread out and looked fairly young. One or two buildings lay between some while others contained small crop plots.
Kids in various forms played as their parents watched. The place looked peaceful. Like it was home to these people. I almost felt bad for what their Alpha was bringing down on their head by forcing me to be here. Almost.
She didn’t give us long to gawk at the sights before resuming the procession. It only took me a minute to realize that she was leading us toward the largest building in sight. Each of the walls was crafted from logs that looked to have been harvested from the very forest it was surrounded by. Which was impressive given that the structure was two stories tall and at least a hundred feet on a side.
Our escorts sped past us as they moved to open the massive double doors to reveal a rather large sitting room. While the room might have been well decorated, I didn’t notice. My eyes were locked on the man sitting in the chair in the middle of the room. His hands were steepled as he waited for something or someone. His eyes snapped up to take in our group only to lock onto me. They were a dark brown that reminded me of chocolate. It went well with his darker-tanned skin. While the skin tone and posture hid much of his muscle tone, even I could tell the guy was well-built. The amount of well-muscled people had me wondering just what they fed these people and where I could get some.
“You must be Kyren.” He spoke with a soft voice. Not that it wasn’t any less powerful for it. Even now I could feel the amount of power radiating off of him. “One of the boarders few Kitsune. The only one that is low enough level to fall under my purview.”
Wait, there are other Kitsune in the city? Where were they? Could I meet them? I opened my mouth to ask these questions and more but he didn’t give me a chance. “Do you know why the city allows me to require all shifters to come visit this compound at least once?”
I didn’t know, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t hazard a guess. “Control?”
He shook his head. “Not in the way you mean it. Did you know that those with an animal transformation are more prone to being influenced by said animal?” I shook my head. “Well, they are. Wolves are more likely to live in packs while cats tend to be loners.”
I wanted to ask what this had to do with me but I resisted. “And?”
“While it is different for every species, if a wolf doesn’t have a pack, they tend to go insane.” His tone was uncaring. “A wild and insane werewolf is not something anyone wants. Especially inside the city where there are non-combatants.” My mind flashed back to the kids I just saw outside, playing. “My pack built this compound to give the various shifter species a chance to get what they need to stay balanced. It has grown to the point that the Council sends people here rather than try and deal with them on their own.”
I shook my head. While this sounded great and all, it didn’t apply to me. “That still does not explain why I am here.”
“Because you can shift into a fox. Since none of the other Kitsune are willing to talk to me about what might happen, I need to assume the worst about your beast's nature. As such, I will have to require that you stay here, at least for a little while.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Ginger asked.
“I will have to insist.” His grin turned predatory as his gaze went to her. The guy leaned forward as he reached for a box set on a nearby table. As soon as the lid was lifted, I recognized the small orb inside.
“What are you doing with that?” I growled. I wasn’t the only one either. Both Pendragon and Ginger sounded just as pissed as I felt.
“Funny story about this little thing.” He said as he set it down on the table with its lid open and facing us. “When Brandi told me that you didn’t jump at the chance to visit the place, I sent someone to keep an eye on you. Imagine my surprise when they reported back this little nugget of information.”
“So you are the one that ordered that shop destroyed and the smith to be hurt?!” Pendragon asked. His voice was low and full of rage.
“Not at first.” He responded with a wave of his hand. “Not until the spy reported back that it sounded as if the dwarf was going to see if it was the real deal by ordering you to do some things.”
“He would never!” Ginger shouted.
“To have absolute power over someone is tempting to most. It can infect even those with pure intentions.”
“Why are you telling us this?” I asked. My eyes narrowed as I tried to figure out what he got out of all this. “You could have kept it secret and saved it for some time in the future when you wanted company or something.” A shudder ran through me at the very thought.
“I could,” he agreed, “or I could make a deal with you.”
The idea of making a deal reminded me of the demon but I didn’t see any other choice. “I am listening.”
“Until such a time that I determine you can control your beast in any situation, you will live in one of the pack houses.” He started to list things off. “The pack goes on a run every night. You will join in on these runs as long as you live within the compound. In return, I will give you this back.” He gestured at the box containing my orb.
Neither of those sounded all that bad. So what was the catch? “And how much will this cost me?”
“Because it is something I am requiring you to do, it is free. The price for when you are free to come and go will depend on how everything goes and how well you integrate into the pack.”
I tried to come up with a catch and finally asked him. “What is the catch?”
“To leave the compound you must be accompanied by someone that can contain you.”
I was pretty sure most of his people could do this, but something told me he was going to limit this as much as possible. “And let me guess, there are very few people that you would consider capable of doing that?”
“About two dozen, most of which are out doing various missions.” Yeah, imagine that.
“Fine.” I grumped as I reached for the box.
His hand beat mine and held it in place as he shot me a smile filled with pride at what he had accomplished. “Your first run is in ten minutes.” Well, I knew who I would be going after first with pranks.