A Preview of Hots for Mr. Fox

OWEN

"When we were kids, all you ever talked about was leaving Fox Haven. In the end, you stuck around just like me. Look where that got you? A permanent home in the ground," I muttered.

It would do my reputation no good to be seen by the locals talking to my brother's tombstone, but coming here twice a week had become part of my daily routine.

Someone had left a dozen red roses at the foot of my brother's grave. It was only a few days old, I noticed. A chill wind blew across the cemetery and some petals detached themselves, going with the wind.

Although Dane died a month ago, grief still left a fresh imprint on my heart.

I buried myself in work to forget my pain and thought that would suffice. After all, the town sheriff had plenty on his plate to deal with.

In the end, it was only a temporary fix, like plastering a bandage over a deep wound. Sensing I was no longer alone, I spun. My sensitive fox shifter nose picked up a vaguely familiar smell.

Cal Yates gave me a curt nod. The six-foot-seven blond giant could be surprisingly quiet when he wanted. He was the only fox in my former pack I respected.

Cal was a loner, like me. I always wondered why he bothered joining a pack.

Maybe he wanted to be surrounded by his kind, but had no interest in forming close bonds with them? Some shifters were like that.

Taking my silence as permission to join me, Cal stood next to me and regarded Dane's final resting spot.

"How have you been, sheriff?" Cal finally asked.

"I've been better," I admitted.

"Dane's death hit us all hard," Cal remarked.

Anger welled inside me. I clenched my fists by my sides. My angry fox threatened to rip out of my skin, but I reminded him that Cal was a friend, not an enemy.

"Seems to me everyone else has gotten over the death of their former lead alpha just fine," I muttered.

My inner animal paced restlessly inside me, a reminder my control had been slipping ever since Dane's death.

"The weak cling to the strong. That's just how the world is," Cal said. "Almost everyone is afraid of Tanner."

Cal gravely regarded me with his ice-blue eyes. He was the only fox shifter I knew whose eyes were the same color in both animal and human form.

"Why didn't you challenge Tanner after he killed Dane, Owen?" Cal asked.

"I'm not a natural leader like my brother. Besides, can you blame me? I almost went mad with grief," I answered.

"Fair enough, but the pack's in a bad place right now," Cal pointed out.

"I don't give a damn since I'm no longer part of the pack," I retorted.

I washed my hands off pack politics after declaring myself a loner.

I had no regrets. For a moment, I was tempted to ask Cal why he didn't step up himself. After all, we were both alphas. Protecting the weaker members of our group was ingrained into an alpha's shifter DNA.

If it came to an actual fight, Cal would easily overpower Tanner in a challenge circle. Cal was bigger, faster, and more experienced when it came to actual combat.

After all, Cal had been an enforcer for the pack for five years. Tanner, in comparison, was an upstart overly ambitious nobody who transferred from another fox pack a year ago.

I knew the answer to my own question. Cal lived on the outskirts of the pack territory for a reason. Socializing was not part of his skill set.

He was also used to handling matters on his own and didn't work well with others. I was only goading him because I was hurting. Sighing, I decided to stop being so childish.

"I see. Then it would interest you to know there's a new human who recently arrived in town," Cal said, wisely changing topic.

That was one reason I considered Cal my friend. He knew how to read the mood in the room. Cal didn't badger me constantly, like some of my former pack mates.

"I'm aware," I answered. "Maurice's grandson. I heard he's taking over the old man's antique store."

While the rest of the world was still blissfully unaware of the existence of the supernatural, the small town of Fox Haven was an exception.

Living alongside humans had been an experiment conducted by the first lead alpha of my former pack.

We didn't advertise our unique situation. Human locals, like Maurice, knew it was in their best interest to keep our secrets.

Did his grandson know about us in the first place? Maurice's antique store was a favorite hang-out of the pack.

He allowed us to use his store during closing hours to conduct pack meetings. Well, that was the way of things until Maurice's death.

Tanner had been the last individual seen talking to the old man before his untimely death, which aroused my suspicions immediately.

Since there was a curious lack of evidence, I couldn't arrest Tanner. Recalling his smug expression when he walked out of the police station, a free man, made me growl in the present.

It was not a secret I had beef with the new lead alpha of the Fox Haven Pack.

"Are you going to swing by the shop and say hello?" Cal had been asking.

"Of course. It's my job to welcome all the newcomers in town. The less he knows about us, the better," I added.

Why did I have a strange feeling that this human I hardly knew would stir trouble in my town?

"You can't keep a big secret like this forever," Cal reminded me.

Cal didn't need to remind me of that fact. Would he bring up Scott, the rabbit shifter Dane fell madly in love with? My gaze slid to the tombstone next to my brother's.

Scott had just recently moved into Fox Haven when fate allowed his and Dane's paths to cross. Dane and Scott immediately fell for each other.

That icy winter day would forever be ingrained in my head. I pictured Dane, angry as a bull, charging at Tanner in the snow-covered ground of the pack challenge circle after discovering Scott's body.

Tanner wearing his signature smirk, like he was hiding a secret no one was privy to. Only much later, when I was making funeral arrangements for Dane, did I figure out that Tanner had orchestrated the entire thing.

I would eventually come to terms with the pack's new leadership if Tanner fought fair and square. The fact Tanner had to employ a dirty trick to exploit my brother's only weakness—his mate—told me Tanner was no true leader.

Heart heavy, I glanced at the second gravestone next to my brother's. Both Dane and Scott were in a better place right now.

Telling myself that repeatedly made me feel a little better. Not much, but enough.

"Cal, why did you come here? Are you here on Tanner's orders?" I finally asked my old friend.

Cal snarled, his human teeth lengthening to fangs for a brief moment. Then he reeled in his inner animal and once more, I was speaking to Cal's mostly human side.

"Tanner might be the lead alpha of the pack, but I don't follow his orders," Cal said softly.

"Then why stay?" I asked. "We're always understaffed at the station. As you know, I only have one deputy and Randall's human. You would be a welcome addition."

Cal shook his head. "I need the pack and you know I don't like dealing with people in general," Cal answered.

Cal sighed, running a hand through his gold-white hair. Cal continued, "I just came here to pay my respects to Dane and Scott, and to see how you're doing."

I clasped Cal's left shoulder, touched by his words. Cal genuinely cared about my well-being, unlike my other former pack members, who would only come to me if they needed something.

"You're a good friend, Cal," I told him.

"Do me a favor and keep a close watch on Maurice's grandson?" Cal asked after brushing my hand away.

Yikes. I remembered that, unlike most shifters, Cal didn't like being touched. Then I processed Cal's words carefully.

"Why? You suspect Tanner's up to something?" I asked, frowning.

Cal had been pretty close to Maurice, I recalled. Did he know something about the old man's death?

I was about to ask Cal to return with me to the station, but Cal shrugged. He turned and started walking away. For now, I decided to let it go.

"Hey, Cal?" I called out.

"What?" Cal asked, voice gruff.

"What's his name? Maurice's grandson?" I prodded.

I vaguely wondered what this human was like and how he would find Fox Haven. Our town was located in a remote location, thousands of miles from the nearest city.

We received very few visitors, although a stray human or two would wander in town by accident.

Maurice mentioned his only grandson a handful of times. Said grandson lived in the city, had a successful job and was soon to be engaged to his boyfriend.

What would lure a young man like that to a town like Fox Haven?

"Ian. Ian Porter," Cal answered.

A dead fox at his doorstep, a handsome sheriff, and a town brimming with secrets...