Zephyr Ranch 4: Breaking Point by Nessa Vincent

Author:Nessa Vincent [Vincent, Nessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LGBT, Shape-shifter, Paranormal
Publisher: Loose Id LLC
Published: 2013-10-28T11:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Billy’s paws hit the ground almost silently. He’d been told he was graceful, but that was nothing compared to how he could move on four legs. His kitsune form was the embodiment of stealth. He’d actually sneaked up on an owl earlier in the evening.

He hated running as a human, but it was the highest form of pleasure as a fox. The ranch’s seventy-five acres were spread out like a banquet for his feet. Last night he’d explored until nearly dawn, and though the sun had only gone down an hour ago, he had a feeling tonight would be the same way.

Sleep was impossible. If he stayed in the house, he would just sit at the window and smoke through the pack of cigarettes that he’d bought yesterday. He though he might have lost the ability to sleep alone after meeting Cameron.

Billy urged his legs faster, feeling the muscles in his back haunches push and stretch. His tails streamed out behind him. He wasn’t going to think about Cameron. He wasn’t going to think about how Cameron was avoiding him, and he wasn’t going to let himself picture the miserable looks Cameron kept giving him every night at dinner—though not tonight, since tonight Billy had skipped dinner. He’d rather be hungry than see Cameron look at him like that.

The others were worse. He was waiting for the Irwins to decide he was culpable for the ranch’s security problems and ship him back to Santa Fe. Only R.C.’s persistent good manners seemed to be keeping him from throwing Billy out. Even Libby was obnoxious as hell to him. Twice already this evening he’d escaped her teasing and insults from the high branches of the trees. If she was supposed to be tied to the house, did that mean Zephyr itself hated his guts?

A startled bird flew up out of a stumpy juniper as he passed. Billy saw the gleam of the fence and swerved away from it. He stretched his front legs and savored the feel of his claws biting into the earth. If he ran long enough, he could almost convince himself that he didn’t care what Cameron or the others thought of him.

But the sight of the fence prompted a memory from yesterday. His lessons with Ina finished, Billy had been bored out of his mind. He’d gone off the ranch, walking the two miles to the nearest gas station to buy cigarettes. It had been embarrassing enough borrowing the money from Ina—his wallet had vanished into the ether when he transformed back in New Mexico—and then she’d explained that someone would have to let him in when he came back. The front gate was always locked.

He’d been so certain no one would let him back in that he almost lost his nerve to buzz the house from the front gate. He’d almost kept walking down the highway with no destination, no money, no identification, all because he didn’t think he could face standing outside Zephyr and not being let back in.

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