Nick Needs a Family

Chapter 13

 The arctic fox preened in the mirror for a few moments and adjusted the antique hair comb her mother had given her. Karla had to think hard to remember how long it had been since she'd last spoken to her mom. Over five years ago, she finally decided. Aside from John, Karla hadn't seen another fox since then, and she wanted to look her best for the one they'd brought in last night.

Karla looked at her reflection in the mirror and her eyes were drawn to the shock collar she wore on her neck. Thinking of John always reminded her of it, her punishment for sneaking off to the warehouse and trying to use the tod's old phone weeks ago. She could probably remove the collar, but if Boris saw her without it on... Karla shuddered. She didn't want to disobey the wolverine, because Boris had killed mammals for less.

Karla put a tiny dab of perfume on her neck and forehead. She noticed the bottle was almost empty and sighed. Given how angry Boris was with her, it would be awhile until she saw more. The vixen fluffed the fur on her head one last time and adjusted her sweater to hide the shock collar. If she could get something useful out of the new fox, maybe Boris would allow her to remove the device.

Karla wrapped her jacket tightly around herself before she stepped into the courtyard. Stray snowflakes fell from a gray sky as she hurried through the waist deep drifts. She bent low against the cutting wind and avoided looking at the rusting razor wire atop the crumbling walls of Butryka prison.

The vixen made her way through the large open room that served as a garage, where several vehicles were in varying states of repair, and walked down a long hallway to the room with a row of cells, all empty save one.

Karla was a little disappointed to find the fox curled up on the bed, asleep. The vixen noticed he was older than she was, and his fur was missing patches in an odd pattern. Still, she couldn't help but admire that he was physically in good shape.

"Whatever it is you're selling, I'm not buying." His words made Karla jump, and the vixen realized her gaze had been lingering on the tod a bit too long, causing a spike in her scent that was probably overpowering her perfume.

Before she could think better of it, Karla blurted out, "I wouldn't even give you the time of day, much less sell you anything." The tod sat up and blinked his green eyes at her before he stretched and yawned. She was startled and took a step back when he lept up from the bed and hurried to the bars to look closely at her.

Karla picked up a scent from the fox, a confusing mix of completely unexpected emotions. Love? Desire? Whatever they were seemed pretty forward, especially after what he'd just said. She noticed him staring at the side of her head and realized he was looking at her hair comb. Karla turned slightly to show it off. "Like it?"

"Yeah, it's... nevermind." The change was almost startling, as the raw emotion on his face was quickly masked by a smug grin. "So, what's a pretty young thing like you doing in a place like this?"

"I'm not young. I'm almost 30," Karla said petulantly.

The fox extended his paw through the bars. "The name is Nick. Nick Wilde." When she didn't move, he added, "I don't bite. Usually." His smile made her blush. The vixen remained motionless, so eventually he shrugged and withdrew his paw.

They looked at each other awkwardly for a few heartbeats before his last name finally registered with Karla. "You're related to John Wilde?"

Several emotions flickered across his face until Nick settled back on a smug grin and half lidded eyes. He nodded. "Probably. It's a pretty common name. Is he a guest here too?"

Karla chuckled at the last part. If there was one thing she'd learned the hard way, anyone connected with John was trouble. The vixen tried to gather her thoughts to ask him another question, when Nick looked at her neck and asked, "So, are you part of the official welcoming committee, or just another inmate?"