Druid Fox Chapter 1

Druid Fox Chapter 1

Javier

They walked through the trees to Javier’s cabin to discuss the Fox situation. Javier wanted to be clear about what Luke wanted him to do and how the whole thing needed to be handled.

“Fox. First, I pick him, his mate, and a friend up at DFW. Flying in from San Diego, landing at four fifteen. Now for the important stuff. Who is Fox?”

Javier asked, blunt as usual. He liked to get to the heart of matters and cut out the fluff.

Eli looked at Luke, too. It seemed like she needed information as bad as Javier did.

“Fox is Duncan O’Sullivan. He’s Irish, with flaming reddish-brown hair, freckles, and a hawkish nose. Smells like ink and parchment paper. He looks like a fox, and he is a fox. Sly, cunning, librarian-like. Too smart. He has a slender build about five feet nine inches tall and weighs a hundred sixty pounds. Deep eyes.”

Eli’s tinkling laughter interrupted Luke in his description of Fox.

“Is Javier boxing with Fox or giving the man a lift into Tyler?”

She smiled, and both men laughed, although both had been serious a moment before. They indulged her.

“Cute, Eli,” Javier said, then turned serious again as he looked back at Luke.

“What about his mate?”

Javier needed information.

Eli hissed playfully at Javier before focusing her attention back on Luke.

“Artie is Arturista Jonsdottir. She’s Norse with pale ice-blonde hair. She’s an all-white arctic fox. Smells like snow in the pines. She’s about five feet tall and weighs a hundred pounds, soaking wet in her winter clothes. Tiny lady with slender hands. Clear grey eyes.”

“What about the friend? Any clues?” Eli asked, having lost her playfulness. Knowledge was power.

“I don’t know who it could be. Fox has connections around the world, but the friend is involved in all of this or he wouldn’t be running. He sought refuge with Fox and Artie, or he wouldn’t be traveling with them. Whatever Fox knows about this guy, Elliot, we need to hear.”

Luke proposed his theory.

“My thoughts traveled the same line. This friend is running from the same enemy as the two foxes,” Javier surmised.

“What’s the plan, Boss?”

“Bring them to Eli’s house. We’ll have dinner and learn what they know. Then we can assess the danger and discuss acceptance into the pack. There’s strength in diverse numbers, but that can also lead to contention. I offered refuge. I moved into Eli’s house over the weekend after what happened on Friday because I don’t want to leave her alone.”

Javier nodded, as if he expected that news. The attack on Eli seemed unwarranted. Peter Elliot didn’t have an issue with attacking women to get to the man he was after.

Why Luke? They still didn’t know.

Eli smiled at Luke. It was still strange to think of a tiger and a direwolf as a matched pair, much less believe they existed. He was now part of that immortal world, and he was happy for his friends.

“I thought about giving my house to Fox and Artie. They liquidated their home in San Diego and are traveling light. If I know Fox, he shipped the things he valued before he left, ordered replacements for what he felt he could leave behind, and refused to look back. My furniture is still in my house. It would help them transition easier if they stay. I still owe them an unpayable debt for what they did to help me save my pack and my mate. If they don’t stay, I can have the furniture placed in storage when they leave, then rent my house out.”

Luke looked at Eli and Javier to gauge their reactions.

“If you trust him, I’m good with it. I’m more concerned with whatever threat the friend might bring with them.”

Javier shared his concern.

Luke nodded his head in concurrence. Eli jumped to the next step.

“I think it sounds good. If Fox and Artie join the pack, they’d bring in money by continuing to sell information about shifters to other shifters. I work, you and Javier handle the pack’s business. We wait and see what this friend might contribute and if they wish to stay.”

Eli summed up the situation. She knew Javier well.

“Speaking of pack business. The Mennonites are coming at the end of the week. This project will wrap up in about two, maybe three months, Luke. I thought you said this job was going to last a year?”

Javier asked, because he needed to understand what Luke expected and how he fit, if he still did. Some things didn’t add up for him.

“It will last about a year. This is phase one. Phase two should begin in August or September. I wanted to give us time to move in once the retreat construction finished before we start the next part, but we could start it earlier. I sense you’re worried. Why?”

Luke asked, confused by his friend’s concern.

“I thought maybe you didn’t need me once the retreat construction finished,” Javier noted the current situation wasn’t meshing with the work situation.

“Have you changed your mind about being the beta in the pack? I won’t say I wouldn’t be sad about losing you, but I won’t force you. You’re easily an alpha in your own right.”

Luke didn’t want to hear his friend tell him he’d decided against being the pack beta. That wasn’t the issue. Work was the issue, and it seemed as if there wasn’t enough to sustain the current arrangement he and Luke had.

“I don’t think I understand my role if I stay. I mean, once the construction is done.” Javier was confused, and he didn’t want charity. He wanted meaningful work.

Luke laughed.

“Sorry man, I guess I expected you to read my mind. Okay, so phase two is building a pool, a gym, a hotel, and separate small cabins around the lake to rent out to shifters who need to get away before they start over. We live a long time, so we have to drop out of sight every so often. Then we rebuild our identity if we want to continue to live in the human world.”

Luke waited for Javier to nod his understanding before he continued.

“The guests will rent the cabins while the pack’s living in a big house. Those who need help could request refuge as Fox has, and we could offer them sanctuary. We become a for-profit business and a charity at the same time. You, my friend, would be indispensable in handling the staff and the guests, organizing events, security…”

“Look, Eli teaches high school, and she’s a tiger. She doesn’t exactly equal pleasing the crowd. She’s more like ordering them around. I need a business partner. Someone who can read people. Help me keep things in order.”

Luke stopped talking.

“Partner? Are you kidding?!”

Javier was incredulous as he looked back and forth between his friends’ faces. Eli smiled. Javier couldn’t afford to consider a partnership with Luke.

“Dead serious. Equal partners with equal power. For the pack’s business, I’m the alpha. You’re my beta, but the retreat, business partners. Fifty-Fifty. Eli owns the land and all the structures as a silent partner. You and I run the business and the charity’s full-time day-to-day operations. Say you’ll do it.”

“You’re serious?”

Javier shook his head and chuffed.

“My lawyer’s drawing up the paperwork. I put it in motion Saturday afternoon when you agreed to be beta. All the property is in Eli’s name, so if anything happens, no one can take her home away. I paid everything for with no mortgage. The business plans are being drawn up, and our partnership documents will be ready for us to sign long before we open for business in July next year.”

Luke explained the legal side.

“Where’s all this money coming from?”

Maybe it sounded too good to be true. If it was all legitimate, then Javier underestimated Luke. The man was smart, maybe too smart. That would be reason enough to remain as the pack beta and let Luke be the alpha pack leader.

“My trust fund is being split. Half will stay with me. I kind of like my lifestyle. During football season, I seem to need new televisions. The other half is being set aside as capital for the business, start-up money.”

Luke answered straight forward the way he was about everything else.

“How much is half?”

He cared little about money, but it was more than a little money. The entire endeavor was huge.

“Ten and a half million. It’s like three times what’s necessary, but we have to remember part of this place will function as a charity.”

Luke offered his reasoning and business ideas.

Luke was sure he had enough to do things right, and he was also positive it would be profitable on the business side. The man impressed Javier.

The plan wasn’t a new idea. Rather, something Luke had been working on for a while, maybe even years.

“Let me get this straight. You had twenty-one million dollars?”

Javier had to ask.

Luke never acted like the rich stuck-up type. That kind of money rarely equaled out to a man like Luke Mendez. Javier was having trouble meshing the man he thought Luke was with the money he now seemed to have at his disposal.

“No, I had twenty-five million, but I bought a house, some land, a few televisions, and built a retreat, hired a site manager, construction crew, courted Eli, paid Fox for information, went on a business trip, paid a bunch of legal fees and a designer. You know, basic crap.”

Luke shrugged.

“Look, I live day-to-day off my retirement money. The trust fund built up. I didn’t earn that money, so I did something good with it. I used it to bankroll a for-profit business with a non-profit side gig.”

Luke deadpanned the money situation.

Javier didn’t care about the money, but it was more than he’d ever hoped to see in his lifetime. It made him a little uncomfortable.

He felt differently about everything somehow. Things seemed more serious when the talk centered on so much wealth.

“Look, Javier, I need a beta for pack stability. Whoever has that job gets the partnership, because I have to have a beta I can trust. The beta has to have a vested interest in the pack. Five and a quarter mil is one helluva vested interest. Be the beta, be my business partner. I need you.”

Luke asked his friend again.

“Damn, you drive a hard bargain. If I said no, you’d still call me friend, wouldn’t you?“

Javier was grinning. Luke was a good man and a better friend. Loyalty to him was easy.

“Yeah, but your job runs out in January. Say yes.“

Luke encouraged Javier again.

“All right.”

Javier agreed, with no reluctance.

The two men rose to their feet and clasped their right forearms.

“Deal, you have your beta and your business partner.”

“It’s almost two-thirty. You better get rolling, Javier. The traffic into DFW is a nightmare.”

Eli smiled, and she seemed happy, too. That made Javier think he’d made the right decision.

Javier hugged Eli, shoulder to shoulder, and clasped forearms with Luke.

“Take care of my retreat, partner. I’ll bring the packages to Eli’s house around six. I still have questions.”

With that, he stepped off the porch and headed to his truck. A boring trip to Dallas was a good time to think.

Thank you for your support! Welcome to the dream… Sincerely, -OK

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