Hidden Fox

Twenty-Four

When Dad let go, Xavier swooped in, hooking an arm around my waist and bringing me to a large chair where he sat down and put me on his lap. I blushed, because my parents were in the room and he was obviously staking his claim.

"Xavier!" I hissed, but he merely shrugged. I sighed, but there was no way I was going to be able to stand back up on my own. So I stayed, embarrassed, as my parents picked up the conversation.

"Well," my mother started, her tears dry and gone now, "I can't tell you enough how happy I am you found Xavier."

Oh, so we weren't going to talk about the last six months. Okay. I was relieved, but also terrified of the way it meant talking about my mate and I instead.

Xavier nodded his thanks, and a hint of a smirk he was trying so hard to hide traced his lips.

"Thank-" I started to say but she had more.

"Though, I can't figure out for the life of me why you couldn't bother to tell us about him!"

Hot anger flashed through my cheeks, but it quickly turned into embarrassment, shame even. "I'm sorry." I wasn't sure what could've been worse: talking about my kidnapping or meeting my mate.

Dad put a hand on my mother's, "Hailey, let's not get into this please."

She sighed, debating. "I know, I'm sorry. I just was hoping that because a huge reason you came out her was for a mate that you would call us in excitement over meeting him."

In my peripheral, Xavier's face scrunched in confusion, asking so many questions with his eyes.

"Mom, I was scared." Suddenly I knew what she was doing. She was making a deal out of nothing to distract herself from what happened to me. She couldn't bear to talk about it as much as I could. Grateful, I relaxed a little.

"Scared?" Dad asked, his hand still on Mom's.

"You said to keep myself a secret," now I understand why. . . "So I did. From everyone. And it cost me so much that I fell into probably the worst version of myself I have ever seen."

Emerald ducked her head, remembering, and Xavier's confusion washed away as he squeezed my hand. Mom stilled as she thought my words over.

"I almost lost Xavier because of what I am; so, I was afraid to tell you about him in case you said it was too fast to tell him everything." I felt shameful, for thinking of it this way, but she had to know: "you grew up as a human, introduced to this world, to your mate in a different way. I didn't want you to tell me to go slow like that because I was so happy to have found my mate that I couldn't wait to be with him."

Xavier's grip got stronger, and I realized that was the first time he was learning some of this too.

"I understand that," Mom whispered, and that shocked me. Saying those words terrified me that it would turn into a big argument or something. She even chuckled a little, "it was just quite the surprise when we arrived to find Xavier running the plans and searches for you. And when I asked, it turned out he was your mate."

I ducked my head, "I should've told you about him. I'm sorry."

So, then I told them. Everything. I started with how I met him, and pretended to be human. Xavier added to it when necessary, describing his side of things when he thought I was human. It was the first time I'd heard his side of the story.

He laughed, "when you first grabbed my hand and felt the sparks, a million emotions crossed over your face in a split second; I wasn't sure what you even thought of them!"

"I think I was terrified," I laughed, too, "because suddenly it became so much more complicated."

I described how I conflicted over telling him and how my guilt got so bad I missed an entire month of time without realizing. My parents were pleased to have gotten the story, and I think it helped them connect with Xavier more, which warmed my soul entirely.