Free Red Fox by Karina Halle

to predatory.
    “ So you’re the girl, yes?”
He snarled at me and looked me up and down. Now, I know I was
looking all shades of hell which made his lustful gaze even more
disturbing. I guess they didn’t get many women out here.
    “ Easy Miguel,” Bird
cautioned. Miguel took a quick step towards me, an uncanny sense of
speed at his disposal. He was just inches away, smelling like
sweat, dirt and beer.
    I tried not to look at him
but he made it impossible. Then he smiled.
    “ You won’t last a day,” he
said slowly, exaggerating each word. He leaned in further. I wasn’t
sure if he was coming to kill me or kiss me.
    Before I could get out of
his way, an arm shot out around me and pulled me to the side. It
was Dex and I was snuggly pressed up against him.
    “ My wife would last longer
than any of us,” Dex challenged. The term “wife” was jarring to my
ears. I had forgotten all about that, again, but I was immediately
grateful for my fake husband. He was smiling broadly at Miguel but
his eyes meant business. Beat still my heart.
    Miguel scoffed and turned
back to his saddle. “Just keep out of my way, Birdy.”
    Bird nodded grimly and
pointed at the smaller barn which was down a bit of a slope and
surrounded by spindly corrals. “OK, let’s go see Shan with the
horses. He’s a bit more welcoming than Miguel here.”
    He walked off and Maximus
followed, giving Dex a shrug by way of explaining the situation.
Dex took no notice. He kept his arm around me, watching Miguel
hammer back at the saddle. He didn’t look up. I wanted to get the
fuck out of there but apparently Dex was feeling a bit
confrontational. There was now something as equally intense in his
eyes as there had been in Miguel’s. I’d seen that look a few times
before.
    I poked him in the side and
gestured at Bird and Maximus and tried to walk in that direction.
His arm held me in place, then relented and off we went. We didn’t
say anything to each other and as we neared the horse barn, he took
his arm off me. I felt both vulnerable and free.
    We followed the tall frames
of Bird and Maximus into the barn. The happy smell of horses and
hay contrasted with the musty darkness. We walked down a row of
empty stalls, the doors covered with heavy cobwebs, the interiors
looking strangely damp.
    One stall had a lone, lit
bulb that was swinging subtly back and forth, casting an eerie
moving glow on the cruddy walls. I poked my head through the stall,
expecting to see an impatient horse inside. There was
nothing.
    But something in the
shadows caught my eye. It was like the shadows were moving. Was it
a trick of the light? My eyes? I tried to focus until I picked out
a shape.
    I saw a pair of yellow
eyes, low to the ground. I would have screamed at the sight, or
moved, or something, but all I could do was stand there and stare.
I felt like I couldn’t look away even if I wanted.
    Then they slowly faded into
the blackness. It was like they were never there to begin with.
With them gone, I felt the weird trance-like sensation leaving my
body. I took my head out of the stall and looked down the dark
corridor at the three guys. I saw Dex looking in my direction but I
couldn’t see his expression.
    “ Shan?!” Bird called out,
his voice echoing against the wood walls. No response. Bird walked
further on and said it again.
    “ Hello,” a raspy voice
whispered beside me. I jumped at the sound and jumped again when I
saw a man standing in the stall where I was just looking. I almost
screamed, in fact I thought I had screamed, but it was caught in my
throat and expanded there silently.
    The man was only a foot
away from me, but again I had trouble focusing on him, as if he was
buried in the shadows. His face was blank, devoid of expression,
and at times seemed featureless.
    But that was ridiculous. He
had features. He had a flat nose, a pointy chin, scraggly hairs
that made up a beard, black, low brows and high cheekbones. He was
maybe 50 years old. He was