Chapter 7
Tuesday around lunch time Shara came bursting through the door in tears and went straight to the room marked as hers and slammed the door behind her.
“I think my sister is upset,” Kage said with a confused and surprised tone.
“That was Shara? I thought it was a ghost because all I saw was a grey and black blur with purple highlights,” Melony replied with a nervous chuckle.
Kage got up and looked outside expecting to see his mother’s car in the driveway, but there wasn’t a third car there at all. He closed the door and motioned for his girlfriend to stay on the couch while he went back to his little sister’s room and knocked gently. After getting a screamed ‘go away’ that honestly hurt his ears and heart all at once, he entered the room as quietly as possible.
“Shara, what would you like for dinner tonight?” the black wolf asked calmly, attempting to get his sister to just look at him.
“I don’t care! GO AWAY!” the girl shouted into her pillow as her sobs continued to rack her body.
“Well, I would but my eleven year old sister is in her brother’s house crying and no one was with her when she got here. What’s going on Sis?”
“You already know, Dad said you did!”
“And you believed him? Knowing exactly how I feel about being alone with him? Shara I don’t know thing one about what has you so upset. I just want to help.”
Shara looked up from her pillow with a disbelieving look in her eyes before she buried her head back into the pillow and trying to hide from the world. Kage was having a hard time not laying down on the bed next to her and wrapping himself around her like a shield to the world as he watched her.
“Shara please tell me, I don’t know what to do, Melony’s even worried about you, I’d bet even Kit is and you’ve never even met her,” Kage said in a low, calm tone.
“Whose Kit?” the young grey wolf pup asked through her pillow.
“She’s a little fox kit that found us on the last camping trip, kind of attached to me and Melony,” the black wolf replied with a chuckle when his sister’s head shot up wide eyed, “She’s here if you want to meet her.”
Shara quickly wiped her tears and bolted out of the room with a grin on her muzzle that Kage hadn’t seen since he came home just in time for her second birthday party. He simply rolled his eyes and followed to find Kit already having her share of fun chasing his little sister around the living room. Melony came over and stood next to him as the two played and watched for a moment before either of them spoke.
“She cheered up fast,” the golden eyed husky said with a slightly concerned tone.
“She’s still upset, but she couldn’t resist the urge to play with Kit after I told her about her,” Kage replied with a chuckle, “I need to go call mom, I’ll let you know if I need to go anywhere.”
“Trusting me with your little sister?”
“Who else would I trust?” the black wolf replied with a chuckle before stepping out the front door and dialing the number to his mother’s office phone considering the time of day.
“Hello who is this?” his mother’s voice came through the phone after two rings.
“It’s me; Shara’s here and extremely upset with all of us it would seem. How did she get here?”
“I’m aware, if you’d like to come by before school lets out I’d be happy to talk to you about it,” she replied sounding overly business like.
“Jack’s there isn’t he?” Kage asked with a growl.
“That’s right school is dismissed at three today,” the brown furred grey wolf replied kindly.
“I’m on my way, keep him there,” Kage said before hanging up the phone and ducking his head back in and nodding when Melony looked at him.
He left the house in a roll of tire smoke from the back end of his truck as he raced towards his mother’s school to find out just what his father had said to upset Shara. When he arrived he parked the truck in the staff area as he always had and ran into the building, not even slowing down when a class of students greeted him in the hallway or when the receptionist in the office waved. Right before he barged into the office he heard his mother speak.
“Jack, why do you think I would let you take my daughter to South Carolina after what you did to Kage?”
“Look what I did to Kage was stupid, I know that and honestly I hate myself for it because I can’t even talk to my own son without him growling at me,” Jack’s voice replied calmly, “Look I’m only asking for a year with Shara, the only time I see her is when I come up here for visitation, I got lucky a few weeks ago and got to see her for a few hours with her classmates.”
“Yeah and you violated the supervised visitation agreement when you did.”
“She was surrounded by her classmates, two chaperones, her teacher and her older brother! How much more supervised can you get?!”
“With her MOTHER there as the agreement states! You’re not taking my daughter Jack, period end of story.”
There was a long silence that Kage was tempted to enter the room and not leave it until his father was nothing more than minced wolf meat on the carpet, but his self control won out when the grey and black furred wolf cleared his throat.
“What happened with Kage wasn’t what I had in mind when I did it,” Jack’s voice came in a low sorrowful tone, “He got further out than we expected in a month, we had a search party in the air and on the ground looking for near three months.”
“And just what was it you did have in mind Jack?” his mother’s voice sounding extremely angry now, Kage could just make out the low growl in his mother’s throat, “What is it you planned without telling his mother for ELEVEN YEARS?”
“I admit it was a pretty selfish thing, I wanted to keep you, I knew our relationship was strained at best, totally screwed at worst, it was over summer vacation I thought we’d find him before school started up again so I put him out in the woods hoping he’d learn to cope on his own for a while.”
“HE WAS THREE YEARS OLD JACK!”
Kage’s temper finally stepped over the line, his mother was angry, his sister was scared and angry, and Jack had just unknowingly told him exactly why he’d been left in the woods. He slammed the door open and immediately grabbed his father by the neck, picking him up out of the chair and slammed him against the office’s concrete block wall all in one swift and unhindered motion.
“Jack, I ever hear your voice in this school again I won’t stop at pinning you to the wall,” Kage growled through gritted teeth, “And before you say one thing about Shara, here is my word. You. Will. NOT. Take. Her.”
“Kage, stop it, he’s not worth your trouble,” his mother said coldly.
“Mother, he is the CAUSE of my trouble!” Kage said tightening his grasp on his father’s throat and slid him a few inches up the wall, “He fucking gave up on finding me!”
“I didn’t…give…up,” Jack manage to choke out despite his son’s tightening grasp causing him to see black spots as oxygen deprivation set in while his feet dangled just off the floor.
Kage let go of the larger wolf’s neck causing the older man to fall to the floor as he tried to regain his breath. The black wolf leaned down and looked his father in the eye very nearly muzzle to muzzle with the older wolf.
“I never want to see you again, if I hear you’re at the school, do your best to stay out of my sight because I will put you in the hospital again if I ever see you,” Kage said with a cold tone and a low growl in his throat.
“Kage, I didn’t give up, they made me stop looking,” Jack stammered through a few coughs.
“The rangers wouldn’t stop looking for a lost child, you know that better than anyone, and since I am YOUR child that should have heightened their resolve to find me,” the black wolf muttered through gritted teeth the growl being more prominent in his voice this time.
“It did, but after three months of looking they assumed the worst, and for a long time…so did I,” the grey wolf replied finally able to talk without coughing.
“And you still didn’t tell ME?” the brown furred wolf shouted from the other side of the desk, “Eleven years and you never thought ‘oh maybe I should tell her, her only son is dead’!”
“I didn’t want to lose you too.”
“Well you screwed that royal, cause now you’ve lost all of us, Shara included,” Kage said the growl still rolling in his chest each time he exhaled, “Mom, you get on the phone with whoever need be contacted, I’m calling Tank and Tiz at the station, there is an unemployed park Ranger trespassing on school property right now.”
“You can’t do that Kage!” Jack half shouted before a coughing fit hit him.
“Just watch me,” the black wolf replied as his mother picked up the phone on her desk and he pulled his out of his pocket.
Jack was fired from the Ranger service at King’s Mountain over the phone, Tizra informed him that he need not bother with picking up his last check; she’d just mail it to Shara in her name. The police and Veronica’s lawyer showed up at the school just a few minutes later, as it turned out the family lawyer had been looking forward to this day and already had the papers drafted for Jack to have no custody over Shara, they only needed to be dated and signed.
“Well, you finally got what you wanted, he’s completely out of your life,” the lawyer, a short lynx woman, said looking at Kage once Jack was well and truly gone from the school.
“Yeah, but it’s not the way I wanted it to happen,” the young black wolf replied calmly running a hand over the left most streak in his hair.
“And what way is that?” the lynx asked with a curious tone.
“The way that has the cops looking to put a needle in my arm,” Kage replied with a cold smirk before turning to his mother, “We need to talk to Shara, she’s probably wondering what had me riled enough to leave black patches of rubber on the road.”
His mother nodded and grabbed her pocket book and informed the lady fox behind the desk she was leaving for the day and that she would be taking a couple of days off to be with her daughter while she adjusted to no longer having a father.
“Kage, you didn’t happen to notice that you’re not wearing shoes right now did you?” the brown furred wolf asked as they walked down the hall, Kage’s clawed tapping against the tiles with each step.
“I didn’t honestly, was in a bit of a hurry if you didn’t notice,” Kage replied scratching the back of his head a bit, “Would have been while I was running that I would have noticed though.”
“Too angry at your father for upsetting Shara?”
“Too angry at him to see straight, much less think about my shoes. How did Shara get to my house?”
“One of the office ladies lives out your way and had to go home for personal reasons, Shara grabbed a ride with her.”
“Least you knew about it,” Kage said with an almost emotionless tone.
“That lady was smart enough to call me and tell me the second Shara was out of the car otherwise I wouldn’t have,” Veronica said as they got to Kage’s truck, “I’ll take my car so you don’t have to bring me back.”
When they arrived at Kage’s house, Shara and Melony were kicking a soccer ball back and forth while Kit ran next to the ball trying to figure out a way to catch something that was nearly twice her size.
“Umm, is that…a fox playing with your sister?” the brown furred lady wolf asked as she stepped from her own car, watching the small fox jump at the soccer ball and fly off as it continued on its path.
“Yeah…that’s going to take a little explaining,” Kage replied with a nervous tone as he scratched his ear a bit.
Just then the small fox kit spotted Kage and came running over to him and jumped clear into his arms and started licking his muzzle.
“Awww, she missed her papa,” Melony said in a cute tone of voice making Kage groan a bit when his mother looked at him confusedly.
“Mom, meet Kit, the feral fox that most of that beagle teacher’s class have been talking about since they got back Friday,” the black wolf said holding the orange ball of fur out for his mother to see.
“And when did this become okay by the law?” she asked simply staring at the kit.
“Oh it’s not, but next time I go out I’ll be taking her with me since by then she’ll be big enough to hunt on her own,” Kage said calmly earning two serious glares from his sister and girlfriend, “We have no right to take her from her natural habitat,” he added placing Kit back on the ground, the young kit immediately going back to trying to get a grip on the soccer ball.
“And what makes you think she wants to go back?” Shara asked with a huff.
“I don’t, that will be up to her, same as my buck back in the park,” the black wolf replied coolly, “So I will be taking her with me, if she comes back with me it will not be because I carried her out.”
Melony saw what he was getting at and nodded her agreement without word but Shara put up a bit more of a fight before seeing things her brother’s way. Melony went to her Tuesday night classes before any serious family business would be discussed. As soon as the golden eyed husky was supposed to be sitting in her class for the night, Kage brought up the subject of Jack.
“Shara, you’ll be happy to know I talked Jack out of taking you to South Carolina for school next year,” Kage said with a smile when his sister lit up like a Christmas tree, “But there is something we need to tell you,” he added after letting her celebrate for a bit.
“What?” the young grey furred wolf girl asked not liking the heavy silence in the room.
“You won’t be seeing your father for a long while dear,” their mother answered not knowing exactly how to put what she really wanted to say into words appropriate for an eleven year old.
“How long a while?”
“Sis, it’s likely you won’t see him again unless you go looking for him,” Kage answered calmly, “He and I had it out a bit, Mom and Jack signed some papers today that said he can’t come to visit anymore.”
“Why not?” Shara asked starting to tear up a little.
“He finally told us why he left your brother like he did,” their mother replied moving next to her daughter, “This wasn’t your fault honey, it was all on your father,” she added wrapping her daughter in a hug.
“If his reason was bad enough for you to do all this without telling me first, I don’t want to see him either,” Shara said with a cold tone as she sniffed back a small sob.
“Sis, I’d rather you didn’t see him again, but I’d also rather you think about it with a calmer head,” Kage replied shocking his mother and sister, “I know what it was like growing up without family, but now I have my family and I don’t want to lose any of it, except Jack that is.” He added with a small smirk.
“Kage is right honey, let’s take a few days and all of us calm down a bit, we’ve all had a long day,” the brown furred lady wolf responded looking more to her daughter, “Let’s you, me and Kage skip school tomorrow and go somewhere fun.”
“Can Melony come too?” Shara asked excitedly.
“Sure she can, she’s got a day off from classes tomorrow, some kind of staff thing,” Kage replied.
“Great. Who is Melony to us again?” Veronica asked with a confused glance toward her son.
“She’s Kage’s girlfriend and Kit’s suro… surra...” Shara paused to try and think of the right word
“Surrogate,” Kage supplied with a smile.
“Right, surrogate mother,” the youngest wolf finished with a wide smile.
“So that’s the reason you wanted me to take Shara home from Mrs. Melik’s trip, you had a date,” their mother said with a knowing look that matched her tone, “I’m happy for you dear,” she added once she had watched him squirm for a few moments.
“We were trying to move a little slower, we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but Kit made things go a little faster,” Kage said with a slightly uncomfortable tone.
“Didn’t she stay here the week before last?” Shara asked making their mother’s eyes shoot wide open.
“She did, but she stayed in your room for the most part smarty pants,” the black wolf replied with a teasing tone.
“I can’t believe it, you’re uncomfortable around everyone, and you let someone stay here?” their mother interrupted.
“I’m comfortable with her,” Kage admitted quietly, “Took me pretty well by surprise too, believe me.”
When Melony returned from her class a little early she and Kage set about making dinner for everyone. The oldest wolf in the room was shocked to see how well they worked together, retrieving items without needing to be asked for them, moving about without even coming close to running over each other despite the limited space in the kitchen, and most importantly for Kage, in near total silence.
“They really work good together huh?” Shara asked quietly from her seat next to her mother.
“They work do work well together,” her mother replied adding a little emphasis on ‘well’ to point out her daughter’s mistake.
Shara simply waved off the correction and got up to go play with Kit for a while before dinner was ready. After a while they sat down to a well prepared meal of chicken alfredo while the small fox had a plate with a piece of plain chicken on it. Shara and Melony spent most of the meal talking about exactly what they would do during their ‘sick day’ the next day.
“Hey what about the Zoo? It’s fairly close and should be relatively empty being so late in the year,” Melony suggested with a smile.
“Is it still open to the public this late in the year?” Kage asked sitting just to the golden eyed husky’s left.
“Should be with it being Autumn, don’t know for sure though, we can find some way to check though,” Veronica replied with pulling her smart phone out of her pocket.
“I heard they keep a couple of feral wolves there, I want to see those most!” Shara replied shifting in her seat excitedly.
“What for? You want to see a wolf? Go down the hall and look in the mirror,” Kage teased earning him a kick to the shin under the table which he just laughed at.
“I mean I want to see a red wolf like they have there,” the young grey and black furred wolf replied with an angry tone.
“Oh, Melony you have a picture of your dad right? He’s a red wolf,” the black furred wolf said turning to his girlfriend.
“Oh stop it Kage, at least she’s curious about ferals,” the golden eyed husky replied rolling her eyes at him.
“She’s not curious she wants to play with them,” Veronica stated calmly, “They’ll be open tomorrow so we can do the Zoo.”
Shara gave a yelp of happiness as she jumped up from her chair and started chasing Kit around the house. The young feral fox had been so frightened by the sudden ruckus that she wouldn’t let the young wolf get anywhere near her though.
“That is going to be a problem,” Kage said watching his sister.
“What is?” the brown furred wolf asked looking into that direction.
“We won’t be able to take her tomorrow, someone finds out they’ll take Kit away from us and put her in that Zoo,” the black wolf replied scratching at the silver streak over his left ear.
“And we can’t leave her here either because she won’t stay away from either of us for too long at a time,” Melony added with a slightly sad tone.
“We could get someone to watch her, someone we trust not to say anything,” Veronica said hoping to find a solution.
“Mom, think on that one a sec, who do I trust that is not sitting in this room?” her son asked with a slight chuckle.
“Think she’d hang out with Tanker?” Melony asked reaching pretty far for a hope that someone wouldn’t have to stay.
“Too far out, plus he’s working tomorrow, but I think I know a kitten that would love the job,” Kage said remembering someone who was there when Kit came into the camp grounds.
“Oh brother, he’s got that look in his eye, he’s about to do something off the wall,” Melony said with an exasperated tone.
“Not too far off the wall, Terra was there when Kit first showed up, I doubt she’d turn down the idea of watching her for us,” the black wolf replied leaning back in his chair.
“You can’t expect me to let a girl take this fox to school with her, there is a no pets rule there,” Veronica interrupted with a cold tone.
“And yet you have an upper el teacher with a poodle in her classroom every day, and a pre-k teacher with a Chihuahua in his room.”
“I guess one more animal wouldn’t hurt then,” the brown furred wolf replied with a tone that said she knew about those but no one else was supposed to.
“Besides that class did ask for an update but I haven’t had the chance and none of them know she’s here,” Melony said with a giggle at the thought of that group of students going wild when they saw Kit again.
“I don’t know that Kit will be okay with that, but what else can we do mom?” Shara asked having finally caught the young fox.
“Call your ‘kitten’ Kage and pray you get your little fur ball here back,” their mother replied with a chuckle as she rubbed the kit’s head.
Kage took out his phone and dialed the number he’d gotten from Samson the week before in case he needed an extra hand. He explained the situation in a ‘beat around the bush’ fashion as he tried to figure out what to tell the Bengal tiger before Melony snatched the phone and put the problem out point blank. Samson agreed to play babysitter for Kit since Terra’s classmates would probably smother the poor thing if someone wasn’t with her.
