“You sure this is going to work?”

Drake felt his temple throb at Tic’s question. The first time hadn’t been so bad. The second only a little annoying. The tenth? Drake was considering which drug to pour in Tic’s water. “No, now stop asking before I decide I like you better tied and gagged.”

Tic grumbled and fiddled with the top of the cast on his leg. The broken ankle was limiting what he could accomplish, and it was impossible to keep the sand out, so Slick had (casual as you please, the bastard) suggested tempting their little fox mystery out for a snuggle fest. Drake didn’t know what irritated him more: that Tic was milking the injury for all the cuddles and babying he could get, or that the annoying twin might get to bond with the fox before he did.

And it wasn’t even the right fox. No one had ever seen a fox with marks like that, which was even more of a challenge. The fur color wasn’t natural and it would take some time for Drake to figure it out. That would go better with samples. He was hoping to get those tonight. Toc had egged some of the other students into daring the fox into something harmless but stupid again. If the reaction was the same as before then Blackie would be in the room instead of the other two, he’d get annoyed by the childish taunts, then he’d come sneaking in for a quiet place to sleep.

“Tell me a story, please?” Tic asked as he turned in his chair to give puppy eyes.

Drake rubbed at his temple. “Aren’t you a bit old for bedtime tales?” he asked. Besides, he thought the other twin was the one who made Trace tell stories.

“I’m bored,” Tic whined. “And if you don’t I’ll tell the captain you were mean to me.”

“The captain knows better.”

“Fine. I’ll tell Slick.”

Drake let out a huff of air. Slick knew better too, but Slick wasn’t above teasing Drake about it for days. “You are a little shit.”

“What’re you going to do about it?” Tic taunted. “Come on, it’s just a story. I’ll make it easy: tell me about when the captain found you.”

Like that was easy. Still, it was just a story, and one that all of the pack had heard before. It wasn’t a secret. And there was a shadow in the corner of the room which might just be the guest they were hoping for.

“Just one story,” Drake said. “Then you get back on your cot and try to sleep. I know the cast is itchy but that ankle isn’t going to heal if you don’t rest it.”

“About you and the captain?” Tic was practically bouncing, and Drake realized he’d scented the fox too. The little devil was impossible to catch sight of; that ghost of a shadow was all Drake had glimpsed.

“Yes, yes. Me and the captain. It wasn’t really all that exciting, you know. Trace was his second, and I was third find. I was seven at the time, and already in trouble with the guards nearly every day. Back then we didn’t live in the ninja village, and my parents were often very busy. I had to entertain myself.

“The day the captain found me, I was running after one of the older kids from the market. The asshole had bullied one of my younger sisters, which was simply unacceptable. I crashed through too many people on the way, though, and one of them was this great brute of a guard. He had the nastiest breath on the planet, and half his ear was mangled by this hideous scar. Scared the living daylights out of me. So I did what any respectable seven year old does and screamed bloody murder.”

Tic giggled, and Drake leaned back in his chair. The tension was slowly easing from his shoulders; the tight knot at the back of his neck was fading. He wasn’t sure if that was the story or the smell of fox in the air.

“Half the street started shouting at that. Some of them were reprimanding the guard, but most of them were just telling me to shut my trap. All of them were looking at me, though, and the guard looked like he’d suddenly been handed a live bomb. He shook me a bit to try and stop the screams. When the captain’s voice cut through the crowd - even at ten years old the guy could make grown wolves stop and grovel - he told the wolf to stop mishandling his pack, and if it happened again the guard would go home with no hands. Then the captain took mine and led me to his caretakers.

“Bit of a shock, seeing them. It wasn’t right having all that fancy right there on GuardWatch street, where we knew exactly where we stood. Not rich and not poor, we had just enough to make it out of the slums but not enough to be considered honorable. And the captain just screamed ‘rich’ to the whole neighborhood.

“I booked it out of there, found my sisters, and went straight home. Enough was enough, and that was that.” Tic twitched an ear and his tail wagged, too keyed up by the story and the fox to be anywhere near sleep. Drake smirked. “The end. That was how the captain and I met.”

“What!” Tic yelped. “But - that wasn’t the whole story! How’d you get here? Didn’t he scent you? He claimed you in front of the guard!” The shock of the abrupt end successfully distracted Tic from the soft sigh that came from the bed.

“You didn’t ask for that one. You asked for when the captain and I met. Which I told you, and now you need to go to bed, as you promised.” Drake cocked his head to the side and gave a quick gesture with his chin to remind Tic there was someone waiting for the wolf behind the curtain.

Except Tic seemed nervous now. In quick hand motions he asked is it him while his mouth said: “I feel cheated.”

Drake signed back it’s Blackie and verbally answered, “Not my fault. You want more details, ask Trace. He’s a better story teller.”

“You know, when Toc asks Trace for stories he gets cuddles.” But is it him?

“I’m not Trace,” Drake said firmly. I don’t know. “If you’re good and go to bed now, I might join you in my fur when I go to sleep.” Get in there.

Tic shuffled into the other room, but didn’t say anything. Drake wondered for a moment if the fox was in hiding still, or if he’d chosen a different bed. After several minutes where the only sound was the rustling of sheets, the noise finally settled.

Drake considered going in immediately, but knew that would just raise alarm bells with the fox. He needed time to adjust. Tic could get away with being extra cuddly and needy because he was hurt.

And Drake needed to look into that. They’d expected the fight, and planned for it to an extent. Tic’s ankle should not have broken with that little bit of stress. Something was off. The blood samples he’d taken hadn’t revealed anything unusual; had the opponent been stronger than expected? A few of the pigs had survived the poison Drake had concocted, though the target was killed and the mission had been a success. Perhaps he needed a way to make the twins stronger physically. The danger of pretending to be younger than they were was that they couldn’t fight back the way an adult would and keep their cover. That increased chances for injury.

And the fox. There was a mystery there to solve as well. Standing and stretching, Drake went to see what had happened between the fox and the wolf. As expected, Tic had curled up on the same bed as Blackie. Drake had made sure only one bed was made; the others were stripped of their blankets and pillows and pushed to the side. The one remaining bed was large enough for a pack, so two smallish ninja fit easily.

Blackie was again curled around a pillow with a slight smile on his face, a bit of drool dangling from his slightly open mouth. Tic was curled behind Blackie with an arm over the fox’s waist and his nose buried in Blackie’s neck. Both had managed to fall soundly asleep.

Reaching down, Drake pulled the covers up and settled the sheet over their shoulders. It was too hot to sleep without the cooling sheets, especially with packmates so close and sharing body heat. With quick fingers, Drake snipped a small bit of hair and hid the small scissors. He waited a moment, but the slight sound hadn’t woken the fox.

It was a shame, but he had to step away and leave the two to sleep alone. That odd color fur needed to be solved more than Drake needed to sleep.