A/N: Writer's block and video games resulted in this chapter being delayed. I rewrote this chapter about ten times.
Chapter 17: Foxhaven
Every moment spent in the car's trunk strengthened Jewel's determination. Whatever her family decided was a worthwhile punishment she would suffer it obediently. Her status was lower than a mammal and they treated her worse than a pet – something she totally deserved for playing with Nick's emotions and lying to his face.
Suddenly, the car stopped, and moments later Janna opened the trunk. Jewel saw that everyone was there and Janna said ominous words that made her despair, "You have one chance. You made speak."
Jewel swallowed her pride and said, "Please let me live with you in the house as your slave, Nick. I will cater to your every whim and desire so that one day I may earn your forgiveness."
"And if you fail?" Nick asked.
"I won't but you may send me back to Bunnyburrow, alone." Jewel knew that going back to Bunnyburrow was likely a death sentence for her, but she couldn't think of anything else to relay how serious she was. She could only hope that her offer was good enough.
"You know what going back to Bunnyburrow alone means, don't you?" Vivian said. "Let's hear you say it."
"I will likely die or suffer a worse fate when the industry takes its revenge. I'm also terrified of screwing up accidentally then I lose everything. Nick, will you accept this offer?" She got down on her knees.
"I can't," Nick said.
Her best wasn't good enough. She couldn't hold back her tears any longer.
"Even if I want you out of my life, that doesn't mean I want you dead. There's no way you're going back to Bunnyburrow alone even when you fail."
"What happens now?"
"You'll become my obedient slave and if you fail, you'll live somewhere safe, but away from me."
"Oh, yes! Please," Jewel exclaimed.
"Let's get you out of this cage and some clothes."
Jewel enjoyed the comfort of Nick's fur when he embraced her. She missed his scent and his touch during the last few days. A sudden flash caught her eye, she saw Clawhauser holding a camera. That cheetah tagged along after all it seemed.
When it came to seating arrangements between the two cars, they made Jewel sit beside the two kits she rescued long ago. What made it better was that Nick was in the front of the car so he wasn't that far away from her. She could smell his scent that she missed so much.
"Did you know how worried we were?" Adam said.
His voice made her feel guilty. They looked up to her so much. She tried her best to justify her actions. "I didn't think it would go this badly. Back then, I envisioned a simple apology would be enough and I would kill someone who deserved to die. Not only did I miss my target, but Nick was also furious with me since he's very insecure about his body."
"Idiot." Amanda slapped her. "Nick would've helped."
Jewel rubbed her cheek. "The most Nick would've done is sent the mammal behind bars. That wolf would use the prison system as a revolving door. That wolf needed to die."
"You are aware that I'm sitting at the front, right? My issue is that you would lie to my face," Nick said.
"And? I'm sure you know everything already since Janna pieced everything together."
"She might've been wrong so we still need to hear it from you," Judy said while driving.
"Just focus on the road." Jewel clenched her teeth. "We can talk about this later."
"Oh, tell us everything," Adam said.
"That sounds like an excellent idea," Nick chimed in.
She couldn't disobey this order for fear of expulsion from her family, but she had no desire to reveal the entire truth.
"And leave nothing out."
"Shouldn't everyone hear this?" Jewel said in an attempt to buy time. Their group consisted of two cars driving towards Foxhaven. That meant that half wouldn't be present for her revelation. "Vivian especially."
"Good point."
A crisis momentarily averted. She hoped that Nick would forget about this by the time they arrived at Foxhaven. For the moment she watched the scenery as the car drove towards Foxhaven. Foxhaven was strange since there were no above-ground buildings. There were multiple signs to indicate where stuff lead underground. It looked like one gigantic park above ground.
When they arrived, she couldn't believe that they requested her to confess her crimes straight to the council ruling Foxhaven. It was even worse when she learned that it included the stunt that landed her the role of obedient slave since she wanted to remain with her mate and her littermates. The council had no need to know these details, they would only cast her in a more unfavorable light.
"Are you serious?" Jewel said. "You all just want me gone! Not even being your obedient slave is enough."
"I promise the council will do nothing to you if you tell the truth," Vivian said. "Don't forget they're sheltering us from Bunnyburrow. They already know the gist of it, but hearing it would be confirmation. You don't have a choice."
"Nick?" She turned to him, hoping that he would object. After a few moments of silence, she said, "Fine, this is a bad idea."
They walked into the ruling council's burrow where three foxes awaited them. The council's attire made her pause in her step. The council wore casual clothing depicting their various interests. A mismatched group of seven rabbits, two foxes, and one cheetah stood before the council.
Before anyone said anything, Jewel said, "For the record, I will not say anything until I have assurances of immunity."
"Granted," Councilor Raal said. "We already know about Bunnyburrow."
Jewel left nothing out of her tale. She even salivated at the parts where she recounted the ways she tortured foxes. No one was uncomfortable with her display much to her dismay. Not a moment of fear, not even during the more graphic parts of her tale where she skinned someone alive and forced him to beg for mercy.
"And now you know it all. Thanks to our deal earlier, nothing will happen to me either." She stuck out her tongue as if she won something.
Councilor Megan grinned. "Oh, don't worry about that, I'm sure nothing will happen between you and Nick as a result. As promised, we won't do anything to you, but as for your domestic situation… I hope you enjoy the role of a slave. This was a live broadcast. All of Foxhaven knows who you are now, but don't worry only your actions within Foxhaven will matter. Please enjoy your stay."
She cursed that vixen for snatching away her feeling of victory. After her tale, they received the location of their quarters where they'll be staying at.
"Wait, there are other foxes willing to live with us?" Jewel said upon learning that they wouldn't be living alone. Not even close to it. "Aren't they afraid of what I might do?"
"Survival of the fittest. Natural selection. Please do feel free to kill anyone you wish. I'm sure there won't be any consequences for you." Megan unnerved her since she boldly suggested sarcastically that she was free to kill anyone. Jewel couldn't believe how unsettling this vixen was. "I trust your family to keep you in line even if I don't trust you. If you mess up, you'll probably spend the rest of your life with restraints and a feeding tube. You're too smart for that to happen, aren't you? Foxhaven views each other as one big family."
Jewel nodded.
"Given your unusual circumstances, we've decided that you should all live here." Councilor Julie pointed to a place on the map.
"This is agreeable," Vivian said.
On the way to their new home, Nick made it adamantly clear that he wanted to speak to Jewel alone. She noted that Nick cared more about her than Jill who seemed frightened every step of the way. Once they arrived, the first thing Nick did was lead Jewel to a designated private room. There were other foxes living with them now, and outside of the designated private room, everything else was communal property.
Jewel felt anxious as they broke off from the group and walked towards the private room since Nick sounded serious. Once they arrived without incident, she feared what might happen.
He remained silent for a moment too long. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked. "I'm sorry my black fur lost its usual luster."
Nick shook his head. "Your fur is as beautiful as ever. I want you to know that you're still my mate despite everything that happened. Let's spend some …. quality time together." The last words seemed forced out of his mouth as if it took extreme effort to say.
She knew that Nick desired her body in the past. He couldn't resist her gorgeous black fur. She guessed this was an invitation for them to have some fun. However, she noticed when she approached that his fur started to bristle. It didn't help that his previous actions seemed to hold some minor reluctance.
Tears flowed from her eyes as she decided to turn away. "You're forcing yourself to do this. This is wrong. You should be happy."
"How can I? I need to satisfy you so that you won't do something that I'll regret."
"Do whatever you need to do to me so that you can be happy. My own desires should not matter at all."
"Come."
He led her out of the room to a room with shock collars and various other types of equipment. Along the way, they had to avoid the new overly curious foxes living with them. Jewel found it was sheer lunacy that they would allow kits of other foxes to live with them. It wasn't that she was going to harm them, but she had the capacity to kill and a reputation for doing so.
"Nick, please tell me this isn't what I think it is. You're getting a shock collar for yourself?" Jewel said.
"So, you can use it instead of doing something drastic. It's better this way."
"I can't be trusted with the remote."
"I can't trust you without one either."
"Oh, Nick." She hugged him. "Things would be better off if I weren't here, wouldn't it?"
"I just wish you were compassionate."
"I will do my best to make it up to you. You mean a lot to me. My siblings should be able to help." Thankful that he didn't stop her from leaving the room, she went to find her siblings. The very idea that Nick collared himself and gave her the remote disturbed her greatly. Her own shock collar was well deserved, but he shouldn't be wearing one out of fear of her actions. She hoped that her siblings could do something to alleviate her fears. What scared her most of all was that she might shock Nick when she shouldn't.
Once she was outside of the designated private area, a group of rambunctious kits ambushed her as their prey.
"I caught the dangerous bunny," a kit bragged.
"I caught her first," another kit said.
"Where are your parents?" she said with annoyance. "Don't you know how dangerous I am?"
The not-so-bright one said, "There's one of you and five of us."
"Don't you want to play with us?" a kit begged.
She could easily overwhelm the five kits on top of her but tried to restrain herself from doing so. It was absurd that the kits in Foxhaven could live anywhere they wanted. They weren't afraid of her, and they must've known her grisly deeds too.
"And I refuse?"
"Aww, it's so rare that we see something other than a fox. Please?"
"Fine, if only for a bit," she grudgingly consented.
"Yay!" they all exclaimed.
She found it reminiscent of the days in Bunnyburrow where she played with her younger siblings. They slowly walked around her while one or two rode on her back. These kits likely didn't understand what she truly did and treated her as someone that was normal. It would be easy for her to kill them, but she had no desire to do so. Though the very fact that she could and has killed in the past should bother them except it didn't. They wanted to hear stories, so she had to dig into her memories about the more innocent adventures that were suitable for her audience. Tales of torture and death weren't suited to six to nine-year-old kits after all.
"Aww, when do you get to the good stories?" a kit said. "You know the ones where you hunted foxes?"
"Are you crazy?" Jewel looked at him incredulously. "Won't your parents care? You're all too young to hear these stories."
She heard an unknown voice, "How are you liking these accommodations?"
When she turned towards the voice's direction, she saw an adult fox. "Oh good." She quickly explained her current dilemma.
"Shouldn't you be happy that kits are willing to be around you and willing to hear about your past?"
"You can't possibly approve of this."
"They know what they're getting into. Don't they?" He glanced at the kits gathered around Jewel.
"Of course," they replied.
Just like that, he walked away leaving Jewel with the kits. She couldn't believe how irresponsible this adult was. Nevertheless, she was determined not to traumatize these kits with her past.
She sighed. "I'm really uncomfortable with this."
"We want to understand you, and to brag to our friends that we've heard a true scary story. Please? We'll behave."
"Fine, just stop me if it is too much…" With that, she began the tale of one of her past experiences. It was a time where she had to perform to a script with "actors" all selected and ready. They were innocent – as far as she knew but that didn't matter. The industry wanted her to torture and kill. That's what she did in order to survive.
"How did you feel during that?"
"I taught myself to enjoy it. How else could I remain sane? It was something that I had to do. The louder they screamed, the more points I gave myself and now I still enjoy the sound of screams."
"Have you tried designing something for Halloween?"
"What am I going to do with you?" She grabbed the fox kit as she stood up from her previous position, raising him off the floor until her eyes met his.
"Give me some cake?" He smiled sheepishly. "For a brilliant idea. Mammals could have fun and you can still enjoy the sound of their screams."
She clenched her teeth and tried to resist the urge to throw the kit across the room. The others tackled her to the floor, forcing her to let that one go. That suggestion was beyond absurd that it made her blood boil.
"Hey, Jewel, it looks like you're having fun." Janna walked into the scene with five kits on top of the black doe.
Jewel was eager to get away from her current situation. "We need to talk about Nick."
"That can wait. Enjoy the rest of the day."
"You're going to leave me with them?"
"Is that a problem?" Janna said. Her tone gave Jewel pause.
"Not at all," Jewel replied. This was better than incurring Janna's wrath. It wasn't that unbearable spending time with innocent and friendly kits that accepted her despite everything they knew.
