“Special?” That word hardly touched the surface. “Oh no,” Laurent explained with a slow shake of his head.

He and his fox have been together for so long, he can hardly remember a time without him. Nor does he want to. Almost losing him once was hard enough. When he thought Elyas was dying, Laurent could feel his own existence shrinking. Everything went cold and first the first time in memory, fear gripped him tight and cold. For many years after, he wouldn’t let the gumiho out of his sight.

“Elyas is my reason for being.”