My Pet Fox Is Actually A Demon Prince-Chapter 27: Fall Of The Crimson Den- I

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Calhoun had returned to the mortal realm, but in his true form.

He couldn’t help but use this presented opportunity to his advantage.

However, the very act had cost him more than he cared to admit. Power bled from him with each passing moment, his body still mending from internal wounds that had not fully healed. Even standing here in his true form required restraint, his strength carefully rationed.

But he was not reckless.

He was strategic.

Hiding away was his best option to recuperate.

But he refused, utterly refused, to place himself in the hands of those incompetent seniors who prided themselves on authority. He would not be caged by their limitations. Instead, he had come here for a far more compelling reason.

Her.

His human.

Even now, the thought of her stirred a quiet irritation beneath his composure. Of all things, a mortal had managed to occupy his mind, enough to draw him back to this mundane realm while he was still recovering, no less.

It was... inconvenient.

And yet—

Here he was.

That alone said more than he cared to acknowledge.

Calhoun exhaled slowly, his gaze sweeping over the unfamiliar land with cool detachment.

He intended to know more about her.

Afterall, nothing that caught his interest remained a mystery for long.

His first targets were the hyenas.

Tracking them proved far easier than he had originally anticipated. He stood at the forest’s exit, their stench lingering in the air, faint, but unmistakable.The dying light of the setting sun cast long shadows across the ground, and Calhoun tilted his head, as if listening to something only he could hear.

He had to find them before dawn.

With unhurried precision, he lifted his hands and gathered his silken hair, tying it into a neat bun at the nape of his neck.

Now... It was his turn to hunt.

A faint, dangerous smile curved his lips.

Calhoun made his way over the rolling hills, and through scattered, run-down villages as though the land itself bent to his will. Predators of his caliber never hurried.

As he passed one of the houses, his attention flickered briefly. A shawl hung neatly on a wooden frame, abandoned for the evening air. Without breaking stride, he plucked it free. Moments later, a round hat carelessly left by an open window joined it.

Humans were so trusting.

He draped the shawl over himself with practiced precision, wrapping it in a way that concealed most of his form. The fabric fell just enough to obscure his features, leaving only a glimpse of gold beneath. The hat was tipped low, shadowing his face further.

It was a crude disguise, he thought.

But necessary.

Even dulled by restraint, Calhoun’s presence was... excessive. He was too refined and too striking, the kind of beauty that did not belong among mortals, no matter how simply he dressed it. His first instinct had been to shapeshift, but since he possessed little energy for that, he had no choice but to venture as he was.

When he made it to an open town square, many eyes followed him. Subtle, curious glances trailed after him despite his efforts to remain unremarkable.

But he did not slow, nor did he acknowledge them.

Humans were insignificant creatures.

Except his human, of course.

His focus simply remained fixed on the fading scent belonging to the hyenas, and it guided him forward.

By the time he crested the hill, midnight had long claimed the sky, the crescent moon suspended high above. The narrow path beneath his feet led him to a solitary building, its sign swinging slightly in the wind:

THE CRIMSON DEN.

What caught Calhoun off-guard wasn’t the name, but the isolation. The structure stood alone, swallowed by shadows and far from any village or road. Only one path led to it, snaking through the dense, gnarled trees in an almost secretive way.

Somewhere in the distance, an owl shivered in its sleep. A sudden gust of wind swept through the space, stirring the dead leaves and making it whisper across the ground. Calhoun’s gaze dipped briefly to the dried leaves that rolled in front of him, and he stepped on it, moving forward without breaking stride.

He crossed the threshold of the building and stepped inside.

Immediately, his senses were under siege. Perfume, sweat, alcohol, and a pungent dizzying cocktail, assaulted his nostrils. He pressed the crook of his arm to his face to steady himself, though it did little to dull the intensity.

The room was crowded, noisy and unpleasantly chaotic. He moved with deliberate grace toward the stairs, ascending to the upper level. Each step was silent despite the clamoring throng, and then he understood exactly where he had walked into.

The conversations, the coarse laughter, whispered moans, the deals struck in shadow, slapped him with a wave of revulsion. His golden eyes narrowed, a twist of disgust settling across his finely chiseled features. He suddenly regretted the very sharpness of his senses.

What in the realm’s name was happening here?

And more importantly...

His human... had ended up in this filth?

For how long?

The thought made a cold flicker of anger ignite inside him.

Due to the overwhelming amount of mixed scents in the air, it made tracking the hyenas nearly impossible, but he was not deterred by it. Instead, he continued to wander the upper level, his formidable presence commanding.

Every mortal instinctively moved aside as he passed.

He slipped into a secluded corner, where multiple doors lined the walls. Pausing at one, he froze. Voices leaked through the door, a voice he recalled all too well, and beneath it came the unmistakable sobs of a woman.

Without thinking, he kicked the locked door open.

Inside, the scene confirmed his worst suspicion. The warden was there, and a woman was bent over him, exposed. Her cries were muffled by his cruelty as he slammed into her again and again.

Calhoun’s gaze flicked to the table beside them, and they settled on a hot metal rod bearing the mark he recognized in his human’s back.

His fists clenched.

"You wretches—!"

The warden’s need to blow off some steam came to a halt when he heard the door burst open behind him. He whipped his head around to see who had dared interrupt him, only for a hand to furiously drive the scorching metal into his eye.

"AHHHHHHHH!!"

The scream reverberated through the room, a violent symphony of pure terror. In the next minute, Calhoun’s hand was in the warden’s hair, dragging him across the floor and away from the trembling woman..

His golden eyes glinted with cold fury, and he held the man down.

Shifting his gaze to the woman on bed, he clicked his tongue in annoyance as she screamed next, cries bouncing off the wall as she recoiled upon herself.

Humans are so loud, he thought icily.

The woman’s back was bleeding, probably from where the warden had branded her flesh with the hot metal. He saw the fear in her eyes when she looked up.

"Get out," he commanded, his voice cold and absolute.

The woman did not hesitate. Gathering her clothes, she scrambled out of the room like a shadow in flight. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Now, it was only him, and the warden.

Calhoun released the man’s hair and stepped toward the door, the weight of his presence heavy in the enclosed space. With a casual flick of his hand, the door clicked shut behind him.

He turned to the warden who was struggling to remove the scorching metal from his eye. The smell of burning flesh was sharp enough to make Calhoun wrinkle his nose in distaste. The warden stopped what he was doing when he looked up to witness the intimidating presence advancing toward where he was, his one good eyes glazed over with fear.

The stranger before him was unnecessarily tall too, and he moved in a way that made even the predator feel like he was the prey this time.

Who was this man?

"You—"

"Do you want to live?"

Calhoun crouched before the warden, squeezing his face in his grasp. The warden’s remaining good eye darted to the long, sharpened nails, more like claws, that the man possessed, one already pressing into his skin.

"Then you’ll have to listen to me," Calhoun continued, placing one clawed finger to his lips in a quieting gesture. "Tell me, what do you know about the human girl that escaped from here?"