Once they'd found seating in a secluded corner with hanging furs to muffle their conversation, Samantha asked, "Is there anything you want to say, or should I just blindly start asking you questions?" Spencer looked down momentarily out of guilt, but found the courage to meet her eyes before replying, "I could tell you about the ritual, if you would like." Nodding, Samantha agreed, "That sounds like a good place to start." He took a deep breath, drawing strength from the fact that Samantha had not yet let go of his hand; she still wanted to be connected to him, even when he had deliberately withheld information from her for the second time since they'd met not long ago. "The ritual," he began, "was something I stumbled on while I was studying in the Fox Kingdom. I'd been studying materials containing our laws, customs, and abilities for years, but this tome was hidden away with some of the more obscure paraphernalia that our remaining elders told me was worthless. It looked like it hadn't been touched for at least decades, if not longer, which made me all the more curious about its contents. So, in secret, I started to translate and test some of the rituals that had been lost to our tribe for our recorded history. Out of all the races of beastmen, foxes have the reputation for being the most cunning, and it is probably in part due to some of the fox magic I discovered there.

"I started out with smaller spells, such as enchanting water to put someone to sleep. You did experience the effects of that potion, though I wasn't the one who administered it to you," he confessed. He continued, "There were more complicated spells, like strongly suggesting to a much less powerful beastman that he do something he might not have otherwise decided to do, and I admit to having used that on Roger, the wolf beastman you first met here, when he mentioned mating with you and having cubs. That was why he gave you the enchanted water and returned to Scott's side; I didn't want him to scare you any more than he already did, and I didn't want him to get carried away with his task and fall irrevocably in love with you, like I already had." Samantha gave him a tired look and said, "Spencer, it sounds like a lot of this really is better left alone. Just the enchanted water and suggestive power give you too much power over those who can't defend themselves against them. Why would you then go and use even more powerful magic like a summoning ritual? Does your tribe know about any of this?" Spencer's fox ears drooped; he agreed with Samantha in theory, but without those spells, he would never have met her.

"I've been searching for a mate since I was old enough to know what one was," Spencer replied softly, "That's not unusual for beastmen, but in my tribe, no matter how old you are, you can't be recognized as an adult until you've mated. When a male mates, he receives a permanent increase in power, and our elders have held this increase, no matter how big or small, as the threshold of adulthood. The stronger the bond between mates, the greater the power each will receive when they mate; a female will be able to summon her male using his spousal mark on her body, and she can use a portion of his power in proportion to her feelings for him. But my tribe is dying out, and the act of reproduction took priority over love a long time ago. Regardless of any of this, I wasn't able to find a mate in the traditional way over years and years; I never met a soul that I wanted to be with forever, to make my home with, to love more than my own life. Not until I met you, after completing our Fox Tribe ritual on my own. I would have brought you to the home of my ancestors immediately if I could have, but they don't accept outsiders easily, and they would be displeased if they knew I had found my mate outside our tribe. Since we haven't officially mated yet, they would do anything they could to prevent it from happening, and I couldn't bring myself to put you in any kind of danger."

Samantha leaned her head on Spencer's shoulder, and his fox tail curled around her squishy hips protectively. "It sounds like I'm part of something dangerous anyway," she deflated, allowing his arms to hold her snugly against his side. "Why couldn't you have told me from the start that you'd summoned me here with a ritual? I thought I'd died, and you knew that and let me keep thinking it. We haven't known each other long, but you've had plenty of time to tell me," Samantha continued, wondering if she would ever understand beastmen, especially this particular one that she was considering spending her whole life with. "I never meant to hide it from you," Spencer said in an attempt to defend himself, "It's just that at first, well, I wasn't really talking to you at all because you thought I was a fox, and we discussed that already," he said quietly, nuzzling Samantha's head for a moment while shame and guilt made it too difficult for him to speak. "After that, things happened so quickly; you were sick and almost died, a melee free-for-all broke out on top of our home, you and Benjamin met and you seem unwilling to part ways with him- and it's not like I can tell any of this to him-, then we made our way to the city and picked up Bub, which gave us even less alone time together when that was the opposite of what I'd planned by taking you here. I guess I was just waiting for the right time, and the right time never came, and I never created one. I'm truly sorry, Samantha. I've let you down again, and I considered you last in all of my plans when I should have put you first."

Spencer felt Samantha's energy leeching out of her, and he cradled her into his arms while sweeping her legs into his lap with his smooth, silky tail. "What did you do for the ritual?" she asked him quietly; her lips brushed against his ear as his shoulder supported her head without much help from the overwhelmed female. "I wish you could remember it," he whispered back to her, "It was beautiful, and it was the most important thing I've done in all my life. I didn't know that I would be able to summon you from another world, but I looked for you everywhere in the spirit realm using all the love I'd saved for years to give to you and only you. It was crowded, and I had nobody to guide me, but I knew I had to find you; if I came back with anybody else, I think the magic might have killed me. It took time to find your voice because it was so quiet; I heard you begging for help, for any help, from anybody. I admit that it wasn't what I expected to hear. I never thought that you'd be in so much pain, or that your loneliness would be as bad as it was since you're a female. Even though I didn't have your consent to do the ritual, I felt that your cries were permission enough to take you away before someone else, or something else, could. I found my way to you and you lost consciousness when I carried you back through the spirit realm to my own world. I think now you know the story from there," he finished, planting a chaste, tear-laden kiss on the crown of her head.

"Are there any other secrets you're keeping from me, Spencer? I want to be your mate, but I don't know what else I need to prepare for. Please, let me hear whatever it is from you before I find out some other way," Samantha begged. "I'm so sorry, my love," Spencer whispered, his voice thick with tears, "I can't tell you anything else yet, and you can't find out anything more until we've mated. You would be in too much danger if you knew. I'm not strong enough yet to protect you on my own, and even with Benjamin as your guardian beast, you still wouldn't be safe. Scott, friend that he is, couldn't protect you from my race either if they got hold of a single shred of information. But I promise you that I will become strong enough to protect you and our family, and that someday, I won't have to hide one single thing from you, the female who has my heart now and forever." Samantha hadn't been expecting to take on this kind of stress in the idyllic world she had been summoned to, but she also didn't want to give up the embrace of her lover, even if it meant she could live an easier life. Even though her body had been strengthened and healed by the emerald spar she had taken, she felt as though she would collapse mentally under the weight of the truths she was now privy to. She kissed Spencer on his cheek, her own face wet with tears now too, and just laid her head back down wordlessly, her energy long spent.