Madison Wolves

by natales2017

A story from Robin Roseau

1. Chapter 1

Of Fox and Fur

I love my life, most of the time. I was young, in great health, and with a job I loved. I wouldn't mind a good, strong, clever woman to love, but I was happy on my own as well.

Being a were fox comes with difficulties, of course. Every silver lining has a cloud somewhere, right?

As a woman, I was small. Diminutive might be an even better word. I was barely five feet if I stretched my back as straight and tall as I could, with sharp, delicate features and glowing red hair that tumbled over my shoulders and back. My hair turned eyes. I say that with a certain amount of vanity, but it was true.

As a fox, I would be considered large. Quite large, actually, when compared to a North American Red Fox. But compared to the other weres one might encounter, I was tiny. Small, delicate. Lunch.

Not that I needed to be worried about being eaten. First, they would have to catch me. And then they would find me bony and my meat stringy. No wolf would bother making a meal out of me when there was tastier prey to be had. Kill me, yes. Eat me, probably not.

Of the weres, the wolves were the worst. They were pack animals, so you rarely dealt with just a single wolf. A single wolf can be avoided. The tigers and lions were perhaps bigger, but they were far, far less common. The wolves were everywhere.

You probably even know a few, even if you aren't aware of it.

But the wolves were also arrogant and cocky, yet at the same time many of them had self esteem issues. Being hated and feared can do that to you, I suppose.

The number one rule amongst all weres is simple: do not mess with the humans. They outnumber us a thousand to one, and while even a were fox easily outclassed a single human, all the weres on the planet couldn't stand to the humans if they decided to exterminate us.

So if you're big, strong, arrogant, cocky, and have self-esteem issues, what do you do? You find a scapegoat, of course. You find someone to pick on, someone to belittle. You find someone beneath you, and then you make sure that person knows she is beneath you. And then you make sure she stays there.

In other words, you find a diminutive fox.

Like I said, every silver lining comes with a cloud, and for me, it was the wolves.

For the last eight years, the solution for me has been simple: I avoided them. It wasn't usually difficult; I could smell them from a mile away, after all. Usually literally. In town I avoided all the were hangouts. When wearing my fur and running through the forest, I avoided their territory, as much as I could. Prior to eight years ago, things were more complicated. We'll come back to that.

My job sometimes made voidance difficult, unfortunately. I worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and was based in northern Wisconsin. My offices were a little satellite office in Ashland, but my home was in Bayfield. I had a cute little house with a view of Lake Superior. From the roof. I actually built a deck up there with a patio door from my upstairs bedroom, then a set of stairs to the deck. It looked rather silly, I suppose, but I could sit up there with a glass of wine and watch the boats out on the water.

The nearest wolf pack of any size was in Duluth, but they stayed in Minnesota, and I didn't need to worry much about them. The pack I did worry about was in Madison. They considered most of Wisconsin as theirs, and my normally peaceful Bayfield frequently had wolf tourists strolling down the streets. Conveniently, the sort of wolf who liked to visit Bayfield wasn't the sort of wolf that felt the need to pick on the resident fox. If I encountered a wolf on the street or in the woods, I could usually count on a polite if somewhat arrogant nod hello.

And so, as I said: I love my life. My name is Michaela Redfur, and this is my story.

Wolf Visit

I did say "most of the time" somewhere, didn't I?

The insistent knock came before seven AM on a Tuesday morning in July. I'd had a late night run in the woods and didn't appreciate an early morning visit. My life was not the sort that typically brought visitors to my house. In fact, other than annoying salespeople offering free estimates on siding and windows or less annoying teenagers selling cookies or magazines, my door never received the attention of visitors.

Especially not visitors that woke me at a far too early hour.

If I ignore him, maybe he'll go away. That was my first thought.

The knocking turned into pounding and doorbell ringing. So much for that theory. I woke the rest of the way, pulled on some clothes, and padded down to the front door. I wasn't awake enough at first to think about it, but when I got to the door, I could smell them.

Wolves.

Oh hell.

As a human, my fox is never far from me. She was clever and very, very good at hiding. As a fox, my human was never far, either. I may act fox, but I retained my human memories and intellect. With wolves on my doorstep, Fox tried to assert herself. "Run," she whispered. "Hide."

I glanced out a window, unseen. Two wolves, male, large, were standing on the door. As I watched, one of them pounded on the door again while the other rang the bell. Insistent assholes.

Wolves at the front door meant it was time to go out the back. I crept to the kitchen and took a peek out the window.

"Damn it," I said. There were two more wolves there.

Oh sure, they looked human, if you didn't know better. They weren't.

The pounding at the front door continued, and then I heard a voice, muffled. "Come on, Ms. Redfur. We just need to talk to you."

Yeah, right.

Silently, I crept back upstairs, considering my choices. I smiled a grim smile. In my fur while they were still on two feet, I was faster than they were, and this was my town. It would take them time to shift, and I could be long gone. I would circle into the hill overlooking my house where I could watch them.

I slipped into my bedroom, shedding my clothing. Quietly I opened the patio door, and then I began my shift. This was another advantage I had over the wolves. Their shifts were slow and painful. Mine was quick, instant really, and quite easy for me.

Once furry, I stretched, reveling in the feel. I loved my fox. She was sleek and cunning, with sharp senses. I sniffed the air and wrinkled my nose. With the patio door open, the air stank with the smell of wolf.

Unseen, I slipped out the door and stepped onto the roof of my house. Most of my house is two stories high, far higher than I would have preferred to jump. There was a roof over the front entry, but I didn't want to jump down that close to the two wolves out front. I may not have planned this as well as I would have liked.

The wolves made up my mind for me, however. From the front of the house I heard the sound of breaking glass. They had grown impatient and were breaking into my house. Breaking and entering. I should have called the police. Just what I needed: a bloodbath between were and human.

But if they were inside the house, that meant the front was safe. Carefully and silently, I slipped down to the edge of the roof then jumped to the lower roof over the entrance. It was still a long jump to the ground, but I dropped and rolled.

I climbed to my feet, bruised from the fall, then shook my fur out and began running silently along the front of the house and turned the corner, my nose to the hills, but ran smack dab into a pair of jeans. Then there was a hand in the scruff of my neck, and I found myself lifted into the air.

As a human, I didn't even reach one hundred pounds. As a fox, I was barely thirty pounds. That made me a very large fox, but picking me up was nothing to the female wolf I found looking at me. She held me at arm's length, facing her.

"Got her," she said, loudly enough for the other wolves to hear.

I immediately lashed out with teeth and claws. I stretched my neck and nipped at her arm. I couldn't reach her hand in my neck, but I drew blood from her arm. I went wild, trying to scratch her with my feet and trying to bite her again. I squirmed and struggled.

In response, she tightened her grip in my neck, and it hurt. I was hanging from the skin of my neck, and it hurt. I wasn't a kit to be carried around like this. And besides, it was embarrassing.

"Stop it," she hissed. "You're just hurting yourself."

I snapped and struggled, finally getting lucky and burying my teeth in her arm again. She growled, a deep feral growl. I had been a long time since I was last growled at by a wolf so close to me, and it scared me, it scared every corner of me. I needed to run. I needed to hide.

I squirmed and struggled.

She shook me roughly. "Stop it," she said again. "We're just here to talk."

It was clear I wasn't going to free myself. Her grip was way too strong, and my bites had done nothing but make her angry. I went limp, pretending to be dead, pretending she had snapped my neck when she shook me.

She began carrying me to the front door of my house. She growled again, and I almost wet myself in fear.

I wouldn't give her that satisfaction.

She turned me around, holding me in front of her, then wrapped her second hand around my chest under my front legs.

"You can stop faking," she said. "I can feel your heartbeat."

I reached down and bit her hand.

"Damn it!" she said, pulling her hand away. She shook me again. "Stop that!"

I yipped in pain and fear. I didn't like being shaken like that.

We got to the front door, and I saw the wolves had broken the window to get in. She carried me up the steps, stepping over the broken glass, and walked into my house. The other four wolves waited for us. One of them closed the door behind us.

My captor maintained her grip, holding me away from her body, and my attempts to bite and scratch weren't getting me anywhere. Frustrated, I fell limp again.

I hate wolves.

One of the males walked up to me. I eyed him carefully but remained passive.

"Careful, she's-" my captor started to say.

I lunged at the male, my teeth grazing his cheek.

"Damn it!" he yelled, jerking back. Then he raised a hand and swung at me. If he had connected, he would certainly have killed me. Even a human his size could kill me with a blow like that, and he had the strength of a wolf.

But the woman snatched me out of his range and held out her other hand. "Eric. No! Stand down."

"The bitch bit me," he said, glaring at me.

"I tried to warn you," the woman said. "She's scared. What would you do?"

"She needs to learn her place," he replied.

"I said stand down," the woman said again, and there was steel in her voice. The male immediately backed off, his proverbial tail between his legs.

The woman, my captor, had shielded me from the male with her own body, pulling me close to her. I thanked her by reaching up and biting her neck, then renewed my squirms and struggles for freedom.

"Damn it!" she yelled, her free hand flying to the bite on her neck. She shook me again. "Stop it, Michaela!" She shook me again, and I yelped and whined, struggling and trying to bite. "We just want to talk to you. Stop it!"

By now, I was frightened into a full panic, the scent of wolf filling my nose, and I hurt. I yipped and struggled and tried to bite her again, but she held me at arms length and let me wear myself out.

As a were, I have a lot of endurance, and I was very scared. She let me struggle for what seemed like a very long time, but was probably only several minutes.

"Give her to me," one of the other males said. "I'll make her settle down."

"No," the woman said. "She's just scared. I'd put her down, but I don't know how long it would take to catch her again if she decided to hide." Then she turned me around to face her, and I tried to bite her arm.

"Stop it, Michaela!"

Her words weren't really penetrating. Fox was in full control, and all I could think of was escaping and hiding from the big bad wolves.

"Take her to the bathroom, Alpha," I heard. "Nowhere to hide in there."

"Good idea," the woman said.

Still at arm's length, the woman carried me deeper into the house and into the downstairs bathroom. It was only a half bath. She looked at it for a moment and turned me to face her.

I almost got her face that time. She cuffed me for my attempt, and I hung limp for a moment, dazed.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't intend to hit you. Please stop struggling, Michaela. I know you're scared, but please stop struggling. You must have a second bathroom. This one is too small."

I glanced up for a moment, and she smiled.

"Of course. Upstairs."

I hung limp from her hand as she carried me upstairs. It took her a moment to find my bathroom. It was actually through the bedroom. She carried me inside, then closed the door and turned me to face her again.

"I am going to put you down. I am nearly out of patience. Do not bite me again."

She crouched down, lowering me, and my rear feet found purchase on the slick floor. She set me down gently, her hand still in my neck, then held me there. I stayed still, passive. She could snatch me back into the air at a moment's notice, and I was tired of being carried by my scruff.

It hurt.

Then her fingers relaxed, and I immediately scampered away from her.

My upstairs bathroom is a luxury for me, one of my few luxuries. In addition to the toilet and shower, there was a large tub that I could soak in for hours. There wasn't, however, anywhere to hide. I ran to the furthest corner of the room from the wolf, then turned around and glared at her.

She stood straight, leaning against the door, and crossed her arms. The bites I'd given her had already healed, but blood had dripped into her clothes and was smeared on her arm, one hand, and her neck. I hadn't put up much of a fight, but at least I had drawn blood.

There was only one door to the bathroom, of course, but there was also a window. It was closed, but I glanced at it, wondering if I could break it as a fox.

"I would catch you before you got that far," the woman said. "Can we please not go through all that again?"

I glared at her and backed more deeply into the corner.

She sighed. "Shift back, Michaela. We'll talk, and then we'll leave you alone."

I yipped at her, angry and frightened. They had invaded my house, uninvited. They had broken my window. She had hurt me, and the other one tried to kill me. And she thought I wanted to talk to her?

"I'm sorry we frightened you," she said quietly. "Frankly, it didn't occur to me that you would be afraid of us."

She was crazy, right?

She chuckled. "I know. It should have. Five big mean wolves, and you just a fox."

I glared and yipped at her, spitting. I wasn't "just" an anything.

She held up her hands in surrender, smiling without showing her teeth. "I didn't mean it like that, Michaela. You're a fine fox, sleek and beautiful."

Well, she was right. I was sleek and beautiful. I calmed down a little.

"I only meant your size," she added. "That's all. You're a fine fox, Michaela. Shift back so we can talk."

If she thought I was going to shift in front of her, she was definitely insane.

I spit at her.

I hate wolves.

She sighed. "We're going to talk, Michaela. You have nowhere to run. The sooner you shift, the sooner we can talk. The sooner we talk, the sooner the wolves leave your den."

I paced back and forth, staying across the room from her. She stood there calmly, watching me, her arms crossed. I turned back to face her, looking up into her face, right into her eyes. I didn't shrink away when she tried to stare me down.

She laughed. "A wolf wouldn't do that," she said. "I'm surprised you can." But still she didn't look away.

And then I looked pointedly at the door behind her. If she wanted me to shift back, she could give me some privacy. I looked back and forth between her and the door.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I don't trust you won't run." She looked pointedly at the window before looking back at me.

Frustrated, I turned around and lifted my tail at her, mooning her. She laughed. "You have spunk, Michaela. Now shift back."

I didn't have much choice. I turned sideways and began my shift. After just a few seconds I was lying on my side, a woman again, curled up on the cold tiles. I climbed stiffly to my feet, sore from being shaken about, then glanced at her.

She was holding my bath towel out for me.

"Throw it," I said.

She smiled and continued to hold it for me.

"Bitch," I told her. Her gaze faltered for a moment, but she shook the towel once, inviting me to step into it. I stepped sideways into it, and she wrapped it around me.

"Are we talking here in my bathroom then, me wrapped in a towel, wolf?" I asked sullenly.

"We can, if that's what you want, Michaela," she said. "Or if you promise to behave, we can step into the bedroom and you can get dressed first."

"I would prefer to be dressed," I said.

"All right," said the woman. "You understand I will need to watch you. I don't want to go through all this again. On two feet, I am faster than you are. And if you take the time to shift, I will catch you while you are vulnerable."

"You wolves are all alike," I told her.

"How is that?"

"Bullies."

She sighed. "I only want to talk to you, Michaela."

I glared at her. "Does it matter what I want?"

"No," she admitted. "It doesn't."

"So, like I said. Bullies. I won't try to run. As you have pointed out, it would be futile. You would just catch me again."

She nodded once, then opened the door and backed out, watching me. I followed at a distance. She glanced around the room, then backed away to the patio door, closing it.

"You may dress," she said.

"You're going to watch?"

"Yes."

"Fine." I spat it out. I crossed to my dresser, which gave me a view out the bedroom door into the hallway. Two of the males were standing there. I reached over and slammed the bedroom door closed. I heard chuckles from the other side.

As I dressed, I glanced at the woman. While a fox, I hadn't recognized her, not exactly. I should have, but I had been too lost in fright to think clearly. Now, with the time to think, I knew who she was.

Wolf packs are typically run by an alpha male. The alpha is not always the biggest or strongest wolf in the pack, but that would be common. Some packs are smart enough to follow the best leader, and the strongest males support the leader, even those males who could win a fight. Those are typically the most successful packs, as wisdom goes further than brute strength and fighting ability.

Rarely, a pack is ruled by an alpha female. This is almost always the surviving female of an alpha pair after some mishap has happened to the male half.

The Madison pack, however, was led by an alpha female who had never been mated. She was the daughter of the last alpha pair, and she had assumed leadership of the pack through intelligence and wisdom far more than brute strength. Oh, she had strength, and I dare say she could best most of the males in the pack. But certainly not all of them. No, she ruled the pack because the other wolves trusted and respected her.

Standing in my bedroom, watching me dress, was the alpha of the Madison pack.

I'd seen her before. She'd been in Bayfield in the past. She had always been distantly polite, never bothering me, but we had never spoken. I guessed that was to change.

I finished dressing in jeans, a light shirt, and tennis shoes. I ran my fingers through my hair. Assuming they left me alone, I would shower after they had left. I imagined for now I was a mess.

I turned to face the alpha. "So, what brings the Madison alpha to my door, and what right do you have to break into my house and handle me like an errant pup?" I spit out the last, angry with her. I wasn't a member of her pack, and alpha or not, I wouldn't submit to her. Not willingly.

"Perhaps we can go downstairs," she said. "I smell tea brewing."

"So your males have invaded my kitchen?" I asked. "Uninvited?" Have I mentioned how arrogant wolves are?

"If you had been a gracious hostess," she said, "this would have been much easier."

"If you had waited for an invitation," I spat back, "maybe I would have been in the mood to be gracious."

By now, both our backs were up. We had actually stalked towards each other, and I was looking up into her eyes. She glared at me with an alpha's glare, but I returned it in spades. I was my own alpha. She might be bigger than me, and she might be stronger than me. And she might scare the crap out of me. But I wasn't one of her pups, and damn! but I was not going to act like it.

"You are very brave for a tiny fox," she said gently.

I shut my mouth on my retort, studying her.

I had to admit, she was beautiful in a dark, feral way. She had short, black hair, deep brown eyes, and a muscular, athletic body. But she also had all the right curves, and as someone who hadn't been with a woman of any sort in a while, I had to admit she was attractive. To myself. I certainly wouldn't have admitted it to her.

"What do you want?" I asked her.

"Michaela," she said softly. "Let us go downstairs, sit, have some tea, and talk calmly."

I sighed. "Fine." I turned my back on her and stormed out of the bedroom. In the lead.

The alpha chuckled from behind me.

I glared at the males when I walked between them. They didn't try to touch me, for which I was thankful. I started down the stairs, the alpha immediately behind me, the males following her. When I got downstairs, the other two males weren't in sight. I glanced at the front door, but she said from behind me, "Don't."

I glanced up at her, two steps away, then turned to the right and proceeded down a short hallway to my kitchen. The other two males were there, including the one I had bitten. He glared at me from his post by the back door.

My teapot was waiting on the kitchen table along with three cups. I glanced and saw a fourth cup was sitting on the counter. And the last male had his head buried in my refrigerator. I glanced at me when I stepped into the room.

"Make yourself at home," I said. "Oh wait, you've already done that."

"There's no food in here," he complained. "What do you eat?"

"Mice," I replied.

From behind me, the alpha chuckled. "I rather doubt that," she said. "But I imagine you don't eat like a wolf, either."

I sighed. "Are you going to be here long enough I am obligated to feed you?"

"Not necessarily, but it would be polite," she replied with a smile. "The guys are hungry."

"Should have stopped on the way here," I replied. "There are excellent restaurants in town. The Rittenhouse serves an especially good breakfast."

"We would have," the alpha replied. "But we wanted to catch you before you left for the day."

I sighed. "Fine," I said frostily. "You! Get your nose out of my refrigerator and get out of my way."

The male who had been digging through my supplies backed out, chuckling, and he didn't even try to crowd me when I replaced him. I pulled out a pound of bacon from where it was hiding underneath the eggs and set it on the counter. I then pulled out eggs and milk and set them out as well. I glanced at the wolves, then from the freezer pulled out a package of breakfast sausage links, then I considered how much they probably ate and grabbed the frozen sausage patties as well.

I glanced over and saw the alpha taking a place at my table, watching me calmly. I turned to her. "I know you're the alpha. I don't know your name."

"Lara," she said. "Lara Burns."

"That one is Eric," I said, pointing to the one standing by the door. "The rest?"

"David," said the one who had been prowling through the kitchen. The other two were Jason and Rory. They already knew my name.

"David," I said. "Do you know how to cook?"

"Yes."

"Good." I tossed the tube of frozen sausage patties to him and pointed to the microwave. "Defrost that."

The alpha smiled at the way I ordered her wolf around.

David smiled at me and opened the microwave. I ignored him after that.

"You," I said pointing. "Rory. There is a storage room downstairs with an electric griddle on a shelf. Bring it up and be careful not to scratch the surface. The cord should be with it.

That one glanced at the alpha. She must have gestured something, but I didn't see it, and Rory found the stairs to the basement and disappeared.

"Do you eat pancakes?" I asked the room in general. I had no idea what wolves ate.

"I love pancakes," said the alpha. "And bacon. And sausage. And anything that doesn't grow on a bush."

I almost laughed. Almost.

I stepped past David and retrieved my box of pancake mix then dug out measuring cups and a mixing bowl. I set them on the counter and mixed up a triple batch. I heard Rory come back upstairs, and I pointed to an open place on the counter. "Set it there and turn it on to 350."

"Yes, ma'am," he said. I glanced at the alpha; she shrugged.

While the griddle was heating, I pulled out a pan for the bacon, two more for the sausages, and then considered my choices. I had six eggs left. I sighed and pulled out my last skillet.

"Rory," I said. "Do you know how to make pancakes?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said again. So I handed him the bowl of mix, a spatula, and a plate to put them on. "Something to pour with?" he asked. I gave him a small measuring cup.

David had finished defrosting the sausage and had found a cutting board and knife. The sausages were all sliced and ready for the pan. "Can I trust you to cook the sausages without eating them all?" I asked.

"He better not eat them," Lara said.

I turned to her. "Who is going to fix my window?"

"Eric," she said.

"I'll need tools," he said. "And a trip to the hardware store for a fresh pane."

"Tools are in the garage, large red rolling chest to the left. Do you need directions to the hardware store?"

"No." But he looked at the stove where David was starting to cook the sausages.

"Measure the window," the alpha said. "We'll eat, then you can fix it while we're talking."

"Yes, Alpha," he said. He stepped out the back door, and I watched him cross the yard to the garage. After that, I ignored him.

I turned to the stove and busied myself with the bacon, then cracked the remaining eggs into the pan and began to fry them as well. The eggs finished first, so I set them on a plate with a paper towel over them and set the plate on the table.

"Alpha," I said. "Plates are there." I pointed. "Silverware there."

I didn't watch to see whether she would set the table. From beside me at the stove, David chuckled under his breath. "Ordering the alpha around now?"

"I heard that," Lara said. But then I heard her rise and begin to set the table.

"Will this be enough food?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah," David said. "We'll be fine. Eric eats a lot, but the alpha won't let him fill a plate until everyone else has gotten something."

I fiddled with the bacon for a while, glancing over to see Rory was doing fine with the pancakes.

"I can smell your fear," David said quietly. "We aren't here to hurt you."

"Could have fooled me."

"You didn't have to run," he said. "Or struggle. You bit the alpha!"

"She's not my alpha. Five super-sized tigers show up on your door step, waking you from a sound sleep. What would you do?"

"Fair enough," he said. "But we aren't here to hurt you. Just talk."

"Ever heard of the phone?"

"We actually were trying to show you respect by seeing you in person."

"Two wolves on my front step, two on my back, and the fifth waiting in case I snuck out a window, and that's respect?"

"You did sneak out a window," he said.

"I did not!" I replied hotly. "I snuck out the upstairs patio door!"

"I rest my case," he said with another chuckle.

"My neck hurts. My front door is broken. My house stinks of wolf, a disgusting smell that will linger for weeks. And now I'm feeding all of you a week's supply of groceries. And you think it's funny." I was getting myself worked up again. It was probably better than being frightened out of my gourd.

David glanced at me with a disarming smile. "I like you, Ms. Redfur. You're feisty."

"Well, for the record, I don't like any of you. You're a bunch of bullies. Don't you know that's not acceptable anymore?"

He didn't respond, and we finished preparing breakfast in silence, depositing plates on the table. I kept possession of the bacon until I was seated at the foot of the table and had taken two pieces. I wasn't sure the wolves would leave me any.

Eric sauntered into the kitchen as I was sitting down, taking a place at the table and reaching for the plate of sausage links. The alpha cleared her throat, and the men all froze. From her place at the head of my table she looked pointedly at me.

"Sausage?" David asked me.

"Half of one patty is enough," I said.

"There is plenty here, little fox," he said.

"Yes," I said. "Little fox." I stressed the little. "A half a patty, please, and two of the smallest pancakes."

David, sitting to my right, speared one of the sausage patties, cut it in half, and transferred it to my plate. I slid my second piece of bacon onto his. He raised an eyebrow and said, "Very little fox."

Rory carried the plate of pancakes to me, and I took the two smallest.

"You weren't kidding about the week's worth of food, were you?" Lara asked.

"No," I said. "But to be fair, I supplement."

They all smiled. We all supplemented. For me, it was small rodents; I'd caught a squirrel last night. I had devoured it while sitting on a cliff overlooking the lake. Num! The wolves would go for larger prey, of course.

The wolves, of course, ate voraciously. I kept my head down, ignoring them as best I could, but it was hard to ignore Lara, the alpha. She spent most of the meal watching me.

"What?" I asked finally.

"You have my apologies, Michaela. We got off on the wrong foot this morning, and it was entirely my fault. I am deeply sorry. This was meant to be a friendly visit."

I stared at her for a moment before dropping my gaze to my food. I wasn't quite ready to accept any apologies, but I nodded once to let her know I had heard her. I believed it was an honest apology.

We finished eating in silence. The wolves devoured everything on the table, but no one asked for more. That was good; I didn't have anything else. I got up to clear the table, but Lara spoke. "Please sit, Michaela. We can talk. Jason and Rory will clean up, and Eric can mend your front door."

I sat back down and stared into my empty teacup. Rory, Jason and Eric rose to attend to their tasks, and David busied himself making another pot of tea.

"Michaela," said the alpha. "Have you noticed any strange wolves about in recent weeks?"

"Yes," I told her immediately. "I have."

Her gaze sharpened, and I suddenly had the attention of everyone in the room.

"Would you tell me when and where?"

"Of course. Right here. This morning. Five of them invaded my home."

Her lip quivered for a moment, and David chuffed gently. Lara smiled and said, "Perhaps I should rephrase my question. Have you noticed any wolves about who are not part of the Madison pack?"

I thought about what she was asking and why she might be asking. "I work a large territory," I told her finally. "Did you care to narrow your question at all?"

"I know your territory, Michaela," she said.

"Bayfield is a tourist destination," I said. "And a frequent site of sailing regattas. I am not personally familiar with every member of your pack, Alpha."

"I am not so much concerned with anyone who may have been here openly," she said. "But I would be keenly interested in knowing of anyone who may have been skulking."

"Skulking?"

"Skulking."

"Do wolves skulk?"

She smiled. "Not normally. When they do, it's not a good sign."

"Alpha," I told her. "I have not seen any wolves skulking in recent memory." The key word was seen. I avoid the wolves, after all.

Lara considered me. "You phrased that in an intriguing fashion. Do you think perhaps you could be a little more forthcoming?"

"If you told me what was going on," I replied. "I might be able to better phrase my answers to be of more help."

She smiled. "There are packs that do not feel it is right for a female to be alpha."

"I imagine there are," I said. "I avoid politics."

"There are packs that may not be kindly disposed to a female were fox living in their territory," she said, the smile leaving her eyes.

I looked at her coldly. "I have made my home as far as I can find from any wolves. I believe I would need to move into Canada to be more isolated. And still you claim my home and offer me nowhere I can feel safe? Get out of my house. Or kill me, I guess."

I began to quiver, on the verge of shifting right there, my flight mechanism taking hold.

"Jason and Rory, the doors," the alpha said. They immediately sprang to the exits from the kitchen, blocking any escape. I glanced at them, my gaze filled with fear.

"Michaela," the alpha said softly. "I am not threatening you. I am trying to explain why it is in your best interest to help me. My wolves leave you alone, and they make sure any visiting wolves do the same. Everyone from my pack treats you with polite respect. Is that is not true, tell me now."

I glanced wildly around the room, searching for escape, my hands grasping the edges of my chair.

"You didn't," I told her, my voice cracking. "And now you're holding me prisoner."

"Jason, Rory," the alpha said. "Go help Eric with the door. If Ms. Redfur chooses to leave, let her."

As soon as the path to the back door was clear, I made a dash for it. The alpha beat me to it. Then she opened the door for me and said, "Go calm down. We'll wait."

I shifted on my way out the door, my clothes falling to the floor of the kitchen as I raced away from my house.

Running Free

I ran.

No one chased me. I disappeared into the woods that back up against my property and worked my way deep into the woods, using every trick in my foxy bag of tricks to elude any pursuers. Then I doubled back to watch.

No one followed.

I watched for a long time, my belly against the ground underneath a bush far too tight and small for a wolf. No one followed.

Eventually, cautiously, I worked my way back home, approaching from a different direction. I approached cautiously, my ears working madly, my eyes alert to any movement. From well into the brush on the edge of my property, I crouched down and watched.

Lara was sitting alone on my back steps, looking out into the woods. I didn't see or hear any sign of the males, but I was sure they were about somewhere.

I crept closer, and Lara's eyes turned to face me. But still she sat, and in her human form, I was much faster than she was. But if she directed furry male wolves towards me, they would catch me if I weren't very careful.

"There is no trap," she said, loudly enough for me to hear.

I crept closer.

"I sent them into town, Michaela," she said. "It is just you and I here."

I stepped onto my lawn, looking all around me, then stepped closely towards Lara, ready to flee if given half a reason.

"Please," she said quietly.

I crossed the remaining distance and sat down about five feet from her, my muscles tensed and ready to flee if she made the slightest move towards me.

"I am being challenged," she said calmly.

I turned towards the west, towards Duluth.

"I don't think so," she said. "At least not directly. Please, may we go inside and talk?"

I crept marginally closer.

"I give my word," she said. "I am not here to hurt you. You are way too fine a fox for that."

Flattery will get her everywhere. Without taking my eyes from her, I walked up the steps where she sat, her hands in her lap. As I passed her, she reached out and stroked my fur. I almost ran at that, jumping away from her, then turning around to look at her. She hadn't moved beyond reaching to touch me. I eyed her, then walked back up the steps, brushing my body along hers as I passed.

I stopped like that, and she stroked my fur, once, twice.

"Does your neck still hurt?"

I bumped her with a shoulder. It's not like I could talk.

She moved her hand to my scruff, and I tensed, but it was too late. If she meant to pick me up that way again, she had me. Instead, her fingers worked through my thick fur to the muscles underneath. It felt nice. I let her massage my neck for a moment, but then she was too firm, and I yelped.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You are so delicate, Michaela." Her touch lightened, and that felt nice.

She massaged for several minutes, and it helped. When I felt I had enough, I moved the rest of the way up the steps and stood with my nose facing the door.

Lara climbed to her feet gracefully and opened the back kitchen door for me. I slipped inside.

"Go shift," she said, closing the door behind herself. "Your clothes are upstairs on your bed. I'll wait."

I checked the room quickly first. No other wolves. None in the living room either, and none upstairs. I went to my bedroom, nudged the door closed, and shifted back into a woman. I dressed quickly, then stepped into the bathroom and tamed my hair.

When I got downstairs, Lara was sitting in the kitchen with two fresh cups of tea.

"It still smells like wolf in here," I told her.

"I'm sorry."

"Whoever is challenging you is coming through Duluth," I told her.

"Are you sure?"

"No." I sat down and took my tea. "You understand, I run from wolves." She nodded. "I haven't seen any."

"But you've seen signs."

"Yes."

"How long?"

"Late winter," I said. "Lara, they're big. Very big."

"Big I can handle," she said. "Can you show me where?"

I nodded. "I'll get a map."

I use the second bedroom upstairs as an office most of the time, clearing my things out only when I expect guests, which was basically never. I retrieved several maps and a set of colored pencils and brought them back, spreading them out on the table and facing them towards Lara. I sat down and began pointing. "Here, in March," I said. "Then here and here in April." I paused, then drew an outline on the map from Bayfield around the shore to 20 miles east of Superior, then down to just east of Hayward, then a curved line to just west of Madison. From there up to Ashland and Bayfield. "This is where I've been in the last six months," I said. "Not everywhere, of course, but the range.

She nodded. "That's larger than your assigned area for Fish and Wildlife."

"Yes. I like to run."

She smiled. So did wolves.

"I'm the only fox in this range," I told her.

"I know. You're the only fox in my territory, male or female."

"Greedy wolves," I said under my breath.

"Can we save that conversation for another day?"

I shrugged.

Then I used my pencils to mark where I had seen tracks using different colors based upon when I had seen the signs. When I was done, I was holding the red pencil, but I hadn't used it yet.

"They're getting closer to Madison," she said. "We noticed them in early June."

"I was south last Thursday," I said. Lara eyed the red pencil still in my hand. Then I made more marks a set of tracks aimed directly at Madison. I marked the tracks as crossing through the range I had visited, still heading towards Madison.

"Shit," she said. "Twenty miles?"

"I wasn't willing to follow them any closer, Lara. I didn't think you would care for me skulking about."

She laughed nervously.

"On my way home, I found where these tracks headed back west." I marked the map. "But then they turned northeast." I marked the map further until they had again disappeared off the edge where I was willing to go. "I didn't see them again."

Lara was staring, then she let out a very loud, "Fuck!"

I jumped up from the table and backed towards the door, her rage frightening me. She glanced at me.

"Oh, Michaela!" she said. "No, I'm not mad at you. Please don't run."

I had the door open and stood there, watching her warily. She took several deep breaths, calming herself. "Please, Michaela. I won't hurt you."

I closed the door, but I kept my distance.

"Michaela, I have a new compound. I don't like being in the city."

"Where?"

She pointed on the map. I crept closer and stared. The last tracks I marked were heading straight towards her new compound. I looked at her. "Should a strange wolf, or for that matter, a skulking fox, be able to get within ten miles of your compound and you didn't know it?"

"No. Maybe the fox. Not the wolf."

Lara stared at the map a while longer before looking at me. "Do you have anything else for me?"

I shook my head.

"Michaela," she told me. "You are under my protection. Everyone in my pack knows that. You are safe from all of my wolves, here or anywhere in my territory, including Madison. No one will bother you."

I nodded. "Thank you."

"Will you call me if you learn more?"

"Yes."

She stood up then reached out and brushed an errant lock of hair from my face. I stood very still.

"Thank you," she said. "I really am very sorry we frightened you. And I'm sorry your home smells like wolf."

"I can fumigate," I said. Her lips quivered.

"Eric fixed your door. David and Rory restocked your kitchen. Then I had them go around your house and garage and fix a few other things that needed mending."

I nodded. "Thank them for me."

She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, hit a speed dial, and said simply, "I'm ready."

I walked her to the front door. She turned to face me one last time, her stunningly beautiful eyes staring into mine. She caressed my cheek once. "You truly are lovely, little fox. May we be friends?"

"Said the spider to the fly?"

She laughed. "Said one alpha to another."

I stood up straight. I had never been offered that much respect from any other were before, and certainly never from a wolf. "I'd like that."

Date Night

After the wolves left, I slumped against the door. I hate wolves. Then I trudged upstairs, shedding my clothes, and stepped into the shower.

I was amazingly late for work.

I let the hot water cascade over me, easing the aches from being carried around by my neck. A mother fox might carry a kit that way, but I was far too big and heavy to be handled that way. The ease with which Lara had handled me was frightening. Not once did she appear to grow weary from holding a thirty-pound squirming animal at arm's length.

I knew wolves were strong, but I had never imagined they were that strong.

I dressed and drove to Ashland, making up an excuse about checking on a wolf problem in case anyone asked me why I was so late.

I had never paid much attention to wolf politics in the past. Frankly, they didn't affect me. Still, Lara had been right. Excepting this morning, her wolves had left me alone, and I realized now that this was probably her doing. Another alpha may not have tolerated a lone were in his territory.

I realized something else. The wolves that came to Bayfield had been calm and courteous, not just to me, but to the shopkeepers and everyone else. I couldn't recall a single instance of a wolf causing trouble here. And wolves are known for causing trouble; it's what they do.

Was that Lara's doing?

Lara, with her frighteningly beautiful eyes and silky tongue, calling me an alpha.

Her silky tongue? Oh, I definitely needed to get laid if I was thinking about her tongue.

I arrived at work and put the beautiful alpha and her cadre of enforcers out of my mind.

Everything went back to normal, discounting the strange odor in my house. It took three days of airing out before the smell fully dissipated.

I went about my job, avoiding Madison like I always did. Most of my work was related to Lake Superior, but I also visited the other lakes in the region, taking water tests, checking fish levels, and the like, which gave me the excuse to be all over the region. It also kept me out of the office, which was a bonus.

August came, and my life was normal, or as normal as it ever was when one is a single were fox living in northern Wisconsin. And it remained normal until the text message arrived.

"How is my little fox?" I didn't recognize the number. "I think you have the wrong number," I wrote back.

"Said the fly to the spider?" came the response. "How is your neck?"

Very, very few people knew I was a fox. To the best of my knowledge, none of them had my private number. Clearly I was wrong; someone had given my number to the alpha, and it hadn't been me.

While I was staring at my phone, wondering what she wanted, and what I was going to do about it, the phone rang. It was the same number. I grimaced and answered.

"I'm working, Alpha," I told her when I answered.

She laughed lightly. "Too busy for me?" Her tone was light and playful, very different from the serious tone I'd heard a few weeks previously.

I was in the field, taking water samples of the rivers that flowed into Lake Superior, and it was blind luck that I was in cell reception. I hadn't decided if it was blind bad luck or blind good luck, but I would have bet on bad.

"I can spare a minute or two," I told her. "But I don't have any information your own wolves don't already have." Their activity throughout my range had increased since I'd talked to Lara, and I'd even seen signs there were occasional patrols around Bayfield. "I presume those are yours skulking around my home."

"My wolves don't skulk," she said. "But that's not why I called. I was wondering if I could entice you to Madison."

"I don't find much draw of the big city," I replied lightly. What was she up to?

"I was wondering if I might change that," she replied, and there was something in her voice that set my senses alert. My ears twitched, searching for danger. I pulled the phone away and stared at it for a minute as if that would help me find answers.

I put the phone back to my ear. "How did you intend to do that?" I asked her.

I think she was taken aback. "By inviting you to dinner," she said. "And perhaps a run afterwards."

"With you?" I asked, incredulous.

"Of course with me," she replied. "Who else?"

"Alpha," I said. "Are you flirting with me?"

She laughed. "I would have expected a fox to be clever enough to figure that out without having to ask."

My brain went into overdrive. What game was she playing? This couldn't have been what it seemed like on the surface. Wolves do not date foxes. Pick us up by our scruffs and shake us about, yes. Date, no.

"I wouldn't have thought I was your type, Alpha."

"Please, Michaela, can you call me Lara? And you're exactly my type."

"Small and weak? Are you that insecure you would date down?"

"Beautiful and clever, brave, feisty, and willing to stand up to me," she said softly. "Even when terrified of me."

"Madison is a long way to go for a date, Lara," I told her.

"I'll send a plane."

"You'll send a plane," I said. "Just like that."

"Yes," she said. "Just like that. Shall we say Friday? The plane can pick you up at five. Would you prefer Madeline Island or Ashland?"

"I haven't said yes."

"Pack an overnight bag," she said. "Dinner dress is upscale casual. Running dress is fur."

"Lara," I said. "What are you doing?"

"Michaela," she replied. "You are the cunning fox with hidden agendas. I'm just a wolf. What you see is what you get. I am inviting a beautiful, intriguing woman to dinner. Please say yes."

I wanted to say no. She was dangerous, and whatever she was doing had to be a game. A little fox doesn't survive long playing with the big bad wolves. But the little fox had a flaw.

The little fox was curious.

"Where would you take me?"

I could hear the smile. "Do you like sushi?"

Of course I did. I usually caught my own. "Madeline Island, five PM on Friday," I agreed. "I've never flown before."

"Then this will be a new experience," Lara said. "Thank you, Michaela. I haven't stopped thinking about you."

We said our goodbyes, and I stared at the phone afterwards. What was she up to?

Friday came far too soon, but not soon enough. It had been a very long time since I had gone out with any woman. And Lara wasn't just any woman. She wasn't even just any dominant wolf. She was an alpha. And while she may have called me alpha, I was an alpha of one. She ruled dozens, perhaps hundreds of wolves.

And I was about to walk, or shall we say fly, willingly into her den.

I took the ferry to the island, a small duffle bag thrown over my shoulder, then walked the mile to the airport. I wore tennis shoes but I had a pair of pumps in my bag. It was a warm afternoon, and I put on a shine during the walk. The Madeline Island airport isn't much: a single runway, a small collection of hangars, and a small building with a weather station and a bathroom. I used the bathroom to freshen up then waited outside for my ride.

I hadn't been there long before I heard the sounds of an airplane. I looked overhead and saw a plane pass directly over the airport. Several minutes later, I watched as it landed on the runway then taxied to the parking area and shut down. It was a very small airplane, and I turned away. Lara couldn't possibly have sent something that small for me.

Suddenly, my senses went on high alert. I smelled wolf.

I turned back, and Eric was watching me from twenty yards away. I glanced around warily.

"Your chariot awaits, m'lady," he said.

I frowned at him. "You expect me to get into that?" I pointed at the airplane.

He laughed. "It's perfectly safe."

"It's a sardine can."

"You're small," he said. "You'll fit."

"Are you the pilot?" I asked.

"No. But the alpha thought you would appreciate a friendly face."

I cocked my head. "So I'm not a bitch you tried to kill while I was helpless, dangling from the alpha's hands?" I backed slowly away from him.

"You bit me," he said.

"And for a fox, that's a death sentence?"

"I wouldn't have killed you, Ms. Redfur. We apologized for scaring you. You fed us. Everything was fine."

"If that blow had landed, you would have killed me," I told him. "And we both know it."

He had the grace to look sheepish. "I'm sorry," he said. "I wouldn't have wanted to kill you. Just cuff you like-"

"Like an errant pup?"

He looked down at the ground. "You're the size of one," he said. "I really am sorry. Please, will you get in the plane? The alpha will chew my ass if you don't come back with us."

"Fine," I said. "I call shotgun."

He laughed.

I stepped past him on the way to the waiting airplane, and he fell into step next to me. I moved away from him a little. His size was intimidating.

"Little fox," he said gently. "You are safe with us. No one would hurt you."

"As long as I behave," I said.

"As long as you are the alpha's friend," he corrected.

I glanced over at him. "Is that a euphemism, Eric?"

"What?" He looked at me sharply. "No. If I'd meant lover, I'd have said lover. She said you were friends. Aren't you?"

"I don't know yet," I admitted. "She is playing games, and one little fox is too inconsequential to be anything except a minor pawn."

"Ms. Redfur," Eric said. "Have you ever known a wolf to be anything but direct?"

"First time for everything, Eric," I said.

We arrived at the side of the plane. "Is there anything in your bag you need during the flight?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "But I have a change of shoes."

"The alpha thought you may wish to freshen up once we arrive," he told me. "I'll stow your bag for you." I let him take it from me. He opened a small door on the side of the airplane and gently set the bag inside. Then he turned to me.

"I'll need to get in first, as you have asked for shotgun." He showed me how to climb into the little flying sardine can. I looked at him dubiously then watched him climb into the back seat. I suppressed my laughter. To me it felt like a sardine can. Watching him fold himself into the airplane tickled me to no end.

I stepped onto the wing then slid into the tiny airplane, taking the right seat. I looked to my left and saw a woman, another wolf, occupying the other front seat. She reached out her hand.

"Hello, Ms. Redfur," she said. "I am June Havir. I will be your pilot today."

I accepted her hand, looking her over. She looked strong and dangerous, her blond hair worn short, her features chiseled. Her grip was firm, but not crushing.

"I am told this is your first time flying."

"Yes. I hope it's not yours."

She laughed.

I looked around the airplane. The seats were leather, and everything looked tight and pristine.

"You are a fox. I have never met one before," June said. "Are you given to a queasy stomach?"

"I have been known to eat mice, voles, frogs, and the occasional cricket when it chirps in an especially annoying fashion."

She smiled.

"And is it true what they say about foxes?"

"Yes, it is. We're very, very good in bed."

"I'm sure the alpha will be pleased to discover that for herself," Eric said from the back seat. I found myself blushing furiously. I turned back to Eric and gave him a rude gesture. He smiled sweetly.

"I hadn't heard that particular rumor," June said, barely maintaining a straight face. "I was more wondering about curiosity."

"Yes, that rumor is true, too. Right behind the in bed one."

"Then perhaps you would like to learn about the aircraft?"

She let me fly! I hadn't had that much fun in a long time.

Travel time was under two hours. We landed at Dane County airport to find a limousine waiting for me. Eric handed me inside then climbed into the front seat. Fifteen minutes later found us pulling into the circle of a large manor home on the outskirts of Madison. Eric handed me back out and led me into the remarkable home.

I gaped. To one little fox, this was all rather overwhelming.

Eric led me upstairs and to the right. "If you step through here," Eric said with a gesture. "You may freshen up. This is to be your room, and there is a connecting bathroom. When you are ready, I will bring you to the alpha."

I nodded my thanks and closed the door in his face. It took me only a few minutes to freshen up and change my shoes, and when I was done, Eric was waiting for me in the hall. He nodded and smiled then led the way back downstairs and to a doorway. I glanced inside and found a library. Eric gestured, and I stepped inside.

Lara was sitting in a chair, reading a book, but as soon as I stepped in, she closed it and stood, turning to me. She offered a radiant smile before crossing the room to take my hands. "Thank you so much for joining me, Michaela."

"Thank you for inviting me," I replied, wary. She had said this was nothing more than it appeared, and Eric had implied the same thing, but I didn't believe either of them. The alpha wolf was not going to slum it with the little fox. It was inconceivable. The little fox wasn't very happy about being in the wolf den, either. I felt alert to the point of jumpy, my ears twitching at every little unfamiliar noise.

And I couldn't smell a thing, the scent of wolf overlaying everything. I didn't like that at all.

Lara was talking, asking me something. I didn't catch it, my head swiveling around so much, searching the room for danger and escape routes.

"Honey," she said. "Michaela."

I pulled my attention back to her.

"You are practically trembling. You are safe with me, Michaela." That was very difficult to believe. I searched her face for any sign of guile, but all I read was concern.

She was a very good actress. That was it. She must have been a very good actress.

My voice caught in my throat. "What do you want with me, Lara?"

"Oh, little fox," she said with warmth. "Only your company. Why is that so difficult for you to believe?"

I looked away for a moment then turned back to face her, looking up into her eyes. She still held my hands. I offered a small smile. "Were you taking me to dinner first, or was there something else on your agenda?"

"Dinner. Come." She hooked my arm in hers, clasping my hands to hold it there, and led me from the library and to the front door. I looked around on the way but saw no one.

"Where is everyone?"

"Around," she said.

We stepped outside, and the limousine was still waiting for us. Lara held the door for me then climbed in after me. As soon as the door was closed and we were both settled, the car began rolling forward.

"Would you care for something to drink?" Lara asked me.

I looked around the space. There was a smoky glass partition between us and the driver. It was closed, offering Lara and me a modicum of privacy. I sat in the back seat facing forward, with Lara across from me. She gestured to her right, and there was a small bar available.

"Water would be nice," I replied.

Lara opened a little refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of water, handing one to me.

I gestured. "This is very ostentatious," I said. "Just like your house. And the airplane."

She shrugged. "It's what I've always known."

"Do you usually go to such lengths for a simple date?"

"No," she replied. "I haven't been on a date of any sort in several years." I cocked my head, hoping for a greater explanation. "Before, I was subject to my father's rule."

"The old alpha?"

"Yes. He did not approve of my choice in dates."

"He didn't like foxes?"

Lara laughed. "He had quaint notions about boys and girls."

"And since then?" I asked.

"Since then, I have been busy consolidating my position."

I could understand that. "And now? While facing an outside challenger?"

"I decided that there would never be a perfect time. I am the alpha, but I am also a woman. I want to live my life the way I choose, not having my choices dictated to me by others."

"Well then," I said drily. "We have found something in common."

She frowned. "You could have said 'no', Michaela."

"Oh, I didn't mean that," I told her, sorry for my comment. I smiled. "Part of me is happy to be here with you."

"Part of you?" she asked.

"The part that isn't terrified of the big bad wolf."

She looked pain. "I wish you wouldn't be afraid of me. I wish you would think of me as your protector. I promise you, you are safe with me."

"We'll see," I said. "Perhaps I'll still be alive in the morning."

"You distrust me so much?" she asked, and I could tell I had hurt her again.

I looked out the window, speaking softly. "There is an old wolf custom," I said. "Perhaps you have heard of it."

"Perhaps," she said. "What is it called?"

I turned and stared directly into her eyes. "Fox. Hunt."

Her face immediately filled with horror. "Oh Michaela. No. Absolutely not."

I looked back out the window. "Ply the fox with food. Perhaps spirits. The food will slow her down. The spirits will dull her mind. Invite her for a run. Then do what comes naturally. Chase. Kill."

"No, Michaela," she said again. "No."

"Perhaps your pack would be impressed with your ruthlessness. Perhaps you have guests that would be pleased with the entertainment. Foxes have become rare. Perhaps you could cement an alliance against your challenger."

"Do you really believe I have so little honor, Michaela?"

I faced her. "Perhaps words said to a fox do not matter to a wolf. Perhaps you wish to teach the little fox a lesson for biting you. A permanent lesson, perhaps."

Her eyes grew sharp. "If this is what you believe, why are you even here?"

"I didn't say I believed it," I told her. "Perhaps this is something else entirely. Perhaps you are simply waiting to see who in your pack takes offense at my presence. Are you painting a target on my back, Lara?"

"No." She said it firmly, and I could sense she was growing angry.

I shrugged. "I am not being very cunning," I admitted. "If I were being cunning, I would not admit my fears. I would hide them, but be wary." I looked straight into her eyes. "I am hoping you will find a way to put my fears to rest. I am hoping I am wrong. I am hoping this is exactly what you say this is. But how can I believe it, Lara? A wolf dating a fox? Seriously?"

"You are safe with me, Michaela," Lara said. "I hope you will give me the time to prove it to you."

"I am sorry I have offended you, Lara."

"I am sorry you are so frightened, Michaela." She glanced out the window. "We are almost there. Will you humor me with something?"

"All right," I said.

"I am going to come sit next to you," she said. Then she got up and slipped to my side of the cavernous car, pressed against me. We turned a corner and came to a stop. Lara pressed a button in the ceiling and said, "Give us a minute, Alan."

"I am going to touch you," she said.

"In what fashion?" I asked.

She smiled. "A very innocent fashion."

"All right."

And then I sat very still as the big bad wolf put her arm around my shoulder, pulling me tightly against her. She turning slightly to face me while keeping me pulled against her, and her far hand reached across to caress my face. I sat very still, willing myself not to move, willing not to run from the clutches of the wolf.

"Lara," I started to say.

"Just another moment, Michaela." Then she pulled my head against her chest. "Breath deeply."

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with her scent. She smelled her own unique smell of wolf and woman.

"Again, Michaela."

I took another deep breath, pressing my face against her, breathing her in.

"That is the scent of safety, Michaela. The scent of protection. Around that scent, you are safe. Always safe."

My emotions grew rampant, my heart beating strongly. She was all wolf, but she was also all woman. I'd never been held by someone as strong as she was. It was terrible and wonderful at the same time. I looked through my eyelashes up into her face. She was looking down at me with a kind expression.

"Safe, Michaela," she said. "I absolutely promise."

I buried my face in her chest and took one more deep breath, holding it for a moment, then pulled away. I smiled and nodded.

Lara tapped on the window, and it opened from outside. She slipped out, then held her hand for me. I let her hand me out of the car. She wrapped my arm in hers again, and I looked around.

I didn't recognize where we were, but I didn't know Madison very well. I avoided large towns, after all. We were standing on the sidewalk in front of some sort of clothing boutique. Lara turned us to the left and we began walking.

She had long legs. She was walking casually, but I was forced to scramble to keep up. She shortened her steps, and that was more comfortable. She patted my hand, and somehow it was meant to be soothing, not condescending. When I glanced at her, she was watching me. We smiled at each other; her smile warm, mine nervous.

"You're beautiful," she said. "I absolutely love your hair."

My smile grew warmer. I loved my hair, too. I reached up with my free hand and gave it a casual flip. "You won't find hair like this on a wolf."

She laughed lightly. "So true. Your fox is beautiful, too."

"You didn't get the best look," I said. "As I recall, I spent most of the time dangling from your grip. Was I heavy?"

"Not at first. I was happy when I could set you down. I really am very sorry about that."

"It's done. Don't do it again."

"No promises, little fox," she said.

I brought us to a stop. "Not good enough, Lara."

"Little fox, I promise to remember you don't like it."

"And I promise to do my best to bite your hand off if you ever do it again."

She laughed. "Fair enough." She got us moving again.

"Lara," I said quietly. "I have never been more terrified or more embarrassed."

"I'm sorry, Michaela. You still haven't forgiven me?"

This time she brought us to a stop, and I realized we had arrived at the restaurant.

"We have some bad history, and our races have even more bad history. If this is all exactly what you say it is, Lara, it will take time to erase both of those. I am here. I am trying. But to say I am unaware of history would be a lie."

"Fair enough," she said. "Shall we enter, little fox?"

I nodded, and we stepped to the door. As soon as she opened it, the scent of fish, rice, and vinegar wafted out. And surrounding it all: wolf.

I immediately whimpered and pulled away from her, stepping backwards rapidly, my gaze dashing around, searching for danger and evaluating my escape routes. Seeing my reaction, Lara immediately went on the alert, scanning the street with me.

"What is it?" she asked quickly and quietly. "I don't see it."

"Wolf," I said. "The place reeks of wolf."

Lara immediately relaxed. "Of course it does. This is my cousin's restaurant. That is the scent of pack, Michaela. You are safe here. Is the wolf scent that odious to you?"

I backed up one more step, still wary. "It's primal, Lara. The scent of danger." I shook my head, trying to clear my nostrils.

"Do we need to go somewhere else?"

I shifted my gaze to her. "Please come here, Lara."

She nodded, releasing the door, and walked over to me warily, clearly taking care to avoid frightening me further. When she drew close, I stepped into her, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around me. I inhaled deeply.

"Tell me again, Lara."

"You are safe with me, Michaela." I inhaled deeply, and she reassured me I was safe with her.

I inhaled once more, then looked up at her. "I am sorry. You are going to think you are out with a were rabbit."

She laughed. "Any relation to Brer Rabbit?"

"Distant cousins."

"Better now?"

I shoved my face into her neck and took one more deep breath. "Yes." I pulled away and strode towards the door. Lara beat me to it, barely, and held the door for me. I stepped through, then waited, looking around.

To a human visitor, the restaurant might look like any other Japanese sushi restaurant. To the right was a bar area. Past the bar were two Teppanyaki tables. To the left was a sushi bar, and past it, the kitchen area. In between were traditional tables. The decor was Japanese.

The staff were all wolves.

The restaurant was full. But seated at the bar, I recognized David talking to a female wolf. At the sushi bar I saw Eric. He appeared to be alone. I turned to Lara. "Your enforcers arrived ahead of us?"

She nodded. "New custom, until the current difficulties are resolved."

"So it's not me from whom you need protection?"

She grinned. "Perhaps."

The hostess returned from seating her latest guests. "Hello, Alpha," she said quietly. "Your table is ready."

"Thank you, Mara," she said. Lara took my arm, and we followed Mara to a table in the corner. She stood aside, waiting for us to sit.

I expected Lara to take the corner where she could most easily watch the entire room. Instead, she gestured to the table, allowing me first choice. I took the corner, and I think she expected it. Lara sat down opposite me.

I looked around the restaurant once more before looking back at Lara. She was studying me. "Are you all right now?"

"You look like you're thinking about eating me," I told her.

"I am." Her voice was suddenly low and husky.

I knew it! said my fox. I shoved back in the chair, trying to put distance between us. Then her look and her voice registered in me, and I ran the words through my head again.

"Oh god," I said, burying my face in my hands. I could feel the blush all the way to the roots of my hair. "I walked into that."

She chuckled. "Yes, you did."

I looked at her through my fingers. "Were you really?"

"I wasn't until you mentioned it. But I am now."

I lowered my hands and considered her. She was beautiful, of course she was. I could definitely do worse. If, you know, it wasn't for the whole wolves eat foxes thing. And not the good kind of eating. I smiled reluctantly.

Someone, a wolf, rushed up to our table, and I almost flew against the window to my right trying to get away. He stopped, holding his hands out in a warding off gesture, stopping short of the table.

"You are safe, Michaela," Lara said gently. "This is Hiraku, my cousin."

I looked at the man. For a wolf, he was small. Compact perhaps is a better word. And he was Japanese. I looked between him and Lara and said, "I can see the family resemblance."

Hiraku bowed briefly. "Most miss it. Lara has my sense of humor."

I smiled. This may be the gentlest wolf I'd ever met. I settled back properly in my chair. "I apologize for my response."

He bowed briefly. "I am the one to apologize. I should perhaps have approached at a more decorous pace."

"Well," I said. "If you can approach somewhat more decorously in the future, I shall endeavor to avoid making another scene."

He smiled, and it was one of warmth, then he turned to Lara. "Your usual sake, Alpha-san?"

Lara turned to me. "I am not plying you with spirits that will dull your mind."

"Tea for me," I said. "Please."

"Tea tonight, Hiraku-san. And tonight, perhaps sampler sizes of nigiri, whatever you think we might like." Lara turned to me. "Do you have any other favorites?"

"A roll?" I suggested.

"A California roll," Lara suggested. "And spicy tuna as well." She glanced at me.

"I will make them myself," he said, "sized for a delicate fox."

Hiraku bowed once more before leaving. Lara and I looked at each other and exchanged meaningless small talk. A teenage girl stopped by with our tea. She approached slowly and later bowed before stepping away.

"I'm sorry," I told Lara. "Dates should be easy events, but I am making everyone walk on eggshells."

"It is easy for wolves to become too comfortable around each other, and it is good for them to remember there are other weres."

After that, we retreated to more meaningless small talk for a time. The same teenage girl stopped by with the first wave of food, a selection of nigiri sized in very delicate proportions. This was very thoughtful. I would be able to sample several of them rather than filling up on only one or two. I looked at Lara gratefully.

The girl told us what each one was before bowing herself away.

Lara gestured, and I used my chopsticks to gracefully transfer three of the pieces to my plate. Lara did the same. After that, I used my fingers to eat, dipping the fish lightly into the soy sauce. My first piece was salmon, my second favorite, and I slipped the fish and rice into my mouth, closing my eyes and moaning with joy at the flavor.

When I opened my eyes again, Lara was looking at me while wearing an amused expression.

"I have never figured out why sushi causes that reaction in me, Alpha, but I won't apologize for it."

"You have no reason to apologize. That one expression brought me great joy, and I believe Hiraku was also witness. You offer honor to his food."

I ate my next piece, which was octopus. Not my favorite, and normally I would have skipped it, but I didn't want the alpha to think I lacked daring. She never took her eyes from me while eating her own pieces, although clearly she enjoyed them nearly as much as I did.

"The octopus is not as much to your liking? You didn't have to take it."

I looked down at my plate. Waiting for me was a single piece of maguro nigiri. Tuna. I tapped the plate. "This is my guilty pleasure."

"Why guilty?"

"Because of severe over fishing. If I were true to my calling as a conservationist, I would eat no meat at all, and tuna would definitely be forbidden."

And then I picked up the fish and slid it into my mouth, closing my eyes and moaning in pleasure. I knew Lara would be watching me, but I refused to be embarrassed.

And of course, when I opened my eyes, there she was, watching me with an amused smile. "You are such a delight," she said. "To get a reaction like that from my wolves, it would be due to the amounts of food, not from one sliver of fish on a tiny sampling of rice."

After that, I watched Lara eat, although I did help myself to one more piece of tuna. The teenage girl stopped by with the California and spicy tuna rolls. "Papa-san asks if the fox would care for more maguro nigiri."

"Yes," Lara said. "She would."

"No," the fox said. "But thank him for me."

The girl suddenly didn't know what to do. She looked back and forth between us.

"Please, Alpha," I said. "The tuna fisheries are all collapsing."

She nodded and said to the girl. "The maguro has been lovely but should be savored, not devoured."

She nodded and bowed, backing away.

Both rolls were made smaller than normally done, with more pieces than normal. I appreciated the sensitivity towards fox appetites. I took one piece each of the California and spicy tuna rolls, enjoying them immensely.

After that I was full. Lara continued to eat, although she left the last piece of tuna and half of the remaining spicy tuna roll on their platters. My eyes kept dipping to the tuna.

Finally Lara said, "One of us is going to eat them, Michaela, and you will enjoy them far more than I will."

I ate the final piece of nigiri but left everything else to the alpha. It was more food than I wanted, but I enjoyed the final piece of tuna just as much as I had the first.

"You will think I am a pig," she said.

"Not at all," I replied. "What does your wolf weigh, Lara?"

She laughed. "You just asked me what I weigh?"

"My fox is only a third of my human form," I replied. "So I was curious."

She looked away, not answering.

"All right," I said. "Don't answer. But I am feeding a thirty-pound fox. You are feeding a wolf four times that size. Please eat whatever you require."

Lara smiled and finished everything on the plate. When the girl stopped back at our table, Lara asked for "more of whatever is plentiful, sized for a wolf." She looked at me. "You truly are done?" I nodded.

"I know nothing about you," she said. "Will you enlighten me?"

"What would you like to know, Alpha?"

"Not Alpha," she said. "Lara. Please."

"All right, Lara," I replied. "What would you like to know?"

"To start? Where did you grow up?"

"New England," I replied. "There was a small community of foxes deep in the mountains in New Hampshire."

"I didn't know that," Lara said.

"They aren't there anymore." I looked away, not wanting to think about the reason why.

Lara reached across the table and cupped my hand. She was more sensitive than I would have expected. "Why Bayfield?"

"You already know that. It fits my job, of course, but it is also the furthest I could get from the wolves. Five hours from Madison. The Duluth pack mostly stays in Minnesota. There are wolves in the Michigan upper peninsula, but they mostly keep to themselves. The Green Bay pack is inconsequential and seems to be happy with Door County."

"You really have made your life choices around avoiding us?" Lara asked.

"Yes."

"Michaela, I have said, you are safe in Madison."

I smiled, but it was not a smile of warmth. "Alpha-"

"Lara," she said, interrupting.

"Not for this conversation. Alpha, how much of your pack knows about our date?"

"Almost no one."

"All right. I think perhaps a demonstration of my safety is in order."

She cocked her head. "You are perfectly safe."

"There is a were nightclub in town, yes?"

"Yes. The Iron Dog."

"After dinner, we will go there."

"All right," she said.

"Separately. You will arrive first and say nothing to anyone about me. I will arrive in a cab. And tell the ones who know about me to remain silent. We shall see how safe a fox is in your territory."

Her expression clouded, but she nodded. I changed the subject, asking about her house.

Making a Dangerous Point

Later, our dinner finished, I told Lara, "If the wolves at the club know we are together, it will spoil my demonstration."

She frowned. "You seem to think you know my wolves better than I do."

"Will you allow my demonstration without any, shall we say, impurities?"

She nodded and made a gesture. Immediately David was at the table.

"Alpha?"

Lara outlined our plan. David tightened his lips but said nothing. "I will see to it." He backed away from the table, then moved around the restaurant, speaking in a few ears.

"Rumor will arrive anyway," I said. "But perhaps we will arrive in front of rumor. You should get there first. My demonstration will not take long. You wouldn't want to miss it."

"David will drive you," she said.

"No. Being seen with David will sully the experiment. I will call a cab."

She nodded. "I will see you shortly." I walked outside with her, watching her as she walked to her car. I had to admit, she had a great figure. I stared, and I didn't stop staring when she turned around to look at me. She grinned and blew me a kiss.

I used my cell phone to call for a cab, waiting a scant ten minutes for my ride. When the cab arrived, driven by a human. I slipped into the back and told the driver, "The Iron Dog. Do you know where it is?"

He turned around and looked at me. "A little woman like you should not go there. Perhaps I can recommend somewhere more appropriate."

I smiled. "I am meeting friends. The Iron Dog, please."

He frowned, but he engaged the meter and pulled away from the curb.

During the drive, I texted Lara. "I admit, I do not know if your presence will vary the experiment, but I won't go if you aren't there."

"I thought about that," came the reply. "I used the back entrance. People know I am here, but I am being subtle."

"As subtle as an alpha wolf?" I wrote back.

"LOL," was the reply.

I thought about it for a minute before sending back, "You have a great ass, Alpha."

There wasn't a reply.

The Iron Dog was a converted warehouse from the days long before just in time delivery. It was surrounded by other warehouses, some dilapidated, some clearly converted into condominiums or offices.

"Are you sure, lady?" the drier asked, turning to face me.

I nodded and paid his bill before climbing out. He had pulled up directly to the entrance. I took a breath and tried to dampen down my fear.

This had been a bad idea, but I couldn't back out now.

I stepped for the door, then stepped aside as the door burst open and a pair of wolves came stumbling out, one male, one female, their arms around each other. I got out of their way, and they were past me before they turned around as a unit. The male growled.

"You're in the wrong place," the female said.

"I thought this bar was open to all weres," I told her.

She shrugged. "It's your fur. Come on, Dean." She pulled on her partner, tugging him away from me.

"Maybe we should stay a while," the male said.

"No," said the female. "We're going home."

I turned my back on them and stepped through the door, recoiling at the overwhelming scent of wolf. I steeled my resolve and stepped into the club, looking around furtively.

I caught David's eye immediately. He looked at me and nodded casually, then looked pointedly deeper into the club, lifting his eyes. I followed his gaze and saw Lara at a second floor table overlooking the dance floor. She was watching me.

It only took two more steps before the other wolves began to notice me.

The club was basic. The entrance was in the middle of one long wall with the bar to the right, a dance floor in the middle, and tables everywhere. There was a second floor around three of the walls, the rest of the club open to the warehouse ceiling. The club was about half full with a selection of wolves and humans. Those humans present looked pretty rough. I wondered if the humans knew they were surrounded by the wolves.

I was noticed right away. At first it was just a couple of double takes. I made my way to the bar, doing everything I could to avoid getting in anyone's way, stepping aside from even the most submissive of wolf. Still, I was rudely bumped several times just making it to the edge of the bar.

There were two bartenders, one male, one female, both wolves. I was near the end closest to the door, finding an open seat. David was further to my right with several seats between us, two filled, the rest empty. The stools on either side of me were clear when I sat down.

I tried to get the attention of one of the bartenders. Both of them walked past me several times, handling orders for everyone else. I became increasingly insistent, but they stepped past me. I watched as the male began washing glasses, his back turned towards me. I glanced over at David. He called out, "Wanda." I shook my head, and he nodded just once. Wanda got David another beer, then ignored me as she walked back to the other end of the bar.

I shrugged at David then reached across the bar and grabbed an empty glass and the soda fountain dispenser. I poured myself a soda, replacing the dispenser. The male wolf was there immediately, growling at me. "That will be ten bucks," he said.

"For a soda?"

"Ten bucks."

I fished two fives out of my purse. The bartender pocketed them and moved on.

Someone bumped me from behind. I didn't see who it was, but I got a good elbow across the back of my head. I wasn't drinking at the time, so I avoided spilling. When I turned around, whoever had hit me was lost in the crowd.

I glanced around, making sure I was temporarily safe, and quaffed down a slug of my soda, setting it down quickly, almost to the far edge of the bar. I tried to make myself as small as I could.

A female wolf stepped up to the bar next to me. "You don't belong here," she said. "Get out while you can."

"I'm not bothering anyone," I replied. "I am sitting here, minding my own business."

"You're a fool," she said. She walked away, never having ordered a drink.

Not all wolves are assholes. She had just done what she could. I didn't expect she would interfere again.

I got bumped again. There was no need for it, which meant it was intentional and not caused by close quarters. Besides, no were is so clumsy to bump someone unless it is indeed intentional.

So far, however, nothing had been horribly overt. I'm sure Lara by now knew how uncomfortable I must be, but she needed to watch the situation degrade. She needed to understand how low her beloved wolves would go.

I already knew.

I hoped she would stop it before it went too far.

A group of female werewolves joined me at the bar, consuming the available seats on both sides of me. "There aren't enough stools," one of them said. There were more stools at the other end of the bar.

"Sure there are," another said. She grabbed the back of my stool and dumped me out of it. I actually hadn't expected that, and I bounced off the bar. Another wolf grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the bar and gave me a shove away. Only my were reflexes kept me from getting shoved to the floor.

I glanced up, and Lara was standing up, glaring down. I shook my head just once, and she sat down.

But I was in trouble now. I was now in the middle of the room, and the wolves began herding me. I turned towards the entrance, and there were two large males standing in my way. I turned towards the bar, but there was a female standing in my way, and when I tried to step around her, she stepped into my path and growled.

I backed away and bumped into another wolf, who growled and gave me a shove.

After that, it quickly turned into a game of pinball. I was the ball.

At first, the only wolves involved were the ones who were intentionally playing. They kept giving me a false route to safety, but one of them always managed to step into my path every time I took a step. If I had more room, I may have been able to out-maneuver them; my fox reflexes were faster than wolf reflexes. Across open ground, they could easily outrun me, but in tight quarters, I should be able to react faster.

But the quarters were a little too tight, and there were a lot of wolves.

The ones playing with me were not the dominant ones. These were the submissive wolves, the ones who have to take it from the rest of the pack. They finally had someone weaker than they were, and they were enjoying it. As long as I left them alone, the dominant wolves actually weren't the problem. But even the smallest of wolves could snap me like a twig.

Eventually I got shoved into a dominant wolf. He growled at me and grabbed me by the throat. "You spilled my beer," he said. Then he looked past me and shoved me away.

It went downhill from there.

I managed to stay silent through all this, but the wolves herded me out onto the dance floor. I made a dash for freedom, but was cut off. Another dash, and I was cut off. And then I got shoved into one of the dancers, a dominant female, and she turned to me. Before I could react, she had me by the hair, pulling my up and backwards and growling.

It hurt, and I yelped. I tried not to, but I couldn't help it. And in that, I went from frightened, weak victim to frightened, weak prey.

That was when I heard the growl, rising over all the other growls in the room. The female yanking on my hair had turned me to face back the way I had come, and I saw Lara in all her fury, her growl increasing in volume until the entire room grew still.

She leapt from the balcony, landing cleanly on the floor amongst the tables, then took three more bounds, screaming out, "Mine!" before landing in front of me.

The wolf holding me backed up suddenly, not releasing my hair, and I yipped again from surprise and pain.

"Mine!" Lara yelled again, glaring at the other wolf. "Release her!"

"I did not know, Alpha," the other wolf said, releasing my hair with a shove. I fell to the floor with another yip, then curled up, quivering at the alpha's feet.

The alpha growled, and I quivered, my flight mechanism shut down, and all I could think of was "hide, be small, hide, be small." I made myself as small as I could and tried to draw no further attention.

I listened to Lara berate her wolves. "You should all be ashamed. Is this how we treat a visitor to our city?"

"She's just a-" someone started to say. It didn't get finished. There were still humans in the bar, so no one said, "fox" loud enough for the humans to hear.

"She is a person," Lara said, "and she deserves to be treated with respect. It is our job to protect people like this, not victimize them. I am ashamed right now."

And then she knelt down to me. "Are you all right?"

I couldn't answer.

Then I felt her touch. She reached underneath me and lifted me into her arms, easily picking me up off the floor. I clung to the alpha as she carried me out of the now silent bar. Along the way, David stepped in front of us to lead the way, holding the front door. I saw Eric and Jason settle in behind us, flanking the alpha.

"Shhh," Lara said to me. "You are safe now, Michaela. I'm so sorry. Shhh."

I clung to her and continued to quiver. She was strong, and I realized that I felt safe with her. When had that happened? Maybe safety was a relative term. She was still a wolf.

David led the way to the limousine, opening and holding the door for us. "Get in," Lara said. "I'll hand her to you." David slipped into the car and Lara tried to pass me in to him, but I clung to her. She pried my arms from around her neck like she might a child's, and I felt strong, male, wolfy arms taking me from her.

My panic started to return, and as soon as David had drawn me into the car, I jerked away from him, retreating as far as I could in the car. Lara climbed in afterwards and tried to make soothing noises.

"Shh, Michaela, David would never hurt you."

"Wolf," I said quietly. "Wolf. Wolf. Run. Hide. Wolf!"

Lara moved to my side of the car, sitting next to me as I tried to shrink into the corner of the seat.

"Please, let me go. Let me go." I made a quick grasp for the door handle, but Lara caught my hands and pulled me into her arms.

"Shhh," Lara said again. "Breath deeply, little fox. Remember me now. Shhh."

I couldn't help it, I breathed in her scent, that scent of safety I had learned earlier, and suddenly I found myself clutching at her, allowing her to hold me to her, my face buried in her neck, breathing in her scent.

And then Eric climbed into the car with us, and my panic went through the ceiling.

"Wolf!" I yelled then began keening. I tried to hide behind Lara, tried to burrow into the seat like I could dig my way to safety, but she pulled me more tightly against her, holding my head against her neck, and I keened and whimpered in fear.

"I'll ride up front," Eric said gently, and then he slipped back out of the car. The door closed. But David was still there, and the car reeked of wolf. I continued to tremble, hiding against Lara.

"I don't know what to do," Lara said to David. "I am so angry! I promised her she was safe."

I whimpered.

"She knew what she was doing," David said. "Even if you didn't. She was terrified of five of us, but she walked into an entire building full of wolves. She did it with her head held high, and she kept her cool right up until she was about to die."

I made myself even smaller in Lara's arms.

"I have never seen anyone braver," David added.

I pulled my face out of Lara's neck and looked over my shoulder at David, shrinking away from him.

"I will never hurt you, little fox," he said. I didn't believe him. Hurting foxes is what wolves do. I knew it. He knew it. And now Lara finally understood it, too.

I buried my face against Lara again and tried to push the panic away. She pet my hair soothingly, holding me tightly against her.

"Take us to the compound," Lara said eventually. "Have someone bring her overnight bag. She should feel safer there than the house."

"Take me home," I said. "Let me go home."

We rode in relative silence, punctuated by soothing words from Lara. I slowly calmed down, my panic replacing itself with embarrassment. I was clinging to her like a kit to her mother. The only reason I didn't retreat is that it felt so good.

From time to time I glanced at David. He was looking at me with something that might have been concern. Or was it pity? I couldn't tell.

Eventually, I pushed away from Lara. She resisted for a moment, then released her hold. I moved away from her, and she looked disappointed. "I liked holding you," she said quietly.

"I stink of fear," I said. "How can you stand me so close?"

"In your fear, it was me you clung to for safety, Michaela."

"Better the wolf you know, I guess."

She looked away. I had hurt her.

I looked out the window, wondering where we were. It was dark and the windows were deeply tinted. Even with my sharp fox eyes, I couldn't make out any features.

"I shouldn't have said that," I said after a time. "I'm embarrassed and was lashing out. I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be embarrassed," David said. "You aren't a wolf. You are a fine fox, and you should be proud of who you are."

"A fine fox wouldn't have stepped into a wolf den."

"A fine fox needed to teach truth to the alpha wolf," Lara said.

I turned to look at her. "I liked it when you held me." Then I turned to look out the window again. But Lara took my hint and moved closer, touching me gently. I leaned away from the window and let myself lean against her. She wrapped an arm around me, and we rode together like that.

"I'm not flying home?" I asked. "We're driving all the way to Bayfield?"

"We're not going to Bayfield," Lara said. "We're going to the compound."

I didn't say anything. I wasn't any safer at her compound, undoubtedly filled with wolves, than I was in Madison.

But she felt good.

I glanced over at David. He looked relaxed. "Does this bother you?" I asked him.

"That you got roughed up at the bar? Yes."

"Not that," I said. I shrugged under Lara's arm. "This."

He laughed. "No."

"I suppose the alpha can have her playthings."

"You're not a plaything," Lara said.

I didn't respond to that. If not a plaything, what was I? Certainly I wasn't a viable mate or partner. She needed someone big and strong to help her lead her pack, not someone weak, someone frightened all the time.

No, I was her plaything, or that's what she intended anyway, and when she was done, then what? Then what of my safety?

I decided I didn't have any answers or very many choices.

We slowed down, taking a turn off the highway, and I could tell immediately we were on a dirt road. Then we took another turn and drove slowly along a narrow track, and it was clear the trees were just barely outside the car. We passed through a gate and drove for another three minutes before we pulled into the courtyard of a cluster of buildings.

David climbed out of the car first. As soon as the door opened, I could smell the other wolves, so many wolves.

"Lara," I said, glancing nervously at the door.

"We're going to get out together, Michaela," Lara said. "And everyone will see you are mine. You will be safe."

"That is awfully presumptive, Alpha," I told her. "Do the foxes belong to the wolves now?"

She sighed. "No, Michaela. But you are here with me as my guest. And are under my protection." She was looking away, so I reached up with one hand and pulled her chin towards me.

"Do you intend to bed me, Alpha?"

"If you will allow me to, little fox. It will be your choice."

I looked into her face. She returned my gaze with affection. She was very attractive, and it had been a long time for me.

"Will you hurt me?"

She looked away, and I could tell by the set of her jaw she was angry again. "No," she said.

I leaned up and kissed her jawline. She stiffened, then relaxed, and I kissed her there again. "I do not want our first real kiss to be while I smell of so much fear, Alpha."

She looked back at me, her face full of hope. I let her pull me into her arms, and we held each other. "Will you run with me, little fox?"

"I won't keep up."

"I don't mind," she said.

"I would like to run, but I would like to not smell so foul first."

She kissed me on the top of the head. "Well, let us see what we can do about that. She untangled herself from me and slipped from the car, then reached a hand in for me. I took it, following after her, slipping back under her arm. She held me possessively, and I wrapped an arm around her waist. The message was clear to anyone looking.

I looked around. There were nine other wolves standing around. Eric was talking to one group and David to another. I saw curious looks, some distrustful, but none were outwardly threatening.

"How many more?"

"Twenty, sometimes twenty-five total, including some pups and five very willful teenagers."

"Do they all know my name is not Snack?"

Lara laughed. "Yes. David and Eric are seeing to it."

"All right then. What are these buildings?"

"That one," Lara said, pointing straight ahead, "Is mine." I was looking at a modern, two-story house. It was large, but not overly ostentatious, not like the house in town had been.

"Does anyone else live there?"

"No, but people are in and out all the time. They don't knock except for my bedroom door."

"And these other buildings?"

"School," Lara said, pointing to our left. "And medical center." Then she pointed to the right. "That one is sort of a barracks. There are other houses on the compound as well. David has a house, it's a two-minute run that way." She pointed towards a path to the right of her house, passing between her house and the barracks.

"We are staying here tonight?" I asked.

"Yes. And tomorrow night, if you stay."

I nodded. "We'll see. Do I have my own room?"

"Yes."

"But you're hoping I'll share yours?"

She smiled. "Yes. I need to say hello to people, and introduce you." I nodded to her. She made a gesture, and the other wolves began moving towards us. Lara stepped out in front of me, and I moved up behind her, pressing against her back, as the large wolves moved closer.

"Are you really that nervous, Michaela?"

"I'm sorry," I said, forcing myself to step away from her, straight backwards. I put my back against the car instead and watched warily.

Lara greeted her wolves. They all wanted to touch her, although most of them split their attention between their alpha and me. Finally Lara turned to me and held out a hand. The other wolves were clustered around her. I took a deep breath, which may have been a mistake, as I pulled in a full lungful of wolf. But I stepped forward, stepping through the massed wolves, and took Lara's hand.

"Everyone," Lara said. "This is Michaela. She is alpha of the Wisconsin foxes."

There were scoffs at that. I was the only Wisconsin fox. Lara turned to the loudest scoff. "Elisabeth," she said. "Did you care to comment?"

"Alpha? She's an alpha? Of what foxes? She's practically trembling in fear."

"You walk into a tiger pride, Elisabeth, and see how you do," Lara replied. "Michaela may not command other foxes, but she is to be treated as a visiting alpha, and she is under my protection."

"If she were another alpha," said Elisabeth. "She would neither need nor accept your protection."

"Alpha," I said quietly. "If I may?"

She turned to me, offering a look as to say, "Are you sure?" I nodded, and she said, "Of course, Alpha."

I smiled then turned to Elisabeth, walking through the other wolves to stand in front of her. I had to slip between them, and none of them moved for me, but still I slipped between them.

Compared to me, Elisabeth was practically a monster. She was tall and powerful, and I barely came up to her chest. I crowded well into her personal space, making sure our differences were as evident as I could make them. I looked up into her face.

"Do you find me threatening, Elisabeth?" I asked her.

She laughed. "No."

"Do you want to challenge me? Do you feel a need to put me in my place?"

"I would snap you like a twig," she told me.

"Are you so insecure that you need to prove yourself by showing everyone you can hurt me? You are a tall, powerful wolf. I am one little fox. Would you feel more powerful if you crushed me?"

Elisabeth looked down into my eyes, then began to smile. She cuffed me on the side of the head. I'm sure it was meant to be gentle, but it hurt. I rolled with it, then stood up straight again, staring up into her eyes. Behind me, Lara started to intervene, but she let me handle it.

"I like you," Elisabeth said. "You have guts." Then she looked over my head. "And you make the alpha smile."

I cuffed her back. "I like you, too, Elisabeth. I could hide two of me behind you."

She lifted her head to the sky and laughed. "Yes, you could. Perhaps three." But then she lowered her gaze back to the alpha. "But guts isn't going to be enough to protect her, Alpha. She shouldn't be here. She's going to get hurt."

"By whom?" Lara asked tightly.

"Accidentally. Not a fake accident," Elisabeth said. "But an honest one. Everyone can walk on eggshells for a few days, but eventually we'll let our guard down, and she'll get caught in the middle of something. Or someone is going to have a bad day and look for anyone to take it out on. Or one of the adolescents will be looking for a fight. The only way she doesn't get hurt is if we treat her like a pup. I just cuffed her like I would a pup, and it was all she could take."

Elisabeth looked down into my eyes again. "I like you, fox, but you don't belong here."

I agreed with her, but I didn't think Lara would appreciate if I said so.

Lara stepped forward and put her hands on my shoulders. She looked around. "Michaela is mine," Lara said clearly. "Is that clear?"

"Yes, Alpha," came the replies.

"Does anyone have a problem with that?"

No one spoke up.

"All right, I am going to show Michaela to her room." Lara directed me towards the house.

We had just arrived at the steps when I heard Elisabeth's voice, very low. "Good luck, little fox. You're going to need it." Lara didn't hear her, but I turned around and nodded. She was right.

Prey Big and Small

The house was comfortable, built to be lived in, open, with sturdy furniture and lots of windows. I received the basic tour, ending with, "My room. And yours across the hall. You may use this bathroom." She gestured to a third door in the hallway. "There are fresh towels and everything else you may need.

"Has my bag arrived?"

"No. Are you still up for a run?"

"Yes, I'd like that."

"Your bag should arrive before we get back."

"All right," I replied. "I'll turn furry after my shower and be ready to go."

I slipped into the bathroom, stripping out of my clothes and starting the water. I made sure I would have all the supplies I would need before stepping into the shower.

It felt good to clean off my stench of fear. I wondered how long before it would be replaced. Once out of the shower, I dried off and brushed my hair. Then I cracked the bathroom door open. I could open a door in my fox form, but it was awkward, and I didn't like to do it.

Then I made my shift. As usual, it took only a few seconds. When I was done, I scratched open the door and went to find Lara.

She wasn't in her room or waiting for me in mine. I offered a quick yip.

"Downstairs, Michaela," came her voice. I padded silently down the stairs and cocked my head listening. I heard voices. I listened further.

A standard fox has very fine hearing, able to hear such things as a mouse up to a hundred yards away. I was a were; all my senses were enhanced over those of a standard fox.

I heard a faucet dripping. It sounded like it was coming from the basement. I heard someone walking slowly around a room towards the back of the house. I thought perhaps it was David. I heard Lara's voice from the same room. And I heard countless noises coming from outside.

I slinked towards the voices, poking my nose around the corner and verifying with my eyes what my ears had told me.

Lara was sitting in a chair with David walking back and forth in front of her. They had been talking about me but changed the subject when I appeared. I slipped into the room, hiding behind some of the furniture. Lara saw me, of course. I wasn't really hiding, but it was my nature to stay in cover whenever possible.

Lara smiled at me. "You look so much better when you aren't dangling from your neck."

I offered a small growl and yip.

Lara frowned. "I have no idea what you just said, Michaela, so I choose to believe you just asked me to pick you up."

She rose from her chair and began stalking towards me. I backed away from her, then dashed around the exterior of the room, finding better cover behind another chair. I poked my nose out to watch her.

She chased me around the room for several minutes, David laughing at our antics. I yipped every time she got close. She managed to brush my fur once when she lunged at me, but otherwise I was able to keep at least one piece of furniture between us at all times.

Finally she sat down on the floor, laughing herself, still watching me.

"If I promise not to pick you up, will you come out here so I can see you?"

I crouched down in play posture. Foxes are also in the same family as dogs and wolves, so I knew she'd recognize the posture.

"You want to keep playing?" she asked.

I stood up and yawned. A yawn from a canine is a calming signal, not a sign of boredom. I took two fox-sized steps out into the room, keeping a close eye on both David and Lara.

"I promise not to pick you up, Michaela," she said. "Come out. I want to smell you before I turn furry."

I stepped out two more steps and looked pointedly at David. He laughed. "I won't try to pick you up either."

I stepped fully into the clear, then turned sideways to them.

As a fox, I am a beautiful animal. I am also very vain. I love to show off, even though I find little opportunity. I stretched myself so that I looked long and sleek.

"Posing, Michaela?" David asked. "Really?"

"Oh, tell her she's beautiful," Lara said, staring at me.

"She knows she's beautiful," David said. "Look at her. She doesn't need me to tell her."

I turned my back on him, pouting.

David laughed. "Michaela, you are the most beautiful fox I have ever seen."

I looked over my shoulder at him. I didn't think that meant much. I was likely the only fox he had ever seen.

"I don't think she's impressed with your compliments, David," Lara said.

Suddenly I had an itch, right in the center of my back. I rolled over onto my back and wriggled around, trying to satisfy it. The two of them broke into gales of laughter at my antics. Offended I climbed to my feet, walked straight to Lara, and bit her hand.

Gently.

"I think someone doesn't like being laughed at," David said.

"Do you have an itch?" Lara asked. I turned my back to her, and her fingers began digging through my fur. I shifted around until she found the right spot, then closed my eyes and moaned in pleasure. With the itch satisfied, I turned around and licked her hand, then walked halfway to the door. I turned around to watch her.

She had promised me a run, after all.

Lara bounced to her feet. "Oh, a run is going to feel good."

I couldn't have agreed more.

Lara stayed on two feet as we went outside. She held the front door, and I peered around it, then backed away, growling.

The courtyard was filled with wolves. Furry wolves.

"Michaela," Lara said. "Knock it off."

I flattened my ears and backed away several more steps.

"Oh for heaven's sake," she said. And with no warning at all, she scooped me up into her arms and carried me outside.

At least she wasn't holding me by my scruff.

I growled at her and bit her hand. Gently, but I let my displeasure be known.

"Behave," she said.

I squirmed, but she tightened her hold.

So I bit her hand. Hard.

"Damn it," she said, dropping me. I landed on my feet, tumbled slightly, and took off around the side of the house, skidding to a stop and pressing my side against the foundation before turning around to peer around the corner.

I eyed the door behind her, but David had closed it behind him. I was stuck out here with all these wolves, most of whom were shifting their attention back and forth between the alpha and me. Lara turned to face me.

"I can't read your body language, Michaela."

She could read my bite pretty good, I bet.

I looked at all the furry wolves.

She sighed. "We are going for a run. I hope you will join us." Then she turned her back on me and began shedding clothes. From the corner of the house, I watched. Then she started her shift.

One of the wolves separated from the group and walked slowly in my direction. I turned my gaze to her, my hackles raising. I barred my teeth. The wolf stopped eight feet in front of me, sat down, and yawned.

She was huge, absolutely huge.

Then she lowered herself to the ground in a bow, her head down, her tail up. She wanted to play.

David said quietly, "That's Elisabeth, Michaela."

I took two steps towards her, watching her carefully. Elisabeth watched me, but she kept the play posture. I halved the distance between us, then began sidling around her.

She was huge, easily four, perhaps five times my mass. Being this close to her was intimidating. I grew bolder and stepped up to sniff her. Then, to drive home the difference in our sizes, I took the same position she was in, right next to her, and whined briefly.

She looked over at me and licked me.

Eww! Wolf slime.

I jumped away from her, and she panted at me. A doggy smile. Bitch.

Then her muscles tensed. She telegraphed what she was going to do, but suddenly she pounced at me.

By the time she landed, I was ten feet to the side, my back to the house. She bounded after me. I waited until the last second, then jumped away. I was hoping she would overshoot me and bash herself into the house, but no such luck. She chased me around for another five or six leaps, never getting close. Between each attempt to catch me, we both crouched back down, our tails in the air, bowing to each other. She was just playing, and for now, I was okay with that.

I realized she was trying to herd me towards the other wolves. I glanced at them, and they were all watching, but not interfering. Lara's shift was almost finished, and I decided to change the game. The next time Elisabeth pounced, I bounded closer to Lara. Elisabeth chased after me, and I went diving underneath Lara's feet just as she climbed to them, turning about on a dime to stand in the shelter of Lara's four legs.

Elisabeth came to a sliding halt, inches from her alpha.

I immediately began yipping like I'd been hurt, holding my paw as if I couldn't step on it.

Lara looked down at me as I cringed underneath her, then she looked at Elisabeth and began growling.

Holy shit that was a serious growl!

Elisabeth immediately dropped to the ground and rolled over, submissively exposing her throat. And I instantly dashed out from underneath Lara, clamping my jaws over Elisabeth's exposed throat.

Point to Michaela!

I held my position for just a two count, then bounced away before the wolf could react. She'd just exposed her throat to the little fox, and I found it unlikely she would find it as funny as I did.

I bounced backwards then dashed around to hide behind Lara.

Lara stopped growling and looked over at me. I sat down, panting up at her, a foxy laugh. And Lara cuffed me.

She pulled it. I know she did. But she sent me flying several feet, then I tumbled over twice, yipping until I came to a stop. I lay there in the short grass for a moment, dazed, and immediately Lara was standing over me, sniffing at me and whining.

I sat up, shook my head, and then nipped up at her. I rose to my feet and nipped at her again, then bumped my body against hers. No damage done, and she was forgiven. I peered around her to look at Elisabeth.

The wolf had rolled back onto her tummy and was watching me, panting. I stepped around Lara and approached her closely. Elisabeth let me walk right up to her, and I gave her a quick lick before bouncing back. We were all friends.

What a strange concept.

I walked back to look at Lara. I was surprised to see that Lara was slightly more compact than Elizabeth, although to a fox, still absolutely huge. I walked around her, then made a point of setting one of my paws next to hers. I looked between the two paws, and Lara gave me a quick lick.

Then, Lara barked twice and bounded away, the rest of the wolves in hot pursuit. In seconds, they were all out of sight.

David hadn't shifted. He was still standing on the steps of Lara's house. He had laughed when I'd nipped Elisabeth's neck. Now he looked at me.

"We're on the southern portion of the land we own," he said. "We've been buying it up for years and own everything for five miles north, three miles east, and six miles west. But there are roads, so be careful."

I took off after the wolves, tracking them by their sound. They were loud, even when they weren't barking and howling.

There was no way I could keep up with them, of course, and the noises grew more distant. I decided it was time for a snack, and I veered off the path. These were unfamiliar grounds to me, so I slowed down and began moving quietly. Once the wolves were far enough away, I would be better able to hear my prey.

It didn't take long to find a rabbit. I don't usually hunt rabbits. Frankly, they're much more than a meal for me, and I hate wasting an animal. But I thought perhaps Lara would appreciate a gift. I listened carefully, crept closer, and then pounced.

I got lucky. Perhaps the rabbit was too used to much louder predators. It only got a half step before I landed on it, immediately breaking it's neck. I picked it up and proudly went in search of the wolves.

They made it easy. They began barking. From the sounds, they were moving very quickly, east to west in front of me, and I set an intercept course.

I came to a road and stopped just inside the bush, watching. A minute later, I heard crashing in the trees, and then a deer dashed across the road. Moments later, two dark streaks followed. I thought one of them was Lara.

I turned to parallel their course, not wanting to be right on their path in case the other wolves were right behind them. The chase only lasted another half mile, and I could have told the entire story just from the sounds. Then there was silence before the howling started.

All the wolves arrived before I did. I was tired from carrying the rabbit around. I broke into a small clearing and saw the wolves clustered around a deer carcass. I stopped, staring at them from perhaps thirty yards away.

Lara had already eaten. She lay in the grass watching the other wolves. She turned to face me.

I stopped, the rabbit still dangling from my jaws. I had caught a rabbit and thought to offer it as a gift. Lara had gotten a deer. I walked up to her and dropped the rabbit in front of her. Then, embarrassed by my meager gift, I turned tail and ran back into the woods.

No one followed.

I didn't run long, just long enough to put some distance between me and the wolves. Then I slowed down and immediately turned west, moving silently.

Instinct kicked in, and I began all the fox tricks for throwing off a pursuer. I circled back to the road, then followed it in the ditch. When I arrived at a small culvert, I went past it a dozen steps then backtracked and ducked into the culvert, coming out the other side. It was too small for a wolf, and one following could go right past it without noticing it.

I found a small pond. I walked up to it, took a few drinks of water, washing away the taste of rabbit, then set a path leading from the water. Again I doubled back, then ran along the shore halfway around the pond before heading in a new direction.

About ten minutes after I'd left the rabbit, I heard a series of yips from Lara. I thought perhaps she was asking me where I was. I didn't answer her.

I caught a rabbit, and she caught a deer. I had never felt more inadequate in my entire life. What made it worse was that a rabbit was close to the biggest thing I'd ever killed. I was capable of killing opossums, but that was about the biggest I'd go. Groundhogs and raccoons were right out. And a deer? No way.

I ran across a fallen tree, then ran back the way I'd come, leaping over the large tree root.

I found a small stream and followed it briefly.

I laid several other false trails.

And then, finally, I climbed a tree.

It is rare for a standard fox to climb a tree, but of course, I was a were fox. I wasn't as comfortable in a tree as a squirrel was, but I held my own.

I waited in the tree a long time. I tracked Lara. Every few minutes, she yipped for me. At one point a dark shadow passed below my tree, and I wondered if it was her, looking for me. A minute or two later, she yipped again, then she doubled back, coming to a rest almost directly beneath my tree. She sat there for several minutes, then yipped twice.

I didn't answer her.

Eventually she moved on. I tracked her progress as she headed back towards the house.

I waited another hour before climbing down.

If it hadn't been so far, I would simply have run home. But Bayfield was on the other side of Wisconsin, five hours by car. I didn't even want to think about how many days it would take me to run there. I had no choice but to find mechanized transport home, which meant lugging my embarrassed body back to Lara's and begging for a ride.

Perhaps she would be asleep when I got there, and I could stave off further embarrassment until morning.

It didn't take that long to return to the compound. I circled to the far side. I didn't see any scouts, but I entered the compound from the opposite side, coming to the back of Lara's house then slinking along the edge until I turned the corner towards the front door.

Lara was on the steps, back in human form, staring right at me. I stopped in my tracks, watching her.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

I held back, then lowered my head and slunk to her, coming slowly up the steps. She reached out and grabbed me, pulling me to her, and I didn't resist as she pulled me into her arms. Her fingers began working their way over my body.

"You seem fine," she said after a minute. "I thought we would run together, Michaela."

I pulled away from her, lying down on the porch with my head between my paws.

"Were you mad because I cuffed you? I'm sorry, I tried to be gentle. That was a dirty trick to play on Elisabeth. I could have hurt her, thinking she had hurt you."

I air nipped at Lara's hand, then laid my head on her knee, looking up at her. Her hand moved to the back of my neck, and she dug her fingers into the fur, massaging gently.

We stayed like that for a while. "I'd like to understand. Let's go upstairs. You can shift and we can talk."

I huffed. I didn't want to talk. I wanted to go home. But I stood up and waited for her to hold the door for me.

Once in the house, I ran ahead of Lara to my room. I shifted on the run, coming to two feet and looking around for my clothes. My duffle bag was sitting on the bed, and I pulled clothes out and slipped them on. I was decent by the time Lara arrived.

"There's a sofa in my room. Will you come talk to me?"

I nodded. "All right." I followed behind her slowly. She waited for me inside her room, closing the door behind me. She gestured to the sofa, and I crossed over to sit in it. Lara sat down at the other end and turned to me.

She stared at me. I stared at my hands.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Why didn't you run with me?"

"I couldn't possibly keep up, Lara. Three bounds and you were gone. I followed, but after about ten minutes, you were well out of my ability to hear you, except when you barked or howled."

"So you were angry at being left behind?"

"No. I knew I couldn't keep up. That wasn't a problem." I still wasn't looking at her. "You fed me earlier. I veered off the path you took; you had scared away the game. But I found a rabbit. Then I tracked you down. I wanted to give it to you. I saw you when you crossed the road after the deer. I heard you take it down. Who was with you? I saw two wolves."

"Eric. But it was my kill."

"So, I stepped into that little clearing, carrying my little rabbit. And you had just eaten venison. Who would want a scrawny rabbit after having her fill of venison? Two gulps and it would be gone, anyway. I almost just turned around and found somewhere to eat it myself, but I had caught it for you."

"It was lovely, Michaela. I shared it. I thought perhaps you went off to find another one, but you didn't come back. Didn't you hear me call for you?"

"Yes."

"When you didn't answer, I thought perhaps you were playing, and I was supposed to find you. I sent everyone else home, thinking perhaps all those wolves had you nervous, and you were hiding somewhere. And I tried to follow you."

"I know."

"I lost you four times."

I smiled briefly at that.

"Each time, I called for you, giving up. If it were a game, you won."

"But you found the trail again each time."

"Not easily. I had to circle around, looking for it. In the end, though, I lost you, and I never found your trail that last time. Why didn't you answer? I sat and called for you."

"I know. I was watching you."

"You were watching?"

I nodded.

"Why didn't you call back?"

"I was too embarrassed, Lara! Don't you understand? I was so embarrassed. I tried to offer you a rabbit after you had just taken down a deer. A rabbit. Like you would want a rabbit."

"You're a good hunter, Michaela," she said.

I looked away.

"But you're not here for your hunting prowess. Do you know why you're here?"

"No, Lara, I don't."

"You are here for the plain, simple reason that I want you."

She moved closer on the sofa.

"I admire you a great deal, Michaela."

"That's ridiculous," I told her.

"No, it's not. You are amazingly brave."

"I'm afraid all the time, Lara. You don't know what it's like."

"I know I don't. And yet even while you are so afraid, you move forward, doing what you need to do, whether that's your job or biting and scratching the domineering wolf holding you by your neck. You walk into a bar full of wolves to deliver a message I desperately needed to understand. And you stood up to Elisabeth, who frightens even me."

Lara moved a little closer.

"You are very cunning, Michaela," Lara said. "I had to cuff you for that trick, but that was the funniest trick I have ever seen. No wolf ever would have thought of that."

"I miscalculated, Alpha," I told her.

"How so?"

"I thought to get you to cuff her. It was a spur of the moment thought. I thought you knew we were playing, and I thought to pull you into the game. But then I heard you growl, and I knew I had taken it too far. When she barred her throat to you, after having done nothing wrong, I thought you would hurt her. I had to defuse the situation, so I did it in the funniest fashion I could think of."

"I could never hurt her, Michaela. She's my sister."

I processed that for a moment. "Is she angry with me?"

"She got a lot of crap for it. But she was laughing. She told me to tell you, point to the little fox. I think you impressed the hell out of her."

Lara moved closer, and our thighs were pressed against each other. Still, I didn't look at her.

"You are beautiful, Michaela. And your fox is gorgeous."

I smiled. "That's true. My fox is outstanding. Your wolf is beyond amazing."

"You liked?"

I leaned my head on her shoulder. "I'm so small I stood up straight while I was between your legs, and my back didn't touch your belly."

"You can go places I can't."

I didn't think that was of much value.

"You can see things I can't."

I clasped her arm with my hands.

"You can hear things I can't, Michaela."

"Did anyone eat my rabbit, Lara?"

She laughed. "Yes. We all shared it."

"That's ridiculous. It's two bites for you."

"Nevertheless, we all shared it."

"Why?"

"Because it was your first kill for the pack, Michaela. And pack shares."

I turned towards her, burying my nose against her neck, and breathed in deeply. She smelled wonderful, wild and strong. Then she lifted my chin, and our lips met.

Her lips were soft and full, and it was my first kiss in a very long time. I whimpered into the kiss and let her pull me more tightly against her. When her tongue flicked against my lips, I parted for her, but she ignored my invitation, choosing instead to simply tease me with her tongue. I whimpered again, and she tightened her hold before breaking the kiss.

I opened my eyes and looked up into hers.

"I need to know something, Lara. Is this just a night, maybe a weekend, or something longer?"

"Longer, little fox. Much longer."

"If all you want is my body, you can have it, right now."

"I want more than your body, Michaela."

I closed my eyes, steeling my resolve, then opened them again to look at her. "In that case, I want us to go slow."

"I don't like going slow, little fox."

"If this is just physical relief, you can have me tonight, Lara."

"It's not about physical relief, Michaela."

"Then I need to feel worthy. And not afraid."

"You are safe, Michaela!" She looked angry.

"Am I? You were being gentle when you cuffed me, weren't you."

"Yes. I already apologized for hitting you too hard."

"Lara, you were being gentle, and you were amused, not angry. What would have happened if I'd actually made you angry? Would you have controlled yourself?"

She stared at me, searching my face, and I knew she wasn't sure. If she couldn't be, how could I? "I could have hurt you," she realized.

"Lara. You did hurt me."

She stared into my face. "No," she said, little more than a breath.

I pulled her into a kiss, a quick kiss. "I'm fine. I ran the stiffness off. I might be the size of a wolf pup, but I am far more delicately built than even the lightest pup. Lara, you'll kill me without even realizing it."

And then I stood up. "Thank you for dinner and the run, Lara. I had a very interesting evening."

"Interesting. Not enjoyable?"

I laughed lightly. "I am a fox, Lara. They are one and the same."

And then I slipped from her room.

Water Sports

I slept poorly. I hadn't had these particular nightmares in a long time. The third time I woke, my heart pounding, I sat up and swore quietly.

It was the scent of wolf that was doing it. While the sheets and bedding were clean and freshly laundered, they had been washed by a wolf, and her scent lingered. The entire house smelled like wolf as well, and this was triggering the dreams.

They were the same. In them, I was playing with my older sister, Jean, when my father came racing into the clearing that contained our little cottage. In the distance, I heard the howling of wolves, and I could smell the fear on my father.

I shook my head. I didn't want to think about the dreams. I slipped out of bed. I was wearing an oversized tee shirt and nothing else. I looked down, decided it would have to do, and stepped across the hall. I listened at Lara's door. Right at the edge of my hearing, she was breathing. More importantly, she was alone.

Her breathing shifted when I cracked the door open and slipped inside. She was a light sleeper. "It's Michaela," I said quietly, crossing to the bed. I didn't even bother waiting for an invitation but slipped under the covers next to her. She rolled to face me, reaching for me, misunderstanding.

"Dreams," I said. "This is just to sleep. Please."

"You mean nightmares?" she asked.

"Yes. From a long time ago. Please, may I curl against you?"

She nodded and settled in, and I curled into her back, breathing deeply her scent. It was wolf, and I didn't know if the dreams could come back, but I was starting to feel safe with her, and maybe she would keep the dreams at bay.

It took time to finish banishing the last nightmare, but then I slept and knew nothing until full daylight had arrived.

Lara woke first but lay still, not waking me. From her breathing, I could tell she was awake when I opened my eyes. I had burrowed my face into her back. She was wearing a black teddy and panties, and my faced was pressed into the silk. She stiffened slightly, and she knew I was awake.

I shifted away slightly, then reached up and pulled her shoulder towards me, rolling her onto her back, then squirmed closer, draping myself into her. "Thank you," I told her.

"No more nightmares?"

"Perhaps pleasant dreams of feeling safe."

My eyes were closed, but I could tell she was pleased.

"We shared a bed after all."

"Not quite the way you intended to bed me," I replied.

"I have no complaints." She stretched, and I felt her muscles ripple, and when she was done, she had an arm around me, pulling me tightly against her.

"Subtle, Alpha," I told her.

She giggled. "You know, Michaela, I have never shared my bed before."

Her words reminded me of the last person I'd slept next to. I stiffened and pulled my hands to my chest. I tried to pull away from her, but she held me tightly.

"Michaela? What did I say?"

I willed myself to relax. "Nothing. It's not your fault."

She reached over and caressed my cheek, tucking errant hair behind my ear. "Please tell me."

"I haven't shared a bed for a very long time, Lara, and then only with one person. She is dead now."

"Oh. I am sorry. How did she die?"

I didn't answer. I wasn't ready to tell her. "Change the subject," I ordered.

"What would you like to do today?"

I smiled. "You didn't have it all planned out?"

"Yes, I did," she said. "I had planned on spending the day fucking like bunnies."

I laughed. "Have you ever watched bunnies fuck? It's kind of boring."

She chuckled, her chest jiggling. I got a good look. Lara realized where I was staring. "I am wondering if perhaps my original plan will stand."

"No, Lara. But this is nice."

"Yes, it is." Lara stroked my hair, and I relaxed further into her. We lay like that for a while. "You haven't answered my question," Lara finally pointed out.

"I was thinking. I was thinking of our imbalance. You are a wolf alpha. I am a lone fox. You are big and strong. I am small and fragile."

"And very lovely and cunning."

"You are rich. By all appearances, very, very rich. I am a public servant."

"Did you come to any conclusions about these imbalances?"

"Yes. There is nothing to be done about any of them. You will always be a wolf. I will always be a fox. You will always be rich, unless you are incredibly foolish. And I would never let you be foolish."

She tightened her hold on me.

I went on. "I may not be a public servant forever, but I have little interest in the things that would make me rich."

"In spite of your foxy curiosity?"

"I have little interest in power, Lara. I recognize the source. I recognize the way it works. But I could never be the face of power. I could be the woman behind the power, but I could never be the one with the power. For more reasons than I can count."

"All right," she said. "So we have these imbalances that are here to stay."

"It is impractical to fight against them. And so I must accept them."

"You are a practical little fox," Lara said non-committedly.

"Of course I am," I told her. "I know what I would like to do today. Come to Bayfield with me. I want to spend a very small amount of your money."

She laughed. "All right. What are we going to do?"

"Do you have a wet suit?"

"Why would I ever need a wet suit?"

I grinned but didn't answer.

"I'll need to bring enforcers. It's too far from Madison."

"If we drive, we'll miss our opportunity."

"Don't worry," Lara said. "We'll fly."

"I suppose with the alpha along, I can't claim shotgun this time." I mock pouted.

She laughed. "We'll see what we can arrange."

I leaned up and nuzzled her neck then turned her head for a kiss. As kisses go, it was very chaste, but it was sweet, and I melted against her for a moment longer before rolling away. We climbed to our feet on opposite sides of the bed. I went in search of a shower.

Stepping out of the shower, I heard the noises of the house. There were people downstairs. I heard the sounds of food being prepared. There was a mix of voices, male and female. Lara was taking her own shower.

I dressed in jeans, a blouse, and my tennis shoes, then packed my bag and made the bed. By the time I was done, Lara was out of the shower. I crossed the hallway to her door, which was open.

"What do I need to bring?" she asked over her shoulder, hearing me skulking in the hallway.

I stepped inside. She was dressed much as I was. "Beach clothing," I said. "And something to wear to dinner. Do you want casual or expensive for dinner?"

She turned to face me. "Rittenhouse. I already made reservations. I hope that is all right."

"I love the Rittenhouse. I can't afford to go very often."

She finished packing a small travel bag for her beach clothing and pulled a garment bag from her closet. Downstairs, we left our bags near the door, and Lara took my hand to lead me to the kitchen.

The kitchen was full of wolves. I stopped at the entrance. I knew they were there, but the sight of them was still intimidating. Every pair of eyes in the room turned to face us in the doorway.

"Good morning, Alpha," Rory said.

I looked around the room, finding familiar faces. David, Rory, Elisabeth, and three wolves I didn't know all faced us. I recognized their faces from last night, but I hadn't actually met them.

"Good morning," Lara responded. She turned to me and gave me a moment.

"Good morning," I said finally, stepping fully into the kitchen. I dropped Lara's hand and walked to face Elisabeth, ignoring the other wolves. I looked up into her face.

"If you want revenge, I understand. If you hit me, you could kill me."

There was muffled laughter from behind me, and I heard some gleeful comments about the wolf that bared her throat to a tiny fox.

Elisabeth smiled. "It was pretty funny, little fox. Once I got over the embarrassment, anyway. I haven't played like a pup in years, and I had fun."

"I don't need to look over my shoulder, then?"

"No. If I ever need to challenge you, it will be to your face."

We smiled at each other, and I stepped away. "Anyone coming to Bayfield needs to be prepared for a day at the beach. If you have wet suits, bring them. What's for breakfast? And who is packing a doggy bag?"

No one found my comment about doggy bags funny.

Forty minutes later we were at their little airport. There was a single paved strip, three hangars, and little else. Parked in front of one of the hangars were two airplanes. June, the pilot from yesterday, was walking around one of them, checking it over.

Counting June, there were six of us. David, Rory and Elisabeth were going to Bayfield with us. We walked over to the planes, and June turned to Lara.

"Good morning, Alpha," she said. "Both planes are preflighted and ready to go."

"Thank you, June. Everyone climb in. Elisabeth you're with me. I'm sorry, but Michaela asked for shotgun."

Elisabeth grumbled good naturedly but climbed into the back of one of the planes. Lara walked around the plane quickly, then checked the fuel and oil level while I watched.

"Didn't June do that?" I asked.

"She did. But as the pilot, I am ultimately responsible for the flight, so I double checked."

"You're the pilot?" I asked. "Doesn't that take years of experience?"

"Forty hours," she said. "But I've been flying since I was seven. You're perfectly safe."

After that, Lara climbed in first, crossing to the pilot's seat on the left. I followed after her and closed the door the way I'd been taught. I adjusted my seat, buckled in, put my headphones on, then sat quietly while Lara did the pilot things.

Ten minutes later, both airplanes were in the air and pointed north.

Lara keyed the radio. "June, keep some separation. The fox looks like she wants to make us all airsick." Then she turned to me and took her hands from the controls. "Your airplane, Michaela."

I grinned at her and settled my hands on the controls.

Thirty minutes later, Elisabeth finally said, "For all that is holy, Alpha, make her stop. Or I swear, I will not be responsible for the mess I make of your leather seats."

I immediately took my hands from the controls, but I turned around. Elisabeth was white. "I thought I was doing pretty good," I said. "I'm sorry."

"You were doing fine," Lara said. "Ignore her. She just hates sitting in back."

It was late morning when we arrived at Madeline Island. We parked the planes and walked to the ferry, everyone in good spirits.

"No one minds the walk?" I asked Lara.

"It's a beautiful day for a walk," Lara responded. And it was. Sunny, warm, but not horribly hot. Everyone except me was wearing a hat. I hadn't brought one, but I'd collect one at home. "I didn't know Bayfield had a beach."

"It doesn't, not really. We're not going swimming. At least not intentionally."

"Then what are we doing?"

"You'll see."

She growled at me. "It is not nice to keep the alpha guessing."

I stroked her arm. "I am fox. Get used to it."

From behind me, Elisabeth snickered. Lara turned to glare at her. "Hey," Elisabeth said. "You're the one with the infatuation for the fox. Don't blame me."

"Infatuation?" I asked.

"She's been talking about you for weeks," Elisabeth said.

"Shut up, Elisabeth," Lara said.

"Oh no, Elisabeth, keep talking."

"I have to admit," Elisabeth said. "I wish someone had taken pictures."

"Pictures of what?"

"You, dangling from the scruff of your neck."

"Shut up, Elisabeth," I said.

Everyone chuckled.

We didn't have to wait long for the ferry. Once on firm ground, we walked to my house. Until then, everyone had acted casually, but I watched as the wolves went on alert, fanning out with Lara and me in the middle.

"Seriously?" I asked Lara.

"Nothing wrong with caution," Lara said.

When we got to the house, I stopped everyone. "Lara, I don't want my house smelling like five wolves for two weeks. We're only staying for a few minutes. But everyone needs to change into swimsuits."

"They can change in the garage," Lara said. "Will you let David check it out before you and I go in alone?"

I nodded. David took my keys from me and entered via the front door while the other wolves spread out, circling my house. David slipped into my house. I could have told him there was no one there, but I listened as he searched my house, checking every nook and cranny. Finally he slipped out and nodded to Lara.

"Paranoid wolves," I said halfway under my breath as Lara and I slipped into the house. "You may change down here," I told Lara, pointing to the bathroom. "I will only be a few minutes."

In my bedroom, I changed into a simple one-piece suit, tossing a white blouse over my shoulders, and a pair of sandals. Downstairs, Lara showed her appreciation for my bare legs. I basked.

Yes, I am vain about my appearance. I am fox, after all.

Lara looked pretty good, too. She was in a bikini, and her body was amazing. All sinew and muscle, but she had her own curves, and I appreciated them, even if she was taller than an Amazon.

I transferred my wallet from my purse to a waterproof bag I use when I am on the water. "Give me yours, too," I told Lara, and we added hers before stepping out back.

The other wolves were all ready for a day on the beach, but they looked at me dubiously. "All right," I said. "I need some big strong wolves to help me." That earned me some grins. I led the way back into the garage and pointed to the ceiling. "I want that down."

"A canoe?" Lara asked.

"Kayak."

She eyed it dubiously. "We won't all fit."

"I have it covered," I told her.

"Elisabeth and June, if you wouldn't mind?" she asked them. They sprang to it. I helped them release the right ropes, and they gently lowered my kayak to the floor of the garage. I double checked that everything I needed was in the cockpit and hit the garage door opener.

"If two of you can carry that," I asked. "Who likes to fish and has a license?" Rory, Elisabeth and June raised their hands. "Let me see your licenses," I said.

"You don't trust our word?" Elisabeth asked.

"I work for US Fish and Wildlife," I said. "If I take you fishing and you're caught without a license, I don't know what happens to my job." It took a minute, but all three produced fishing licenses. I added them to my waterproof bag then asked Rory to help me collect fishing gear.

Ten minutes later, our little troop was back at the waterfront. "Wait here," I said, stepping into a boathouse next to the water. "Lara, with me if you please."

Benny, the shop owner, was finishing with another customer. I waited for him to be finished. He turned to me. "Michaela!"

"Hey, Benny. This is Lara. We need full gear for five. And you need to take a peek at them."

Benny stepped outside, and I pointed to the four enforcers clustered around my kayak. It looked tiny next to them. "Oh my," he said. "They're-"

"Big."

"Yeah. Even the women." Benny stepped closer. "Is the brunette single?"

I laughed. "She'd eat you for lunch, Benny. Would you like an introduction?" I raised my voice. "June, we'll need you, too."

Benny was small for a man. Compared to me, he was a giant, but June had three inches of height on him. I introduced the two of them, and we retreated back into the boathouse. Lara was looking at the boats.

I let Benny and June handle everything. The two of them carried kayak after kayak down to the water, then Benny handed June paddles and life jackets. Lara stepped up to me, giggling.

"I am reminded of a movie."

"I know, I was just thinking of that. Is she single?"

"Yes. Benny?"

"He's a good man." I stressed the last word.

"I don't know if June will be interested, but if she is, she'll be gentle with him."

Outfitting the wolves in wetsuits was less of a challenge than I expected. The women wore men's wetsuits, and Benny had two super extra humungously large suits for David and Rory.

"Do you need a safety clinic?" Benny asked us finally.

"I'll handle it," I told him. "If that's okay with you." I handed Lara her billfold, and she paid Benny for the rentals.

I got them all into the shallow water with their kayaks. There was grumbling when I made them all wear lifejackets, but Lara growled, and they all shut up. I noticed Elisabeth was very quiet and hadn't grumbled about putting on a lifejacket. I eyed her and she grinned at me.

I demonstrated the basics while they stood in the water. I showed them how to use the splash skirt and how to paddle. Then I stopped some distance from the shore and tipped over. I didn't want to try to teach an Eskimo roll, so I slipped out of the boat and came up next to it. I explained everything then one by one, starting with Lara, let them climb into their boats and demonstrate they could escape if they tipped. I kept Elisabeth to last.

"Everyone into their boats," I said. "Elisabeth and I are going to demonstrate two other ways to right a tipped over kayak."

They got into their boats, and we paddled into mildly deeper water. I slipped mine up to Elisabeth. "How good are you?"

"Probably not as experienced as you are, but good enough."

"We're going to demonstrate an assisted righting first," I said. She nodded. "You first." I raised my voice. "Now, Elisabeth is going to tip over."

She promptly flipped her boat. Then her hand came up out of the water, and she tapped the bottom of the boat. I paddled up next to her on the opposite side, grabbed her arm, and she flipped back right side up. There was sarcastic applause. I immediately flipped my boat, then while hanging upside down in the water, reached up and tapped on the bottom. I felt Elisabeth grab my wrist and pull.

She almost pulled my arm out of the socket, and I popped back out of the water. I worked the shoulder and turned to her. "Gently next time."

"Sorry."

I made everyone practice that, both tipping their kayaks and helping someone right theirs. Only two people let go of their paddles, but they floated and were quickly retrieved.

"You guys can try this next one if you want," I said. "But it takes practice." I nodded to Elisabeth. She paddled a short distance away, flipped her kayak, and then attempted to right it herself. It took her three attempts, but she got it. "Nice job, Elisabeth." I waited for her to pump out her kayak. "Help me with this now if you would, Elisabeth." I flipped and immediately exited, popping to the surface. Elisabeth paddled over and I explained what we were doing.

I righted my kayak in the water, and Elisabeth paddled to the front end, her kayak forming a T against mine. I swam to the front of her kayak and steadied it. Elisabeth reached down, grabbed my kayak by the handle, and pulled it across hers. She flipped it over, tipping the water out of it, then set it back in the water.

"Lara, go to the other side and stead Elisabeth's kayak." I waited until she was in place, then with Elisabeth steadying mine, and Lara steadying Elisabeth's, I climbed back in, slipping into the cockpit.

"We're not going to practice that," I said. They laughed. I told them to wait where they were, bringing Elisabeth with me. We retrieved the fishing gear and food from shore, storing everything in our kayaks. And then we began our tour of the waterfront.

We paddled around in front of Bayfield for a half hour before I was sure everyone knew how to paddle properly and they could be trusted not to screw around. After that, we left the harbor. There was only a light breeze, and this portion of the lake was sheltered. Everyone rode the very light waves very well. We pointed our kayaks north and proceeded up the shore.

At first, everyone stayed clustered together, but the further we paddled, the more obvious it became the wolves were bored with the pace one little fox was setting. As a were, even as small as I was, I was strong compared to a human, but tiny, so my speed over the water was significant. We had traveled much further than a human would have paddled. But I was close compared to the wolves, and they were growing bored. They began screwing around. I sighed.

Lara looked over at me. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"Probably." I looked at Elisabeth. "Paddle ahead of us, two hundred yards, and stop. Everyone else stay here."

She nodded and really set her paddle into the water, shooting ahead of us. When I deemed the distance was good, I told Lara, "That's far enough." She whistled loudly, and Elisabeth came to a stop, turning around to face us.

"All right, time to race." Four wolf ears perked right up. "From here, past Elisabeth, and back here. Contact with Elisabeth's boat is a forfeit. Two at a time."

"Me and June," Rory said immediately. I looked at her and she nodded.

We got them lined up and I said, "The alpha will call the start and the winner."

"Three, two, one, go!" Lara said immediately. Both of them dug their paddles in and set off.

Damn! They were fast. Sloppy, but fast. June settled into a cleaner pace sooner than Rory did, and she was turned around and heading back a second or two ahead of Rory. Halfway back, it was clear she was a boat length or so ahead, but Rory was really pulling hard on the water.

I had thought that I would race as well. My style was significantly better than anyone else here, and that was an advantage. I also had a sleeker kayak than the ones they were using, a better paddle, and due to my size, I rode lighter in the water. But no way did I have the upper body strength I'd just seen June display.

June flashed between my boat and Lara's, Rory a half length behind her.

"The win to June," Lara declared. The winner raised her paddle in victory. From across the water, Elisabeth offered a wolf call to celebrate the win.

"David and Lara next," I declared. "Rory, if you can paddle wide of their path, please head down and replace Elisabeth. Tell her to conserve her strength."

Lara and David lined up. I called the start and they were off. David took an instant lead, but they were neck and neck when they turned around, and Lara won by a small amount. Both of them were breathing hard and grinning. With Rory now at the other end, Elisabeth followed them at a sedate pace.

I made everyone run multiple races, watching them tire themselves out. The men all relied on brute strength. The women did, as well, although their style was better than the men's. Finally, when everyone had raced everyone, and I saw a lot of heavy breathing and people working out stiff shoulder muscles, I said, "Last race. Lara and me." She had just raced Elisabeth, and they had both been very competitive about it. "Call the start, Elisabeth."

I was already set to go and was hoping Elisabeth would call the start before Lara was even ready, but she waited for the alpha to line up and nod to her before getting us started.

I paddled firmly but easily, maintaining a crisp clean track through the water. Lara relied on her strength. By the time we reached David, serving as the turning point, Lara was ahead by a half boat. I did a crisp reversal whereas Lara's was sloppy, and I gained a full boat length on her during the turn.

"Damn it!" she said from behind me. I could tell from the sounds that she put renewed energy into winning the race.

But she was just a wolf, and I was the fox. I waited until I saw the bow of her boat out of the corner of my right eye and began edging towards the right. "Don't run me over," I told her. "The passing boat is responsible for passing cleanly."

She continued to gain on me, and I continued to edge her further towards the right. Soon we faced towards the shore rather than the finish line.

"What are you doing?" she asked me.

"Playing to win, Alpha."

I knew the moment she dug a paddle in to turn towards the finish instead of being pushed closer to shore. I turned faster, and her boat dropped behind my peripheral vision again. I'd regained the lead I'd had from the turnaround.

This time, she came up on my left side. As soon as I saw her boat, I turned further to the left. She realized it right away and she swore at me.

I pushed her slightly left, but we only had fifty yards to go, and I turned immediately towards the finish. Elisabeth and June were marking the finish, and Lara and I would need to pass between their boats. I aimed my boat on a line that would take me very near Elisabeth's boat with no room for Lara to pass between me and Elisabeth. With twenty yards to go, she had almost caught up to me before she realized what I was doing.

"You fox!" Lara yelled.

"Don't hit anyone," I yelled back.

Seconds later I flashed across the finish line. Lara narrowly missed Elisabeth's boat on the wrong side.

"The cheating little fox won," Elisabeth declared.

Lara and I came to a stop well past the others. I paddled over to her. "Are you angry with me?" I asked her.

Panting, she shook her head. "No. You just demonstrated why I want you around. You didn't win on strength, you won by being more clever."

I grinned at her. "That was hardly clever."

"So you had more tricks up your sleeves?"

"Sure. I didn't even have to tip your boat over."

"Oh, like this?" and then she reached over and leaned on the edge of my cockpit. I counter balanced, and she suddenly straightened, pulling up on the cockpit of my boat, flipping me over.

She'd caught me completely by surprise.

I did an Eskimo roll, but just before I was fully upright, Lara used her paddle against my side to roll me back upside down. She did it twice more, and I hung from my boat, out of breath, then reached up and tapped the bottom of my boat several times. I felt her grab my wrist, and she gently pulled me upright. I came up, sputtering.

Once upright, I saw that Elisabeth had moved closer and was hovering nearby, ready to assist if I'd needed it. She saw I was all right and then said, "I should have warned you, Michaela. My little sister is a poor loser."

"Naw," I said. "She just needed to reassert her dominance. She keeps forgetting I am outside the pack hierarchy." I began paddling slowly, taking us to my favorite fishing spot. The wolves had burnt off quite a bit of their excess energy, but it wasn't long before they were paddling circles around me or challenging each other to additional races. Lara held herself aloof from all of it but after a while paddled up next to me.

"Does it bother you?" she asked me.

"Does what?"

"The reason I tipped you over."

I laughed. "No. It bothers me I have to reign in the paybacks."

"Paybacks? Like what?"

"Hmm," I said. I glanced over at her and frowned.

"What?"

"Something is wrong with your paddle. Let me see it, please."

Without even thinking about it, she handed me her paddle. I grinned and immediately paddled away from her. It took her a few seconds to realize I'd left her stranded, out in the lake without a paddle, and she began laughing.

"Who wants to race Lara now?" I asked, loud enough for the other wolves to hear. Four wolves and one fox grinned at the alpha as she bobbed alone in the big lake.

"Rory," she said in a clear voice. "Give me your paddle." She used her alpha voice, and Rory immediately paddled over to her, relinquishing his paddle to her. Lara grinned at me.

"Point to the fox," Elisabeth said in a clear voice. "Half a point to the alpha. The fox is up two to one and a half."

"How do you figure that, Elisabeth?" asked Lara.

"Point for winning the race. I am tempted to add a half point for how she won, but that finish was a little dangerous. You got a half point for tipping her over and another half point making her ask for help."

"Another point to the fox for taking us kayaking," June yelled out.

"I thought about that," Elisabeth yelled back. "But she lost that point for practically making me airsick on the way here."

After that, the bantering went back and forth, with Lara and I gaining and losing points as fast as the wolves could come up with reasons for them. Finally I broke my own silence. "All I can say is, I'm glad the points started this morning and not last night."

There was gentle laughter at that. "Why not last night?"

"Ten points to the fox for making Elisabeth submit to her," Lara immediately declared.

That earned a round of laughter amidst Elisabeth's declarations she hadn't submitted to me, she'd submitted to Lara. Then Elisabeth asked, "But why not last night's points, little fox? Seems like you're way ahead."

"How many points is a deer kill?" I asked.

"Not as much as first kill for the pack," Lara declared immediately.

"Oh yeah," David said. "First kill is always a big deal. And you didn't even share in it. Did you go off and find four more for yourself?"

"It wasn't my first kill," I said.

"First kill for pack," David said.

"I'm not pack," I said.

"That's not what Lara says," Elisabeth said.

"Shut up, Elisabeth," Lara said immediately.

The two of them glared at each other, and I interjected. "I'm not pack. But how about friend of the pack?"

Lara looked at me for a moment, then smiled. "For now, I'll accept that."

Rory hadn't been involved in the banter. Instead, he'd been paddling rapidly around the group of kayaks. I had kept track of him with my ears. I heard him coast, then I heard the sound of a life vest being taken off and a wet suit zipper sliding down.

"Rory," I said. "Freeze right now!"

"I'm hot," he complained.

"I said freeze, Rory!"

He ignored me.

I turned my boat to face him. "Zip that back up and put that life jacket back on," I ordered.

He ignored me and unzipped his wet suit until it hung open. I sighed and looked at Lara.

"If he has to bail out, it just went from no big deal to potentially life threatening."

"I can swim," he said.

I paddled over to him. "You're hot?" I asked him. He nodded.

So I tipped him into the cold lake and paddled away from him so he couldn't tip me over when he came up. He paddle went one direction, his life vest in another, and he didn't appear.

I sat back and waited. An arm came up, and he rapped the bottom of his kayak.

"Leave off, Elisabeth," I said quietly. I'd heard her begin to paddle to assist.

I waited, and he rapped again. Elisabeth started forward, but I heard Lara tell her, "Let the fox handle this."

He rapped again, and David began paddling forward. "No," said the alpha.

Finally Rory did what he should have done as soon as his first request for help went unanswered. He exited his boat and came up next to it, sputtering. He looked over at me, glaring. He treaded water, not smart enough to use his overturned kayak for flotation.

"You are wondering why I didn't help you," I told him quietly. "I didn't help you because I didn't know you wouldn't come up swinging at me."

"You didn't have to tip me over," he said. He began panting, and his lips were beginning to turn blue.

"Still hot?"

"Freezing," he said.

"Enjoying treading water?"

"Not particularly."

"You've never been swimming in Lake Superior before," I said. "How's the water?"

"Fucking freezing. Are you going to help me?" He looked to Lara. "Alpha?"

"The fox is in charge, Rory," Lara said quietly.

"Let me know when you get tired, Rory,"

"I'm already tired," he said.

"There is a very large flotation device three feet from you. Why don't you use it?"

He looked around, looking for his lifejacket, ignoring the boat. "Where?"

"The boat, Rory. Do you notice it is floating?"

I heard June snicker and Lara shushed her. Rory paddled over to his boat and draped across it.

"How deep is it out here?" he asked me.

"About a hundred and fifty feet. Anything over ten and it doesn't matter, does it?"

"Are you going to help me or do I have to swim for shore?"

I looked to the west. "I don't think you'll get that far, but if you do, I don't think you can climb that cliff." It was a sheer drop to the water. "Your teeth are chattering, what are you going to do about it?"

"Michaela," he said through chattering teeth. "Please help me or let the alpha do it."

"You'll stay warmer if you zip your wetsuit back up, Rory."

He struggled with it, but he managed to zip it all the way back up. His teeth were still chattering, and I knew it would be a while before he was warm. I also knew he wouldn't last in the water much longer.

"Rory, we're past the point of screwing around. Do I have to worry you'll do something to me if I help?"

"No, Michaela. I should have listened to you. I'm sorry."

"Elisabeth, I need you," I said. "David, can you collect the errant paddle and life vest?"

"I've got the vest," June said.

It took Elisabeth and I working together, but we got Rory's kayak flipped over and him back safely inside his boat. He sat there, panting and shivering for a while. He put the life jacket back on and accepted his paddle from David. Once the drama was over, Lara paddled closely to me. I turned to her and mouthed a "thank you". She nodded.

"Do I need to worry about revenge?" I asked her.

"No. He can be thick headed, but he forgives quickly."

I nodded to her, then paddled away and slipped between Rory and the rest of the crowd. I peeled him away from the pack and asked him, once we were far enough no one else would hear, "Are we okay?"

"Yes, little fox," he said. "But I wouldn't have hit you."

"I needed you to understand how cold the lake is, and how fast you can get tired, even a strong wolf like you."

"What should I have done?"

In response, I opened my wetsuit zipper a few inches then used the hand pump to pump some cold water into the wet suit. It felt nice. David saw me do it, and soon everyone was filling their suit with some lake water.

Except Rory. He was still cold.

We arrived at my favorite fishing spot. Elisabeth and I passed out fishing gear, and soon three wolves were casting their lines. Then we passed out the food we'd brought. I even found someone had made fox sized snacks. I appreciated that. With a little food inside me, I wet my own line.

We caught some fish. "Those are lunch," I said. "We can grill them back at my house later. If we don't catch enough, someone can run to the store for steaks."

"And beer," Elisabeth suggested.

We fished for an hour, Lara staying near my side the entire time. We talked quietly and watched the other wolves tease each other.

"This was a great idea, Michaela," Lara told me. "This is the most fun I've had in a long time."

"Will they be tired out by the time we get back, or do I need to give them some more exercise."

"This snack isn't going to hold them very long. We'll need lunch. But a little more exercise would be good."

I nodded. "Okay, guys. As much fun as this is, I think we should pack it up. Who is ready for one long race?"

We stowed the gear. I looked between all the boats, then attached the stringer of fish to the back of Lara's boat. Elisabeth grinned at me. I'd just given the alpha a handicap. Lara didn't realize it right away. I led everyone further away from shore and pointed.

"Everyone see that rock? About two more miles? The race is to that rock. That's where we turn around. Do not go past it. Call the start, alpha."

"Ready, go!" she yelled and was the first to dig her paddle in.

I didn't even try to race but instead set a comfortable pace. I was just letting the wolves wear themselves out again. They all pulled away from me, Lara falling behind them. Ten pounds of fish dangling off the back of a kayak is almost as good as an anchor.

She turned around and gave me a dirty look, then let me catch up to her.

"Not fair," she told me.

"I thought we'd paddle together," I replied.

I didn't see who won. I figured Elisabeth would keep an eye on them, and they were way too far away from me to see how it ended. But when Lara and I pulled to within a few hundred yards of the finish, I saw that David and Rory had set themselves another race.

"Damn it!" I said. "Alpha, call them back, right now."

She didn't even ask why, trusting my judgment. She immediately offered a wolf howl. They either didn't hear it or chose to ignore it, because they kept paddling furiously.

"Fuck," I said.

The wind was out of the west. It wasn't much of a wind, and we were well sheltered by the shoreline. But they were about to be far more exposed, and the swells from the greater part of the lake curve around the headlands. We were going from basically calm water into water far too rough for a little kayak.

I dug my paddle in. When we reached Elisabeth and June, I told them, "Keep up, let me lead." Soon the four of us were chasing after the men. Lara offered another wolf call, but neither of them faltered.

They were a half a mile ahead of us when I saw Rory raise his paddle, perhaps having won whatever race they had set. But I could tell they were starting to encounter the heavier chop.

Rory got into trouble first. He started to turn his kayak around and was broadside to the waves when he flipped.

"David will be next," I said. We were still too far away for him to hear my yells.

I watched David try to help Rory. Instead, he went over. I saw one head appear, bobbing in the water, then another.

"Lara, I need you to listen to me," I told her.

"Those are my people, little fox," she said, panting.

"And I don't want to rescue five of you," I told her. "That's too many for me."

I glanced over and she nodded.

"You'll stop short, where it's calm. You and June. Elisabeth and I will do the rescue." I turned to Elisabeth. "Are you good enough?"

"No."

"All right. I'll drag them to you. Stop where you'll be safe." She nodded.

Lara and June stopped where I told them to. Elisabeth followed me another two hundred yards, and the chop started. "Michaela," she said.

"I know. Wait here. It'll be fine."

I paddled ahead, coming to a stop thirty yards from the overturned kayaks. The men had tried valiantly to right them and climb in, but they kept flipping them over.

"Conserve your strength," I hollered at them.

"Stay back, little fox," David yelled back.

I paddled slightly closer. "How are you two doing?"

"C-c-cold," said Rory.

"David," I said. "Flip one boat over and pump it out. Rory, hang onto the other boat. Neither of you come near me."

While David pumped a boat out, I dug through my fishing supplies. Once David had finish pumping, I said, "It's too rough here to get you back in. I'm going to tow a boat to Elisabeth, then I'll come back for Rory. Then David, then the last boat. All right?" I gave David a piece of rope. "Tie the front of that boat to the back of mine, I told him. Then hang out with Rory. Be across the boat from each other and hang onto each other. If you can, pump that boat out."

He nodded, and a minute later, I was paddling for Elisabeth as fast as I could.

"How are they doing?" she asked.

"Rory is in trouble. David will be soon, too."

"I could come help."

"Stay here."

She untied the boat I'd brought her, and I went back for Rory. They had drifted further out into the lake, and the chop was getting worse. But David had gotten the boat pumped out. I stopped twenty yards away. "How are you doing, Rory?"

He didn't answer.

"David, can you pull him across that boat?"

"Yes."

I paddled to the front and steadied the boat. "Do it."

David, using brute wolf strength, got Rory pulled across the boat. "Come tie it," I told him. He moved to the front of the boat. I maneuvered, and he managed to tie the two boats together.

"All right. Move to the back of that boat. Keep it from tipping over, but hang on and make yourself as small of a drag as you can."

"Little fox, you'll never be able to pull us that way."

"Don't argue with me, David."

He nodded, and I watched over my shoulder as he moved to the back of his boat and grabbed onto the stern, his hands wrapping around from either side. He went under water in the swells, but he hung on. I began to paddle for Elisabeth.

It was hard. Very hard. I was paddling my boat, David's boat, one very large wolf across the boat, and one equally large wolf acting like a large anchor. But I made progress. "Talk to me, David," I yelled.

"I'm here," he said. "Hurry, little fox."

I finally arrived at Elisabeth, and I was done in. I pulled Rory next to her. "How is he?"

"Breathing," she said. "He's not shivering."

"Shit. All right, we need to get David out of the water."

"I won't be able to pull myself out," David said. His teeth were chattering.

"Elisabeth will have to do it. Elisabeth, raft up with the first kayak. I'll David off on the other side then raft up here with you. You just have to pull him across both kayaks without tipping over."

"No problem," she said.

So that's what we did. I towed David around, and he dropped off as needed. We all rafted up. Elisabeth leaned for David's hands while I held her boat as steady as I could.

"Pull, now," I said, and Elisabeth pulled David smoothly out of the water until he was draped across both boats. He lay there panting.

I looked at him.

It took time and care, but we got him into his boat. He insisted he could paddle. I was still dragging Rory on his kayak, and I was done in, but we moved slowly towards Lara and June.

Rory started to stir, and I was afraid he'd tip over again. "Calm him down, David." Five minutes later, we pulled up to Lara. Rory was awake but lay still across his kayak.

With help, we got everyone settled. Rory climbed back into his kayak properly but was done in. David was, too. I slumped in my kayak.

"Well done, little fox," Lara said to me.

"You have a discipline problem to address, Alpha," I told her.

She nodded and maneuvered her boat between David and Rory. "You two, come here," she said. They paddled slowly to her. I watched as she set her paddle down, then she reached out a hand in each direction and grabbed a throat, catching them each by surprise. "When Michaela tells you to do something," she said through gritted teeth. "You damned well better do it. And when I howl at you, you damned well better listen. Do I make myself clear?"

Eyes bulging, they both nodded, and she released them.

Then she patted their cheeks gently. "Please don't scare me like that again."

"No, Alpha," David said. "One near drowning was enough for me."

"You wouldn't have drown," I said. "Just died of hypothermia. And if you had tipped me over, I wouldn't have lasted as long as either of you."

"You risked your own lives, and you risked Michaela's. And if she had gone over, Elisabeth would have been out to help, and you know I wouldn't have held back. This could have been a disaster."

"Yes, Alpha," David said again. Rory simply nodded.

Lara looked at me, and I nodded. Lessons learned. "Lets go home. Who wants a race?"

The chuckles were weak. No one took me up on it.

I was ready to ask Lara to tow me long before we got back to Bayfield, but we arrived safe and sound with everyone in good spirits. We returned the equipment and walked up the hill to my house, June and Lara carrying my kayak for me.

Elisabeth sidled up to me. "Are you as done in as you look?"

"Yes."

"That was an amazing rescue."

I shrugged. "I just did what I needed to do."

"What's what you always do, isn't it?"

"I guess so."

She tapped her fist very gently against my shoulder. "You're all right, for a fox. Can I ask you something?"

"Isn't asking me if you can ask me something, asking me something?"

"I suppose it is. Are you still afraid of us?"

I thought about it before answering. "Of the five of you? Actually, no. But I don't know if I could ever be comfortable in a room full of wolves. I also know how I'd respond if tempers were to rise, even if I weren't the target."

"None of us would ever hurt you," Elisabeth said.

"I'd prove you wrong, but I'm not sure I'd survive long enough to collect on the bet."

"And Lara would have to kill whoever you used for demonstration," Elisabeth added. "But that would be you intentionally making someone angry, wouldn't it?"

"What do you suppose will happen the day David thinks he needs to give me an order?" I asked.

"You'll do it," Elisabeth said.

I actually laughed at that. "Right. I guess you haven't known me long enough yet."

We arrived at my house and clustered together on my deck in back. I sighed and then offered the shower to anyone who wanted one. "But not one of you better go furry inside or I will find a way to pay you back."

A few eyes glinted, perhaps taking on the challenge, but Lara said, "We're guests. Behave."

There was a chorus of, "Yes, Alpha."

"My hot water heater won't last if you all take long showers," I said.

"Vixen first then," Lara said.

I smiled. "No, thank you. I'll take one later after you leave."

Her expression fell.

"Will you be inviting me somewhere next weekend, Lara?"

"If it's flying weather," she said, smiling at me.

Then Elisabeth whispered into Lara's ear. She didn't realize how good my earing was. "The fox is done in, Alpha." Lara nodded.

"Michaela, why don't you sit?" Lara directed. "June can have first shower. Elisabeth, will you go to the store for supplies? If Michaela will loan you a vehicle."

"Of course." I tossed her the keys. "Do you know where the store is?"

She nodded.

"May I go, too?" Rory asked. "To get beer?"

Lara looked at me. Two wolves in my car. And they were still damp besides. Two wet wolves. "Elisabeth can get the beer."

"She always gets swill," Rory complained.

"I'll find a nice bock, Rory, if I can, or Guinness if I can't."

"Lemonade for June and me," Lara said. "We're flying later."

"This is Bayfield, Alpha," I said.

"Oh right. Cider for June and me," she amended, laughing.

June went inside to shower. Elisabeth took off in my car. David asked where to find equipment for cleaning the fish, then told Rory to help him. That left Lara and I alone on my deck.

"I could have done without the rescue," I told her.

"Me too. You were great. I want to do this again."

"I'd like that."

"I'll beat you next time."

"Racing? No you won't."

She laughed. "I am on to your tricks, little fox."

I reached over, and we held hands. "You could come back with us to Madison," she said. "Or we could stay here."

"This has been a good day, Lara. And it's not over. You're giving me a lot to think about."

We sat quietly for a while. I could hear David and Rory talking about me. I preened when Rory said, "She's tough."

It felt even better when David said, "She's good for the alpha, and I think she would be good for the pack."

I didn't let on I could hear.

"Oh hell," I said suddenly.

"What?"

"I live alone."

"Yes, that part was important to me," she said. "I wouldn't get between you and someone else."

"Not that," I said. "I have supplies for one."

"That's why Elisabeth went to the store."

"I have towels for one."

Lara chuckled. "Rory!" Rory came around the corner of my garage. "Call Elisabeth, tell her to pick up more bath towels."

"Bath towels?"

"Six."

"Yes, Alpha." He went in search of his phone.

"I'm a terrible host," I said.

Lara squeezed my hand. "I'm glad you thought of that now rather than when I stepped out of the shower and there was nothing left but a dirty rag from the garage."

"I wouldn't make you dry off with a dirty rag, Alpha," I told her. "I'd suggest you shift, then get my blow dryer."

Lara guffawed. "I thought you didn't want wet wolf in the house."

"Lara, if Elisabeth is older, why are you alpha?"

"She doesn't want it. She hates the politics. She likes her fights straight up. She begged me to take the position. There are six, maybe as many as eight wolves in the pack who can beat me in a fight. She's one of them. But they follow me because they know I am the most qualified to lead."

"Is David one who can beat you?"

"Yes. Eric, maybe, too."

"Rory and Eric are both much bigger than you."

"I am faster. And intimidation counts for something, too. David is bigger and almost as fast. Elisabeth is both bigger and faster." She turned to me. "I watched you play with her. At first she was letting you get away, but in the end, she was honestly trying to catch you. You're much faster than any of us."

"Faster reflexes and far, far more agile, but it's not even close in an actual foot race, and I'd be dead from one blow. I don't think I could hurt you if you stood there and let me try."

"Not straight up, probably not, but is that what you would do, little fox?"

"No, I suppose not. I'd go for a hamstring, perhaps, but ultimately my goal would always be escape, not to win."

She nodded. "Do you think you could hamstring one of us?"

"I don't know, Lara. I would have to be very desperate to even try. That is way too close for comfort. It's not like any of you are slow. I'd rather go up against a bear, if I could even get through its hide."

"Ah, bears. Tough. We leave them be."

June came back downstairs and joined us on the deck. Rory and David finished with the fish. Lara sent David to shower and Rory to the kitchen to wash the knives they had used.

"Thank you for taking us kayaking," June said. "Can we go again?"

I smiled. "Any time. Maybe if you came on a Monday, we could invite Benny to join us. The boathouse is closed on Mondays, so he might be free."

June grinned. "Alpha, may I date a human?"

She laughed. "If you can keep our nature secret."

"If it gets serious?" June asked.

"Then we'll see if we can trust him."

"Benny loves the water," I said. "June, it would be cruel to expect him to move to Madison."

June looked at Lara. "If it gets that far, June, we'll figure something out."

"Thank you, Alpha."

Lara and I were still holding hands. June glanced down, then asked, "Are you two in a relationship?"

"No," said Lara.

"We're dating," I said. "Casually, for now."

Lara looked at me. "Are we?"

"What would you call it?" I asked her.

"We're dating," Lara said to June. "Not as casually as the fox tried to imply."

I laughed.

"I don't share, little fox," Lara said firmly.

"Neither do I, wolf."

"She's kind of cocky, Alpha," June said. "Need me to discipline her?"

"No," said Lara slowly. "I think I need to handle this one with kit gloves."

She grinned at me, and I groaned at the horrible pun.

Rory came outside. "Fox, don't you have any beer at all?"

"Have you been digging through my refrigerator, wolf?"

"Maybe," he said.

"Sorry, but no beer. I'll make sure I keep stocked in the future. Can you make a list of everyone's favorites? There is a desk in the spare room upstairs, and there should be a pad of paper and pens there."

"You don't have to stock for us," Lara said. "We'll bring what we need."

"You two are talking like we'll be here a lot," Rory said.

"The alpha said we're dating not-so-casually," I replied. "And I think if she intends to court me, that means she should come to me. Not send people to fetch me like a child coming home from summer camp."

"I dunno, you're about as big as one."

"Smaller, I suspect," I admitted. "Tell me, do you guys like to play poker?"

Lara snickered. Rory didn't get it, but he looked so innocent I decided he would be too easy of a mark.

"I'm not sure what just happened," Rory said. "I'll go make that list."

"David hosts a poker night once or twice a month," June said. "They play for some serious cash."

"Do you ever play with them, Lara?" I asked.

"Sometimes. I am not playing poker with you."

"I have to pay for the groceries to feed your horde somehow."

She laughed. "I'll pay for the groceries, Michaela."

"Party pooper," I told her.

"Politics, little fox," Lara said. "But if we invite guests we want to fleece, you can bet we'll invite you to fleece them for us."

"Fleece whom?" David asked, stepping out onto the deck, Rory in tow. "I used the last towel."

"Elisabeth will be back soon," Lara said. "We were talking about poker. The little fox wants an invitation. I told her no."

"We play for pretty big stakes, Michaela," David said.

"How big?" I asked.

"Buy in is a grand," David said. "Every few months we do ten grand."

"Serious money," I said. I looked plaintively at Lara.

She sighed. "One night," she said. "Don't whine to me if you lose your money."

David laughed. "I'll call you the next time we're going to have an open seat."

"Maybe I should come and watch a few nights, first," I said. "You know, to judge tempers and such. I wouldn't want to play if there's too much testosterone."

"You could come this Wednesday then," David suggested.

Lara sighed. "Did you want to pick her up, June? Maybe you could fly down in the morning."

"I'll have to work until after lunch. Lara am I invited to spend the night?"

"If June wants to fly you back on Thursday," she said.

"I have to work Thursday, so it would need to be early."

Dinner at the Rittenhouse that night was nice, very nice. Reservations were for six as two tables. Lara and I sat in the corner while the other four wolves shared a table on the other side of the room.

Lara and I kept the conversation light. She was expensively dressed, and I felt self-conscious about my own clothing, but there was nothing I could do about it. Lara was very charming throughout the meal, and I had a very nice time. I was sad when dinner was over.

We held hands for the walk back to my house. Everyone changed back into casual clothes and we walked to the ferry. We made it to the 11 PM ferry, so I rode across to the island with them. Lara and I kissed at the bottom of the ferry ramp, and the five of them began the walk towards the airport.

"Lara! Wait!" I said, running after them. She caught me, laughing, and we kissed again. "Thank you," I told her. "I had a lovely time."

Then I had to run back, catching the return ferry to Bayfield.

Destruction

A storm blew in on Tuesday. June called me, and I'm not sure which of us was more disappointed when she told me it wouldn't be safe to fly. "It will be crappy until at least Saturday," she said. "So if you wanted to come to Madison, you'll need to drive."

"If anyone is driving ten hours," I said. "It's Lara."

June laughed. "It's good someone can finally keep her on her toes. Maybe next week will be better."

"I'm sorry you didn't get to see Benny."

"It's okay," she said. "He won't get away. I do like a good chase."

The storm kept me in the office on Wednesday and Thursday. The worst of the rain stopped on Thursday, but it continued to rain with occasional thunder even into Saturday.

The storm knocked out one of my monitoring stations. My job for Fish and Game is primarily data recording and reporting. It would be boring if it didn't basically mean I spent most of my days in the field. I hated to lose data, so on Friday, I drove to the site that had failed.

The failed site was actually three quarters around a small lake from the nearest road. There was a light rain and a heavy overcast. I parked my car, looked at the weather, and decided I really didn't want to walk a mile and a half in this weather while on two feet. But it was a small, isolated lake with no cabins on it and no one to see me.

I keep a harness for this very situation. I slipped the tools into it I would need, then stripped out of my clothes and stepped out of the car, taking the harness with me. Standing there naked, I locked the car and slipped the remote into a pocket on the harness. I shifted, then slipped my nose and front feet into the harness.

It wasn't perfect, but I was able to carry a few tools with me. I began loping around the lake.

The smells were rich. Rain always does that. Even a human can smell the best rains. With my nose so close to the ground, I picked up no end of smells. It was a divine experience.

On the other hand, my ability to pick up longer range scents was horrible; there was just too much competition. I kept my ears open for danger. They're more important to me than my nose, anyway.

It wasn't until I arrived at the monitoring station that I smelled the wolf. I smelled the wolf at the same time I saw several large wolf prints scattered around the station. I stared at them. They were from, at the earliest, yesterday, and I thought perhaps significantly sooner. I looked around, but I didn't see anyone.

I shifted, and it took me only seconds to discover the monitoring station had been vandalized. Someone had smashed it with an ax or large hammer. I stared at the wreckage.

Run, little fox, run, I said. I shifted, slipped into the harness, and ran back to my car as fast as I could. I didn't even attempt subterfuge. My entire goal was to get out of there.

I slowed down before I got to the car, slipping into the brush, and walked all the way around it, hidden from view, but I found no fresh tracks and nothing to suggest anyone was waiting for me. Still, I approached cautiously. As soon as I was sure my car was safe, I shifted and climbed in. I had the car started and in gear while still naked. I dressed as I drove.

Once I reached something resembling civilization, I called Lara. It went to voice mail. "Alpha. Call me. It's business, and it might be urgent."

She called me back two hours later.

"Are you all right?" were her first words?

"Yes. Alpha, do you have any wolves in the area up here?"

"None that I know about."

"Do you have any reason to destroy one of my monitoring stations?"

She was silent.

"Alpha."

"No, Michaela."

"They might not be related."

"What might not?"

"The smashed monitoring station and the wolf tracks I found below it."

Neither of us spoke for a minute. Then Lara started asking questions. "Who would replace a broken station?"

"I would." In response to her questions, I assured her I would normally go alone, as I had today. Usually outages are simple. This was the first I'd ever had vandalized, although I knew from others that sometimes kids did things like this for kicks. "It usually takes a couple of weeks to get a replacement when one is this broken," I told her.

"So you won't go back for at least two weeks?"

"No. I'll order a replacement when I get back to the office."

"If you have more outages, I want you to call me, Michaela. Please promise you won't check on them alone."

I thought about it. "Yes, Alpha. This might be random."

"Do you believe that?" she asked.

"No. It is too coincidental. Why involve me?"

"I wasn't subtle at the Iron Dog," Lara said. "I didn't see any other wolves in Bayfield when we were there, but there might be humans assigned to watch you."

"I am hard to catch, Lara," I told her. "I bet they don't know that."

"I caught you," she said. "I wouldn't suppose I could talk you into taking time off work and staying at the compound."

"No, you can't."

"How about letting me assign Rory and Eric to keep an eye on you."

"No."

She sighed. "Please be careful."

After that, I was. And I was pretty sure no one was watching my house. It was more difficult to make sure my office was safe, but I never noticed anyone watching.

It cleared up by Sunday, and June called Tuesday afternoon. "I'll be there in the morning if you're coming."

"I wouldn't miss it," I told her. "I have the afternoon off."

"How about the 2 PM ferry?"

"Sure."

"Alpha says you have to drive."

"To Madison?"

"No, just to the airport."

I hated taking my car on the ferry, but I decided not to argue.

I worked in the office on Wednesday. There were no new reporting outages; everything was fine. I had my car in line for the ferry ten minutes early, and I saw June talking to Benny. The two looked very comfortable together.

Then, sensing someone watching me, I turned, and I saw Eric casually leaning against a light pole. I looked around some more and saw Rory sitting on a park bench. Neither of them appeared to be watching anything in particular, but they weren't as subtle as they thought. They were wolf, after all.

The ferry arrived and disgorged its passengers. Traffic was light, and I pulled onto the ferry. I saw Eric, Rory and June also arrived, but they ignored each other. I got out of my car, and I soon realized that one of them kept me in sight at all times.

When we were almost to the landing at Madeline Island, I headed back to my car. Out of nowhere, the three wolves converged on the car at the same time, and we all climbed in together.

"The alpha is nervous?" I asked them.

"We heard what happened," Eric said. "The alpha told us to make sure you got there safely."

I nodded. "My car is going to stink again."

They all grinned.

When we got to the airport, June apologized. "I'm sorry, Michaela. You can't sit in front. It's a weight thing. These two are too big to share the back seat. Pick one to ride back there with you."

"Looks like you and me in the back, Rory."

"Cool!" Eric said. "Shotgun for me. Can I fly, June?"

"No!" said Rory. June laughed. Eric sulked.

It was an easy flight. Eric spent half the flight asking me about my job. Then, shortly before we reached Madison, he said, "Rory and I will be accompanying you on your field trips."

"No," I said. "You will not."

"Alpha's orders," Eric said.

I thought about it. "I will accept your presence if I am going to be anywhere that someone could predict."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you can come when I have to replace that monitoring station, or if any others break. But day-to-day? No."

"Alpha's orders," Eric said again.

"Last time I checked," I said. "I was a fox, not a wolf. Her orders do not apply to me."

"Michaela," Eric said. "Please."

"No."

"I can't tell the alpha that."

"I'll do it for you."

He thought about it for a minute. "If she tells us to follow you, we're going to follow you."

"If you follow me, I will have you arrested for stalking."

"Michaela, be reasonable," Eric said.

"I am being reasonable. You may go with me to fix the monitoring station. I'll make sure the alpha understands."

He grumbled but left it at that.

Dinner was Lara and I at her house. She greeted me at the door with a warm hug and kiss, and we cuddled together on her sofa for a while before dinner. I waited until we were seated and had served ourselves before I told her, "I will tell you when I want bodyguards, Alpha."

She sighed. "Please don't fight me on this, Michaela."

"I told Eric if he follows me against my will, I will have him arrested for stalking."

"Would you really?"

"Yes."

"I think you're bluffing."

I shrugged.

"They're going with you," Lara said.

"Tell them to bring bail money."

"I could keep you here until this is over."

"You could," I admitted. "It would be the end of our relationship, and I would spend the entire time trying to free myself. You would also prove my point about all wolves being bullies. And when you finally release me, you would have forced me to leave Bayfield. I don't know where I'd go, but it wouldn't be as safe for me."

"Why won't you cooperate?"

"Why won't you let me make my own decisions?"

"I am the alpha!"

"I am not a wolf."

She glared at me.

"It sucks knowing there is someone you can't control," I told her. "How do you think it feels for me? I can't control anyone but myself, and now you're trying to take that away, too."

"Oh honey," she said. "I'm not."

"You are. You're trying to make my decisions for me, and you're getting mad that I won't let you."

"Please stay at the compound with me."

"I'd lose my job. I like my job, Lara."

"What do they pay you? I'll pay you double."

I stared at her. "Take. That. Back."

"What? Name your dream job. I'll pay you twice what you're making now and you can have your dream job."

I looked away, sad. "You think I'd sell my liberty?"

"I'm not asking for your liberty. I'm begging you let me keep you safe. Someone is after you because of me. It's killing me, Michaela."

"If I take your job, then for the rest of my life I belong to you. I have to do whatever you order. The only freedom I'd have is whatever freedom you offered."

"Only until this is over. Michaela, little fox, please."

I stared at her. I almost consented. "I'll be fine, Lara. I will allow an escort whenever I'm doing something predictable."

"Not good enough. They could take you at any time. They could follow you. Or track you by air. It wouldn't be hard to find you."

"You are overreacting."

"I'm not, and you know it."

I looked away. "Lara, have you ever been on a fox hunt?"

"No. Of course not. That's barbaric."

"I have."

Lara stared at me, her face filling with horror.

Fox Hunt

I was fourteen. My sister, Jean, was sixteen. We lived in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, deep in the mountains well away from people. We had a tiny cabin and a little land. We hunted most of our food.

It was spring. That's what saved me. I remember Jean and I playing in the yard; I don't remember what exactly. As sisters went, we fought like some, but we loved each other as well. We'd been raised to look out for each other.

I remember the first howls. And I remember my dad entering the clearing, in his fur. He'd gone out on two feet.

Mom and Dad used to tell us stories about the wolves, stories meant to frighten us. They had worked. But they also told us how to run, how to hide, and where we would meet when it was safe. We had signals for everything, including one that meant, "Run, run, run, and don't get caught."

That's the signal dad gave us he dashed for our little house. Run, run, run, and don't get caught. Jean and I were in fur seconds later.

Yes, Lara. Seconds. You hadn't figured that out yet? I change faster than you do. Please don't tell anyone else.

Together, Jean and I took off. We'd practiced this before. We ran straight for the river. There was a hidden cave we could travel through, too small for any wolf. We headed for the river then through the water until we got to the cave. Jean didn't slow down.

The plan was our parents would set misleading trails, leading east. Jean and I would head north and if necessary, west. But we were to use every dirty trick we knew, as well.

These were our woods, and we knew them well. And we had planned. We had traps. They weren't armed, but they were designed to be easily armed by a fox in seconds. Jean lead the way, and we set our first trap while I set three separate false trails away from it.

The howling grew louder then shifted east. The wolves were following mom and dad. But still Jean and I ran, setting false trail after false trail. We set three traps before we left the territory we considered ours, striking northeast to make it look like we were trying to regroup with our parents then taking a path due west no wolf could follow. Eventually we turned north.

The howling disappeared to the east.

Jean and I grew tired. We slowed, but continued to run through streams as much as we could. We set multiple exit paths from each stream, and we kept moving.

Finally, Jean found us a small cave in a rock fall. We slipped inside and lay down, exhausted. Jean, the eldest, took the first watch. I slept for two hours, then she woke me, and she slept.

I don't think I dozed, but I may have. I was so tired. But I heard a howl, bringing me upright. It was much closer than it should have been. If I'd heard it sooner, from further away, things may have been different. It was all my fault.

I woke Jean, and we ran. We used our tricks then turned west. The howls continued to the north for a while, then backtracked. I knew immediately when they found the proper trail. They were only a mile or two behind us now, and you know how little time it takes a wolf to travel a mile.

Another signal we had. Split up. Jean gave the signal, and I signaled "No!" Jean gave it again, and crying, I ran left. She backtracked straight towards the wolves, then turned north.

She would lead them away. She would do what she could to buy my freedom.

I heard her yell when they caught her, Lara. I heard my sister yelp, just twice. The wolves howled their victory.

I knew they wouldn't stop chasing me. And I knew I couldn't outrun them. I didn't think I could outfox them, either. My parents hadn't. Jean hadn't. I was fourteen. What chance did I have?

I found a gorge with a raging river below it, the sort of gorge that would batter even a wolf to death. My path west was blocked. I turned north, upstream, and found a spot where a fallen tree had been caught bridging the gap. I climbed down and crossed the river. The tree was weak and rotted, and it sagged underneath me. I ran back and left a clear trail, then crossed again. The far side of the river was a shear cliff, but there was another tree jammed there, and I climbed it to the top of the cliff. I shifted and waited for the wolves.

It didn't take the first one long to find me. I crouched on the ground in front of the tree, trying to look exhausted, like I had given up. She looked at me and began to howl in victory then waited for her friends.

There were seven of them total. At least two were female; I couldn't have told you about the rest. Lara, there was blood on their muzzles, even in the dim light, I could see the blood. My sister's blood.

They actually waited there, just a little outside wolf leaping distance on the far bank, and then the wolf who had found me clambered down to the tree crossing the river, one other wolf following closely behind.

I waited until she started to climb the same tree I had, and I gave it a push, a very big push.

It was heavy, very heavy, and I couldn't have pushed it over. She howled victory again, but then the tree began sliding down, taking both wolves and the other tree with it. I watched them fall into the river and disappear under the raging water.

The remaining five wolves snarled their anger at me. One foolishly tried to leap the chasm without so much as a running start. He didn't make it.

Another one backed up and made a run for it. He almost made it. He had his paws hooked into the rock at the top of the cliff, scrambling to get up. I shifted and lunged, biting his nose. He fell, and I ran.

Four down, I hoped all dead. I couldn't be sure. I ran.

Their howls of anguish followed me. They turned into howls of pursuit when they found another place to cross the river.

I left a blind trail and turned south, heading towards familiar territory. When I could, I turned east and found a calm spot in that river and crossed it. On the opposite bank, I found one of the wolves, still breathing, but battered. I dragged him back into the water and helped him drown, standing on his head long after he had stopped moving.

I ran east, making a plan.

There was a notch. The sides were sheer, but there at the notch, it was narrow enough even a fox could jump over. The sides of the gorge spread from that point, but then grew narrow again, narrow enough a wolf could leap it. The thing is, the far side was soft, very soft. I ran for the gorge then turned north to the notch. I crossed the gap and immediately turned south again, following the top of the east cliff. The wolves were not far behind, and the soon they were pacing me, waiting for a spot to cross to me. When we got to the narrow spot, the first one tried to leap. He cleared it, but then the ground crumbled under him.

He almost made it clear. He almost was able to jump free. Instead, he fell into the gorge, an eighty-foot drop. The other wolves didn't try it, and I turned east, left a false trail, and turned due south for home. There were two wolves left.

I didn't leave any false paths. Instead, I ran over the top of every trap we had, avoiding the triggers. They had sprung one that Jean had set and two that Mom and Dad had, but the rest were still live. I set three more that Dad hadn't gotten to.

I heard when one of the wolves got caught by a trap. He howled, and then his howls turned to chokes. From the sound, it was one of the spike traps, and we laced our spikes with silver. If he didn't get prompt medical attention, he would die. I wondered if his buddy would help him or continue to chase me.

I ran for home.

The last wolf howled a victory cry. He had seen me.

I shifted back to human when I reached the cabin. I grabbed a perfume spritzer and waited beside the front door.

Yes, Lara, a perfume spritzer.

The final wolf howled just outside the door. I was so frightened, but so angry at the same time. He slammed into the door twice, splintering it, and then shoved his face through the gap, snarling at me. I spritzed him directly in the face.

It wasn't perfume, of course. It was silver nitrate, and I got him right in both eyes. Then, while he was howling and scratching at his eyes, I pulled down Dad's gun and put two silver rounds into his body and one more into his howling mouth.

After that, I found the one that had been caught in my trap. It was a female, and she had shifted back to human. She begged me for mercy. She didn't receive it.

It took me three days to find the bodies. They had ravaged mom the worst; there wasn't much left of her. Dad and Jean were barely recognizable as well. I sobbed while I buried them.

And then I ran. I ran for eight years. I ran until I grew tired of running, until I grew tired of hiding. And that's when I came to Bayfield.

Fleecing the Wolves

Lara listened to my entire story. She was clearly stunned.

"How can you stand us?" she asked.

"You've left me alone for eight years," I said. "I hid from the wolves for a long time, but then one day one of your wolves nodded politely to me on the street. I learned not all wolves are animals."

I looked straight into her eyes. "I spent most of my life afraid, running and hiding. I am very, very good at it. I have foxed sized holes all over Wisconsin, and I'm not helpless."

"How not helpless, Michaela?"

"I spend all my spare money on silver, Lara. Your wolves are lucky I didn't pull out my super soaker the day you came to visit."

She laughed weakly. "Why didn't you?"

"Because no one has molested me here, and I didn't want to be the first to engage in violence."

"If any wolves come to your door-"

"They'll die if I don't know them, Lara."

"Die?"

"Yes."

"All right," she said. "For now."

"For now."

We finished our dinner in silence

Afterwards, we had time. I had scared myself telling my story, and I asked Lara if I could clean up. Then we cuddled together on the sofa until it was time to go to the poker game.

"Are you playing tonight?"

"They'll offer me a seat," she said. "But I'll decline."

"Why?"

"Because it would bump a regular player, and because the alpha shouldn't take money from the other wolves nor allow them to take money from her."

"And how does the alpha's girlfriend fit into that?"

She smiled. "Are you my girlfriend now?"

I kissed her. She held me tightly, and when the kiss broke, she said, "I guess you are."

I smiled at her.

"Did you bring money?" she asked.

"No. I want to watch."

"Is this really to make sure it's safe to play with them?"

I laughed. "That's for me to know and the rest of you to guess." Really, I was there to study them.

We kissed for a few minutes before I pushed her away, laughing.

The game was in David's basement. I met his mate, a beautiful wolf named Natalie. She sized me up before inviting me into her house.

Downstairs, things were rowdy. I greeted Elisabeth and David before Lara introduced me to two older male wolves, Morgan and Liam. They both treated Lara with respect but were dismissive of me. I was fine with that. At least they weren't rude or threatening. Lara stiffened at their response, but I was holding her hand and squeezed it. I didn't want her to interfere. You can't command respect; you can only earn it.

Natalie offered drinks for Lara and me. I asked for water. Lara accepted a beer. David gave me a hard time.

"If you're going to play poker, little fox," he said. "You need to learn to drink."

"One beer and I'm asleep," I said. "No thank you."

"Literally?" Lara asked in my ear.

I nodded. "Total lightweight. You've seen how I eat."

Finally, the last player arrived, an older female named Janice. She greeted Lara coolly, showing slightly more warmth for everyone else. I pulled Lara aside and asked, "Why doesn't she like you."

"Her mate challenged my father for alpha. He lost. She's been the model of proper pack behavior, but whenever she sees me, she is reminded."

"All right," David said. "Let's see the color of everyone's money."

The five players pulled out purses, money clips, and wallets, and soon there was five thousand dollars sitting on the table. David turned to Lara. "Where is yours, Alpha?"

"Oh no," she said. "I hate taking your money."

"Afraid we'll show you up in front of your girl?"

"You have five."

"We can play six."

I watched the body language. David wanted Lara to play. I thought perhaps Elisabeth did not. Janice was deeply eager in learning the outcome of the discussion, and I got the impression the two old wolves would have enjoyed taking Lara's money.

"You should play, sweetums," I said in Lara's ear, just loud enough for all the other wolves to hear. "I want to see you in action."

Lara looked at me with eyes wide. I was pretty sure it was the "sweetums" comment, but it may have been the airhead tone I had used. I smiled vapidly at her.

"I didn't come to play," Lara said. "My little fox was curious is all."

"That is the nature of the fox," Elisabeth said. "It's nice of you to indulge her. You should play, Alpha."

"Yes," added Janice. "Please do."

"Well," Lara said. "If no one minds that the fox watches."

"Of course not," David said. He retrieved a chair for Lara and then, slightly behind hers, one for me. I adjusted so I would be able to watch the entire table, but I found that it was too low for me to see as well as I would have liked, so I perched on it with my feet underneath me instead. Lara spread out her money. David collected everyone's money and passed out poker chips in a variety of denominations.

Elisabeth was to my left with Janice on Lara's right. David was immediately across the table, with the two older wolves to Elisabeth's left. While David shuffled the cards, Janice put a one-dollar chip on the table. Lara put two one-dollar chips out. David finished shuffling and dealt two cards to each player. Lara let me peek at her cards. Elisabeth immediately folded. Liam and Morgan both tossed out two dollars. David put out four. Janice folded. Lara, Ian and Morgan added two more dollars.

David then put three cards on the table, face up. Betting went around. Ian folded. David added another card face up, and Morgan folded during the betting. David put out one more card face up, and Janice made a big bet. Lara folded and David called. When they exposed their cards, Janice took the pot. David collected all the cards and handed them to Janice.

"Before the next hand," I said, doing my best to sound like an utter airhead, "can someone explain the rules? I thought you were playing poker."

"This is poker," David said gently. "It's a variant called Texas Hold-Em. You've never played?"

"I've never played cards of any sort," I said. "I've never even touched a deck of cards."

"Bullshit," said Elisabeth. "Bull. Shit!"

"Honest," I said. "Do I smell like I'm lying?"

Elisabeth leaned over and took a deep breath. "No. Seriously? You've never played cards?"

"I mostly keep to myself," I said. "But I've heard of strip poker." I started playing with the hair on the back of Lara's neck. "Maybe Lara will teach me that game."

There were chuckles, and Janice said, "If you lose tonight, Alpha, we don't want to hear that you were distracted because your pet fox couldn't keep her hands off of you."

I smiled at Janice, a human smile that showed teeth.

David said, "No one minds if we explain the rules to Michaela during the next few hands, do they?"

Yes, Janice, Liam and Morgan clearly did, but they all said they didn't. Lara and Elisabeth set out bets, Janice shuffled and dealt, and David explained the rules as they went. By the end of the third hand, I had the game figured out.

The odds, however, were difficult. I tried figuring them in my head, but it was tricky. In poker, there are different ways to win. You can play the odds, understanding that if you have this hand, the chances of someone else having a better hand are ten percent or fifty percent, or whatever. Or you can play the people, learning whether they give themselves away. I was having a hard time with the odds, but the wolves were all open books to me.

By the end of the first half hour. I was pretty sure I could read all of them. When David called a break after an hour, I knew I could. Lara was down about half her chips, and everyone else was down a little except Morgan and Janice, with Janice doing the best. We got up to stretch our legs, and Lara drew me to the corner.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Who, me?"

"What's with the airhead routine? You aren't fooling anyone."

"I'm not fooling David or Elisabeth, but I am fooling the other three. Are you losing on purpose? You're making Janice very happy."

"No, I'm not losing on purpose, and I would very happily take her money."

Elisabeth stopped by with a couple of beers, handing one to Lara. "What's with the airhead routine?"

I smiled at her. "Do you like Janice?"

"No."

"All right. We're taking that bitch down. If I'm touching either of you, the number of fingers I'm using indicates how strong a hand Janice thinks she has."

"You can tell?" Elisabeth asked.

"Oh yeah," I said, smiling. "Isn't this just the funnest game ever?" I said the last bit more loudly just as Janice joined us in the corner. I smiled at her. "Janice, you must have lived very carefully; I don't know if I've ever met an older female wolf before."

If looks could kill.

We all sat back down, and it was David's deal.

I didn't help Lara with David or Elisabeth, but I helped both Lara and Elisabeth with Janice. I couldn't do anything about unlucky cards, but I was able to move a portion of Janice's stash back to Lara and Elisabeth.

I also started spreading my own tells for when Lara had bad, medium and good hands. It took the longest time, but eventually Janice started responding to me as much as Lara's manner of holding her cards differently based on their quality. She also sat differently, and her pupils changed.

Near the end of the second hour, Lara had her money back plus a little more. Elisabeth was up a little, too. But then Janice had a good hand and hit her most obvious tells. I checked her more subtle ones and put five fingers on Lara's leg and squeezed, then I reached over to Elisabeth and held her arm for a moment, saying, "If Lara and I get married, you'd be my sister-in-law."

Lara and Elisabeth both folded. Liam had a decent hand. Morgan and David both stayed in for a portion of the betting, but then dropped out. When all five cards were out, Janice played her "I'm bluffing" tell and said, "All in." So Janice knew her outward tells; they were intentional. But she had tells she didn't realize.

Liam called and groaned when Janice displayed her cards. He was out.

David called a break. Liam excused himself and said, "I'm going to go home and lick my wounds. Congratulations, Janice." He was gracious about it.

After the break, I started giving Lara the worst advice I thought I could give and not be obvious. I spoke very quietly in her ear, pitched just high enough everyone else at the table could hear me. Lara ignored my verbal advice but continued to siphon money from Janice based on the number of fingers I used to touch her. I made sure no one could see the nature of the touches.

After about fifteen minutes of my giving Lara bad advice, Janice asked me, "So, Michaela. I was curious. What sort of hearing does a fox have while on two legs?"

I smiled sweetly. "Usually, very good, maybe even better than a wolf. But I'm not sure, really. When I was fourteen, I damaged my hearing."

"Really? How did you do that?"

"Well, I lived on a little farm, and we had a problem with wolves. I had to shoot a few, and my hearing has never been the same since, either as a human or when furry."

She glared at me, but I just smiled.

"How late do you play? Until everyone is out of chips, or until a particular time."

"Two AM," David said, "But it doesn't usually go that long."

I continued to whisper bad advice into Lara's ear. Then Elisabeth dealt Lara two kings. As soon as I saw the cards, I put my hand on Lara's and said, "It's just a card game. Why aren't you paying any attention to me?"

Lara looked over at me with a strange expression. I leaned into her and nuzzled her neck then whispered into her ear so quietly no one could possibly hear, "Trust."

Lara bet cautiously. Morgan and David folded. Of the next three cards that were dealt, two of them were kings. I draped myself over Lara, making sure she couldn't give away any tells. Lara bet cautiously. Elisabeth folded. Janice publicly gave her "my hand is so-so" tell and privately told me she was holding a decent hand.

Lara continued to bet cautiously until the last card was played. I studied the cards and realized that the best possible hand Janice could have was a flush. A straight flush wasn't possible. This was Lara's hand with four kings. The trick now was to get as much money from Janice as we could.

Janice was first to bet and she bet moderately. Lara wanted to study her cards, but I knew she'd give her tell if she did, so I kept hold of her hands. She saw and raised Janice. Janice saw and raised back.

"Lara, I'm bored. You said we wouldn't stay this late. When are we going home?"

"Soon, little fox," Lara said kindly.

"If we go home now, I'll do that thing you've been asking me to do," I said.

"Really?"

I opened my eyes really wide and nodded.

Lara shrugged and turned to Janice, sliding her tray of chips into the center of the table. "She wants to go home."

"Well, I wouldn't get in the way of that," Janice said, smiling. "How much do you have in there?"

"It was an eleven hundred twenty-three dollar raise," Lara said.

Janice counted out chips and tossed them onto the table. "Call," she said. She flipped over her cards. She was holding the flush and smiling.

Lara turned over her cards and collected the pot.

Janice was livid, and she glared at me. "You won?" I asked Lara, clapping my hands. "Oh, that means we're not leaving yet." I sighed and slumped against Lara.

After that, I didn't have to do too much. David cleaned Morgan out. Janice was so low on chips and was forced into very conservative play just to stay in the game. Finally she tried to bluff Elisabeth with a bad hand, and Elisabeth cleaned her out.

David called a break and offered to walk Janice out. She turned to me and offered a false smile. "It was so good to meet you," she said. "I heard about the little fun at the Iron Horse and I have so been wanting to meet you ever since. Will you perhaps be playing next week?"

"It looks like so much fun, but it's all very confusing," I replied. "Maybe I can watch one more night, but it would be fun to play. A thousand dollars?"

"Yes," Janice said.

"Well, it will have to be after payday," I said. "I usually have money right after payday."

"Isn't she delightful?" Janice said to Lara. "I can understand what you see in her. She's so bubbly."

"She makes for a pleasant diversion," Lara agreed. "I'm sure I'll see you soon, Janice."

Then David walked Janice out. I listened, and once I heard Janice's car start and drive away, I began giggling.

"Half that is mine," I told Lara. "You would have gone broke an hour ago without me."

David came back downstairs, Natalie in tow, and said, "What was that all about?"

I grinned at him. "I didn't like Janice."

"No one likes Janice," Natalie said. "I've been trying to get David to uninvite her to these things for three years. She always makes a snide comment about my house."

"It's a lovely house, Natalie."

I looked at the piles of chips in front of David's, Elisabeth's and Lara's places at the table. They were all up, Lara by the most. "Are you guys really going to play for another two hours?"

"It wouldn't be my choice," Lara said. "Someone made some very interesting promises to me if we went home."

I laughed.

I took fifty dollars in chips from Lara. "Could we play a few hands just for pocket change? David, give your wife fifty dollars in chips."

Soon we were all sitting at the table with a small pile of chips in front of us. Lara, David and Elisabeth moved their large piles to the side. I asked for the cards then asked someone how to shuffle.

"Seriously?" David said. "I thought you were kidding."

"Absolutely seriously," I said. David taught me to shuffle, and I only spilled them all over the table twice before getting it right. Then, carefully, I dealt.

We played for a half hour. David cleaned Elisabeth out on the second hand. I folded repeatedly and watched my chips dwindle in half, then I did an all in with the last half of my chips. I was bluffing, but they let me buy the pot. Lara actually had a proper hand, so I couldn't figure out why she let me have it. At the end of the half hour, I was up a little bit from the start. We all cashed out with David, and then I reached over and took half of Lara's winnings. They all laughed, including Lara.

"Did she really earn that?" David asked.

"Technically I owe her at least five hundred, too," Elisabeth said. She slipped me two hundred. I thanked her.

"You were telling them both how to play?" David asked.

"Only against Janice. What a bitch."

That night, Lara shared her bed with me, but we still weren't sharing bodies. "Lara, am I hurting you politically by playing games with them?"

"No. I will tell you if you're meeting anyone who I need you to impress."

I snuggled in against her back.

"Was that true what you said about your hearing?"

"No."

We lay quietly for a while. "How good is your hearing?" She asked it quietly, but loud enough a wolf would have heard."

"What did you say?" I asked her.

"Nothing," she said.

I slept well.

Lara had to travel over the weekend, so we didn't see each other, but she sent June for me for poker night the next week. I asked Lara not to play, and only stayed for ninety minutes. Janice was winning when we left. Elisabeth was sad to see us go.

The replacement measuring station arrived the following Monday. I called Lara immediately. "I need you," I told her.

She laughed. "It's about time."

"The measuring station arrived. You made me promise to call you. I will happily take guards when I replace it, but I think they should be subtle. Make it look like we have a date, and you and your enforcers rode along just to see what I did for a living."

"We can come tomorrow morning," Lara offered.

"I was hoping you'd let me play cards on Wednesday."

"Have we created a monster?"

I laughed. "Maybe. Who is afraid of the big bad fox?"

"You know, even the best players have bad luck nights. You could lose your money."

"I know. But I figure I'd be playing with Janice's money, anyway."

She laughed. "Try not to give it back to her. So we should fly up Wednesday morning?"

"Tuesday night?"

"Can you handle us overnight?"

"Sure. Bring people I know. But the spare bedroom only had a pullout couch, and it would be cozy for two wolves."

"We'll make do," she said. "See you about eight."

"I'll have food if someone else can grill it."

I met them at the airport, taking my car. By now I recognized the planes, but when three planes landed, one after another, I was puzzled. I was only expecting one, or at most, two.

Lara, David and Elisabeth climbed out of the first plane. June, Eric, and a female I didn't recognize got out of the second. Rory and two males I didn't know got out of the third. I stared at all the wolves. Too many wolves.

Lara left taking care of the planes to everyone else and walked over to where I was standing. Instead of looking at her, I stared at all the wolves. She didn't say anything but pulled me into her arms and pulled my head against her chest. "Breath. Safe, Michaela. I'm here."

I breathed in her scent and felt better.

"I don't have room for that many," I said. "And it's way too far to run. I only have one car. It might be a little obvious if they climb on top."

She chuckled. "We'll need to borrow your car. There are rental cars waiting for us in Ashland. We'll send people to get them."

"This is a little obvious, Alpha. I didn't agree to this many. It doesn't look like a date."

"They wouldn't let me come with less."

"More incursions," Lara explained. "These are here for my protection more than yours. Please will you stay in the compound until this is over?"

"We've been over that, Lara."

She sighed and pulled me to her again.

I checked the time. "The ferry is in ten minutes."

"Do you mind walking?" Lara asked me.

"No."

"David, take three more and go get our rental cars," Lara yelled. "Ferry in ten minutes."

David grabbed Eric plus the female and one of the males I didn't know. I handed him my keys. They tossed a large cooler and all the backpacks into the back of my car and drove away. The other wolves finished securing the airplanes. I checked my watch. We had missed the ferry. We walked casually towards the docks, the wolves all fanning out around Lara and me.

It was a nice evening for a walk.

I hadn't bought food for this many wolves, but Lara assured me we were covered. We fired the grill and used the food I'd bought as appetizers. David returned with three SUVs following behind him, and the wolves got serious about their food.

I got picked on for the size of my grill. It took forever to cook all that food. "I'm not upgrading everything I own to serve your retinue, Alpha," I told Lara.

"I don't expect you to." She hugged me. "Are you upset?"

"Intimidated. Where are we going to put them?"

"We have tents and sleeping bags with us."

"Who will be in the house?"

"The females."

"I should stop worrying about the arrangements," I said.

"Yes. It's handled."

In the morning, we piled into the cars. I actually gave Lara a good view of what I did. We took some water and soil samples, I serviced one monitoring station that had been having issues for months, and then we headed towards the one that had been smashed.

Every time we came to a stop, David directed security. Half the wolves fanned out into the surrounding area. The rest stayed with Lara and me. We saw absolutely no signs of trouble.

When we arrived at the lake with the broken station, I pulled out a topographical map and showed everyone where the station was on the other side of the lake. "I usually run there furry," I said. "But it's not a bad walk on two feet." David looked over the map and sent his guards out.

We got three quarters of the way to the station. Elisabeth was carrying the replacement for me. Suddenly I stopped, listening, pulling Lara to a stop next to me.

"What?"

"Quiet," I said. That earned me a dirty look, but she didn't say anything. I had heard something, and I didn't like it.

David turned around and was watching us. I gestured him to join us. "David, how far out are your scouts?"

"Two hundred yards."

"That's what I thought. Do you have radio communication? Silent radio communication?"

"Yes."

"Pull them in. Quietly."

"Why?" asked Lara.

"We're being watched, and your men aren't in fur, David."

Not being in fur wasn't a problem to me, but it took a long time for the wolves to shift. I heard at least two wolves in fur. One was five hundred yards off the lake on a hill with a clear view of the listening station. The other was past the listening station. Then I heard a third one.

I started walking again, acting as if nothing was happening, listening as best I could. It was difficult over all the other sounds, especially so many other wolves right next to me. And they weren't as quiet as I was.

I didn't share any of that with David and Lara, but I listened to David speak into his radio, and I listened as the scouts moved in closer to us. The wolves watching stayed where they were, but I heard one huff.

"Lara, what does this sound mean?" I asked. I huffed, as best I could with a human throat.

"Displeasure. Where did you hear that?"

I ignored her question.

We arrived at the monitoring station unhindered. I stopped everyone short of it and asked them to be quiet. I listened for further noises. I heard the three wolves, very faintly. The same one huffed again. I sniffed, but I didn't detect anything. I walked to the monitoring station, and nothing blew up.

I began working on it. Lara walked up to me, and I pulled her to me, breathing deeply of her scent.

"No one hears or smells anything," she said. "It's your imagination."

"There are three, six hundred to eight hundred yards out. In fur."

"How can you tell?" she asked.

"I am fox," I said. "I know things."

Lara gestured, and David wandered over nonchalantly. "Michaela says there are three in fur."

"No way," David said.

"Have any of you learned, never doubt the fox?"

I kept working on replacing the measuring station.

"Where?" David asked.

I had a compass in my pack. I pulled it out, making it look like I was digging for a tool. I palmed the compass and found the wrench I needed. Then I checked the compass.

"First one, north, six hundred yards or so, lying down in tall grass. About..." I listened. "Six degrees magnetic from here. The second, east, heading of 84 degrees, seven hundred yards. The last, off our back trail, 150 degrees from here, twelve hundred yards. Give or take a bit."

"You're sure?" Lara asked.

"Headings and distances may not be perfect."

"Any humans around?" David sounded like he was patronizing me.

"Not that I can tell."

At that point, I got the old monitoring station unscrewed from its mounting plate and pulled it up. I set it aside, and Elisabeth gave me the new one. I began attaching it.

"If this were up to me, I would either ignore them or lead them to a trap. That's the fox way. I presume you will either ignore them or do something exceedingly direct."

David turned away. He directed the males and Elisabeth to go furry.

"Why?" Elisabeth asked.

"Do it," David said.

They began shedding clothes. There was really only one reason to do that.

"Nevermind," I said. "They all three just took off. They'll be long gone before you can finish shifting."

"Shift," David ordered to the men.

I finished with the monitoring station. By the time I was done, everyone was furry who was turning furry. David sent them out in pairs to check the locations I had indicated. Five minutes later, the reports came in. David looked grim. "She was partially right," he told Lara. "There were two, not three."

"Which two did you find?" I asked.

"North and east. No one on our back trail."

"Look harder."

Two wolves returned to the camp, bumping heads against Lara.

"Who are these?" I asked.

"Eric and Reggie," Lara said.

I bent down. "Eric?" One of the wolves turned to me and bumped against me. He was huge and beautiful. I ran my fingers through his scruff then whispered in his ear. He huffed at Reggie, and the two of them took off towards the south.

"Ordering my wolves around?" Lara asked. She looked a little pissed about it.

I stood up and looked at her. "Should I have asked?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

It took Eric and Reggie a good ten minutes to find the tracks left by the third one. They howled, and David swore. "How did you know, fox?"

"I told you. I have my fox ways. I'm done here. Let's go back."

Nothing else happened on the way home. We loaded the furry wolves into the back of one of the SUVs, and they had shifted back by the time we arrived at my place. David send four wolves to return the three SUVs while the rest of us gathered in my kitchen.

"The fox was right," David told Lara. "Down to the smallest detail. I want to know how."

"Stop asking. I told you as much as I'm going to tell you."

He glared at me. "How do I know you aren't part of whatever this is? Maybe that's how you knew."

"Alpha, if that's what you believe," I said. "You can all leave. If I am part of it, clearly I am perfectly safe, but you shouldn't trust me. And if I don't deserve the suggestion, then I have a right to be offended and don't want you here."

Lara looked between the two of us. "I don't know what to believe," she said finally.

I stared at her. That hurt, and she knew it hurt.

"Michaela, look at it from my position."

"No," I said. "You came to me. I was minding my own business up here, six hours from your home. Do you really believe I'm some sort of mole set here to trick you?"

"You could have been turned," David said.

"What would be the point of today?" I asked.

"To get us to trust you."

"Lara already trusts me. Or used to."

She looked at me with pleading eyes. "I know you didn't hear them. And I don't think you could smell them, not that accurately. You may have caught a glimpse of one, but not all three. Please, Michaela, how did you know?"

"I am not telling you. Does that mean you revoke your promise of my safety?"

"No! Of course not. But you have to tell me. How can we trust you if you won't explain?"

"I never asked you to trust me. Well, except when we were fleecing Janice."

"Yes," David said. "We saw how duplicitous you can be."

"I risked my life for you, David. And for Rory."

"Part of a greater plan against the alpha," he retorted. "Do not make me hurt you, Michaela. Tell me how you knew, and tell me now."

I had been paying so much attention to the conversation, I hadn't really registered. My house was full of wolves. When I looked around, I realized all the exits from the house were covered.

I looked at Lara. Her eyes were filled with pain, but she was backing David.

"I see," I said. "Lara, do you remember the story I told you?"

"Yes. Was it true?"

"Decide for yourself," I said. "If it were true, then do you think perhaps I may have reasons to keep some of my skills to myself?"

"Whatever you say will go no further than David and me," she promised.

"You promise that?"

She nodded.

"You've also promised me I was safe, but your enforcer just threatened to hurt me, and you didn't say a word. I'm not sure your promises carry much weight."

My words were more effective than a slap. Lara actually rocked back away from me. David made a fist and was about to hit me when Lara said, "No. You'll kill her. We'll take her with. She'll talk eventually."

I stared at her.

"Would we be having this conversation if I had told you how I knew?"

"No," said Lara.

"It would depend," David replied tersely.

"Fine," I said. "Set up a test. See if I can reproduce it under circumstances you control."

"Fine," David said. "Back at the compound."

"Do it here. We're in town, a lot of distractions. I won't be good past about four hundred yards, maybe not quite that, depending on the direction."

"Tell us how, Michaela," said Lara. "Please."

"It's too late, Lara. I know I can't trust you now. You turned on me, like wolves always do."

I turned around, my back to both of them.

"Test her," Lara said. "Then we'll decide."

"How good is her hearing?" David asked Lara.

"On two feet? Worse than mine."

She was wrong, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

David left me with Lara and Reggie to guard me. He took everyone else into the front room and spoke very quietly to them. I heard every word. He told them to head away from the house in random directions, assigning distances to each from one hundred yards to five hundred.

"They'll need to shift around," I told Lara. "As if they'd been still for too long and are stiff or bored and not very disciplined. If they are absolutely still, it doesn't work except when much closer, almost close enough to smell."

Lara turned to Reggie. "Pass that on to David." Reggie left, told David, and was immediately back guarding the back door.

"You know we're through, Lara. When you leave, I never want to see you again. Stay out of Bayfield and keep your wolves away from me as well."

"Please, Michaela, just tell us how you knew."

"I was falling in love, Lara. What a fool I am."

I wanted to hurt her. From her body language, I had. Either I had betrayed her, or she had betrayed me. Either way, there was betrayal.

David came back and loomed over me. I tried to ignore him. It wasn't easy.

David, Lara and I waited in the house for ten minutes while the other wolves dispersed. Finally David said, "Outside. Let's see this trick of yours, fox." He led the way and never took his eyes off of me. We moved out into the grass and came to a stop. I started listening, slowly turning in a circle. I closed my eyes and pointed. "Hawk, roosting in a tree, seventy yards." I turned again, listening. "Dog, three blocks. The ferry just arrived. This won't work well until that ruckus settles down."

With my eyes still closed, I pointed straight at Lara. "She just shifted weight."

The noise from the ferry settled down, and I got a fix. I pointed. "Two hundred, maybe two hundred twenty yards. Pacing in the street. Wait, now in the grass. Just sat down. I lost it, but I assume still sitting."

I turned, cocked my head, listening, pointed. "Someone huffed. I didn't get the distance."

Then I heard Eric say clearly, "I am sorry, little fox." I pointed. "Eric, four hundred yards, maybe a little less."

I opened my eyes and looked at Lara.

"I think it was June in the street. I don't know where Reggie went."

"Find him," David said.

"Fine, but if he's not moving around, I won't be able to. If he's down in town, I won't, either."

"He's moving, and he's not in town," David said.

I listened then turned to David. "He's sitting on my front steps as still as he possibly can be."

"How, Michaela?" Lara asked. "I know you can't hear them."

"Does it matter, wolf?" I asked. "I don't see as how it's any of your business. I showed you a great deal of trust, an amazing amount of trust. And what did you show me? Please leave. If I never see another wolf, that would be perfect."

"Your car is almost back," David said. "We'll be out of here in five minutes." He spoke quietly. "You know I had to be sure."

"If this is how you treat your friends, Lara, you don't deserve to have any." And then I stepped past both of them and went into my house, slamming the door.

Lost Pups

The next two weeks were horrible. My nightmares returned, but instead of seeing the wolves from when I was fourteen, I saw David, Eric, and the others, with Lara often leading the charge for me. I don't know how many times I woke up screaming.

I buried myself in work. It didn't really help, but it kept me busy.

Elisabeth called. I picked it up long enough to hear the voice. "Don't call me again," I said, hanging up. She tried twice more, but I hung up both times. At least no one tried to stop by.

I remained very aware of my surroundings whenever I went out. I began carrying a gun loaded with silver bullets, something I hadn't done in a very long time. I didn't see any further sign of wolves near Bayfield, and by September, I thought perhaps everyone would leave me alone.

It was the middle of September when I finally made a trip I'd been putting off. I needed samples from a number of lakes about sixty miles due north of Madison. This was frighteningly close to Lara's compound, but it was my job. I would simply have to rely on my wits and hope I didn't stumble upon any wolves who might accuse me of spying.

I left early, before daylight arrived. It would be a long day.

I did a circle of lakes, taking a variety of measurements and samples. It took me all day, and dusk was rapidly approaching when I arrived at my final parking spot. There were two small ponds I could visit from this location. I headed to the first pond and got what I needed. The second pond was a mile and a half north of the first, and this was the closest I would ever need to come to Lara's compound.

It was while I was at the second pond that I heard wolves. It was faint at first, but they sounded clumsy. I decided there were three of them. Probably, about a thousand yards east and heading north. We were twenty miles from Lara's compound, so I figured it was a patrol, but Lara's patrols were pretty poor, based on the noise they were making.

Then I heard a yelp followed by several more coming from different wolf voices. The yelping continued.

It wasn't my problem. I turned west, back towards my car.

The yelping continued. I tried to walk away from it.

Shit. I turned around and began running. I didn't know why. It wasn't like I owed these wolves anything, but I couldn't stand that sound, even from a wolf, at least not from one that hadn't tried to hunt me.

I came over a hill, and down in a small valley in front of me, barely visible through the gloom, I saw three young wolves. They were hopping around and struggling, still yelping. I didn't understand what was going on, but they were in trouble. I approached cautiously.

Once I had halved the distance, it was clear. They had been caught in wolf traps. One had his front leg caught; the other two were trapped by a rear leg each. They kept trying to pull their legs free.

I stepped closer. "Hey," I said. "I can help."

All three turned to face me and began to snarl. I spoke in a quiet voice as I approached closer. "I can help," I said. "If you promise not to attack, I can help."

They snarled at me.

The traps were attached to chains, which were in turn anchored by spikes to the ground. An adult wolf may have been able to pull free; I wasn't sure. I wouldn't have been able to, but I thought perhaps my foot would have been cut right off by those nasty traps.

"Let me help," I said. "Please, let me help."

One of them whimpered and lay down. I approached slowly. "I promise, I am trying to help. I'm just a little fox. No threat to anyone. Will you let me help?"

The other two continued to snarl, but in a less threatening fashion. I approached the nearest, the one that was lying down, and I knelt down a few feet away. "Will you let me try to help?"

The wolf whined.

I crawled to the trap, watching the wolf warily. "I'm just a little fox," I said. "I couldn't possibly hurt you. I don't know if I can get this off, but I'll try. If I can't get it, I'll run and get the alpha."

The wolf whined but didn't bite.

I put my hands on the trap. The leg was bleeding badly, and the trap was slippery. I tried spreading the heavy jaws, but I couldn't even move them.

"I can't get it," I said. "I'm not strong enough."

The wolf whined and licked my hands.

"I'll try again." I looked at him. "Do you know to get it off? Maybe a stick?" He just whined.

I struggled and struggled with the trap. Then I struggled with the stakes driven it in the ground, growing increasingly desperate.

Nothing worked. By the time I was ready to give up, I was covered to my elbow in the poor wolf's blood.

That was when I heard noises from the west. Lara's compound was east, but I heard wolves coming from the west.

"Wolves are coming," I said. "Can you hear them? Can you call them? They can help."

The three wolves whined and buried their bellies in the dirt.

"Call them," I said. "They'll come help."

In response, they whined again. I didn't understand why they didn't call for help. I cocked my head and listened. And then I heard a huff from about where my car was parked, a huff I recognized. It was one of the wolves that had laid the trap for me three weeks previously.

"Oh no," I said. "These are the wrong wolves." Frantically, I tried to free one of the wolves. He reached over and licked my hand, then nipped at me.

I heard a howl, and it was far too close, and suddenly I was fourteen again, being hunted.

I shifted instantly, still dressed, I shifted right to fox. I struggled out of my clothes and didn't even have the presence of mind to hide the evidence.

I ran.

I was in full panic for five minutes, not calming down until I had climbed a tree and was well hidden. That was when I realized what I had done. I'd left my cell phone behind. My car keys. And they knew where my car was.

I jumped from the tree and turned east, using every trick I knew to hide my trail.

I covered the ground to Lara's compound quickly, quickly for a fox. As I grew close, I stopped and listened. I heard a wolf patrolling, and I adjusted my route to avoid him. I avoided two more and was within sight of the compound before anyone spotted me. The cry went up.

Suddenly there were wolves in both two and four feet converging on my location. I turned to the right, dashed right between two wolves on two feet. I thought one of them was Reggie.

"She smells of wolf blood!" someone yelled. "She's here to spy!"

Oh shit.

I dashed into the compound, then turned sharply left directly before Elisabeth in full fur. She pounced after me, but I ducked around her.

After that, it became a fox hunt, but I wasn't going anywhere. I was only waiting for Lara to appear. I used every trick I knew to avoid getting caught without actually running away.

After a couple of attempts, though, I realized that Elisabeth wasn't actively trying to catch me. Instead, she was getting in the way of the other wolves, and she huffed before every pounce, warning me she was leaping after me. I dashed under her, causing a wolf pileup behind me, then threw myself at the feet of the alpha, just exiting her home. I skidded to a stop and immediately rolled onto my back, exposing my throat.

"Stop!" Lara yelled, then reached down and scooped me up by the scuff.

I hated it when she did that, but rather than trying to bite her, I hung limply, whining.

She turned me to face her. "What are you doing here?" It wasn't said nicely. "And why do you have wolf blood on you?"

I whined.

She shook me. Like I could answer while furry. She stopped shaking me and held me up so she could look into my eyes. I gave her arm a passing lick, what I could reach, then in front of everyone, I shifted back to two feet.

Lara dropped me in the process, and I fell to the ground at her feet.

"Holy shit," someone said. "Did you see how fast she shifted?"

I slowly climbed to my feet and looked around, then asked calmly, "Missing three pups?"

David walked up behind me and cuffed me across the head. I crumpled to the ground and knew nothing for some time after that.

Imprisoned

When I woke up, I was still naked and lay on the floor in a small room. I had the devil of a headache and was a mess. I groaned.

They left me there for some time. I don't know how long. I curled up and wrapped my arms over my aching head. I think I slept, because I didn't hear Lara arrive. She was shaking me awake.

"My head hurts," I told her, curling back into a ball.

"Yes, we are missing three pups. What did you do with them?"

"Tried to rescue them. If you believe I had anything to do with taking them, why am I still alive?"

"David wanted to kill you."

"I should have walked away, then. Instead of, you know, trying to help."

"What happened?"

"I need a doctor, Alpha."

"Answer my questions and I'll think about it."

"Lara, when you discover I have been loyal all along, will you be able to live with the guilt? Even after you treated me so badly, I have remained loyal."

"You have a concussion. I'm sorry. I didn't order him to hit you."

"You didn't stop him."

"No, I didn't."

"So much for being safe."

"Do you know where they are?"

"No."

"David wants to beat it out of you."

"Do you think I did it?"

I watched her, and that was when I had hope. "Are you normally this bad a judge of character, Lara? Could you have been this wrong about me?"

"You're a fox, Michaela. I don't know what to believe."

"I have risked my life for your wolves, Lara. Just remember that. Get me water and clothes and I'll tell you everything I know."

"You're in no position to bargain with me."

"Fine. Have David beat me then, if water and clothes are such an unreasonable request. He'll kill me before you learn anything."

She got up and left. I stared after her as the door to my cell closed.

I was a fool. I was in love with her.

She was gone only a short while. She returned with a bottle of water, a tee shirt and a pair of sweat pants. "Slowly on the water," she said.

I put the clothes on first then drank cautiously.

"What order do you want the story?"

"From the beginning?"

"From today or from the day we met?"

"Start with today."

I gave her an overview, hitting all the high points, ending with my arrival in her compound.

"They probably have my clothes, cell phone, car keys, car, all my notes I took today, everything. I should have called you as soon as I found them, but I didn't think of it. I'm sorry."

"Where?"

"Get me a map."

She was gone for several minutes. "David doesn't believe you," she said, but she spread a map out on the floor.

I pointed out everywhere I had been. "You can probably find tire tracks from my car." I pointed out where I had last parked, where I had taken readings, and where I had found the pups. "I have no idea if they'll disguise everything. I don't know what evidence you'll find."

"What route did you take to get here?"

"I'm not sure. When I realized they were the bad wolves, I panicked. I ran north, I think. Maybe like this." I traced it. "I climbed a tree."

"You can climb trees?"

"Fuck." I hadn't meant to tell her that.

"Is that why I couldn't find you that first night?"

"Is David listening?"

"No."

"Please don't tell anyone, Lara. I know you don't believe me, but what if I've been loyal? Please don't tell anyone. I haven't shared all my abilities with you, but not once have I lied to you. Not once."

"I don't see why it would be important to share," she said.

"Thank you." I paused. "I was around here somewhere. I came something like this. I didn't even try to hide my tracks. You should be able to backtrack easily."

"Do you have anything else to add?"

I thought about it. "Yes. If they took my car, I can track it."

"How?"

"Foxy ways."

"You're not going to tell me?"

"No. Is David going to beat it out of me?"

"Not tonight."

"I have never lied to you, Lara. I think you once cared about me. But I'm just a fox. I don't matter to a wolf. I was a fool to believe otherwise."

She tightened her lips. "You mattered, Michaela. You still matter."

"Feels like it," I said. "Are you leaving me in here?"

"Yes."

"Nice accommodations. Tell me why I would lie about any of this? You would just kill me? What gain is there for me?"

"Maybe your sister isn't really dead but is instead a captive somewhere."

"Oh fuck," I said. "Blackmail. My life for my sister's."

"That's what David thinks."

"I have never lied to you, Lara, but I have absolutely no way to prove that."

"I'll send in something for you to sleep on and make sure you have food and water."

"Bathroom privileges?"

"I'll arrange that as well." She paused. "If you are telling the truth, I will spend the rest of my life apologizing to you. If I decide you are lying, I will kill you myself."

A half hour later, a wolf I didn't recognize arrived with a ground pad normally used for camping and a blanket. I thank him, but he said nothing. I curled up into a ball and tried to will my headache away.

Lara returned some time later, hours later. I was in and out of consciousness and should have had medical care for my concussion. But the big wolves wouldn't have needed it, why should the fox, right?

Lara entered the cell and woke me. She pulled me into her arms, and I went limp. And then she was crying.

"I'm so sorry," she said between her sobs. I put my arms around her and clutched at her. She picked me up, and the world swam. I passed out.

When next I awoke, I was in her bed, and she was still holding me. The tears had dried on her cheeks.

"Tell me what you found."

"They didn't even try to disguise it. You were off on some of the locations."

"I told you they were rough, that I wasn't exactly sure."

"I know. We followed your trail back. You didn't try to hide anything. I found the tree you climbed."

"Did anyone else?"

"No. Your tracks before that were wild, stumbling a little. After that, you were like a fox on a mission. Other than being off on the map a little, every detail was right. We found where the traps were. We found where they dragged them away. We found your tiny human tracks walking in and your fox tracks leaving. We found where you stopped. David sent people out to check where you said you had parked your car, and we found tire tracks at each of them, all the same."

"My car?"

"Gone. And we didn't find your clothes either."

"Do you believe me?"

"Yes. Even David does."

I clutched at her. "Lara, my head hurts so bad."

"Shift and heal."

"I don't heal when I shift, Lara. Another fox secret. Please don't tell anyone."

"I'm sorry, Michaela," she said. "And your secrets are safe."

"What do you think they'll do with my car?"

"Dump it somewhere."

"I can track it," I told her. "I just need a computer."

"A computer?" she asked. "That's your foxy way?" She smiled.

"Well. Maybe my U.S. Fish and Wildlife way. There's an active tracking collar hidden beneath the spare tire. It uploads real time to a web site."

Lara kissed the top of my head very gently. "I am so sorry, little fox."

"It is going to take me a very long time before I can fully trust you again, Lara."

"Does that mean I'll get another chance?"

"I love you, Alpha. Can you believe it? After the way you treated me, and I love you."

"I'm so sorry, Michaela. And I love you, too."

I took a deep breath, breathing her in, the scent of safety, even now. "Bring me a computer, Alpha. And about four hundred aspirins."

Lara gently settled me into the bed and went in search of a computer. I fell asleep again, but she woke me. I tried to push her away.

"Little wolf, I just need the web site. Then you can go back to sleep."

She helped me sit up, propping me up in her bed, and slid the laptop onto my lap. I stared at it, then slowly typed in the web site URL. It took me a while to get it narrowed down to my car. I zoomed in on the map. "Hayward," I said. "Looks like a shopping mall."

Lara took the laptop back. "You're sure?"

"Yes. But they could have found the tracking collar. Or dumped the car. That's the most likely."

"I'll be back in a few days."

"Please don't leave me, Lara."

"I have to. You understand why."

I started to cry. My head hurt so badly, and now my safety was leaving.

"I'm so sorry. Elisabeth volunteered to stay with you."

"Go," I said. "I understand. I deserve status updates though."

"You'll get them."

She kissed my forehead, then I pulled her lips down for a proper kiss.

And then she was gone, and I slept.

I felt marginally better the next time I woke up. I smelled horrible. I came awake slowly, but I realized that I wasn't alone. I rolled over, expecting to find Lara, but when she rolled over to face me, it was Elisabeth.

"Thank you," I told her. "You believed in me when even Lara didn't."

"She let David poison her towards you. David lost a lot of respect from this. We could have responded a lot faster if he had given you the slightest benefit of the doubt. Even if he just hadn't hit you, at least you could have talked significantly sooner."

"Do I smell as bad as I think I do?"

"Worse."

I tried to sit up, but when I did, the world started going black. I groaned, and Elisabeth supported me.

"Maybe you should sleep some more."

"Shower. Please. But you're going to have to help me."

"Lara will kill me."

"She better not. I am owed years of throwing my weight around."

"Yeah, all thirty pounds."

"Shut up and help me to the shower."

Elisabeth helped me from the bed and to my feet. I almost collapsed, my vision wavering, but she caught me. "Please, Michaela. Let me put you back to bed."

I clung to her weakly. "I'll do whatever you ask when I'm clean, Elisabeth."

Looking back, it was actually pretty funny. But at the time, it was all I could do not to pass out. I wanted to be clean for my own dignity, but I needed the big bad wolf to bathe me like a little baby. In the end, she nearly carried me to the shower, and then she had to climb in with me to keep me from collapsing in the shower.

"If Lara finds out, she'll kill me, Michaela."

"Literally?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted.

"So I suppose I shouldn't give you a love bite," I told her. I was draped against her while she was trying to wash my hair.

"That's not funny, Michaela. That would definitely make it literally."

"Would she really?"

"I don't know. Yes. I think so."

Soon I was clean and dry. Elisabeth got me wrapped in a robe and tried to put me back to bed.

"Can we change the bedding?" I asked her. She moved me to the sofa, and I passed out before she got back.

I was alone the next time I woke. While I didn't heal from shifting, I still healed quickly, like any were, and I felt better. I was hungry and needed to use the bathroom. I rolled onto my side at the edge of the bed, and the world spun only a little. I sat up slowly and was dizzy, but didn't black out.

I climbed to my feet and made my way to the bathroom.

Elisabeth was in the bedroom by the time I stepped back out, wrapped in the robe again. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. Hungry. Is there any chance of finding clothes remotely near my size."

"If you climb back in bed, I'll bring you something to eat."

I leaned against the wall, looking at her. "Is that a no on the clothing?"

"It's been too chaotic to send someone shopping for you," she said. "The clothes you had earlier are waiting to be washed."

I took a sniff of myself. I smelt like myself, all fox, no fear. "Am I aromatic?" I asked her.

"No."

I turned to Lara's closet and made my way over there on relatively steady feet. When I got to the door, Elisabeth was there beside me. "Please, Michaela. I'll bring you food and you can sleep some more."

"Am I violating some rules the alpha set?"

"No, but you still aren't very steady. I am used to a very graceful fox. I am worried. Please go back to bed."

"What day is it?"

"Thursday morning."

"I got here Tuesday night. I think I've slept enough."

I stepped into Lara's closet. I found a simple white blouse, way too large for me, and a wrap around skirt that I could make fit. I handed my finds to Elisabeth then turned to Lara's dresser, opening drawers until I found her panties. I finally found a pair that was small and exceptionally stretchy. I slipped them on then took the clothes from Elisabeth. "Turn around," I asked, then I slipped into the clothes.

The blouse was, of course, way too large. I had to roll up the sleeves. And the skirt hung to my ankles, but at least it didn't drag on the floor.

I felt better already.

I turned to the door, but Elisabeth was in front of me right away. "Please, Michaela. If you don't want to sleep, you can rest on the sofa. I'll bring food."

I stared at her for a moment. She stood unwavering between me and the door. "Are you my jailor, Elisabeth?"

"What? Of course not."

"So I'm not a prisoner."

"No. A guest. But Lara told me to make sure you were safe."

"And this room is significantly safer than the kitchen?"

"You are not steady on your feet, Michaela. I do not want to explain to Lara why I let you take a tumble down the stairs."

"I want to go home, Elisabeth."

"No!" she said firmly. "Lara said-"

"Elisabeth," I said calmly. "Do you believe right now I care that much what Lara said?"

She stared at me, blinking, and sadness crept into her face. "No," she said in a small voice. "But she is my alpha."

"So I take it if I asked for a ride home?"

"No."

"If I asked to borrow a car?"

"You are in no shape to drive."

I sighed. She was right.

"Please, Michaela. Do you really want a six hour car ride right now?"

I thought about it. "No," I admitted. "I don't."

"How about an airplane ride?"

"No, definitely not."

"Well then, why are we discussing this? Maybe this will be all over by tomorrow. You'll feel better tomorrow, and maybe Lara will be back by then."

"And I can have this conversation with her instead of you?"

"Exactly."

"Am I prisoner in this room?"

"No, Michaela, but please don't attempt the stairs today."

"If I behave, are you offering to entertain me?"

"Yes. I'll bring up food and something to drink if you promise to sit or lie down, then I will entertain you until you are ready to nap."

"Fine. I will wait here. We will be having this conversation again at lunch."

She sighed. "You promise to behave?"

"Until lunch."

"I'll bring food. It will be a few minutes." She eyed me dubiously.

"I promised, Elisabeth. I haven't broken any promises to anyone, unlike your alpha."

She flinched at that. "She said you forgave her."

"No, I didn't. I told her I love her. She's not forgiven yet. They aren't the same thing."

Elisabeth nodded and left the room. I waited until I heard her descend the stairs and crossed to the door. I opened it. It wasn't locked. I closed it again and turned to sit on the couch, waiting for her. I lay back and closed my eyes.

I dozed lightly but woke up when the door opened. Elisabeth slipped in quietly and saw me resting on the sofa. I tracked her progress as she set a tray down on the coffee table in front of me.

"What did you bring me?" I asked, not opening my eyes. It felt better to leave them closed.

"I thought you were asleep. I brought a little of everything. Bacon, sausage, some leftover chicken from last night."

I opened my eyes and looked at her. "The wolf definition of everything seems to be predominantly meat."

"There is a bowl of fruit," she said. "Do foxes eat fruit?"

"Yes. We're omnivorous." I glanced at the tray. It was heaping with food. "I presume you're eating with me."

She smiled. "Maybe a bite or two. What would you like first?"

"A tiny bit of everything," I said. "And I really mean tiny."

She prepared a plate for me and we ate together quietly. I felt better with food. She had brought lemonade as well, and that tasted good. I finished first, of course, but I continued to nibble so that Elisabeth felt she could continue to eat. Finally she sat back, looking satisfied.

"All done?" she asked me. I nodded. "Will you behave while I take these back downstairs?"

"If you leave the lemonade."

She laughed. "Done."

"Elisabeth, I promised I would behave until at least lunch. You don't have to keep asking."

"Thank you, Michaela."

She rose gracefully, collected everything, and stepped out the door. I got up and prowled the room for a few minutes, but that wore me out, and I moved back to the sofa. Elisabeth found me there ten minutes later when she returned.

"How are you doing?"

"I'll survive as long as no one hits me again for a few days."

"I don't think he meant to hit you that hard."

"He meant to kill me, Elisabeth, but wanted it to look like he tried to hold back."

"Wolves are not that subtle, little fox."

I opened my eyes and studied her. "Maybe not," I agreed. "Do you have a status update for me?"

"They're combing Hayward and the immediate surroundings. They found your car. You won't want it back."

I sighed. I couldn't afford to buy another one. That was a problem for another day. "Can they bring back the contents? My notes, the samples I had taken."

"As I understand it, there is nothing left worth bringing back. But Lara says if she ever smells any of the wolves involved again, she'll know it."

I clasped my lips together tightly. "All right. What else?"

"That's about it. They haven't found anything else. No signs at all."

"I don't want to look at it now, but later I'll want to see a map of where they looked."

"Michaela-"

I opened my eyes. "Tell the alpha what I said."

"All right. Yes. She can decide."

"She either trusts me or she doesn't, Elisabeth. Tell her I said that, too. There will be no more in between. If she doesn't trust me, then someone can drive me to Bayfield this afternoon."

"You aren't going to want that drive this afternoon, Michaela."

"I don't intend to stay in the home of someone who doesn't trust me, Elisabeth."

"Please don't put me in the middle of this, Michaela."

"Tell her what I said. We'll see what she decides. Do you have anything else at all?"

"No."

"What is the feel amongst the pack?"

"Everyone is very angry."

"Is Lara's position in jeopardy?"

"No."

"Weakened?"

"If this drags on, yes."

"And how about me?"

"You are an enigma," Elisabeth said. I thought that was a fancy word from the wolf. "Almost no one knows what to make of you."

"Anyone want to kill me?"

She smiled. "Not that I know. You've been a divisive factor amongst the enforcers."

I frowned. "I wouldn't have wanted that. Can you explain?"

"Eric and Rory were being especially antagonistic with David. The enforcers who don't know you have been supportive of David."

My head was starting to pound. "All right. That's enough for now. Thank you for answering my questions. Will you talk to me about something else?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know. Maybe tell me about your childhood. I'll probably doze off."

So she did, sharing stories about growing up with Lara. I dozed off somewhere in the middle and didn't wake up when she carried me back to bed.

I slept until early afternoon. I woke to the smell of unfamiliar wolf. I listened carefully. Someone was sitting on the sofa, reading. No one else was in the room with me. There were voices quietly speaking in the kitchen. I couldn't make out what they were saying.

I cracked one eye open. An adolescent female wolf was my companion. I studied her, judging the threat level.

"Who are you?" I asked.

She jumped to her feet, startled. The sudden movement caused me to jerk away, and my head immediately began pounding.

"Don't do that," I said. "Move slowly. Who are you?"

"Angel," she said.

I struggled to sit up, wincing, but I managed to slide my feet out from under the covers. I was still wearing the blouse and skirt, although everything was somewhat awry. I adjusted the clothing and ran my fingers through my tangled hair.

"Hello, Angel. I am Michaela."

"I know," she said.

"Now that I know your name, who are you?"

"I am the alpha's cousin," she said.

"Explain the relation," I said.

"The alpha's mother was my mother's older sister. I am my mother's youngest daughter."

"All right. Thank you. What are your orders?"

"Watch you. Scream if you try to leave."

"Has the alpha returned?"

"No."

I took a breath. "Are you to scream if I get out of bed?"

"No, only if you try to leave."

"I would rather not hear you scream, Angel. I imagine it would hurt. May I use the bathroom without you screaming?"

She smiled. "Yes. You just can't go near that door." She pointed to the door out into the hallway. "If you do, I'll scream."

"All right," I said. "Thank you for explaining the rules."

I made my way to the bathroom. I was a fright. I found a brush, but I didn't have the energy to use it. I carried it out to the bedroom.

"May I ask a favor, Angel?"

She eyed me warily but nodded.

"Would you brush my hair for me, very, very gently."

"All right."

I crossed the room and sat on the sofa. Angel sat down beside me and began brushing my hair. She was gentle. While she was brushing, I asked her, "If I told you I wanted lunch, what would you do?"

"Aunt Elisabeth didn't say anything about lunch."

I let her finish brushing my hair. I'm sure it wasn't up to standards, but it would be better. I thanked her.

"Did you have any directions for if I woke?"

"Just that you weren't to leave."

"If I promise to sit right here and not move so much as a muscle, will you go get Elisabeth?"

"No. She told me to watch you."

"You know I am the alpha's girlfriend, don't you?"

She nodded.

"Doesn't that mean you have to follow my orders?"

Her face scrunched up. I loved the wolves that way. Everything they were thinking was written all over their faces. But then her expression cleared. "No. And Aunt Elisabeth warned me you might try to talk me into being naughty. I am to watch you."

"And scream."

"If you go near the door."

"You are an effective jailor, Angel," I said. From her expression, I know I had confused her. "There are people in the kitchen. If you walked into the hallway and called down to them, could you get one of them to come up without making enough noise to hurt my head?"

"I am supposed to watch you."

"I will sit right here. You can see me from the doorway. If I do so much as stand up, you have my permission to scream."

I watched her think about it. She nodded and rose to her feet, watching me warily. "You promise you'll sit right there?"

"Cross my heart."

We watched each other as she backed slowly to the door. Once she was standing in the hallway, she turned away and called downstairs. "She's awake. Can someone come upstairs?"

Then she realized she wasn't watching me, and her head jerked back towards me. I hadn't moved, and she looked relieved. Her aunt must have put the fear of, well, the alpha into her.

From the kitchen, I heard movement. Angel listened as well, then returned to the bedroom, closing the door behind her. "Someone is coming upstairs."

"Thank you, Angel," I said.

"You are welcome, Miss Michaela."

Well, she was a polite jailor.

I heard light footsteps on the stairs, and then the door opened and a female wolf stepped into the room. It was difficult for me to judge the ages of wolves; weres age differently than humans do, and I hadn't spent much time around weres of any sort since I was fourteen. She was older than either Lara or Elisabeth, but I couldn't have said by how much.

"This is my mother," Angel said.

"Did she give you any trouble?" the woman asked her daughter.

"No, Mother."

"Your daughter has been a polite if effective jailor, aunt of the alpha," I said.

"Francesca, Ms. Redfur."

"Michaela." I told her. "Now that you are here, has your daughter's order to scream if I try to leave been rescinded?"

The woman smiled. "Yes. Angel, wait downstairs."

"Yes, Mother."

"Thank you for watching over me, Angel. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome," she said, picking up her book and fleeing. I waited until she had slipped past her mother before I said anything further.

"What are your orders, Francesca?"

She looked pained.

"I am going downstairs and to the kitchen. Are you going to stop me?"

She stood up straight. "If you can stand up and walk all the way to me without any wobbles, I will allow you to descend to the kitchen."

"Any wobbles would be due to inactivity," I said. "A problem I wish to remedy."

"If I ask a question, will you answer honestly?"

I almost laughed at the absurdity of the question. "I do not promise to answer, but if I answer, I will do so honestly."

"Are you really in any condition to safely walk all the way to the kitchen then all the way back up here without assistance?"

"Actually? No. I was hoping you would offer to help."

Her mouth quirked upwards.

"You thought I would lie."

"Yes."

"If I promise to behave until dinner, will you help me to the kitchen, and then maybe allow me to sit down there for a while before helping me back upstairs?"

She didn't want to do it. I sighed.

"Let me rephrase this. I am going downstairs. I will crawl if I have to. That would not be terribly dignified and would not be my first choice. You will have to physically restrain me to stop me. I do not believe that would be your first choice. I believe we would both be happy if we can achieve a level of agreeable cooperation."

"This is against my better judgment," she said. "I can have someone bring you food. Angel can sit with you. She has homework to do, anyway."

"What are you afraid of, Francesca? What do you think is the worst that could happen?"

"The worst? The alpha will arrive home before I can get you back upstairs. She will take one look at you and know you don't belong out of bed. I am not even sure sitting in that sofa would be acceptable, but we could argue it was a compromise."

"Call her."

"What?"

"Call Lara."

"I can't do that."

"Then provide me with a phone and I will call her myself."

"If I allow you to the kitchen, will you agree to cooperate when I decide you must return upstairs?"

I studied her. "All right."

"If I must, I will carry you. You will not fuss."

"You will allow me at least an opportunity to return in a dignified fashion."

"All right. I will take your arm on the stairs. If you can't get to the stairs without help or clutching at the walls, you are staying here."

I stood, slowly. I wobbled slightly, but I walked straight to her. She nodded and backed out of the doorway.

God, wolves were a pain in the ass.

I made it to the top of the stairs without help. Francesca kept an arm around my waist as I descended the stairs, somewhat unsteadily.

We successfully arrived in the kitchen, Francesca had to offer more support than I had thought would be necessary. She got me seated in a chair, and I said, "Francesca, you were right."

"Should I carry you back upstairs?"

"I'm here. Can I get something to eat?"

She nodded.

I looked around the kitchen. "Someone else was here with you."

"Gia, my eldest daughter. You will meet her later, I am sure." I was slipping. I hadn't heard her leave.

Francesca busied herself in the kitchen. She tried to offer me a wolf-sized meal, but I talked her down to something small. Her definition of small and mine needed a modicum of negotiation as well.

"The lemonade I had earlier. It didn't taste like it was from a mix."

"Fresh squeezed," she said.

"Is it plentiful?"

"We will make as much as you like, Michaela."

I felt marginally better after eating. Francesca puttered around the kitchen, clearly uncomfortable.

"Where is Elisabeth?" I asked.

"Resting. I can send Angel for her if you need her."

"Let her rest. I will behave at least for another few hours."

Francesca's lips quivered at that, but she was able to suppress an outright smile.

"Can you tell me anything more than what Elisabeth did earlier?"

"No."

"Is that because you won't tell me, or you haven't heard anything new."

"Both."

"Is the alpha all right?"

"Yes, the last I heard."

I sat there thinking about everything. "Francesca, where are you in the pack hierarchy?"

"That isn't as simple a question as you may think," she said. "In many ways, I am outside it. In my own house, I am dominant, and no one would question how I run my house, not even the alpha."

"And in pack politics?"

"I answer to the alpha, of course. And to Elisabeth."

"To David?"

"If David gave me an order, it would only be as a relay from the alpha. He wouldn't attempt to command me on his own authority. But at the same time, I command only my own children and my students."

"You're a teacher?"

She nodded.

"I am also outside the pack hierarchy. I do not answer to the alpha."

"That is between you and the alpha," she said diplomatically.

"Earlier, you said the worst case scenario was the alpha might see me out of bed. So you are worried about the alpha's reactions, but not worried about my health."

She looked me straight on. "No. I knew you could argue if I were making my decisions based on your health. You can not argue with my relationship with the alpha."

I almost laughed, but it hurt. "You are more fox than I would have expected."

"I will endeavor to consider that a compliment."

We sat in amiable silence for a while. When I was sure I was done eating, Francesca cleaned up then offered to help me back to bed.

"Francesca," I said. "I would like to apply a very small amount of stress to the boundaries we have agreed."

She narrowed her eyes at me.

"I would like five minutes outside."

"Absolutely not."

"Francesca, the entire house smells like wolf. I am a tiny fox, and wolf is not a scent that normally fills me with a sense of safety. I would simply like to clear my lungs. That is all. Please."

I hated having to ask. But perhaps if they got used to my asking politely, when I didn't ask, they wouldn't expect it.

"One minute standing on the front steps with my arm around you."

"Thank you," I replied. I climbed slowly to my feet and headed for the front door. Immediately she was next to me, but she moved smoothly and didn't startle me. We made it to the front door and out onto the front step.

No one was about. I thought about sitting down on the steps so she could walk further away from me, but I didn't like the thought of standing back up. So I let her support me, and I leaned against her, breathing deeply the fresh September air.

She didn't rush me, and I got my five minutes.

"Thank you," I said finally. "You have been very kind."

She didn't say anything but simply helped me back upstairs and to bed. "Angel will be watching. She will be in a great deal of trouble if she relaxes her diligence and you were to depart without her giving warning."

"You don't play fair, Francesca," I told her.

"I am simply stating fact."

"She does not deserve to be put between the affairs of adults."

"She is old enough to watch you."

"And I am fox enough to confuse her, but I won't. At least not until dinner time."

"I will send my older daughter up before then," Francesca said with a smile. "She perhaps will not be swayed by your artful ways."

"It's not today or tonight you need to worry, Francesca. Tomorrow I go home."

"That is between you and the alpha."

After that, I slept.

The other daughter was with me when I woke next. "This really is tiring," I said. "I should not be treated like an errant child who needs a keeper."

"That is between-"

"Yes, I know. Me and the alpha."

"Exactly."

"What are your orders?"

"I am not authorized to allow you to leave this room."

"And you would scream, like your sister?"

She smiled. "No. I would stop you, then call for assistance in a firm voice."

I sat up to a moment of dizziness, but it was the dizziness of too much sleep, not a concussion. I slipped to the side of the bed, and Gia was immediately on her feet and standing in front of the door.

"You take your duties very seriously," I told her. "I will be using the bathroom. I intend a shower, and then I will descend for a small bite to eat. Call whomever you must."

"You will not be leaving this room, Ms. Redfur."

"Call whomever you must. I will be going downstairs."

"Ms. Redfur, if I were to offer you clothes that fit, would you be more agreeable?"

"I would very much appreciate clothes that fit," I replied. "But if I have to do it wrapped in a sheet, I am going downstairs to eat."

She sighed and pointed to a shopping bag next to Lara's dresser. "Two pair of jeans, several changes of undies. Sports bras and blouses."

"Sports bras?"

"Easy to fit without a fitting."

"Will you tell me whoever went shopping so I may offer thanks?"

"That would be me this afternoon."

I smiled. "Thank you, Gia. If I find myself required to use my foxy ways, I will endeavor to avoid doing so during your shift as jailor."

"Mother warned me you would use that word," Gia said. "It is not accurate, and I will not be swayed by it. The alpha told us to keep you safe. We will keep you safe."

"And any other course of action-"

"Is between you and the alpha."

"I will remain reasonably compliant this evening. I will descend for dinner, and I will take a short walk outside."

"Not on my shift."

"Call someone then. That is what will happen." I walked calmly to the shopping bag and brought it into the bathroom with me.

The shower felt good, and Gia had done a good job finding my sizes. There was even a pair of sandals. They would not do for running, but I could walk comfortably in them. I brushed my hair thoroughly and felt reasonably put together by the time I exited the bathroom.

Elisabeth was waiting for me, and there was no sign of Gia.

"Ah, I was hoping you would arrive. Come, you can update me over a bite."

"Is that all you do is eat and sleep?"

"And argue. Don't forget the arguing."

She smiled. "One could never forget the arguing, little fox." I crossed the room and stood in front of her, and she stepped aside from the door. I descended the stairs without assistance and made it smoothly to the kitchen. Francesca and Gia were there, and the informal kitchen table was set for four.

"Good evening," I said by way of entrance. "Do I have an assigned seat?"

"Wherever you like," Francesca said. I took the nearest seat. Francesca set down a glass of lemonade and the three wolves sat down to join me.

We served ourselves and I asked Elisabeth if she had a status update for me.

"No change. They are still looking, expanding their search."

"Other than the three youths, everyone is unhurt?"

"Yes."

"I would prefer to speak with the alpha this evening, if she should become available."

"She told us we could call any time this evening."

"Do you have authority to show me where they have searched?"

"Yes. Later."

"All right. We can do that while talking to Lara."

"Is that before or after you lose your argument about a walk outside?" Elisabeth asked me.

I smiled. "Elisabeth, we both know you would be much happier if I remain reasonably compliant. We also know I am going to get my walk. Do we need to argue about it?"

"Do you give your word I will not regret it, Michaela?"

"I will do nothing tonight to betray your trust, Elisabeth. That is between now and midnight."

Gia had been paying attention to all this and finally asked her mother, "How does she get away speaking like this? She should do what she is told."

I turned to her. "I make my own choices. Right now, I am not in any condition to outright defy the alpha. That will change. I am very stubborn and respond poorly to strong arm tactics. I am fox, not wolf. And there is no one here to whom I answer. Elisabeth is able to physically restrain me. If I pushed hard enough, she could toss me into that cell I was in a few days ago. But she doesn't want to do either of those, and I don't want her to do those. So we walk a dance."

"She could lock you in your room," Gia pointed out.

"The alpha's room, you mean?"

"Yes."

"Elisabeth, if you do that, what will I do?"

"Go out the window."

"And if you somehow prevented that?"

"You'd find a way through the door."

"And if I couldn't?"

"You would find a way through the wall."

"What if you physically restrained me or locked me in that cell?"

"You would hate us forever."

"And how would the alpha feel about that?"

"You alive and hating her is better than you dead."

"But not as good as me alive and not hating her."

"Exactly."

"Does that answer your question, Gia?"

"You should do what you are told," Gia said.

I sighed. "I am fox, Gia. Not wolf. Your rules and my rules are different. Your rules are based on strength and obedience. Mine are based on trust."

"So the alpha should trust you to do what you're told," Gia said triumphantly.

"The alpha should trust my judgment and my personal choices over my own life. It is my life, after all, not hers. And I should be able to trust that she will keep her promises to me."

Elisabeth shook her head slightly at me. I decided she was asking me not to talk about broken promises. I nodded slightly once.

"You said you would be reasonably compliant," Gia said.

"Yes. Earlier I told Elisabeth I would be reasonably compliant this evening." I turned to Elisabeth. "I believe evening ends at midnight."

She nodded understanding.

"All right," said Gia. "So if we all walked away, right now, you would stay right here?"

"Probably not. I'd probably go sit outside."

"But we could trust you to do nothing foolish?"

"You could trust me to be easily found and engaged in nothing I believed was potentially dangerous to my health."

"You said until midnight?"

"If I am unattended outside at 12:01 AM, I will make my own choices. I will have fulfilled my agreement."

"You would run away, just like that?"

"Probably not. I don't think I'd get very far."

Elisabeth snickered.

"But I might try to steal a car," I added. "Or I might climb back upstairs and go to bed. It would be my decision, not anyone else's."

She thought about it all. "You should do what the alpha says."

Stubborn wolf.

"Why don't you make her promise to behave until the alpha returns?" Gia asked.

I laughed, and Gia turned a dark look at me.

"I'm sorry, Gia. I shouldn't have laughed. Elisabeth would absolutely love to get me to make that promise. She would need to threaten to put me in the cell before she'd get it, and even then, I might count on escaping during a bathroom break rather than give it."

"You are like an ill behaved pup," Gia said. "And you should be treated like one."

"David tried that," I said coolly. "How did that work?"

"You told them what they wanted to know."

I looked at Francesca to see if she wanted to interfere. She looked at me calmly. I turned back to her daughter.

"Gia, why do you think I came here in the first place?"

"Because the pups were kidnapped."

"Yes, they were, but what was the purpose of my coming here? I could have simply run away. Why did I come here?"

"To tell the alpha about the pups," she said eventually.

"So do you think David hitting me got the answers to come out of me faster than they would have if he had asked me politely what I knew?"

She looked down. "Probably not."

"Probably." I sighed again. "Elisabeth, how long was I unconscious?"

"Nearly an hour."

"How long would it have taken me to start answering questions if David hadn't hit me."

"I imagine a few seconds."

"I was going to ask for something to cover me up and some water. So a few minutes. Instead it took over an hour. Do you think that time mattered?"

"Yes, it mattered. We may have been able to track them if we'd gotten there faster."

I turned to Gia. "I made a fatal mistake, one I have to live with. I should have called the alpha as soon as I saw what was going on. Instead, I tried to help, forgetting I had a phone. It was the worst mistake I have ever made, and I am guilt ridden over it."

"How long between when you found them and when the other wolves arrived, Michaela?" Elisabeth asked gently.

"I'm not sure. Maybe twenty minutes or so. They were nearby. But I also wasted time approaching cautiously. I am fox, not wolf, after all. If I had called at the first yips, you would have had forty minutes or more."

"No one would have called at the yips," Elisabeth said. "No one is going to fault a fox for caution. So twenty minutes. You were fourteen miles from our compound, and there were no direct roads. If you had called the moment you saw them, by the time we shifted and ran there, it would have been too late. If you called after you failed to free them, it would definitely have been too late. And Michaela, I would have tried to free them before calling. Other than the caution in the approach, you did exactly what I would have done."

I felt tears in my eyes. "It wasn't enough."

"No," she said. "Sometimes your best isn't enough."

I looked away for a while, calming the tears, then turned back. "I'll behave until morning if you let me walk around outside this evening."

"I'd love to walk with you if you stay close to the house."

"Thank you." I turned to Gia. "Your company would be nice, if you wanted to join us."

"I don't understand you," she said. "And I don't understand why Elisabeth doesn't make you behave. She could."

"She couldn't."

"She could! She is big and you are tiny."

I shook my head and decided she wasn't going to understand. Instead I addressed Francesca. "I was worried I would be a bad influence on the pack, but I realize the pack will never understand me enough for me to be any influence at all."

I got my walk before we talked to Lara. I think Elisabeth didn't want Lara to have an opportunity to disallow it, and she definitely didn't want to fight me on it. We stepped outside with Elisabeth hovering closely. Francesca chose to stay inside, but Gia and Angel both joined us.

We didn't go anywhere. I sat on the steps for a few minutes, enjoying the evening air and listening to Gia and Angel talking a little ways away, thinking I couldn't understand. Neither of them understood the situation, but I decided they were good girls.

"Elisabeth, when I decide to leave, please don't use those two as my jailors."

"They aren't jailors."

"I don't want them in the middle of this. I am in no shape to defy you right now, but you know tomorrow I will be, and they shouldn't suffer when I leave."

"Michaela, please," Elisabeth said. "Do not do this to me. Give it a few days. I will give you all the freedom you want if you agree to stick to the immediate area of the house."

"My freedom is not yours to give, Elisabeth. It is my freedom. Not yours, not Lara's. Until we can agree on that point, there is no room for other discussion."

"I can lock you in that cell, Michaela."

"You can, and I'm not in any shape to evade you if you do it tonight. But I've been betrayed enough by this pack, don't you think?"

"We're only trying to protect you, Michaela. Why can't you understand that?"

"I do understand that, Elisabeth. But if I am not free to leave, it's not protection, it is imprisonment. I do not choose imprisonment as the price of protection, especially when I feel I am able to protect myself."

"So tomorrow you're leaving unless I lock you in the cell tonight?"

"I don't know, Elisabeth. I don't know how I will feel in the morning. And I haven't talked to the alpha. I haven't seen the map of where they are searching."

"You have promised to behave until morning," Elisabeth said.

"Let's call it sunrise," I said. And with that, I climbed from the steps and stepped out onto the grass, three wolves following me around, and everyone wondering what tomorrow would bring.

Afterwards, from Lara's bedroom, we called Lara. Elisabeth had given me the map, which she had annotated with where the searching had happened as of the last conversation with the alpha. She and Lara talked for a while, Elisabeth taking the phone to the bedroom across the hall. I couldn't quite here what Lara said, but I heard everything Elisabeth said.

She argued for trusting my judgment. It didn't sound like she won. At one point I heard her say, "Please don't make me do that, Alpha. It will crush her, and she will never forgive you."

Fuck.

When Elisabeth returned, her face was an open book. She was going to throw me in the cell if I didn't promise to stay. I held out my hand for the phone.

"Is this map Elisabeth gave me accurate, Alpha?" I asked her.

"Yes, it should be," she said. "How are you doing, Michaela?"

"If you just ordered Elisabeth to throw me in the cell, then my name is Ms. Redfur."

There was silence, then Lara said quietly, "Why are you doing this?"

"Why are you? Either you trust me or you don't. Decide soon, Alpha." And then I hung up on the call.

"When are you to lock me up?" I asked her.

"Either you promise to stay until Lara gets back, or I lock you up immediately."

"So you would trust my promise, but not my judgment. That makes no sense."

"A twelve-year-old pup can keep a promise without necessarily having good judgment," Elisabeth said.

"I rescind my promise from earlier. I will give the alpha one hour to rescind her order. If you attempt to lock me in a cell, I will fight you with everything I have. In one hour, I am leaving."

"You can't fight me, Michaela." The pain in Elisabeth's face was clear. "You'll make me hurt you."

"I will not go meekly. I will not!"

"Twenty-four hours, Michaela. Please."

I glanced at the clock hanging from the wall. It was shortly after ten PM. "You have until eleven. At 11:01, either I will be walking away or you and I will be deeply engaged in the meanest fight a fox can give you. You will probably end up killing me before you subdue me."

"Please, Michaela, don't make me do that."

"I'm not. Your alpha is. You better spend your hour wisely."

"You won't leave before eleven?"

"No. I would rather you talked some sanity into her. I would rather work with you."

"You will stay in this room."

"Yes."

"In human form?"

"Yes. Until you return or 11, whichever comes first."

She nodded and stepped out of the room. I heard the front door open and close, and then I was left with my thoughts.

There was no way I'd get past her tonight. Maybe in another day or two, but not tonight. I sighed and slumped on the bed.

By 10:30 I was watching the clock. When 10:50 came around and Elisabeth hadn't returned, I began to pace. At 10:57, the front door opened and Elisabeth hurried up the stairs. She burst through the door and looked deeply relieved I was still there.

"Will you please talk to Lara?"

"All right."

She handed me the phone.

"Yes, Alpha?"

"Please let Elisabeth keep you safe. I need to know you are safe. I can't be worrying about you. I can't send people back to keep you from running away."

"Please trust my judgment."

"Give me a week."

"Please trust my judgment."

"Three days."

"Please trust my judgment."

"Twenty-four hours."

I hesitated. My voice cracked. "Please trust my judgment, Lara. What are we, if you can't trust me?"

"What are we if I can't protect you?"

I held the phone to my ear and listened to her breathing. "I love you. Goodbye."

"No! Wait! Michaela, please."

I held the phone in place, not speaking. "If you leave, where will you go?"

"Where my judgment takes me."

"Will you take Elisabeth with you?"

"If I decide that's the best choice, and she offers."

She took a large breath. "Please put Elisabeth back on." I held out the phone and listened to both sides of the conversation. Lara told her, "Beg her to stay. If she chooses to leave anyway, beg her to go with. If she says no, give her a car and make sure she has whatever she needs."

"Thank you, Alpha. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. Stubborn fox."

"That she is." They both hung up and Elisabeth looked at me. I was crying and smiling.

"Thank you," I told her.

"Please let me keep you safe. Lara needs to know you are safe. The pack needs you safe."

"You begged. I declined. You begged to go with. I declined. I need a car, enough cash to last a week, and a cell phone with your number and Lara's plugged in."

"Ten minutes. I'll meet you downstairs."

Going Hunting

I collected the clothes Gia had purchased for me and headed downstairs to sit on the steps. Elisabeth drove up in a dark black SUV and behind her, Francesca parked in a little green Prius. I smiled.

"Pick one," Elisabeth said.

"Whose are they?"

"Both are mine."

"Do you mind if I take the Prius?"

"No." Francesca handed me the key. Elisabeth handed me a cell phone and a roll of money. "It's about five hundred dollars. It's what I had ready."

"Thank you, Elisabeth." I hugged her. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Where will you go? Your home isn't safe."

"I know. Trust my judgment."

She nodded. "I will."

I climbed into the Prius, maneuvered it around the SUV, and was soon on my way. I drove slowly until I reached the main highway, taking twenty minutes to get there. My headache had returned, but no one stopped me, and no one was following me. I pulled over, climbed out of the car, and searched the sky for airplanes. There was an airliner high in the sky, but nothing else.

I reached into the car and grabbed the phone. I called Elisabeth.

"Where are you?" I asked her.

"Still at the compound," she said. "What's wrong?"

"My head hurts."

"I thought it might."

"Maybe it would be better if you drove."

"I could do that. Are you coming back? Or I can have Francesca drive me to you."

"I'm at the highway. I'll wait here. Elisabeth, we're going hunting. I can wait if you need to pack. Bring a computer with a satellite uplink, if you have one."

"I love to hunt, Fox. I can't wait to watch you."

"Thank you, Elisabeth. You're going to make an awesome sister-in-law."

She laughed. "And you're going to be a pain in the ass of a sister-in-law."

"I wonder if I should wait for the alpha to ask me."

"Naw. Why do anything her way?"

"You're right. Why start now?"

She laughed. "Will you call her or will I?"

"I will. I'll be waiting for you."

We hung up and I called Lara.

"Gia? Why are you calling me?"

"It's not Gia. I was wondering whose phone this was."

"Michaela." Lara went quiet.

"Elisabeth and I will be wherever you are by noon. If you need her to bring anything or anyone else, call her now and call me back."

"One second, Michaela." Lara held the phone to her chest, but I could hear her talking, presumably to David.

"David will call her."

"Lara, I expect Elisabeth to allow me to do whatever I want, and we report to no one, not even you."

"That's not reasonable," she said.

"Lara, send everyone away. Everyone. Do it, or I drive away and no one finds me. Make sure with your own eyes and ears they all have left."

I heard her send everyone out of the room. There was a pause and a lot of background noise, then it got significantly quieter.

"I'm alone," she said.

"Absolutely alone, and you are completely sure no one can overhear me."

"Yes."

"They might be able to hear you, so you need to say nothing, Lara. Do you understand?"

"No."

"Trust my judgment, Alpha."

"I will say nothing."

"You have a traitor."

She was silent.

"Tell me you understand."

"I understand, but I don't want to believe."

"I don't either."

"Do you know who you are accusing?"

"I'm not accusing anyone," I said. "Alpha, if I give you the name of a wolf, perhaps a wolf very close to you, would you be able to get the truth from that wolf?"

"Yes."

"What if it's Elisabeth?"

"It's not!"

"No, it's not. But what if it were?"

She was silent for a while. "I would need some evidence. A lot of evidence. Yes I can do what you ask."

"All right. I will get you a name, and it will be based on more than my personal distrust. But it may be built on nothing more than the way I won at poker. That may be the best I can do."

"I understand."

"You will tell everyone I was being difficult but have agreed to accept Elisabeth as my keeper. You are humoring me, that's all. But you are going to change your mind about letting me help with the investigation. You want me safe."

"We're going to fight about that, Michaela."

"Yes, exactly. You will put your foot down and threaten to lock me in a cell until this is over. We will have a huge fight, but you will give in when I ask if I can go sailing on a friend's sailboat, out in the middle of the lake. Can you sell that?"

"Yes."

"I promise to report our safety to you. I don't promise to report more than that. And you must tell Elisabeth she answers only to you, no one else, and you must not ask her any questions she has to answer. All right?"

"Yes."

"I need my tracking collar. Do you have it? Does anyone else know the web site to my tracking device?"

"Yes. And yes. Almost everyone."

"All right. You are going to insist I wear it in a fashion I can't remove without help, but you will make sure that Elisabeth can take it off. I will fight you, but you will force me to wear it." I thought about it. "That's all I have. With any luck, we'll be there by noon. We'll call when we know for sure."

"I'm trusting you, Michaela."

"I know you are, Lara. Thank you for loaning Elisabeth to me. If I ask later, will you be able to give me two more wolves?"

"Yes, whatever you need."

"Keep it quiet for now. Elisabeth is humoring me, that's our story for now. I love you, Lara."

"I love you, too."

We listened to each other breath for a while, neither talking. "I'm not ready to hang up," I told her.

"Neither am I. Do you forgive me?"

"Promise you will never let anyone else hit me, and you will never imprison me, regardless of the reason."

"I promise."

"Then we'll be okay. I'll need a few more days. Do you understand?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Lara, you are my physical protection. But I am your fox."

"Yes."

And then we offered our goodbyes, both feeling better.

When Elisabeth pulled up in her SUV, the only one with her was Francesca. Elisabeth climbed out of the car and hugged me. I gave the Prius key back to Francesca and transferred my few things into the SUV.

I got into the SUV and waited until Francesca had turned around in the Prius before I asked, "What did David tell you?"

"Please don't ask."

"You have orders," I said. "These come from the alpha, not David."

She looked over at me and smiled. "All right."

"You report to me and her. No one else."

"You think we have a traitor."

"Yes."

"Can you catch him?"

"Yes."

"You think it's David. That's going to break Lara's heart."

"I know. Will you help me?"

"Yes. Where are we going?"

"First, we need to catch a deer. Head to Ashland. Wake me in four hours."

I slept.

Elisabeth woke me right on schedule. I asked her to pull over somewhere, and she pulled off the side of the highway.

"Did you bring the computer I asked for?"

"Yes." She pointed it out and helped me turn it on, and I browsed to the site that tracked my tracking collars. I found the one I wanted and smiled. "I'll drive," I said. "I need you to nap for a while, maybe an hour or so."

We switch placed, and I pulled out onto the highway. "Elisabeth, can you catch a deer?"

"Yes."

"Can you do it without killing the deer?"

"That wouldn't be our normal way," she said. "How big a deer."

"Big doe. I can catch her, but it takes me two days. If you have to kill her, so be it, but I'd rather you didn't."

"I'll do what I can."

"Thank you."

After that she rested, and I took us to the Porcupine Mountains, just inside Michigan. Elisabeth woke up and complained about being hungry.

"We're going to Ashland next. I'll feed you there."

"I could eat the doe."

"She's kind of a friend."

Elisabeth shook her head. Weres making friends with prey.

I got us to within a mile of the doe. She hadn't moved in two hours, so I thought she was bedded down.

"Will you do it on two legs or four?"

"Four."

"Get furry, Elisabeth. The plan is you bring the doe down. I will follow and remove the tracking collar. If she's not too badly hurt, you let her go. If she's going to die anyway, please don't let her suffer. I won't be able to watch."

"She's just a deer."

"Her mother died to poachers. Someone brought a fawn to our offices. I raised her, then taught her how to survive. I know it's weird, Elisabeth, but I love her."

"Silly fox. But I'll be as gentle as I can."

"Thank you. I'll get you within about two hundred yards, then will follow you as best I can."

She started undressing right in the car, then climbed into the back seat to shift. It took her ten minutes, and it didn't look pleasant, but she didn't complain.

I checked the tracking website once more, then opened the car and let Elisabeth out. "Two miles, that way," I said. I set off on two feet, stupid sandals slowing me down. Elisabeth followed along easily, not even panting.

I didn't hear her until we were within three hundred yards. I'd already slowed us down, and we were approaching from downwind. I crouched down, listening. She was bedded down, but I heard her shift.

I stuck my mouth into Elisabeth's ear. "Three hundred yards." I turned her head to point exactly in the right direction. "Do you want to approach from here or a different angle?"

Elisabeth turned her head twenty degrees to the right. Silently, I led us in that direction another hundred yards, listening the entire time. I turned us in the right direction and began to approach one silent step at a time. When I was sure I had her pinpointed, I crouched down and grabbed Elisabeth's head. "One twenty five," I said directly into her ear as quietly as I could. I turned her head slightly. "I'd have to be fox to get any closer."

She licked me once and began creeping forward, and it was beautiful.

I waited. It took Elisabeth fifteen minutes to close the distance. Even I couldn't hear her. And then there was a rush, and I began running forward.

When I arrived on the scene, Elisabeth held a deeply panicking deer to the ground, the legs flashing. I rushed up from behind them both, warning Elisabeth so as to avoid surprising her. Releasing the tracking collar took me several difficult seconds, and then I pulled clear.

"I got it, Elisabeth. If she's not hurt, please let her go.

I backed away quickly and Elisabeth practically flew off the dear, pouncing away to avoid flashing legs. In a moment, the deer was on her feet and immediately disappeared into the brush.

"Good bye, Spot," I told her. "I'll miss you." I felt tears in my eyes. I'd known that deer for a long time, but without the tracking collar, I'd never find her again.

Elisabeth walked over and huffed at me, offering a wolfy smile.

"Are you hurt?" I asked running my hands over her sides. She huffed again then bumped her chest against me, knocking me onto my ass.

"I'll take that as a no. Thank you. You were magnificent."

She kept me company for the walk back to the car. I let her into the back seat of the SUV and climbed in up front. She sat down on the floor, looking at me.

"All right," I said. "You may stay furry if you want, or you can shift back. Next stop is Ashland. Unfortunately, there is no way you will pass as a dog at the Fish and Wildlife office, so if you want to go inside with me, you need to shift. If you are going to shift and want us to stay here until you're done, nip me."

Instead, she bumped me with her head and settled in for her shift. I got the car started and turned us to Ashland.

Elisabeth completed her shift and pulled clothes on. When I looked at her in the mirror, she looked done in.

"Are you all right?"

"I should have caught at least a rabbit," she said. "I'm starving. Stop somewhere, I need food as soon as we can get it."

We hit a gas station in Ironwood. I filled the SUV and Elisabeth filled a grocery bag.

"All that?" I asked.

"I have a feeling there's going to be more of this," she said. She grinned at me.

"All right," I said. "Tell me everything you can about David." I paused. "And his wife."

"David has been around for a long time," Elisabeth explained. "He served the previous alpha for years, rising through the ranks through strength and loyalty."

"I need to ask this. I am sorry. How did your parents die?"

"Mother died fifteen years ago in a coup attempt."

"I'm so sorry."

"Dad died six years ago in a dispute with the Chicago wolf pack."

I thought about both of those. "I'm sorry, Elisabeth. I need the details. I especially need to know about any whisperings."

"You think this goes back this far?"

"This is about money or power."

"Yes, but not necessarily directly," she said. "It could be about politics. Not all of Lara's decisions are popular, and there are those who are traditionalists."

"A bitch's place?"

"Yes," she said. "This could be simply about preserving the male-dominated hegemony."

"Who would be alpha if Lara fell?"

"Absolutely any outside invader strong enough to take and hold it."

"What if she is killed without there being a clear challenger, or perhaps just significantly disgraced so no one would follow her?"

"The most clear choice is David," Elisabeth said.

"Any old timers?"

"They would never survive the challenges."

"Would you challenge?"

She thought about it. "I don't want it. But I'd challenge before I'd let someone I couldn't follow lead it, especially if I thought it was a weak leader."

"Would David challenge someone like that?"

"Yes."

"It keeps coming back to him."

"There is too much I don't know," I told Elisabeth. "I'm just shooting at targets, seeing which ones I hit. Tell me about the coup attempt."

"It was Janice's husband and a small cadre of followers," Elisabeth said. "There had been a short series of embarrassing scandals, at least two of which had been purposely orchestrated."

"How did your mother die?"

"They had hoped to do a clean sweep of the entire family. The main group went to dad's office. A smaller group came after mom, Lara and I."

"Oh god, Elisabeth."

"Mom and one enforcer died. All the attackers died."

"I'm so sorry, Elisabeth."

We drove along quietly for a while. "Where are your parents, Michaela?"

"Lara didn't tell you?"

"No."

"My parents and sister are dead," I said. "When this is all over, if you really want the story, I'll tell you. Lara has heard it. It's not a good story."

"I am sorry."

I nodded to her. "The wolves who attacked you - were they all males?"

"Yes. They all died. David was a new enforcer. He fought beside my mother and protected Lara."

"Where were you?"

"On Mother's other side. I stepped in when the other enforcer died. And Lara stepped up when Mother died."

"Is there any chance David was in collusion?"

"Absolutely not. He fought valiantly. He took quite a bit of damage himself, including a silvered knife that was meant for Lara."

"What happened with your father at that time?"

"Janice's father challenged Father directly. Father killed him."

"And the others?"

"He killed them, too."

"With help?"

"No. In a rage when he heard about Mother."

"Does anyone blame him?"

"Maybe the mates, like Janice. Maybe children. Absolutely no one else."

"I'll need a list. Why is Janice still alive?"

"There was absolutely no evidence she was involved. It was well known she disagreed with her husband about everything. She vowed undying loyalty to the alpha, and there has been no evidence she has ever betrayed that vow."

"In your mind, is Janice a suspect?"

"Yes."

"How about David?"

She thought about it. "The only reason I suspect him is because of the way he treated you. I don't know how he could have remotely thought you would betray Lara. But even if he did, clubbing you unconscious like that was nearly the worst choice."

"Killing me outright being the only worst?"

"Yes. I understand why you distrust him, Michaela, but if you make any accusations, you better have some pretty strong proof."

"What did he say about the way he hit me?"

"He said it was a gentle cuff, and you were more fragile than he expected."

"I had clearly surrendered to the alpha. Would it be normal for him to interfere at that point?"

"He claimed he was incensed at the scent of wolf blood you were wearing. No, he should have let the alpha handle it, especially given the history. But wolves are emotional. No one is going to question his motives."

"So if we were writing down names, Janice would be higher on the list than David?"

"Yes."

We continued to talk, arriving in Ashland long before I had stopped asking questions. Elisabeth had a short list of people who she thought would like to see someone else, perhaps David, as alpha. I took her into my offices. As it was Saturday, they were empty.

I logged into my computer and two others, and I set them to searches.

"Tell me about Natalie."

"I don't know much about her," she said. "They have been mated for twelve years."

"I got the impression pack was close. You didn't know her before?"

"She wasn't pack."

"A different pack?"

"No. She was an unaligned wolf from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan."

My ears perked up. "How did they meet?"

"For a wolf, it's actually very old-fashioned. Long ago the proper way to meet a mate was to go on a hunt."

"A hunt? With the mate as the prey?"

"Yes. The male invades the territory of another pack or into unaligned territory. He comes back with a mate. There are actually wolves who reenact this custom, but the fights involved are only to first blood."

"Wait. David would have challenged Natalie?"

"No, of course not. Natalie's father, brothers, uncles, and anyone else who stood against him."

I stared at her. "This is an old, old tradition? And David didn't just reenact it, he actually went through it for real, presumably without permission from Natalie or her family?"

"Yes," Elisabeth said. "But don't look at me like that. Amongst wolves, this is not considered barbaric. It's old fashioned, but not barbaric."

It all came together. I had been lacking a proper motive, but it all came together. I wanted to talk it out with Elisabeth, but all the wolves have been an open book to me, and I didn't believe she could keep her emotions from her face. I needed the evidence.

"All right. Well, David isn't our top choice, perhaps. Give me those other names. I'm not removing him from the list, but we need to investigate the others first. But Elisabeth, he's not off the list, either. You can't tell him a thing."

"I understand, Michaela."

"I am going to run more searches. Can you finish working on that list?"

I stepped into the office next door and interrupted the search. Instead I did a search for the marriage license for David, collecting Natalie's maiden name. I began more searches, then went back to Elisabeth.

"Finding anything?"

"Not yet, but I have some ideas."

She gave me the list, and I pretended to start doing searches on them. When I checked on the other searches I had started, I smiled. "Bingo," I said very, very quietly. I wrote down the information I needed then shut down the computers I had been using. Back in my own office, I fiddled on the computers for a while, looking up information I didn't need, then told Elisabeth, "I have everything I need for now. I'm going to leave a few searches going on Janice. Let's go see the alpha."

Discovery

We got a proper breakfast first. I warned Elisabeth that Lara was going to seem to change her mind about letting me run free, and she should go with it. Then she called Lara, and I heard Lara tell her, "I'm not sure about Michaela helping. Just get her here and I'll talk to her."

"Yes, Alpha," she said. Lara told her where they were, and Elisabeth drove us to a farm house outside Hayward.

"Here is our story. We ran briefly last night, just for an hour. I needed to feel free. We didn't eat anything. Then we drove to Ashland and I made sure I still have a job. Then we left for Hayward. There was no deer, no tracking collar, no long list of questions, no suspects. We think we're under outside attack and have no new insight."

We pulled into the farm yard. "I'll need a little help," I said. "I have a raging headache."

"Oh Michaela," she said. "Still?"

"Yes. I'm sure I will feel better when I see Lara."

"You're giving me a story, aren't you, little fox?"

I smiled at her. "You're a crappy actress, Elisabeth. So don't act. You are worried for me, aren't you?"

She smiled. "Terribly, yes. You belong in bed. You are way too fragile for your own good."

"I agree with you about that."

So Elisabeth got out of the car. By then, we had some attention. I saw David and Eric. Elisabeth helped me out of the car, and by the time I was standing, Lara was standing in the doorway. She descended the steps towards me, stopping several feet away.

"I thought you said she was fit to travel," Lara said to Elisabeth.

"Don't be mad at her, Alpha," I said. "I wanted to help."

Lara took a breath. "Have you forgiven me for distrusting you?"

"I don't know, Alpha. Have you stopped distrusting me? When you left me with my jailor and threatened to throw me in a cell, I figured that meant you didn't trust me."

She stepped closer. "I was trying to protect you, Michaela. That is all."

"I want to help." I took two tentative steps to her. "Thank you for letting me come help." And I threw myself into her arms.

We held each other for a while, and I clutched at her, the timid fox I'd been the night in the bar, but one with a raging headache.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"My head still hurts. I wouldn't have traveled for a few more days, but I wanted to be with you."

"Come in then, we'll let you rest."

"Just for a while. Then I can help."

"We'll talk about that later, Michaela."

She turned us so we were heading towards the farmhouse. I saw David and shrank into Lara's arms. "Please don't let David hit me anymore, Alpha. Please. I'm loyal to you. Please don't let him hit me."

"David won't hit you again, Michaela. David will never hit you again. As long as you behave."

"Behave?"

"We'll talk about it later."

I let her pull me into the farmhouse and lead me to the room that was clearly hers. As soon as the door was closed, I kissed her. She pulled me to the bed, her hands all over me, mine all over hers, then she stopped. "I don't think you're ready for this."

"I know," I said. "My head hurts so much. Will you just hold me?"

"Of course, honey," she said. We curled up on the bed together, and I put my mouth to her ear.

"You will play it the way we agreed."

She nodded.

"No one must know."

She nodded.

"Elisabeth and I need a little rest. You and I will fight at lunch."

She nodded.

"Honey," she said. "I want to get Elisabeth settled and talk to her for a few minutes. Will you wait here?"

"Please be quick, Lara."

"I will." She kissed me again, and I curled up alone on the bed while she left, hopefully to give Elisabeth a place to nap.

I didn't even pay attention. I dozed, but woke back up when Lara returned. I held my arms out, and she came to me. Then we cuddled on the bed, Lara gently caressing my head, and I fell asleep with my arm across her chest.

She let me sleep for an hour, eventually waking me by caressing my cheek with a single finger. It was a very pleasant way to wake up.

"Thank you, Lara. Sleeping in your arms is the best."

"You mean that."

"I do." Then I put my mouth to her ear. "Honestly."

She hugged me tightly.

"Hungry?"

"A little. We had breakfast. We went running last night, but I screwed up Elisabeth's hunt, and we didn't get so much as a rabbit. But it was nice to run."

"She didn't mention that."

"It was embarrassing. She's being kind."

"Let's get up and have lunch, and there's something I want to talk about."

"All right. And you'll tell me how I can help with the search."

She didn't respond to that. We made our way to the dining room, finding the wolves were milling around. Elisabeth looked like she had gotten a little sleep, but not much. I think she'd been talking to everyone. I hoped she hadn't blown our cover.

I roamed the room, pointedly keeping significant distance from David, but I said hello to Eric, Rory and June. There was no one there I'd really become friendly with, so I didn't talk to anyone else.

"Michaela," Lara said. "Can you explain how this works?" She was holding the tracking collar from my car.

I smiled. "Sure. Thinking of tracking an animal?"

"Something like that."

"Well, I don't understand the electronics. But it goes on-" I noticed the alterations that had been done. "Well, it used to go on with this buckle and velcro thing, but that's missing. Weird. I have to catch the animals twice a year and replace the batteries, but they last a real long time. If it has batteries, it's always on. After that, I can track them on the web site."

"How old are the batteries in this one?"

"I'm not sure. I'd have to check the web site. But they're good for at least a couple more months, I'm sure."

"What do you do about animals that are growing?"

"I put it on a little loose, but not too loose they can get it off, and then I catch them more often and make sure it's not getting too tight."

"Ah, lunch is ready," Lara said. "Michaela, you can sit here." She put me at her right. She set the tracking collar on the table to her left. "Eric, you can sit past Michaela." She let everyone else pick whatever places they wanted.

Over lunch, I repeatedly asked about the status of the search, but Lara kept deflecting me. Finally, once the meal was basically over, I said, "Why are you being evasive? How can I help if I don't know what's going on?" I glanced at David, then back at Lara. "Did he tell you he still doesn't trust me?"

"No, Michaela," Lara said very gently. "But I changed my mind."

"What?" I said. "You don't trust me?"

"Not that," she said. "I want you home. Safe."

"We've been over this, Lara. I will not be coddled."

"You will do what you are told!" she said, banging her fist on the table.

"I am not one of your wolves, Alpha," I told her. "I make my own decisions."

"Look around, little fox," Lara said. "You are in a room full of wolves, all of whom will do whatever I tell them to do. You might be able to evade one of us, on a good day, but you're not having a good day, and you won't evade all of us." She raised her voice. "You. Will. Do. What. You. Are. Told!"

Lara in full alpha mode was scary, and it wasn't at all hard to look frightened. I let tears come to my eyes. "Please, Lara. Please don't do this. I can help!"

"I don't want you here, Michaela. I want you where I know you are safe. Elisabeth will take you home. Your only choice is whether you agree to cooperate or spend the next few weeks in the cell."

"No, Lara, please. I can't be gone from my job that long. I can go home. I'm safe at home."

"They know who you are, Lara. Your home is the last place you are going. No, you are going to the compound."

"Please, Lara. What if-" I paused. "What if I could do my job but be absolutely safe while I did it?"

"How?"

"I've been due to go out onto the lake. I have to take readings from all around the bay. It takes a couple of weeks. I rent a little yacht for it. It's perfectly safe."

Lara stopped, thinking about it.

"Will you agree to do whatever Elisabeth tells you?"

I looked away. "Yes," I said sullenly.

"How do I know you won't run some night when you're in port?"

"I promise."

"Not good enough," she said. "No, you're going to the compound."

"Please, Lara. I like my job. I'll behave. I'll do whatever Elisabeth says." Tears were streaming down my face now. The expressions around the table were grim, and Eric was particularly upset, but David's body language was one of glee, even if his expression was not.

Elisabeth was also very upset, both her face and her body language. Maybe she was a better actress than I had thought. Or maybe she was simply reacting to my emotion.

Lara tapped her hands on the tracking collar to her left as if she were doing so subconsciously while considering her options. Then she looked down at it as if she just realized it was there. She turned back to me.

"Will you agree to a few minor restrictions, if I agree to let you go out on this boat and take your samples?"

"Yes, Lara. Please. Whatever you want."

"I don't trust you not to run off," she said. "But I find a solution right here." She indicated the tracking collar.

I stared at it. "You have got to be kidding."

"It seems like the perfect solution."

"If you put that on me, I would only need to shift for it to fall off."

"True. You will be wearing it as a fox."

"I don't understand."

"You will shift to fox. Right here. We will put the collar on you. Elisabeth will then drive you to Bayfield and rent this boat. She'll pull away from the harbor, and once you are at least a mile from shore, she can remove the collar."

I stared at it. "I wouldn't be able to shift while wearing it. It would crush me in two."

"Yes."

I looked away. "Why don't you trust me?"

"I trust you with my life, little fox. I don't trust you with your own."

I didn't say anything.

"Take it or leave it, Michaela. The cell or the boat and tracking collar."

"Fine," I said. "Boat. Tracking collar. I hate you."

"Oh honey, I am only protecting you. I'll make it up to you when this is all over. Thank you for being reasonable."

"What choice do I have?"

"None. Shift now, honey."

"I need to make the arrangements. I need to rent the boat and get the equipment to the boat. Mostly vials for samples plus a portable depth gauge and water temperature gauge."

"Elisabeth can rent the boat. Is there someone at work she can meet to pick up the equipment you need?"

"Yes, but it's Saturday."

"All right. Elisabeth will rent the boat and get you well clear from shore. You can make the calls Monday while out in the lake, and then she can collar you back up and retrieve the supplies. I bet she can run the boat to the marina in Ashland and someone can meet you there."

"All right, Alpha," I said. "That will work. I can use tomorrow to draw a plan for everywhere I need to go, if Elisabeth buys a map of the lake before we leave the marina today. I need topographical maps of Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan as well, anything that borders the lake. It helps to show the shoreline, and I need that to know where the rivers are and how things flow."

"It sounds like a plan." Lara reached out and squeezed my hand. I squeezed it back, but not with much feeling.

"Please shift now, little fox."

I used my napkin to dry my tears and clean up a little, then stepped out of my sandals and loosened all my clothing. I can shift right out of my clothing, and I didn't feel like getting naked in front of anyone. I looked at Elisabeth. "Please bring my clothes." She nodded.

I stepped away from the table, bent down, and then shifted. I got tangled in the clothes, but I wriggled out of them.

"Shit, she shifts fast," Eric said. I walked over to him and butted my head against his thigh.

"Come here, little fox," Lara ordered.

Slowly, reluctantly, I walked to her. She bent down on the floor and wrapped the tracking collar around my chest, behind my front legs, adjusted it, and did the closure. She checked it, wasn't satisfied, and adjusted it tighter. "I don't think you can wriggle out of that."

"Better be sure," David said. I was going to enjoy taking him down.

Lara tightened the collar a little more. Then she scratched the back of my neck for me, pulling me into her arms. I clung to her when she stood up, holding me. It was better than being held by the scruff. She walked out the front door, Elisabeth stepping in front to hold the door for us. Elisabeth's SUV was waiting for us. I expected Lara to slip me into the back seat, but she walked to the back of the SUV. Elisabeth opened the back door, and I got the look of a fox-sized metal cage.

I immediately began struggling and growling. I didn't bite Lara, but I put up a huge struggle. Elisabeth opened the cage, and Lara started stuffing me into it. I scrambled to get out, and Elisabeth helped her shove me in. I bit both of them as hard as I could, but they shoved me into the cage and locked it.

I slammed myself against the cage. I'd never been in a cage before, and I was on the edge of a full panic. I was no longer acting. Lara put her fingers on the cage, and I immediately tried to bit her viciously.

"I am sorry, little fox. I must keep you safe." She pulled a cloth over the cage, obscuring it from view and preventing me from looking out. Then she stepped away and slammed the back doors of the SUV.

I went insane. I immediately began yipping and crying while slamming myself repeatedly against the walls of the cage. None of it did me any good, but that didn't stop me.

It was a while before Elisabeth climbed into the front of the SUV. I had worn myself out with my struggles, but as soon as the car door opened, I resumed all my complaints, slamming against the cage over and over.

"You're only going to hurt yourself, Michaela," she said. "This is for the best." And then she started the car, and we drove away from the farm.

I didn't stop yipping until my voice grew hoarse. I didn't stop throwing myself against the walls of the cage until I was so worn out I could only lie on the floor of the cage, panting.

I had not known such despair since I was fourteen and I had buried my family.

It was hot in the back of the SUV, and they hadn't given me any water. Soon I was panting, and it wouldn't be long before I was in distress. I lay on my side, whimpering from time to time.

Elisabeth didn't stop. She didn't give me any water. She kept me in that cage.

When we arrived in Bayfield, I recognized it. I recognized the sounds. Elisabeth drove to the marina and parked. "Michaela, I want you to think about what would happen if the humans found you. You need to be quiet. You know how bad it would go for you if you were found like this."

I whimpered.

"I am going to rent a boat and then carry you on board. Once we're on board, I'll get you some water and help you cool down. And when we're well clear of shore, I'll let you out."

I didn't understand. Why were we going on a boat? The plan had been to fake it. We would get someone to take the tracking collar around, that's it. I shouldn't have been in the cage, and we didn't need a boat of our own.

Elisabeth climbed out of the SUV and slammed the door. I heard the locks, and then I listened as she walked away.

She was gone a long time. I whimpered from time to time. I would have plotted my revenge, but I was too tired and despondent to even think about it. Finally, Elisabeth came back. She opened a side door and said, "It will only be a few more minutes. I know you must be suffering. I am so sorry."

She made several trips back and forth to the SUV before she poked her nose in again and said, "Your turn. Remember, Michaela, if we're caught with you like this, it will be very bad for you. You must be absolutely quiet. I promise this is almost over."

I was going to kill her. And Lara. And fuck David. Once they were dead, I would run. No one would ever do this to me again.

But for now, I stayed quiet. Elisabeth closed the side door and opened the back door. She took the cage out, set it on the ground, and then closed up and locked the SUV. Then she carried me and the cage down the docks and onto a boat. I could just barely see under the edge of the cloth over my cage, but not enough to really tell what was going on. It was awkward for her, but she carried me into the cabin below then pulled a portion of the cloth away from the cage.

I was lying on my side, panting, and severely overheated.

"Michaela," she said. "Can you understand me?"

I ignored her.

"Michaela, I know you hadn't planned on the cage. But we're going to collect all the data you intended to collect. It will be exactly as you agreed with the alpha. We'll pull away from shore, and then I'll let you out. You can make your plan. And we'll collect the data you intend to collect. Do you understand me?"

I lifted my head and looked at her, then lay down again, trying to cool down.

"I have a bowl of water, and I can pour more over you if you want. Will you let me give them to you? I am worried, Michaela. I can't let you out of the cage yet. Please, trust me."

I flicked an ear at her.

I listened to her fill a bowl with water from a jug.

"Listen to me, Michaela. If you attempt to escape when I open the cage, I will slam it closed, and you will wait for your water until we are two miles from shore. That will take a while. I know you're hot. Please, please, let me give you this water."

She paused for a moment, opened the door, and set the bowl inside the cage with me. I didn't move.

"Honey please drink. Please, Michaela."

I tried to get up but I was so hot and tired.

Elisabeth opened the cage wider, but blocked it with her body. Then she poured water into her hand and offered it to me. When I didn't take it, she dripped it over my muzzle, then pet her hand dry in my fur.

I whimpered a tiny bit.

"Please drink, Michaela."

She used her hands to give me more water, a little at a time wetting my muzzle. Eventually I struggled to sit up, and she reached in and helped me, then moved the water closer to me, and I drank some. She filled the bowl a little fuller, then said, "I'm going to close the cage now, but I promise, I'll let you out as soon as I can. We'll make a plan, and then you can collect all the data you want to collect. Please understand, Michaela."

I looked at her, and her eyes were so filled with concern as she crouched in front of my cage, the cage she'd helped shove me into. I didn't know what she was saying anymore, and I didn't know who I could trust. I didn't think I could trust anyone. I was sure I couldn't trust her.

But I was fox. I would bide my time. I licked her hand, feigning forgiveness.

"I'm glad you understand," she said. I didn't. But I would bide my time. I would let her believe she could trust me. But she had abused my trust for the last time.

I watched her close the cage, and I couldn't help but whimper. Then she dropped the cloth back in place and stepped out of the cabin, closing the door. About twenty minutes later, the engines of the boat started. She called to someone to cast off, and we eased out of the slip.

I drank more of the water then lay down, conserving my strength.

From the feel of the boat, I could tell we were well away from shore. Boats like this have an auto pilot. One needs to be careful about it, because it's easy to end up where you shouldn't. We slowed to a slow crawl through the water, and I could tell when we turned into the wind. Then the cabin door opened, and Elisabeth pulled the cloth from my cage. She sat down in front of it.

"Michaela, I am so very sorry."

I didn't even turn to face her.

"The cage was David's idea. He insisted. Lara couldn't say no."

I didn't care. We weren't following my plan. I didn't even know what we were doing on the boat.

"We were followed as well, all the way from Hayward. I didn't see who it was until I was loading you. That's why I took so many trips, to try to see who it was."

I turned to face her, cocking my ears.

"It was Reggie, Michaela." I lowered my head on my paws. "We had to go through with the plan. We had to look like there was no duplicity. I am so, so very sorry. I know what you must be thinking. I am so sorry."

Why hadn't she told me all this earlier. We were in the car. No one could have heard. I turned away from her. She could have saved me all this worry. I had hurt myself throwing myself against the cage. I had spent two hours sure they had both betrayed me.

"I couldn't tell you, Michaela. He may have bugged the car. I was worried he bugged the cage, but I checked it very carefully while loading you. But if it's David, he could have bugged the car. I wasn't sure. I knew you would prefer complete subterfuge."

"I am going to let you out now, and take the collar off you. I'll go back on deck while you shift. Your clothes are here, and when you are ready, you can come talk to me. I hope you will forgive me."

Then she opened the cage door and stepped away. I climbed to my feet slowly and walked out of the cage gingerly. I stood still while she removed the collar from around my body. "I'll wait on deck," she said, but I jumped ahead of her, shifting immediately, then turned around and threw myself into her arms, sobbing.

I cried for a long time. Elisabeth used the cover from the cage to wrap around me, but otherwise she held me and let me cry, making soothing sounds and repeatedly apologizing.

"I thought-" I said between sobs.

"I know. I know."

I finally cried myself out, pulling away from Elisabeth. Elisabeth spent the next twenty minutes pampering me, giving me more water and some Ibuprofen for my pounding headache.

"Michaela, it's a glorious day. Why don't you get dressed and come out on deck? We can talk more out there."

"All right," I said.

She left me, closing the door. I found my clothes and put them on, then found the head and cleaned up. I stepped out on deck, and Elisabeth smiled weakly.

"Do we have supplies?"

She smiled. "Yes." She pointed to a cooler sitting in a corner. I crossed over to it. It was full of ice, beer, and soft drinks. I grabbed a beer for her and a soda for me.

"Am I forgiven?" she asked.

"Will I be following your orders or will you be following mine?"

"I will be following yours," she said.

"You are forgiven." We tapped cans together and drank.

"You know who it is, don't you?"

"No," I said. "But I am ninety percent sure. Do you want to know now or wait until I am positive?"

"Tell me, please."

So I did.

When I was finished, I told her, "Once we're sure, I am turning it over to you and Lara. I am not competent to plan what happens after."

She nodded. "Lara should be the one to handle it, anyway."

"So we're agreed, my job is to find proof, and hopefully find the missing pups. I tell you, and we talk about how to tell the alpha without anyone else knowing. And you'll follow my lead."

She nodded. "Exactly."

"Did you get my maps?"

"Yes. I spent a lot of money on maps. That's part of why it took so long."

"Where are my notes from the office?"

"I kept them. I thought they might be incriminating, but I didn't understand them. It's just some numbers." She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out my paper, handing it to me.

"Not just numbers, Elisabeth. Latitude and longitude."

She took the paper and looked at them. "If these are latitudes and longitudes, they are somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa."

The numbers were all a single digit and a lengthy decimal point. I smiled. "Add forty to the latitudes and eighty to the longitudes."

"These are close," Elisabeth said.

I grinned. "They're all in the upper peninsula. You know, where David's wife, Natalie is from."

"What are they?"

"The locations of her parents," I pointed at the top number. "Her brother." The second number. "And a piece of property in her maiden name." That was the third pair of numbers. "I think perhaps we should start with that one, don't you?"

She smiled. "I believe we should stop by Natalie's property and make sure no one has broken in. It's only the neighborly thing to do. Where is it?"

"Where are my maps?"

Elisabeth got up, disappeared into the cabin, and then returned with two map tubes. "Wisconsin and Michigan," she said.

"Gimme!"

She opened the Michigan tube and began pulling out maps. We spread them out, and finally I found the one we wanted. I marked the three properties, labeling them P for parents, B for brother and N for Natalie. The N was about six miles inland from the lake.

We both stared at the map. "I think perhaps, captain, that you should set a course there."

"I do believe, little fox, that you are correct."

While Elisabeth ran the boat, I dug out both tracking collars. I switched the harnesses between the two of them. When I put one back on, it would be the one from the deer, the one no one knew about.

"Michaela," Elisabeth said. "We can't get there tonight, not by boat."

"All right, Elisabeth," I said. "Let's put in here." I pointed to the map. "We don't want to be out on the open lake at night. This is a big boat, but it's just a boat."

We got everything settled, and I fetched a second beer for Elisabeth. Then I said, "I'm going to have one, too."

I slept afterwards.

We put in to the harbor at Ontonagon. We didn't think we would be seen, but just in case, I stayed below with the curtains drawn. The theory was I would be furry, collared, and caged any time we were near shore, and I wasn't ready to go back into the cage.

We had a quiet dinner, talking about happy times. Then finally I sighed and shifted. Elisabeth put the collar on me and I climbed into the cage, grumbling. Then she called Lara. I could easily hear both sides of the conversation.

"Hello, Alpha."

"How did it go?" Lara asked her.

"She was angry. I still think the cage was going too far, and she was severely dehydrated by the time I got her on the boat and could give her some water."

"It couldn't be helped. She is too willful."

"She refused to go into her cage tonight, Alpha. I got some bites and scratches in the deal. Now she's sulking. I'm not sure she's going to ever forgive either of us."

"Did she accept the collar?"

"Yes, although she was pissy about it. Hang on, I'll take a picture with the other phone and you can see her body language. She's not happy." Then Elisabeth took a photo of me giving her my back, forwarding it to Lara's phone. "As you can see, she's all caged up and exceedingly unhappy. Can I please take her out of the cage at least?"

"Tell her I am very sorry."

"I don't think it's going to be enough, Lara. She knows I am following orders, and still she bit the crap out of me before I could shove her in. But she also knows whose orders they are. I don't think you're going to have a girlfriend when this is over."

"At least she'll be safe," said Lara. "That's all that matters now."

"Yes, she'll be safe, but I wonder about her mental condition. I am doing this, but it is under protest."

"Noted. Stick to the plan, Elisabeth."

"Yes, Alpha."

They talked for a while longer.

"Tell her I love her," Lara said as they wound down.

"Hang on, I'll put you on speaker. You can tell her yourself. Okay, go ahead, Lara."

"Michaela, I know you're not happy about the cage, but I hope you understand it's for your own good. I'm sure we can work through this. I love you."

I growled at the phone.

"I'm sorry, Lara. She's not happy."

"She's safe." And then they said their goodbyes. As soon as Elisabeth hung up, she let me out of the cage and took the tracking collar off me. I shifted human, put on pajamas, and sulked for a while. Elisabeth felt miserable, so eventually I pulled myself out of it and told her it was all going to be all right.

I slept fitfully, full of bad dreams, dreams in which Elisabeth didn't let me out of the cage. In the morning, I was crabby and took it out on Elisabeth. She put up with my moods, undocking us and setting us back out on the lake. Once we were well clear of the harbor, I came out on deck and apologized for being a bitch.

"Sleep badly?"

"Nightmares. That you didn't let me out."

"Oh Michaela, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. Does the pack have a good therapist? I'm going to need one."

She laughed, but I had been serious. I didn't push it. I went below and made us breakfast.

The swells were heavy today, and it wasn't a comfortable ride, but it sure felt a lot better when we turned around the point and dipped into the calm leeward water. We traveled another half hour, cruising along until we found a cell signal. I made use of the dinghy that came with the boat. Elisabeth waited off shore in the big boat while I ran up onto the sandy shore with the tracking collar - the one they knew about. I found a good place to hide it. Then I returned out to the boat, and we continued on.

We dropped anchor and had dinner. Then I shifted. Elisabeth put the collar around me and I climbed into the cage again. Elisabeth called Lara. I immediately began putting up a significant fuss, bitching in fox at the top of my furry lungs.

"How is she?" Lara asked.

"Angry. I promised I wouldn't put her in the cage. It was the only way I could get her to shift."

She took another photo and sent it to Lara. They only talked for a few minutes before hanging up. Lara didn't ask to talk to me. That actually made me feel bad. As soon as she hung up, I stopped my racket, and Elisabeth let me out of the cage. She slipped me into another harness, one I could slide in and out of. Then she played with my phone for a while until she pulled up a map program. I practiced unlocking it. We had marked the location of Natalie's property, and the phone had a GPS. I was all set.

She ran me to shore in the dinghy.

"Are you sure you can find it."

I licked her hand. I'd find it.

She gave me a quick hug. "Play it safe, Michaela. Please, play it safe." Then she let me go, and I took off into the woods.

I counted footsteps. That was how I estimated distances. I ran five miles then stopped and listened while I slipped out of the harness. I dug the phone out of the bag and fumbled until I got it turned on. I was a little off course, so I adjusted and took off. I repeated that at five and a half miles, then again when I was about a quarter mile from the property.

At that point, I stopped and lay down, listening. I waited like that for an hour. I heard no noises except the normal forest noises. After an hour, I crept closer, very cautiously, listening for noises every hundred yards.

Finally I heard my first noise: a cheap door slamming then after a short moment, an even cheaper door. The noises repeated in reverse a minute later. I thought that was odd. I crept closer.

Eventually I came to the edge of a clearing. Across the clearing, three hundred yards away, was a small cabin and next to it, an outhouse. After making sure I was downwind, I settled down to wait.

Forty minutes later, a man stepped out of the cabin. He carried himself like a wolf. He crossed the grass to the outhouse. Afterwards, he smoked a cigarette before returning to the cabin.

A short while later, two men came out. The distance was way too far to make out details, but it looked like the one in back was pushing the first one to the outhouse, and the first one was smaller.

I watched for hours. By the time I turned around and cautiously left, I was sure I'd found it. I hadn't gotten close enough to be sure, but I thought this was it.

When I got back to the lake was when I realized we made a mistake. We had marked on the phone's map the location of the property, but we hadn't mapped the location of the boat. I got to the water, and the boat was nowhere in sight.

I mentally flipped a coin and turned right. I ran for a half hour but never saw the boat. I turned around. I ran past where I'd started and for only another five minutes before I saw the boat resting at anchor. I ran down to the water and yipped twice. Five minutes later, Elisabeth picked me up on shore. I waited until we were back on the boat before shifting back.

"Well?"

I explained what I had seen.

"Are you sure it's the right place?"

"Elisabeth, I don't know. I have never met the youths that were taken. I met them as wolves, but I don't know what they look like. I don't know what the kidnappers look like. But I don't believe in coincidence. I think it's the right place. But I would have to get a lot closer to be sure, and even if I were peeking in the window, I'm not sure I'd be completely positive."

We went back and forth about it. What if she went? She knew the youths. We decided she'd be spotted or smelled. We talked about pictures, but anything I could take would be too indistinct at the distances I'd be.

In the end, we decided we had to talk to Lara. She would have to decide if we scouted more or acted on what we had. We both went to bed.

I slept poorly again.

Early in the morning, we motored back to where we left the other tracking collar. I went to shore and picked it up. While I was gone, Elisabeth sent a text to Lara asking if she was free to talk. We waited for her to call us.

We waited two hours, and then she called. Elisabeth answered.

"I am alone," she said.

"Is David around?" Elisabeth asked her.

"No. He, Reggie and Eric are following up on a lead."

"Lara, do you remember how David met Natalie?"

"Yes. He did an old fashioned bride hunt. No one does those anymore."

"So he is an extreme traditionalist. I bet he hates a female alpha."

"He has always been supportive," Lara said. "He has saved my life more than once. He loves me."

"And he was very loyal to your father?"

"Yes."

"Which means he doesn't want to challenge you, because he'd have to kill you. He wants you so embarrassed that you resign as alpha."

She thought about it. "I don't buy it."

"Did you check our location last night on the map?"

"Yes. You're in the Upper Peninsula."

"Thirty miles from here is a piece of property in Natalie's maiden name."

She was silent for a good minute. "What did you find, little fox?"

I told her. I told her all of it. I finished with, "Lara, I can not absolutely say I found the pups and their kidnappers. I've told you what I've found. What do you want us to do?"

There was a long pause before she said quietly, "Please put Elisabeth back on the phone and then give her some privacy."

"Yes, Lara. Lara, I am so sorry."

"You didn't do it, Michaela."

"Here is your sister." I passed over the phone then moved forward on the boat and sat down at the bow, staring out over Lake Superior. It was peaceful. I tried to ignore Elisabeth and Lara talking quietly, but it was hard to ignore the faint sounds of my lover sobbing over the phone to her sister. But this was something for the two of them now. I was new to this relationship, but this was someone they had known a very long time.

Eventually Elisabeth hung up with Lara and came forward to sit next to me.

"I am so sorry, Elisabeth."

"I know. Michaela, the alpha of the Madison wolf pack has kindly, formally asked the alpha of the Bayfield foxes to get photographs of a certain cabin from as closely as she can without getting caught."

"Oh shit," I said. "With a phone camera, I bet."

"It's all we have."

"I'd have to be so close, Elisabeth. And I can't operate the phone that well with fox hands. I would have to be human."

"You are very quiet, fox. Can you do it?"

"If they catch me, I'm dead, and they'll kill the pups, too, I'm sure."

"Don't get caught."

I took a big breath. "Do you have infravision or anything like that?"

"No. Just very good night vision."

"So if I'm belly down in the tall grass not moving?"

"I won't see you."

"Let's go to shore together. We need to see how closely I can sneak up on you."

"I'll be alert," she said.

"Then the point you hear me should be safe." She nodded.

I took a breath. "All right. I would approach the corner of the cabin as fox. If I get there, I'll switch to human, then slide very carefully to a window and take pictures. When done I back away, put the phone back, shift, and then get out of there."

We anchored the boat well offshore, leaving the known tracking collar on the boat. If anyone checked our location and asked, we could tell them we found a fishing spot. Together we used the dinghy to head back to shore. I shifted, and Elisabeth outfitted me with a little harness I could duck into that would carry the phone. Then I slipped into the woods while she sat on the beach. Whenever she could hear or smell me, she would just speak conversationally to tell me. I would be able to hear her just fine. She would huff quietly every few minutes if she didn't hear or smell me just to let me know.

I wanted to see how close I could get to her. I ran off a thousand yards due inland then slowed down and circled to the south and headed back towards Elisabeth as quietly as I could. I was pretty sure even in the dense trees and brush I could get pretty close without her knowing. From downwind, I could get exceedingly close to even the shyest of prey, but of course, a were's sense of hearing and smell were better than a rabbit's.

I closed to within two hundred yards with a fairly standard amount of caution. After that, I watched every step, planning my route through the brush for tens of steps ahead. I was absolutely silent. I couldn't hear my own steps, although I felt perhaps she could hear my heart beat. I certainly could.

I slinked to within forty yards of her. I could hear her when she shifted in her seat on the sand, the sand crunching lightly under her. She sighed once, and I heard the occasional huff. When the wind was just right, when focused intently on her, I could hear her heart beating, slow and steady and strong.

I turned to the right. It took me ten minutes, but I exited the brush onto the sand, thirty yards from her. The breeze was blowing my scent out over the lake. I couldn't believe she hadn't heard me. I couldn't believe she hadn't smelled me.

I turned my nose to her. Slowly, I stalked closer, one fox step at a time.

The breeze shifted and immediately her head snapped to her right. She stared at me.

"No fucking way!"

I was only fifteen yards from her.

"No fucking way!" she said again. "Oh my god, Michaela, please don't tell anyone you got that close."

I shifted and she faced away from me, not looking at me.

"Can you hear my heart beating, Elisabeth?"

She strained. "No."

"You can smell me though."

"Oh yes, you're very easy to smell in this form. If I were in wolf form and you are upwind, I can smell you for a very long distance. Anything else and it varies by the wind." She paused and glanced over at me, then looked away. "Michaela, when you're a fox and I am human, I can't tell by smell you're were. I can if I look at you, and I can as wolf."

"If they smell me as humans, they might think I'm a standard fox."

She nodded. I walked closer and she handed me a towel to wrap around myself. "I'm going to walk away. I want to know when you can't smell me anymore."

We spent another hour at it. By the time we were done, I knew one thing. If I could approach from downwind, I could get exceedingly close as a fox. As a human, this was going to be very tricky.

We took the dinghy back to the boat and motored south, a mile from shore. The water was slightly choppy; there was a breeze, and the waves had a mile to form. We slowed down and I climbed down into the dinghy with everything I would need.

"Be careful, little fox," Elisabeth said to me.

I motored to shore, leaving the dinghy anchored to shore but set so I could make a fast getaway if I needed to. I stuffed my clothes into the dinghy and shifted, slipped into the carry harness with the phone, and set off into the woods.

I knew where the cabin was now, so it was easier for me to approach. It was breezy, and I shifted so that my approach would be from downwind. By the middle of the afternoon I was twenty yards from the edge of the clearing and only about ninety yards from the cabin. If the breeze shifted, I would need to retreat, but I watched the cabin for a while then ducked behind a large tree and shifted to human. I crept to a well concealed spot from where I could watch, and I got the camera ready.

It didn't take long to realize I should have brought clothes. I'd been warm while wearing fur, but my human form wasn't very happy. I sighed. I should have thought of that. I would have to shift back to fox now and then just to warm up.

Shortly before what should be dinner time, there was a procession of people to the outhouse, in ones and twos. I was significantly closer than I had been last night, and it was clear I was looking at adolescent boys being led one at a time to the outhouse. I took pictures, all the pictures I could. I didn't know if Elisabeth would be able to identify people or not.

I stayed where I was until evening. Sunset was shortly after seven, and it grew chilly. The wind lessoned and shifted towards the west somewhat, but I decided my current location was adequate. As the sun set, I decided I'd gotten the last photographs I would get from this location, and I replaced the camera in the carry harness and shifted back to fox.

Ah, to be warm again.

I watched.

I waited until a second procession to the outhouse, then gave it another twenty minutes. A wolf stepped out and smoked a cigarette. Inwardly, I smiled. That should destroy his sense of smell for a while. I saw he had a beer in his hand. Good. Maybe they were all drinking.

When he went inside, I began my approach.

I took my time, shifting towards the back of the cabin as I got closer so I would be out of sight if anyone stepped outside. There were no windows on this side of the cabin, and I felt reasonably safe.

I crept all the way to the corner of the cabin without any sign I'd been detected. From inside, I could hear the sounds of rough talking, but it was muffled through the thick walls. I shifted human and waited, listening.

Then I crept around the back side of the cabin. There was light spilling from a window. I slowly slipped to the window, verified I knew where the lens was on the phone, and slipped it over the window so the lens barely peeked. I snapped a picture and looked at it. Then I took another, looked, and then I took a series of pictures, poking the phone barely past the frame of the window from different sides. The entire time, I listened for any shifts from inside the cabin, any sign someone was coming closer to the window.

Nothing.

If Lara's security was this lacking, I would be having a chat with her.

I slowly slinked back to the corner of the cabin, crouched down, and shifted. I used my tail to brush away any signs of human footsteps before slipping into the carry harness and leaving the way I come, spending far less effort on being quiet. They weren't even listening for me.

I reached the safety of the woods with no alarm being raised.

This had been way too easy. I hoped I hadn't been wrong. Maybe this was just a wolf family and not Lara's missing wolves. They should have had patrols out. They should have expected visitors. They shouldn't have been so complacent. Maybe as a fox I should have been able to get that close, but no way should my human form have been able to stand there and take photos.

If this were the right place, I was going to count my blessings from now until the cows came home.

I hurried back to Elisabeth. When I reached the dinghy, I called her.

"Oh thank god," she said. "I was so worried."

"This can't be the right place, Elisabeth. I have to be wrong. This shouldn't have been this easy."

"I'll pick you up. You got pictures?"

"Yes, lots and lots of pictures."

I waited until I saw the boat a mile from shore. I set out in the dinghy. Elisabeth tossed me a line. Once I was on board the boat, I took over at the wheel and Elisabeth stowed the dinghy. It was way too heavy for me, but she made it look easy.

She caught me staring at her enviously.

"I couldn't have done what you did, little fox, any more than you can do what I just did."

I nodded to her. Most of the time, I accepted who I was.

She took the phone from me and began looking through the photos. I turned the boat north and opened it up, taking us away from this section of lakeshore as quickly as I could. Elisabeth's lips pressed together after viewing only five or six photos. She turned to me. "You took more risk than you needed to." She pointed the phone at me. "This is Derek." She switched to the next. "This is Alex. And this one is Jeremy."

She flipped through the rest of the pictures, and there were tears in her eyes. "David, why?" And then her expression hardened, and the sadness gave way to clear, cold fury.

"Elisabeth," I said. "I now report to you and the alpha. I will not argue with either of you until this is over, but I will not take orders from anyone else. I want to know what Lara intends to do for operational security, but I will behave."

She nodded and smiled briefly. "To think, you are actually offering to behave. I never would have expected it."

We found a new cell signal well to the north, not wanting the tracking collar to show up too close to Natalie's property. It wasn't even midnight. Elisabeth grabbed her phone and sent a text to Lara, letting me see it. "Fox is being difficult. Call me when you get this." We anchored off shore and waited.

When Lara called back, Elisabeth told her, "The fox is being unruly. She refuses to shift. She has some choice things to say to you. I think you should be somewhere private, Lara."

"I'll go for a drive. Am I going to cry?"

"Yes."

"Damn it. All right. I'll call you back."

Her phone rang twenty minutes later. "Hey," answered Elisabeth.

"I'm alone."

I held out my hand, and Elisabeth gave me the phone.

"Hello, Alpha," I said coldly. "Are you truly alone?"

"Yes. I went for a drive. I had to order the rest to stay behind. David wanted to send Reggie with me."

"Are you absolutely positively no one followed you?"

"I'm driving along the highway south of Hayward and there are no lights behind me. I'm alone."

I gave the phone back to Elisabeth, and she told Lara everything. When she was done, she said, "The fox wants to know your plans for operational security but has agreed to follow any orders from you or me until this is over."

"Put her back on."

"I'm so sorry, Lara," I told her.

"Me too. I'm sorry about the cage, too."

"You so owe me for the cage. So owe me."

"I know. I am going to send David back to Madison to check on things there, telling him I am worried about things there."

"Have him bring Reggie with him."

"Yes. I will coordinate with Elisabeth as soon as David is gone. Will you really follow orders?"

"Yes. No question. As long as they don't involve me going back in the cage."

"No. No more cage."

"Your part in this is done then, Michaela. I need you safe."

"I couldn't possibly help in combat, Lara. But I can lead you to the cabin, and if you need me to scout, I can. If you send me away, I'll go, but I hope you'll let me be here."

"You've earned it, but you are to stay safe, and I'm going to need Elisabeth. I can't worry about you."

"I'll follow orders."

"Are we all right, little fox?"

"I hope when this is all said and done, you will court me properly."

I heard the smile. "I can do that."

"It will take a little while to move past the stress. We're going to be all right, if you want us to be, Lara. And if you understand that I am fox, not wolf."

"No one else could have done what you did, little fox."

"Not true," I said. "Any decent human investigator would have uncovered this. It wasn't hard. And a human investigator would have brought proper long range photography equipment. I didn't even think of it."

"All right, I won't argue with you, Michaela," she said. "But I am going to remember that it was you who solved this, not anyone else."

We talked for another minute, then I gave the phone back to Elisabeth. They made tentative arrangements before hanging up.

Elisabeth turned to me. "You will follow any order I give you?"

"Yes."

"Even if you don't care for it."

"Yes."

"Even if I send you to the compound."

"Yes."

She took a deep breath. "Michaela. Shift and get in your cage."

I stared for one second, then shifted, climbed out of the clothing, and slinked to the cabin door. She opened it for me, and I walked to the cage. She opened the cage and I stepped in. I lay down with my head on my paws, looking at her.

"Michaela," she said. "I needed to be sure. Please come out of there. I'll never put you in that cage again."

I stepped out immediately, nipped her hand playfully, and accepted some attention as an apology. Then I stepped away, shifted back, and got dressed. While I was dressing, Elisabeth pulled out the maps. She pointed. "This is where we are meeting them."

Operations

At noon the next day, we rendezvoused with Lara's forces at the Lac La Belle docks. Faces were grim, but it was good to see Lara. As soon as we stepped onto the docks, she pulled me into a fierce hug and wouldn't let go. I buried my face in her chest and breathed deeply.

She didn't really release me so much as loosen her grasp, but she kept an arm around my shoulders while accepting a hug from Elisabeth. The three of us walked down the dock to shore and up to a cluster of wolves surrounding three SUVs. Faces were grim.

"Are they loyal?" I asked Lara.

"Everyone is having a hard time believing it," she replied. "If we find what you have said we will find, they will be rock steady loyal for me. If we don't, I won't have support from anyone."

"I think I can handle that question," Elisabeth said. "Everyone, gather around." I handed her my cell phone, Gia's really, but mine for now, and Elisabeth began showing them photos."

"How do we know these were taken where she said they were?" One of the males asked. I didn't recognize him.

"You don't," I said.

"But those pictures were taken yesterday," Elisabeth. "The range of places they could have been taken is small. I can vouch for that, Emmanuel."

"How do we know this property belongs to Natalie?" he asked.

"It is a matter of public record," I said. "I used government sources to track everything down, but once I had, I went back to public records to verify it was readily available."

"I verified the information myself," said Elisabeth.

"When did you do that?" I asked her.

"Your first night out while I was tracking you."

"I checked as well," Lara said.

I nodded at both of them. Good. It wasn't just my word.

"There are other possible explanations," one of the females said.

"Yes," I said. "There are. I have only reported what I have found. What the alpha chooses to do with that information is her choice."

"Right now, the top priority is freeing our wolves. Does anyone disagree?"

"No, Alpha," said Emmanuel. "This issue with David and Natalie can wait until we confront them."

"Until I confront them," Lara said. "I appreciate your support, but this is the duty of the alpha. And in spite of his cowardice, I will confront him openly."

"Relatively," I added.

She turned to me.

"I'm just saying..." I said in a small voice.

She squeezed my shoulder and kissed the top of my head.

"If anyone has a problem with Michaela's position in relationship to the pack, speak up now."

"I reserve the right to speak up after this operation is over," said Emmanuel. "If she hasn't lied, I will have no issue with her."

There was muttering about that, with some coming down on my side, some on Emmanuel's.

"That is fair," I said. "More than fair. Thank you, Good Wolf."

"All right," Lara said. She looked at me. "Will you follow orders?"

"Yes, alpha. From you or Elisabeth. I am sorry, but no one else."

"In the future, in any sort of combat situation, I will expect you to obey any of my enforcers."

"We can discuss that after tomorrow," I told her. Meaning no. Jason snickered but didn't say anything.

"All right," Lara said. "We will drive to a point ten miles from the cabin and approach on foot from there."

"We can drive straight up," Rory said. "There's a road."

Lara shook her head. "They would hear the cars from too far away. Three of us will remain with the cars and may approach once we have engaged the wolves at the cabin."

"I presume I am driving one of the cars?"

"Little fox, I believe you are the best scout and guide we have. Are you willing to take that role?"

I smiled. "Yes, Alpha."

We made our plan. I checked the wind and recommended an approach. Lara looked down at my feet. "You can't walk that far in those stupid shoes."

"I'll go in fur."

There was very little fine tuning. These were wolves. I would get them into position around the cabin. They would rush quietly and hope to overcome the kidnappers before they thought to kill the prisoners. It wasn't the plan I would have picked, and when I suggested perhaps a little fox could draw the wolves out of the cabin, I was offered a firm "no."

Theirs was a very direct plan.

Lara made me promise to stay well out of the combat. She would go in fur; Elisabeth would be on two feet, and I promised to stay with her.

We got in the cars and drove to our point. I rode with Lara, Jason, June, and one more wolf I didn't recognize. His name, I learned, was Mickey. He was young but seemed okay. I crawled into the back of the SUV and shifted out of sight while we were still en route. Mickey didn't like it, but he would drive one of the SUVs. June would drive the second one, and one of the other young wolves had been assigned to the third.

Once I was shifted, I popped over the seat and whined. Lara looked over and smiled, then helped me climb back up to sit on the seat next to her. I leaned against her. She was using a GPS to follow our track, and when we were in the right spot, she had Jason pull over. Everyone got out of the SUVs, and those assigned to shift did so.

It took the slowest of them nearly twenty minutes. Lara crouched next to me at the start, digging her fingers through my fur. I could feel her nervousness. I leaned over and licked her face, earning a hug in return. She buried her face in my fur and inhaled deeply.

"You won't be able to smell anything else," Elisabeth said.

"It'll clear," she replied.

Eventually Lara stripped out of her clothes and began her shift. It took her two minutes, which was faster than anyone else. Except me, of course.

We set out with me in the lead.

It took two hours to get us safely downwind about a mile from the clearing. Elisabeth moved quickly for two feet, but she made a lot of noise and wasn't as fast as I was even when I was silent. We stopped for a break, Elisabeth passing out water to everyone who wanted any. Then I pulled on her hand, pulling her to the edge, then tugged on Lara's scruff, trying to get her to follow. The rest of the wolves tried to follow too, but I stopped and bared my teeth.

"I think she wants to talk to the alpha alone," Elisabeth said. "Everyone stay here for a minute. We won't go far."

The three of us moved away from the other wolves, heading away from the cabin a hundred yards before I turned and shifted.

"Elisabeth you sound like an elephant," I said. "It will take me three times as long to get you to the clearing as everyone else."

Elisabeth looked offended, then chagrined. "I'm not used to trying to be quiet in the woods on two feet."

"I can teach you, but today isn't the day. And frankly, my size is a decided advantage when moving through this brush. You two decide what you want to do. But they will hear you, even downwind."

"You're right," she said. "How close can you get me?"

"I can get you all the way to the field, but it will take hours. I can get you to within four hundred yards the way you are and probably about a hundred yards in another half hour. Closer than that will take significant time."

"And how quickly can you get there alone?"

"I can walk right up to the edge, but I'd spend five minutes on the last twenty yards."

Elisabeth turned to Lara. "Alpha, I recommend she leads us to a point four hundred yards from the clearing, then she guides each group in place before returning for me. She'll get me as close as she can in a half hour, and we go at that point."

Lara huffed and bumped Elisabeth.

I shifted back, and before I could react, Lara turned to me and gave me a long, wet wolfy lick from my nose to halfway down my back. I air snapped at her then walked over to Elisabeth and used the jeans of her pants to wipe off the slobber. Elisabeth pulled away and Lara eyed us both with an amused, wolfy expression.

Then I walked up to her and licked her face. She licked mine in return, then bumped me, nearly knocking me over. I bumped her back, a firm fox bump, which she probably barely noticed.

I led us through the forest.

It didn't take long to lead the wolves, although one of them was noisy. The third time he stepped on a leaf, I turned back to him, growled at the leaf and swatted his nose.

He chuffed at me, amused by my feeble swat, but he didn't step on any more leaves. I got both groups into place, thirty yards into the forest. I saw Lara creeping forward on her belly and hoped she knew what she was doing. This was her show; it wasn't for me to correct her.

I fetched Elisabeth. She was loud. It took time, but I got her as close as I thought was safe.

"All right, little fox," she said, crouching down and speaking into my ear. "Go tell Lara I'm here. Then you come back here. You are with me, and you will do what I say."

I bumped her and ran to Lara. I couldn't believe where she was. She had slithered out into the field and was slowly creeping forward on her belly. The high grass may have hid her, but I could see where she had gone.

The rest of the wolves had stayed where I had put them.

I followed Lara, moving marginally faster than she had. We were out of sight of the front door of the cabin, but when I heard it open, I chuffed once and flattened myself in the grass. From the sound, Lara had, too, and she was deathly still. I heard the outhouse door, and I moved closer to Lara, flattening when I heard the outhouse again. When the wolf had gone back into the cabin, I chuffed again then caught up to Lara. She was slinking forward.

She flicked an ear at me. I crouched to her side and watched her. She was a thing of beauty, every muscle tense, her focus directly ahead. She was the most frightening, wonderful thing I had ever seen.

She crept closer, a few inches at a time, barely moving. It took her an hour. I could hear the wolves behind us, their sounds muffled together into one. And I could also hear Elisabeth moving marginally closer, although I didn't think a wolf would.

Lara's path was not directly to the cabin. I stayed beside her, but it wasn't even clear to me what she was doing. She took a path that had her even with the front wall of the cabin a tiny forty yards away. Through the tall grasses, she could see the front door and the outhouse. That was when she flattened herself the rest of the way to her belly and waited.

She looked over at me, then slowly reached out one paw and with one claw, drew a line directly in front of me, digging through the grass into the dirt. That was the line I was not to cross. I brought my nose directly to the line, then backed off a half inch. She turned back to the cabin and waited.

The front door opened. I could tell from the sounds it was an adult and a juvenile. I stayed flattened in the grass, well out of sight. Lara stayed flat, but her nose twitched, and I saw her muscles grow extremely tight. She relaxed very slightly and waited.

My best sense was my hearing followed by my eyes. For a wolf, it is scent and then eyes. Lara didn't need to see. She could smell what she needed. We stayed like that for an hour. Only one more of the teenagers was taken to the outhouse. Two of the wolves smoked.

Finally when one of the males was in the outhouse, Lara's every muscle tensed, and she began growling, a low, frightening noise, a noise that would carry.

I heard the wolves behind us begin to move forward. Lara waited, but when I heard the man's hand work the latch on the outhouse, I chuffed once very quietly, and Lara went silent. A half second later, she sprang forward, her first leap taking her eight yards. Her next two leaps were even further, and the first wolf died without a sound.

The cabin door flew open and slammed against the outside wall of the cabin, and Lara took two leaps. I heard a scream.

There were at least two more inside. The sounds were confusing, and then the rest of Lara's wolves were racing past me, two of them jumping directly over my place, growls in all of their throats. I had a brief flashback to when I was fourteen, but I pushed it aside.

I stared at my line in the dirt and waited.

I heard when Lara killed the third male. She took her time with the last, driving him out of the cabin. I stood up enough to watch.

She harried him around the yard, the other wolves standing back and watching. Then Lara backed off and turned to one wolf, giving him a lick, then gave a lick to another wolf and settled on her haunches.

The two wolves Lara had licked stepped forward, their growls fierce. The man turned and ran.

Those two wolves spent ten minutes chasing him around, and they worked together like teamwork. Then, Lara chuffed, just once, and both wolves leapt together, taking the man down. There was a shaking of massive wolf jaws, and I heard the neck snap. The map fell limp.

The two ravaged the body. Lara sat and watched.

Elisabeth finally caught up to me. She crouched down next to me. "What the hell are you doing up here? You promised to behave!"

I reached up and grabbed her hand and pulled it down, pushing it against the line that Lara had drawn. Elisabeth leaned closer.

"She drew a line in the sand. And you stayed. Good girl."

I nipped her hand, and she scratched my neck.

"Wait here until I call," she said. I licked her hand.

I watched as Elisabeth stood up. "Alpha! Is the cabin secure?"

Lara turned to Jason and another wolf and looked at the cabin. They raced inside then Jason howled, very briefly. Elisabeth went running in that direction.

I waited.

It took a minute, but then the boys all came out, Jason and the other wolf following. Elisabeth remained in the cabin.

One of the boys saw the two wolves who had taken down the last man. "Dad! Mom! Mom!"

He ran forward but was bowled over by the two wolves. Another boy ran after, and he got knocked down, two. Soon there were two wolves taking turns licking two faces.

The last boy walked to Lara. "Alpha." He knelt down and rolled onto his back, exposing his throat to her. "It was my fault. I talked them into leaving the compound."

She reached over and gave him a single lick across the face.

"Michaela," came Elisabeth's voice, far more loudly than was necessary. "Come."

I ran straight to the cabin and dashed inside.

"Shift," she ordered, and she was holding a blanket. I shifted straight into it, and she wrapped it around me.

I looked around. There were two dead wolves in human form in the cabin. Lara had broken the neck of one and ripped the throat out of the other. "She didn't even need help?"

"An enraged alpha against four wolves in skin? They didn't stand a chance. We brought so many just in case they were in fur, or in case there were more."

"They were so stupid."

"Agreed." Elisabeth pointed. "The kids were shackled together against the wall there." I saw the shackles. "We couldn't tell from the photos, they were out of sight. It was your outdoor photos that we counted on."

I nodded to her. Then she held up a computer laptop case. "Are you a computer expert?"

"Not really," I said. "If the pack doesn't have one, I can try to find one, but anyone I can find will be government. I don't think you'll want to use him."

"All right. Do you want to search for any further evidence?"

Lara chuffed from the doorway and turned around.

"Maybe later," I said, following the alpha.

One of the boys, the one who had bared his throat, walked up to me. "You're the fox who tried to help us."

"I'm so sorry," I told him. "If I had called the alpha when I first saw you, maybe this would have been different. I was just so scared, I wasn't thinking straight."

"You were afraid of us," he said. "I could smell your fear. But you tried to help anyway. I was half out of my mind from the pain, but still you tried to help."

One of the wolves, very bloody, walked up to me and licked my hand.

"That is Emmanuel," Elisabeth said from behind me. "His mate is Serena."

"Your kids were here," I said to them. "I didn't know. I'm glad we saved them."

Serena walked to me slowly then she reared up, putting her paws on my shoulders. She was heavy! Elisabeth stepped up behind me to steady me while Serena cleaned my face with her long, wet tongue.

"Eww!" I said when she was done. She dropped to her four paws, butted me with her head, then went back to checking out the health of her boys.

I crouched down to Lara. "Are you all right?" She licked my face.

"Damn it! You all please stop that!"

She chuffed at me and licked my face again.

I wrapped my arms around her neck but looked up. "Elisabeth, can someone drag those bodies out? I'll search the cabin."

Lara chuffed, and four wolves jumped forward. They grabbed the bodies and dragged them out of the cabin, piling them together. I released Lara and went to search the cabin.

I didn't find much. Clothes, food, but no incriminating papers. Lara came in and sniffed around for a while then walked back outside. I heard the SUVs arrived, but I ignored them. Elisabeth checked on me.

"If anything is hidden here," I told her. "I'm not going to find it."

"All right," she said. "We're about ready to leave. Come on."

I followed her outside. The kidnappers had their own SUV. About half the wolves were back in skin and already dressed. I was still wearing the blanket. I looked around, but the bodies were missing.

Jason and Rory, both in skin, carried gas cans from the back of one of the SUVs. They set them inside the cabin.

"We'll drop Rory and June off at the boat," Lara told me, standing beside me. "They'll come back here and torch the cabin, but I don't want to do it yet in case word gets back to David. Then they'll return the boat to Bayfield. The rest of us are going to Madison. Will you come?"

"Yes."

"This isn't over. Will you follow orders?"

"Yes."

I checked her over. "You have blood on you."

"I know. We'll stop somewhere and clean up."

The Challenge

Jason drove our SUV with Elisabeth riding shotgun, Lara and I in the back seat. All four SUVs drove together as a caravan. We stopped at a truck stop to clean up and get some food. Lara changed into a loose blouse and skirt, and I could tell she wasn't wearing a bra. I liked it. Soon, we were back on the road.

We were halfway to Madison when Lara called David. "We're coming home," she said. "We're not going to solve this here."

"Good," he said. "There is something we need to discuss at the compound."

"All right," she said. "Can you assemble everyone there? I want to talk to everyone together."

"Yes," he said. "I think that would be very appropriate."

She hung up. "He's going to challenge me tonight."

I didn't say anything. It wasn't my place. She called the other vehicles and gave them the new destination. I leaned against her and tried to sleep. I must have drifted off, as I woke sometime later with my head in Lara's lap.

"Is there any food?" I asked.

"I'm sorry," Lara said. "Jason ate it all."

"I saved you some, little fox," Elisabeth said.

"I knew you were holding out on me!" Jason said. "I could smell it!"

"Two little chicken wings," Elisabeth said. "Like you would even notice them."

"Perfect," I said, sitting up. They were cold but exactly what I wanted.

When we got near the compound, the rear two SUVs peeled off. "They'll make their own entrance," was all Lara said. The rest of us drove straight to the compound.

When we got there, the place was crawling with wolves. I stared out the window and clasped Lara's hand. "Is this this the entire pack?"

"No," she said. "The leaders, the elders, the ones who would have a say in what is about to happen."

"So many."

"I know. I am sorry, little fox."

"We say that a lot to each other," I said. "Do you think we will ever be able to stop?"

Elisabeth and Jason climbed out first, then Lara, and finally I followed her. David with Natalie and several other wolves were standing at the entrance to Lara's house. David and Lara nodded to each other and then at the same time began walking towards each other. Lara held onto my hand. Elisabeth and Jason flanked us, then I felt four more wolves take up a position behind us. But Lara was in front.

"Hello, David," Lara said, coming to a stop three paces from David.

"Lara, alpha of the Madison pack, you are unfit to lead. I offer challenge."

"I rather thought you might," she said. "Is this to the death then?"

"From love of your parents, and love of you, I offer this. If you submit, I will allow you, your sister, and that fox to accept banishment instead of death."

"That is very generous," Lara said slowly and clearly, her voice poised to carry clearly to all listening. "You have declared me unfit to lead. Do you care to elaborate?"

The two stared at each other. There was some rumbling from the people. This may not have been a popular move, and this was David's opportunity to sway a few others to his side.

"I served your father faithfully," David said. "He was a good man, but your parents coddled you. They raised you as one would raise a male, but you are not a male. You are female. When you became alpha, I had misgivings, but I have served you faithfully in spite of the extreme violations to our traditions."

He began to pace, and now he was addressing the audience. "Those traditions exist for a reason. Those traditions make the pack strong. Those traditions make the pack one." He stopped and stood in front of Lara. "But you disregard our traditions. You set yourself up as a leader, in direct violation of our traditions. You bed with other females, in violation of all natural order. You are unable to keep our own pups safe, the primary responsibility of the alpha. And you form alliances with lesser were." At that, he sneered at me. "Foxes are for hunting! Not for bedding. What you do is an abomination!"

"I have been hunted by wolves before," I said clearly.

"If you had been hunted by a proper wolf, you wouldn't be here," David said.

Lara smiled and squeezed my hand.

"When I was fourteen," I said. "I learned the true meaning of fox hunt." It was my turn to speak up. "A group of seven foxes engaged in a hunt of me, my sister, and my parents. They killed my parents and my sister and ravaged their bodies. And then, one by one, I killed the wolves. Each and every one. The last one died while snarling in my face."

The crowd had grown silent. No one moved, and the rage in David's face was apparent.

"You lie!" he screamed at me. He raised his hand, but Lara stepped in front of me.

"Your dispute is with me," she said calmly.

"Believe what you want," I said. "I have never lied to any of you."

"David," Lara said. "You have indeed served my family with loyalty and for a long time. In memory of that loyalty and love, I would present one final issue to the elders gathered here. I believe it would be most enlightening. After that is done, I will accept your challenge of combat or banishment as the pack decides."

"What issue?" David demanded.

"As one who would be alpha, you understand love for the pack must come before all other loves. While you may feel I am unfit to lead, do you feel I would not wish for the pack to be strong?"

He thought about it. "No. Everyone here knows your love for the pack. It is not your love I challenge, but your judgment."

"Well then, one more issue to prepare. I promise it speaks to the strength of the pack."

"Granted. I will hold my challenge until you have presented this issue."

"Thank you."

Lara stepped away from me. I tried to step forward after her, but Elisabeth grabbed me and pulled me back. "You are with me now," she said. "You will let us protect you."

"Yes, Elisabeth," I said quietly.

Lara spoke, slowly and clearly. "The pack has been under attack. Every indication was from outside invaders from the west, perhaps Duluth, perhaps not. Their incursions became increasing bold, and a week ago, they took from us three of our own. There was evidence they had retreated west again, but our searches in that direction proved fruitless."

"Everyone knows this, Alpha," David said. "This is at the heart of your inability to lead, your inability to keep our young safe."

"We have identified the invaders," Lara said in a firm voice.

The sound from all the wolves drown out anything else she would say. Some talked, some simply growled. Others threw questions at her. But when she held up her hand, they grew still.

"You have learned this since early this morning?" David asked.

"Oh no, I have known for some time."

"And you did not share this information?" He raised his voice. "A threat to the pack, and you did not share this with all of us?"

"The Alpha shared the information as the Alpha deemed best!" she bellowed. Then she grew calm. "Your phones are all about to buzz or vibrate or whatever they do. Please, I won't mind if you look at the incoming messages."

I glanced around, and several of the wolves around me were playing with their phones. Then the phones all around us began to go off, at first just a few, then I was sure every phone there had buzzed. I watched as countless wolves pulled out their phones. Even David pulled out his phone, and I watched his confidence crumble as he looked at them.

"What are these photos?" a female voice asked.

"Janice, please step forward, if you please," Lara said. From somewhere in the middle of the crowd, Janice walked into the space between the assembled wolves and Lara's small contingent of supporters.

"What is this?" Janice asked.

"Perhaps you can show that photo to the fox," Lara suggested.

Janice looked around then walked over to me. Elisabeth stepped aside, and Janice held her phone out. "What is this, fox?"

"I don't know his name," I said.

Elisabeth glanced at it. "That's Jeremy."

"And this?" Janice said. It was Derek. And the last one was Alex.

"Alpha," Janice asked. "The fox doesn't seem to know anything about these photos."

"That's not true," I said. "I took them. I just didn't know their names."

David roared. "I knew she was part of this!"

"If she is," Lara said. "Then the alpha will provide the appropriate punishment. Maybe in a short while that will be you. For now, it is me, and I wish to hear the rest of what she might say."

David was pulled away from me by his supporters. Until he was alpha, Lara was right, and for now, I was safe.

"I took those," I said again. "Yesterday."

Phones started vibrating again. Janice checked through the new messages then showed them to me. "Those were last night. You can guess I was very scared. I am sorry the quality is so poor."

"Where did you take these photos, fox?" Janice asked.

"At a cabin in the upper peninsula of Michigan," I said. "On a piece of property belonging to Natalie Briggs."

Natalie actually blanched. I wondered if she had known.

"Who is Natalie Briggs?" Janice asked.

"Briggs. Briggs. I've heard that name before," Lara said. She looked at Natalie. "Isn't that your maiden name, Natalie?"

"I have nothing to say," she said.

"Not to worry." Phones began to vibrate again. "I believe you are receiving copies of a marriage certificate and a deed to the property in question. One must love human recordkeeping."

"Alpha," said a male voice, and a wolf stepped out, holding hands with a female. They both looked haggard. "If the fox knows where our son is, why are you here instead of leading a rescue?"

"Excellent timing for that question, Samuel." That was when I heard the SUVs. They drove into the compound. Doors opened, and wolves climbed out, and then I heard Samuel's mate crying out.

"Derek? Derek!"

All eyes were on the reunion, all eyes except mine. I was watching David and Natalie. David would attack Lara soon. He was so much bigger than she was. After this, he couldn't possibly be alpha. No one would ever follow him. But he would kill Lara first.

"Be strong," Elisabeth said into my ear. "This isn't over yet. Stay next to me."

I clung to her arm. I wanted to go to Lara, to help defend her, but I had promised to follow Elisabeth's orders.

"I thought perhaps a little more evidence would be helpful," Lara said. She gestured to the final SUV. Emmanuel and Serena opened the back doors. Then Emmanuel dragged out one body, throwing it over his shoulder. He walked to the middle of the assembled wolves and tossed the body to the ground. Serena did the same thing with the second. Emmanuel grabbed the third. Serena brought the fourth.

"Threat exterminated," was all Lara said. All eyes shifted back to her. "And that ends the issue I wished to bring to the pack. I believe there is a challenge to the Alpha."

Elisabeth shrugged me off and reached for the back of Lara's blouse. I watched her rip the blouse from her sister's body while Lara ripped the skirt off and let it drop.

"Challenge accepted!" She bellowed. She took two steps towards David, then leapt. In midair she shifted from human to wolf. David got his arms up, but she landed on his chest, knocking him to the ground. Her mouth dived for his throat, and he tried to push her off. She shifted to his arm, bit down hard, and he screamed. She shook his arm for a moment, and when she dropped it, it flopped limply. When she went for his throat again, he was powerless to stop her. She bit down and began to shake him violently.

It was gruesome.

No one said a word.

When it was over, Lara stood over his body, lifted her head to the sky, and began to howl in victory. I stood there, stunned. She had shifted as quickly as I could. Elisabeth stepped back to me. "I told you it wasn't over."

"You knew."

"Yep."

From the steps of the house, Natalie stepped forward, slowly.

"David?"

The crowd parted for her as she stepped forward.

"David?" she asked again. She stared down at Lara and David, Lara's muzzle dripping with David's blood.

"You killed him. You killed him!"

Natalie was carrying a purse. I hadn't seen many purses amongst the wolves, but she was carrying one. She reached her hand in and pulled out a gun. She pointed it at Lara and began shooting.

Lara howled in pain.

I reacted instantly. I didn't even think. I took two steps, slipping between Jason and Elisabeth, moving too rapidly for Elisabeth to grab me. I leapt, shifted, and clamped my jaws on Natalie's hand, biting as hard as I could.

I was tangled in the clothing, and I wasn't able to react well, but I pulled her gun hand away from Lara, and that's what counted. Then with her free hand, screaming, Natalie hit me across the head.

I crumpled and knew no more.

Fox Hunt Revisited

It was daylight when I woke.

I was alone in Lara's bed. I groaned. My head hurt. "Not again," I said, clutching at my head.

Someone stood up. Over the pain, I recognized Angel's voice. She flew to the door. "She's awake! She's awake!"

I began to cry from the pain. "Please, Angel, not so loud. I'm begging you." I don't know if she heard me.

I remembered last night. I remembered Lara yelping from bullets plowing into her body.

My cries turned to sobs. But then I felt warm arms, and I was pulled against someone's chest, a familiar chest that smelt of safety.

"Don't cry, honey," Lara said. "I know it hurts, but you'll be okay."

"I thought she killed you."

"The stupid woman," Lara said. "They weren't even silver."

Then Elisabeth was in the room. "Fox! You follow orders for shit."

I began crying again, my head pounding. "Please don't let her yell at me, Lara."

"No one is going to yell at you, little fox. For a few days, anyway."

She rocked me slowly while I clung to her.

"No," Elisabeth said. "We will bring lunch to you."

"It's been two days," I said. "I am fine."

"Get back in that bed, fox," she said. "That's an order."

"I don't take orders from you, Elisabeth. It's over. I'm a free fox again."

She smiled. "It is over when you are fully healed. Until then, you agreed to follow my orders and the alphas. She ordered you to stay in bed, and I ordered you to stay in bed. Get back in bed."

I sighed and slipped back into bed.

They treated me like an invalid for the better part of a week, slowly allowing me more activity. I would never have admitted it to them, but it felt good being taken care of.

I almost lost my job. Apparently when one is gone from work as much as I had been, ones bosses become vexed. I called my boss Friday morning. I had been incommunicado from the office for the better part of two weeks. I told him I had a concussion. He told me to show up with a medical report or a box to clean out my desk, and to be remember to return any department property."

I told Lara.

"I'd rather you quit, anyway," she said.

"I like my job."

"What do you like about it?"

I thought about it. "It gets me outside nearly all the time."

"You collect water samples and other data."

"And analyze it. And report on it."

"And what happens with that analysis? With those reports."

"It gets used. To track trends."

She took a breath. "It should be your choice," she said. "Not a choice made for you." She made some calls. My boss received a phone call from my doctor and from a friendly detective at the Madison police department. I had never met either of them, but apparently they were each a real doctor and a real detective. Lara told me to call him back, and when I did, he told me to take all the time I needed. He didn't know any details, but he understood I had been very brave.

I thanked Lara. She told me to get back into bed. And then she wouldn't even join me.

The entire pack, it seemed, set it upon themselves to keep me company. The three boys and their parents became my most steadfast companions. Gia and Angel always seemed to be about as well. All of them tried to fatten me up, but all my food arrived in fox sized portions, and it was made very clear that they expected me to let them know my favorites.

On Saturday, Francesca stopped up and chased everyone else out. "Someone is here to see you."

"Someone is always here to see me."

"I thought perhaps for this one you might prefer not to be in bed. It's Janice."

"I don't want to see her."

"I think you should. So does the alpha."

"All right," I said. "Will you help me downstairs?"

She would. She settled me down in the living room downstairs, bundled up in a warm blanket with hot tea available before she allowed Janice in. Janice crossed the room, took my hands for a moment, then sat down opposite me.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better," I said.

"You aren't the airhead you portrayed."

"I guess no one will play poker with me now."

She laughed lightly. "Probably not. Did we really teach you to play that night?"

"Yes. The first time I touched a deck of cards was after you left. I knew the poker hands, and I knew the odds for five card stud, but I got those from the internet the day before."

We sat quietly for a minute.

"You didn't come to talk about poker. And I don't think you came to sit with me."

"I came to thank you."

"For what?"

"Everything you did."

"I didn't do any of it for you. You don't like me. You really don't like Lara."

"That isn't true, not entirely. What my husband tried to do was deeply wrong. If he wanted to issue a challenge, then he should have issued a challenge, not a coup de ta'. I spent ten years ostracized from the pack after that. That has left me at some times bitter and jealous, and at some times, that comes out in a bitchy fashion. I am not happy about that, as I was once a very pleasant person, and I have tried to suppress it, but it has been difficult. Even fifteen years later, I am distrusted and rarely invited to social events."

"Why were you invited to the poker nights?"

"I am not sure. I attended hoping that over time, my position in the pack would settle into something palatable."

"Has it?"

"Yes. Thank you."

I didn't understand.

"Do you know why, when those pictures started showing up on everyone's phone, I was the one who started asking those questions?"

"No, actually. I would have expected Lara to control the conversation."

Janice smiled. "She did. I received my own text from Elisabeth asking me to ask the questions that needed to be asked. I was seen as someone who would be the most likely of everyone in the pack to take a hard stance against Lara, and thus I was the best to ask those questions. But I asked them fairly."

"You're back in."

"Yes. Thank you. Lara and Elisabeth have both made a big deal of including me, which means others are starting to as well."

"So fast?"

"Yes. So fast."

I thought about it. "I hope this helps the pack to heal."

She smiled. "That was very diplomatic of you."

I took a breath. "I suppose you are hoping I will treat you like a friend as well."

"I wouldn't at all mind," she said.

"But you still won't let me come to the poker nights."

"I can hardly stop you."

"It won't be as much fun to take your money if we're friends."

She laughed. "I will make sure you have invitations when there are at least two people there I would most particularly like to see you fleece."

"Deal."

"Your airhead routine was over the top."

"You bought it."

"Yeah," she said. "I did. But it won't work in the future."

"Never underestimate the power of the airhead routine."

Lara cleaned house. There wasn't really any to do. Some of the enforcers such as Reggie had been more loyal to David than to Lara, but none of them approved of what he had tried to do. None of them knew any details, and Lara assured me she was absolutely convinced they were guilty of no worse than misplaced loyalty towards someone who was deemed to be a loyal pack member. A few people lost status, but no one was evicted from the pack or suffered significant loss. I was assured we wouldn't see much of Reggie, but even he still had a place in the pack.

A week to the day after Natalie clubbed me senseless, Lara and Elisabeth admitted I was fully recovered.

"And now we're going to talk about what obeying orders means," Elisabeth told me.

"I'm sorry," I said. "The next time Natalie is shooting bullets into Lara's body, I promise to let someone else handle it."

No one thought I was funny.

"I followed every other order I was given."

"Just not the one that mattered," Lara said. "And you promised."

She was right, but I was fox, and I wasn't going to admit it. At least not directly. "Lara, if someone was shooting me, and even if you absolutely knew you were going to get hurt, would you stop the shooting?"

"Of course."

"Is there anyone in the pack who would answer differently?"

"No."

"Then do not ask any less of me."

Neither of them was happy about that. The score was now one to one.

I sighed. "I would apologize, but I'm not sorry, Lara. She was shooting you. Do you really think I should have let her?"

"I would have handled it," Elisabeth said.

"You didn't! I was behind several enforcers, and I still got to her first, by several seconds. Seconds. Not a half second. Multiple seconds. I don't know what I should have done instead. I didn't know they weren't silver. I didn't know she was a crappy shot. You tell me what should have happened and I'll admit I was wrong."

I turned to Elisabeth. "If Lara gave you an order, but something happened that turned into an emergency, would you override her order?"

"I don't know."

"In the situation I was in?"

She sighed. "Yes."

The score was two to one for the fox.

"Are you here to yell at me for last week, or are you getting ready for future concessions?"

Elisabeth smiled, which annoyed Lara.

"Michaela," said Lara. "In the future, there may, from rare to very rare time, be instances where there is no time for debate. During those times, I usually cannot afford to worry about whether the people around me will obey my orders. And I equally cannot always afford to assign a pair of babysitters to you to make sure you remain safe. In times such as those, I expect you to follow any orders that Elisabeth or I give you."

"Perhaps you should assume I wouldn't follow your orders. That way you don't have to worry about it."

"If I can't trust you to follow orders, then I am forced to assign babysitters, which I would rather not do."

"Why can't you trust my judgment?"

"Because there can only be one general," Elisabeth said kindly. "I'm sorry, Michaela, but that's Lara."

Point to the wolves. Tie match.

I looked between them. "Lara, did you assign Elisabeth to guard me?"

"Yes."

"And when Natalie began shooting, if she had gotten to her instead of me, would you be having this conversation with her?"

"No," said Lara.

"Why not?"

"Because Elisabeth can handle herself in a fight and you-" she clamped her mouth shut.

"And I can't?" I asked.

"No," Lara said after a moment. "You can't."

I smiled. "So I just have to prove you wrong, and this conversation is over?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Lara said.

"Who do I have to fight?"

"Honey, now you're just being absolutely ridiculous."

"If I win, then you start trusting my judgment. If whoever I fight wins, then I will agree that in those no time to debate situations, I will follow your orders to the absolute best of my ability. Who am I fighting?"

"You can't possibly win, little fox. It's not even conceivable."

"Who am I fighting, Alpha?"

Elisabeth sighed. "Me, Michaela. You'd have to fight me."

"Fine. Outside, let's do this."

"No," said Lara. "You would have to fight me."

Lara and Elisabeth shared a look, then Elisabeth said, "Yes, of course."

"Stacking the deck, Lara?" I asked. "The alpha, the one wolf that seems to be able to neutralize one of my biggest advantages?"

"Michaela, it has to be her because if anyone else hurts you, she'd have to kill him."

"All right," I said. "Outside. We're fighting to first blood?"

"No. Submission."

"That's not fair," I said. "In a fight, I don't have to make the wolf submit. I only have to survive long enough for someone else to step in. Or until I can escape."

Elisabeth smiled. "She's right, Alpha. You're not asking her to win, you're asking her not to get killed. So her terms are reasonable."

"All right," Lara said. "Survive two minutes with me on your tail, then escape. If you submit in less than an hour, I win."

"Fine. We're agreed no one else interferes."

"Of course."

I didn't say anything else, but headed downstairs. "Let's go then." They hurried to follow after me.

"This is foolish, Michaela," Lara said.

"You can always just agree to trust my judgment."

"If this is a sign of your judgment, I think I'm right to question it."

I laughed. "If you are sure I am that completely helpless, then you shouldn't have the slightest problem forcing me to submit."

"I seem to recall you were awfully easy to catch the last time I tried."

I reached the front door and turned around. "Everyone gets lucky." Then I raised my voice. "Gia! Angel! Want to see the alpha get owned? Get outside!"

Then I slipped out the door, pulling it back closed behind me and giving me a desperate two or three seconds. Elisabeth had been ever so slightly in Lara's way, and the two fumbled at the door.

"Catch me, Alpha!" I yelled. Then I took two steps and leapt into the grass, shifting as I did so. I lost a desperate second shedding my clothes, and then Lara, still on two feet, was after me.

On two feet, I could easily outrun her, but I interpreted "two minutes with Lara on my tail" as meaning I had to stay in close proximity to the courtyard, evading her rather than escaping from her.

When I had stepped out, there wasn't anyone in the courtyard. There were no trees to provide obstacles, either. But two of the SUVs were parked there, and I knew I could go under them much faster than Lara could.

Elisabeth stepped out of the house, and then so did Gia, Angel and Francesca.

I turned around and Lara was two big leaps away from me, stalking me slowly. She was grinning. I think she anticipated an easy win.

"I know all your tricks, little fox," she said. As if. Then she took two leaps after me. I feinted left and dashed right, but she had anticipated the feint and leapt to my right. I shifted direction just barely fast enough, and she almost had me, but I got past her to the left, yipping like crazy to draw more attention.

Lara actually got fingers in my fur, but not enough to grab hold. That had been close.

I dashed straight for Elisabeth, listening for Lara. She had rolled to her feet and was stalking me again. I spun around to face her, my back to Elisabeth, Gia and Angel.

"Friendly game of catch," Elisabeth told them. "Don't interfere."

Lara smiled, approaching slowly, crouching down with her arms out. I would have loved to kiss her right then, but I that may have been a tiny bit cocky.

I continued to yip and bark at Lara, and people were streaming into the courtyard. Elisabeth kept telling them not to interfere.

Finally, Lara leapt at me, and I didn't really have anywhere to go except straight back between the small gap between Elisabeth and Gia. I'd picked that gap instead of the one on the other side because I thought Gia could take it better if Lara plowed into her than Angel could. One backwards leap brought me right through the gap, and Lara came up short, not wanting to run through her wolves. She tried to shove through the same gap, pushing everyone aside, but she lost time and I ran around the other side, still yipping for attention.

Someone laughed. I wasn't sure who.

After that, I used the other wolves as obstacles for Lara, but then I miscalculated and she made a lunge, grabbing me firmly by the scruff.

"Gotcha!" she said, lifting me into the air.

I instantly shifted to human. The fur she'd been holding me was suddenly gone, and she lost her grip. I took two steps, yelling, "I hope you're timing this, Elisabeth," and then jumped and shifted. Lara made a tackling motion, and she almost had me, but my shift shrunk me just enough her arms closed on open air, just brushing my tail.

"Oh heck, Michaela," Elisabeth said as I ran around behind her. "I forgot to time it."

"Thirty seconds have elapsed," Lara declared. "You have another ninety to go. Start timing, Elisabeth."

"Alpha," Elizabeth said. It had been a lot longer than thirty seconds.

"Thirty seconds, Elisabeth," she said again. And then she was running straight at me. She leapt, turning wolf, and again almost had me, but she lost time untangling from her clothes.

After that it turned serious. Twice she managed to knock me off my feet, but both times I rolled and kept going, diving between Jason's legs at one point. Lara tried to follow me, but they got tangled together, and I made a dash for the cars.

"One minute," Elisabeth declared.

Lara untangled from Jason and came straight for me. At the last possible second, I dashed under the car and she came to a skidding halt, banging against the car hard enough to leave a dent.

"Hey!" Jason said. "Watch the paint!"

"A minute fifteen!" Elisabeth yelled. Lara crouched down, shifted human, and almost had me. I hadn't expect her to shift. I dashed out through the front tires, the cut back underneath the second car and gained several seconds while Lara went over the top, shifting in midair, and leaping over me to land just in front of me. She spun faster than I would have thought possible, but I cut left. She kicked me with a rear leg, and I rolled once, yelping, but then I was on my feet and running. I heard her leap and cut right, directly into a group of wolves, then turned and ran right back out of them.

I batted at her back leg on my way past, which actually threw off her timing.

At a minute thirty, I was behind Elisabeth again. I shifted human and put one hand on Elisabeth's shoulder, one on Gia's. The two shifted apart, leaving a wolf-sized gap instead of the wall I had counted on.

"Hey!" I said. "Not fair."

"This is fun to watch, Michaela," said Elizabeth, "but deep down I want the alpha to win. She'll catch you eventually, you know."

Lara tensed her muscles and sprang for the gap. I jumped, pushing with my hands on Gia and Elisabeth's shoulders, then shifted as I leapt over their shoulders, Lara passing underneath me.

The leap was much higher than I normally jump as a fox, and I was afraid I'd break something, so when I landed, I tucked and rolled, yelping once, then was on my feet and cut left immediately. Lara slammed into the ground where I'd been just a breath before, and I ran for the cars again.

I had to avoid her twice, but I made it under the cars and spun around. She approached slowly.

"Two minutes," Elisabeth yelled. "I wouldn't have believed it possible."

I was free to escape, even with the extra time Lara had cheated out of me.

I chuffed at her, letting her know we were still friends. She chuffed back, and then with no warning, she made a leap to the thin space under the car, a space far too small for her.

It had to hurt as she scraped her back against the bottom of the SUV, but she got her paws on me.

I scrambled and kicked dust in her eyes, squirmed away, and ran out the other side, under the next car, and then dashed for the woods.

It took time for Lara to climb back out from under the SUV. I got a good six or eight seconds lead. I got to the brush first, but Lara was hot on my heels, and in a straight run, she was much faster than I was. I couldn't play keep away forever; she only had to win once, and besides, it was too dangerous. One of could make too big a mistake, and I could get hurt. I had to lose her.

Or submit.

I wasn't ready to give up yet.

If I could get some real distance, I was sure I could lose her, but I wasn't at all confident I could get the kind of distance I would need. And she knew these woods like the back of her hand. I did not.

I used the tricks I knew. I took advantage of small spaces. I went under fallen trees and through tight brush. I found a copse of thick evergreens, and I went dashing through them, hoping the thick spruce scent would offer even a tiny bit of confusion. She remained firmly on my trail, leaping after me whenever she got close, but not quite catching me.

But I wasn't shaking her, either.

I was having the time of my life.

We spent several minutes dashing between the trees not far from the main compound. From the compound itself, I heard the sounds of wolves shifting into fur. Pretty soon the entire woods would be full of more wolves, and even if they weren't interfering, it would complicate things. I needed to lose her. Or lose.

I feinted right, and Lara made a leap, then I dashed left. By the time Lara could arrest her flight in the wrong direction, I had put two large pine trees between us then took a wild path away from the compound.

It took Lara twenty seconds to find my path, but I found a downed tree, ducked underneath it, then ran along underneath it towards its large upturned root system. There was a gap, a very narrow gap, and I squeezed through it. Behind me, Lara went over the tree ran a short distance past, then came to a stop, puzzled. I gained more time. She found my trail again, but I had a minute on her.

I ran.

I found a narrow stream. I jumped over it, took three steps, then jumped directly backwards into the water and ran upstream for twenty steps before turning at an oblique angle to the stream. I gained more time.

I ran.

I found a large tree with a stream just shortly past it. I set a false path out, ran downstream and set another false path, then ran back upstream to where I had entered the water, ran to the tree, and leapt into it, climbing quickly while listening for Lara. She was moving quietly, directly on my back trail. I froze, hoping I was high enough she wouldn't smell me immediately, and she passed directly under my tree. She didn't even look up but continued to follow my trail. She got to the stream, and while she investigated my false trails, I slipped around to the other side of the tree and moved higher until I found a place I thought I could hide for an hour.

It took Lara a good ten minutes to realize I had effectively disappeared. I heard her pass underneath my tree, searching for where I'd gone instead.

By now, the other wolves were after us, but Lara howled at them and then seemed to hold back. At least I didn't hear any of them coming any closer.

She began running a big circle centered on the stream, trying to find my trail. Of course, she didn't find it. She ran it twice, and then I heard her huffing her displeasure.

It probably confused her that my scent was still live. I'm sure some of it was wafting down from the tree. She began searching for me downwind, then kept working her way back to the stream.

Then I heard her shift.

"Oh, little fox," she said. "Did you climb a tree? I am probably the only wolf who knows you can do that, too."

I wished I hadn't told her.

I listened as she walked on two feet to the stream, then began walking back. Wolves don't track by footprints, but humans do. She found my tracks and followed them to the base of my tree.

"Oh, little fox," she said. "Very clever. A half hour. No one else would have beaten you. Come down now."

Well, she may have me treed, but she hadn't caught me, and I most certainly hadn't submitted.

"Michaela," she said. "The agreement was you had to escape. This is not escape. Come down, or I'll come up after you."

I stayed very quiet. Maybe she wasn't sure. I didn't need to prove she had found me.

Then she began climbing.

She climbed slowly but surely. Furry wolves don't climb trees, but two legged wolves are perfectly capable of doing so and are probably better than a four-footed vixen.

She climbed halfway to me and stopped. "Michaela, I can smell you now. Please come down."

No way.

She climbed a little further than said, "There you are." I looked down, and she was only about five feet below me. She looked pretty darn hot in her birthday suit, climbing a tree after me. I grinned a foxy grin at her and chuffed.

"I love you too," she said. "Now climb down and submit like a good little fox."

I bared my teeth at her.

She sighed and climbed closer. I looked up higher in the tree, and she froze.

"I'll keep coming, Michaela. You'll run out of tree."

We would run out of tree sooner for her full weight than my fox weight. I looked up considering my choices.

"If you make a move up, Michaela, I am going to come after you as fast as I can. I bet I can climb faster than you can, but one of us will make a mistake. Come on, honey."

I stared at her sadly. She was right. She was going to win. I hated that, but I stayed where I was.

She stared at me for a moment, then she put her hand on the branch above her and I immediately scrambled a branch higher.

"Wait," she said. "If you come back down to where you were, I'll go back down one branch, too. Let's talk about it."

I looked down at her. For me, going down is much, much harder than going up. It is frequently a controlled fall. I whimpered.

"Honey, you can climb back down, can't you?"

I whimpered again.

"All right," she said. "You stay right there, I'll stay right here. I'll say my piece, and you can decide if you want to play this out or not."

"Honey, no other wolf could have caught you. If I didn't know you could climb trees as a fox, I wouldn't have found you. I only knew that because you told me, and you only told me because you were helping me."

I stared down at her. I loved her, but there was a touch of despair, too.

"Honey, I didn't think you would last fifteen seconds. I thought this would be easy. You were amazing. I was wrong. I should trust you. You know your skills far better than I do. When violence comes, all I see are your weaknesses, but not your strengths."

"Michaela, I know your pride makes this very difficult. You are thinking of desperate steps, steps driven only by pride."

I huffed lightly. She was right. She smiled.

"But there is nowhere to go. No other wolf could have won, Michaela, and you were magnificent, truly magnificent. Honey, please come down."

I looked down at her. I looked up higher in the tree.

"Don't do it, Michaela. I'll come after you, and I am faster than you are."

I clutched the tree tighter, and Lara relaxed.

"Honey, can you be a gracious loser?"

Then I thought about what this represented. If I surrendered, it meant the big bad wolf was about to eat me. This wasn't just about whether I won or she did. This was about whether I lived or died. If I surrendered, I died. And any chance is better than no chance.

I pushed off from the tree and began to fall.

"No!" she screamed. Her hand reached out, and as I fell past her, aiming for the branches below, she caught me by my scruff and pulled me against her.

"Why?" she screamed. "Why? Michaela, why?"

She clutched me tightly to her, her hand still in my scruff, another wrapped around the tree. I hung there in her one arm, her heart pounding in her chest.

I shifted. She almost dropped me, but I reached out and grabbed branches, then my feet found footholds.

"You won," I said quietly. "And that means the wolf ate the fox. That's what happens when a fox loses a fox hunt."

"No, honey."

"That was the symbolism, wasn't it? I can't take care of myself. If I couldn't escape, I was dead. That's the wager we made. If you caught me, symbolically, I am dead. Wouldn't you rather I had fought, all the way to the end, than surrender to certain death?"

"So you gave up a different way, a different death?"

"Of course not. Look down. How many branches would I have landed on? I'd have clung to one and made it out of the tree long before you did."

"Not that long," she said.

"Long enough to find another tree."

She hugged me tightly to her.

"I will climb down now," I told her. "You won."

Then, slowly, I slithered down the tree, earning a few scrapes from the rough bark on the way down. Lara followed, landing on the ground a few seconds after I did. I shifted to fox then rolled over and exposed my throat. Lara knelt down, her head over my throat, and kissed the fur. "I love you, little fox," she said. "No other wolf would have found you. Now, we are both going to be gracious about this."

She backed away and shifted to fur. I rolled over and slowly climbed to my feet. Lara pointed her nose to the compound and bounded off. I slowly followed, my head hanging from my shoulders. Lara got quite a distance ahead of me before she stopped. She huffed. If I huffed back at the same volume, she wouldn't have heard me. So she howled briefly, but I didn't respond.

She ran back and came to a stop in front of me. I sat down facing her, my head still hanging.

She huffed again and nudged me.

I tried to shake out of my mood. I had done amazingly well, far better than anyone could possibly have expected. I would have beaten any other wolf. I should be proud. But in the end, the only point that mattered was the last one. I wouldn't have made my foolish promise if I'd realized it was Lara I would compete against. I just kept going around and around in emotional circles, and I couldn't shake it.

There wasn't anything to be done about it now. I climbed slowly to my feet and walked past Lara, heading towards the compound. Rather than bounding ahead, Lara walked with me. It must have been painful for her, keeping to a fox pace.

I finally decided I was sulking, and I picked the pace up marginally. Soon, we had picked up an escort of furry wolves. Both of us got licks. I hated being licked, but I put up with it. I knew they meant well.

Suddenly I lifted my head, bounced ahead two steps, then ran to the left. I managed to get everyone to follow me, which surprised me. Then I reversed course again and, very deliberately, used my claw to draw a line in the ground.

Lara looked at the line, chuffed, and fell to her stomach, her toes right at the line. I licked her once, listened for a moment, then dashed away. Some of the wolves tried to follow me, but Lara called them back.

I had to put some distance between us. They had scared all the game. But eventually I heard a rabbit. I approached it slowly, the stalk taking a good ten minutes, but when I pounced, I caught it. I snapped its neck cleanly then proudly carried my kill back to my alpha. When I pulled into the clearing, she was waiting for me, her toes at the line. I walked straight to her and dropped the rabbit at her feet.

Lara lifted her nose to the air and howled a victory cry, which was quickly picked up by the clustered wolves. Then she reached out with her claws and ripped the rabbit open before nudging it back to me.

I took a small share for myself then backed away. One by one, the assembled wolves partook of the rabbit I had caught, each of them taking the smallest of pieces When each wolf had taken a share, Lara took hers. Then we turned our noses to the compound and began to run.

Becoming Less Unsettled

Dinner that night was a large communal affair. There was to be food and a large bonfire. I was still upset, but no longer felt dead. Still, I couldn't stand the idea of everyone congratulating Lara on having caught the fox. When I tried to beg off, Lara sent Elisabeth to talk to me about it.

"Spill," she told me while sitting on the sofa in Lara's bedroom. I was staring out the window into the back yard, which was mostly a view of the forest.

I continued to stare out the window. "I don't think I could listen to everyone congratulate Lara on catching me and making me offer my throat."

"So two hits to your pride, one that she caught you and one that you offered your throat."

"Yes."

"So you're better than everyone else in the pack?"

"I'm not of the pack," I said.

"Don't quibble. Are you saying you are better than all the rest of us? We've all offered our throats, and before Lara was Alpha, she offered hers to her father."

I turned to face her. "Just so you understand, I hate losing arguments."

She laughed. "I will keep that in mind. It's a good thing this is a discussion, not an argument. If anyone is pleased that you offered your throat, they are pleased because it is symbolic that you are part of the pack."

"But I am not. I am fox."

"So? We're all were."

I stared at her. "You really believe that?"

"Yes."

I didn't have a real response to that. I shrugged instead.

"Can we at least agree that there is no one here, except possibly you, who feels you should be embarrassed about offering your throat?"

"All right."

"So the other issue. You think this is about Lara winning."

"Yes."

She looked away, clearly thinking. Finally she said, "Michaela, I wish to ask a favor. Trust me."

"That's the favor?"

"Yes. Trust me. Come to dinner. Trust me."

I sighed. "All right, Elisabeth."

Still, I hid in the room as long as I could. Eventually Lara sent Gia and Angel to fetch me. I let them cajole me downstairs and out the door. Someone handed me a beer, which I immediately handed to Angel. She looked at it gleefully, but Gia took it away from her before she could drink any of it.

"Oops. I guess you and I are the only ones not drinking, Angel," I told her.

"Naw," she said. "There are a few other teenagers. Want me to get us cokes?"

"Sure." She disappeared and came back moments later, handing me a cold can.

There was an advantage to being my size in a crowd of giant wolves. I was difficult to spot, being below notice most of the time. Conversations happened around me, and I was able to avoid them.

Jason found me. "There you are," he said. "Wow, that was amazing today."

"The alpha is really something," I said neutrally.

"She is," Jason agreed. "But I was talking about you. You're so small; you're easy to under-estimate. But wow. That was amazing. You really gave her a workout. I wouldn't have lasted that long against her, that's for sure. She'd have caught me in seconds."

Then he squeezed my arm and wandered off.

Angel and Gia had both wandered off. I roamed the crowd, looking for them. Angel was sitting in the grass with a group of teenagers. I started to turn away, but Jeremy, one of the boys we had rescued, saw me.

"Fox!" he said. He stood up and ran over to stand in front of me. "Would you talk to us for a little bit?"

"All right," I said, joining them in the grass. "What's up?"

"Well," said Jeremy. "We heard about the kayaking. We were wondering, do you think you could talk our parents into letting us come to Bayfield, and teaching us how to kayak?"

"How did you hear about that?" I asked.

"Rory told everyone how you saved his life," Derek said.

Angel smiled. "If you weren't with the alpha, I think he'd want you."

I smiled at that. "Rory is a nice wolf, although not exactly my type."

"So, how about it?" Jeremy asked. "Will you teach us to kayak?"

"Let me ask you guys something. I'm not the alpha. I'm not an anything. I can't cuff any of you hard enough for you to notice. If I tell you to do something, and you don't do it, there's nothing I can do about it. If I were teaching you to kayak, you would have to do exactly what I said. Could you do that?"

"Sure," Jeremy said. "Besides, there'd be adult wolves there somewhere, and even if you didn't cuff us, they would."

I laughed. "That's probably true. But what if there weren't?"

"We'd do what you said," Angel said. "You would be our teacher. And you might be small, but you're older than we are. If you told us to do something, there would be a good reason."

"All right," I said. "I'll talk to your parents if you guys bring them to me sometime. But in the end, it will be their decision."

"Thank you, Michaela," Angel said. The rest of them thanked me, then started peppering me with questions about kayaking.

Lara rescued me ten minutes later. "Sorry, kids, I need her." She helped me to my feet and pulled me away. "Feeling better?"

"Not that I'd admit," I told her. "Did you really need me?"

"Not at this exact minute, but I thought you'd given the kids enough time for one night. Go mingle."

I disappeared into the crowd and tried not to be noticed.

Someone announced that food was ready, and the wolves crowded the tables that had been set up for food. I hung back, amazed at the amount of food it took to feed the pack. Elisabeth stepped up to me and I asked her about it.

"Don't I know it. You should see the grocery bill."

"Where does the money come from?"

"Real estate investments are a lot of it," Elisabeth explained. "Apartment buildings, office buildings, and a couple of small shopping malls. Lara has a management company that handles all that, and she needs to do very little. Another big part are the tithes."

"Tithes?"

"Yes. Everyone in the pack with a job tithes a portion of his income to the pack. That means everyone who isn't a full time enforcer or hold some other pack position. Even Lara tithes. So do I."

"I thought you were an enforcer."

"I am, but I also own a chain of grocery stores." She mentioned the chain.

"Holy shit. You own that?"

"Forty percent. The stores run themselves, and we expand very cautiously, so it really is pretty cushy for me. Lara owns twelve percent. David had some; I don't know what happens to his share now. It may go to pack, it may go to Lara." She paused. "It may go to you."

"Why would it go to me?"

"There is a council that oversees pack assets. They can decide almost anything in a situation like this."

"Well, I don't want it."

"Anyway, you get the idea. Lara is rich. So am I. We could live comfortably just on our fixed income. The pack is really rich. Again, investments. Whenever a pack member wants to start a business, the pack invests. And pack businesses always succeed."

"Why?"

"Failure is not an option."

I laughed.

At that point, Angel and Jeremy ran over to Elisabeth and me carrying plates of food, giving them to us and disappearing before we could even thank them.

"That was sweet," I said.

"Pack leadership doesn't stand in line for food," Elisabeth said. "Rank hath its privileges."

"As does being a guest?"

Elisabeth looked around. "I don't see any guests, Michaela."

We sat down in the grass and ate quietly. People started to join us, and soon I was surrounded. I kept my head down and hoped everyone would ignore me.

"I haven't laughed so hard in a long time," Francesca said.

"At what?" Elisabeth asked innocently.

"The alpha with her head and shoulders stuck under the car, scrambling to chase the little fox."

"Oh yeah, that was good," Rory said. "But I liked it when she got tangled up with Jeremy."

Soon everyone was taking turns, regaling each other with my exploits. Elisabeth whispered to me, "See?"

"Wait for it," I replied.

"So," Rory asked. "She finally caught you. How?"

I sighed. "I was running out of tricks. I'd gotten some real distance from her, maybe almost a minute ahead, and that's when I used my absolute best trick. And no, I'm no telling any of you what it is. But the problem is, the alpha knows that trick because I told it to her once. So she finally figured out what I had done, and that's when she found me."

"How long did it take her?" Elisabeth asked.

"From when she lost me to when she found me again?"

"Yes."

"I don't know, maybe twenty minutes. It was fun watching her look."

"Wait!" said Elisabeth. "You knew where she was for twenty minutes, but she didn't know where you were?"

"I knew where she was the entire time," I said. "I shook her off my trail a half dozen times, but she eventually found my trail again. When you're a fox, it doesn't matter how many times you lose the wolf. It only matters how whether the wolf finds you again."

They were uncomfortable about that, but then Rory smiled. "Well, I thought you were fantastic. I loved it when you kept shifting back and forth between two legs and fur."

"That's just because you liked seeing her naked, Rory," one of the females said to him.

"I'll admit," he said. "Our little fox is worth looking at."

"Rory!" I said.

"I wouldn't admit that too loudly when the alpha can hear you Rory," Elisabeth said.

"Too late," I replied. "She's standing right behind us."

Rory looked up at Lara, grinning. Lara simply said, "Make space." The people to my left shifted further away, and Lara sat down next to me. I leaned against her and laid my head on her shoulder.

A while later, Francesca lit the bonfire. There were nearly thirty wolves clustered around. Lara stood up and said, "It is time for stories." She looked around the group and said, "Francesca, would you tell us all a story?" Lara sat back down next to me, and I leaned against her.

Francesca stood up, paced around the fire for a moment, then began a story. It took me a minute before I realized she was making it up as she went. When she was done, she received applause.

Lara asked for another story, and Emmanuel and Serena together told a story about getting caught far from home in a blizzard. When they were done, Lara asked Elisabeth for a story.

"All right," she said. "But I need help with this one. Little fox, would you care to tell the story of Spot?"

I looked at her for a moment and nodded. Elisabeth said, "You tell the first part, and I'll pick it up from when I met her."

So that is what we did. I stood up and told about how I had first met Spot. "I know Spot isn't a very good name for a deer, but she was just a fawn when she came to me, and fawns have spots." I explained how I had raised her and taught her how to survive in the wild, and finally how I had let her go, but would visit her two or three times a year. Then I explained that I had needed a tracking collar no one knew about, so that Elisabeth could keep track of where I was, and they all nodded, knowing that story already.

"So I though of Spot," I said, turning to Elisabeth.

"So there I was. The alpha had just told me I was supposed to follow orders from a fox, this little tiny fox, and practically the first thing she asks me is, 'can you catch a deer?' Of course I can catch a deer! But then she said, 'Please don't hurt her, she's my friend.'"

There was laughter at that. I spoke up. "I know it's strange to a wolf to call a deer a friend, but she was, to me. I understand she wouldn't be to you. I know; that makes me strange. But it's not like I could eat an entire deer! I can't even eat an entire rabbit by myself and have to share it with the pack."

"We tracked the deer using the computer," Elisabeth said. "And when we get out of the car, the fox tells me to shift, but she'll stay on two feet so she can tell me where to go and so she can remove the tracking collar once I catch the deer. And I'm following the fox, and she tells me how far to the deer, a deer I can't smell or hear. We get closer, and again, she tells me exactly where the deer is. We get closer, and closer, and finally I can smell the deer. Then she says, Go get her, but remember, don't hurt her."

There was more laughter.

"But I am wolf, and I will not be outdone by a stupid deer. I catch her, and I wrestle her to the ground, and she's kicking and trying to get away, and it's like I'm on a wild bucking bronco, and all I can think is, Little Fox, I caught it, now hurry up!

"So that is how me, sister to the alpha, ended up wrestling a deer to the ground but didn't share her with the pack afterwards."

They liked the story. One of the kids asked when I was going to see Spot next.

"I probably won't," I said. "She isn't wearing a tracking collar anymore, and she has a big range, so finding her would be tricky. I told her goodbye when Elisabeth let her up."

We sat down, receiving our applause. Lara kissed my cheek and asked for another story. We heard a few more stories before she stood up again.

"We had some real fun today, didn't we?" They all agreed with her. "Our little fox was pretty amazing, wasn't she?" They all thought I was. "Did you all enjoy watching me chasing after her futilely, crashing into the some of you, the cars, and even the steps once?" They did.

"Well, remember to thank her then. Enjoy the bonfire."

After that, I stared into the fire. Elisabeth wandered away and came back with a beer. I stole it from her and drank it. She gave me a hard time but then fetched another beer. I got sleepy and told her I was going to bed.

By morning, I had mostly shaken off my doldrums. I was fox, after all, and most of the time, I was okay with that. But I decided I needed to return to Bayfield and my old life. The excitement was over, and now things could be normal again.

Convincing Lara of that was to be a trick.

For one thing, she left early in the morning. She had business in Madison. Elisabeth was gone, too, and I didn't think it was fair to talk about it to anyone else. I found myself with nothing to do. I wasn't used to that.

Lara's business, it turned out, was backed up badly. She didn't get home until late. She came to bed and cuddled me, moaning a little. "Long day," she complained. "And I have more tomorrow." She didn't ask me about my day.

We held each other for a while. She started to drift off when I asked her, "Who do I talk to for a ride home? Or do you want me to get a bus?"

She opened her eyes and looked at me, puzzled. "Are you in a hurry to leave?"

"I am fully recovered and I have a job to get back to."

"It'll wait a few more days. We can talk about it this weekend."

"Don't worry about it I guess, Alpha."

She fell asleep moments later, and I lay there awake.

She left early again on Thursday, taking Elisabeth with her. I was very frustrated. I had given Gia her phone back, I hadn't had a chance to replace my own. I didn't have a car, either, and didn't know what I could afford. I needed to get home and start getting everything handled.

No one was in the house. When I stepped outside, I didn't find anyone, either. I didn't know where anyone lived, and I was becoming frustrated. I remembered the other building was referred to the barracks. I headed over there and stepped inside. I didn't see anyone, but I said, "Hello? Anyone here?"

Jason appeared. "Hey. I need a ride to the bus depot in Madison. Who do I have to talk to?"

"The alpha."

"She doesn't seem to want to talk about it. Is there anyone else?"

"The alpha."

"Thank you for being so helpful, Jason. I guess I'll hitchhike back to Bayfield."

I turned my back on him and stormed out of the barracks.

It took him a few seconds to think about it, but then he exited the barracks behind me and ran to catch up to me. He grabbed my arm and tried to turn me to face him.

"Michaela, you can't hitch to Bayfield."

"Sure I can. I just stand alongside the road, flash some leg, and stick out my thumb. No worries."

I turned around and began walking. He grabbed my arm again, tugging on it.

"You can't, Michaela!"

"What is this word 'can't' that people try to use around me?" I asked. "Watch me."

"What I mean is, if the alpha gets back, and you are not here, anyone who helped you leave is going to be in serious trouble."

"Well, as I am walking, then I'm the one in trouble. I don't think it will bother me."

"If the alpha asks where you are, then I will have to say, She hitchhiked home. And then the alpha will ask me why I didn't stop you. And after that she will fry my liver for dinner."

"Where is the part where you ask her how well it's gone for her trying to stop me from doing what I intend to do?"

"You know how angry she'll be, Michaela. Do you think she'll listen to reason?"

"All right, Jason. You're right. You talked me out of it. Go back inside."

He sighed and pulled his phone from his pocket. He typed in a text to Lara, showing it to me. "Fox threatening to hitchhike Bayfield. Orders?"

"Tattle-tale," I complained childishly.

"Will you at least wait for a reply?" he asked me.

I sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm in a pissy mood. I'm ready for my life to be my own again and not have to 'ask alpha' if I can breathe."

Jason's phone buzzed. He read the text and showed it to me. "Tell her we'll discuss it this weekend."

"May I have the phone, Jason?"

"If you promise to take responsibility for what you send back."

"Of course." He handed me the phone, and I replied, "Fox typing now. See previous question." I hit send then showed it to him.

We waited for another reply, which didn't improve my mood. I was about ready to hand Jason's phone back to him and begin walking when the phone rang. I handed it to him.

"Yes, Alpha," he said answering it.

"Put her on please, Jason," she told him. He handed me the phone.

"Lara," I said in greeting.

She took a breath. "I don't have time for this right now, Michaela. Can we please talk this weekend?"

"Alpha," I replied. "I know your job is important, and that mine is not, and that your life is important, and mine is not. I understand how unreasonable it is for me to ask you to spend fifteen seconds asking Jason to drive me to the bus station and loaning me enough cash to get home. I am perfectly fine hitchhiking. I'm sorry to have taken your valuable time."

Jason took a deep breath of air listening to the way I was addressing the alpha, but she rolled with it. "Michaela, the pack owes you a car. I wanted to take you out to buy one on Saturday."

"The pack doesn't owe me a car, but even if it did, why couldn't we talk about it last night?"

"I don't have time to convince you right now. Which is why I want to talk about it this weekend. I didn't talk about it last night because yesterday I told Elisabeth I'd give you David's old car, but she pointed out you may not appreciate it. Then I said I'd have someone buy you a new car and deliver it today, and she started to tell me what a bad idea that was, but then we got interrupted and couldn't finish the conversation. We finished it today. I am out of time. Give the phone back to Jason, please."

Silently I held it to him then listened to the conversation. "Ask her to stay. If she won't, offer to drive her or loan her a car. Make sure she has enough cash to last a few days." And then she hung up.

He turned to me and opened his mouth. "I heard her. What am I supposed to do for two days?"

"Before the kids were kidnapped, weren't you nearby doing your job? And when they stole your car, you lost everything?"

I smiled, then frowned. "I need supplies I don't have."

"For taking water samples?" I nodded. "We have a school here. It's small, but they teach biology and chemistry. And maybe you should talk to Francesca. This sounds like an amazing field trip, if you think teaching a bunch of wolves about your job would be fun."

"It's a boring job, Jason. I love it only because it offers an amazing amount of freedom and the opportunity to be outside most of the time."

"I think we should go to the school and see."

I pulled the phone out of his hand. "Offering Francesca kid field trip re: Fish and Wildlife. Fox." Ten minutes later while we were talking to Francesca, Jason showed me the reply. "Thank you."

Jason led me into the school building then we roamed until we found Francesca with a small collection of students in one of the classrooms. We stood outside the door and watched; she was teaching a math class. The kids in front were paying attention to the class; the kids in back were working on some assignment. She saw us and interrupted the lecture to stop outside.

"Problem?"

Jason explained what was going on. Francesca smiled. "Oh wow. Yes, that would be great. Let's see what the kids think. If not, I'll have the older kids help the younger kids while we find supplies for you from the biology supply room."

We stepped back into the classroom. "Kids, you all know Ms. Redfur. What you don't know is that she works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department. Ms. Redfur was about to go out into the field for her job, and she thought perhaps you might like to join her. What do you think?"

Stupid question. Sit in class or go out into the field? The response was overwhelming.

Francesca let them buzz with each other for a minute before she told them all to calm down, and the discipline was amazing. They immediately settled back down with no fuss. "Now, this isn't just a picnic. This is part of your education. You will need to listen to Ms. Redfur while she teaches you what she does, and then we'll all help her with her job. Ms. Redfur, would you explain what we're doing today?"

I wasn't a teacher. But I explained about the types of samples. Francesca then said, "If you can explain to them what you do with these samples, I can collect equipment. Jason, you can arrange transportation and food for lunch and afternoon snack."

She left me with the kids. I stared at them, and they waited expectantly. There were only eight kids, and I already knew Angel, Derek, Alan and Jeremy. There was one more teenager, then there was an age gap with the last three kids being between seven and ten. "All right. Before we talk about that, I think I want to know who all of you are. I already know some of you."

The other teenager was a girl named Scarlett. One of the little boys, Thomas, was her little brother. Jeremy and Alan had a little sister named Kaylee. The last boy, the youngest in the room, was Luke.

After that I told them what we were doing and tried to explain why.

Kaylee raised her hand. "Yes, Kaylee?"

"Do you carry a gun? Cops have guns."

"I have a dart gun," I said. I explained about tranquilizing animals so we could check how healthy they were.

The kids wanted to see the dart gun. I had to disappoint them. Derek asked if I wished I had a dart gun to shoot the alpha on Tuesday.

That filled the room with laughter. "It never occurred to me, Derek, but you can bet it will in the future."

They peppered me with questions for quite some time, and I didn't realize that Francesca had returned until she said, "All right, everyone run home and get proper shoes and clothing for a day in the field, then we'll all meet in the courtyard. Don't dilly dally. Go."

"You're good with them," she said once the room had emptied. "Here, this is what we have." She opened a cardboard box filled with stoppered vials and other supplies.

"Perfect," I said. "Do we have labels for marking them?"

"Yes, and pens, paper, clip boards." She showed me. She knew what she was doing.

"You are good at this."

"I should be. My college degree was in biology."

Twenty minutes later we had collected one more adult and were all piled into three SUVs.

It all took a lot longer than if I had gone alone. But the kids were sponges for the information I would give them, and I had no end of assistants begging to help take samples. The afternoon flew.

As we were climbing back into the cars for the ride back to the compound, Francesca said, "You have more to do. Were you going to do it tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Will you let us come? They're learning a lot about fieldwork. We have professionals in the pack who help teach classes in their fields, but we don't have anyone with a job like yours."

"I'd love to have company tomorrow," I told her.

She smiled. "I took extra samples at the polluted pond."

"I saw. Why?"

"Maybe in the morning you could come to the school and show us what you do. We have basic equipment. Is that enough?"

"Trying to turn me into a teacher?"

"I'm trying to take advantage of a unique opportunity."

"I'd love to show you. Francesca, thank you."

Wolf Games

Lara arrived home late on Thursday. She climbed into bed with me and asked, "Are we okay?"

"Are you mad at me?"

"No."

I rolled over in her arms and kissed me. "There's something we haven't done."

"There are a lot of things we haven't done."

"There is something we haven't done that we could do right now without leaving this bed. If you aren't too tired."

She smiled and pulled me into a more passionate kiss than our last one, her tongue flicking against my lips. I moaned and parted my lips, and her tongue slipped inside. She had a very clever tongue.

"Was this what you had in mind, little fox?"

"Not exactly," I said. "What I had in mind involved me touching you in more places."

"Like this?" she asked, rubbing her hand over my chest. I was wearing one of her tee shirts, and she fondled my small breast through the cloth.

I accepted the attention for a moment, and she kissed a line of kisses up my neck and ear.

"That's nice," I said. "But what I was thinking of involved you lying on your back." I opened my eyes and pushed, trying to roll her over onto her back. She didn't budge. She smiled at me.

"I don't know," she said. "I sort of like this." Then her hand slipped under the tee shirt, and she began caressing my skin directly.

"I like this, too," I told her. "But I really think you'll like what I was thinking about."

"I really think you'll like what I'm thinking about," she replied.

I squirmed under her touch, and felt my nipples growing firm as her thumb rolled over one, then the other. In spite of sharing a bed, we hadn't done more than cuddling and kissing with some casual touching. This wasn't casual.

"Lara, I really want to be on top for this," I told her.

"Oh honey, you know by now that's not how this relationship is going to work."

"Alpha," I said. "Don't get heavy handed with me."

She bent down and kissed me. "I'm not. I'm pretty sure you think my hand is just perfect right now."

I squirmed and gasped as she pinched a nipple, just perfectly.

"See?" she said.

"Lara," I said. "I wasn't thinking about sex."

Her hand stilled and pulled out from my shirt. "What were you thinking of then?"

"I was going to start a tickle fight."

She laughed. "Seriously?"

"If you start one, it would be you being a bully. If I start one, that's different."

She lay back down, pulling me into her arms. "You understand any competition like that between us would be very one sided. It's not in my nature to do anything short of playing for keeps. I'm sorry. Wouldn't you get angry?"

"If you carry it too far, I would," I said. "But you wouldn't."

"Honey," she said. "If you started a tickle fight, I'd probably make you offer your throat before I stopped. I don't know if I'm even capable of taking less than total submission from you, once I get worked up."

"I'll make a deal with you, Alpha."

"Listening."

"Submission in the bedroom does not imply submission in the rest of my life. You will not take away from me control over my own choices."

"That will be difficult for me," she admitted.

"If I'm not worth the effort, then you're not very serious about making this work for both of us."

"All right, little fox. But you must agree to be patient with me."

"Agreed. So, ready for me to start that tickle fight?"

She laughed, then slid her hands down my arms and clasped my wrists. "We could just go straight to the final conclusion." She shifted her weight, pinning my arms to the bed by my sides, and moved a leg on top of me.

"We could," I said. "But if I don't get at least a little fun my way, first, I probably won't be able to enjoy it when you have yours."

She laughed and released my wrists. When I pushed her onto her back, she let me. I climbed on top of her and took her wrists. She very complacently allowed me to move her hands above her head. Then I lay myself along her body, my head just under her chin.

"This doesn't feel like a tickle fight, Michaela," she said. "You smell nice."

I moved my hands from her wrists to her strong shoulders. "Will you leave your hands there for me for just a minute?"

"Maybe not a whole minute."

"I don't need a whole minute." I kissed the underside of her jaw. "Lara, please don't jump this to sex tonight. I still want to be courted. All right?"

"All right."

"So, I'm about to surprise you. Are you ready?"

"I don't think it's a surprise if you tell me you're about to tickle me, Michaela."

My head was still under her chin and my hands on her shoulders. I dug my hands in and shifted. Once shifted, I lay on her chest, my furry belly pressed against her, my forepaws still on her shoulders, and my muzzle right over her throat. I opened my jaws and quickly pressed them against her neck.

She reacted instantly. She growled, grabbed my scruff, and pulled me off her. Immediately I found myself on my back, my feet in the air. I was expecting it and lifted my chin, offering my throat to her. She didn't wait, diving her head down to my throat and opening her mouth wide.

I waited two seconds while pinned on my back before I whimpered. Lara lifted her mouth from my neck then kissed me.

"You are a very sneaky fox," she said, laughing.

I shifted back to human and lifted my chin. She kissed my throat, and I wrapped my arms around her. "Now I've had my teeth on not only Elisabeth's throat, but yours too."

Giggling, we cuddled in and slept.

In the morning I went downstairs with her. While she and Elisabeth were eating their breakfast I stepped over to Lara and interrupted, making a point of looking at her throat critically.

"What are you doing?" she asked me.

"My fox teeth are pretty sharp. I wanted to see if I'd left any marks."

Elisabeth howled with laughter.

Lara gracefully pulled me onto her lap and kissed me. Then with Elisabeth watching, I lifted my chin and accepted a kiss on my throat. When I looked over at her, Elisabeth was smiling at us.

"Do I get the entire story?" she asked. "I know she didn't submit to you."

"She obediently lay on her back when I told her to and then let me lower my head to her throat."

Lara laughed. "There are some important details missing in that version of the story, I think."

"I imagine there are," Elisabeth said. "Now we've both had that little fox's teeth on our necks, sister."

"She is far too clever for her own good," Lara admitted. "That's one of the things I love most about her." She kissed me again while I clung to her. "I need to go, Michaela. I will send a car for you for dinner. Dress nice."

"That will be difficult," I said. "As I don't have any clothes here beyond the ones Gia bought me. Furthermore, you suck at courting."

"I do not suck at courting!"

"You ordered me to dinner. I am pretty sure courting involves invitations, not orders."

Elisabeth laughed. "You are so screwed, sister. Are you sure you want this one? She's a lot of work."

"I think she's worth it," Lara said. That felt really nice, and I pressed myself against her more tightly, burying my face against her neck. "If I feel your teeth, little fox, you will be on your back in the courtyard with the entire pack watching and my teeth on your neck."

"Just holding," I said. "I would love to go to dinner with you, but it has to be casual."

"We'll talk about the car tonight. And other things."

"You don't owe me a car."

"We do. We'll discuss it tonight. Why didn't you call me yesterday instead of storming off?"

"No phone. I haven't replaced mine yet because I've been confined to the compound. No cash, no credit cards, no ID, no purse. I need to get to Bayfield so I can start fixing that. They know me at the bank, and I can start there. I wanted to do all that today so I was ready to go back to work on Monday."

"All right. Dinner tonight. Car shopping tomorrow. I hope you will stay overnight tomorrow night. It's pack play night. You can drive your new car to Bayfield on Sunday."

"All right," I said. "But only because you asked nicely."

I spent the day with Francesca, Jason and the kids. We started in the biology lab, and I taught them about pollution and studying the effects. I kept the lecture short, then together we tested the water. I showed them one sample that was full of bacteria, and Angel asked, "Why do we care about bacteria. It's not a threat to weres."

"Maybe true," I said. "But I work for the human government. And the humans care."

Scarlett raised her hand. "Ms. Redfur, I care about the bacteria. My Dad is human, and I wouldn't want him to get sick."

I didn't know that was possible. So I asked, "Who here has a human family member or friend?" I raised my hand. Several hands went up. "So we care because we have friends and families we care about. But even when we don't know anyone personally who might be affected, we should still care."

"Why?" Asked Derek.

"Because we all want the world to be a better place. And pollution makes the world a worse place."

I think they understood that.

Finally, though, we got out to the field. They already understood what we were doing, so I ended up with a lot of little helpers, and I sent them collecting more data and samples than I would normally get. I didn't know that I would use all of it, but it was good practice for them.

Francesca said, while we were watching the kids scurry to do my bidding, "We should check everything immediately around the compound, too. It's our home, and it would be great experience for the kids to monitor the standards over time. Would you talk to the alpha about setting up a formal program?"

"I'll bring it up over dinner."

The kids turned out to be real help, and we finished much faster than we'd been on Thursday. Angel and Scarlett had been especially helpful with all the other kids, and I appreciated what they did.

As we were wrapping up and getting everyone into the cars to head back to the compound, Angel asked if she could talk to Francesca and me for a minute. "Mom," she said. "You know I like the sciences."

Francesca smiled proudly at her daughter.

"I bet I could keep up with my other work for school even if I didn't attend classes."

Francesca's smile evaporated instantly.

"Wait!" she said. "Hear me out, Mom." Then she turned to me. "I want to be your assistant." She turned back to her mother. "I'll do all my homework and take all the tests."

"Angel," I said gently. "I live in Bayfield. That's a long way from here. I couldn't come get you every day. I couldn't come get you very often at all, because I don't come down this far very often at all."

"I could," she said hesitatingly, "Maybe live with you."

I glanced at Francesca, judging her body language. She wasn't rejecting the idea.

"Maybe not all the time. Maybe part time. One week in Bayfield, one week back here. Mom, you could buy me a car. I have my license. I could drive back and forth myself. Or maybe the alpha would let me go with her when she goes up."

"The alpha is not your taxi driver, Angel," Francesca said sternly. "We will not be asking her to provide transportation for you."

Angel turned back to me. "I am sixteen. I will do whatever you tell me, even when I don't like it. I'll do all the gross jobs you don't want to do as long as you promise to teach me everything you can. And take me kayaking."

I laughed at that.

Francesca said, "Angel, I think we could talk about this, but we're not at all sure Ms. Redfur wants an assistant."

They both turned to me.

I thought about the issues. I actually kind of liked the idea. I liked Angel, and her excitement was infectious. "I don't have any money to pay an assistant, Angel."

"I wasn't expecting you to pay me," she said. "It would be like one of those, you know, unpaid internship things."

"I have a great deal of leeway when I am in the field," I explained. "But I spend one to two days in the office. I would need to talk to my boss about that."

"We could not do this without the alpha's approval," Francesca said. "But if she were to approve, she can probably pull some strings to make sure there is no problem from your boss, Michaela."

I thought about the difficulties in having a teenage wolf living in my house.

"I have deep misgivings about a teenage driver driving six hours each way, especially with winter coming." I looked at Francesca. "That's my biggest concern. I would be responsible for deciding whether it was safe for her to drive home, and I am not sure I'm qualified to judge for her when the weather is less than perfect."

"Actually," said Francesca. "Angel is an excellent driver and has a good head on her shoulders. I would trust her to use her own judgment. If the roads are unsafe, she knows not to drive on them. If she drives into bad conditions, it would be her mistake, not yours. Remember, she is a wolf. It is very difficult to kill one of us in a car accident. She is not as delicate as a fox, Michaela."

"I have two other concerns," I said. "Teenagers are messy. My house is small."

"I'm not," Angel said. "I am a total neat nick. You can see my room at home. And I keep it like that because it is important to me, not because Mom makes me. In fact, I'll probably drive you crazy, because I'll probably clean the entire house."

"And that is a problem, why?" I asked, smiling.

"You might get upset when I steal the plates off the table before you finish eating. Gia hates it when I do that. But I can help around the house and run errands and stuff."

"If we do this," Francesca said. "You will also do the grocery shopping. Using the credit card I give you." Francesca looked at me. "I don't believe you want the responsibility of paying the grocery budget for a teenage wolf."

I laughed. She was right.

"All right," I said. "My last concern is, what if it doesn't work out? I am used to living alone. What if it bugs me having someone in the house all the time? I am used to things being very quiet. Maybe you're loud, or maybe want to talk when I don't."

"Then we'll address those issues like adults, and if we can't make it work, then at least we tried, and I'll still have learned something in the meantime."

"But you will hate me if I send you home."

"Not if you treat me like an adult," she said. "At least we'll have tried it. Even if we only do it a few weeks. I bet you have a backlog of work because you've been gone."

I looked at Francesca. "She's good."

"She is. What do you think?"

I looked at Angel. "If your mother approves, and the alpha approves, and my boss approves, then I am willing to give it a trial go."

"Yes!" Angel said, jumping into the air and pumping her fist. "Mom, say yes. Say yes. Say yes!"

"Yes," said Francesca. Angel went nuts with glee, garnering significant attention from the other kids.

"I'll talk to the alpha at dinner," I said. "And my boss on, I suppose, Tuesday."

"She'll have a credit card," Francesca said. "She will pay all her own expenses with it and buy groceries for both of you. She is very responsible, and if she wants something that I may not approve, she will call me. It is not your responsibility to police her."

"What about, um. Social opportunities?" I asked.

"She can socialize with her pack," Francesca said. "Is that a problem, Angel?"

"No, Mom."

And, just like that, I had a minion. I liked the idea.

Even though I was dressed casually, Jason drove me to dinner that night in the limousine. I thought it was silly, but I was touched when I climbed into the back and there were flowers waiting for me. I cradled them during the drive. We kept the divider open and talked during the drive.

Dinner was at another pack restaurant, a casual barbeque place. Lara was waiting on the sidewalk when we drove up. She offered a quick kiss on the sidewalk and drew me inside. We took a place in the corner, and she let me have my back to the wall again.

"Does it bother you having your back to the room?" I asked.

"Not particularly. You're doing so much better around the wolves, but I know we still make you nervous."

"I am getting better. I barely hesitated when we stepped in." I glanced down at the menus sitting between us. "Do you like ordering for me?"

"I love it. May I?" I nodded.

I decided right then that I enjoyed letting her take care of me, as long as it was on my terms. I told her that and she laughed. "I like it, too. Even when it's on your terms."

I asked about her day. "I am caught up," she said. "All emergencies averted. May I come to Bayfield with you on Sunday and spend a few days?"

"No. But you may ask again after I have had a few days of down time. It's all been very intense and I need to let it all settle, like digesting a heavy meal."

"So a heavy meal for you is three chicken wings instead of two?"

"Exactly."

We smiled at each other, and I set my hand on the table, waiting for her to take it. She did, and that felt nice.

"We have things to talk about," she said.

"We do. I have two that you probably don't know about."

Her face clouded. "Did I do something else wrong?"

"No, I think you'll like these. They are for the alpha. Let's do the personal stuff first."

"All right. Car. You lost yours due to pack business. Do we need to argue that?"

"No. There are fine points, but no."

"You can't report it for insurance. Please don't ask."

"All right."

"Pack policy is that we ensure our members. We do not allow anyone to take a loss of this nature without reimbursement. Will you accept that the pack must reimburse you for the loss of your car?"

"I'm losing this argument. I don't like losing arguments, Lara."

"It's not an argument. It's an explanation."

I nodded acquiescence.

"Now, you could argue that your car was getting on in years, and that the most we owe you is replacement cost. I am going to suggest that the pack owes you a whole lot more than a car due to what you did for us and what you went personally through to do it. So I am going to propose that you allow us to buy you a new, proper car, suitable for your needs, as well as some future favors as yet undetermined."

"That was vague."

"I may want to upgrade your house. Finish the basement. Put in an apartment over the garage. Add a security system."

"If I tell you no?"

"It's your house. We will discuss it."

"Does discuss mean ram it down my throat?"

"No. I will explain what I want and why. You will not say no because you are refusing the expense. If you say no, it's because you don't want whatever it is I want. Maybe you don't want the basement finished. Maybe you hate security systems."

I thought about it. "As long as you aren't going to just start doing stuff to my house."

"Whenever we come to visit, if there are things that are broken, I am going to ask someone to fix them."

"I can take care of my own house."

"I know you can, but it gives the guys something to do and it makes me feel good."

I laughed. "All right. But it's my house."

"Your house. What kind of car are we buying tomorrow?"

"I hate saying this. An SUV."

"I thought so, but why do you hate it?"

"The crappy mileage. But my job requires me to be able to go off road. I need something that can haul my kayak and I sometimes have to haul a small boat trailer."

"So a small SUV with a rack for a kayak-"

"Two kayaks."

"And a trailer hitch. Best mileage, but good off road performance is important."

"I don't go hill climbing or intentionally looking for mud, but I hate getting stuck."

"Any other features?"

"I hate ABS brakes." She laughed. "I don't care about style, but not white. And I don't want something you're going to freak out if I scratch it up. Because I will. It's a working vehicle, not a show vehicle."

Lara smiled. "I thought this was going to be a fight."

"I have to keep you guessing."

"We have several pack members who are auto dealers. Do you mind if we use them?" I shook my head. "All right. What did you have for me?"

I told her first about Francesca's desire to monitor the environment in and around the compound. "That is a good idea. Will you submit a budget to me?"

"You mean tell Francesca you liked the idea and tell her you asked for a budget?"

She laughed. "Will you please run the program, Michaela?" She smiled. "It would be your tithe to the pack."

I stared at her, not believing she suggested I owed tithe to the pack. Finally I said, "I am not yet acknowledging that I owe tithe to the pack. I will prepare a proposal. If it is accepted, we will discuss tithe at that time."

"Agreed."

Then I relayed the conversation regarding Angel.

"Wow," she said. "I didn't see that coming. As alpha, I deeply approve. As your friend, I have to ask, are you sure?"

"No," I said, and we laughed together. "Is she a good kid?"

"The best."

"Do I have to watch her?"

"No. She will need guidance for good judgment like anyone her age, but when she knows the right thing, she will do it. When she doesn't know the right thing, she will ask for guidance or do the best she can. You can trust her."

"Then I'm willing to try it. But Lara, this makes me concerned. I don't like the implications that the alpha is involved in decisions like this over pack members' private lives, especially when combined with your attempt to get me to agree I owe tithe. I don't like the implications at all."

She laughed. "Francesca gave me the option to veto this idea in case it was going to interfere with my efforts to get into your bed. If we didn't have a budding romantic relationship, it wouldn't have been any of my business. It is customary to inform the alpha about these things, but not seek permission."

"And you don't think it's going to interfere, hmm?"

"I am alpha. If I tell Angel to cover her ears, she will cover her ears."

I stared at her. "Oh my god, I can't believe you said that."

"Are you a screamer, little fox?"

"No."

"I bet I can make you scream."

"Keep talking like that and you won't find out."

She leaned forward, her gaze smoldering.

"Lara, are you going to expect me to start asking permission for everything I want to do?"

"No. I am going to expect you to discuss them with me, because they also affect me. I am going to expect you to allow me to take care of you. I am going to expect you to continue to be a pain in the ass about your personal safety, but I also expect you to keep the promise you made. Even though I cheated."

I stared at her. "Cheated?"

"Twice."

"Did anyone help you?"

"Elisabeth, indirectly. She helped me talk you into it. That was the first cheat. The second one you know, making the first part last a whole lot longer than we agreed."

"You found me without anything I could consider cheating?"

"Yes."

"Then tell me about Elisabeth's help."

"If the wager hadn't been so important, I would have let Elisabeth teach you a little humility instead of trying to do it myself."

"So what she said was a lie?"

"No. Anyone else would have been hampered to not hurt you. Elisabeth has enough control she wouldn't accidentally kill you, but she wouldn't hold back out of fear of hurting you, not with a wager of that size. She would try not to hurt you, but she would play to win."

"You didn't think she could win?"

"If you let her shift first, yes. But she doesn't shift instantly. And there was a chance you'd last long enough to do exactly what you did, and she wouldn't have found you."

"I thought you would make me fight Jason or Rory."

"I know you did. You would have won easily, so easily it might have been embarrassing to him."

"I don't know if I would have made the wager thinking I'd fight Elisabeth, but I know I wouldn't have if I had known it would be you."

"I know. Did you have fun? It seemed like you were having fun, but then you turned sullen."

"I was fine until I realized the symbolic meaning. Then I realized it was my life that we were playing over. Fox hunt. That was sobering and stole every bit of fun."

"I'm sorry. I didn't even consider that until you said it."

"It was my idea," I said. "And I made the wager too big you couldn't let me win, even if it were your nature to do so. Which I know it isn't. It's not my nature to let you win, either."

"When young wolves tussle and fight, is it for real?"

"No, it's mock," I said. "They aren't trying to really hurt each other."

"But it still serves a real purpose, doesn't it?"

"I suppose it teaches the skills they would need in a real fight."

"So because they agree it's not to the death, it's fun for them."

I stared at her. She was as sneaky as a fox.

"You had a fun time. If it weren't for the wager and the symbolism, would losing have bothered you as badly as it did?"

"No."

"Even if I made you offer your throat in front of the entire pack?"

"I've done it before." I considered where she was going with this. "You want to do it again."

She smiled. "Yes. And again and again until you consistently win."

"My winning depends on you not knowing my tricks. The more you know my tricks, the worse I am going to be. I can't run any faster than I do. I can't hide my scent any better than I do. I can't lay a false trail any faster than I do. You will get better and better at catching me, but I won't get better at evading you."

"I like catching you," she said. "I had a blast chasing you, even when I wasn't catching you."

"So I am just smart prey."

"No. You are the fox I love. The thought of you offering your throat is intoxicating. The thought of what you make me go through before you offer it is equally intoxicating."

"We'll see."

"One rule. If I tree you in the future, you will come down and surrender."

"All right. And if you ever pick the wrong tree, and I come down another tree, then you offer your throat. I win."

"You win, but not my throat."

"This rule doesn't apply to situations where I can escape."

"Like what?"

"A tree next to a building when I can jump to the roof. For instance."

"No dangerous jumps."

"Who decides what is dangerous?"

"You do, but you are honest about it. No stupid risks to win what is a game. Save the stupid risks for when it's real. With us, it's not real, even if we wager about it."

"All right." I sighed. "I will never do better than I did on Tuesday, unless I get remarkably lucky. You've seen all my tricks."

"Honey, I don't have a clue of half the things you do so I would lose your track. I just know how to find it again. I know you went through small spaces, and sometimes you came right back out the other side, sometimes you didn't. And then I circled around until I found your scent again."

"You track by scent?"

"Or sight, of course."

"Sound?"

"Yes, but you're so quiet. I don't believe I've ever heard you when I couldn't smell you, unless you were purposely making noise."

"You heard me splashing in a couple of streams."

"No."

I smiled. I move more slowly than I could often because I am concerned about making noise, but if I can make more noise safely, perhaps I can be faster.

It was time to change the subject. "What are we doing after dinner?"

"An age old tradition," she said. "We're going shopping!"

"Shopping?" I said, a look of uncertainty on my face.

"Shopping."

And so we did.

On Saturday, Lara bought me a nice little SUV. We got it outfitted exactly the way I wanted, even including a rack for two kayaks. It was my first brand new car, and I loved it. I felt marginally guilty, as I didn't think replacing my eight-year-old SUV with a brand new one was really right, but Lara told me to suck it up. It was helping her politically. My uncertain status in the pack was a complication.

"Why?"

"To the victor go the spoils," she said. "You are owed a portion of the spoils from David and Natalie, a fairly significant portion."

"You beat David on your own, and Natalie clubbed me senseless."

"I beat David only because you found the truth, and you slowed Natalie down enough that Elisabeth was able to kill her cleanly. You could argue for your share, but it is easier for me if you don't. The pack feels honor is handled without your uncertain status being a complication."

"Thank you for the car, Alpha," I told her. She hugged me and laughed.

Pack game night, it turned out, didn't include the entire pack. That would be hundreds of wolves. Instead it included the ones who lived at the compound plus a few others who stopped by.

Janice was there.

"Pack game night is our night to play," Lara told me. "We include the kids and play games they can enjoy. We let out our inner child."

Dinner was first, then everyone gathered in the courtyard. There were several piles of blankets on the porch; I didn't know what they were for. "What's the game tonight, Alpha?" asked Rory.

"One we haven't played in a while," Lara said. "Hide and seek."

My sister and I used to play hide and seek. The rules were simple. The game appeared to be popular, based on the smiles. The kids looked excited, but the adults seemed to be looking forward to it as well.

"For those who don't know," Lara said, looking straight at me. "We play within a defined territory. Tonight, that means no crossing roads. Half hour games or until everyone is caught except one. You get five minutes to hide and then you have to settle down. This isn't a game of chase. This is hide and seek, not run and seek. The referee howls when it's time to hide and howls again when the game is over. Even a human would hear the howl within the agreed territory. Once you are caught, you help catch other people. It is considered bad form to follow someone else while hiding."

"Do you keep score?" I asked.

"Yes. We'll play as many games as we can. Anyone who is not found the most times is the winner. After that, it's based on how many people you personally find."

"Does it ever go that someone isn't found?"

"Yes, most games end with a few still hiding, but sometimes we find everyone, sometimes even the last hiding person before we realize we were down to only one."

"So if you're caught, it is to your advantage to find as many other people as you can, because if they aren't found, they move ahead of you, and if you find them, you get a point."

"Right."

"Any forms of hiding that are illegal?"

"Stay out and off of the buildings and out of the trees."

"Does someone have to tag you to be considered caught?"

"Yes. That means, little fox, that it would be poor form to hide somewhere wolves can see you but not touch you."

"Darn it," I said. "There's a lovely culvert that's too small for the rest of you."

That earned me some laughter.

"Any more questions?" Lara asked. There weren't any. "All right, to start, I will be it. Who wants to be my partner?"

"I will," Gia offered immediately.

"And referee for the first game?"

"I can," said Serena, the mother of the two boys I had helped rescue.

"All right, everyone under the age of fourteen who wants to get a head start shifting, you may start now."

Janice stepped up to my side. "The first game will be chaotic. Not everyone can shift in five minutes, and only you and Lara are able to shift instantly. The little ones can take up to twenty minutes, and even some of the adults shift slowly. This one rarely goes the entire thirty minutes."

"So the five minute timer is going to start with everyone on two feet?"

"Just the first game."

"So I'll be the first to the woods."

"Yes."

"And you?"

Janice smiled. "I'll be second or third."

"No one will follow me?"

"It would be bad form, but I wouldn't put it past the alpha to have told someone to shadow you."

"If she told you that, would you admit it if I asked you?"

She laughed. "No."

"Thank you for the warning."

"You are welcome."

Serena was watching a timer. "Thirty seconds," she yelled.

"The referee is always someone who shifts quickly so she can be able to play the next game," Janice said.

"Ten seconds," said Serena.

"Good luck, little fox. There is a prize to the winner."

"Go!" yelled Serena.

All the other wolves immediately began stripping off clothes and lying down to shift. Lara winked at me. I didn't bother stripping. I ran towards the corner of Lara's house, then shifted on a bound, slipping out of my clothes easily. I was in the woods five seconds later.

I listened intently for pursuit but didn't even bother with my dirty tricks until I was sure I was at least a minute into the woods. Then I began using every dirty trick I knew, working my way around towards the east. I ran as fast as I could when not employing tricks, putting as much distance between myself and the rest of the wolves.

I heard a few wolves, well behind me, but didn't hear anyone on my back trail. When I thought I was about out of time, I started looking for a good hiding place. I found an overturned tree with a tangled root system, so I did my normal set of tricks then dropped down into a hole and hunkered down listening.

I heard a howl from the compound. From the sounds of it, a bunch of wolves hadn't finished shifting. I heard six clear barks from the same voice, one after another. Two minutes later from somewhere north of the compound I heard a bark that was clearly Lara's voice. I realized the bark was to identify a catch. I hadn't heard her enter the woods. I decided the first set of barks must have been Gia, tagging people in the compound.

I heard Lara bark twice more, moving away from me, and south of the compound I heard Gia bark once. I realized I should have listened more clearly to the barks; I wasn't counting.

Then I started hearing barks coming from more voices, one every minute or so on average. It wasn't until several minutes later, when at least half the pack must have been found, that I heard the first wolf at all close to me. I heard a chuff about four hundred yards, and I knew a wolf had found my back trail.

The trail he had found was a false trail, and now that I knew where he was, I could track him, weakly at first, then more easily. I could tell when he lost my trail. He wandered in circles trying to pick it back up before giving up and running off in the wrong direction.

I heard a few more barks, including one more from Lara, and then I started hearing more wolves. They weren't moving that quietly. Twice a wolf found one of my false trails and got led off in the wrong direction. Once a wolf found my correct trail but lost it when I had shifted directions under a fallen tree.

Then, quietly, I heard a wolf come from the south, a direction I hadn't even traveled, but from the sound of it, she was going to pass right over my trail.

I knew it when Lara found my main trail. She chuffed loudly, which actually may have saved me. The wolf that was about to find my trail veered off towards Lara's voice. Then Lara moved closer. She lost me twice. Once another voice helped her find my trail again; the other time she did. She had two wolves with her, and they were easily going to find me. Still, I waited.

They lost me at the tree whose roots were hiding me. I listened to intent sniffing. they knew I was close, and they should have been able to find me easily. The two wolves with Lara kept ranging away, trying to pick up my scent, but it kept bringing them back to the big jumble of roots. Rather than finding me, they stepped away, sniffing all over the place.

And then I looked up, and Lara was looking straight into my eyes. She chuffed with glee.

I waited for her. She had to tag me, after all.

The other two wolves tried to find a way through the roots on the ground. I tucked my tail in tightly, and they couldn't reach me. Lara stood over me, staring down at me, then she joined the other two, trying to tag me. They spent several minutes at it, but they couldn't reach me.

Lara jumped back up where she could see me and shifted.

"No cheating, little fox. Come on out."

I stared up at her. It wasn't this difficult. She shouldn't accuse me of cheating. I would have shifted and told her that, but the space was way too small for me to shift. All she had to do was use her nose to find my route in and she would have me.

"Come on, Michaela. We found you. Climb out of there."

I put my head on my chin.

"Seriously?" She looked angry. I yawned at her.

Then there were two barks.

"Come out right now, Michaela!" she ordered.

There was another bark and immediately I heard Serena howl. Game over.

"You and I are going to have words," she said. "Game over, get out of there." She addressed the other two wolves. "Head back to the compound. We'll be there once I get the little fox out of her hole."

I immediately began whining and yelping like I had been hurt.

"Wait," she told them. As soon as they froze, I stopped whining. Then I chuffed happily and made my way out of my hiding spot, taking a route no one had even tried.

As soon as I was clear, I shifted and said, "Alpha, I will accept your judgment. I may not know the rules properly. Am I obligated to make it easy to find the same path in that I took?" Then I shifted back and climbed back into my spot. Lara shifted and tried to follow me. She wouldn't have been able to hide where I was, but she reached forward and licked my muzzle before backing out. I followed her and then rolled over on the ground and offered my throat.

She bent down and licked my face, chuffed twice, and led the way back to the compound. Seeing us, Serena said, "Gia and Lara on the porch, please. Everyone who was caught, over here." She pointed to the left. "Whoever was the last one left, over there."

I walked to the porch, shifted, and grabbed one of the blankets. "Alpha?"

Lara grabbed a blanket and shifted as well. "The little fox, as you might have guessed, outfoxed me. I could see her, but we couldn't figure out how to get to her. I accused her of cheating. She hadn't cheated. She was just too foxy. You were not caught."

"Who was the last one caught?" I asked.

A wolf stepped out of the crowd who had been caught.

"That's Scarlett," Lara said.

"Alpha, I do not want Scarlett to miss a win on what may be a too foxy trick. I will switch places with her, with your permission."

"Very gracious," said Serena. "Alpha?"

"Point to both Scarlett and Michaela," Lara declared. Scarlett howled once and pranced over to join me, butting her head into my hip and nearly knocking me over.

After that, Serena got tallies from everyone for who caught how many. Gia got the most because of the slow shifters she was able to tag immediately. Lara was next, and then the rest had one or two, if any at all.

"All right, who was caught first?"

A little wolf stepped forward.

"Gia," Lara said sadly. Gia hung her head then stepped forward and licked the little wolf.

"All right, Kaylee needs a partner."

"I will," I said before anyone could speak up.

Lara turned to me. "I would have thought you would want to go hide again."

"Kaylee and I will make a great team."

"Kaylee and Michaela are it. Do we have a volunteer referee?"

An adult wolf stepped forward, and Lara said, "Thank you, Janice." She looked over, and Serena had finished shifting. "I'll start the timer while Janice is shifting. Everyone get ready, go!"

I never saw a pack of wolves run away faster.

I listened intently, trying especially hard to track Lara. She exited to the north but I heard her circle east, putting distance between herself and the other wolves, running quickly. But it turns out, she didn't actually go that far from the compound. I smiled when I heard her settle in.

Janice finished her shift and grabbed a blanket.

"Kaylee," I said. "Do you want to catch the alpha first?"

She chuffed at me.

I turned to Janice. "Can we step onto the grass?"

"Not yet."

"Kaylee, as soon as Janice howls, we're going to go onto the grass together. Then I'm going to point you straight towards the alpha and tell you how far she is. Can you find her?"

She chuffed.

"Good girl." I hugged her quickly.

"Ten seconds," Janice said. There was a pause, and she howled.

"Come on, Kaylee," I said. I stepped into the grass towards the side of Lara's house, Kaylee following me. I cocked my head, then pointed Kaylee's head directly towards Lara's hiding place. "Kaylee, she's two hundred and fifty yards hiding under an evergreen tree. She thinks the smell will throw you off. Can you find her?"

She chuffed and took off running.

"Come back when you find her, Kaylee!" I yelled after her. She chuffed.

I listened to Kaylee searching for Lara, pinpointing the locations of six more wolves that were close and approximate locations on several more.

"Aren't you going to shift and search?" Janice asked.

"Not yet. I take it Gia should have tagged an older child first."

"A couple of adults shift slowly, too," Janice said. "Gia probably forgot. She wouldn't have picked on Kaylee."

I heard when Kaylee found Lara. She barked, and I could tell she was excited. Kaylee raced back here, and I heard Lara begin moving north.

Kaylee ran right to me and I pointed her. "Jason is that way, only ninety yards, but he is in a good hiding place. He might be hard to find. If you can't find him chuff three times and I will come help."

She ran off.

Lara caught one, then Kaylee caught Jason. Jason headed south and Kaylee ran back to me. I pointed her to a new wolf. "I don't know who this is, and it's four hundred yards near a stream."

She chuffed and ran.

"How are you doing that?" Janice asked?

"Fox tricks," I said.

Lara found another one, and I heard a bark from a wolf I didn't recognize.

"That was Angel," Janice said.

"Thanks. Are you allowed to give me time updates?"

"Not normally, but I like what you're doing for Kaylee. Seven minutes elapsed."

Kaylee found someone and barked. She ran back. I pointed her. "In the ditch next to the road, hunkered down really well, but only seventy five yards. It's downwind, Kaylee, you might have to go past and circle back." She ran off.

"Eight minutes," said Janice. "Few wolves would do what you're doing."

"Few can."

"True."

Kaylee found her target, barking once, and ran back. I sent her after one more target.

"Can you call the alpha back without howling" I asked Janice.

"No, but you can. Start yipping, she'll come."

So I did, as loudly as I could, five quick yips. Lara didn't answer, but soon I heard a wolf running at top speed for the compound.

Kaylee couldn't find her target.

"Twelve minutes," said Janice. Lara came racing into the clearing.

"Alpha, please shift." She immediately shifted, still running to me.

"What's wrong?"

"Lara, will you help me get Kaylee the biggest score we can?"

She smiled. "You are too sweet."

"Someone is hiding in my last spot. Help Kaylee get the credit then find me four hundred yards north."

Still wrapped in the blanket, I ran for the wolf Kaylee couldn't find. "Kaylee to me!" I yelled. Lara shifted back to wolf and raced ahead. Kaylee ran to me and I pointed where the hiding wolf was. Kaylee ran forward, tagged and barked.

"Kaylee, stay with the alpha now." She chuffed, and Lara ran off at a pup's pace, Kaylee racing madly after her. I moved another three hundred yards north and began listening.

It was harder now. The wolves were hunkered down, but they weren't used to being as quiet as they needed to hide from me. I found four more. I moved towards the nearest one.

In the distance, I head Kaylee bark. When I could hear Lara heading towards me, I yipped twice to help her find me, then twice more when she got closer.

"Kaylee," I said, pointing her. "Twenty yards."

She ran forward and got the point.

"Lara," I said, pointing. "Fifty yards."

Lara chuffed and took off with Kaylee following her, panting like crazy.

I kept moving forward, pointing out targets, but finally told Lara, "I can't find anymore, they're too far. I'll head west if you head north, I'll tag whoever I find."

She chuffed, and she and Kaylee headed north.

While searching west, I found a pond. I eyed it and smiled, then kept looking. I found a wolf, tagged, and barked, then there was another bark from Lara and Janice howled. Game over. I ran back to the compound, collecting the blanket and shifting so I could carry it wrapped around me.

We had caught everyone. Janice hadn't heard my bark, so the one Lara caught would have won. It was Elisabeth. Lara barked for Kaylee, as Kaylee's voice wouldn't have traveled far enough.

Final score for that game: Kaylee got fourteen, half the available points. She was prancing all over the yard, tickled pink. Lara gave Kaylee the point for finding Elisabeth but Elisabeth the win.

"Who was caught first?" Janice asked. She already knew the answer.

"I was," Lara said. "But I've already been it."

"Second?" Janice asked. Jason stepped forward. "Who wants to partner with Jason?" Elisabeth joined him.

"Two enforcers starting us out," Janice said. "We need a referee. I'll shift."

Emanuel stepped forward to referee. Lara thanked him, glanced at Janice, who was still shifting, and started the clock. "Go!"

I immediately took off south then cut to the ditch along the road. There was a culvert that I ran through, allowing me to run to the north without exposing myself to Elisabeth and Jason. I didn't bother hiding my trail but ran straight to the pond I had seen, cutting across the west corner. I set a false trail away from it then a real one north. I used the fallen tree trick, then used my back trail back to the pond, slipping back into the water and began swimming.

The beauty of the pond: there was a fallen tree with one end in the pond, the other end on shore. There were rushes growing all around it near shore, but a gap between it and the water. I swam to it and slipped underneath it, finally finding a place where I could rest with just my eyes, ears and nose out of the water.

Scent track me, will they?

Emanuel howled, but it was several minutes before I heard the first bark. It was from Jason. I didn't hear Elisabeth right away.

Barks came slowly at first. I heard one from Elisabeth, and I realized she had gone south. Then I heard her racing at full speed along my trail. She got to the pond and began sniffing all around the pond, going the wrong way first, and passing within five yards of where I was hiding in the water. She found both of my trails and took the strongest one. She disappeared to the north. Five minutes later, she was back and immediately took my other trail. After that she began circling my back trails, but she kept coming back to the pond, sniffing like crazy.

Finally she took off to the north, and several minutes later I heard her.

In the distance, I heard a bark from Lara. I wasn't listening for any other barks, so I had no clue how things were going.

Another wolf came backwards along my trail from the north. I couldn't tell who it was. That wolf spent time trying to find me before running off for easier prey.

Then I heard Elisabeth chuffing and Lara answering. They came closer, and the two of them set about trying to find me.

They both kept checking both my trails and all my false leads. At one point Lara ran back down the ditch and checked inside the culvert. I suppose it would have been fair if I'd been just inside the culvert within touching range. She could tell I had run through but should have known I wasn't there. She came back.

When she got back to the pond, Lara jumped up onto the tree I was hiding underneath, causing it to dip precipitously. I stood in the water with my fur against the tree trunk and my nose barely out of the water. She was sniffing like crazy, but she still didn't find me.

The two of them ran north and I heard them circling around my trail, casting a wider and wider net.

Again they returned to the pond. Lara shifted and sat down on the tree. "She is just so damned sneaky," she said to Elisabeth. "I can still smell her here, but it's really faint."

Elisabeth chuffed.

Then Emanuel howled. Game over.

"Let's wait here a minute," Lara said. "We'll see where she comes from, if she's still anywhere near here. I can't believe it, but we should have found her trail again."

The two waited several minutes. I wasn't ready to give up my hiding place, so I waited right there. Emanuel howled again and Lara sighed. She shifted, and the two of them ran off.

I swam out from under the log and exited via my north trail. I ran a short ways away, shaking the water out, shifted, and wrung out my hair, then shifted back to fox. Then I ran south, crossing the pond, passing through the culvert, then coming out the other side and immediately turning into the courtyard. Lara was in skin by the time I arrived.

"The fox won. Again." Said Emmanuel. "Where were you, little fox?"

"I am particularly interested in that answer as well," Lara said. I shifted, and wrapped a blanket around me immediately, trying to hide that I was wet.

"Referee," I said. "Am I obligated to answer that?"

He laughed. "It's not in the rules."

"Little fox," said Lara. "Were you somewhere you shouldn't have been?"

"I did not break any rules I have heard about, except I ran through the culvert. Twice. Without pausing. I only did it so that Jason and Elisabeth wouldn't realize I was north. I saw how Elisabeth looked at me. I am taken to believe I can't hide somewhere small, but I can run through somewhere small."

"Yes, that's fair," Lara said. "It hasn't been an issue in the past. Where were you, little fox?"

"Lara, I will admit this. You passed with ten yards of me."

The entire pack began howling. When they finished I said, "Please tell me what that means, Alpha."

She laughed. "They are congratulating you on your cunning."

We had time for two more games. By now, I imagined it was getting harder and harder for the wolves, as tracks lead across more tracks, confusing all of the tracks. That didn't matter for me, but it might for them. Angel was it and Serena partnered with her. Gia offered to referee, but Lara asked one of the other adults to do it. Gia had already been it after all.

I decided if it had worked once, it would work twice. I took off north, immediately used my tricks, then splashed downstream to my own trail from the last game. I followed my old path to the pond and slipped into the water, barely making it to my hiding place before I realized that Lara and Elisabeth had followed me.

Oh, bad form, alpha, very bad form.

Lara shifted at the edge of the pond. "Damn it, we lost her again. Hell, go hide, we're almost out of time." Elisabeth ran off to the west and hid in the road ditch. Lara looked over the pond and said, "I know you're somewhere, little fox. I'll find you this time." Then she shifted and found a poor hiding place not far from the pond.

A certain pair of wolves were poor losers.

Lara was about the fifth wolf found, only because Angel and Serena went in other directions. It was Jason who found Lara. She immediately shifted and said, "The fox is around here somewhere."

He chuffed and followed my path to the culvert. I don't think he made a serious effort looking for me. It was a losing proposition. Lara shifted and found Elisabeth, and the two began combing the area for me again.

They searched the area intently. At one point, Lara ducked under the tree near shore, but she didn't step out into the water. That was the closest she came to finding me. When Rory howled, Lara shifted and said, "Damn it," to Elisabeth. "Little fox, come out!"

I was up three to at best, two, if someone else was also still hiding. I could volunteer to referee the last game. I chuffed.

"Oh that little shit," Lara said. "Elisabeth, did you hear that?"

She certainly had.

"She's here, somewhere."

I chuffed once more then grew still.

"Arrogant little fox!" Lara said, laughing. She shifted and began searching for me.

They used their noses. I let them search for a while. Then I began slowly easing out of my spot, swimming slowly towards the far shore. When I climbed out of the water, two wolves met me. They both chuffed, and Lara gave me a serious shoulder bump. I shook off, causing them to jump away from me. Lara growled and leapt at me, but I ducked under her and ran for the compound, two wolves in pursuit, nipping at my heels. They could easily have caught me, but they simply chased me into the compound.

Rory said, "You two found the fox?"

I shook off more water and stood in the winner's spot. Rory laughed. "I take it that's a no."

But I was wet and cold, and I didn't want to go back in the pond. I shifted and grabbed a blanket.

"I would like to either referee or be it for the last game," I said. "I've been it once, but I don't howl very well."

Lara shifted and grabbed her own blanket. "No problem. We already thought of that." She passed into the house and came back a few seconds later carrying an aerosol air horn. I saw what she had and laughed.

"Rory, start shifting," I said. Then I asked who had been caught first. It was Scarlett. Janice immediately offered to be it with her.

Rory was a slow shifter. Lara, a blanket around her shoulders, said, "My enforcers should shift faster than this. Referee, please start the timer."

"Ready, set, go!"

Lara whispered into Elisabeth's ear, "Come with me, Sister." She shifted and ran. I tracked their progress and laughed when I heard two wolf sized splashes into my pond.

"Janice," I said. "I suppose the referee shouldn't tell you where the alpha and her sister are."

She huffed at me. Scarlett walked over to me and offered me a pretty good beg. I laughed and checked the clock.

"I suppose even hinting wouldn't be fair," I said. "But I wonder if it's fair to steal my own hiding space from me, the one time I can't go pull them out."

Janice cocked her head and sniffed at me. I smelled like pond water.

"Janice, they were within twenty yards of me after the howl. I chuffed. Twice. And they still couldn't find me. However, it's not as good a spot for a wolf to hide as a fox, and they are two large wolves. I don't know how well they fit. It's up to you whether you want to try to find them."

Rory finally finished his shift. "One minute, Rory. Run fast," I said to his retreating back.

I looked at the air horn. I looked at the clock. "Scarlett, I don't want to blow this when there are sensitive wolf ears this close." In reality, I didn't want to blow it when there were sensitive fox ears, either. "Please howl for me in ten... five... Howl, Scarlett."

Her howl was fabulous, and the two of them took off. Janice made a bee line for the pond. Scarlett ran after Rory and forty seconds later was the first bark. I marked the paper to keep track.

Janice didn't find Elisabeth and Lara and gave up after several minutes. I heard her move off and was disappointed. My only consolation was knowing they were in the foul water, and it was probably more foul to their noses than mine. On the other hand, I wasn't sure I wanted to share a bed with the smelly wolf tonight.

I followed the progress. Hearing the barks was easy. When about twenty wolves were found and there was five minutes left, I heard Janice move back to the pond. There was a splash then I heard two barks from her.

The clock ran down. I stepped into the house, closing the door most of the way with my arm sticking out and hit the air horn.

It was still loud, and my hearing was shot for the next several minutes. I didn't think I could hear much better than a wolf. The wolves all collected and we discovered Angel, Jason and Serena had all remained well-hidden. Final score: fox three, several wolves one each. Kaylee didn't have the most finds, but she had the most of the little kids.

Lara and Elisabeth glared at me, but I said, "Hey, I didn't tell her where you were. Not exactly. In fact, I think I suggested your hiding spot was so good that it wasn't worth much effort."

With both wolves still in fur, I got dragged off the porch, laughing, and then Lara pinned me to the ground. Elisabeth sat on me until I offered Lara my throat. The faster shifters all started shifting. Lara and I sat on the porch steps together.

"That was fun," I said.

"Yes, it was," she agreed.

"Did you pick this game with me in mind?"

"Yes, but as you can see, it's popular. Most of our other games would have left you at a distinct disadvantage, and I didn't want that for your first pack game night. You will not perform well most nights, but I'll want you to participate and be cheerful about it."

"Of course."

"There are some games that are unhealthy for you. We won't play those when you're here."

Once Janice had shifted, I said, "Janice, you said something about a prize for the winner."

"Favor from the alpha," she said.

"Really?" I asked. "How large a favor?"

"Sometimes people ask for big favors. Wasn't it Bernie who asked for help starting his car dealership, Lara?"

"Yes," she said. "But he had a solid business plan, so it wasn't unreasonable. If it had been a poor business plan, I would have told him 'no' and explained why."

"Would you have granted it without the favor?" I asked.

"I don't know. I didn't know him well. I think I would have referred to it as pack business, but I financed him personally."

"What would be the smallest prize someone has asked for?"

Angel had shifted by now and heard my question. "I asked for a bowl of ice cream."

I laughed. "Did she give it to me?"

"She asked Mom first, but yes."

"How old were you?"

"Eight," she said. "It was hide and seek, and I had found a really good hiding place. I used it three times and no one ever found me."

"Do I hang onto this favor or am I obligated to ask right away?"

"It is customary to ask right away, although sometimes people ask if they can present their request tomorrow," said Lara.

"All right," I said. "Alpha, as my favor, will you take me to dinner at the Rittenhouse tomorrow evening?"

She stared at me, then smiled. "Little fox, I can't think of a favor I would more rather deliver."

Courting

"I want a second favor, Alpha."

"Oh? You only won a single favor."

"We both stink. Do you think we could take a bath together?"

She laughed. "Yes, I think that is an excellent idea."

"You'll have to wash my hair."

"I can do that."

"The hair on my head."

She pouted and went into the bathroom to begin drawing a bath for us.

Once we were in the bath, I told her, "The game tonight seemed a little-"

"Immature?"

"Yes."

"Did you have fun?"

"Yes." I laughed. "But I won. That makes it easier to have fun."

"Did it look like I had fun?"

"You were frustrated you couldn't find me."

"A little, but pride was a much bigger emotion than frustration. We were on top of you, I knew we were, and we couldn't find you. Turn around, I want to wash your hair."

I spun around and leaned against her while she washed. Her hands felt amazing. "Lara, I could get used to this."

"Good. So could I. How attached are you to your house in Bayfield?"

"It's too early in our relationship to talk about that."

"Please just answer."

"I like it. If I had occasion to move, I would be fine with that, too, but I will not be kept."

"Fair enough. Why else do you think we wolves play the games we play?"

"To teach the kids and to bind as a pack."

"What you did for Kaylee tonight, she will remember for the rest of her life."

"It was a small thing."

"Not to such a young child. It was the world. And she's special to you now, too, isn't she?"

I thought about it. "So are Angel, Gia and Francesca."

"Scarlett worships you now, little fox. And you and Janice are getting along, too," Lara pointed out.

"She impressed me tonight. I thought she was a bitch."

"She was. She can be. But she's not a bad person."

"A lot of binding going on tonight," I said.

"Afraid of us anymore?"

"No, but that's not entirely a good thing. Fear of wolves is a healthy instinct."

She finished with my hair. I leaned back and let her wrap her arms around me. I should have turned around and offered to wash her hair, but it felt so nice to let her hold me. We cuddled in the water, then I knew I had to take care of her before I could continue to relax.

"Switch," I said, spinning around and moving towards the other end of the tub. "I want to wash your hair."

She slid a foot between my legs. "I have something else in mind."

I grabbed the foot and put my fingernails over it. "Turn around, Lara, so I can wash your hair."

She laughed and spun around, backing up to me. I washed her hair slowly, massaging the scalp, her neck, and her shoulders. I leaned forward and kissed her shoulders, wrapping my arms around her for a moment, then began rinsing her hair for her. When I was done, I slid closer to her and leaned against her back, biting casually at a shoulder.

"Lara?"

"Yes, little fox?"

"We have a lot to work out between us."

"Not so much."

"You're going to wear me down. Is that your plan?"

She laughed. "Yes."

"Could you move to Bayfield? Honey, I really like Bayfield."

"Tomorrow?"

I laughed. "I want to know what's possible. Is that on the table?"

"I don't know. I can't even promise to give it serious consideration, mostly because I can't be alpha from up there for a pack that is primarily located down here."

"I don't want you to stop being alpha for it. So does that mean no?"

"We could see if the pack wants to move."

"For one little fox and her passion for the lake?" I laughed. "Even if they were willing to do it for me, that's too much to ask."

"If you haven't noticed, the pack likes it up there. They might want to go for themselves."

"Mmm," I said, wrapping my arms around her.

"Little fox?"

"Yes."

"Turn around. I like to do the holding."

"All right."

We switched again, and I settled in with my head resting between her breasts, the water to my chin.

"Lara?"

"Yes, little fox?"

"I want courting."

"I know you do. How am I doing so far?"

"Pretty good. I want you to remember that, tomorrow and next week and next month. I want courting."

"I won't forget."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." She hugged me. "Forever and ever."

"Okay. You remember what I said about waiting, to, well, you know."

"Yes, I think I might know."

"I am done waiting."

"Little fox, I thought you would never ask."