Fox Afield (Madison Wolves) (22 page)

"If I am successfully able to convince you of the serious nature of the threat, will you stop fighting us on this?"

I looked into her eyes. "Probably not, but if you can convince me you're not treating me like child with no judgment, I might fight less often and with reduced vigor."

"All right," she said. "No one expects you to enjoy the situation, after all. There are alpha's mates who thrive on it, wearing it like a badge of honor. Those are the mates no one likes. I know Lara and I certainly took our turns eluding our guards."

I suddenly realized, they had grown up like this. Elisabeth let me think about that before moving on.

"Greg," she said. "If the fox makes a habit of sneaking off without any enforcers, how difficult would she be to kidnap?"

"For me?" he asked. "Trivial. For a sole wolf acting alone, she is quite formidable, but she can still be taken. Daniel or Brooke could take her, for instance."

"I am fairly certain neither of them would do so," I said.

"So am I," said Greg. "I was using them as an example. If she makes a habit of escaping her enforcers, or worse, is allowed to freely roam without them, not even needing to lose them, then most of the alphas in North America could readily mount a kidnapping
without significant trouble or risk."

"Do you think he's wrong?" Elisabeth said. "Or will you grant me this point?"

"Greg," I said. "How much does your answer change if I am always in the presence of an enforcer."

"You could still be readily kidnapped," he said. "But it becomes more complicated. The likelihood of a botched attempt goes up. The likelihood of early detection goes up. The forces required go up, and increased forces also increases the likelihood of detection."

"And with four enforcers?" Elisabeth asked.

"I could still take her, but the risk is exceedingly high," he said. "Far higher than I would care to risk. There may be a few other operators in North America that could pull
it off. I doubt any wolf pack could do it without declaring war long before they could pull it off."

Elisabeth raised an eyebrow to me.

"Fine," I said. "I am safer with enforcers. But you overstate the danger."

"Greg," Elisabeth said. "Has anyone tried to hire you to kidnap Michaela?"

The room was silent, and as a group we all turned to him. He waited until he had our full attention.

"Yes," he said.

"And he told me," Lara said.

"And you didn't tell me?" I asked, turning on her.

"Oh, oh," someone muttered. "Lara is in trouble now."

"Damned right she's in trouble!"

"You're right," Lara said immediately. "I should have told you. I am sorry. It won't happen again."

"You people are being far too reasonable on every point I win," I said.

"And we hope you will be reasonable on ours," Lara replied.

"That'll happen," Angel said under her voice.

"You're not helping, Angel," Lara told her.

"Sorry, Alpha."

I turned back to Greg. "Who was it?"

"Someone who runs a ranch known for exotic hunts," he said gently.

I closed my eyes, absorbing the information. With my eyes still closed, I told Lara, "I understand why you didn't want to tell me."

She stepped to my side and wrapped an arm around me.

"Starting to understand, Michaela?" Elisabeth asked.

"Why is the ranch still open?" I asked.

"Because it is profitable," Greg said. "However, it is under new management."

"You?" I asked him.

"No. I informed the appropriate alpha. The alpha in question was most vexed. Michaela, I receive inquiries like this all the time. Over the years I've turned down six inquiries on Ysabella Bancroft, at least twice that many on Brooke, and on average three or four a year on the spouses or children of other alphas around the country and a few internationally. I don't know why I keep receiving them, as we don't do that sort of thing. This will not be the last time someone tries to hire me to kidnap you."

"If you were going to guarantee my safety, what would it take?"

"You could never leave the compound, and we would erect a significant wall around it, manned one hundred percent of the time by wolves who were former special forces."

"No one lives like that."

"Ysabella Bancroft does," he said. "Brooke used to."

"Lara, is that my future?"

"No. I don't think you would put up with it. But you are better equipped to deal with threats than Ysabella is."

I turned back to Elisabeth and looked up into her eyes. "You have successfully made your points. It will take me time to absorb this before I can offer a response."

She nodded once, graciously.

I turned to Karen. "There won't be any more pepper."

"Thank you," she said.

I turned to Lara. "If I ask to go for a walk alone?"

"I will give you as much privacy as I can based on the perceived threat level. If Greg has recently been approached about you, the amount of freedom I'll grant is much lower than it is right now."

"I hate this," I said firmly. "I hate that my freedom is yours to grant."

"I hate it, too," she said. "I would leave it to you, but I think this is one issue where your judgment is suspect."

I sighed. "You're right. It is. All right. Does that mean I am no longer an operative on this operation?"

"No," Lara said. "It just means you will have an escort."

"In fur?"

She smiled. "Yes. You're right. The rest of us stand out too much. We would blow your cover."

I looked around. "Angel wouldn't," I said, my eyes settling on her.

"Angel can't protect you," Elisabeth said. "Don't be foolish."

"Oh, I wasn't suggesting that," I said. "I was hoping for company that could help entertain me. I'm pretty sure all the 'dogs' will be asked to perform less frequently if I can avoid boredom."

"Oh god," Karen said. "Please let Angel go along."

And with that, the tension in the r
oom relaxed, at least a little. We had dinner, strategized, and then it was time for Angel and me to head to the coffee shop. Angel brought some of her books with her, and we would be there as teacher and student. No one would question that.

I held leashes for Lara and Karen. Angel had Elisabeth's and Serena's.
Angel had tried to goad Eric into volunteering for guard duty, but Elisabeth had overruled. Lara quietly told me that Eric would chafe if we'd put him through the same teasing I'd engaged in earlier in the day, and we were pretty sure we'd have to repeatedly demonstrate the harmlessness of the 'dogs'.

When we arrived, the outdoor tables were full, but then one cleared out. The previous occupants gave us a wink as we passed them, and I realized they must have been a couple of Greg's folks holding a table for us. "He thinks of everything," I said quietly.

Lara chuffed.

There was a new wait staff person, a guy about nineteen years old. He eyed Angel appreciatively and tried, badly, to flirt with her. She was sweet to him, encouraging him. I tried hard not to laugh. Once he had taken our initial orders and stepped away, I told her, "Should I tell him you'd eat him for lunch?"

"Oh, but I wouldn't!" she said. "Scarlett would be very upset if I ate anyone other than her."

I almost choked on my water. Angel grinned at me.

"Do not say things like that to me!" I told her. "You are my student, and I am not supposed to think about you having sex."

"Oh please," she said. "I think after ransom night, we're past all that, aren't we?"

I studied her. "Maybe we should be," I admitted. "But Angel, I am still new to all this teaching thing. And you're not an adult yet."

"Wolves consider ourselves adults at sixteen," she
added. "Human laws be damned. Chloe was the only one there who wasn't an adult. She's your only student who isn't an adult."

Under the table, Lara chuffed.

"All right," I said. "At school I am still your teacher though."

"All right."
She grinned. "We haven't talked since your wedding. Or more importantly, since your wedding night. So..."

"So.... what?" I asked.

"How many of your modifications are you still wearing? I see you haven't ditched the earrings yet."

I began to blush.

"Oh come on," she said. "You can't be embarrassed around me now, Michaela."

"When it's your wedding, are you expecting the same thing?"

"I will be very disappointed if you don't treat me like a wolf, Michaela," she said. "So yes and no. Some of the same things, but some of the things we couldn't do, as well."

"I am really supposed to try to make you beg Scarlett to pay for you."

"Yes. You ramp it up slowly and you don't back down until she pays."

"You were easy on me."

"Yes."

"What if you were doing it now, tonight?" I asked her. I had gone years with suppressed memories, including memories of how to properly heal my own body. The day of my wedding, I had remembered them, remembered everything, and now I healed better than anyone else in the pack.

"Now?" she said. "We wouldn't treat you exactly like a wolf, and because you still don't completely understand, we'd still be gentle. But we'd have carried it further. I also think you would last longer."

She was speaking very quietly, so quietly even another wolf wouldn't have heard her.

"All right," I said. "I am going to go inside and take photos and scope things out. I'll answer your question when I get back. See if you can get water for the dogs. Be careful of Lizzy; she has a thing for wait staff."

Elisabeth huffed at me.

"So it's Lizzy," she said, pointing to Elisabeth. "And-"

"That's Elle," I said, meaning Lara. "This is Kay-kay.  That that one is See-saw."

Angel grinned. "Good names," she said. "Lizzy, Elle, Kay-kay and See-saw."

"Right. You girls. Stay!"

Elisabeth huffed.

I went inside and used my phone to take photos of everyone there, being as subtle as I could. I took extra photos of anyone on a computer. I didn't recognize anyone from earlier.
Then I asked at the counter for a couple of bowls of water for the dogs. When I got back outside, the waiter was trying to flirt with Angel again. From the expressions, the wolves were all amused by his antics.

Werewolves mature significantly faster than human teenagers do. Angel easily had him eating out of the palm of her hand. I sat back down, lowering the water bowls for the furry wolves. Angel didn't even glance at me, but continued to manipulate the poor boy.

"Michaela," she said. "This is Peter. He just graduated high school but will be going to Northland College in the autumn."

"Pleased to meet you," I said.

"Peter told me to be sure to let him know if we need anything. He was really impressed when Elle played dead for him."

"Oh," I said. "You got her to play dead? That's usually Lizzy's trick."

I watched for a few more minutes while Angel continued to wrap Peter around her little finger. When finally she released him, he was totally lost.

"You are so naughty," I said. "If you promise to do my chores for a week, I won't relay any of that to Scarlett."

Angel laughed and pulled out her phone. "Hello, Michaela," came Scarlett's voice from the phone. "I had to go on mute to avoid letting him hear me laugh."

"Damn it," I said. "Always one step ahead of me, Angel. How long has she been listening?"

"You're wondering if I tried to get you to talk about your wedding night in front of her?"

"Yes."

"I did."

"Oh, very naughty," I replied. "All right. It's just the seven of us, after all."

Scarlett giggled.

"I am still sporting everything you guys did, and Lara deeply hopes I will keep it that way. And, by the way, Lara has promised to maintain the things done to her as well."

Elisabeth, Serena and Karen chuffed from under the table.

"That is all I will say." Then I paused. "Except, well, I liked it."

The wolves chuffed again. Lara began gnawing gently on my leg.

"Hey, Elle! Knock it off! You know what happened last time!"

She looked up at me and winked. I stared into her eyes and wondered when we'd next be alone.

"By the way, Angel," I said. "I am moving my kayak down to Benny's along with
my fishing gear. I'm bringing the rest of my outdoor gear home. I presume the enforcers won't mind if you leave your kayak where it is."

The wolves under the table grew very still.

"I'm sure you could leave yours there, too," Angel said. Elisabeth chuffed quietly.

"I know," I said. "This is better. A clean break." But Angel saw the look in my face, and she clasped my hand.