Wolf Watch (The Madison Wolves Book 8) (23 page)

"Does that happen?"

"Wolves can be really stupid. Yeah. It's the crappy part of the job, showing up at someone's house and asking him: WTF? You're selling pot? What is the matter with you? If it's a first offense, we have to beat the crap out of him. I hate that. We get that shit about once a year."

"I thought there were only twenty or thirty people in the pack."

"Oh no. That's how many live here, but we cover all of Wisconsin. Werewolves are everywhere, ma'am. Everywhere. You've met some before, I almost promise."

"Are they all as big as you?"

"I'm big, even for a werewolf. You met Gia. She's average for a female."

"She's not small."

"No, but she's only about five-eight and one-fifty. An average male is five-eleven and built, but not huge you know? You wouldn't look at him and think, 'linebacker'. Bouncer maybe."

I nodded. "You're smaller than a linebacker."

"Yeah, but I can kick that linebacker's ass."

I laughed.

"Bouncer is a good job for a lot of wolves. We make bad cops though."

"Why?"

"Don't freak out." Then in his throat, he began to growl, and it might have been the scariest thing I'd ever heard. He did it for about five seconds, and by the end, I was pushing myself back into the wall, trying to get further away from him.

"Sorry," he said. "But put us in a stressful situation, and we tend to do that."

It took me a minute to calm down.

"There's water in the bag," He said. He was said calmly, as if he hadn't just scared the shit out of me a few seconds ago. "Sorry. I didn't mean to
frighten you that badly."

"You did that casually," I said. I rolled my way over to the bag and found a bottle of water. "I can't imagine if you were really angry with me."

"You asked earlier about being dominant. Imagine your reaction if you and Elisabeth were having a fight, and she started making that noise, and you know she's angry at you, and you're angry."

"I'd piss my pants. I know I would."

"It would end the fight," he said. "She'd immediately turn protective, but she would also assume she had just won." He paused. "You need to think about something. A few somethings. First, watch how both of them are with Michaela. If you have a future with Elisabeth, then that's your future. Protected."

"A security detail?"

"I don't know. You wouldn't be the alpha's mate. But you also can't protect yourself. Yeah, probably. I don't know. It's not my decision."

I nodded.

"But protected. She won't let you do anything she thinks is dangerous. She won't let you live in that apartment, for instance. No way."

I sighed. "She already told me that."

"I don't mean to be rude, but that place sucks. You can do better."

"I can't afford better."

"Yeah, well," he said. "Do you think there is any chance in the world she's going to let that matter?"

I laughed. "No."

"Okay, the other thing is this. She'll let you argue with her. You can argue until you're blue in the face. You might even win a lot of the arguments. But if she ever, EVER growls at you, you will lower your eyes and do whatever the hell you're told. And if you can't do that, then you have no business with a dominant wolf like Elisabeth."

I looked at the floor between us for a while. Eric didn't say anything while I thought about it. Finally I raised my eyes. "She's worth it."

He smiled. "You need to ask yourself something else. For that relationship to work, it can't be just that she's worth it. You have to like her dominance. It has to feel good. It has to feel good that she protects you. It has to feel good that she takes care of you. And it has to feel good to obey her. If not, find someone else, or eventually you'll grow to resent it."

"I don't know, Eric," I said. "I haven't even seen her wolf yet. I know she can reduce me to a quivering puddle. She already has."

"I know. We heard."

I cocked my head. "What do you mean, you heard."

"There's no video in your bathroom, but we have audio of whatever she did to you in the shower."

"Oh my god!" I said. "Oh my god!" I began blushing furiously. "Please no video. Please no video."

Eric laughed. "We're pretty casual about things like that."

I buried my face for a while. Eric chuckled a moment longer.

"Ma'am. Ms. Young. May I call you Zoe?"

"After hearing my screaming orgasm, I wish you would."

He chuckled again. "I think that's a pretty small issue, in the face of everything else."

"I suppose it is," I agreed. "But it's so embarrassing."

"Well, you'll have to get over that. You'll hear Michaela and Lara. Lara makes her scream."

"What?" I looked up.

"Oh yeah. Lara makes Michaela scream all sorts of things. Usually just Lara's name, but sometimes she makes her promise stuff. She'll obey. She's hers. Stuff like that. Top of her lungs, over and over."

"I'd be mortified."

He just grinned.

"Elisabeth will turn me into an
screaming exhibitionist?"

"Yep."

"We'll be talking."

"She'll growl and you'll scream
whatever she wants you to scream."

I sighed.

"You started to say you haven't seen her wolf."

"Yeah, right. Um. She's magnificent, Eric. I saw Portia and Karen. Portia let me pet her."

"Portia's amazing," Eric said.

"But dominant?"

"Big time. If I could enjoy being submissive, I'd roll over for her. You're wondering about Elisabeth's wolf?"

"Yeah."

"Better than Portia."

I closed my eyes, trying to imagine.

When I opened, Eric was watching me.

"This all sounds complicated. How do you form relationships if everyone is so dominant?"

"We're enforcers, by definition some of the most dominant wolves in the pack. It's not as bad when one of them isn't so dominant. Scarlett isn't at all submissive, but she isn't super-dominant, either, so she and Angel do really well."

I smiled. "A lot of lesbian werewolves."

"There weren't any until Lara brought Michaela home. Then suddenly the gay juices started flowing everywhere."

I laughed.

"You won't find such open relationships in that many packs," he said. "But when your alphas are a pair of females, and one a fox besides, it sort of sets a tone."

"So, are their daughters a mix of fox and wolf?"

"No. They're technically Lara's. Wait until you see them. They're absolutely adorable."

"I can't wait."

Out in the hallway, I heard the sound of a door. Eric didn't even scramble to his feet. A moment later, Elisabeth stood in the doorway. She took in the situation.

"We were talking," I said.

"That's fine," she replied.

I climbed to my feet as she moved into the cell, as did Eric. "I'll step outside," he said, and he closed the door behind himself.

I turned to face Elisabeth.

"Is there a judgment?"

"We want the contents of the bank box, and we also are taking everything from your apartment. We're going through it all with a fine tooth comb."

"You won't find anything I haven't already told you about."

"I don't expect we will," she said. "We have to be sure."

I nodded. "I'll do whatever you say."

"Good."

"Did Portia find my last camera?"

"We just broke up. She's going off to find it now."

"If she can't find it, I know right where it is."

"If we need that help, we'll ask."

I nodded understanding. "What about me, Elisabeth. Please. Just tell me. If you're going to kill me, I want to know. I'll help you get the stuff from the bank."

"If we were going to kill you, I wouldn't tell you until we had everything we need from you, Zoe."

I looked away. "Would you lie to me?"

"If I felt I had to. I'll do whatever it takes to protect the pack."

"And yet, you didn't just lie to me."

"We want every scrap of electronic media you have. I need to know where to look."

"Everything is in my apartment or the bank box. My email is
Gmail, so I guess stuff might be cached there, too, but I don't have anywhere else. Well, there's my web site." I sighed. "I'm not doing a good job answering." I turned back. "Please, Elisabeth. Am I going to die?"

"Not tonight. If you don't do anything stupid tomorrow at the bank, then you won't die tomorrow, either."

"You're not helping. I think I deserve to know. I've been up front. I deserve to know."

She put her hand on her hip. "I do not respond well to that tone."

"And I don't respond well wondering whether my lover wants to kill me."

"Oh god, Zoe, I don't want to kill you. I want to protect you! And you are going to have to trust me."

"I came here. I didn't know you already knew. I came here and I told you. How much more trust can you ask for?"

"You also thought about destroying the evidence."

"Of course I did! And I thought about leaving copies with people so I could threaten you if you threatened me. But I didn't do either of those. I came to you. I delivered myself straight into your hands."

"Yes, but right now, you are very, very safe."

"Oh? It doesn't feel safe."

"We can't exactly kill you here. You brought your cell phone. You called me on it. There are location records."

"Do not blame me for that," I said. "You told me to. If you had told me to leave it behind, I would have."

"I'm not blaming you. I should have told you to leave it home, and if I'd been thinking clearly, I would have insisted on letting a team pick you up. But I didn't, because all I can think about is protecting you."

I stared at her. "Really?"

"Really."

"Like Lara protects Michaela."

"Yes, just like that."

"All right," I said. "But I expect to know. I don't want to just suddenly croak without knowing."

She nodded. She looked around. "I know this is Spartan. It's only a few days at the most, maybe not even that. Can you stand it?"

I nodded. "The biggest danger is going to be boredom and fear, not the accommodations. I wouldn't suppose I could have my computer, if it's going to be days."

"I'm afraid not."

"I'll make do, then, I guess," I said. "I have Nora's books."

"Her smut books?" Elisabeth said.

"They aren't smut," I said. "It's good lesfic. You should read some."

"I have," she said. "She leaves them everywhere then giggles when she catches any of us reading
one. She's started leaving pansexual books around and waiting for the guys to pick them up."

I smiled.

"They aren't homophobes, but they aren't quite so enlightened as to be comfortable being caught reading books that have guys having sex, either." She changed her voice, lowering it a register. "There's dudes having sex with dudes in this book. What the fuck, Nora?" Then she changed her voice again. "Eric, I've asked you not to use language like that around the girls. Now I have to make you do a book report on that book."

She smiled for a moment. "Look. There's a lot of thinking that has to happen."

"I suppose."

"I'm sorry, Zoe."

"It's all right, Elisabeth." I looked down. "Was anyone on my side?" I asked quietly.

"Yes, Zoe. More than one."

I nodded. "I'll be fine tonight."

She nodded, and a moment later she was knocking on the door. Eric let her out.

* * * *

Other than brief moments, I didn't get any more company that night. Angel brought me dinner, but she didn't say very much. I didn't think it would be fair to press her for information. A while later, Eric gave me pillows and blankets, more than enough. I assured him I'd slept in worse conditions. I got bathroom breaks when I asked and all the water I could drink.

I slept miserably, and I woke a few times crying. I really, really wanted Elisabeth to come comfort me, but she didn't.

In the morning, Karen and Portia came together. They brought me breakfast, and it was a proper vegan meal, although they didn't know how to give me protein. I was able to shower, and they had some of my clothes.

"Were there any tracking devices?"

"No," Karen said.

So I dressed, and ten minutes later, they were escorting me outside. We walked only a short distance to an SUV, and I got into the back seat between Karen and Eric.

"Are you going to behave?" Karen asked.

"Yes."