by Robin Roseau
They put their hands on me to wind me up again, but I said, "Before you do that again, I have to tell you something."
Scarlett sat down on the floor in front of me.
"You could break my neck doing this," I said.
She caressed my cheek and stood up. "Do it," she said.
They wound me up the same way again. Watching the world spin was very hard, and the yanking on my head hurt. They did it that way again. Then they gave it an extra turn and a half instead of a single turn, and I cried out at the end. By two extra turns I was crying at the end, but I wasn't sick yet.
Then they did three extra turns. "Scarlett," I said. "That will be too much."
"One more," Scarlett said. And they turned me around again. "Beg, Michaela."
I started sobbing and hyperventilating. "No," I said finally.
They released me, and I was filled with fear, thinking they had gone too far. But as I began to tighten my hair up on the other side, they released their hold on the board. It hurt, it hurt a lot, and it wrenched my neck badly, but then I was unwinding again, and I wrenched my neck, pulling some hairs out, and back and forth a few times.
Then I was still, but completely filled with fear. I lost the rest of my self-control and began heaving.
They pulled me down immediately. They tipped the bucket over and held my head over it, my knees on the floor, my hair still attached to the board, now held over my head so my hair was out of the way. I emptied my stomach, then knelt there, continuing to heave and sob.
They were gentle when they released my hair. I had lost some, but not as much as I had feared. They untaped my eyes and helped me clean up in the bathroom while I continued to sob. They were very gentle when they carried me back to the sofa.
Scarlett sat down next to me, Angel on the other side. I looked at Scarlett, still sobbing, and choked out, "Please hold me."
She leaned into me, wrapping her arms around me, and laid her head on my shoulder. I faced Angel. "You're all going to be so disappointed in me."
"No," she said. "No, honey."
"Lara is going to be disappointed."
"No," she said.
"Call her," I said, and then I couldn't stop sobbing.
"It's time," Angel said. "But are you sure?" I nodded.
Angel picked up her phone. Her voice was subdued. "May I speak with Lara?"
I didn't hear anything, I was sobbing too much, but then Angel said, "Lara, Michaela wants to talk to you."
She held the phone to my ear and caressed my cheek with her hand. I sobbed into the phone for a while; Lara spoke soothingly to me. "You're going to be so ashamed of me," I told her.
"No, honey. No. I am so proud of you."
"Lara," I said, still sobbing. "Please pay my ransom." And then I could barely hear, I was crying so hard, half from leftover fear, and half because I was convinced I was disappointing her.
Angel took the phone back. "Lara?" she said. "Make an offer we can accept."
I couldn't hear Lara over my sobs.
"No," Angel said. "She thinks you're disappointed, Lara. And she thinks we are. We'll calm her down."
Scarlett pulled me firmly into her arms, turning my head into her as well. I cried messily onto her chest, and she held me.
"Lara," Angel said. "That's too much. Let me talk to Elisabeth. No, Lara, let me talk to Elisabeth." There was a pause. "Elisabeth, what is fair?" Angel listened for a while. "All right," she said. "Yes. Escrow? Explain that."
While Elisabeth and Angel talked, Scarlett spoke soothingly. Ava leaned over the sofa and looked into my face. "Michaela, they stopped when I started crying. You kept going."
"We had her bound like you are," Scarlett said. "She cried like a baby, although we had to tighten it more than we did for you."
My sobs renewed.
"She's a wolf," Scarlett said. "The tape would fail to hold before we could snap her neck that way. But we were afraid you were right, and we didn't want to find out. Michaela, you couldn't possibly have lasted much longer."
"I was supposed to be strong," I said. "I was supposed to be strong. But I was so scared. If you had held onto the board, I think you'd have killed me." I began to wail. "Lara is so disappointed!"
"No, honey," Angel said from behind me. "She's not. She's agreed to pay your ransom. Let's get you free, all right?"
I let Angel pull me from Scarlett's arms into hers, and the girls huddled around, all of them touching me gently. I hadn't realized before, but I should have. The wolves were touchers, all of them, and I found it soothing. They touched me gently, leaned against me, some of them kneeling in front of me, Sophia's head in my lap, and slowly they cut the tape binding my legs and arms.
"She's so ashamed of me," I muttered.
"No," said Angel. "You were going to give in eventually, and soon. That's not what matters. What matters is that you honored the tradition. That's what was important, Michaela, and you honored it."
They kept telling me they were proud of me and thanking me for understanding, thanking me for accepting their tradition.
Slowly, I calmed down.
"How much?" I finally asked Angel.
"Full tuition, fees, room, board and books for all of us through our doctorates. Plus a major favor from Lara. Not from the Alpha. Thank you, Michaela."
I started crying again. "I gave up so early you had to ask for a lower price."
"Oh honey," Angel said. "None of us has done this before. We didn't know how to ask for what we really wanted. That's all. That's not your fault. We're all proud of you, and when we go to college, we're going to be successful because of your teaching, and because you and Lara are continuing to help us." She pulled me into her arms and kissed my forehead.
I still felt so scared and so vulnerable, and I didn't believe any of them were proud of me.
"Listen to me," Angel said into my ear. "This was always about you accepting our tradition, and you did, honey. Please, that's all we wanted."
"Lara's getting a crappy wife," I wailed.
"She is not!" Angel said.
And then I heard Lara's voice. It was Elisabeth's recording of Lara explaining what she loved about me.
"How could I not love her?" Lara said.
Scarlett played the entire recording twice, then I reached for the phone and cradled it, playing the recording several times.
"Honey," Angel said. "She meant every word, and if Elisabeth asked her now, she would have even more things to say about you."
I threw my arms around her, hugging her, still crying, but listening to Lara's voice. The rest all continued to touch me gently and slowly I calmed down again.
"She loves me?" I asked.
"Yes, honey," Angel said. "And so do all of us."
I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"Hush," Scarlett said, rubbing my back.
"Please I need to walk around." They helped me stand up and steadied me as I stretched, working muscles that had been in one position for too long, then Angel pulled me into a crushing hug. She kissed my cheek and said, "We're so proud of you."
I stumbled around the room a little with them supporting me, then I pushed away and looked at them.
"You barely touched me."
"You don't heal after you shift, Michaela. We heal. A broken bone is two days, three at the worst."
"Oh god," I said. "Are they really breaking her bones?"
"Not yet," she said. "Elisabeth will make you pay before it goes that far. Did she sound upset?"
"No, she sounded happy."
"She is. She never thought she'd get to prove herself this way."
"I can be a smart ass now, right?"
"Yes," Scarlett said, laughing.
"You people are so fucked up."
"True," said Ava. "But it's who we are."
"I won't be able to hurt any of you like that."
"No," Angel said. "You'll do worse. You'll do your own mind games, and I bet th
ey're a lot worse, at least for us."
I laughed. I was starting to feel better. "Maybe. What do we do about all this tape?"
"This," she said. "This is Lara's fault, not ours." And all of them began ripping the tape from me.
It hurt.
"May I please have some clothes?" I said when they were done. Ava provided a robe and a camisole. I put them both on. "Should we call Elisabeth?"
"Not quite yet," Angel said. They pulled me back to the sofa, clustering around me, continuing to soothe me. Abigail ran upstairs and returned after a few minutes with warm food and fresh cider and lemonade. They fed me slowly, small bites, and held my glass for me while I drank. I accepted more hugs.
"Ready now?" Angel asked.
I nodded and she handed me the phone. I used the recent calls list and got Elisabeth.
"She's very proud of you," Elisabeth said. "So am I."
"I have a hard time believing that," I said softly. "May I have my fiancé back, Elisabeth?"
"If you give us your house and your throat to four out of the five of us. You pick which four."
"I could exclude you?"
She was silent for a moment. "I thought you'd pick Gia."
"I could exclude you?"
"Yes," she said.
I thought about it. I really did. "Will you consider a counter offer, Elisabeth?"
"Yes."
"My house and my throat to one of you, my choice who."
She laughed. "Clever. I'm sorry, no." She hung up.
"If it was getting bad, would she have accepted?" I asked the girls.
"How much did you come down?" Scarlett asked.
"She asked for my house in Bayfield plus offering my throat, forever, to four of them. I will point out those were my two sticking points, and she knows it."
"Then yes," Scarlett said. "If she thought it was time, she'd have accepted, or at least tried harder to convince you to pay."
I looked around. "So, where is Chloe?"
"Oh, she went home hours ago," Abigail said. "Mom came and picked her up."
"Your mother knows where we are?"
"She is sworn to secrecy."
I hugged them all, then sat down on the sofa. "Now what?"
"Now we party!" Angel said. "We can watch movies or play any games you want."
We curled up together on the sofa and put on some movies. They also pampered me, giving me anything I wanted. I turned Elisabeth's offer down twice more, not bothering to counter offer. She wasn't coming down on her price. Then she called me again, coming down slightly.
"Little Fox," she said. "Your house and your throat to three of us of our choice."
"My cash is worth more than my house," I said.
"That's the offer," Elisabeth said. "You should accept it."
I listened carefully to Elisabeth's tone. "Why my house?"
"That's the offer."
"What if I offered my cash and my throat to three of you?"
"Your house, Little Fox," she said. "And your throat to three of us. Accept the offer, Michaela."
I thought about it. "My house and my throat to one of you of my choosing."
"No. Take our offer, Michaela."
"Which three?"
"Me, Serena, Karen."
"The three active enforcers."
"Yes," she said. "It's time to say yes, Michaela."
"Angel told me Lara's goal is to get you down to one dollar. We're a long way from that."
"That's Lara's goal," Elisabeth admitted. "My next offer will be your throat to every enforcer in the pack and every dollar you own. I will then drop my price by one dollar every time I call you. I promised Lara I won't send you video until ten PM tonight. You will cave on the first video and beg to give me anything I ask. She paid a significant price for you, and you will pay a significant price for her. You will give me your house now or later, and if later, your throat to a lot more wolves than I am currently asking, but Lara will have been put through more than she should due to your stubbornness."
I wasn't the only one being stubborn. "Why do you want this so badly, Elisabeth?"
"Take the offer."
I thought about it. I didn't understand why she wanted my house. It couldn't be worth much to her, but it was worth a lot to me. She was trying to take half my net worth. On the other side, I didn't live there anymore.
I was going to miss Bayfield.
"Elisabeth, by this time tomorrow, I will be married to the alpha. As omega and the alpha's mate, I owe my throat to no one beyond the alpha. My house. That is my offer."
She began laughing. "Clever fox. Your house and a medium favor to each of us."
"What constitutes a medium favor?"
"A major favor means almost anything you are empowered to give that does not significantly weaken or impoverish you. A medium favor is something important, something that may be difficult for you, but nothing that would damage your standing in the pack or with any of the pack members. It might be your support on a political issue, for instance, or to appeal to the alpha for a favor. We can bank these and spend them when we need them."
"You can't use them to ask for my throat."
"No."
"If I accept, I no longer owe you my throat, Elisabeth."
"That is how I would interpret this agreement."
I considered everything. "Elisabeth, if I remain polite, may I speak plainly without reprisal?"
"Yes, Michaela."
"I didn't know about this custom, and I don't understand it completely. Please don't take offense, but I can't tell if you are trying to play me. Angel told me you would try to psych me out, and I'm not sure that's not what you're doing."
"I am trying to psych you out," she said. "I want you to take the offer now. Please, Michaela, it's time, and it's the right offer. Do you want five minutes to talk to everyone there?"
"May I?"
"I'll call back in five minutes. Please have an answer ready for me, and the right answer is to accept."
She hung up and I turned to the five expectant faces. I relayed the conversation to them.
Angel summed it up. "Michaela, she can't let you have the alpha, whose net worth is in the tens of millions of dollars, for the cash you own. She also wouldn't let you pay too soon, because that would dishonor Lara. And you know; it was important to her that you were offering your throat to her, and she gave that up. She's not trying to play you. I think you should pay."
We waited another minute before Angel's phone rang.
"Elisabeth?" I asked. "Do you want me to pay now?"
"Yes, Little Fox," she said gently. "It is time."
"All right," I said quietly. "My house and the five favors. May I talk to her?"
"Yes," Elisabeth said. I heard her walking through wherever she was, the background noises changing, and she descended some stairs. "Here she is."
"I love you," I told her. "I hope I didn't pay too early."
"Did you pay too much?" she asked me.
"I paid something important to me. You're worth it. I love you."
"I love you, too. I'll see you soon."
And then Elisabeth was on the line. "Put Angel on."
I handed the phone to Angel. Elisabeth told her to take her time getting back to the compound and to get me cleaned up at her house, not Lara's. She'd make sure clothes were sent over. "Got it. An hour?"
"An hour is good," Elisabeth said. And the two hung up.
The girls all rushed around, cleaning the house. They ordered me to the sofa, and I complied. Once the space was clean, they plopped down on the sofa with me. I spent the time trying to put on a cheerful face. I wasn't sure how successful I was.
Scarlett joined me on the sofa. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know."
"Are you mad at us?"
"No."
I took a breath and held it, calming my nerves. Then I quickly kissed both of them and thanked them. "Time to go home?"
Scarlett nodded. "It is traditional that you are n
ot to know where we brought you," she said. "You may now cooperate while we blindfold you and put the ear buds back in, or you can try to escape. If you try to escape and fail, we will tape you back up until we get back to the compound. If you cooperate and agree not to remove the blindfold or ear buds, we won't. I should tell you the door at the top of the stairs is locked."
I laughed. It was a weak laugh, but a laugh nevertheless. "May I pick the music?"
"Yes," they said, chuckling. I let them put the ear buds in my ears, and then I accepted the iPod and found some music I liked. They blindfolded me after that then helped me stand up and guided me up the stairs, out of the house, and into the waiting car. This time, it wasn't the limousine. I sat in the middle seat between Scarlett and Angel. I couldn't tell who else sat where.
The drive home was uneventful. They did the turn around thing at each turn. I tried to tell where the sun was based on the warmth on my skin, but I couldn't tell, and I couldn't have told you what direction we had gone.
I leaned into either Angel or Scarlett the entire drive, the other leaning against me. It had been a difficult day, but I felt loved and cherished.
They drove us to Madison and pulled into a drive through. Scarlett took the iPod from my hands and paused it, then pulled the ear buds from my ears. "We're at Dairy Queen. What would you like?"
"Cookies and cream blizzard," I said. "Small. And I won't finish it, so I hope one of you will take it when I'm done."
"We'll make it a large," Scarlett said. "Eat as much as you want, we'll finish it."
They placed their orders, we waited, and then Scarlett handed me my blizzard and a spoon. "It's about to run over the edge, let me help with your first few spoons." And she did, scooping carefully. "Okay, you're safe now."
We drove away. They didn't replace the ear buds, but they kept me blindfolded.
"If we just hit the DQ in Madison, why am I still blindfolded?"
Scarlett laughed. "Because we can. Leave it on."
But they included me in the conversation during the drive we took back to the compound. I could tell we arrived from a different direction than I was accustomed. I had been to Francesca's house, but I'd never driven to it. We came to a stop. The girls piled out and helped me climb from the car. They led me into the house and to one of the bathrooms. I didn't hear Gia or Francesca.