by Robin Roseau
“All right, who do we have who can play?” She looked around. “Head enforcer, will you allow our security to play?”
Lara and Elisabeth looked at each other, and then Lara turned away, perhaps leaving the decision to Elisabeth. Elisabeth grunted “yes”.
“Excellent!” said Michaela. “Lara, would you run back and grab my clothes? Don’t forget my shoes. I’ll play on two feet, and we should have an even game.”
Lara didn’t wait, and she was out of sight in seconds. Michaela watched her disappear then turned to me. “We’ll play with two teams. You, Elisabeth and one of the pups against me, Lara and the other pup. And we’ll divide the enforcers.” She grinned. “You can only pick one if you can point at her and name her accurately. Pick first.”
I looked around. “Portia.” I pointed.
“Good,” she said. “Rory.”
“Karen.”
“Two for two. I wonder if you know anyone else. Serena.”
There were two wolves left, and I didn’t have a clue whom they were. “Do I get a hint?”
Before Michaela could answer, Lara was back. I couldn’t believe how much faster she was. And I was amazed she’d been able to carry Michaela’s clothes.
“Thank you, you magnificent wolf,” Michaela said, hugging her mate. She began pulling on her clothes. “A hint. Hmm. Do you have any idea who they are?”
“No. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Tell you what. I’ll tell you who they each are, and then you’ll close your eyes. They’ll run around, then you open your eyes and pick one. If you get her wrong, I get both of them.”
“All right.”
“Angel and Scarlett, come here,” she said. The last two wolves bounded over and sat down on either side of Michaela. She finished pulling her clothes on then knelt down and hugged each wolf. “This one is Angel. Turn around for her so she gets a good look.”
Angel stepped away and turned in a circle, her tongue lolling in a wolfy smile.
“And of course, this is Scarlett.” Scarlett let me get a good look.
They were both big — all the wolves were big. But Angel was clearly bigger, almost as large as Lara and Elisabeth. And now that I knew it was her, I saw a family resemblance besides. She was silver, just like her cousins, with black markings. Scarlett was nearly all white with touches of charcoal here and there.
“Close your eyes,” Michaela ordered. I dutifully closed them, putting my hand over them besides. Then I heard wolves bounding around for a few seconds before Michaela said, “Open.”
When I did, all the wolves were lying down, spread all around me, except the pups, who were busy stalking each other.
“So, Angel or Scarlett?” Michaela said with a grin. “You didn’t think I was going to let you just pick between the two of them. That would be too easy.”
I turned around. “That’s Portia. There’s Karen. Lara and Elisabeth. I can’t tell the two pups from each other.”
“Celeste is stalking Rebecca,” Michaela said. “Who else can you tell?”
I wasn’t absolutely positive I had Angel picked out, but there was only one nearly all-white wolf. So I stepped over to her and pointed. “Scarlett.”
“Good. Can you do the rest?”
I moved between them. “If they stand side-by-side, I bet I can.”
“Try this way.”
All three of them were silver, but one of them was more black than silver. “This isn’t Angel, so it’s Rory or Serena.”
“True.”
I looked back and forth between the other two. “I’m not sure. I think this is Angel.” I pointed.
“That’s Serena,” Michaela said.
“So the black one is Rory, and that’s Angel. I’m sorry.”
“Naw,” said Michaela. “You’re learning. All right. We’re got our teams. We’re going to play a game of freeze tag coupled with a sort of hunt.”
“A hunt?”
“Yes. The pups are the ones who can freeze us. Anyone unfrozen gets to herd you — or me — in a direction. You and I may run or walk in any direction we want, but we aren’t allowed to touch one of the competing wolves. But they aren’t allowed to make you move any faster than a normal walk. My wolves will try to herd you onto the steps of the house. Your wolves will try to do the same with me. But any wolf touched by one of the pups is frozen for thirty seconds.”
I laughed. “Sounds good. They won’t bite me, will they?”
“If you don’t back away from them, they’re allowed to bite gently. But if you touch them, they’re allowed to drag you twenty yards closer to the house.”
“I’m not as agile as you are. They have to give me a chance.”
“They will,” she said. “If you’re running and they get in front of you, they’ll give you a chance to stop, but if you try to dash around them, they might tackle you. Is that a problem for you? They’ll be gentle.”
“It’s not a problem,” I said.
“Your wolves can try to protect you from my wolves,” Michaela said. “But if they do, they leave me free to run the other direction. Zoe, the wolves play rough. Don’t let that freak you out.”
I nodded.
“All right. Pick a pup.”
“Celeste.”
Celeste heard her name and turned to look over at me. “Darlings,” Michaela said. “Were you paying attention to the rules?”
They both grunted, and then Celeste came over to sit down beside me. Rebecca bounced over to Michaela and lay down on her feet.
“No climbing trees or hiding somewhere small,” Michaela said.
“Or climbing into a car.”
She laughed. “Right. Okay, to make this interesting, we’re going to separate and run for one minute in any direction you want, then Lara will howl and the game is on. Ready?”
I looked at my wolves. They were all watching me. I settled my eyes on Elisabeth. “Lead the way at a pace I can handle.” She grunted. “We’re ready.”
“Go!” And suddenly Michaela was running deeper into the woods. Elisabeth paused only a second before turning the opposite direction, well away from the compound. She took two leaps before settling into a trotting motion. I ran after her, barely keeping up, Celeste, Scarlett, Portia and Karen flanking me.
We only ran for thirty seconds before Elisabeth came to a stop and flowed into human form. “Karen, you and I protect Zoe. Scarlett and Portia go after Michaela. Celeste, you stay with Zoe and tag the other wolves.” She didn’t wait for a response but shifted back to wolf and was trotting along again.
Then Lara howled. Elisabeth came to another stop, shifting back into human. “Scarlett, Portia, go.” Like a flash, they were gone. “Let’s keep moving. They’ll be here in seconds.”
She shifted again, and then I was following her. Celeste stayed at my side, Karen following along behind. I ran as fast as I could, following Elisabeth.
Then behind us I heard growling, and in a flash, Elisabeth spun around and dashed past me to take a defensive position next to Karen. She shifted to human long enough to say, “Keep heading north. Celeste stay with her.”
“Celeste, do you know where to go?”
She grunted.
“We have to slow down though, I can’t keep running.” And so I followed the pup now, looking over my shoulder periodically to see Karen and Elisabeth following along.
And then I saw four wolves running quickly towards us. Elisabeth and Karen both began growling menacingly, and I would have wet my pants if I didn’t know we were all friends.
“Celeste, they’re here,” I said. And with that, she dashed around behind me, then ran back and forth between the four approaching wolves and me, doing her own growling.
I was impressed.
The oncoming wolves were in a V-formation with Lara at the apex, and I saw Rebecca bounding along behind her.
They had left Michaela entirely unguarded. I thought that was a poor choice.
What happened at that point was largely a blur. I continued to back a
way, heading north. Lara and Angel flew at Elisabeth, and Serena and Rory flew at Karen.
Two on one wasn’t fair!
Or four on two. Whichever it was.
There was a lot of snarling, which I found scary, but Michaela had warned me. Still, I backed away.
I couldn’t really keep track of what was going on, but I saw both Rebecca and Celeste dash forward. Rebecca tagged both of my wolves, and they went still after a moment. Celeste managed to tag Angel but when she went after Rory, he leapt away from her.
Celeste chased after him, and he drew her away. In the meantime, Lara and Serena both turned to me. In two bounds, they were past me. They skidded to a stop and began stalking me, edging me away at an angle toward the compound, picking a path that bypassed my frozen guards.
I stepped backwards, but apparently they didn’t think I was moving fast enough. Together they began growling and lunged at me, snapping the air just inches in front of me.
I panicked and ran.
It was, of course, the wrong choice.
At least I didn’t run in the direction they had been pushing, but instead perhaps somewhat left of that. They let me run, and the sound of Celeste chasing Rory faded behind me.
They let me run perhaps a hundred yards before Lara dashed past me and came to a stop, blocking my path. I tried to slip around her, but she shifted into human and caught me about the waist.
“Calm down,” she said. “Zoe, we won’t hurt you. Calm down.”
Then she held me, and a moment later, Serena was human as well. They both held me while I struggled to free myself, but slowly, while Lara spoke soothingly, I calmed.
“There you go,” Lara said. “Are you okay if I let you go?”
“Yes,” I croaked. Slowly, she released me, and they both stepped away.
“We won’t hurt you,” Lara repeated. “This is just a game.”
“I’m sorry. I panicked.”
“Are you going to panic again?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“You can run if you want, but we were just trying to hurry you a little. And we’ll do it again if you dawdle.” She pointed. “The compound is that way. Is this too intense for you?”
“No.” I smiled. “Intimidating, but no.”
“All right. We’ll give you a fifteen second head start. If you run into one of us like that again, we get to drag you after we catch you.”
I nodded then turned and ran in the opposite direction from the one she had pointed.
My fifteen seconds ended, and five seconds later, they both flowed past me, coming to a stop in front of me. I came to a skidding halt myself.
After that, I tried repeatedly to dash past them, but they began pushing me towards the compound. But then I heard growling, and Elisabeth, Karen, and Angel all came running in. Elisabeth and Karen plowed right through Lara and Serena, leaving me a chance to dash past all of them. I made about three steps before Angel was in front of me.
Growling.
After that, for a few seconds, it was all a blur again, with the wolves scrambling around. I slowly got pushed back towards the compound while Elisabeth and Karen did the best they could to keep the other three wolves from touching me.
Then Rebecca arrived, changing the dynamics significantly. Elisabeth and Karen managed to avoid getting tagged by the pup, but their ability to interfere with the other three wolves was reduced, and I found myself backing away from at least one and frequently all three of my opponents.
Then Celeste arrived, and she interposed herself between me and the other wolves, snapping her teeth and lunging at anyone who came close. Ten seconds later, Rory was there as well.
To some extent, we had a standoff. Celeste moved back and forth in front of me, keeping the wolves back and even forcing them to retreat slightly. Elisabeth and Karen were able to help, in between avoiding Rebecca, and we made little progress in either direction.
But then suddenly Lara leapt on Elisabeth, Angel helping her. There was a lot of snarling, but then Rebecca tagged Elisabeth. Serena went after Karen, and then Angel dashed right past Celeste, who started chasing her.
Ah, kids. Easily distracted.
Karen got tagged, and I was back to no protection.
Three snarling wolves began pushing me towards the compound, and I found myself dashing away from snapping teeth.
Not once did they touch me, but I knew if I didn’t move fast enough, they would.
It took another seven or eight minutes, with Elisabeth and Karen periodically doing their best to interfere. But I didn’t see Celeste again. I presumed Angel was keeping an eye on her. With three wolves to two, and Rebecca there, my attempts to run for freedom were entirely curtailed, and I found myself backing into the clearing that formed the main compound.
They pushed me nearly to the steps before I saw Michaela exit the trees, backing away from Scarlett and Portia.
I tried holding my ground at the steps, hoping that Scarlett and Portia could move Michaela faster, but Elisabeth and Karen were both frozen again. The three wolves growled and snapped at me, and I dashed up onto the steps.
They promptly drew silent. Then a moment later, Lara lifted her nose to the sky and began howling.
I sat down on the steps. Elisabeth jumped to her feet and bounded over, then began sniffing at me thoroughly.
“Knock it off,” I said, trying to push her away. “It’s not my fault if I smell.”
She ignored my efforts, and a moment later, Michaela called out, “She’s making sure you’re not hurt, but if you don’t relax, she’s going to turn dominant.”
So I let myself get sniffed. Thoroughly.
Michaela walked over. She knelt down and hugged Lara then looked around. “We’re missing Celeste and Angel.” She stood up and cocked her head. “Oh, they’re coming.” Then she looked at me. “I win.”
I laughed.
“Did you have fun?”
“Yes,” I said, “although it was intimidating to watch the wolves fighting. How about everyone else?”
The wolves grunted happily.
“I want to talk about this,” Michaela said, “but you have a class. We’ll have a bonfire after the scuba class and discuss the game.”
* * * *
The teenagers were all waiting for us in the classroom when we got back. We shuffled around and took our seats, but before Karen could resume class, Kaylee leaned over. “Did you go for a run?”
“Yes. And we played a game Michaela invented.”
“Oh, she invents the best games. Was it fun?”
“Yeah. There’s a bonfire later.”
“Excellent. You can tell me about it.”
We only had one more short break, and class went until ten. I was wiped out long before then, and I was deeply impressed by the attentiveness of the teenagers. At no point did any of them screw around or seem to lag, and I didn’t think their stamina was entirely due to being werewolves.
During the break, I asked Karen about it.
“These are some of the best teenagers in the pack,” she replied. “We only accept the cream into this school. Plus they’re all scared of me.”
“They aren’t!”
“They certainly are, or I’m not doing my job.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. As a human, you’re not part of the dominance structure of the pack, but all of these kids are. They know I’ll put up with a certain amount of levity, but when it’s time to pay attention, they pay attention. Or else.”
“Wow.”
“It doesn’t take much with these kids though. We’re very proud of them.”
* * * *
Everyone collected for the bonfire later. My head hurt from everything Karen had been teaching us, and I really wanted to go home and go to bed, but I didn’t think Michaela would be impressed if I disappeared.
Plus I needed a ride.
Elisabeth had a seat for me then asked what I wanted to drink.
“Is someone driving me home, o
r am I borrowing your car again?”
“I’ll drive you.”
“Then a little alcohol, but I can’t stay long. I have to be back here by eight tomorrow, and I am entirely fried.”
“You could stay.”
I considered it. I really did. “Elisabeth, please don’t take this the wrong way, but I want us to go slow.”
“Um. Too late.”
“Well, I don’t want to basically move in. Two nights in a row this early is too much.”
“All right. We’ll leave whenever you want, but you should stay for a little while.”
“I will.”
She got me a beer. Then the kids began making s’mores. A few minutes later, Kaylee stopped by to offer one to me.
“No thank you.”
“But. It’s a s’more!”
I smiled. “I see that. I don’t eat them.”
She cocked her head.
“Kaylee, they aren’t vegan.”
She eyed it carefully. “It’s cracker, marshmallows, and chocolate.”
“The chocolate has milk, and the marshmallows normally are made with gelatin, which is another animal product.”
She stared at me. “Wow. You can’t eat anything!” She turned to Elisabeth. “Would you like this one?”
“Sure. Thanks, Kaylee.” Elisabeth then made a big deal of enjoying her treat. “Sure you don’t want to try a bite.”
“If you expect this relationship to have any life to it, you won’t do that.”
“Enjoy this sticky treat?”
“Tease me about choices I make for moral reasons. You may eat what you want and I won’t pass judgment, but I don’t appreciate you suggesting my morals are silly or foolish.”
She stilled. “Is that what I was doing, Zoe?”
“It felt like it.”
“I’m sorry,” she said after a moment. “You’re right. I won’t do it again.”
“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure if I believed her, but now I could yell at her when it happened again.
Or invite her to dinner and feed her tofu. That thought made me smile.
“All right,” Michaela said eventually. “We tried a new game tonight.”
“What game?” one of the kids asked. So Michaela described the rules and the final result. Then she turned to me.
“Did you have fun?”