Fox Fate

by Robin Roseau

  "For you, Michaela, of course," she said. "I can imagine the debate."

  "Very little debate, actually," I said. "Do you mind if I put you on speaker?"

  "That would be lovely."

  I pushed the proper buttons and set the phone on the table. "Carissa, with me are the wolves you already met: Lara, Elisabeth, Serena and Karen. Also with us is Portia. She is a key component of my personal detail. We're in Elisabeth's dining room and otherwise have complete privacy."

  "Well, I can imagine the conversation," Carissa said. "You are wondering how large an army you may bring." She laughed lightly, and the sound warmed me, still, even without the blood thrall. I shook myself to dispel the effect.

  "We trust you," Lara said, "But we are concerned some of your guests may not be as reliable."

  "Of course," Carissa said. "Tell me: are you bringing your little darlings?"

  "Actually," I explained, "We thought perhaps you would care to meet them in a less hectic setting. We haven't figured out when exactly that that might be."

  She paused just a moment. "That would be lovely," she declared. "And they are a little young to appreciate New Orleans. Perhaps we can discuss possibilities when you're here. Alpha, I presume you do not wish to bring an entire army, but you should bring as many as are required to feel safe. And perhaps one or two of your council members would like to accompany you."

  "You anticipate us well," Lara said.

  "I do this every few years, and it is always very well-attended. A few more will hardly stress my hospitality. If it were just to be the six of you, I could host you here in my house, but if you bring more, I have a lovely piece of property I can loan to you. I will send you those details, and I'll also include a list of other choices if you decide to make your own arrangements."

  "This is very generous, Carissa," Lara said. "This is a big step for us, and we need to talk to our full council about it. We haven't done that yet."

  "Well then," she said, "I will consider this a tentative acceptance but won't tell Deirdre until I hear further. I know she would love to see all of you. I believe she will have some interesting things to discuss with you, Michaela."

  "Oh?"

  Carissa laughed again. "I will say nothing further. Consider that conversation extra incentive when meeting with your pack council."

  I glanced around the table. "Carissa, that's all we had for now, but I suspect Elisabeth will want to coordinate with you as it gets closer."

  "I look forward to it. Now, I have one minor request."

  Lara stiffened, "Yes?"

  "This is a costume event, of course, and I prefer frightening costumes in keeping with the tradition." She paused. "There are prizes for the best costumes."

  "I don't know if anything we can manage will be prize-worthy," I replied. "But we'll seek to avoid disappointment."

  "I will be delighted to have you, regardless," Carissa said. "Was there anything else?"

  "Not tonight," Lara replied. "Thank you, Carissa."

  We hung up, then the six of us looked around the table. "Well," Elisabeth said. "Now what?"

  Lara glanced at her own phone, checking the time. "A little late," she said. "We'll need to call a council meeting."

  * * * *

  The council meeting consumed hours on Saturday. I stayed out of the debate, and Serena was quiet as well. Camps divided fairly evenly between those who wished the pack to remain isolated and those who wished a more aggressive approach, with several on the fence. Lara let the debate progress, mediating only when people grew dogmatic or repetitive.

  When we weren't getting anywhere, I spoke up. "May I ask some questions?"

  Several of the council members smiled. Over the years, my questions tended to steer debate towards the conclusions I wanted, but this time I really didn't know the answers.

  "Is there a business advantage?"

  "Violet, do you want to address that?" Lara asked.

  "There is," she said, "but it is no different than any other connections we might make. Of course, we're talking about one of the top vampire queens on the continent. I imagine the atmosphere will be somewhat rarified." She paused a moment. "But the risk is high. I personally am not considering business opportunities in deciding whether I feel we should attend, but if we do attend, then I wouldn't mind making contacts."

  "So yes, but not enough to drive the conversation?"

  "Yes, that's a good summary." She looked around. "Does anyone wish to offer another perspective?"

  The other business people on the council shook their heads, and Ron Berg said, "Violet states it well."

  "Thank you. I have another simple question. Why do we care about the politics of the other packs?"

  "We don't," James Bent said after a nod from Lara. "Not their internal politics. But from time to time, a group of packs will loosely consolidate and try to exert influence over other packs. To some extent, we would want to be involved before that happens so we can make sure we don't get caught in a crossfire."

  "We are a moderate sized pack," Lenora James continued. "There are two ways for a wolf pack to remain safe within its own territory. They can be too inconsequential to notice, or they can be strong. We are strong enough to deal with our immediate neighbors, due in no small thanks to you, Michaela, but we would not be able to withstand aggression from one of the major packs or a from a consortium of packs."

  "That happens?"

  "Territory is territory," she stated. "And greed is greed. I believe you are familiar with the baser instincts that drive many wolves."

  I looked around the table. "Those who don't want us to go, is that because you don't want the attention?"

  That turned into a fifteen-minute discussion confirming, more or less, my guess. Finally I said, "Well then. I have two words. Too. Late."

  "Excuse me?" asked Albert Stein.

  "If you didn't want to be noticed, you perhaps shouldn't have a female alpha. You shouldn't have invited a werefox into your pack," I said. "You really shouldn't have invited me, given who I am. You definitely shouldn't have made me an alpha. We shouldn't have let word get around what happened to the Chicago pack."

  "And perhaps we should have worked harder to keep you out of Iowa," Vivian added.

  I nodded. "Just having a female alpha is going to garner attention. If you don't want to be noticed, then you need to stick to safe, traditional choices. That doesn't seem to be the nature of this pack. So, I say again. Too. Late. Everyone in North America knows who we are. They know who I am." I shrugged. "I can only guess what they think." I looked around. "I don't know the politics. But I understand about being visible, and I understand about being hidden. This pack is not hidden."

  I couldn't tell if Lara was upset I said all that, and I couldn't believe it wasn't obvious to everyone else. Maybe it was, but no one wanted to say it. Maybe they were afraid of offending Lara. Maybe they were afraid of offending me. But if they thought they could remain invisible, they were deluding themselves.

  My words spawned a fresh debate, trying to decide if I was right. A few of the staunchest isolationists wondered whether there were steps to take to negate the effects of the things I'd said. Violet muttered something about stuffing genies back into bottles at about the same time James Bent just said, "Barn doors".

  I decided not to take that metaphor too far. I was not a horse that had escaped.

  It was Dominick who said, "Our co-alpha is correct. For better or for worse, we have made non-traditional choices, and some of those have become exceedingly visible."

  "I want to remind everyone," said Ron, "that we should not shoot the messenger on this. Michaela did not pursue a position in the pack; it was thrust upon her. I also want to remind everyone that we have been exceedingly well-served by both our alphas."

  He received assent from a few corners of the table, although I knew I still had detractors on the council. I didn't have a problem with that. Said simply: yes-men don't keep you from doing something stupid.

&nb
sp; "Carissa told me that everyone in North America knew about what happened in Iowa," I added. "And Johnny Mack knew about Chicago. So did Portia; she asked about it during her interviews."

  "For a fox, you're awfully direct," Lara said.

  "Wolves don't respect subtle," I said.

  "And so," inserted Dominick, pulling the attention back to himself. "We have to play the hand we dealt ourselves. I move we send a delegation to attend Carissa's party."

  There were about six calls of "second", and then immediately several calls to "call the vote". They were tired of the discussion. The vote was ten to three with two abstaining.

  "Motion carried," Lara declared. "Michaela and I will be going with six enforcers, including Elisabeth and Serena. Carissa also extended the invitation for up to two more members of the council with their mates."

  "Who are the other four?" Ron Berg asked.

  Elisabeth answered that. "Karen and Portia for sure. I haven't decided on the last two yet, but I'm leaning towards Angel and Eric."

  Ron frowned. "One male."

  "Emanuel is needed here," Elisabeth explained. "And Rory lacks subtlety."

  "Angel Greene is very young," Violet pointed out.

  "She is, but she has been taking lessons in discretion from our alpha," Elisabeth replied.

  "The same alpha that appears to be at the center of why we're dragged into these politics at all?" Albert Stein asked archly.

  "I will take who I believe is best," Elisabeth said firmly.

  "That's not why I asked," Ron said. "Of course you will. I was only thinking of gender balance. Do we want to send an entire all-female delegation? Or should we send two of our male council members? The demographics of the pack leadership have been shifting over the last several years, but we are not yet entirely an all-female council." He said the last with a wry tone.

  Ron looked around, his eyes settling on James Bent. "Jim?"

  "Hanna would enjoy it," he said. I smiled. I had liked Hanna.

  "Dominick?" Ron asked.

  "I think perhaps someone a little more spry," Dominick replied. "Brady?"

  "Violet is a better choice," Brady said immediately. "She has her fingers in more of our pies." He looked at Violet. "I will go if you don't wish to, but if we're sending someone to represent our business interests, and it's not Ron, you're our best choice. Gender balance be damned." He looked around. "This pack accepted a female alpha many years ago, and I for one do not regret that choice. Screw the balance." Then he looked at me. "Nor do I regret inviting a female fox as our co-alpha."

  I nodded my appreciation to him.

  He spawned another debate, but in the end, the council agreed to send James and Violet.

  "I will ask Teddy if he wishes to travel with us, but he will probably decline," Violet said partway through. "He wouldn't be able to handle it."

  Teddy was Violet's mate. I'd only met him a few times, but he struck me as the most submissive wolf I'd ever met. I'd once asked Vivian about it, wondering if Violet's choice of mates said something about her.

  "She loves him to pieces," Vivian said. "Violet has mellowed, but in her younger years, she didn't handle competition well. They are well-suited to each other."

  "I would like to know what politics you intend to play," Albert Stein asked.

  Oh joy, another debate. I finally sighed and said, "We won't be playing politics at all." I hadn't even picked a lull in the conversation. I threw it out there, talking over everyone else. Fourteen pairs of eyes turned to me.

  "I thought that was the entire idea," Lenora observed.

  "We're going defensively, right? To avoid being on the losing side of politics played by others. Well, we should pick our battles and avoid the rest. We're not interested in those games. We should remain aloof." I looked at Lara. "Unless you intend to push our perspectives on the other packs."

  "No," she said. "Maybe someday, but we need to let time work on them for a while. American society is just becoming accustomed to the concept of equality, but most of the pack alphas are older than I am, and they are likely to be somewhat fixed in their antiquated beliefs."

  And so, we had a plan.

  Flight

  We flew ourselves, although we toyed with chartering a jet. We took three aircraft, with Lara, Angel and me as pilots. Madison to New Orleans is just over a thousand miles, and I'd never flown further than Bayfield before. It felt really cool.

  I flew the Bonanza with Serena, Portia and Violet as passengers. As we were getting in, Serena turned to Violet. "Would you care for the front, Councilwoman?"

  "You are a councilwomen as well, Serena," Violet said. "And I suspect you know how to assist our pilot."

  And so Serena took the front seat and helped manage maps, and she even knew how to work the radios. It was nice to have a hand.

  To say I was excited would be an understatement. I was excited on so many levels.

  First, I loved flying, and the Bonanza was a dream. It was a lot of airplane, but I loved the power at my fingertips. I was always excited to be flying it, especially when we had other aircraft on a trip. I couldn't properly explain it but there was just something nice about flying in a group of airplanes. That this was such a long trip was a small source of stress, but it was manageable.

  I was also stressed and excited about where we were going. This was a risk. We were going to make ourselves more visible, which could make us a target. We were also willingly entering the lair of a very powerful vampire. We had every reason to trust her, but it was intimidating.

  But I would get to see Deirdre again. I had so much I wanted to ask her. I wondered if there would be other fae there. My foxy curiosity was in full swing.

  And Carissa had as much as stated she had solid news about other werefoxes, and the way she had said it suggested there was some good news in the mix.

  And so, I was excited, nearly aflutter. And everyone around me knew it, too. I'd been getting a hard time about it. But I didn't care.

  Still, with the enforcers looking on, I took my time with the preflight. The aircraft was in perfect condition; Lara made sure of that with all her airplanes. Finally I opened the door and turned to Portia and Violet. "You'll need to take the aft-facing seats for takeoff and landing," I said, "but if you're more comfortable facing forward, one of you can shift while we're in flight."

  "We'll be fine, Captain," Violet said, climbing in first to take the seat behind mine. I made sure Violet got buckled in properly, helped stow her bag, and then climbed in myself.

  I looked around. It was taking longer for Lara to load her passengers, but soon she had them settled. She gave me a little wave before climbing into the Seneca. Two minutes later, all three airplanes were taxiing. We did our run ups, the last check of all critical systems before taking off.

  As always, I knew I would be expected to take off first. Lara was so paranoid. I guess after not one, but two kidnappings, she had reason to be. "Everyone all set?" I asked. "This is the last opportunity to remember you forgot to use the facilities."

  I heard multiple chuckles over the headset.

  "I've never flown in such a small aircraft, Captain," Violet admitted. "But I have a strong stomach."

  "Excellent," I said. "We can fly some aerobatics!" As if. The Bonanza was the wrong airplane for that.

  I pushed forward on the throttle, and the engine responded smartly. Thirty seconds later, we were in the air.

  Our plan was for an east departure to help us fly around Dane County airport airspace. That was perfect for me, as it gave me an opportunity to circle the compound twice while waiting for Lara and then Angel to climb into the air. I made sure to tip the wing far enough that Violet could see as well.

  I was grinning from ear to ear. I loved that airplane.

  "Where are you, Little Fox?" Lara asked over the encrypted radio.

  "Like you don't know," I replied with a laugh. "Violet wanted to see the compound."

  Lara chuckled. "Right. I'm sure she did. Get over
here and form up."

  I returned her chuckle and turned back to the airport. Lara and Angel were flying a box pattern over the airport. "I see you both," I reported. I timed my approach, pulling in behind Angel and off her right wing. "Lead the way, fearless leader!"

  Lara did one more half circle before turning us towards the east. We all had our GPS systems programmed with our flight plan, so if we got separated, none of us would get lost.

  "Keep it loose today," Lara said. "This is too far to fly with the stress of flying in formation."

  We edged our way around the outside of Dane County airspace, staying well clear to the east as we climbed to a comfortable cruising altitude. Soon we were flying south towards St. Louis, our fuel stop today.

  "So," I asked. "What is today's entertainment?"

  "Truth or dare!" Angel offered immediately. "Michaela, I dare you to make your passengers airsick."

  "They can hear you, Angel," I said. "Besides, Elisabeth is with Lara."

  "Hey!" exclaimed Elisabeth. "I heard that, Fox."

  "You were supposed to, Wolf," I replied. "And how many times do I have to tell you? That's Alpha Fox to you."

  "Do you believe I would leave the entertainment up to chance?" Lara asked. "Each of you, look in your glove box. Take out what you find, but don't open it yet."

  I offered a quizzical look to Serena. She opened the glove box and removed two boxes of Trivial Pursuit questions and a stopwatch. A moment later I heard laughing from all three aircraft.

  "We're playing for points," Lara explained. "Each aircraft is a team. I'll start by reading a question for Michaela's team to answer. There is a two-minute time limit per question. You get two points if you answer correctly within one minute, and one point if you answer within two. Angel's team then gets fifteen seconds to state whether Michaela's team is right or wrong. If they are correct, they get half the points Michaela could get for answering correctly. Then the next time it's our turn to read a question, we'll ask Angel's aircraft instead. Questions?"

  "Are there prizes?" I asked.