by Robin Roseau
But it was Elisabeth that took the next fall, and I didn’t even see how Michaela did it.
“Good one,” Elisabeth said from her back. “That shouldn’t have worked.”
“Foxy trick,” Michaela said.
That was Michaela’s only point, but it was one more than I thought she’d get. But I was impressed. She made Elisabeth work for it. I would have expected an easy fight for the werewolf, but she had to work.
Afterwards they hugged. “I’ll never be good at that,” Michaela said.
“But you’re a hell of a lot better than you were three years ago,” Serena said. “That’s going to save you some day.”
“Let’s hope not,” Michaela said. “No one has bothered me in a few years. Word has gotten around.”
Maybe Michaela didn’t see it, but I saw the look Elisabeth gave to Serena, and I thought perhaps Michaela didn’t know everything after all.
* * * *
In the shower, I grabbed Elisabeth’s arm. Michaela hadn’t stuck around for our workout, so we were alone. But I turned the water on, then two more showerheads besides, before pulling Elisabeth to the corner.
“What was that look?”
“What look? Hey you’ve got a hot ass. I looked.”
“Not that look!” I said. “That look between you and Serena.”
She stared into my eyes for ten solid seconds. “We don’t tell Michaela everything.”
“That’s a mistake. If she knew of all the threats, she could plan for them.”
“If she knew of all the threats...” Elisabeth shook her head. “The last ones were a couple of idiots from our own pack.”
“How often, Elisabeth?”
“On average, one or two a year. The night Kristian took her? She’d just dealt with one idiot herself.”
“Killed him?”
“No, but if Lara had been there, she would have. It didn’t require violence, but it was a random encounter with a drunk with a big mouth.”
“Wolves.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “We find out about a lot of them ahead of time. Sometimes the idiots fly into Madison and rent a car. If they head here or Bayfield, they’re dead.”
“And the rest?”
“We have some pretty sophisticated monitoring. We didn’t used to. We weren’t this vulnerable. We were just a minor wolf pack.”
“So they want Michaela.”
“Yeah, but taking the pups might be a good way to get her. She’d go insane. The worst part about that? I’d need her. I’d need her brain to help me figure out how to get them back. If I lock her up, I don’t get her brain. If I don’t lock her up, I know she’ll hair off after them, trading herself if she has to.”
“Any mother would.”
“Yeah, which is why they’re vulnerable, but at least they haven’t learned to ditch their security yet.”
“Elisabeth, you need to tell her. She needs to know.”
“We’re trying to give her a normal life, Anna.”
“And you need twice as many enforcers as you have.”
“We’re working on it, but where in the hell do we find enforcers we can rely on, immune to bribery.”
“Oh. I’ve never had to think about this. I’m sorry, Elisabeth. If I can help, I will, but clearly this isn’t my expertise. But you need to tell her.”
“I know. Lara’s calling those shots. And please don’t tell her I talked to you about it.”
“I won’t. I don’t think Carissa knows about this, Elisabeth. May I tell her?”
“Could I stop you?”
“I’m not here to spy on you, Elisabeth.”
She huffed. “Yeah. Tell her, but tell her we’re keeping it from Michaela, and that’s Lara’s choice. And we won’t have the slightest problem keeping both of them safe as long as they behave.”
I nodded, turned off the extra showerheads, and then began my shower.
* * * *
Twenty minutes later, the mood in the alphas’ house was festive. Elisabeth pointed to a sign near the door, giving me a moment to read it, then turned around. “For what it’s worth, there’s a similar sign outside Portia and Zoe’s house, but they only put it out when expecting guests.”
“Got it.”
“This is for the fox,” Elisabeth said. “So she knows who is coming and going, wherever she is in the house.”
“Oh. That makes sense.”
She opened the door, stepped through, and announced her name. I followed and said, “Annabelle Delacroix.”
The house wasn’t full, but there were a lot of wolves, assembled in small clusters. The tone was jovial, and a moment after we arrived, I heard Deirdre’s crystal laugh from deeper in the house.
I turned to Elisabeth. “Is it always like this?”
“No. Sometimes the kids are at school.”
“So basically yes?”
“Not always, but yeah. A lot. The kids have had a couple of weeks off school, and tomorrow we start the summer program. I think Michaela is hoping Deirdre will teach some classes.” She paused then grinned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“What?”
“Nothing, I said.” But she grinned again, then she gestured with her head, and we traveled deeper into the house.
I got some looks, but I’d met everyone last night. There were a few noses that curled and sniffed for a moment, and heads that turned to me, but then they turned away, and I decided it was just the unexpected scent of cat that had gathered their attention.
Still, it was strange.
We found Lara, Michaela, Deirdre, and Zoe standing together in a corner of the dining room, slightly separated from each other. Elisabeth led me to them, and they made room in their circle for us.
“Well, Anna, you didn’t break my mate.”
“She’s very fast.”
“That she is,” Lara agreed. “That she is.”
“Michaela,” asked Elisabeth. “Are there any last-minute changes in the roster?”
“No, but the requests from families to come up keeps changing. I’ve been forwarding them to your email.”
“I’ve got those,” she said. “Lara, I’d like to make a personnel change.”
“Oh?”
“The Fox needs a personal assistant. She has too many duties, and she shouldn’t have to take time on these details.”
“Not a bad idea,” Lara said. “And did you have a volunteer?”
“Yes. Iris and Lindsey. We’ll lose them in the fall, but we can advertise the position within the pack.” But then her gaze swiveled. “Unless Zoe wants it right now.”
“Zoe is building a house and getting married,” Michaela said. “So maybe Zoe wants it, but not until her life settles down. Zoe?”
“Is this a paying position?” Zoe asked.
“Yes,” said Lara. “But it’s a full time position.”
“More than full time,” Elisabeth said. “Michaela never stops working.”
“Green,” Zoe said. “What about Green?”
“Who is Green?” I asked.
“Not who,” said Zoe. “What. Green stands for Green Environment Network. I told you I was an environmental activist.”
“Ah,” I said. “And yet, you haven’t even tried to convince me to amend my evil, tree-cutting, beef-eating, SUV-driving ways.”
“Don’t get her started,” Michaela said. “We don’t have that kind of time today.” But she reached over and squeezed Zoe’s arm when she said it.
“Seriously, I want to know more,” I said.
“We’ll talk,” Zoe said. “So. What about Green?”
For the next fifteen seconds or so, there was a lot of silent communication between Lara, Michaela, and Elisabeth. Finally it was Elisabeth that said, “You’d have to make a decision.”
“Am I being pressured?”
“Absolutely not,” Lara said.
“I don’t want to give up Green,” Zoe said. “And I don’t want to give up Zoe Young Photograp
hy, either. They’re both more than just jobs.” She turned to face Michaela fully. “I understand the difficulty of finding the right person. If you can’t find someone, you can ask me again. But I would rather you find someone else.”
“That’s fair,” Michaela said. She turned to Lara. “Did you just approve this?”
“Yes,” Lara said.
“Good. This is good. Head Enforcer, it is my opinion that my personal assistant is just as difficult a position to fill as an enforcer tasked to my protection or that of our pups. Do you agree?”
“Not quite, but yes.”
“Then I will talk to Lindsey and Iris. I presume you have no problem with them.”
“Absolutely not.”
“You will perform the search for someone permanent. You will present me with candidates, but I’m going to be picky as hell.”
“Was that an order, Alpha?” Elisabeth asked.
Michaela considered for a moment. “A request for you to handle it. I assume you’ll really put Gia on it. If you prefer a different plan, speak up.”
“I’ll ask Gia to coordinate with you.”
“Very good. I would like Iris and Lindsey in my car for our drive today.”
“Of course,” Elisabeth said.
“Zoe, could you tell Francesca everyone is here?” Lara asked. “I think we’d like to eat and get going.”
Zoe nodded and disappeared for a moment. Elisabeth stared after her. “She’d be perfect, too.”
“I know,” said Michaela. “But we’ve already shaken her life to the very foundations. We can’t take the last two things we left to her.”
“There’s a story here?”
“I’ll tell you about it,” Elisabeth said. “We should have talked about this last night. How close do you feel you need to shadow Deirdre?”
Deirdre’s eyes flashed at me, but she said nothing, and I don’t think Elisabeth noticed, although Lara did.
“I’m not here as a bodyguard,” I said. “I’m here to supplement your forces, Elisabeth, but I still have my own job. I guess I’m a reserve we all know isn’t necessary.”
“So you don’t need to be in the same car.”
“No, but if she’s in the front of a convoy, I’d rather not be in the back.”
Elisabeth nodded, and before we could bring up any other topics, Zoe joined us, and right behind her, Francesca announced breakfast.
* * * *
Well fed and feeling pretty good, we gathered outside. I moved down in the grass with Deirdre, but the alphas and Elisabeth remained on the porch of the house.
“All right,” Michaela called. “Listen up. We have a lot of people, and a few of you haven’t attended one of my events before. I’m going to be a hard ass in a minute, but let’s review. We have a six-hour drive. There will be stops. But if you haven’t used the bathroom, you’re going to get a very small window to stop by the school.” She pointed to a building across the corner of the parking lot.
She looked around. “You all have noticed a few new faces. Elisabeth?”
“I’m going to be blunt. We have guests, including one from New Orleans. Anna, wave to your fans.”
I smiled and waved, turning a little circle while I did it.
“Beside her is Deirdre, a friend of Michaela’s. Deirdre is human, but clearly she knows what we all are. Say ‘hi’, Deirdre.”
“Hi, everyone.”
“Just like everything else this pack does, we do not talk to strangers about ourselves or our friends. If a human steps up to you and acts the slightest bit curious about any of us, what do you do?”
“Kill him!” someone called out.
“That’s not funny,” Michaela said. “That is one, and I’ll let it go. I won’t let it go again. When Elisabeth asks a serious question, I expect a serious answer. She is the head enforcer of this pack and has earned your respect.”
Whoever spoke didn’t say anything, but Michaela let her words settle.
“What do we do?” Elisabeth asked.
Several hands went up. Elisabeth pointed to one. “I’m sorry. We met, but I met about thirty other kids that day.”
A teenage girl stepped forward. “I’m Parker Paine,” the girl said. “I’ve never been on one of these trips, but I bet we tell you, Head Enforcer.”
“You tell the nearest enforcer,” Elisabeth replied. “You should be prepared to describe the person in question, and if you can do it without being obvious, you keep an eye on the person, but you do not follow him. You may think you’re being subtle, but you probably aren’t. Parker, can you guess what you don’t do?”
“Answer his questions.”
“That’s right. We’re going to practice. Scarlett?”
I turned to see Scarlett move through the group. She stepped up to the side of the girl -- Parker. “Hey,” she said. “Imagine I’m a human.”
“Hello, Human,” Parker said.
“Stop,” said Elisabeth. “Parker, Scarlett was cute, but I want you to play it like you think you really would.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“Hey,” said Scarlett. “Nice day.”
“Hey,” said Parker.
“Is this some sort of school outing?”
Parker froze. “Um.”
“Parker,” Michaela said gently. “This is why we practice. I want you to think about something. Imagine we weren’t werewolves, but just about everything else was exactly as it is. If you think of that way, it helps.”
“I thought we shouldn’t answer questions.”
“Yes, but you’re not eight. A human child of eight could run away from stranger danger. But a human teenager would respond differently.”
“Oh,” she said. “Okay.” She turned to Scarlett. “Summer school.”
Scarlett nodded. “Wow. Cool. What school?”
“Um. It’s a private school,” Parker said.
“So. Who’s the fox?”
“What?” Parker spat.
“You know. The hottie.” She gestured to Michaela. “I wouldn’t mind getting to know her.”
She glanced nervously up at Elisabeth, who said nothing. Then Parker began patting her pockets. “Shit. I think I left my phone in the car. My boyfriend said he’d call. It was nice meeting you.” She turned away from Scarlett and walked to the front of the porch, right in front of Elisabeth. Then she whispered, “That woman was asking questions.”
“Don’t point,” Elisabeth said. “And don’t look around. Describe her.”
“Um. Tall for a human, almost the size of a wolf. College age. She’s wearing jeans and a light pink golf shirt.”
“Very good,” Elisabeth said. “Parker, I could have asked one of the kids who already knew this, but I asked you, and it wasn’t to pick on you. Do you know why?”
Parker shook her head.
“Because if I asked someone who had ready answers, no one would really have learned everything. Now everyone here knows it’s not easy to think on your feet. You did well. That was good thinking about your phone, but I can see the bulge in your front pocket.”
“It’s all I could think of.”
“Sometimes the best you can think of just needs to be good enough,” Elisabeth said. “You can also pull your phone out and act like you got a text. Everyone here should have the pack emergency number on speed dial. If a kindly granny asks questions like the ones Scarlett just asked, and there isn’t an enforcer immediately nearby, there’s nothing wrong with using the emergency number.”
Parker nodded. “Could we practice again?”
“We’ll give you some more chances, Parker,” Elisabeth said. She straightened and addressed all of us. “I want to be clear. We don’t run surprise drills. If it’s a drill, I will have personally told you it was a drill. If something looks suspicious, it is suspicious. No fooling around.”
There were nods at that.
But Parker raised her hand.
“Yes?”
She gestured to Scarlett. “Does that happen?”
“No.”
“If you had lowered your guard, where would you be now?”
“I’d have died forty times over,” Michaela said. “And that’s not an exaggeration.”
There was an intake of breath, and Parker asked, “Really?”
“Really,” said Michaela. “We don’t do this for fun. You’re protecting yourself, your friends, your pack, and me. All right?”
“Yes, Alpha,” Parker said somewhat meekly.
“Thank you, Parker,” Elisabeth said. “Other questions?”
* * * *
Elisabeth talked for a few more minutes, and then she turned it back to Michaela.
“All right. Hard ass time,” she said. “There are rules. We’ve gone over the don’t talk about us rules. But here we go. Rule number one. You do not do anything on this trip that you wouldn’t do if you knew I was watching.”
She let that settle. I was impressed. No one made a joke about the bathroom.
“Rule number two. You don’t go anywhere alone. I will be assigning partners, and from this moment forward, you are joined at the hip. That means you eat together, sleep together, attend classes together, kayak together, and go to the bathroom together. And that doesn’t mean across the room from each other. That means touching distance. And when we are traveling through human territory, it means literally touching.” She reached over and took Lara’s hand. “I prefer this.” She held up the clasped hands. But then she dropped Lara’s hand. “If you think that’s just too uncool, you can do this.” And Lara set her hand on Michaela’s shoulder.
“You big, strong wolves may think I’m being ridiculous, but trust me, I’m not. Furthermore, at all stops today, you not only will be touching your partner, you will also remain in groups by vehicle, which means all of you with the driver of your car or anyone she assigns you to follow instead.”
There were nods.
“Those are all the rules.”
Most people seemed to take that in stride, but some of the teenagers looked around. I thought it was a particularly short list of rules, but the first was pretty all-encompassing.
It was Parker who raised her hand. “That’s it?”
“Parker, can you think of any rule at all that isn’t covered by rule number one or rule number two?”