Fox Revenge (Madison Wolves #5)

by Robin Roseau

  "It makes me a confused friend who doesn't know how to help."

  "Thank you for the comfort. I'll take the chair, but I don't know if I'll use it."

  "Drink some of the water," she ordered before stepping out. "If you want company, I am happy to stay."

  "No. Thank you."

  The door closed, and I heard it latch.

  I immediately grabbed all the sheets, blankets, and pillows, and I made a nest for myself on top of the exercise mats. They were far better than the cold floor. I curled up on my side, pulled the corner of a blanket over my head, and tried not to cry.

  * * * *

  I don't know how long I slept. I woke to the door opening. Serena stepped in carrying a small table.

  "Hello," she said.

  I ignored her.

  She set the table down, then brought in a chair. It was from Lara's dining room. I knew from past experience it wasn't that comfortable, but it was better than a folding chair. She set it down in front of the table. Then on her last trip, she brought a tray of food.

  "Several of your favorites," she said.

  "Not hungry."

  "You should eat."

  I didn't respond.

  She puttered around for a minute. She checked the water she had left. I hadn't touched it. She didn't seem pleased by that. I didn't care.

  "Come on," she said. "Get up and have something to eat. You'll feel better. I bet you're hungry. It's been a stressful day."

  "Not hungry," I said, lying.

  "I'll leave it here. I'm sorry, no silverware, but everything is easily picked up."

  "I'm sure it's fine," I said. I waited until she was gone and buried myself in the covers again.

  * * * *

  Sometime later, the door opened again. I was immediately awake. I heard Lara's heavy tread. I sat up.

  She looked around then turned the chair to face me and sat down. She glanced at the tray of untouched food.

  "You should eat," she said. "You will feel better."

  "Alpha," I said. "I would like to know what my sentence is. I would like to know if I am to be executed, and if so, when I can expect that to happen. If not, then how long do you intend to incarcerate me. I would like to know the exact laws I am being punished for breaking."

  She closed her eyes. I seemed to have that effect on people. She didn't answer immediately, but when she opened her eyes again, they were filled with pain and sorrow.

  "Little Fox," she said. "It isn't like that. This isn't punishment. This is protection."

  "From whom?"

  "Yourself."

  "I suppose if I were to suggest I don't need protection from myself, you wouldn't agree."

  "No, I would not."

  "I suppose if I were to suggest you don't have the right to do this, you wouldn't agree."

  "No, I would not."

  "I suppose if I were to accuse you of breaking your promises to me, you would feign confusion."

  "Which promises are those, Little Fox?"

  "No cages."

  She sighed. "I am following a more recent promise."

  It was my turn to be confused. "Which promise is that?"

  "It wasn't so long ago you told me how much you loved me, and you told me if you ever forgot, I was to lock you up until you remembered."

  I stared at her. "There is a problem with that."

  She averted her eyes. "You don't love me anymore?" she asked.

  "I don't know how I'm supposed to forgive you for threatening to kill your own cousin." My voice cracked, but I didn't cry.

  "Serena!" Lara bellowed. I covered my ears.

  The door opened. "Alpha?"

  "Find Angel," Lara said. "Now. I don't care where she is. Get her here."

  "Yes, Alpha." The door closed, and Lara looked at me sadly.

  "I am so sorry, Little Fox."

  "Sorry enough to let me leave?"

  "Sorry you are hurting."

  She shifted, clearly uncomfortable. "Are the babies all right?"

  "Yes," she said. "I am trying to stay calm."

  "I'm sorry. I know the timing couldn't be worse."

  "You didn't pick the timing. Neither did I."

  "I tried waiting, but... You saw."

  "I know. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize it was that bad."

  "Frankly," I said. "Neither did I. Having a plan actually helped."

  "You seemed better. I didn't understand why. You were planning this."

  "The control helped. You know, I'd have gotten them."

  "I don't believe you would."

  "It would have taken a few weeks," I said. "I wasn't sure how I was going to find them. But I would have found them. It wouldn't take more than a week or two if Elisabeth would just tell me where they are."

  "You can't get close enough, honey," she said.

  "A thousand yards," I said. "I can get within a thousand yards. Even as a human, I know I can get within a thousand yards. I can get within a thousand yards of almost anywhere."

  She looked at me in confusion.

  "Oh shit," I said. "I think I just got someone in trouble."

  "I'll make a deal with you," she said. "Tell me what you mean, and I will forgive whoever is supposed to be in trouble."

  "Before or after you scream at me and all of them?"

  "Possibly after, but I will forgive them."

  "Karen has a sniper rifle and silver rounds."

  Lara studied me, thinking about what I had just said. "Hell," she said. "I didn't even consider that option. Whose idea was it?"

  "Mine. I didn't know she already had one, but I knew she was a drill sergeant. I figured she might know where to get one."

  Lara nodded and asked a few more questions. I answered them. Finally I said, "Tell me where they are, give me Karen's gun, and I'll be back in a week."

  "I'm sorry, honey," she said. "No. But I won't yell at anyone. I will have a quiet chat with Elisabeth."

  "They knew I'd get free eventually and were trying to give me the best chance they could."

  "I know. I knew about the sparring, but not the rifle."

  There was a knock on the door, and then it opened. Angel slipped in, and the door closed behind her.

  "Am I in trouble again?"

  "No," Lara said. "Why does Michaela think I was going to kill you?"

  She grinned, but she looked nervous at the same time. "I lied to her."

  I stared at Angel.

  "God damn it!" I yelled. "God damn it!"

  "I'm sorry, Michaela," she said softly.

  "Don't compound your lie to your alpha with another lie to your alpha," I told her hotly. "You are damned proud you outfoxed the fox."

  "I didn't know they would lock you up," she said. "I just knew everyone was so scared, and Lara was screaming at Elisabeth. If we didn't find you, she was sure none of us would ever see you again. And it was my fault. So I said I could get you to come back."

  "She asked for Elisabeth's phone and mine," Lara said. "I didn't know what she was doing, but suddenly she was screaming for Elisabeth."

  "Until you told me you were in an airplane, all those texts from my phone and Elisabeth's were from me," Angel said. "When I told them you were gone, Lara yelled at me for a few minutes, and Elisabeth did, too, but then they told me to help find you."

  "No extreme dereliction of duty," I said numbly.

  "Is that what she told you?" Lara said. "Oh honey, no. Never."

  "I told Elisabeth," Angel said.

  "Is the storm real?" I asked.

  "Yes," Lara said. "It will arrive here later tonight. It's a doozy. It's already very windy out there. If you'd been up for another hour, you would have had a challenging landing."

  I looked at Angel. She was having a hard time meeting my gaze. "I'm not mad at you," I told her. "But don't lie about something like that again."

  "Without running it past me first," Lara appended.

  I looked at her. "If you say something like that, then the next time someone warns
me of an incoming storm, I am going to assume it is an attempt to manipulate me and won't believe her."

  She nodded. "You're right. Is there going to be a next time?"

  "Depends on whether you ever let me out of this hole."

  She smiled. "All right. Honesty. Promise."

  I looked at Angel. "We had to get you back," she said. "We didn't know you were in a plane."

  "No one could figure out how you found a car," Lara said. "We just knew you were a lot further than you should have been able to get on foot."

  "You didn't track me to the airport?"

  "We did eventually, about the same time you told Angel you were in a plane."

  I looked at Angel. "I fooled you. You fooled me. As much as it hurts to be outfoxed, can we call it even?"

  "I don't know. I think I fooled you bigger than you fooled me."

  "Don't push your luck," I warned her.

  "We're even," she said immediately. "Are you all right, Michaela?"

  "No. Go home and study."

  "I could stay here," she said. "Scarlett could come over."

  "No. Thank you though."

  She knocked on the door then left when it opened.

  "Does that take care of that issue?" Lara asked.

  "Yes, but I'm still going to get out of here eventually. And I'm still going to kill them."

  She sighed. "At least you're honest about it."

  "You can't keep me in here forever, Lara."

  "I can, you know."

  "How long before the combination of anger, boredom, and fear turn into real insanity?" I asked. "How long before it turns into hate? How long before the only choices are to let me go, decide you're keeping me in a cage forever, or you decide to put me down?"

  "If you make promises to me, will you keep them?"

  "Or give you fair warning I am not going to anymore."

  "Will you be satisfied with a promise to hire Greg if they are still alive two years from now?"

  I considered her offer. "No."

  "Michaela," she said. "I vowed no retribution. That was part of the price of getting you back intact. If I have them killed now, everyone will know I did it. My reputation is important to the pack."

  "I'm not asking you to kill them, Lara. I am asking you to let me. I didn't make any promises. Actually, that's not true. I promised you would kill them, but I guess I can't make promises on your behalf. I interpret that to mean you can't make them on mine, either."

  "Unfortunately," she said. "I can."

  I sighed. "Stalemate."

  "Give Vivian three months to help you get past this," Lara said. "They're going to implode anyway."

  "Give me the location of their compound and three days, and I'll be past it. My way is far more efficient. And it rids the world of two people the world is best rid of."

  "Please give me something that lets us share a bed, Michaela." Her voice cracked.

  I sighed, curled up in myself, and lay back down on the bed. I didn't have any more words for her. She wasn't going to budge, and neither was I.

  Eventually Lara struggled to her feet and shuffled to the door. "I'm sorry, Michaela," she said.

  "I am too." She knocked at the door and stepped out. "Lara. I'll try not to hate you, but I won't last long down here. It's a cage."

  "Please try to remember you love me."

  And then the door closed.

  I curled up and cried.

  * * * *

  Sometime later, Elisabeth entered my cell.

  "You're hurting her," she said from the doorway.

  I ignored her. She crossed the small room and sat down in the chair. I didn't even poke my head out of the blankets.

  "You can at least acknowledge me so I know you're listening," she said.

  "What do you want, Elisabeth? Come to berate me? Growing up, were either of you ever kidnapped?"

  "No. I imagine it's eating you up."

  "Ever go through any of the things I've been through?"

  "No."

  "Then don't lecture me."

  She was silent then let out a breath. "I didn't come to lecture. I came to ask if you needed anything."

  "What time is it?"

  "Ten."

  "Is it storming?"

  "Soon, probably another hour or so."

  "I would have seen the storm. I would have found an airport."

  "Lara had to talk you down."

  "For that runway, yes. I would have found a longer runway."

  "We didn't consider new pilots when we built it," she said.

  "No reason to have done so," I replied. "May I have a bathroom visit?"

  "Yes," she said. "The exit from the basement will be locked and guarded."

  "I understand." I climbed to my feet slowly. Elisabeth knocked at the door, then once it opened, she reached for me and took my arm. I let her lead me to the bathroom; it was just down the hall. Eric and Karen guarded the doorway to the stairs.

  "Are you going to watch?"

  "There are no windows," she said. "Are you going to do anything foolish?"

  I looked at her. "No. I'm not that desperate. But if I were, you wouldn't be able to stop me."

  "I know," she said.

  I stepped into the bathroom and took my time. It was just a half bath: toilet and sink. No shower. But there was soap and several towels, so I washed as best I could, trying to wipe away the stink of anger and fear. I looked in the mirror; I didn't like what I saw.

  I turned around and stepped back outside. Elisabeth took my arm and led me back to the cell.

  "Do you need anything else tonight?" she asked.

  "Directions to their compound, keys to my car, Karen's rifle, and this door unlocked."

  "Ha ha," Elisabeth said. She glanced at the food. "This is all old now."

  "I didn't ask for it. I don't want it."

  "You should have eaten. You would feel better."

  "Go away, Elisabeth," I said. "You can all just leave me alone. If you aren't letting me go, we have nothing further to talk about. I will knock if I need anything."

  "Don't be like this."

  "Like what? What am I being like? Like someone who isn't allowed to make her own choices?"

  "You need help."

  "And we seem to disagree on what form that help should take. Eventually one of us will change her mind. Are you prepared to jail me forever, Elisabeth? Are you? Is Lara? Right now I am hurt and angry, but those emotions are going to turn deeply bitter, and you know I won't be able to stop that. Either give me what I want or leave me the fuck alone."

  Wordlessly she collected the uneaten food. At the doorway though, she paused. "I'm sorry, Michaela. I wish we could find a better way. Or a compromise. If there is something you want to eat in the morning, let us know." Then she stepped out.

  My cell door closed, and I was left alone.

  I curled up and willed myself to sleep.

  * * * *

  The next day went much the same. In the morning, Serena arrived with food I didn't eat. She gave me a bathroom break. Vivian stopped by and tried talking to me. I ignored her. Elisabeth and Lara both tried to talk to me, and I ignored them as well. I ignored my food and water and didn't talk to anyone except to ask for bathroom breaks and to thank them for bathroom breaks.

  Vivian came by in the late afternoon, and I continued to ignore her.

  Everyone who stopped in tried to entice me to eat. They were even more concerned I wasn't drinking any water.

  The second full day went the same, but twenty minutes after Vivian left, Lara returned with Elisabeth and Serena.

  "You will drink the water, Michaela," Lara said.

  "I'm not thirsty," I said dully.

  "You could try working with Vivian," Lara said. "You could try to get better, not wallow in your sorrow."

  "When you have walked in my shoes," I screamed, "you may then lecture me."

  The room echoed with my words and then it was again silent for several minutes. I stared at the floor, cu
rled up with my knees tucked to my chest, my back against the wall.

  "Michaela," Lara said eventually. "We will not force feed you. Yet. You will drink the water. If you prefer something else, we will get it."

  I looked up at her, glaring. "And if I don't?"

  "We will pour it down your throat."

  I looked away, not responding, livid at another choice being taken from me. We sat that way for several minutes, none of us saying anything.

  Finally, Lara sighed. "I'm sorry, Elisabeth. Do it."

  "No," I said. I held my hand out. "I'll drink it."

  Serena stepped over and handed me a bottle of water, the top already opened. I drank it slowly while they watched. She took the bottle from me when I finished.

  "Thank you," Lara said softly. "Another bottle every hour until we feel you have rehydrated, then normal amounts after that. Elisabeth or Serena will watch you drink them. If you want something else, you may ask."

  "I don't deserve to be treated like this."

  "You should be under professional observation, Michaela."

  I looked up at them. "Honestly?" I asked in a small voice.

  "Yes. You aren't thinking clearly. You should eat. When you finally escape, you're going to want your strength."

  I knew it was a ploy, even if she was right. But I also knew I wasn't going to escape unless she let me.

  "Not eating or drinking were the only pieces of control I had left, Lara. Now you have taken one more away from me."

  "Trade me," she said.

  "What?"

  "Trade me. Find something else, and start eating."

  I started to cry quietly. "Maybe tomorrow."

  "Do you want us to stay?" she asked kindly.

  "No."

  "Is there someone else you want?"

  "No."

  Elisabeth helped Lara to stand, and they filed out. After that, I drank the water whenever Serena or Elisabeth handed me a bottle.

  Nothing else changed.

  The next day, the three of them returned together.

  "What now?"

  "What would you like for breakfast?" Lara asked.

  "Not hungry."

  "Trade me," Lara said. "Or offer a wager."

  "Go away," I said. "Unless you intend to hold me down and force food down my throat, go away."

  Serena handed me a water bottle. I drank it, and they left.

  I ignored Vivian and drank the water they gave me.

  I did nothing but sleep, drink water, and go to the bathroom.