by Robin Roseau
"All right," he said. "What about enhanced security. Something like this can drag on for weeks, and it is difficult to maintain the level of alertness required if a surprise arrives."
"Your humans won't be much good during a wolf attack."
"Don't count us out. We can discuss details if this is part of what you're asking for?"
"Yes," Lara said. "All of it."
"I can provide all that," he said. "It will be expensive. Retainer is five million. That may get you through. If you are going up against someone like New York it won't remotely be enough."
"We have reason to believe they are poorly led, poorly structured, and having significant financial issues. We also think their structure is crumbling internally."
"So it's Chicago. I hate that asshole Durian, and his eldest son is worst. Jared's not so bad though," Greg said. "I'll give you a ten percent discount if you tell me it's Chicago."
Lara smiled and held out her hand. "Chicago." Greg shook hands.
"All right," he said. "Normally I prefer to set up a base of operations locally."
"A house?" Lara asked.
"A big house?"
She nodded.
"Perfect. Hillary will be here permanently until this is resolved. I will be here quite a lot, as well as other of my immediate employees. We outsource some of the work, but our subcontractors are reliable. I need a wire transfer and everything you can tell us."
It was a very long day, but by late in the evening, Greg's people had started to arrive and set up in David's house. They had a lot of equipment with them, and I wondered how they arrived so quickly with so much.
"Private jet," he told me when I asked.
We gave them every piece of information we had and answered every question. We told him our plans for subverting the Chicago wolves rank and file, and he thought that was an excellent suggestion. "Hers," was all Elisabeth said, gesturing to me.
By six PM, we started receiving our first surveillance photos from Chicago. Durian and both sons were seen in Chicago, and we began expanding our network of knowledge.
One of the first things he did was check personal security for Lara and me. He immediately yelled at Elisabeth. The end result was Lara and I were followed everywhere we went by no fewer than two wolves each.
"With your permission, Alpha," Greg said. "I would like to bring my guys in for that, but it'll take a day or so to get them here. It will take pressure off your wolves, and my guys are more used to it." Lara agreed.
Things moved rapidly for a couple of days, then they settled down. For now Greg focused on building our security, collecting every piece of information he could from Chicago, and identifying the wolves we would first subvert.
* * * *
On Thursday, Greg asked for me to attend him at David's old house. I arrived with my security detail. He and I met in the kitchen and he asked, "You're a fox, aren't you?"
I nodded. His wolves probably already told him, anyway.
"Had one of you as a scout once. Amazing. Tiny guy, but best scout I've ever seen."
"Sounds about right," I said.
"I've never met a were who was willing to give up all of his or her personal safety to someone else. How do you feel about it?"
"I am not entirely defenseless," I said. "I run and hide really well."
He laughed. "No doubt. What about when you can't run?"
"Then I am in trouble."
"Let's see what we can do about that," he said. "What weapons do you carry?"
"My wits."
He laughed. "That's it?"
"I have a gun in my car with silver bullets."
"It doesn't do you much good in the car."
"I'm pretty sure it wouldn't do me much good, anyway. The spaces here are too confined, I'd never use it fast enough. I have it for when I'm in the field and have more time."
"Have you fired it?"
"A couple of hundred rounds when I bought it and a box every four to six months. I hit what I am aiming at, but a furry werewolf is really fast, and I am exceedingly fragile."
"All right," he said. "I want to give you some surprises." He turned to the countertop and retrieved a small bag. He opened it, and there were two slender knives in sheaths. The sheaths had straps hanging off of them. He pulled out one of the knives. "Silver," he said. "Watch the blade." He set the knife down firmly on the counter, and I picked it up. It was sized well for my hand.
"If you cut a wolf with those, the wound won't heal quickly. It leaves trace elements of silver behind. If you leave that stuck in a wolf, he can pull it out, but in the meantime, it will be burning him and poisoning him."
"I'm familiar with what silver does to wolves."
He spent about an hour and a half, teaching me to use the knives. They strapped to my forearms and were hidden under my shirt, but I could reach in and pull them out easily.
"Just don't stab the wrong wolves," he said. "Or yourself."
By the time we were done, I was panting, but not as much as he was. "You're faster than a wolf," he said "You can dance rings around them."
"I know," I said. "I've done it."
"But one hit and you're down. So dance a lot and don't get hit."
"You got it."
"Now, I want to show you something else. Do you know how to juggle?"
"Juggle?" I said. "I actually have never tried."
He had a bag of bean bags. He demonstrated the basics, then he handed the bags to me. "Your reflexes should make this easy," he said, and he was right. Soon I was juggling just fine.
"Toss one of those to me," he said, so I did, and then I was juggling two. "Catch," he said, tossing the bag back to me. I merged it in and kept going.
"Hey, this is kind of fun," I said.
He had me toss the bag to him and sent it back to me a dozen times or so. Then he took the bean bags away from me and said, "Catch" and threw a knife at me.
I caught it by the handle. "Start juggling," he said. Once I had the knife going up and down, flipping over and catching it by the handle, he tossed another one at me, then the third, and soon I was juggling knives.
"I don't see how this is useful," I said.
"Keep juggling," he said. "I'll be right back." He stepped outside and came back with two of my keepers, both female wolves.
"Teaching her the knife toss trick?" said Karen.
"Yes. Give me those knives, Michaela." I tossed the knives to him one at a time.
"Wendy," Greg said. "You're the target. Karen, go."
Karen stepped several steps from Wendy, then suddenly charged her, dropped to her knees in front of her, and Greg threw a knife at Karen. Karen snatched it out of the air and slammed it towards Wendy's foot, pulling short. I winced. Karen tossed the knife back. Then Greg threw a knife, Karen caught it and slammed it towards Wendy's stomach. Wendy met it with her hands, trapping the blade, and Karen released. Greg had already thrown another knife, which Karen grabbed out of the air and shoved towards Wendy, letting Wendy take it. The third knife arrived, and Karen mock-stabbed Wendy a third time.
"Get the idea?" Greg asked.
"Why do you want to teach me this?" I asked. "I thought you wanted me to avoid fighting."
"I do. But I want you trained in case you have no choice. Everyone on my team carries silvered knives, and if you ever need one, you can count on someone providing one."
"Okay, but if there is an opportunity to throw me a knife, why isn't the person throwing it the one using it?"
"What if the person is too far away to help in time? Or what if your closest guards are dead?"
So we worked on that for a while. I dropped the first few knives thrown to me, but my fox reflexes were much faster than a wolf's. If Karen could do it, I could. It took a while, but I got it figured out.
"Enough," Greg said. "You've got it."
"There's something else I want to try, but we have to go outside. Is it safe?"
"Yes," he said. "No visitors."
We headed fo
r the door. I loosened my clothing. "I shift a little faster than someone might expect," I told them. "Spread around a bit. I am going to shift to fox on the run. When I do, throw a blade about three steps in front of wherever I am. Every time I am a fox, I want a blade thrown where I'll be in three steps."
They didn't understand, but I stepped away from them, then I began running. I took four steps, then I dived forward, shifting to fox in the middle of the air. I landed, rolled to get rid of the clothing, then rose and shifted, catching the knife flying through the air where I needed it. I slammed it to the ground, shifted to fox, bounced, shifted, caught the knife, dropped it, changed directions, shifted, bounced twice, shifted human and caught the knife.
I stayed there, crouched down, breathing heavily, and looked over at them.
"That might come in handy," was all Greg said.
"Spread the word," I said. "I won't want every knife, but when I shift fox like that, I will expect one three paces in front of me in just the time it takes to get there."
He nodded. "Now, let's hope you never need this."
"Let's hope no one tells Elisabeth or the alpha what we were doing."
He laughed nervously.
Time Out
On Friday, with Greg's crew settling in at the compound, the information arriving fast and furious, and with absolutely nothing left for us to do until more information arrived, a caravan departed for Bayfield.
Lara rented an entire resort on Madeline Island. Our contingent was huge, a mix of pack leadership, students and their families, our enforcers, and a number of Greg's people, including my own personal security detail. Lara had one too.
Lara had seen the knives Friday morning as I strapped them to my wrists. She hadn't been happy about it, but all she said was, "You will keep yourself safe."
"Yes, Alpha. Absolutely. Last line of defense."
During the drive, Francesca and I made a plan. I mapped out all the work I had for the next several weeks, and we divided it into things the students could easily do with parental supervision, things that Angel or Francesca could do, and things only I could do. My list was very small.
Then we made teams and defined work orders. We paired Angel and Scarlett up; they were inseparable anyway. Serena and Emanuel were there with both their boys, so we grouped them together. Francesca went out alone just with guards. Derek and his mother were there, so they partnered and took guards. Counting me, that was five groups all with a clear plan.
Greg's wolves handled security. We brought no humans with us except Scarlett's father, who was human. Anyone watching us wouldn't realize we had hired a human company to help with security. The would just see a lot of wolves helping me with my job, then a lot of wolves learning to kayak or renting a sailboat. No groups went anywhere with less than two enforcers, and all enforcers were in constant communication with home base.
We arrived Friday with enough time for a couple of hours of work before dinner. Once we reassembled, spirits were high. Francesca, Angel and I checked all the work, and it was great. Lara rented two speedboats and a larger workboat to serve as ferry back and forth to the island. We kept our cars on the mainland and rode the boats across the bay.
At the resort, we held a picnic, and I thanked everyone for their help.
"I didn't know being in a pack would be like this," I said, and I felt the tears arrive. "A year ago, I couldn't imagine letting a group of wolves anywhere near me, and now I am surrounded by all of you, and you're family."
I received a lot of hugs and gentle reminders whispered in my ear of the things I had done before. And then Scarlett stood up and said, "Besides, this is fun!"
"See if you still say that by the time we catch up to my current work load."
She glanced at Angel. "If I get to spend it with Angel, it will be fun."
Derek, Alan and Jeremy looked deeply chagrined. Derek stood up and faced Lara. "Alpha?"
"Yes, Derek?"
"Those two are the only females near our ages. And I don't think we guys are going to get very far courting them."
"No, Derek," she said. "I don't believe that you will."
"And Alan and Jeremy are pretty cool, but I don't think they're as cool as Scarlett and Angel, if you catch my drift."
She smiled. "Yes, Derek, I catch your drift."
"So, I know you have a lot of spare time on your hands and all, and I'm sure you lay awake at night trying to think of solutions to this little problem, so I know you'll eventually come up with a solution."
She laughed. "I will take your comments under consideration, Derek. And while we have a lot of larger distractions right now, I know this is important, too. I can't make any promises, but if, for instance, we had a job opening at the compound, and there was a qualified individual with a few teenage daughters, I may just have a talk with that qualified individual."
"See?" he said looking around. "This is why Lara is our alpha. Even a brat like me can present an inconsequential problem like this, and she listens." He turned back to the alpha. "Thank you, Alpha."
"I must say, Derek, I wish the rest of the pack brought me problems like this instead of the sort our little fox seems to find for me to solve."
I stood up again and roamed around the enforcers, asking who had unsilvered knives. Just about everyone did. They were heavily armed, and Greg's enforcers even carried guns.
"Alpha, I have a new skill that may be of some entertainment value."
"Oh?" she said. "When did you learn this new skill?"
"Oh, here and there," I said. "It's been a dull week."
I stepped into the space before our small bonfire and said, "Knife!" One flew to me, and I snatched it out of the air and threw it straight up. "Knife!" Another one arrived, and now I had two I was juggling. I asked for a third, and I was juggling three knives. Then I asked for a fourth. I dropped one of the knives in the transition, but then a fifth was thrown towards me, and I was juggling four.
One of the enforcers stepped forward, snatched the knife off the ground, and threw it in the air in front of me. I grabbed it, and I was juggling five.
"That's it," I said.
I juggled for another minute before Lara asked, "Is that all?" while moving in front of me. She grinned at me and held a hand up, and I tossed three knives at her and called for another knife. It turns out Lara knew how to juggle.
Lara threw a knife at me and I sent one to her. Soon every fourth knife we tossed across to the other one.
"You know," I said. "I don't know how to stop."
Everyone laughed lightly.
"I'm serious," I said, "And my arms are getting tired."
Lara grinned at me.
"Oh hell," I said. "Karen, catch!" I tossed her my knives. Lara tossed me her knives, I juggled them, and kept throwing knives to Karen. She collected them all for me, and we all took a brief bow amongst the chuckles.
Lara walked over to me and threw an arm around my neck. "That was fun," I told her. She pulled me to her for a kiss. "Yes, it was."
We told stories. We played a few easy games around the fire. We sat together and enjoyed each other's company.
In other words, we were pack.
I felt like I belonged.
* * * *
The enforcers managed security, Greg's wolves coordinating with Elisabeth, and she ensured us it was handled readily. "Lara, we're in security riches right now. I can't believe how much better I feel. I want to talk to you about asking Greg's guys to help us set up our long term needs as well."
"Use your judgment, and if we need to train up more enforcers, let's do it. Also, see if Greg wants to test the training of our existing enforcers, including yourself. I bet we can learn a lot from them."
Lara and I disappeared into our room, after a thorough search by Karen and Wendy. We slipped out of our clothes and under the covers, curling up with each other.
"Thank you," I told her.
"For what?"
"Making me pack."
She squeezed t
he stuffing out of me.
"It's been so long since I've had a family, Lara," I told her when I could breath again. I offered my throat, and she kissed it. "Do it for real," I asked her, so she opened her mouth. Squeezing until I whimpered.
"You're asking for that more often."
"I know. I can't explain it. Does it bother you?"
"No. You know it doesn't. Quite the opposite."
"Lara, I didn't ask you. How hard was it to write the check to Greg?"
"I wouldn't want to do it very often, but the Chicago pack has been a thorn in our side for a very long time. I'm tired of it. And I think we might actually come out ahead financially in the long run. We'll see what happens when we go after their businesses. As badly as the pack is run, I bet the businesses are doing far more poorly than they would under proper management."
"I feel guilty. I know I didn't cause this problem, but I feel like I just cost us five million dollars."
"No," she said. "He was coming after me, with or without you. You gave us a solution to resolve it. This is a win for Michaela."
"But you have to spend more on security for me."
"No. If not you, it would be someone else."
We lay together, Lara caressing my hair like she always did. I drew circles in her skin, not going anywhere erogenous, just enjoying the contact.
"That was sweet what you said to Derek," I told her.
"He had a legitimate concern, and it's one we can't expect him to solve himself," Lara responded. "It's my job to not only deal with the big issues, but also the small ones. This may only affect three members of our pack, but it will affect them dramatically for their entire lives, and I will solve it."
"I love you." I thought about it. I loved how she took care of everyone around her. I can't imagine someone like Durian worrying about his wolves the way Lara did. All he would care about was whether they were paying tithe and offering their throats.
"Lara, what do I smell like to you?"
"Spring."
"Really?"
"Yes. With a hint of oak bark. Just a hint."
"I like listening to your heart beat," I said. "It's so slow and strong. I sleep better to it. When I listen closely, I can hear the blood wooshing through your veins."