Fox Play

by Robin Roseau

  Everyone at the table was at the very least a decent poker player. I let my scent tell do whatever it wanted while getting used to the new arrivals. Of them, I already knew Janice and Violet, so I focused on the three men. I offered a new set of false tells and slowly lost money for a while.

  Of the males, Taylor was the easiest to read. When he tried to bluff me out of a pot, I happily took his money. Suddenly I was even again.

  After that, Janice and I took turns taking money from the three men. They picked up on my false tells fairly quickly, and I used it against each of them. In the meantime, I avoided going head to head with Janice, and she used that to her advantage, taking small pots she probably shouldn't have won, but I folded out. I tried to control my scent.

  Janice and I delivered a one-two punch to Taylor, cleaning him out. Janice bluffed him, and I just had that good a hand. He was gracious about it and asked if we'd invite him back in the future.

  Then I was dealt a good hand, and I decided to see if I could keep Lara from twirling her finger on my leg. I imagined I had a poor hand, and Lara's hand was quiet. I stayed in the bidding one round longer than I should have for the cards I wanted them to think I had, then I folded, which meant I didn't have to show them I would have won the pot.

  A few hands later, I had a poor hand and could tell Dennis thought his was good. I imagined a moderately good hand, and a minute later, Lara began twirling her finger slowly on my leg. I played it like I had a good hand, but then looked at Dennis, sighed, and folded. He looked disappointed by the size of the pot he won.

  After that, I folded down two more hands I should have played, and Lara never twirled. Then I had a good hand, and I both thought of it and played it that way, and I took a sizeable pot from Dominick. Lara's finger was twirling on my leg the entire time.

  I let my scent play straight after that, in spite of how excited I felt inside. I imagined my cards exactly like they were, and Lara twirled her finger exactly as I grew to expect. She seemed subdued. I wasn't showing her my cards, and she didn't know I'd been playing it.

  Janice finished out Dominick and several hands later, I cleaned out Dennis. It was down to the two of us, and Janice declared a break while Lara walked the council members out.

  When Lara got back, Janice suggested, "You've done well tonight, but you're still showing your tell. Maybe we should call it a night. You know I won't go easy on you."

  "Let's go for another hour," I said. "And see how it goes."

  "It's your money," she said. "For now."

  We shifted our seats at the table so we were sitting across from each other, and Janice dealt.

  I played it straight, and we traded small pots back and forth, Janice folding out every time I decided I had a good hand.

  Then I dealt myself a pair of aces and imagined a two of clubs and nine of diamonds. In other words, the worst hand imaginable. The first three up cards included another ace. I bet like I had a winner hand, but Lara didn't twirl her finger on my leg. Janice pointedly sniffed the air then called my raises.

  By the time the five up cards were dealt, there were two sevens showing. I had a full house, aces over sevens, and the cards on the table were such a mismatch the best hand Janice could possibly have was another full house, sevens over jacks. It was my pot.

  I bet like I would if I were trying to bluff her. She raised, I raised, she raised, and then she seemed emotionally invested. I frowned, glancing at my cards, and imagined a two and a nine. I sighed and shoved all my chips into the center. "All in," I said. "May as well get this over with."

  Janice immediately called my wager, and I started thinking about what cards I was really holding.

  "Let's see 'em," Janice said. "I want to know what you were bluffing on."

  I concentrated on my aces, I concentrated on them really hard, and then both wolves were pointedly sniffing the air.

  "You. Little. Fox!" Janice said. "Let's see."

  I flipped over my aces.

  Janice stared at my cards and showed her seven and jack, a smaller full house. Then she began grinning, and I'd never seen anyone loose several thousand dollars and be more pleased about it. "You did it!" They both high-fived me, then I raked in my chips.

  "Was that a fluke?" Lara asked once we had calmed down.

  "I don't want to think about the good hands I folded down tonight while trying to convince both of you I had crap."

  "How did you do it?" Janice asked?

  "I imagined my cards to be what I wanted you to believe they were rather than what they really were. This hand, for instance, was a two-nine. I don't think I can turn off the scent, but I can use redirection. It's not that much different than setting false tells. Do you think I need to do it with Durian?"

  "I doubt it," Lara said. "You don't smell like a wolf or a human. It's a subtle scent, and I just don't think they'll pick up on it."

  "Well, if they do, I know what to do about it," I said. "Janice, thank you for the lovely money."

  Over the next several weeks, I played cautiously, but I had my buy in before our scheduled game.

  * * * *

  We drove up to Bayfield on Thursday as planned. We took all the teenagers with us, a significant presence of enforcers, and Vivian. Lara, Vivian and I, along with the female teenagers, slept in the house, Vivian taking Angel's room. The teenager girls camped out downstairs, and all the males and the enforcers stayed in tents set up in my yard. I made them move the tents every day to avoid killing the grass.

  Once we were alone in my room, I folded into Lara. "I want you," I told her quietly. "Do you think we can do this quietly?"

  "I think we can try," she said.

  We started pulling clothes off each other, kissing passionately, then I pushed her onto the bed and said, "I want to thank you."

  She let me.

  As she lay gasping in bed, I crawled up next to her, tasting of her, cuddling into her while she caught her breath. Then she looked over at me and said, "You are so beautiful, little fox. I could eat you right up."

  I didn't even struggle.

  She used her weight to pin me to the bed, and then she brought me to a peak using her hands and mouth. I buried my face in the pillow, trying to hold the sounds back. Lara took the pillow away, throwing it across the room.

  "I want to hear you, little fox," she said.

  "Everyone is-" I gasped. "Going to hear me."

  She back off what she was doing.

  "Hey!" I said.

  "You may come," she said, "as soon as the pack knows what a healthy sex life we have."

  After that, she was merciless. She brought me closer and closer to the edge, but try as I might, I couldn't squeeze an orgasm out of her. I began begging quietly.

  "You know what it's going to take, little fox."

  It took her another ten minutes, but I was begging loud enough for Vivien and the girls downstairs to hear. She continued to tease, and before I came, not only did everyone in the house hear me, but I was sure the wolves out in the yard did and probably some of my closer neighbors.

  As I began to shudder, I realized maybe I didn't care.

  She made the orgasm go on and on, and just when I thought I was done, she raised me again, her mouth hot against my clit, and I screamed her name for the I-don't-know-how-manyth-time.

  Lara collected me in her arms, and I opened my eyes long enough to see the smug expression.

  "If you weren't so good at that," I gasped out. "I could be angry at you."

  "But I am that good," she said. "You know, little fox, so are you."

  I slowly caught my breath, wrapped in her arms. "I can't make you do that," I told her.

  "Only because I won't give up enough control," she said. "If you ever dragged me out like that, I'd take control and take what I wanted from you."

  "Someday, wolf. Someday."

  She laughed and pulled me more tightly to her chest, and I drifted to sleep.

  * * * *

  When we descended Friday mornin
g, I got the types of comments I was expecting, some combination of, "It took forever before I could go to sleep last night" to more direct speculation as to what it might be Lara did to elicit such vocalizations from me. I found it didn't bother me as much as it usually did.

  I also noticed everyone seemed more relaxed than they had in a while and more comfortable with both Lara and me. I thought that meant something, and perhaps more than the joy of being in such a beautiful place; after all, we hadn't experienced the beauty up close yet.

  My kitchen wasn't big enough to feed everyone at once, so we ate in shifts. They'd been eating for a while before Lara and I descended. The teenagers were all on kitchen duty, and they made sure everyone was properly fed. I was proud of them.

  Lara then said, "I have business," and took Elisabeth and several enforcers with her. She refused to tell me what it was. "I'll catch up to you on the water."

  I made everyone either show me a fishing license. Those who didn't have one I made walk into town and buy them. We also bought more fishing gear and met up at Benny's boathouse. Benny was greeted warmly and invited to join us.

  "I think I will," he said. "I hired an assistant for the summer, and she can handle the boathouse for the day."

  Vivian was the only newcomer to kayaking. She had tried to beg off, but we wouldn't have it. Benny taught her the basics. The kids wanted to work on Eskimo rolls, so I sat back and let Rebecca teach them. A few weren't getting it, so when Benny finished with Vivian, he paddled forward and began making suggestions.

  We had a lovely morning on the water. Shortly before noon, Lara and Elisabeth connected with us as we were fishing for dinner. We caught a few fish, but when I tried to attach them to the back of Lara's boat, she told me, "Try it and you will suffer." I had Benny attach them to the back of my kayak.

  After fishing, Benny surprised me. He led us into shallower water and then drafted June to help him set up an obstacle course, using floats and weighted lines for obstacles. He set up two parallel courses of a short one hundred yards. The goal was to weave in and out of the floats, paddle around the last one, and return. He intentionally set the floats up so they were not in a straight line, meaning you would have to weave, and each course had two cones that were so significantly offset you would have to take a dramatic turn almost backwards to navigate around it.

  We ran race heats for an hour, the wolves all being very competitive. Everyone raced, even Chloe Lassister, Vivian, Benny and me. The course was short enough and complicated enough that Benny and I were competitive. I watched while Elisabeth distracted Lara, then Scarlett paddled soundlessly behind Lara's boat, deftly attaching the stringer of fish to the back of Lara's kayak with hardly a pause while gliding past. Lara didn't even notice.

  "Alpha," Angel said. "You and I haven't raced yet." It was close, but Angel's turns were sharper and the fish provided just enough drag. Angel crossed the finish line a quarter boat length before Lara did. Lara didn't notice the extra drag.

  Several races later, Benny asked her for a race. He ran an exceedingly good race, but he couldn't compete with Lara's strength, even with a small handicap. She won, but not by as much as she thought she would have.

  Then she lost to Elisabeth, and a half dozen races later, to Rebecca.

  "Lara," I said. "Do you think you've dragged those poor fish through the water enough?"

  "What?" she asked sharply. She turned her body to look. I paddled to the back of the boat and pulled the stringer off. Lara glared at me.

  "Don't look at me," I said. "I didn't put them there."

  She looked around and spotted Angel trying to look innocent. "Angel," Lara said quietly. "Did you have something to do with this?"

  "I'm not sure how to answer that," she said. "I haven't touched the fish, if that's what you're asking."

  "No, I am asking what role you played."

  "Maybe it was my idea," she said in a small voice.

  "Scarlett!" Lara bellowed. Scarlett actually cringed. "Good one." Lara laughed. "I didn't even notice you doing it. Michaela, Scarlett has just offered to drag the fish home with us. She and Angel will be cleaning them."

  "I'll drag them," Scarlett said. "But for the love of all that is fishy, please don't let Angel clean the fish. She butchers them."

  We ran a few more races then headed home.

  * * * *

  We had a lovely late afternoon and evening hanging out at my house. Eventually everyone wandered off to their beds, and I let Lara lure me to ours. Our lovemaking was gentle. I was only a little vocal.

  Saturday morning, we went kayaking again, intending to kayak until lunch and go sailing afterwards. Vivian begged off. "I haven't used those muscles before. But I'll meet you for sailing later."

  Everyone was in a good mood. We skipped fishing. With Benny working the boathouse and Vivian staying at my house, I was the only slow one, and I wasn't exactly slow. Aaron and Rebecca set up a distance race for the wolves, four miles round trip with me as the judge for the finish line. I quietly told Chloe she could hang out with me if she wanted, but she wanted to race. Aaron won with Lara second and then a huge pack that was too close to call. The teenagers lagged the adults by a few hundred yards. It was a close race between Derek and Angel; most of the other teenagers came in on an extended line, and far in the back, Chloe Lassiter paddling for all she was worth, her older sister Abigail paddling along next to her, cheering on her little sister.

  Shortly before they reached the finish line, Abigail tipped over. It was intentional, but no one was going to tell Chloe that. Chloe crossed the finish line, Abigail successfully rolled upright after a few tries, then she paddled last across the finish line. I was proud of both of them.

  With everyone in high spirits, we headed back.

  Sailing was far less dramatic than the last time. I knew everyone by now and didn't feel a need to hide. We sailed for a few hours then rafted together and swapped people around between the two boats we had rented. At the end of the day, Lara and I sat together at the back of the boat, watching two of the boys trying to chat up Abigail. She was flirting with both of them. It was cute. I sighed, leaned back, and closed my eyes. Lara pulled me against her, and I leaned over to kiss her check. "Thank you," I told her. "I really needed this."

  "We all did," she said.

  "Where did you go yesterday?"

  "I just had some business to take care of."

  "That's evasive."

  "Yes, it is."

  I sighed and cuddled under her arm.

  Sunday we left, and I felt calm and relaxed. This time, I knew I wasn't saying goodbye, but instead "see you later" to my house.

  Rematch

  We increased the size of the Wednesday poker game buy in to two thousand dollars. I had a bad night and then a good night, and suddenly I had the buy in I would need for our upcoming rematch.

  Everything else was coming together as well. Greg's group set up cell phone surveillance around Duran's compound, and we began listening in to a lot of his calls. They weren't pretty. He was leaning even harder on his people, threatening them if anyone else "committed mutiny" has he put it. Another enforcer disappeared, and Greg's people photographed two more driving out of Chicago heading south.

  Durian's hold on his pack was effectively broken, and it was only a matter of time before something drastic would happen.

  Something did. He set up a voice call with Lara to which the rest of us listened.

  He was tense and gruff. "How is business, Durian?" Lara asked, a glint in her eye.

  "You worry about business in Madison," he said. "I have Chicago well under control."

  "Of course," she said. "I was only making polite conversation. Are we still on for poker next week? I thought perhaps you would care to stay overnight at the compound instead of a hotel in Madison."

  "That last hotel wasn't very good," Durian complained. We could hear him thinking. "Yes, but if we're coming to the compound, I'll need to bring more of my own enforcers."

&n
bsp; "Completely understandable. I'm sure you'll keep them well in rein, just like I do with mine. How many did you wish to bring? Six?"

  "A dozen," Durian said immediately.

  Lara didn't respond immediately seeming to consider it. "That's not an honor guard, that sounds like an invasion force, Durian. If you distrust us that much, maybe we should call this off."

  "Perhaps twelve guards is overkill," he agreed instantly. Ten might be better."

  "Perhaps eight would be good," Lara proposed. "After all, your enforcers are so much larger than mine, and I can house eight so much more readily. But if you'd rather pay for a hotel, we can stick with that plan."

  "Eight enforcers plus me and my sons will be perfect," Durian said immediately. How did this moron get to be alpha?

  "Excellent. We'll have a lovely house for you. It won't be as grand as your house in Chicago, but we'll make you as comfortable as we can," Lara told him.

  * * * *

  We received one more group briefing before the big day. Financially, the Chicago pack was in trouble. Individual members could recover from the damage Durian had been doing for the last several years, but Durian's finances were rapidly turning into a mess. Once we had started the hemorrhaging, his own pack members had helped him along, with more and more leaving town on no notice. Two more enforcers deserted, and it looked like Durian couldn't have fielded the dozen enforcers he had wanted to bring even if we'd allowed it.

  Greg's team intercepted a phone conversation between Durian and Avery. "We'll get the fox during the poker game," Durian said. "And afterwards our enforcers will rip through theirs; we'll kill everyone who might get in our way, including that bitch alpha and her sister."

  After he played it, he said, "They are going to be in for a surprise."

  We shipped the kids to Madison, staying with Hadley Smith and Harper Armstrong. Angel wanted to stay. Lara told her flat out, "No" and very quietly we needed her to set an example so we could get all the other kids to safety.

  "All right," she had agreed. "But alpha, we know what is going on, and you better call us when it's all over. You personally. And I want to hear Michaela's voice, too."