Fox Afield (Madison Wolves)

by Robin Roseau

  They both nodded.

  Lara got up from the floor, then, in front of both of them, shifted into human.

  Bree squeaked and Robert's eyes bugged out. Lara pulled some clothes on and stood up. I pulled Robert and Bree back into a group huddle and said, "This is Lara. My wife. She's a werewolf. She's here to help."

  "They're all-" said Robert, his voice quivering.

  "Yes, they're all my friends. We're all here to help."

  Robert looked between all of us, eying the furry wolves the closest. Lara smiled encouragingly.

  "Are you a werewolf too?" Bree asked me in a small voice.

  "Oh no," I said. "Werewolves are all huge. I'm a fox."

  She stared at me.

  "Want to see?"

  She nodded slowly. I loosened my clothes, crouched down, and shifted to fox, slithering out of my clothes. I walked up to her and sat down.

  "Oh my god," she said.

  "Quieter," Lara said.

  Bree knelt down in front of me. "Michaela?" I licked her face. "Have you always been a fox?"

  "Yes," Lara said. "From birth."

  Bree put her arms around me and hugged me.

  "Gentle," Lara said. "She is very delicate."

  I chuffed and licked Bree's ear. She released me, and I did a slow circle so they could both get a good look at me.

  "She's beautiful," Robert said.

  "And very vain about it," Lara added.

  Who wouldn't be? I was beautiful.

  "You're telling us now," Robert said.

  "Yes," Lara agreed. "We wouldn't have, but it was the only way to get some of us into the house. Michaela said we can trust you."

  "You can," he said. "Bree, if anyone else finds out, it would be bad."

  "I won't tell a soul," she said.

  I hid behind the island, shifted back to human, then grabbed my clothes from the floor and pulled them on. I stood up and smiled. "We'll have a party when this is all over, and we'll show Virginia as well."

  "She'd like that," Robert said. "I understand now why you called your wife the scariest person you know. Is one of these Elisabeth?"

  Elisabeth stood up and chuffed.

  "That's Gia," Lara said, pointing. "And the last one is Serena. They don't shift as fast as Brooke, Michaela and I do. Gia and Brooke will stay here. Michaela is going to walk three large dogs plus Red, and anyone watching won't realize she left two of us here. She'll return Red in a little while, but we'll have left you with two of our best experts."

  Robert nodded.

  "We're tracking the emails," Lara said. "We're going to need you to demand proof of life. Email them and demand proof of life with every contact or you're calling the FBI. Do not back down. Other than that, continue to placate them."

  Then she started asking questions while Gia began her shift.

  Virginia had been taken three days ago. She was kidnapped sometime during the morning, and it wasn't clear when, but Robert thought perhaps during her morning jog. Robert was influential in both local and state politics, and they wanted him to remain uninvolved in any politics for the next two weeks. They wouldn't tell him what issue was at stake, but promised that Virginia would be returned afterwards, unharmed.

  "They're lying," I said. "No way are they returning her. Whatever issue it is, it either already has happened or will happen in the next few days."

  "I know," he said. The look of pain was evident. "But they're watching the house and they convinced me they will know if I call the police or FBI."

  "Was there any fallout from my phone call last night?" I asked.

  "No, they haven't said anything."

  Gia finished her shift and pulled on some clothes.

  "We're going to sniff both of you," Lara said. "We have better noses than a bloodhound. Do not be frightened. Then I need you to find something that would smell like Virginia."

  Robert and Bree both submitted to a thorough sniffing, then Bree ran upstairs and returned with a pillow and some shirts from the laundry. All the wolves smelled the pillow and the clothes carefully, fixing the scent firmly.

  "We've been in here too long," Lara said. "Time to go."

  "I'll get the bugs from the basement," I said and left to do that.

  "Give them to me," Brooke said very quietly when I returned. "I'll handle them." She made a "shhh" gesture then opened the container and carefully removed the bugs.

  "I think it's time for Red to meet his new friends," I said in a normal voice. "But they're a little intimidating, so maybe I'll let one outside at a time."

  I bent down in front of Elisabeth. "You be a sweet girl now and don't scare Red. He's a good dog." I crossed to the patio door and opened it. Red tried to barge his way in but backed up when Elisabeth shoved him back out the door. His tail immediately dropped between his legs, he backed away from her, and dropped onto the ground, exposing his throat. Elisabeth sauntered over and grabbed him loosely by the throat.

  "She's-"

  "Saying hello," I said. "They're fine. Red recognizes a dominant dog when he sees one."

  I sent Karen out next and Red piddled himself. When Lara shifted and joined him, he didn't know what to do. I stepped outside, adjusted collars, and slipped leashes on all the dogs. I grabbed my now much-lighter backpack and left the yard by the back gate, three wolf tails held high and one Golden Retriever looking scared out of his mind.

  They really were kind to him. He got the occasional lick and jostle, and soon he perked right up. But when he tried to pull my arm off, Lara gave him hell, and he slinked to my side. After that, I got a perfect heel out of him. Lara offered a wolfy laugh, grinning at me.

  I didn't have much of a plan. Everything we had done was designed for the sole purpose of planting Gia and Brooke in the house and establishing my coming and going as a dog walker. I intended to patrol Ashland with several dogs in tow. I didn't know what I would find, but I wasn't going to be any help doing anything else.

  "You know," I said. "I could do this with fewer of you, now that we planted Gia and Brooke. You might be able to do other things while I'm out patrolling the streets."

  Lara huffed a firm "no".

  "All right," I said. "But I'd rather only walk one or two of you."

  Karen found a scent. She dragged the other wolves to it, and they sniffed carefully.

  "Virginia?" I asked. Lara looked at me and chuffed.

  Red wandered over and tried to sniff along with the other dogs. He wagged his tail weakly.

  "Can you follow it, Lara?"

  She turned and began biting the leash.

  "Lara, if I take you off leash, the police might get involved."

  She huffed.

  "You're sure?" I unhooked the three of them, keeping Red firmly leashed.

  "Don't go running off," I said.

  Lara chuffed, and the three of them spread out, noses to the ground, sniffing madly. Whatever scents they found were three days old. I hadn't checked to see if it rained, but three days is a long time.

  They moved out, walking slowly down the street, and I followed with Red. They stayed a dozen feet in front of me. Red strained to catch up, but Lara dropped back, growled at him, and he plastered himself to my leg. She gave him a lick and went back to following Virginia's scent.

  Every dog trainer on the planet would have been jealous.

  We roamed the neighborhood that way, the wolves sniffing like crazy, periodically one of them chuffing and the other two checking out the smell. I didn't even try to sniff myself; if it was hard for them, I wouldn't catch even the vaguest hint.

  They turned us down a greenway, and I followed. We traveled along that for a half-mile, then the three of them began ranging back and forth. They had lost the scent. Finally Elisabeth chuffed; the trail took a right turn back onto the streets.

  We lost it completely a half block later. The three of them spent fifteen minutes looking for it but finally congregated at one spot at the side of the road.

  "They took her by car," I sa
id.

  Lara looked at me sadly. I pulled out my phone, noted the GPS locations, and called Greg Freund.

  "Michaela," he said in answer.

  "We think we found where she was taken. Lara, Elisabeth and Karen are in fur. We've been following a track, but they think she was taken by car. We lost it."

  "Are you there now?"

  "Yes. I have the GPS coordinates." I read them off.

  "All right," he said. "Michaela, we think she's probably still in Ashland. The emails are all coming out of the same coffee shop."

  "Where?"

  * * * *

  Ashland was not a big town. If Virginia were still there, I was convinced I could find her. Greg told me where the emails had come from, and it wasn't that far from my old offices.

  "Will you know if he sends anything else?"

  "Yes," Greg said. "Or picks anything up. I think we should come up there."

  "Lara, Greg wants to come up here."

  She chuffed.

  "She said yes."

  "We'll be on our way in ten minutes."

  "Have your expert call me if there is any activity," I said. "I am going to drop the spare dog off then scope out the coffee shop."

  "They seem to be on a schedule," he said. "I think they'll do a pickup in just over two hours. We have the jet; we'll be there by then, but not with enough time to stake out the coffee shop."

  "Can you break into whatever machine he's using?"

  "Not from here," Greg said. "But if we get one of our experts there, probably. Go ahead and scope things out. We'll be there in less than two hours."

  "Greg, thank you."

  "You're welcome. We'll find her, Michaela."

  "Lara," I said. "Let's go dump Red off at home and decide what we're doing next."

  She chuffed.

  I backtracked us to the Callahan residence.

  Coffee Shop

  I let all of us in through the back gate. As soon as the gate was closed, I let Red off leash. We let ourselves in through the back door.

  "We're back," I said. Everyone was sitting in the family room. Red buried his nose in his water dish while the rest of us headed into the family room. "Red was great," I said. "He got along well with the other dogs, and we had a nice time."

  "Good," Bree said, sounding strained.

  "Are you sure I can't get anything for Virginia?" I said. "Chicken soup or something?"

  "What?" said Robert. "Oh. No. She'll be fine in a few days, I'm sure."

  Gia turned her computer around to me, and I read it carefully. "We have email from Greg. He told us your plans."

  I took the computer and typed carefully, "We need to get rid of the bugs."

  Brooke shook her head. She dug through the papers on the coffee table and found one for me. "Close range."

  I nodded. She gathered all the papers together very quietly and gave them to me, I guess for Lara to read later. I stuffed them into my backpack.

  "Well," I said. "Time for me to go. I can stop by later or tomorrow to give Red another walk. He seemed to appreciate this one."

  "All right," said Bree. "Thanks, Michaela."

  I nodded, collected the wolves, and we headed out the door.

  * * * *

  "All right, Lara," I said, once we were a couple of blocks away. "Coffee shop or head back to the motel. Motel?" She was silent. "Coffee shop?" She chuffed. "Got it." I stepped us into a jog, the wolves running alongside me.

  It wasn't until we were down near the waterfront that it got dicey with the wolves. They were large and intimidating, even though they were well-behaved. And, not that surprising, we got stopped by a bicycle cop.

  "You guys sit!" I said. "Down!" They immediately dropped to their bellies and panted at him.

  "Your dogs need to be on leash," the cop said.

  "Ashland laws state on leash or firmly under voice control," I said. "They are firmly under voice control."

  "They are very big," the cop said.

  "Yes sir."

  He looked at the wolves then at me. "You look familiar, ma'am."

  "Maybe, sir. Michaela Redfur. I used to work for US Fish and Wildlife."

  "Now I remember you," he said. He looked at the wolves. "They're very big."

  "Yes, sir." I grinned at him.

  "They aren't wolves, are they?"

  "Oh, no, sir. I would never have a wolf in the city or off leash. They're wild animals sir, even if you train them. No, these are Burnsen dogs. They're very uncommon, but my spouse's family raises them." Lara chuffed at me. Burnsen dogs, indeed. "They're excellent hunting dogs and great with families, although deeply protective of the people they love. After the troubles I had this spring, everyone insists I bring at least one or two of these everywhere I go."

  "Ohh," he said. "I heard about that. How did it turn out?"

  "Very well, sir. I am safe to roam the merry streets again."

  He looked at the wolves dubiously.

  "Ms. Redfur, please tell me you aren't breaking any laws with these animals."

  "Absolutely not," I said.

  "All right. I think you're legal, but if you take dogs this big down to the waterfront, off leash, you're going to scare the crap out of people, and we're going to get phone calls."

  "I have leashes with me," I said. "I just hate using them when I don't need them. You can see how well-behaved they are. They do tricks."

  Elisabeth huffed.

  "Lizzy," I said. "Roll over."

  Elisabeth huffed again, but she rolled over once. "Good girl," I said. "Play dead." Elisabeth rolled on her back, closed her eyes, and went limp.

  "Oh, good one," the cop said. "What else?"

  "I can make Elle growl," I said. "But I don't think that's a good one to show off casually. It's a pretty serious growl. And Kay-kay is really good at a distance. Kind of like sheep dogs."

  "Oh, I love sheep dogs."

  "Kay-kay," I said. "Forward."

  Karen huffed but dashed straight ahead. When she got to ten yards, I said, "Stop. Down." She dropped to her belly. "Kay-kay, left!" Karen got up, turned to the left, and walked as if she were stalking something until I said, "Kay-kay, come!"

  She ran to me and looked like she was ready to bowl me over, but she stopped in a perfect sit directly in front of me.

  "Good girl," I said. "You definitely earned a treat. Down."

  Karen dropped to her belly, but she huffed as well. Lara, in reaction, chuffed amusement.

  "Elle is the least well-behaved," I said. "But as you can see, she does a down stay perfectly."

  "She does," the cop said. "Look, I can't order you to, but if you're going downtown, you really should leash them or you'll frighten someone."

  "No problem," I said. I shrugged out of my backpack, pulled out the three leashes, and leashed them up.

  The cop, shaking his head, peddled off. As soon as he was out of hearing distance, I said quietly, "I'm going to pay for that, aren't I?"

  All three of them chuffed agreement.

  "We got him off our back, and he's convinced you're all harmless. Furthermore, word will get around, and everyone will think I'm out walking harmless, playful dogs. I'll be able to go anywhere, and if you range away from me a little, no one is going to freak out."

  "Forward!" I ordered. They huffed, but they rose to their feet and we continued to the waterfront.

  * * * *

  We found the coffee shop. It sat across the street from a small park. There was outdoor seating and plenty of tables inside. I took a table outside and wrapped the leashes around the arm of the chair.

  "You three please behave. I am going to scope out who is inside."

  A waitress came out at just that time, took a look at the three wolves, and backed away slowly. I gave her my order, told her the dogs wouldn't hurt her, and asked where the bathroom was.

  "You're going to leave them here?" There was a small quaver in her voice.

  "They wouldn't hurt a fly," I said. "Well, unless that fly was trying to
bite me. They're mildly protective." I looked at wolves. "Stay."

  Elisabeth huffed then offered a doggy smile to the waitress. One filled with teeth. The poor girl fled inside.

  I glared at them and spoke softly. "Stop scaring people." Before they could respond, I stepped inside and glanced around.

  There were several people drinking coffee and sitting at tables, a few of them with laptops. I surreptitiously used my phone to take photos while looking around, then identified the bathroom and passed through. I took more photos on the way back out, then found the waitress and ordered something to eat. "And if you have a bowl or something with water, the dogs would love it," I told her.

  The waitress came out with my sandwich and iced coffee. She looked at the wolves dubiously. "Are you sure they don't bite?"

  "They won't bite you," I said. "I think Lizzy likes you."

  The waitress walked over slowly, then set down my plate and coffee. She had a bowl of water on her tray as well.

  "Nice doggies," she said, bending down to put the bowl on the ground. The three of them watched her, but they weren't glaring, and when she reached out to touch Lara, Lara let her.

  "They look like wolves," the waitress said. "But they seem so gentle."

  "That's because they like you," I said. "They're three of my best friends. Elle -- that's the one you're petting -- sleeps with me at night. Lizzy is this one here," I said, bending down to scratch Elisabeth's ears. "She's Elle's sister. Kay-kay is new to our little pack, but so far she has fit in very well, and I feel quite safe when she is around."

  "So they're guard dogs?" the girl asked.

  "They're very protective," I said. "Especially Elle. She won't even let anyone flirt with me."

  "She's that smart?"

  "Very. Some days I think they're smarter than I am. But then they do something foolish, and we all remember who the foxy one is."

  She stood up. "They seem like great dogs. I better go wash my hands and get back to work."

  She backed away then stepped inside. The wolves looked at the bowl of water with disdain.

  "Hey," I said quietly. "It's hot out. I thought you might want something to drink, and it's not like I can order you a beer. I would have been happy to come alone, but I don't think it would be a good idea for any of you to come in skin. You all look like secret service agents or something. I'm sorry, but you blend better as wolves than you do as humans."