by Robin Roseau
"Angel and Scarlett," I said, "please see to the rabbits. Alpha, Serena, Head Enforcer, I need to talk to all of you." I didn't wait but walked briskly away, out of hearing range of everyone else. The rest were slow, as they had to shift into human form as well, grabbing their own blankets, but soon the four of us huddled together.
"I heard something," I said. "I don't know what." I explained as best I could. Elisabeth looked at me dubiously.
"Something died out there," Serena added. "I couldn't have told you what. I marked a tree, in case we want to find the same place."
"You don't know what you heard?" Lara asked.
"No," I replied. "It might be nothing. If it hadn't been for the lack of birds, I probably wouldn't be making such a big deal of it."
"We came straight back," Serena said, "or as straight as we could. Our trail should be easy to follow."
Elisabeth looked at her for a moment. "You think she heard something?"
"I trust Michaela's instincts," Serena said. She turned to me. "Could it have been a car?"
"I don't know." I cocked my head, trying to remember. "I don't think it was a car. It might have been nothing: a branch rubbing strangely against another tree, but it's not breezy enough for that." I turned to Elisabeth. "It's probably nothing."
"I'll send Rory and Eric to check it out," Elisabeth said.
"Let's share the rabbits," Lara said, "and if we're taking the fox seriously, then take her seriously, Elisabeth."
"Karen and I will go, too," Elisabeth replied. "If both of you and the pups will all be together. Everyone else remains on duty until we get back. Serena, handle things here."
"It's probably nothing," I said. "Let's not get everyone else worked up."
"Serena, grab Emanuel and search the house," Elisabeth said. "Every nook and cranny."
"After she gets her rabbit," I said with a smile.
"Yes," Lara said with a matching smile.
Elisabeth nodded, and as a group, we turned back to everyone else, and a few seconds later, we were all back in fur, accepting a tiny morsel of the rabbits we had caught.
* * * *
Dinner was just going onto the table when Elisabeth returned. I heard them arrive and a slight creak on the porch, then the door opened. Elisabeth said, "Elisabeth and Karen," then the two of them stepped into the house. "Alphas, a moment."
We both turned away from the table and joined Elisabeth and Karen. They looked tired. Lara and I held hands, and Serena stood at my left shoulder. I reached over and clasped her hand for a moment, too.
"Nothing," Elisabeth said quietly. "We found the tree you marked, Serena. We didn't smell anything we shouldn't. We ran the inner perimeter." By that she meant they had headed west to the first road then ran along side the roads, doing a circuit, but not crossing any roads. "We were thorough in the immediate area but ran quickly otherwise. We didn't smell anything unexpected. Serena, I don't know what you smelled, but we didn't find whatever you thought died."
She turned to me. "There were fresh car tracks on the road west of your location." It was a gravel road, so tracks would show easily. "It looked like it was pulling a trailer."
I shrugged. I didn't think I'd heard a car, but if they hadn't found anything, they hadn't found anything.
"We then ran the outer perimeter. We scared up some game, and someone has been running four-wheelers through the ditches along the road." She turned to Lara. "I hate it when they do that."
"I do too," Lara said, "but I don't think there's much we can do about it."
"There are signs some humans have been ignoring our 'No Trespassing' signs," Elisabeth said. "Far to the northwest."
"There's that eagle's nest," Lara said.
"It was getting too dark to really check it out," she said, "but it was near the nest." She turned to Karen. "Take Eric and Rory back there tomorrow and see if you can figure out what they've been doing. If they're disturbing the nest, set up more surveillance cameras."
"If they need to be reported, I should do it," I said. I wasn't associated with the US Fish and Wildlife department anymore, but my word still carried a little weight. It wouldn't be the first time we had reported people damaging the environment in some way. We had a pretty low tolerance for that.
"I called Gia," Serena said. "She checked the electronic sentries." Our property was now riddled with electronic monitoring. Some days I wondered how much of it was designed to keep track of one little fox. "Everything is green."
"I guess it was nothing," I said. "I'm sorry for wasting everyone's time."
"No," Elisabeth said firmly, stepping closer to me. She reached out and clasped my chin gently, raising my eyes to hers. "Do not apologize. You heard something and you reported it. Serena smelled something, too. Everyone did what she should have. If you hear it again, report it again."
I nodded once and she smiled.
"Little Fox," Lara said, "do you need a lecture about not investigating on your own?"
"No," I said. Which didn't mean I wouldn't investigate if the need arose, but I didn't need her telling me she wouldn't want me to. Lara would keep me locked behind a mile-high wall if she could.
The three of them looked at me carefully; they all trusted me about almost everything. But when it came to my own personal safety, they felt they had cause to be concerned, even though I hadn't done anything in two years to cause distrust.
Well, almost nothing, anyway. I would be pretty insistent about time alone when Lara and I had a fight and I needed to cool down.
"Promise," Lara said after a moment.
I sighed. "I promise I remember every word from the last time you lectured me."
Lara didn't find me funny and began growling quietly.
"Alpha," Elisabeth said. "May I?"
Lara looked at her and nodded, silencing her growl.
"What?" I said. "Why does everyone assume I am an idiot?"
"No one believes you are an idiot, Michaela," Elisabeth said.
"I am our best scout-"
"Actually," she said. "You're not."
I opened my mouth to protest, but she held up a hand. "Let me explain."
"Fine," I said, my voice terse.
"When subterfuge is required," Elisabeth said, "You are hands down our best scout."
She gave me a moment to digest it. "All right."
"But on pack lands, subterfuge is far from the top priority. If there is the need to raise an alarm, you are close to our worst scout."
I opened my mouth to protest again, but she said, "Let me explain, Michaela."
"Fine," I said again.
"If there is a human out there, then the only two dangers are being filmed shifting or being shot. Of all of us, Karen is the one least likely to be filmed shifting. Do I need to explain why?"
I thought about it. "She doesn't shift in the woods where there might be hidden humans with cameras."
"Right. The rest of us all do." By that she meant the instant shifters: me, Lara, Elisabeth, Serena, Emanuel, Angel and Scarlett.
"Any of us can be filmed in fur and it proves nothing," Elisabeth said. "And a human can't get near the compound without setting off a dozen alarms."
"All right."
"So the other danger from a human is being shot, and any of us can take being shot better than you can."
"I'm harder to hit," I said, "and I can heal it faster."
"Not enough to matter," Elisabeth said. "What is a wolf going to do if she gets shot?"
"Try to kill the person who shot her."
Elisabeth smiled. "What else?"
I didn't know what she was getting at.
"What did I do when Natalie shot me?" Lara asked.
"I don't know," I said. "I was concentrating on Natalie.
"You have ears," Lara pointed out.
I turned back to Elisabeth. "Fine, a wolf is going to howl."
"What is a fox going to do?"
"Yip."
"Which sound carries further?" Elisabeth asked.
"Just say what you're getting at, Elisabeth."
"If there is a human on our property and is a real threat, then the most important thing is to warn the rest of us so we can deal with it. That means a wolf howl. You would go silent and not raise any alarm until you got back here. A wolf, if necessary, would raise the alarm."
I sighed. "Fine."
"Let's say it's a human who isn't a threat."
"Then it doesn't matter," I replied. "Any of us could find the human before he would find us."
"Yes," she said. "But a wolf would get back here faster than you would."
"Fine."
"What if it's a real threat, like an incursion from another pack or a weretiger?" Elisabeth asked. "Again, the most important thing is to raise the alarm."
I didn't like where this was going.
"Michaela, you are far and away the sneakiest of all of us, but patrolling pack territory does not require what you're best at. It requires someone who runs fast and can raise an alarm when necessary. If someone is on pack territory, we don't care if our scouts are seen."
"Fine."
"So, I want a promise from you," she said.
"You could trust my judgment."
"I'm going to," she said.
I raised an eyebrow.
"If you are out with an improper escort, and there is something that needs to be investigated, I want you to promise to do nothing you wouldn't want Lara doing if she was there instead of you."
I stared at her.
"If one of us-" and she gestured to herself, Lara, Serena and Karen, "-are with you, then you will do what we order."
I sighed. "Fine."
"Promise," she demanded.
"I promise. What if it's Rory and Eric?"
"What would you want Lara to do?" Elisabeth asked.
I looked down. "Get one of you."
"Would you want Lara to send half her security away to retrieve us?" Elisabeth asked gently.
"I don't know," I said. "It would depend on the nature of the threat."
"I want you to be conservative, Michaela," she said. "We'll trust your judgment if you promise to be conservative and do what you would want Lara to do. Promise me."
I didn't want to promise anything, and they all knew it.
"What if-"
"No," Elisabeth said quietly. "We aren't playing that game. If there is something that requires investigation, then I want you to treat it seriously. Michaela, think about it. I just told you that we trust your instincts. If you think something requires investigation, it probably does. Why would you take yourself less seriously than you want us to?"
"I could have saved-"
"No!" she said. "You and Serena did the right thing today. When there is something that requires investigation, the most important step is making sure I know about it, even if it's nothing."
"I'm not going to report every little noise," I said.
"Of course not," she replied. "But if there is a real threat in our woods, then you can bet that threat knows about you and your skills. To assume anything else is reckless."
"Elisabeth, you know how close I can get without being detected." The answer was simple: I had once gotten to within fifteen yards of her without her smelling or hearing me.
It was her turn to sigh. Then she took a breath and asked, "Why are you fighting me on this? Security is my responsibility, and I am telling you how I want to handle security."
She was right.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I will take a conservative approach and do either what I would want Lara to do or what I believe you would want me to do."
"Is that a promise?" she asked.
"Yes."
She smiled. "Thank you."
"I'm sorry I argued with you," I told her contritely.
"I'm not."
"Excuse me?"
"I know you hate this," she said. "You've been with us for nearly five years, and you still have a difficult time relinquishing any control. We need this conversation from time to time. I don't mind. I'm happy you are willing to have it."
"On security issues, I'm supposed to shut up and do what I'm told." I looked briefly at Karen and Serena. "Not undermine your authority."
"I am much happier to have had this conversation in front of your head of security," Elisabeth said. "Otherwise I would have had to relay it to her. And I think it was good for Karen to hear it as well." She glanced at each of them. "Did either of you have more to say?"
"We did the right thing today, Michaela," Serena said. "Do you doubt that?"
I thought about it before answering. "I feel better that you checked, Elisabeth, even if there wasn't anything to find. Thank you."
"I want to point out," said Karen, "that I think something was out there."
I turned to her in surprise.
"Both of you thought there was something," Karen said, gesturing to Serena and me. "Maybe it was just a hawk taking a rabbit."
"Or those eagles," I said.
"Yes," she said. "Or those eagles. But you heard something. Serena smelled something. And in our investigation, we found a few things that we should already have known." She turned to Elisabeth. "I want to run twice daily perimeter patrols. We've gotten complacent."
"You are head of Lara's security," Elisabeth said. "And it needs one of us-" she gestured around, "-doing the patrols."
"Not alone!" I said.
"No," Karen said. "Not alone. But any of the younger enforcers can partner with us."
"I don't believe it needs to be one of you on every patrol," Lara said. "Any enforcer should be able to handle a patrol like that, or she shouldn't be an enforcer." She looked pointedly at Elisabeth.
"I'm not worried about them on patrol," Elisabeth said. "I'm worried about them trampling evidence." She looked at Karen. "I will take your morning duties with the alpha for a while. You will train the younger enforcers how to run the patrols you want."
"May I suggest something without anyone getting upset?"
They all turned to me. "No promises," Lara said, but she was grinning.
"We have five students in the enforcer program. Except during times of specific stress, it seems like they should be able to help patrol, and it would be good training." I had no responsibility over the enforcer program in the high school, although my outdoor classes were a mandatory part of the program.
"You and I were doing perimeter patrol together when I was eleven, Elisabeth," Lara said.
"Our land was smaller than," Elisabeth pointed out. "Quite a bit smaller." She paused. "Incorporate the students, Karen."
Karen nodded. "Does anyone mind if I train Scarlett as well?"
"She's not an enforcer," Elisabeth said.
"No. She's an enforcer's mate and she has a good head on her shoulders."
"It can't get in the way of her college," I said.
"It won't," Karen replied.
"Then I have no objections," Elisabeth said. "Alpha?"
"No problem here, but don't put any pressure on her for it, Karen."
Karen nodded.
"Anything else?" Lara asked.
They all shook their heads.
I turned to Lara. "Are you going anywhere else tonight?"
"No." She smiled. "Elisabeth, you can probably release some of the enforcers from duty."
Summer Plans
"So," I said in our room that night. I grabbed Lara's hand and pulled her to the sofa. "You said you needed my help this weekend."
"Morgan Yarrow resigned."
Lara was involved in a variety of business ventures. Most of them were related to real estate, although she also had partial interests in a large number of pack-run businesses. She used a variety of employees, most of them pack members, but not all of them, to help her run the businesses, keeping an eye on them from a high level. Michele Lassiter had been helping her for two years, and Elisabeth used to also manage some of their mutual interests, but Lara kept a close hand herself.
"Refresh my memory, Lara."
"Brighton Heights Motors," she said.
"Oh, right," I said. "Did Morgan own that?"
"Morgan's uncle does, but he's eighty-seven and hasn't been involved in the business in years."
"So Morgan just up and quit the family business, a pack business?"
"Morgan isn't pack," Lara explained. "And Lance-"
"The uncle?"
"Yes. Lance refused to give Morgan the business. It's willed to Lance's children, and Morgan decided he was tired of building up someone else's family business."
"I'm missing something. How is Lance pack but Morgan isn't?"
"Lance's wife, Patricia, is Morgan's aunt. Patricia is human."
"Ah. Does Morgan know about us?"
"No."
"Why was Morgan running the business instead of Lance's children?"
"Lance's daughter is Patricia Greene."
"Doctor Patricia Greene?" I laughed. "The pups' pediatrician?"
"One and the same."
When you are the alpha pair, and there is a pack member who provides a quality service you need, you go to the pack member. The pups didn't actually have much need for a doctor; we had used a midwife for their birth. But they still got checkups with her. Most of her business, of course, came from humans who had no idea she was a werewolf.
"You said Lance's children..."
"Rod is, frankly, an idiot," Lara said.
"So when Lance dies, the business will go to the daughter, who won't have time to manage it, and the son, who is too stupid to manage it."
"Lance's share of the business," Lara explained.
"This is getting more convoluted." I smiled. "I like convoluted. How much does Lance own?"
"Sixty percent."
"Who owns the other forty?" I thought I knew the answer.
"The pack."
I thought she was going to say that she did.
"Doctor Greene will vote her shares with you?"
"Yes, or seek to sell them." She sighed. "I tried to get Lance to buy out the pack for years. My dad did before that. I could never get him to agree to pay what it was worth."
"So sell at a discount."
"When I became alpha, I agreed to a council mandate about pack assets. Sale of pack assets over a certain value requires council approval. The council won't approve the size discount Lance demanded. And no one else was willing to go into business with him. There's no one I can sell the pack's forty percent, not at a price the council would approve."