by Robin Roseau
"I've never been so startled," Zoe said. "Oh my god. My heart is still pounding."
"I'm sure this was Michaela's idea," I said. The worst part was simple: I didn't have a clue how to get even.
Zoe stole my basic idea. "How do we get them back?"
I bent down to her ear. "We can't talk about it here. For all we know, they have a glass pressed against the door, listening to us plan." I wasn't worried about anyone with a glass, of course; I was far more worried about the fox hearing us from anywhere in the house. I didn't know the limits on her hearing, so I was usually conservative.
She whispered back, "But we are going to retaliate, right?"
"We absolutely will not outfox Michaela," I replied.
"We don't have to win," Zoe replied. "We just have to let them know we won't be passive victims, either."
"We're outnumbered."
"So? I spend my life outnumbered. Do you think I'm going to let that stop me? I say we slip a laxative into the food tonight."
"And then don't eat?"
"You could eat vegan with me again."
"As good as that sounds," I said, "we can't retaliate with something that ruins the weekend because we had a shock. That's too much escalation." But I began to grin. "However, I can get Michaela easily enough."
"Oh?"
"You'll see."
"What about the rest of them."
"She'll get them for us. Just watch."
After that, we showered, showing some sense of urgency, finally making our way downstairs about twenty minutes after our rude awakening.
"So," Lara said the moment we appeared, "Slept well, I take it."
Michaela was smirking. I had to admit, it was good to see she was standing in this house and not in a poor mood.
"We're going to raid the bakery for breakfast," she said. "If you two are finally ready."
"Will the shops be open?" I asked. "Is there time to do a little shopping?"
"Sure," she said. "Did you need to buy an alarm clock?"
"Like it would have done her any good," Serena said. "She would have slept through it, I'm sure."
"Good sex will do that," Lara added.
Zoe blushed, but I felt pretty good about that part.
We walked downtown, with three couples holding hands. We found the bakery first. Zoe managed to find something she decided fit her dietary needs, and a few minutes later we all sat down at the little tables, eating our breakfast and drinking coffee.
"Sister," Lara said, "I need to speak to you for a couple of minutes." She stood up and gestured with her head, so the two of us stepped outside. We walked down two shops before she turned to me. "So... at least she didn't lie."
I relayed to Lara what Zoe had said last night. "I couldn't detect a lie, Lara. If she's lying to me, she's really, really good." I paused. "Have you heard from Gia?"
"They're going over everything. A lot of her files are encrypted, and they're working on them. We've got the contents of her computer, and they installed software to track anything else she does with it."
I nodded. "Lara, I'm not going to have a clear head about her."
"I know. We talked last night. We'll listen to you, but in the end, this is my decision. Will you stand beside me?"
"You know I will, Lara."
"You saw what a wreck I was when we wondered whether Michaela was betraying us that first summer. It's not going to be easy, Elisabeth."
"I know. I know you'll make the best decision you can." I paused. "That was a truly shitty trick this morning. Michaela's idea?"
"I'll never tell." She grinned. "We're just making sure she feels welcome."
"Yeah, I'm sure," I replied. "We should get back."
* * * *
Ten minutes later found us in one of the clothing stores downtown. Michaela began poking wandering amongst the display racks, but I knew she wouldn't buy anything. I was going to have something to say about that.
I waited until I thought Michaela was distracted then whispered into Zoe's ear as quietly as I could, "Help me find something frilly, suitable for a twelve-year-old girl, but in Michaela's size."
Michaela immediately snapped her head in my direction, and I knew she'd been listening. I smiled sweetly at her.
"You wouldn't," she mouthed to me, and I grinned.
"Sure," said Zoe. "Why?"
"Trust me."
It took us about five minutes to pick an absolutely adorable dress, well geared for a young teenage girl. Michaela tried to flee the store, but I waved a finger at her. She glared at me, but she stayed.
"What color tights?"
"White," Zoe said. "She'll never wear it."
"Yes, she will. Find some bows, too."
While Zoe found the rest of the outfit, I looked over at Michaela, hovering near the front door of the store. Lara was outside with Karen and Portia, leaving Serena as Michaela's main guard. Michaela pulled her phone out, and a moment later, Lara entered the store. Michaela whispered to her, and Lara headed straight for me.
By then, we had everything we needed, but I wanted to drag this out.
"What are you doing?"
"Zoe, show Lara what we picked out for her wife."
Zoe held everything up.
"Don't do this, Elisabeth."
"I still think I'm missing something," said Zoe.
"I believe Michaela told you to ask me about losing wagers you aren't willing to lose. She lost a wager to me," I explained. I turned back to Lara. "Whose idea was it, Lara?"
"It was a few minutes of shock," Lara said. "Find something else."
"I don't think so," I said. I raised my voice just enough she couldn't really ignore me. "Michaela, please try this on."
She'd been pointedly ignoring me, but her head turned back to me. She glared, then slowly moved closer, making it look like she was joining us casually.
"So, buying for a niece, Zoe?" she asked when she joined us.
"Michaela, I want you to try this on," I said. "Please."
"You suck, Elisabeth. You cheated on that wager."
I reached over to Zoe and shook her hand, causing the dress to shake.
"You suck," she said again, but she stepped forward and collected everything, then headed for the changing room.
By then, Scarlett and Angel had seen what was going on. They both moved closer, but by their body language, I could tell they were torn between amusement at Michaela's prediction and fear of her response, especially if they laughed.
"You two go wait outside," Lara said.
"Lara," I said, "You will let me have my fun, or I'll make her wear it for the rest of the weekend. You two stay."
They looked at Lara, who nodded.
Then I fished an SD card from my pocket and turned to Zoe. "Will this fit in one of your cameras?"
"Sure," she said.
"Swap it in, get a bunch of photos, then give me the card back," I said.
We waited about ten minutes, and I knew Michaela was in back, sulking. "Angel, go tell her if she isn't out in two minutes, I'll make it worse."
Michaela barely made my deadline.
I had to admit, she looked adorable, and if looks could kill, I knew I was dead. I smiled sweetly at her.
"You look lovely," I said.
"I'm going to kill you," she said. "I swear it."
"No you aren't. Tell me tossing us into the shower wasn't your idea, and I'll let you go change."
She clamped her mouth shut.
"Zoe's camera has my SD card. Model for her, whatever she asks, and I won't make you buy it."
"You suck, Elisabeth," Michaela said but she immediately turned to Zoe. "Where do you want me?"
The two moved away, and Zoe began taking photos of Michaela. I couldn't hear what they said, but then Michaela started hamming it up, and I knew she had decided to accept what was going on.
I had no idea what she'd do to retaliate, so I spoke loudly enough for Lara -- and Michaela.
"If she wants to pay me back,
can we make it after this current crap is over. I'm dealing with enough right now."
Michaela turned her head to me, made sure I was looking at her, nodded once, then went back to hamming it up for Zoe.
* * * *
A half hour later, we were pulling kayaks out to haul down to the lake. Michaela grabbed my arm and said, "Walk with me, Elisabeth."
So while everyone else pulled the kayaks out, she and I stepped to the front of the house.
"What are you going to do with the photos?"
I took the SD card from my pocket and prepared to hand it to her. "Two conditions."
"You're giving it to me?"
"Two conditions."
"All right."
"First, we're even. No retaliation for my retaliation. Second, you don't tell anyone we declared a truce. You let them worry you're going to escalate."
She laughed. "Agreed."
I handed her the SD card.
"I think you should keep those photos, though. You really looked cute."
Answers
The rest of the weekend was very pleasant. There was more kayaking and more fishing, and the wagers continued to flow back and forth, but they were relatively tame and designed to be fun.
Sunday dawned cloudy with storms expected in the afternoon, so we left earlier, arriving home shortly before noon. After landing, Lara pulled me aside and told me, "Take her home, then you're needed back here."
"All right."
I didn't ask if I was going to be upset -- I wasn't sure I could hide it from Zoe.
"Don't burn bridges," Lara added.
"Right."
In the car, Zoe leaned back against the headrest.
"Well."
"Well."
"Did they like me?"
"They threw you in the shower, didn't they?"
She laughed. "Only two of them. You got the other five."
"I'm bigger."
We drove quietly, both of us perhaps a little emotionally exhausted from the weekend. As I parked, she said, "Elisabeth, I had an amazing time."
"I'm not dropping you at the curb, Zoe. I'll help you in."
"I guess I knew that, but I'm going to say this here. And unless you're about to tell me you don't want to see me again, you'll hear what I have to say."
I smiled and nodded.
"I had an amazing weekend. I haven't entirely figured out how I feel about you, but I hope you want to keep seeing me." She paused for a moment. "But I'm not inviting you to stay this afternoon. I'm going to take a shower and then collapse. I am completely wiped out."
I nodded.
"Now, I am going to ask you flat out. Do you want to continue to see me?"
"Yes," I said.
"All right. Good. When?"
"Let's talk tonight," I replied. "Before bed."
She smiled, then frowned. "Elisabeth, I won't be impressed if you're unable to dump me in person."
"That is not my plan," I replied. "My turn?"
"Sure."
"I had a wonderful time this weekend, too. I haven't figured out all of my emotions, either. To be honest, you aren't what I would have described as my dream date. And yet, I haven't had a time with anyone else like I've had with you. I wonder if my ideas of a dream date have been flawed."
She smiled. "I can handle that."
"There is something that is very important to me: trust. I need to know I can trust you. I can't let you too close, because you'll start to see things that could be used against people who matter to me. Do you understand?"
She lowered her eyes and nodded.
"So this all might take time."
She nodded again. "Thank you for being up front. So we'll talk tonight, and right now, we both want to let this continue."
"Right," I said.
"Now you can walk me in and search my apartment."
I did just that.
* * * *
The lengthy goodbye kiss buoyed my spirits for a while, but I wasn't even halfway home before I began to fret. It sounded like Lara knew something, and I wasn't going to like it.
I really couldn't decide how I felt about Zoe. She was human. She'd never be my physical equal; the difference between her and me was far, far greater than the distance between Lara and Michaela. And I knew they had difficulties due to the physical differences, as capable as the fox was.
I still remember several times where Lara's insane responses to Michaela had resulted in the fox getting hurt. If I lost my mind as badly as Lara did, I could end up hurting Zoe, and she wouldn't heal the way Michaela could.
We were just so... opposite.
I didn't know what her status would be, either, assuming she came clean about what she knew, and Lara decided to let us trust her. I wasn't sure that I was ready to hitch my wagon to someone who might be considered a second-class member of the pack. She wouldn't be the first non-wolf in the pack, but I only had three relationships to compare against: Lara's with Michaela, Michele Lassiter, and June with Benny. Michaela was unique, as was her position in the pack. Michele Lassiter was a force unto herself and deeply respected.
I didn't know what position Zoe could hold, what respect she might command. I didn't know how I felt about that. And I didn't know whether I would want a mate who couldn't run with me.
Not to mention a vegan. Seriously? I was dating a vegan?
But she was damned sexy, and the sounds she made when we made love drove me insane for her.
God, I needed her to come clean. But if she ever found out we had invaded her privacy as badly as we had, would she forgive us?
I didn't know.
Could I expect her to tell me everything, but not tell her what we had done? And if I told her, would she grow so angry, any trust was shattered, and she'd break any promises she had made to me?
I didn't know.
I went around and around and around, and I knew I didn't have all the facts.
As I approached home, I pulled out my phone. "Where are we meeting?"
"Conference room," Lara said. "How soon?"
"Ten minutes. How bad is it?"
"Manageable, so far," she said. "Wait until you get here for details."
"Right," I said, and we clicked off.
But by the time I made it to the conference room, I was half of a wreck. It wasn't relieved when Michaela looked at me gently and handed me a beer. I stared at it.
"It's not that bad," she said. "But it's not good."
"Damn it." I opened the beer and took a slug. Then I moved to the table.
We had, well, almost everyone. Greg had sent two technicians to us, Gabe and Kurt. We'd worked with Kurt before, and Karen and Gia knew both of them. Lara, Michaela, and Gia were there along with the enforcers from the weekend. And it appeared Scarlett was promoted to temporary enforcer, as she was also in attendance.
I was happy to have her there. She had a good head on her shoulders. I gave a passing thought to elevating her to a permanent, part-time enforcer. She was already acting like one. Making it official would give her status if she needed it, and it would be easier to bring her in when we needed her. But that was a question for another day.
"Sit there," Lara said, indicating a seat. I sat, and then she sat on one side of me, Gia on the other. "The good news first."
"There is absolutely no indication this information has been shared," said Kurt. "We have been through her mail and her browser history. She uses both Safari and Firefox, but if she knows how to clean her history or cache, she hasn't done so in months. It is possible but unlikely that she has uploaded this information somewhere else, and she has a great deal of removable media in her apartment. We went through everything she had that's big enough to hold what we found, and we didn't find copies, but it's possible she has some buried somewhere."
I nodded.
"That's the good news," Lara said. "There's no sign of spread. That doesn't mean there hasn't been any, but if there has been, we haven't found it. Now the bad news."
Without a w
ord, Gia opened her computer, bypassed the security, then turned it towards me. She hit one button, and a video began.
The scene was in the woods, and the view was fixed, as if this were security footage. I didn't immediately recognize the scene.
A wolf appeared. Gia froze the screen, and I stared.
Zoe had video of me as a wolf.
"Fuck."
Lara put her hand on my arm, not saying anything. Gia then continued the video.
The wolf on the screen moved into view and then right back out. Then there was a flicker, and there was a new scene. This was from a different angle. The wolf moved into view then stopped, turned around twice, then flowed to human.
"Fuck!" I screamed. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"
Part Three: Zoe
Fretting
I lay awake. Elisabeth had sounded strained on the phone. When I'd asked about it, all she could say was, "Work stress."
I almost told her I was falling in love. I didn't think she was ready to hear it. I wasn't sure I was ready to say it.
I'd had an amazing weekend. I had really, really liked Elisabeth's family and friends. They were all wonderful, and they had treated me well.
Were they all werewolves?
Elisabeth had as much as told me they were, except Michaela. No, Michaela married into the family, and it sounded like there was some stress from it.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if I was safe with her. What if she bit me while we were making love? What if she turned into some wild beast as a wolf? She'd stood under the full moon with me, and I'd seen no sign of her turning beastly.
Clearly some of the mythology was wrong.
It was clear that she was struggling with her nature. When she said she was afraid of letting me get too close until she knew she could trust me, it was clear to me she was talking about the lycanthropy.
I wondered if that was why we stayed in Bayfield while everyone else stayed at the lodge. Had they all turned into wolves after we left? Or was that really just to give us a little privacy. I wasn't sure I believed the privacy story, not after the Friday morning wakeup. I wasn't sure they had the concept of privacy amongst themselves.