by Robin Roseau
I still didn't see Lara. I cocked my head, listening carefully, then chuffed. I walked up to both of them then nudged them aside. They were lying on top of Lara, hiding her from me. She sat up and hugged me then howled briefly.
Gia immediately howled the ending. We all returned to camp.
Those of us who could shifted back to human. In the final score, all the searchers were caught except me, Brendon and Michele.
"All right," I said. "That didn't work very well. Does this game have promise?"
"Maybe," was the consensus.
"Who had any fun at all?" Everyone's hand went up. "Okay, that's higher than I was expecting. What part was fun?"
"It was fun kidnapping Lindsey," Kaylee said immediately.
"Okay, kidnappers," I said. "Did all of you enjoy kidnapping your victim?"
They all raised their hands.
"Kidnap victims, raise your hand if you enjoyed that part."
No hands went up.
"Oh," I said. "I'm sorry. I would have enjoyed that part. This is a bad game."
Scarlett raised her hand.
"Scarlett, you had a question?"
"No. I'm raising my hand. I had to think about it. I enjoyed being kidnapped. I didn't enjoy sitting in the snow waiting once I heard Angel got caught. Iris and Edward let me talk once Angel got caught, but still-"
The other kidnap victims agreed with that sentiment. Lara was quiet. I turned to her. "Alpha?"
She turned away from everyone else so only I could see her and she spoke quietly. "I was frustrated with Serena and Emanuel, but I couldn't say anything."
I turned to Serena. "Your strategy was brilliant."
"But awfully close to cheating," she said. "The game turned out almost exactly as we thought it would. We thought you would get to us last."
"I figured it out," I said.
"Well, I don't believe we used a fair strategy," Serena said. "We fit to your rules, but the rules need to change."
"I had expected every group to go in a different direction," I said. "I thought you might confuse your trails. But I hadn't expected you to all take the same trail, and I really hadn't anticipated camping out on anyone's back trail. It's almost as if you have been learning fox tricks."
That earned me some chuckles.
"It would be an easy rule to abuse," Serena said. "But we can make it illegal to do it intentionally. Clearly what we did was intentional."
"Do we want to try it again?" I asked. "With the new rule?"
"Thirty minutes is too long," Scarlett said.
"Twenty?" I suggested.
"Yes," she said. "And only eight minutes to hide, not ten."
I looked at Team Two. "Would eight minutes be enough?"
They weren't sure. "Maybe if we can pick our victims and then start the timer," Elisabeth said.
"This game favors the wolves," I said. I looked at Kaylee. "Alan, did you carry Lindsey?"
"I helped!" Kaylee said.
"She did," Alan replied. "I don't think Kaylee could carry her half of one of the adult males, but she was fine with Lindsey."
I looked at Benny, but he held his hands up in surrender. "We get to play. If I were driven by my competitive side, I shouldn't even be here."
Michele spoke up. "I think human searchers should be offered a handicap."
"Human searchers can't be captured," Elisabeth offered immediately.
"And may use a flashlight," Michele added. "And if you take Donald again, then you have to leave a trail I could actually follow somehow."
I looked at Team Two. Nick, Scarlett's father was on Team Two.
"Let's think about that. We're going to play again with Team One being the kidnappers. "Whoever kidnaps Nick or Tara must kidnap Nick this time so he doesn't have to search until we figure out a fair handicap."
Everyone seemed ready to try it again.
"Okay, someone substitute for Gia. Gia do you care which team?"
"Team Two," she said.
"I'll switch with her," Karen offered immediately.
"Monique, come with me," I said. Monique was partnered with Max, Lily's nine-year-old little brother. I put my arm around her and pulled her away. "Are you happy teamed with Max or should we split you up?"
"I picked him," she said. "He's a good kid."
"Do you want to be the victim or the searcher?"
"I'd be fine with either, but I think you should let him search. He'll have more fun. Unless it's Angel and Scarlett who kidnap us. He has a crush on Scarlett."
I laughed. "Go on back to your partner, Monique."
I stepped up to Lara and said quietly. "I want her in my classes. I think I'd trust her with our babies."
"Tell me more later," she said.
"Okay," I said. "Team One will divide the victims between us. We're going to let the pair with the youngest member pick first at least until we get to the adults."
I huddled my team together. "We're going to play this easier than they did for us. I want everyone taking off in different directions. You are free to cross paths, but I want everyone to have fun. It doesn't matter if they find us. It matters if we have fun. Also, it's up to you, but it's okay if you ask your kidnap victims which one should get kidnapped."
Then I sent the teams with kids to pick their victims.
Lara and I ended up with Edward and Iris. When we asked them who they wanted us to kidnap, Edward started looking nervous. I think he was trying to decide whether he should volunteer, but then take the ego hit of Iris rescuing him. Or should he take the ego hit of letting Iris get kidnapped, but then he had the chance to be the hero. Or to fail.
Iris broke his stalemate by saying, "Can I search?"
"All right," he said. "If you really want to." I think he looked relieved.
"Letting Michaela and Lara kidnap me would be fun, too," she said. "But I think I want to search."
Donald and Michele were set to kidnap Monique. I stopped over and whispered quietly to Michele, and she said, "We're set."
I stepped back, took hold of Edward's arm, and said, "Howl our start, Lara."
She howled the start, and I bent to pick up Edward. "No," Lara said. "Shift to fox. Lead the way. I'll carry him. Set a pace I can follow."
I realized she could probably run faster carrying him alone than with my help. I yanked off my clothes, shifting back to fox, then watched as Lara tossed Edward over her shoulder. I immediately set off for the west, listening to Lara in my footsteps while counting seconds.
We ran west for two minutes then I cut us to the south, then east. Iris could follow our trail, but we would be downwind of her most of the time, so she couldn't catch our scent and track straight to us. When I estimated we were six minutes into our time to hide, I dashed to a spruce tree, shifted to human, and held the branches up. I didn't have to say anything. Lara stuffed Edward into place.
It was dry and he would warm it up.
"Not a sound," she told him quietly once he was settled.
"Let's go obscure the trail," I told Lara. We shifted back to fur and ran back to our last major turn. I set a clear trail southwest instead, eventually looping around to our trail at another point. Then I backtracked us so that our loop trail would have more scent than the one we'd really taken.
Then Lara shifted back to human and ran twenty steps in the snow, barefoot, then shifted back to wolf. We ran further back our back trail then exited it via a fallen log and raced back to Edward. We checked to make sure he was still there, then we settled in to wait.
Karen howled the start for Team Two to find us, and I began listening.
Iris wasn't used to foxy ways, and our false trails confused her for a while. But she puzzled through it, and soon I heard her following the proper track towards us, moving slowly. In fur, she found us with about five minutes to spare, but she wasn't sure at first where we had stashed Edward. She walked up to both of us and sat down, looking between us.
Lara yawned at her.
She sniffed around the t
ree several times, not realizing we had put him under the tree. She came back and glared at us, actually putting a wolf paw on her hip, a good facsimile of a human gesture.
I shifted to human. "You have to find him, Iris. He's close." Then I shifted back to fox. It was way too cold to sit naked in the snow.
She sniffed both of us, then sniffed around the tree before she found where we'd put him. As soon as she saw Edward, he howled a quick victory.
When we got back, everyone seemed in better spirits. Only one searcher got caught, and of the rest, one searcher didn't find his partner. Everyone else found his or her partner.
"We intentionally made that easier," I explained. "Was it fun?"
Everyone's hand went up.
"Searchers, was it too easy?"
"Yes," Emanuel said.
"No," said Iris.
There were chuckles.
"You were up against the alphas," Karen said. "And you probably aren't used to fox tricks yet."
"I wasn't that tricky," I said. "Lara carried Edward, and I didn't even know how to get her to do any fancy tricks until we had him hidden." I patted Iris on the shoulder. "Besides, you did find us. That's pretty good when against the alphas."
She smiled at that.
"Are we giving up on this game?" I asked.
"No!" was quite clear.
"Same rules?"
"Yes," suggested Serena. "We'll scatter the way you did."
"All right. This time, whoever was the searcher last time is the prisoner this time. We'll raise our hands. Karen, which side do you want to switch with?"
"Team One," she said.
"She can have my spot," Benny immediately offered.
"Karen, do you want to be searcher or prisoner?"
"Either is fine," she offered. I was pretty sure she would rather be a searcher, but I let her switch with Benny.
"Benny, do you recognize our voices?"
"No. Do I need to?"
"No," I replied. "As long as you can tell the difference between a bark when someone is caught and a howl when someone is found."
"That's easy enough," he said.
"All right," I said. "Team one, raise your hand if you're a prisoner this round." I lifted my hand.
Monique and Max immediately surrounded me. I smiled sweetly at them and accepted a quick kiss from Lara. "You know she's going to find us," I told them.
Monique whispered into my ear. "Scarlett isn't the only one who is the target of a crush."
I laughed and ruffled Max's hair.
"Not him," Monique whispered again, and she was grinning. I hugged her quickly.
"Do you want to go in fur?" she asked. "You'll be warmer, won't you? What does your fox weigh?"
"Thirty pounds or so," I said. "But I won't let the two of you carry me as a fox. There's nothing to hang onto."
"Will you cooperate if I carry you solo?" she asked. I eyed her. A human girl of twelve wouldn't be able to run with me without risking dropping me, but I thought Monique wouldn't have a problem.
"All right," I said. "As long as it's not by my scruff."
"I won't hurt you," she promised.
I nodded and shifted to fox. A minute later, Serena howled the start. Monique bent over, and I let her gather me into her arms. She rolled me onto my back, cradled in her arms, and I huffed at her. She laughed and said, "Max, go!"
It was jarring being carried like that while she ran, but no worse than when Lara throws me over her shoulder. We ran straight for five minutes, then Max came to a stop and turned to face Monique. I began huffing when Monique began to give me to him, but she said quietly, "You have to be quiet and cooperate." She draped me over him so I was looking over his right shoulder, hanging on with my front paws while he cradled the rest of me. It was actually reasonably comfortable. Max immediately turned right, and I didn't see what Monique did.
He carried me to the edge of a frozen pond before setting me down in the thick rushes along the shore.
"Was that okay?" he asked quietly. I chuffed even more quietly, standing up and looking around.
"No," he said. "You have to lie down."
I looked at the snow. Twenty minutes in the snow was going to get cold, but I lay down obediently.
Monique joined us with seconds to spare. She sat down next to me. Max prowled around a little, then settled down as well. Benny howled the start, which earned him some chuckles from Monique and Max. His howl was almost as bad as mine.
"This is fun," she said to me. "But Lara won't have any trouble finding us."
I chuffed agreement. Even I would have had to work a lot harder than Monique had done to lose Lara, and with only a few minutes to do it, I don't think I could lose her.
"Although I did lead a trail right to another group," Monique added with a grin. "Maybe they'll catch her."
It was possible but unlikely. Still, I thought it was clever of her. I didn't know whether Lara could follow me, as Max had carried me at the end, or if she would follow Monique, who had been carrying me.
After that, Monique and Max talked quietly. I paid some attention to them but used my ears to hear how the game was going. It was boring to wait, but I didn't think it would take Lara very long to find me. I wondered if she would take her time to let the kids have a little more fun.
I couldn't hear that much movement; we were well spread-out, and most of the wolves were outside the range I could hear them when walking quietly. But several minutes after Benny had howled, I heard a wolf approaching quickly from the direction Monique had come, and I recognized Lara's tread. I remained very quiet, but she tracked straight to me.
I exchanged licks with my rescuer, then Lara howled my rescue. We gave Monique and Max a pair of licks each before we began herding them back to the compound.
We played four games total before clustering around the bonfire to compare notes.
"Does this game show promise?" I asked.
"Yes," said Francesca. "But I think it's going to be difficult to make it even."
I looked around, searching faces for dissent. Some of the kids looked a little unsure. "Lily," I finally said. "Did you want to say something?"
"No, Alpha," she said immediately.
I frowned at her. "Lily," I said. "What did you like about the game?"
"It was fun to kidnap people," she said. "It was fun being kidnapped, at least at the beginning. It was fun searching."
"What didn't you like?"
"Waiting."
I smiled.
"When we play the tennis ball game," Derek said, "we play games in the courtyard while we're waiting, either while we're waiting to go search, or when we're waiting for the searchers."
After that I let people come to their own conclusions, not offering more to say, and withdrew into the background. Lara saw me doing it and raised an eyebrow, gesturing with her nose that there were clearly things left unsaid. I shook my head just once and stepped further back
So Lara stepped forward and said, "If people want to play with the rules of this game, we can see if we can make it into one we want to play more. Just make sure you agree on the variations of the rules before you start a game."
After that we enjoyed the bonfire, exchanging stories and eating snacks.
* * * *
Back at the cabin, while Lara was feeding Rebecca and Celeste, I found myself accosted.
"Why that game?" Elisabeth asked.
I smiled sweetly but didn't say anything.
"Therapy," Lara said.
"Partly," I admitted. "Desensitization."
"You got weird when we started talking about the boring parts," Angel said.
I looked down at little Celeste, cradled in one of Lara's arms, sucking away at a breast. Angel sat down next to me. "Michaela?"
"Hmm?"
"You're telling us something, but I'm not sure what."
"Am I?" I asked.
"Did playing the game help?" Francesca asked softly.
"I don't know," I said. "Probably
not. It wasn't a real kidnapping, after all."
"Do you want us to play more?" she asked.
I didn't have an answer for that, either. I leaned against Lara's arm and cradled Celeste with her instead.
"Other than bride nights," Karen asked, "and Michaela, has this pack had any other kidnappings?"
"No," said Lara.
"I've been on rescue missions before," she said. "Some were successful; some were nothing but payback." She knelt down and looked me in the eye. "This wasn't a casual game for you."
"No," I said, returning her gaze. "It wasn't."
"Why this game?" Elisabeth asked again.
I glanced at her but still didn't have an answer.
"There's not a simple answer, Sister," Lara told her. She looked at me. "Do you know why you picked this game?"
"Maybe I'm clutching at straws," I said. I looked down. "Maybe I don't want to be the only one. Maybe I want all of you to know what it's like. But I don't think I can make a game that would give you more than the tiniest glimmer."
"Can you tell us?" Francesca asked.
I looked around the room. "Serena, did you have a ransom night?"
"Yes," she said.
"Were you scared when they took you?"
"No," she said. "I was laughing, at least until they gagged me." She smiled. "I got to cut their hair." She had gotten away from her kidnappers and then surrendered afterwards.
"So, no adrenalin involved?"
"Maybe a little," she said. "About the same I get from climbing into an airplane with you."
I stared at her, trying to decide if she was teasing me or serious. Finally I shrugged.
"Imagine a ransom night when you don't know what was going on," I said. "When the people you trust most are suddenly treating you far differently than you ever would have expected."
"Are you still upset about that?" Lara asked.
"No. But imagine."
"I'm sorry," Angel said quietly after a minute.
"Long past, Angel. I'm not blaming anyone. I'm trying to ask you to imagine."
"Your heart was pounding out of your chest," she said. "The entire time. You calmed down in the car a few times, but we could smell your fear. We kept trying to take your fear away."