Fox Dish (Madison Wolves #6)

by Robin Roseau

  "I'm not sure I am supposed to talk about my assignments," I replied, but I let them lure me to Wendy's room.

  They tried to draw me out about Suzette, but I refused to answer their questions. We'd been there for twenty minutes before I finally asked, "Wendy, what is going on?"

  "Just killing time," she said.

  "Are you trying to see if I'll tell secrets?" I asked. "I won't."

  "No, Michaela," she said. "Honestly, we're only trying to kill a little time before the meeting."

  I looked between them, with Cameron standing casually against the wall, Wendy sitting in one of her two chairs. I had the other.

  "You could tell me what the meeting is about," I said. "Greg asked me to observe, but he didn't have more to offer."

  "We'll all find out soon enough," Cameron replied.

  "So what's the story why I am there?" I asked.

  The two exchanged looks, then Wendy said, "Bodyguard."

  "Whose?"

  "Greg's," Cameron replied immediately.

  "You know," I said. "If you don't want to tell me, fine. But I need to know what I am supposed to be doing. Greg's bodyguard? Seriously?"

  "You're a good bodyguard," Wendy said. "Your client was very pleased."

  "The worst threat was a couple with a baby stroller," I said. "We all know if Greg needs a bodyguard in a room full of wolves, I am the last person on the compound anyone would pick."

  "Look," Wendy said. "We're going to walk in. You'll stand with Cam and I. We stay quiet. We stay polite. We observe. We don't need any story. We're just there. Okay?"

  "All right," I said. "You could have just said that."

  Cameron changed the topic, engaging Wendy in a discussion of some past missions. I listened, curious, but also deeply suspect. Something was going on, and they weren't telling me what.

  Finally it was time to go. Wendy told me, "Remember. We're there to observe, not react. Whatever happens, keep your mouth shut unless someone addresses you directly."

  "Right. Fly on the wall."

  "Exactly," she said.

  I thought it was odd they both flanked me, as if they were guarding me.

  I thought it was equally strange we descended into the basement of the office building. "Aren't there nicer meeting rooms upstairs?" I asked.

  "These are more private," she said. We arrived at the bottom of the stairs and turned right, passing through a secure door. We then turned to the first door on the left, and Wendy used a card key to unlock the door. She opened the door and Cameron preceded me into the room, Wendy right behind me.

  We were not the first to arrive. There was a large conference table. Seated at the end was Daniel Bancroft, the Boulder alpha, dressed in a business suit. To his right was Brooke, his daughter and head enforcer. Daniel and Brooke had become friends. I was surprised to see them. I turned to say hello, but Wendy pulled me back and said quietly, "They aren't here as friends."

  I nodded and let myself be led to a location on the wall. Daniel looked at me.

  Greg was there along with more of his wolves. He stopped by. "We're only waiting for the other alpha." Then he stepped away again, not staying to talk.

  There was a small commotion, and Wendy leaned over to me to whisper in my ear. "Michaela, do not react. I know it's not going to feel like it, but everyone in this room is a friend."

  I turned to her. "You just said-"

  "Remember what I said. I can't say another word, and I wasn't supposed to say that."

  The door opened, and the first one to enter was Lara.

  I stared at her. She didn't even glance at me. I knew she saw me; she was never that unaware. She didn't even acknowledge me.

  I took a step towards her, but Cameron and Wendy both put a hand on my arm.

  Behind Lara were Elisabeth, Serena, and Angel. Not a single one of them looked at me. And behind them were Christopher West, the councilman who hated me the most, and Albert Stein, who wasn't one of my biggest fans on the council, either.

  I looked over at Wendy, searching her face, but she shook her head. However, neither she nor Cameron released their hold on my arms.

  Lara greeted Daniel, Brooke and Greg. Greg did introductions. They all sat down, with Lara next to Daniel, across from Brooke. Greg took a seat next to Brooke. Greg's enforcers assumed watchful positions along the walls and in front of the door. The councilmen took seats behind Daniel.

  "Are you sure you want to do this?" Daniel asked Lara very quietly. A wolf wouldn't have heard him, but I did.

  "I have to," she responded. "I don't have any other choice." She paused. "You should know she can probably hear you."

  He looked straight at me, and I stared straight ahead, feigning indifference. But my heart was a lump in my throat, and I felt sick. She hadn't even acknowledged me. None of them had, not even Angel. Not a one of them looked at me.

  "So she can," Daniel said after a moment. Then he turned to Greg. "We are ready to begin."

  Greg stood up. "These proceedings are being recorded. This room is being recorded from multiple angles. The principals will receive copies of all raw video and audio. Furthermore, the hallways and other rooms in the lower level of this building are similarly recorded, and that media will also be provided to all principals. If you have something to be said you do not want to share with anyone else, do not say it within this building."

  Lara nodded understanding.

  "The subject has had no advance notice of these proceedings," Greg continued. "The subject has had no access to counsel or advice and has had no particular reason to believe these were perhaps necessary. This is per agreement of both the Boulder and Madison alphas. Are there questions?"

  Damned straight, there were questions, but he wasn't looking at me, and I had been told not to react. I wondered how long that was going to last.

  I searched the faces, but everyone was pointedly not looking at me. I couldn't believe any of them could be in the room and not once look at me.

  There were no questions. Greg continued. "The subject has not been disarmed."

  It was pretty clear who "the subject" was, as much as he was dancing around it. I didn't know what was going on, but Greg was the only human in the room, and I was pretty sure the enforcers around the room weren't here to protect Lara and Daniel from each other, or Greg from either of them.

  "Thank you, Mr. Freund," Daniel said.

  Greg sat down, not looking at me.

  Daniel paused, looking at papers arranged in front of him. "Then let us begin." He looked straight at me. "Michaela Burns, please step forward."

  Every pair of eyes in the room turned to me. It was the first time most of them had looked at me. Most of the expressions were blank. Angel's brow was furrowed, her lips pressed tightly together.

  Christopher West looked insanely pleased.

  I thought perhaps Albert Stein looked uncomfortable, but he was difficult to read.

  I couldn't read anything from Lara or any of the rest.

  Wendy and Cameron hadn't released my arms. I hadn't made any attempt to obey Daniel's order. Wendy and Cameron took a half step forward, tugging on my arms. Numb, I let them pull me forward to stand near the end of the conference table.

  "Michaela Burns," Daniel said. "Do you know why you are here?"

  "Because Greg told me to be," I replied. "Other than that, no." I suppressed my desire to say something more cutting. This was definitely a time for my fox cunning to take over far more than my fox independence.

  I could be very cunning. I was sure I would need to be.

  "You have been charged with a lengthy list of offenses," Daniel said. "These proceedings are to determine the validity of the charges and, if deemed guilty, the sentences to be imposed."

  I was on trial. I was on trial, and everyone in the room knew it before I had stepped into the room. I turned to Greg. He didn't even have the grace to look chagrined.

  "Fuck you," I told him slowly and clearly. I looked to a space between Daniel and Lara. "
That goes for all of you."

  "Silence!" Daniel bellowed.

  I looked around the room, wondering how many I could kill before they took me down. Wendy and Cameron tightened their hold on my arms. I hadn't been subtle.

  Christopher West looked like he was hoping I would try it. I decided if I were going to kill anyone, I would start with Greg and head for dear old Mr. West after that. I narrowed my eyes at him, not saying a word, and his grin faltered for a moment, then grew even wider.

  Finally I returned my gaze to Daniel. "I see," I said finally. "Am I afforded counsel? Am I to hear the charges leveled against me?"

  "We do not operate like human courts," Daniel said. "You will defend yourself, or not, as you choose. This is not a cat and mouse game between two lawyers, but instead a search for the truth." He paused. "We require you to disarm before we may proceed further. Doing so willingly may serve you better than if we are required to use force."

  I studied him. Every pair of eyes in the room was watching me. Wendy and Cameron still had firm hold on my arms, one hand on my upper arm, one clasped at my wrist. I looked between them, glaring at Wendy for a moment.

  "I will disarm," I said. "If my guards will allow me to do so."

  Daniel nodded, and they both slowly released me, but they each kept a hand on my shoulders. It was possible I could escape from them and kill Greg, but I didn't think so.

  I reached up slowly and pulled two chopsticks from my hair. I set them on the table in front of me. I pulled the silver belt from around my waist, a gift from Lara, set it on the table, then gave it a shove; it came to a rest directly in front of her. She looked down at it, then looked up at me. Emotion flickered across her face, but it was too brief to read.

  She had always been good at hiding her emotions from me, all of them except anger.

  The knives at my wrists were next. I rolled my sleeves up slowly, unstrapping one sheath at a time and setting it down firmly on the table.

  "I will need to either bend down or place a foot on this fine table to finish the process."

  "Angel," Lara said. "Collect the knives on her ankles."

  Without a word, Angel climbed from her chair and moved around the room. I turned to face her. She looked me in the eye for a moment, then knelt down in front of me. I offered first one leg, then the other, and she removed my sheathed knives. She set them both on the table before me, then retreated to her chair.

  She never said a word. She never smiled.

  She never apologized for betraying me.

  "I am disarmed," I stated. "I would like to point out I did so willingly. I understand you may wish to verify I have no holdout weapons."

  "That's all she carries," Lara said quietly.

  "You don't know that, Alpha," I said. I held my arms away from my sides. Lara turned to Elisabeth, who got out of her chair and stepped in front of me. I turned to face her. "Be thorough," I told her. "I wouldn't want to be accused of any duplicity. Unlike everyone else in the room."

  She searched me perfunctorily.

  "Enforcer!" I said. "Do it correctly!"

  "Yes, Alpha," she said immediately.

  "Don't call me that," I said.

  Elisabeth didn't respond to that, but she searched me far more thoroughly. When she offered me deference around my more private places, I told her, "That's a prime location for a woman to hid something. Check in it properly. I could have a garrote sewn into my bra or a gun taped to my leg."

  She searched my legs higher, patting through the slacks. Then she stood up. "I would need to partially undress you, Alpha."

  "I told you not to call me that. Do what you need to do."

  "Yes, Alpha," she said, staring straight into my eyes. Then, with more tenderness than I would have expected, she opened the front of my blouse, unbuttoning most of the buttons.

  I glanced over at Lara. Her lips were pressed tightly together, but she wasn't saying anything. Or growling at her sister.

  Elisabeth searched my bra thoroughly. There wasn't anything to find, and she and I both knew it before she had started. She buttoned me carefully when she was done.

  "She is carrying no other weapons," Elisabeth declared.

  "Check my hair," I said. "Who knows what I could hide in this hair."

  Elisabeth cracked a shadow of a smile, quickly smothered, but she stepped around Wendy and stood behind me, searching my hair carefully.

  "The collar of my blouse," I said when she was done. And after that, "The waistband of my slacks."

  But when I said, "My shirt sleeves," Lara said, "Enough."

  Elisabeth returned to her seat.

  Greg gestured, and one of his enforcers stepped forward. He had come prepared, as he had a zippered pouch ready. He held up each weapon on the table, named it, and then it went into the pouch. Greg wrote a note for each item. The enforcer reached for the belt waiting in front of Lara.

  "No," I said. "If this is a list of things to return to me at some point in the future, I do not ever want to see that belt again. I have returned it to the person who gave it to me, and she can keep it."

  Lara flinched, but said nothing. She gathered the belt to her, staring down at it.

  Greg stood up and moved to stand in front of me. He set the paper in front of me. "Please verify this list is accurate."

  I glanced at it.

  "It's fine."

  "Sign it," he said, holding out a pen. I signed the list. He handed the list to the wolf holding the pouch. The list went into the pouch, the pouch was zippered closed, and then Greg produced a metal zip tie which he used to bind the zipper closed. He returned to his seat. The wolf holding the pouch moved back to his place along the wall.

  "I have disarmed," I said to Daniel. "Willingly."

  "Thank you, Ms. Burns," he replied. He looked down at the paper in front of him, then over at Lara. She paused, then nodded, just once.

  Daniel stood up. "Michaela Burns, Omega Fox of the Madison Weres, alpha of the Madison Weres, formerly Michaela Redfur, alpha fox of the Bayfield foxes, you are charged with three counts of abandonment, four counts of endangerment of a valued pack asset, eight counts of insubordination, five counts of dereliction of duty, eight counts of aggravated insubordination, five counts of aggravated dereliction of duty, eight counts of extreme insubordination and four counts of extreme dereliction of duty."

  I stared at him for a moment, then collected myself.

  "I see. If deemed guilty, may I know the sentence to expect?"

  "Yes," He said. "Endangerment of a valued pack asset carries a maximum sentence of death. In this case, due to the nature of the asset, there would be a lesser sentence. Abandonment, insubordination and dereliction of duty are relatively minor offenses that are typically punished through some form of pack service. Aggravated Insubordination is more severe, and the punishment must include some period of incarceration. Aggravated dereliction of duty is even more severe and carries a longer period of incarceration. Extreme insubordination and extreme dereliction of duty each carry a required sentence of death."

  I already knew the punishment for extreme dereliction of duty. Listening to the list, however, my heart had climbed back into my throat, pounding mercilessly, and I knew I stank of fear.

  "Who-" I croaked. I tried again. "Who brings these charges against me?"

  Lara stood up. "I do."

  I stared at her. Her expression was grim, but offered me nothing.

  "You want to kill me?" I asked. "You want to kill me? Why? Why!" I screamed the last word, then my emotions caught up to me.

  She hated me. She hated me so badly, she wanted to kill me.

  The woman I loved hated me so badly, she wanted to kill me.

  The mother of my babies hated me so badly, she wanted to kill me.

  I began to hyperventilate and to sob. My knees grew weak, and I slumped to the floor before Wendy or Cameron could stop me. I bent down to the floor and sobbed.

  "We understand these revelations are unexpected," I heard Da
niel say from some distance away. "We will recess while the prisoner collects herself. Secure her."

  I didn't resist when strong wolf arms clasped my wrists and shackled them behind my back. I didn't resist when strong bands were wrapped around my arms, pulling them tightly to my sides, and locked in place. I didn't resist when I was lifted by my secured arms and half carried, half dragged from the room.

  They didn't take me very far. We went out the room, turned back towards the entrance, and crossed in front of the staircase up. We crossed to the other side, and I discovered a cell waiting for me.

  I didn't resist when Wendy and Cameron dragged me into the cell. They set me gently on a waiting cot.

  I didn't even look at them when the left me there, the heavy steel door banging closed behind them.

  I fell onto my side and wailed.

  The Details

  I do not know how long I lay there. Eventually I curled into a ball, my grief overwhelming.

  Lara wanted to kill me. She wanted to kill me for doing what she should have done in the first place. She wanted to kill me for protecting my babies, for protecting myself, for fulfilling the promises I had made to rid the world of a group of wolves the world very much need to be rid of.

  They should all be thanking me.

  And instead, they were going to kill me after their sham of a trial.

  They were supposed to be my friends. They were supposed to be the people who I could most count on.

  But they were wolves. I should have known better.

  It was some time later when my cell door opened. I didn't even look up.

  "Michaela," Wendy said. "I am allowed to read a brief statement to you. As Mr. Freund stated earlier, every space on this level of this building is being continuously recorded. The audio sensors are highly sophisticated and can pick up the slightest of noises. No discussions regarding your hearing are to occur outside of the hearing room. No personal discussions of any sort are to occur within your hearing. You may ask me questions regarding your treatment outside of the hearing room. You will be offered food and water and reasonable access to sanitary facilities. You will be offered fresh clothing daily or as required. Do you understand what I have read to you?"