by Robin Roseau
He almost made it clear. He almost was able to jump free. Instead, he fell into the gorge, an eighty-foot drop. The other wolves didn't try it, and I turned east, left a false trail, and turned due south for home. There were two wolves left.
I didn't leave any false paths. Instead, I ran over the top of every trap we had, avoiding the triggers. They had sprung one that Jean had set and two that Mom and Dad had, but the rest were still live. I set three more that Dad hadn't gotten to.
I heard when one of the wolves got caught by a trap. He howled, and then his howls turned to chokes. From the sound, it was one of the spike traps, and we laced our spikes with silver. If he didn't get prompt medical attention, he would die. I wondered if his buddy would help him or continue to chase me.
I ran for home.
The last wolf howled a victory cry. He had seen me.
I shifted back to human when I reached the cabin. I grabbed a perfume spritzer and waited beside the front door.
Yes, Lara, a perfume spritzer.
The final wolf howled just outside the door. I was so frightened, but so angry at the same time. He slammed into the door twice, splintering it, and then shoved his face through the gap, snarling at me. I spritzed him directly in the face.
It wasn't perfume, of course. It was silver nitrate, and I got him right in both eyes. Then, while he was howling and scratching at his eyes, I pulled down Dad's gun and put two silver rounds into his body and one more into his howling mouth.
After that, I found the one that had been caught in my trap. It was a female, and she had shifted back to human. She begged me for mercy. She didn't receive it.
It took me three days to find the bodies. They had ravaged mom the worst; there wasn't much left of her. Dad and Jean were barely recognizable as well. I sobbed while I buried them.
And then I ran. I ran for eight years. I ran until I grew tired of running, until I grew tired of hiding. And that's when I came to Bayfield.
Fleecing the Wolves
Lara listened to my entire story. She was clearly stunned.
"How can you stand us?" she asked.
"You've left me alone for eight years," I said. "I hid from the wolves for a long time, but then one day one of your wolves nodded politely to me on the street. I learned not all wolves are animals."
I looked straight into her eyes. "I spent most of my life afraid, running and hiding. I am very, very good at it. I have foxed sized holes all over Wisconsin, and I'm not helpless."
"How not helpless, Michaela?"
"I spend all my spare money on silver, Lara. Your wolves are lucky I didn't pull out my super soaker the day you came to visit."
She laughed weakly. "Why didn't you?"
"Because no one has molested me here, and I didn't want to be the first to engage in violence."
"If any wolves come to your door-"
"They'll die if I don't know them, Lara."
"Die?"
"Yes."
"All right," she said. "For now."
"For now."
We finished our dinner in silence
* * * *
Afterwards, we had time. I had scared myself telling my story, and I asked Lara if I could clean up. Then we cuddled together on the sofa until it was time to go to the poker game.
"Are you playing tonight?"
"They'll offer me a seat," she said. "But I'll decline."
"Why?"
"Because it would bump a regular player, and because the alpha shouldn't take money from the other wolves nor allow them to take money from her."
"And how does the alpha's girlfriend fit into that?"
She smiled. "Are you my girlfriend now?"
I kissed her. She held me tightly, and when the kiss broke, she said, "I guess you are."
I smiled at her.
"Did you bring money?" she asked.
"No. I want to watch."
"Is this really to make sure it's safe to play with them?"
I laughed. "That's for me to know and the rest of you to guess." Really, I was there to study them.
We kissed for a few minutes before I pushed her away, laughing.
* * * *
The game was in David's basement. I met his mate, a beautiful wolf named Natalie. She sized me up before inviting me into her house.
Downstairs, things were rowdy. I greeted Elisabeth and David before Lara introduced me to two older male wolves, Morgan and Liam. They both treated Lara with respect but were dismissive of me. I was fine with that. At least they weren't rude or threatening. Lara stiffened at their response, but I was holding her hand and squeezed it. I didn't want her to interfere. You can't command respect; you can only earn it.
Natalie offered drinks for Lara and me. I asked for water. Lara accepted a beer. David gave me a hard time.
"If you're going to play poker, little fox," he said. "You need to learn to drink."
"One beer and I'm asleep," I said. "No thank you."
"Literally?" Lara asked in my ear.
I nodded. "Total lightweight. You've seen how I eat."
Finally, the last player arrived, an older female named Janice. She greeted Lara coolly, showing slightly more warmth for everyone else. I pulled Lara aside and asked, "Why doesn't she like you."
"Her mate challenged my father for alpha. He lost. She's been the model of proper pack behavior, but whenever she sees me, she is reminded."
"All right," David said. "Let's see the color of everyone's money."
The five players pulled out purses, money clips, and wallets, and soon there was five thousand dollars sitting on the table. David turned to Lara. "Where is yours, Alpha?"
"Oh no," she said. "I hate taking your money."
"Afraid we'll show you up in front of your girl?"
"You have five."
"We can play six."
I watched the body language. David wanted Lara to play. I thought perhaps Elisabeth did not. Janice was deeply eager in learning the outcome of the discussion, and I got the impression the two old wolves would have enjoyed taking Lara's money.
"You should play, sweetums," I said in Lara's ear, just loud enough for all the other wolves to hear. "I want to see you in action."
Lara looked at me with eyes wide. I was pretty sure it was the "sweetums" comment, but it may have been the airhead tone I had used. I smiled vapidly at her.
"I didn't come to play," Lara said. "My little fox was curious is all."
"That is the nature of the fox," Elisabeth said. "It's nice of you to indulge her. You should play, Alpha."
"Yes," added Janice. "Please do."
"Well," Lara said. "If no one minds that the fox watches."
"Of course not," David said. He retrieved a chair for Lara and then, slightly behind hers, one for me. I adjusted so I would be able to watch the entire table, but I found that it was too low for me to see as well as I would have liked, so I perched on it with my feet underneath me instead. Lara spread out her money. David collected everyone's money and passed out poker chips in a variety of denominations.
Elisabeth was to my left with Janice on Lara's right. David was immediately across the table, with the two older wolves to Elisabeth's left. While David shuffled the cards, Janice put a one-dollar chip on the table. Lara put two one-dollar chips out. David finished shuffling and dealt two cards to each player. Lara let me peek at her cards. Elisabeth immediately folded. Liam and Morgan both tossed out two dollars. David put out four. Janice folded. Lara, Ian and Morgan added two more dollars.
David then put three cards on the table, face up. Betting went around. Ian folded. David added another card face up, and Morgan folded during the betting. David put out one more card face up, and Janice made a big bet. Lara folded and David called. When they exposed their cards, Janice took the pot. David collected all the cards and handed them to Janice.
"Before the next hand," I said, doing my best to sound like an utter airhead, "can someone explain the rules? I thought you were playing poker."
> "This is poker," David said gently. "It's a variant called Texas Hold-Em. You've never played?"
"I've never played cards of any sort," I said. "I've never even touched a deck of cards."
"Bullshit," said Elisabeth. "Bull. Shit!"
"Honest," I said. "Do I smell like I'm lying?"
Elisabeth leaned over and took a deep breath. "No. Seriously? You've never played cards?"
"I mostly keep to myself," I said. "But I've heard of strip poker." I started playing with the hair on the back of Lara's neck. "Maybe Lara will teach me that game."
There were chuckles, and Janice said, "If you lose tonight, Alpha, we don't want to hear that you were distracted because your pet fox couldn't keep her hands off of you."
I smiled at Janice, a human smile that showed teeth.
David said, "No one minds if we explain the rules to Michaela during the next few hands, do they?"
Yes, Janice, Liam and Morgan clearly did, but they all said they didn't. Lara and Elisabeth set out bets, Janice shuffled and dealt, and David explained the rules as they went. By the end of the third hand, I had the game figured out.
The odds, however, were difficult. I tried figuring them in my head, but it was tricky. In poker, there are different ways to win. You can play the odds, understanding that if you have this hand, the chances of someone else having a better hand are ten percent or fifty percent, or whatever. Or you can play the people, learning whether they give themselves away. I was having a hard time with the odds, but the wolves were all open books to me.
By the end of the first half hour. I was pretty sure I could read all of them. When David called a break after an hour, I knew I could. Lara was down about half her chips, and everyone else was down a little except Morgan and Janice, with Janice doing the best. We got up to stretch our legs, and Lara drew me to the corner.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Who, me?"
"What's with the airhead routine? You aren't fooling anyone."
"I'm not fooling David or Elisabeth, but I am fooling the other three. Are you losing on purpose? You're making Janice very happy."
"No, I'm not losing on purpose, and I would very happily take her money."
Elisabeth stopped by with a couple of beers, handing one to Lara. "What's with the airhead routine?"
I smiled at her. "Do you like Janice?"
"No."
"All right. We're taking that bitch down. If I'm touching either of you, the number of fingers I'm using indicates how strong a hand Janice thinks she has."
"You can tell?" Elisabeth asked.
"Oh yeah," I said, smiling. "Isn't this just the funnest game ever?" I said the last bit more loudly just as Janice joined us in the corner. I smiled at her. "Janice, you must have lived very carefully; I don't know if I've ever met an older female wolf before."
If looks could kill.
We all sat back down, and it was David's deal.
I didn't help Lara with David or Elisabeth, but I helped both Lara and Elisabeth with Janice. I couldn't do anything about unlucky cards, but I was able to move a portion of Janice's stash back to Lara and Elisabeth.
I also started spreading my own tells for when Lara had bad, medium and good hands. It took the longest time, but eventually Janice started responding to me as much as Lara's manner of holding her cards differently based on their quality. She also sat differently, and her pupils changed.
Near the end of the second hour, Lara had her money back plus a little more. Elisabeth was up a little, too. But then Janice had a good hand and hit her most obvious tells. I checked her more subtle ones and put five fingers on Lara's leg and squeezed, then I reached over to Elisabeth and held her arm for a moment, saying, "If Lara and I get married, you'd be my sister-in-law."
Lara and Elisabeth both folded. Liam had a decent hand. Morgan and David both stayed in for a portion of the betting, but then dropped out. When all five cards were out, Janice played her "I'm bluffing" tell and said, "All in." So Janice knew her outward tells; they were intentional. But she had tells she didn't realize.
Liam called and groaned when Janice displayed her cards. He was out.
David called a break. Liam excused himself and said, "I'm going to go home and lick my wounds. Congratulations, Janice." He was gracious about it.
After the break, I started giving Lara the worst advice I thought I could give and not be obvious. I spoke very quietly in her ear, pitched just high enough everyone else at the table could hear me. Lara ignored my verbal advice but continued to siphon money from Janice based on the number of fingers I used to touch her. I made sure no one could see the nature of the touches.
After about fifteen minutes of my giving Lara bad advice, Janice asked me, "So, Michaela. I was curious. What sort of hearing does a fox have while on two legs?"
I smiled sweetly. "Usually, very good, maybe even better than a wolf. But I'm not sure, really. When I was fourteen, I damaged my hearing."
"Really? How did you do that?"
"Well, I lived on a little farm, and we had a problem with wolves. I had to shoot a few, and my hearing has never been the same since, either as a human or when furry."
She glared at me, but I just smiled.
"How late do you play? Until everyone is out of chips, or until a particular time."
"Two AM," David said, "But it doesn't usually go that long."
I continued to whisper bad advice into Lara's ear. Then Elisabeth dealt Lara two kings. As soon as I saw the cards, I put my hand on Lara's and said, "It's just a card game. Why aren't you paying any attention to me?"
Lara looked over at me with a strange expression. I leaned into her and nuzzled her neck then whispered into her ear so quietly no one could possibly hear, "Trust."
Lara bet cautiously. Morgan and David folded. Of the next three cards that were dealt, two of them were kings. I draped myself over Lara, making sure she couldn't give away any tells. Lara bet cautiously. Elisabeth folded. Janice publicly gave her "my hand is so-so" tell and privately told me she was holding a decent hand.
Lara continued to bet cautiously until the last card was played. I studied the cards and realized that the best possible hand Janice could have was a flush. A straight flush wasn't possible. This was Lara's hand with four kings. The trick now was to get as much money from Janice as we could.
Janice was first to bet and she bet moderately. Lara wanted to study her cards, but I knew she'd give her tell if she did, so I kept hold of her hands. She saw and raised Janice. Janice saw and raised back.
"Lara, I'm bored. You said we wouldn't stay this late. When are we going home?"
"Soon, little fox," Lara said kindly.
"If we go home now, I'll do that thing you've been asking me to do," I said.
"Really?"
I opened my eyes really wide and nodded.
Lara shrugged and turned to Janice, sliding her tray of chips into the center of the table. "She wants to go home."
"Well, I wouldn't get in the way of that," Janice said, smiling. "How much do you have in there?"
"It was an eleven hundred twenty-three dollar raise," Lara said.
Janice counted out chips and tossed them onto the table. "Call," she said. She flipped over her cards. She was holding the flush and smiling.
Lara turned over her cards and collected the pot.
Janice was livid, and she glared at me. "You won?" I asked Lara, clapping my hands. "Oh, that means we're not leaving yet." I sighed and slumped against Lara.
After that, I didn't have to do too much. David cleaned Morgan out. Janice was so low on chips and was forced into very conservative play just to stay in the game. Finally she tried to bluff Elisabeth with a bad hand, and Elisabeth cleaned her out.
David called a break and offered to walk Janice out. She turned to me and offered a false smile. "It was so good to meet you," she said. "I heard about the little fun at the Iron Horse and I have so been wanting to meet you ever since. Will you perhaps be playing n
ext week?"
"It looks like so much fun, but it's all very confusing," I replied. "Maybe I can watch one more night, but it would be fun to play. A thousand dollars?"
"Yes," Janice said.
"Well, it will have to be after payday," I said. "I usually have money right after payday."
"Isn't she delightful?" Janice said to Lara. "I can understand what you see in her. She's so bubbly."
"She makes for a pleasant diversion," Lara agreed. "I'm sure I'll see you soon, Janice."
Then David walked Janice out. I listened, and once I heard Janice's car start and drive away, I began giggling.
"Half that is mine," I told Lara. "You would have gone broke an hour ago without me."
David came back downstairs, Natalie in tow, and said, "What was that all about?"
I grinned at him. "I didn't like Janice."
"No one likes Janice," Natalie said. "I've been trying to get David to uninvite her to these things for three years. She always makes a snide comment about my house."
"It's a lovely house, Natalie."
I looked at the piles of chips in front of David's, Elisabeth's and Lara's places at the table. They were all up, Lara by the most. "Are you guys really going to play for another two hours?"
"It wouldn't be my choice," Lara said. "Someone made some very interesting promises to me if we went home."
I laughed.
I took fifty dollars in chips from Lara. "Could we play a few hands just for pocket change? David, give your wife fifty dollars in chips."
Soon we were all sitting at the table with a small pile of chips in front of us. Lara, David and Elisabeth moved their large piles to the side. I asked for the cards then asked someone how to shuffle.
"Seriously?" David said. "I thought you were kidding."
"Absolutely seriously," I said. David taught me to shuffle, and I only spilled them all over the table twice before getting it right. Then, carefully, I dealt.
We played for a half hour. David cleaned Elisabeth out on the second hand. I folded repeatedly and watched my chips dwindle in half, then I did an all in with the last half of my chips. I was bluffing, but they let me buy the pot. Lara actually had a proper hand, so I couldn't figure out why she let me have it. At the end of the half hour, I was up a little bit from the start. We all cashed out with David, and then I reached over and took half of Lara's winnings. They all laughed, including Lara.