by Robin Roseau
She argued for trusting my judgment. It didn't sound like she won. At one point I heard her say, "Please don't make me do that, Alpha. It will crush her, and she will never forgive you."
Fuck.
When Elisabeth returned, her face was an open book. She was going to throw me in the cell if I didn't promise to stay. I held out my hand for the phone.
"Is this map Elisabeth gave me accurate, Alpha?" I asked her.
"Yes, it should be," she said. "How are you doing, Michaela?"
"If you just ordered Elisabeth to throw me in the cell, then my name is Ms. Redfur."
There was silence, then Lara said quietly, "Why are you doing this?"
"Why are you? Either you trust me or you don't. Decide soon, Alpha." And then I hung up on the call.
"When are you to lock me up?" I asked her.
"Either you promise to stay until Lara gets back, or I lock you up immediately."
"So you would trust my promise, but not my judgment. That makes no sense."
"A twelve-year-old pup can keep a promise without necessarily having good judgment," Elisabeth said.
"I rescind my promise from earlier. I will give the alpha one hour to rescind her order. If you attempt to lock me in a cell, I will fight you with everything I have. In one hour, I am leaving."
"You can't fight me, Michaela." The pain in Elisabeth's face was clear. "You'll make me hurt you."
"I will not go meekly. I will not!"
"Twenty-four hours, Michaela. Please."
I glanced at the clock hanging from the wall. It was shortly after ten PM. "You have until eleven. At 11:01, either I will be walking away or you and I will be deeply engaged in the meanest fight a fox can give you. You will probably end up killing me before you subdue me."
"Please, Michaela, don't make me do that."
"I'm not. Your alpha is. You better spend your hour wisely."
"You won't leave before eleven?"
"No. I would rather you talked some sanity into her. I would rather work with you."
"You will stay in this room."
"Yes."
"In human form?"
"Yes. Until you return or 11, whichever comes first."
She nodded and stepped out of the room. I heard the front door open and close, and then I was left with my thoughts.
There was no way I'd get past her tonight. Maybe in another day or two, but not tonight. I sighed and slumped on the bed.
* * * *
By 10:30 I was watching the clock. When 10:50 came around and Elisabeth hadn't returned, I began to pace. At 10:57, the front door opened and Elisabeth hurried up the stairs. She burst through the door and looked deeply relieved I was still there.
"Will you please talk to Lara?"
"All right."
She handed me the phone.
"Yes, Alpha?"
"Please let Elisabeth keep you safe. I need to know you are safe. I can't be worrying about you. I can't send people back to keep you from running away."
"Please trust my judgment."
"Give me a week."
"Please trust my judgment."
"Three days."
"Please trust my judgment."
"Twenty-four hours."
I hesitated. My voice cracked. "Please trust my judgment, Lara. What are we, if you can't trust me?"
"What are we if I can't protect you?"
I held the phone to my ear and listened to her breathing. "I love you. Goodbye."
"No! Wait! Michaela, please."
I held the phone in place, not speaking. "If you leave, where will you go?"
"Where my judgment takes me."
"Will you take Elisabeth with you?"
"If I decide that's the best choice, and she offers."
She took a large breath. "Please put Elisabeth back on." I held out the phone and listened to both sides of the conversation. Lara told her, "Beg her to stay. If she chooses to leave anyway, beg her to go with. If she says no, give her a car and make sure she has whatever she needs."
"Thank you, Alpha. I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault. Stubborn fox."
"That she is." They both hung up and Elisabeth looked at me. I was crying and smiling.
"Thank you," I told her.
"Please let me keep you safe. Lara needs to know you are safe. The pack needs you safe."
"You begged. I declined. You begged to go with. I declined. I need a car, enough cash to last a week, and a cell phone with your number and Lara's plugged in."
"Ten minutes. I'll meet you downstairs."
Going Hunting
I collected the clothes Gia had purchased for me and headed downstairs to sit on the steps. Elisabeth drove up in a dark black SUV and behind her, Francesca parked in a little green Prius. I smiled.
"Pick one," Elisabeth said.
"Whose are they?"
"Both are mine."
"Do you mind if I take the Prius?"
"No." Francesca handed me the key. Elisabeth handed me a cell phone and a roll of money. "It's about five hundred dollars. It's what I had ready."
"Thank you, Elisabeth." I hugged her. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Where will you go? Your home isn't safe."
"I know. Trust my judgment."
She nodded. "I will."
I climbed into the Prius, maneuvered it around the SUV, and was soon on my way. I drove slowly until I reached the main highway, taking twenty minutes to get there. My headache had returned, but no one stopped me, and no one was following me. I pulled over, climbed out of the car, and searched the sky for airplanes. There was an airliner high in the sky, but nothing else.
I reached into the car and grabbed the phone. I called Elisabeth.
"Where are you?" I asked her.
"Still at the compound," she said. "What's wrong?"
"My head hurts."
"I thought it might."
"Maybe it would be better if you drove."
"I could do that. Are you coming back? Or I can have Francesca drive me to you."
"I'm at the highway. I'll wait here. Elisabeth, we're going hunting. I can wait if you need to pack. Bring a computer with a satellite uplink, if you have one."
"I love to hunt, Fox. I can't wait to watch you."
"Thank you, Elisabeth. You're going to make an awesome sister-in-law."
She laughed. "And you're going to be a pain in the ass of a sister-in-law."
"I wonder if I should wait for the alpha to ask me."
"Naw. Why do anything her way?"
"You're right. Why start now?"
She laughed. "Will you call her or will I?"
"I will. I'll be waiting for you."
We hung up and I called Lara.
"Gia? Why are you calling me?"
"It's not Gia. I was wondering whose phone this was."
"Michaela." Lara went quiet.
"Elisabeth and I will be wherever you are by noon. If you need her to bring anything or anyone else, call her now and call me back."
"One second, Michaela." Lara held the phone to her chest, but I could hear her talking, presumably to David.
"David will call her."
"Lara, I expect Elisabeth to allow me to do whatever I want, and we report to no one, not even you."
"That's not reasonable," she said.
"Lara, send everyone away. Everyone. Do it, or I drive away and no one finds me. Make sure with your own eyes and ears they all have left."
I heard her send everyone out of the room. There was a pause and a lot of background noise, then it got significantly quieter.
"I'm alone," she said.
"Absolutely alone, and you are completely sure no one can overhear me."
"Yes."
"They might be able to hear you, so you need to say nothing, Lara. Do you understand?"
"No."
"Trust my judgment, Alpha."
"I will say nothing."
"You have a traitor."
She was silent.
"I understand, but I don't want to believe."
"I don't either."
"Do you know who you are accusing?"
"I'm not accusing anyone," I said. "Alpha, if I give you the name of a wolf, perhaps a wolf very close to you, would you be able to get the truth from that wolf?"
"Yes."
"What if it's Elisabeth?"
"It's not!"
"No, it's not. But what if it were?"
She was silent for a while. "I would need some evidence. A lot of evidence. Yes I can do what you ask."
"All right. I will get you a name, and it will be based on more than my personal distrust. But it may be built on nothing more than the way I won at poker. That may be the best I can do."
"I understand."
"You will tell everyone I was being difficult but have agreed to accept Elisabeth as my keeper. You are humoring me, that's all. But you are going to change your mind about letting me help with the investigation. You want me safe."
"We're going to fight about that, Michaela."
"Yes, exactly. You will put your foot down and threaten to lock me in a cell until this is over. We will have a huge fight, but you will give in when I ask if I can go sailing on a friend's sailboat, out in the middle of the lake. Can you sell that?"
"Yes."
"I promise to report our safety to you. I don't promise to report more than that. And you must tell Elisabeth she answers only to you, no one else, and you must not ask her any questions she has to answer. All right?"
"Yes."
"I need my tracking collar. Do you have it? Does anyone else know the web site to my tracking device?"
"Yes. And yes. Almost everyone."
"All right. You are going to insist I wear it in a fashion I can't remove without help, but you will make sure that Elisabeth can take it off. I will fight you, but you will force me to wear it." I thought about it. "That's all I have. With any luck, we'll be there by noon. We'll call when we know for sure."
"I'm trusting you, Michaela."
"I know you are, Lara. Thank you for loaning Elisabeth to me. If I ask later, will you be able to give me two more wolves?"
"Yes, whatever you need."
"Keep it quiet for now. Elisabeth is humoring me, that's our story for now. I love you, Lara."
"I love you, too."
We listened to each other breath for a while, neither talking. "I'm not ready to hang up," I told her.
"Neither am I. Do you forgive me?"
"Promise you will never let anyone else hit me, and you will never imprison me, regardless of the reason."
"I promise."
"Then we'll be okay. I'll need a few more days. Do you understand?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"Lara, you are my physical protection. But I am your fox."
"Yes."
And then we offered our goodbyes, both feeling better.
When Elisabeth pulled up in her SUV, the only one with her was Francesca. Elisabeth climbed out of the car and hugged me. I gave the Prius key back to Francesca and transferred my few things into the SUV.
I got into the SUV and waited until Francesca had turned around in the Prius before I asked, "What did David tell you?"
"Please don't ask."
"You have orders," I said. "These come from the alpha, not David."
She looked over at me and smiled. "All right."
"You report to me and her. No one else."
"You think we have a traitor."
"Yes."
"Can you catch him?"
"Yes."
"You think it's David. That's going to break Lara's heart."
"I know. Will you help me?"
"Yes. Where are we going?"
"First, we need to catch a deer. Head to Ashland. Wake me in four hours."
I slept.
* * * *
Elisabeth woke me right on schedule. I asked her to pull over somewhere, and she pulled off the side of the highway.
"Did you bring the computer I asked for?"
"Yes." She pointed it out and helped me turn it on, and I browsed to the site that tracked my tracking collars. I found the one I wanted and smiled. "I'll drive," I said. "I need you to nap for a while, maybe an hour or so."
We switch placed, and I pulled out onto the highway. "Elisabeth, can you catch a deer?"
"Yes."
"Can you do it without killing the deer?"
"That wouldn't be our normal way," she said. "How big a deer."
"Big doe. I can catch her, but it takes me two days. If you have to kill her, so be it, but I'd rather you didn't."
"I'll do what I can."
"Thank you."
After that she rested, and I took us to the Porcupine Mountains, just inside Michigan. Elisabeth woke up and complained about being hungry.
"We're going to Ashland next. I'll feed you there."
"I could eat the doe."
"She's kind of a friend."
Elisabeth shook her head. Weres making friends with prey.
I got us to within a mile of the doe. She hadn't moved in two hours, so I thought she was bedded down.
"Will you do it on two legs or four?"
"Four."
"Get furry, Elisabeth. The plan is you bring the doe down. I will follow and remove the tracking collar. If she's not too badly hurt, you let her go. If she's going to die anyway, please don't let her suffer. I won't be able to watch."
"She's just a deer."
"Her mother died to poachers. Someone brought a fawn to our offices. I raised her, then taught her how to survive. I know it's weird, Elisabeth, but I love her."
"Silly fox. But I'll be as gentle as I can."
"Thank you. I'll get you within about two hundred yards, then will follow you as best I can."
She started undressing right in the car, then climbed into the back seat to shift. It took her ten minutes, and it didn't look pleasant, but she didn't complain.
I checked the tracking website once more, then opened the car and let Elisabeth out. "Two miles, that way," I said. I set off on two feet, stupid sandals slowing me down. Elisabeth followed along easily, not even panting.
I didn't hear her until we were within three hundred yards. I'd already slowed us down, and we were approaching from downwind. I crouched down, listening. She was bedded down, but I heard her shift.
I stuck my mouth into Elisabeth's ear. "Three hundred yards." I turned her head to point exactly in the right direction. "Do you want to approach from here or a different angle?"
Elisabeth turned her head twenty degrees to the right. Silently, I led us in that direction another hundred yards, listening the entire time. I turned us in the right direction and began to approach one silent step at a time. When I was sure I had her pinpointed, I crouched down and grabbed Elisabeth's head. "One twenty five," I said directly into her ear as quietly as I could. I turned her head slightly. "I'd have to be fox to get any closer."
She licked me once and began creeping forward, and it was beautiful.
I waited. It took Elisabeth fifteen minutes to close the distance. Even I couldn't hear her. And then there was a rush, and I began running forward.
When I arrived on the scene, Elisabeth held a deeply panicking deer to the ground, the legs flashing. I rushed up from behind them both, warning Elisabeth so as to avoid surprising her. Releasing the tracking collar took me several difficult seconds, and then I pulled clear.
"I got it, Elisabeth. If she's not hurt, please let her go.
I backed away quickly and Elisabeth practically flew off the dear, pouncing away to avoid flashing legs. In a moment, the deer was on her feet and immediately disappeared into the brush.
"Good bye, Spot," I told her. "I'll miss you." I felt tears in my eyes. I'd known that deer for a long time, but without the tracking collar, I'd never find her again.
Elisabeth walked over and huffed at me, offering a wolfy smile.
"Are you hurt?
" I asked running my hands over her sides. She huffed again then bumped her chest against me, knocking me onto my ass.
"I'll take that as a no. Thank you. You were magnificent."
She kept me company for the walk back to the car. I let her into the back seat of the SUV and climbed in up front. She sat down on the floor, looking at me.
"All right," I said. "You may stay furry if you want, or you can shift back. Next stop is Ashland. Unfortunately, there is no way you will pass as a dog at the Fish and Wildlife office, so if you want to go inside with me, you need to shift. If you are going to shift and want us to stay here until you're done, nip me."
Instead, she bumped me with her head and settled in for her shift. I got the car started and turned us to Ashland.
* * * *
Elisabeth completed her shift and pulled clothes on. When I looked at her in the mirror, she looked done in.
"Are you all right?"
"I should have caught at least a rabbit," she said. "I'm starving. Stop somewhere, I need food as soon as we can get it."
We hit a gas station in Ironwood. I filled the SUV and Elisabeth filled a grocery bag.
"All that?" I asked.
"I have a feeling there's going to be more of this," she said. She grinned at me.
"All right," I said. "Tell me everything you can about David." I paused. "And his wife."
"David has been around for a long time," Elisabeth explained. "He served the previous alpha for years, rising through the ranks through strength and loyalty."
"I need to ask this. I am sorry. How did your parents die?"
"Mother died fifteen years ago in a coup attempt."
"I'm so sorry."
"Dad died six years ago in a dispute with the Chicago wolf pack."
I thought about both of those. "I'm sorry, Elisabeth. I need the details. I especially need to know about any whisperings."
"You think this goes back this far?"
"This is about money or power."
"Yes, but not necessarily directly," she said. "It could be about politics. Not all of Lara's decisions are popular, and there are those who are traditionalists."
"A bitch's place?"
"Yes," she said. "This could be simply about preserving the male-dominated hegemony."
"Who would be alpha if Lara fell?"
"Absolutely any outside invader strong enough to take and hold it."
"What if she is killed without there being a clear challenger, or perhaps just significantly disgraced so no one would follow her?"