Fox Run

by Robin Roseau

  "No," I said, and we laughed together. "Is she a good kid?"

  "The best."

  "Do I have to watch her?"

  "No. She will need guidance for good judgment like anyone her age, but when she knows the right thing, she will do it. When she doesn't know the right thing, she will ask for guidance or do the best she can. You can trust her."

  "Then I'm willing to try it. But Lara, this makes me concerned. I don't like the implications that the alpha is involved in decisions like this over pack members' private lives, especially when combined with your attempt to get me to agree I owe tithe. I don't like the implications at all."

  She laughed. "Francesca gave me the option to veto this idea in case it was going to interfere with my efforts to get into your bed. If we didn't have a budding romantic relationship, it wouldn't have been any of my business. It is customary to inform the alpha about these things, but not seek permission."

  "And you don't think it's going to interfere, hmm?"

  "I am alpha. If I tell Angel to cover her ears, she will cover her ears."

  I stared at her. "Oh my god, I can't believe you said that."

  "Are you a screamer, little fox?"

  "No."

  "I bet I can make you scream."

  "Keep talking like that and you won't find out."

  She leaned forward, her gaze smoldering.

  "Lara, are you going to expect me to start asking permission for everything I want to do?"

  "No. I am going to expect you to discuss them with me, because they also affect me. I am going to expect you to allow me to take care of you. I am going to expect you to continue to be a pain in the ass about your personal safety, but I also expect you to keep the promise you made. Even though I cheated."

  I stared at her. "Cheated?"

  "Twice."

  "Did anyone help you?"

  "Elisabeth, indirectly. She helped me talk you into it. That was the first cheat. The second one you know, making the first part last a whole lot longer than we agreed."

  "You found me without anything I could consider cheating?"

  "Yes."

  "Then tell me about Elisabeth's help."

  "If the wager hadn't been so important, I would have let Elisabeth teach you a little humility instead of trying to do it myself."

  "So what she said was a lie?"

  "No. Anyone else would have been hampered to not hurt you. Elisabeth has enough control she wouldn't accidentally kill you, but she wouldn't hold back out of fear of hurting you, not with a wager of that size. She would try not to hurt you, but she would play to win."

  "You didn't think she could win?"

  "If you let her shift first, yes. But she doesn't shift instantly. And there was a chance you'd last long enough to do exactly what you did, and she wouldn't have found you."

  "I thought you would make me fight Jason or Rory."

  "I know you did. You would have won easily, so easily it might have been embarrassing to him."

  "I don't know if I would have made the wager thinking I'd fight Elisabeth, but I know I wouldn't have if I had known it would be you."

  "I know. Did you have fun? It seemed like you were having fun, but then you turned sullen."

  "I was fine until I realized the symbolic meaning. Then I realized it was my life that we were playing over. Fox hunt. That was sobering and stole every bit of fun."

  "I'm sorry. I didn't even consider that until you said it."

  "It was my idea," I said. "And I made the wager too big you couldn't let me win, even if it were your nature to do so. Which I know it isn't. It's not my nature to let you win, either."

  "When young wolves tussle and fight, is it for real?"

  "No, it's mock," I said. "They aren't trying to really hurt each other."

  "But it still serves a real purpose, doesn't it?"

  "I suppose it teaches the skills they would need in a real fight."

  "So because they agree it's not to the death, it's fun for them."

  I stared at her. She was as sneaky as a fox.

  "You had a fun time. If it weren't for the wager and the symbolism, would losing have bothered you as badly as it did?"

  "No."

  "Even if I made you offer your throat in front of the entire pack?"

  "I've done it before." I considered where she was going with this. "You want to do it again."

  She smiled. "Yes. And again and again until you consistently win."

  "My winning depends on you not knowing my tricks. The more you know my tricks, the worse I am going to be. I can't run any faster than I do. I can't hide my scent any better than I do. I can't lay a false trail any faster than I do. You will get better and better at catching me, but I won't get better at evading you."

  "I like catching you," she said. "I had a blast chasing you, even when I wasn't catching you."

  "So I am just smart prey."

  "No. You are the fox I love. The thought of you offering your throat is intoxicating. The thought of what you make me go through before you offer it is equally intoxicating."

  "We'll see."

  "One rule. If I tree you in the future, you will come down and surrender."

  "All right. And if you ever pick the wrong tree, and I come down another tree, then you offer your throat. I win."

  "You win, but not my throat."

  "This rule doesn't apply to situations where I can escape."

  "Like what?"

  "A tree next to a building when I can jump to the roof. For instance."

  "No dangerous jumps."

  "Who decides what is dangerous?"

  "You do, but you are honest about it. No stupid risks to win what is a game. Save the stupid risks for when it's real. With us, it's not real, even if we wager about it."

  "All right." I sighed. "I will never do better than I did on Tuesday, unless I get remarkably lucky. You've seen all my tricks."

  "Honey, I don't have a clue of half the things you do so I would lose your track. I just know how to find it again. I know you went through small spaces, and sometimes you came right back out the other side, sometimes you didn't. And then I circled around until I found your scent again."

  "You track by scent?"

  "Or sight, of course."

  "Sound?"

  "Yes, but you're so quiet. I don't believe I've ever heard you when I couldn't smell you, unless you were purposely making noise."

  "You heard me splashing in a couple of streams."

  "No."

  I smiled. I move more slowly than I could often because I am concerned about making noise, but if I can make more noise safely, perhaps I can be faster.

  It was time to change the subject. "What are we doing after dinner?"

  "An age old tradition," she said. "We're going shopping!"

  "Shopping?" I said, a look of uncertainty on my face.

  "Shopping."

  And so we did.

  * * * *

  On Saturday, Lara bought me a nice little SUV. We got it outfitted exactly the way I wanted, even including a rack for two kayaks. It was my first brand new car, and I loved it. I felt marginally guilty, as I didn't think replacing my eight-year-old SUV with a brand new one was really right, but Lara told me to suck it up. It was helping her politically. My uncertain status in the pack was a complication.

  "Why?"

  "To the victor go the spoils," she said. "You are owed a portion of the spoils from David and Natalie, a fairly significant portion."

  "You beat David on your own, and Natalie clubbed me senseless."

  "I beat David only because you found the truth, and you slowed Natalie down enough that Elisabeth was able to kill her cleanly. You could argue for your share, but it is easier for me if you don't. The pack feels honor is handled without your uncertain status being a complication."

  "Thank you for the car, Alpha," I told her. She hugged me and laughed.

  * * * *

  Pack game night, it turned out, didn't include the entire
pack. That would be hundreds of wolves. Instead it included the ones who lived at the compound plus a few others who stopped by.

  Janice was there.

  "Pack game night is our night to play," Lara told me. "We include the kids and play games they can enjoy. We let out our inner child."

  Dinner was first, then everyone gathered in the courtyard. There were several piles of blankets on the porch; I didn't know what they were for. "What's the game tonight, Alpha?" asked Rory.

  "One we haven't played in a while," Lara said. "Hide and seek."

  My sister and I used to play hide and seek. The rules were simple. The game appeared to be popular, based on the smiles. The kids looked excited, but the adults seemed to be looking forward to it as well.

  "For those who don't know," Lara said, looking straight at me. "We play within a defined territory. Tonight, that means no crossing roads. Half hour games or until everyone is caught except one. You get five minutes to hide and then you have to settle down. This isn't a game of chase. This is hide and seek, not run and seek. The referee howls when it's time to hide and howls again when the game is over. Even a human would hear the howl within the agreed territory. Once you are caught, you help catch other people. It is considered bad form to follow someone else while hiding."

  "Do you keep score?" I asked.

  "Yes. We'll play as many games as we can. Anyone who is not found the most times is the winner. After that, it's based on how many people you personally find."

  "Does it ever go that someone isn't found?"

  "Yes, most games end with a few still hiding, but sometimes we find everyone, sometimes even the last hiding person before we realize we were down to only one."

  "So if you're caught, it is to your advantage to find as many other people as you can, because if they aren't found, they move ahead of you, and if you find them, you get a point."

  "Right."

  "Any forms of hiding that are illegal?"

  "Stay out and off of the buildings and out of the trees."

  "Does someone have to tag you to be considered caught?"

  "Yes. That means, little fox, that it would be poor form to hide somewhere wolves can see you but not touch you."

  "Darn it," I said. "There's a lovely culvert that's too small for the rest of you."

  That earned me some laughter.

  "Any more questions?" Lara asked. There weren't any. "All right, to start, I will be it. Who wants to be my partner?"

  "I will," Gia offered immediately.

  "And referee for the first game?"

  "I can," said Serena, the mother of the two boys I had helped rescue.

  "All right, everyone under the age of fourteen who wants to get a head start shifting, you may start now."

  Janice stepped up to my side. "The first game will be chaotic. Not everyone can shift in five minutes, and only you and Lara are able to shift instantly. The little ones can take up to twenty minutes, and even some of the adults shift slowly. This one rarely goes the entire thirty minutes."

  "So the five minute timer is going to start with everyone on two feet?"

  "Just the first game."

  "So I'll be the first to the woods."

  "Yes."

  "And you?"

  Janice smiled. "I'll be second or third."

  "No one will follow me?"

  "It would be bad form, but I wouldn't put it past the alpha to have told someone to shadow you."

  "If she told you that, would you admit it if I asked you?"

  She laughed. "No."

  "Thank you for the warning."

  "You are welcome."

  Serena was watching a timer. "Thirty seconds," she yelled.

  "The referee is always someone who shifts quickly so she can be able to play the next game," Janice said.

  "Ten seconds," said Serena.

  "Good luck, little fox. There is a prize to the winner."

  "Go!" yelled Serena.

  All the other wolves immediately began stripping off clothes and lying down to shift. Lara winked at me. I didn't bother stripping. I ran towards the corner of Lara's house, then shifted on a bound, slipping out of my clothes easily. I was in the woods five seconds later.

  I listened intently for pursuit but didn't even bother with my dirty tricks until I was sure I was at least a minute into the woods. Then I began using every dirty trick I knew, working my way around towards the east. I ran as fast as I could when not employing tricks, putting as much distance between myself and the rest of the wolves.

  I heard a few wolves, well behind me, but didn't hear anyone on my back trail. When I thought I was about out of time, I started looking for a good hiding place. I found an overturned tree with a tangled root system, so I did my normal set of tricks then dropped down into a hole and hunkered down listening.

  I heard a howl from the compound. From the sounds of it, a bunch of wolves hadn't finished shifting. I heard six clear barks from the same voice, one after another. Two minutes later from somewhere north of the compound I heard a bark that was clearly Lara's voice. I realized the bark was to identify a catch. I hadn't heard her enter the woods. I decided the first set of barks must have been Gia, tagging people in the compound.

  I heard Lara bark twice more, moving away from me, and south of the compound I heard Gia bark once. I realized I should have listened more clearly to the barks; I wasn't counting.

  Then I started hearing barks coming from more voices, one every minute or so on average. It wasn't until several minutes later, when at least half the pack must have been found, that I heard the first wolf at all close to me. I heard a chuff about four hundred yards, and I knew a wolf had found my back trail.

  The trail he had found was a false trail, and now that I knew where he was, I could track him, weakly at first, then more easily. I could tell when he lost my trail. He wandered in circles trying to pick it back up before giving up and running off in the wrong direction.

  I heard a few more barks, including one more from Lara, and then I started hearing more wolves. They weren't moving that quietly. Twice a wolf found one of my false trails and got led off in the wrong direction. Once a wolf found my correct trail but lost it when I had shifted directions under a fallen tree.

  Then, quietly, I heard a wolf come from the south, a direction I hadn't even traveled, but from the sound of it, she was going to pass right over my trail.

  I knew it when Lara found my main trail. She chuffed loudly, which actually may have saved me. The wolf that was about to find my trail veered off towards Lara's voice. Then Lara moved closer. She lost me twice. Once another voice helped her find my trail again; the other time she did. She had two wolves with her, and they were easily going to find me. Still, I waited.

  They lost me at the tree whose roots were hiding me. I listened to intent sniffing. they knew I was close, and they should have been able to find me easily. The two wolves with Lara kept ranging away, trying to pick up my scent, but it kept bringing them back to the big jumble of roots. Rather than finding me, they stepped away, sniffing all over the place.

  And then I looked up, and Lara was looking straight into my eyes. She chuffed with glee.

  I waited for her. She had to tag me, after all.

  The other two wolves tried to find a way through the roots on the ground. I tucked my tail in tightly, and they couldn't reach me. Lara stood over me, staring down at me, then she joined the other two, trying to tag me. They spent several minutes at it, but they couldn't reach me.

  Lara jumped back up where she could see me and shifted.

  "No cheating, little fox. Come on out."

  I stared up at her. It wasn't this difficult. She shouldn't accuse me of cheating. I would have shifted and told her that, but the space was way too small for me to shift. All she had to do was use her nose to find my route in and she would have me.

  "Come on, Michaela. We found you. Climb out of there."

  I put my head on my chin.

  "Seriously?" She looked
angry. I yawned at her.

  Then there were two barks.

  "Come out right now, Michaela!" she ordered.

  There was another bark and immediately I heard Serena howl. Game over.

  "You and I are going to have words," she said. "Game over, get out of there." She addressed the other two wolves. "Head back to the compound. We'll be there once I get the little fox out of her hole."

  I immediately began whining and yelping like I had been hurt.

  "Wait," she told them. As soon as they froze, I stopped whining. Then I chuffed happily and made my way out of my hiding spot, taking a route no one had even tried.

  As soon as I was clear, I shifted and said, "Alpha, I will accept your judgment. I may not know the rules properly. Am I obligated to make it easy to find the same path in that I took?" Then I shifted back and climbed back into my spot. Lara shifted and tried to follow me. She wouldn't have been able to hide where I was, but she reached forward and licked my muzzle before backing out. I followed her and then rolled over on the ground and offered my throat.

  She bent down and licked my face, chuffed twice, and led the way back to the compound. Seeing us, Serena said, "Gia and Lara on the porch, please. Everyone who was caught, over here." She pointed to the left. "Whoever was the last one left, over there."

  I walked to the porch, shifted, and grabbed one of the blankets. "Alpha?"

  Lara grabbed a blanket and shifted as well. "The little fox, as you might have guessed, outfoxed me. I could see her, but we couldn't figure out how to get to her. I accused her of cheating. She hadn't cheated. She was just too foxy. You were not caught."

  "Who was the last one caught?" I asked.

  A wolf stepped out of the crowd who had been caught.

  "That's Scarlett," Lara said.

  "Alpha, I do not want Scarlett to miss a win on what may be a too foxy trick. I will switch places with her, with your permission."

  "Very gracious," said Serena. "Alpha?"

  "Point to both Scarlett and Michaela," Lara declared. Scarlett howled once and pranced over to join me, butting her head into my hip and nearly knocking me over.

  After that, Serena got tallies from everyone for who caught how many. Gia got the most because of the slow shifters she was able to tag immediately. Lara was next, and then the rest had one or two, if any at all.