Fox Mate (Madison Wolves) (10 page)

"Whatever you want," I said. "Pass them back out. Hold them yourself. Ask Scarlett to keep them. It's up to you."

"And if I pass them out, and everyone takes photos of you?"

"It's not a trap, Lara," I told her. "Your choice, and I am fine with whatever you decide." I sipped my grape juice.

Lara looked at me for a moment then opened the purse. She dug through it and found her phone, slipping it into her pocket. "You really don't mind?"

"No," I said.

I could tell she wasn't sure.

"What do you want?" I asked her.

"Honey, I want pictures."

I smiled. "All right. I will ask that people delete any that aren't entirely decent. And I don't know the politics of early release of the dresses we see today." I shrugged.

Lara pulled out a phone. "Mine," Angel said. Lara looked at me, but I simply looked away. She handed Angel her phone, and I didn't react, so one by one, she handed out the rest of the phones. With the rest of the phones returned to their owners, Lara offered mine to me.

"Will you keep that for me?" I asked. "Please don't let Elisabeth have it though."

"Damn it," Elisabeth said.

Lara chuckled and slipped my phone into her pocket, then returned Scarlett's purse to her.

"We may really take pictures?" Angel asked.

"If Lara lets you," I said.

After that, I did whatever either Lara or Georgia told me to do. Georgia seemed very pleased to have my body to fit rather than Elisabeth's. She had countless dresses in sizes approaching mine, although many of them were far too busty for me.

Georgia
conferred with Lara after the first three dresses. She was speaking quietly, but I could hear every word. Lara knew it, too.

"Angel," I said. "Do you have your ear buds?"

"No," she said. "I'm sorry."

"I do," said Scarlett. "Well, I have mine."

"Angel, do you have your music on your phone, or just on your iPod?"

"On my phone, too," she said. So I borrowed Angel's phone and Scarlett's ear buds. Angel seemed sad to lose control of her phone, but I suggested she could borrow Scarlett's for photos. I stuck the ear buds in my ears, found Angel's retro music on her phone, and turned the volume up until I couldn't hear Lara talking to Georgia anymore. Lara flashed me a smile. I could hear normal conversations, but not whispered anymore.

I tried on dress after dress. I didn't even bother with the screens; I stood in the middle of the room and let the assistants do to me whatever they wanted. From time to time, Lara asked me what I thought about the dress I was wearing. I found something pleasant to say about each of them.

I wouldn't have picked any of them. Oh, they were all gorgeous and I was sure, amazingly expensive. I'm sure I would have looked stunning in almost any of them.

One of the assistants put my hair up. I frowned, but I let her do it. I tried on more dresses, some of them repeats. And then I reached up and removed the pins from my hair, letting it cascade down over my shoulders again. I looked at Lara and said one word. "Please."

She nodded.

They wheeled out another rack of dresses. I was standing in my undies and bra, Angel's phone in one hand. The assistant handed me my champagne glass, freshly refilled with more grape juice. I sipped from it then sat down next to Lara.

She said something, but it was said quietly, and I didn't hear her. I pointed to the ear buds and shrugged. Lara reached over and gently removed them from my ears. "How many of those have you had?" she asked, gesturing to my glass.

"Um. Four. Five? I'm a little nervous."

She took it away from me.

"Hey! Get your own!" I reached for it, but she pulled it away.

"You've had enough," she said.

I sighed. "You think I'm tipsy?" I hiccupped.

"I think you're beyond tipsy."

"Wager. Francesca to judge."

"What do you want? I am picking your dress. That's not on the table. What do you want?"

"You to start teaching me about all your businesses." I looked at Elisabeth. "And she teaches me hers. And both of you start teaching me about the politics."

Lara smiled. "And if I win, you stop complaining about the wolf licks."

"Agreed. The wager is, I am no more tipsy than if I've had one glass of champagne."

Lara laughed. "All right."

"Hand Francesca my glass." I watched to make sure she gave Francesca the correct glass. "Try it, Francesca."

Francesca sampled my grape juice. She grinned at me and handed the glass to me. "Michaela finally won a wager. Congratulations."

Lara raised an eyebrow, so I handed her my glass. She took a sip then grinned. "Grape juice."

"May I have it back?"

Georgia reentered the room with a fresh rack of dresses. I finished my glass of juice and stood back up, replacing the ear buds, and stepped to the middle of the room. I watched while Georgia unwrapped the next garment. I stared at the dress.

It was simple, sleek, and absolutely stunning. I knew it was the dress I wanted.

Georgia saw my expression, but my back was to everyone else. I schooled my features before I turned around. They slipped the dress on me, the assistant grinning as she held the phone out of the way, then handing it back to me once the dress was in place.

I ached to look at myself in the mirror. Instead, I closed my eyes and let Georgia lead me where she wanted me, turning me this way and that. The dress wasn't perfect, but it was the first one I coveted, and it wouldn't need many changes to be exactly what I wanted.

I could hear Georgia talking to Lara, so I turned the volume up higher, then closed my eyes again. Georgia led me around the room again. There was a pause, then I felt her hands at my ears, and she pulled the buds from my ears. "Open your eyes, Michaela," she said very quietly.

I opened, and I was standing in front of a mirror. I was in bare feet, but there were a pair of low heels waiting for me. I stepped into them, and one of the assistants did the clasp. I stared at my reflection in the mirror.

This was the only dress I'd actually looked at.

Georgia picked at my hair for a minute, rearranging it around my shoulders, then said quietly, "You have such b
eautiful shoulders. I think we should reduce the fabric through here. You have a small chest, but very feminine. We can accent that a little bit more." She described several other changes. The dress she described was perfect.

I looked over at her. "No," I said. "Lara's choice, and she can't pick this dress. Please, get this off me." I put the ear buds back in and turned the music up even louder. I closed my eyes and let them do with me as they would.

I didn't open my eyes after that. I moved where they put me, I changed shoes when I felt hands on my feet. The phone was taken from my hand and then given back. And then, finally, I felt my own clothes being pulled back into place.

I opened my eyes, and Lara was standing in front of me, smiling. She was holding my glass for me. I tried to take it from her, but she kept her hand on it while I lifted it to my lips, preventing me from drinking quickly. It wasn't grape juice, it was champagne. Once she was sure I knew what I was drinking, she released the glass.

"All done?" I asked, probably far too loudly. She nodded, then took Angel's phone from me, turned the volume down, then gently pulled the buds from my ears. She held the phone behind her, and Angel stepped forward to accept it. Everyone was smiling.

"Do you want to know which one we decided on?" Lara asked me.

"We?"

"Other than you, everyone in the room agreed on the right dress. Do you want to know?"

I thought about it, then smiled. "No." I looked at Georgia. "Will there be a fitting?"

"Yes," she said.

"You can blindfold me or something," I said.

"You really don't want to know?" she asked.

"I know Lara picked the right dress," I replied. "I know I'll look beautiful."

"That you will," Georgia agreed. "That you most certainly will."

"All right," I said. "We have two tuxes, a bridesmaid dress, and two other dresses to pick out." I sat down on the sofa and waited for Georgia to bring in the tuxedos.

The tuxes were easy. Georgia didn't have
in stock any women's tuxedos that would fit either Lara or Elisabeth. She brought in several feminine tuxedos and two men's tux's in Lara's and Elisabeth's sizes. She had them each put on a tux, then she explained how Lara's wedding tuxedo would actually look.

"Could one of your assistants change into one?" I said. "Would
you have their sizes? I'd like to see."

"Of course," she said. The one who had been giving me grape juice disappeared, returning a minute later. She stepped behind a screen, changed clothes, and then stepped out.

"This isn't quite the right look for Lara," Georgia explained. "The cut is a little wrong for her body type." Then she described what she would do differently to better fit Lara's physique. Even in the man's tux, Lara looked amazing. Looking at the assistant and thinking about what Georgia was describing, I knew I would have a hard time keeping my hands off my mate.

"Perfect," I said finally. "And something complementary for Elisabeth?"

"Yes," she said.

"Lara?" I asked. Lara smiled but didn't say a thing.

I sighed. "This isn't fair. You must have changed my clothes seventy-four times, and Lara tries on one fancied up suit and she's done. Not fair."

"I know," Georgia said. "Doesn't it just suck?"

I laughed. "Yes, Georgia, it does."

After that, it was Angel's turn. She tried on a half dozen dresses, including two with bows on the butt. "I only included these because of the neckline," Georgia said. "And all of you have such amazing shoulders. I'd like to show them off."
In the end, Georgia and I narrowed it down to five.

"Angel, any you hate?"

"No," she said. "But I like this one," she said pointing, "and that one less than the rest."

Lara and Francesca had little to say. "All right," I said. "Scarlett, you pick."

"Really?"

"Yes."

She got up from her place and walked over to the dresses.

"
May I see her in this one again?" she asked, standing in front of one. The assistants pulled it into place. Scarlett walked around Angel. "All right," she said. "Now may I see that one?" she pointed to another dress. The assistants swapped Angel's dress.

Scarlett turned to Georgia. "I like the top part of the first one, but the skirt on the second one. What do you think? Would they go okay together?"

"We've done that before," she said.

"But I think this color," Scarlett said, pointing to one of the dresses with a bow.

"Yes," Georgia said. "Good choice."

Everyone turned to me. "Perfect."

"For Scarlett," Georgia said. "We can do a custom dress that will clearly blend with Angel's but not compete. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to show you that is remotely close. You would have to trust us."

"Scarlett, do you trust her?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. Scarlett turned to me. "Do you mind if we look like a couple?"

"Not at all," I replied.
"That just leaves Francesca."

Francesca turned out to be the most difficult. They kept showing us dresses I hated. Francesca kept gravitating towards boring dresses. Beige dresses. "No, no, no," I finally said. "Why are you trying to dress her like a wallflower?"

"Because, honey, that's my job," Francesca said.

"No," I said. "Put her in a dress that leaves no doubt how proud I am to have her at my wedding.
Angel, go with Georgia and find a dress you'd like to see your mother wear."

"Yes!" she said, doing a fist pump. She followed Georgia out of the room, and Francesca turned to me, trying to argue. I ignored her.

In the end, Francesca would wear a simple but elegant, light blue dress with a small jacket. It was cinched at the waist and gave her a stunning figure. She looked fabulous in it.

And with that, we were done.

After that, we went to a much-needed late lunch. I retrieved my phone from Lara, turned it back on, and verified the photos I had taken were still on it. I took a bathroom break, leaving my phone on the table. When I got back, it was clear my phone had been moved. No one said anything. I pretended I didn't notice. Elisabeth avoided looking into my eyes for the next ten minutes.

I hadn't planned on doing anything with the photos I'd taken, but if she had deleted them, that might change.

I ordered wine and let myself get a little tipsy, flirting shamelessly with Lara, but whispered quietly to her, "Don't let me drink any more than this, and take me for a run later. Don't let me nap."

We had a pleasant meal. I started to fade out from the alcohol I'd had. I went with it for a while, then woke myself up, rejoining the conversation at least in part. I couldn't recall what we talked about.

It was late afternoon when we returned to the compound. As we pulled up, I quietly said to Lara, "Run?"

"I'd like that," she said.

"Lara and I are going running," I said. "We would like company. You have fifteen minutes to be in fur or you can catch up.
" As soon as we came to a stop, I popped out of the car and headed into the house, Karen and Eric scrambling to get there in front of me.

"Search the house," I told them. "Then get ready to run." I let them do their job, then I stepped into the kitchen and slammed down two glasses of water before running upstairs. I changed into casual clothes, leaving my phone on the dresser. I grabbed my laptop, logged into my email, and verified I still had possession of the picture
s I had mailed myself. I saved the pictures to my hard drive, then inserted a thumb drive and copied them there. Then I marked all the email as unread and stashed my laptop, putting it away seconds before Lara stepped into the room. I made it look like I was just stepping into my clothes.

"Lara," I said. "Shouldn't you ask me for a pre-nuptial agreement."

"What?" I caught her by surprise. "Honey, you know wolves don't divorce. And it's not a legally binding marriage, anyway."

"I don't want anyone to ever think I am with you for your money," I said. "I don't care how you do it."

"All right," she said. "Will you let me handle it?"

"Yes."

"I don't want this conversation again," she said. "Get it out of your system now."

"You said you're handling it," I said. "But I want
you to call Hadley Smith about a pre-nup. I'll sign anything she thinks I should sign."

"It's not necessary."

"Tell me you'll call her and follow her advice, and I'll never ask about any of this again. Otherwise I'll hound you."

"I'll call her," Lara said. "And I will follow her advice."

"Thank you," I said.

Lara looked at me with a cocked head. "That easy?"

"Yes," I said. "I had fun today."

"Did you?" she asked. She crossed the room and pulled me into her arms. "You didn't look like it."

"I'm sorry," I said. "It was overwhelming. But I still had fun. Kiss me now, and then I want to run. I have a new game to propose."

So she did, and it was a nice kiss, a really nice kiss, and it felt good to be held tightly in Lara's strong arms.

"This is where I belong," I told her when I could breathe again. "Right here, with you. I love you so much, Lara."

She held me more tightly. And I was happy.

"All right," I said, pushing away. "Change clothes. I have something else I want to ask while you get dressed."

"I'm just going to turn furry," she said.

"I know, but you don't want your nice clothes in the dirt when you shift, and I need you human until you agree to my game."

She laughed. "You could tell me now."

"Nope. You'll learn the game the same time everyone else does." I pointed at the closet, then followed her to the doorway while she changed clothes.

"Do you have anything in particular you want to tell me, Lara?"

She stood up, stiff. She knew it was a loaded question. She turned to face me, but I was offering a relaxed stance, not giving anything away.

"About?" she asked me.

"I don't know," I said. "Anything you would rather tell me now instead of waiting for me to find out on my own, perhaps."

"Is this about the dress?" she asked.

"No," I said. "It's not about anything. I'm giving you a get-out-of-trouble-free card. But I specifically do not want to know about the dress. No hints, nothing. I think I know which one you picked, anyway."

"I doubt it," she said under her breath.

"No hints!" I hissed.

"Sorry. No hints. No, honey, there's nothing I need to tell you."

I studied her. "All right, honey. Please hurry. I want to run."

I stepped away
. She only took a minute before she joined me in loose, casual clothing. I took a quick kiss, then grabbed her hand and led the way downstairs. Halfway there, she stopped me.

"What's going on?" she asked. "You're awfully complacent."

I turned back to look up at her. She towered over me more than usual, being two steps above me on the stairs. I climbed back up until I was a step above her, turning her to face me. We were almost eye to eye. "Do you like it when I'm a pain in the ass?"

"No," she said. "But I do like your fire."

I smiled. "Did I demonstrate fire today?"

She laughed. "Yes."

"So don't worry." I kissed her quickly then ran past her down the stairs. "Catch me, Lara!"

"Oh hell," she said, dashing after me. I ran out of the house then waited for her on the porch. She was only two seconds behind me, and she immediately pulled me into her arms, my back to her front.
The other wolves were down in the grass, shifting, and not paying any attention to us. Elisabeth was near the end of her shift, but not quite there.

"You caught me," I told her. I tipped my head to the side. "Now you have to bite me."

She laughed before lowering her head and kissing the side of my neck.

"Do it right!" I told her. "Right. Now."

"Michaela?"

"Mark me, Alpha. I want you to mark me."

"Honey?"

I looked over my shoulder at her. "Lara. I belong to the alpha. I belong to you. And I want everyone to know how proud I am to belong to you. To belong to Lara. To belong to the alpha. Please. Mark me." I tipped my head to the side and tapped my neck where I wanted her to bite me.

"It will heal, anyway," she said quietly. "When you shift."

"
A little. It will stop bleeding. Honey, please bite me."

She lowered her mouth over me.

"Do it before we have an audience, Lara," I said quietly.

She bit me. Even though I was ready, I gasped. She pulled away immediately. "Michaela," she said, and there was pain in her voice.

"Is it bleeding?" I asked.

"Yes. Honey, I don't like doing that."

I pulled a tissue from my pocket and wadded it over my neck. Lara took it from me and adjusted it, then I held it in place. I turned to her. "In the future, you must not argue with me. If I tell you to bite me, I want you to bite me. Do I make myself clear?"

"Michaela," she said. "
Little Fox."

"You send your messages, Alpha. I send mine." I paused. "I think I'm going to ask you to use your wolf teeth in the future though. Your human teeth aren't as sharp."

"I have better control with my human teeth, Michaela."

"All right. Your choice which teeth. But if I ask you to bite me, you will bite me. Are we understood?"

"Yes, Little Fox."

I smiled at her. "Good."

"What's the game?" she asked.

"Patience."

We watched the wolves shift, Lara wrapping me in her arms again. I leaned against her. Elisabeth finished her shift first, then jumped onto the porch with us. She looked up at me and huffed her displeasure.

"Hush you," I told her. "I have photos, and I'm not afraid to use them, one at a time."

She chuffed, and I knew. They had deleted them.

Karen and Eric finished next. We waited a few more minutes, and then Angel, Scarlett and Francesca were in fur. I let them all bounce around the courtyard for a minute.

"Who wants to play a game?" I asked, once they were all ready. I listened to several chuffs. "All right, here's the game. We're going running. If I manage to lose you, you each owe me a favor. A big favor."

Lara laughed. "All right. And if you don't lose us you owe us each a favor?"

"Oh please," I said. "The alpha, three enforcers, Mom." I looked right at Francesca. "And two little sisters." I looked back and forth between Angel and Scarlett. "If I manage to lose all of you, you should all be ashamed. The odds are so far against me it's unbelievable."

"This
does seem like a pretty one-sided game," Lara said.

I actually had no intention of even trying to lose them. I just didn't want them losing me, either. "All right,
" I said. "But you admit the odds are against me by more than seven to one, yes?"

She turned me to look at her, studying me closely. "The odds are well against you," she agreed.

"All right. If I manage to lose you all, I get my favor from each of you. If I don't, then I owe you all one free apology, no grudges."

Lara laughed. "All right. That's fair. What's the definition of losing us?"

"Hmm. Five minutes with no physical contact from at least one of you. But if anyone licks me, I'm biting her."

"Agreed, as long as you don't hide somewhere too small for us to follow you."

"I may go through small places but I won't linger in them," I agreed.

"Deal," Lara said. Everyone else chuffed.

"One last thing," I said. "No howling. I don't want to scare all the game."

"We are allowed any communication necessary to keep track of you," Lara said.

"All right, but try not to scare the game." And then, still in her arms, I shifted to fox. She clutched at me to avoid dropping me, and I'm sure I looked silly, my clothes hanging off me, clutching at Lara. She adjusted her grip, and I gave her jaw a quick lick.

Hey, I may not like getting licked, but Lara enjoyed it, and I enjoyed licking her.

She set me down gently and helped me slither out of my clothes, then she loosened her own clothing and shifted. As soon as she was ready, I began bounding for the woods.

They all stayed close to me. I ran significantly more slowly than they all preferred, but I had two or three wolves in touching distance of me at all times. The rest would range away, chasing each other around, and then switching off who was watching me.

I realized that Elisabeth and Lara were trading off; one of them was next to me at all times. They were taking my wager seriously. I bumped into them periodically and chuffed, expressing my pleasure at their company.

I led us two miles north, well away from the compound. I took us to a small clearing surrounded by evergreen trees, then yipped twice, drawing them all back to me. Scarlett and Angel were busy chasing each other, so when they didn't come back right away, I turned to Lara and yipped at her. She howled twice, briefly, and I listened as Scarlett and Angel turned back towards us. I tracked their progress, yipping twice when they turned in the wrong direction. After a minute, they bounded into the clearing, side by side. They came to a stop, sitting down, touching each other.

Eric and Karen were still in enforcer mode, alert and watching the forest. Elisabeth, Lara and Francesca were watching me to see what I was going to do. I walked over to Scarlett and Angel, then stepped between them, bumping Scarlett to the side. She shifted away from her girlfriend, and I chuffed. I moved them further apart, then stepped away. I looked between the two of them, then I bowed down in front of Angel in the "let's play" posture.

I had never played with Angel before, and she was surprised by it. I waited a second, tensed my muscles, and flew at her.

She stood there, staring at me. I tried to bowl her over, but she stiffened at the last minute, and my thirty pounds of fox bounced right off her hundred and thirty pounds of wolf. I landed in the pine needles, and Lara was immediately over me, sniffing at me.

I pushed her away and climbed back to my feet, chuffing.

Angel was looking at me too, lying down now with her chin between her feet. I walked over and nudged her until she stood up. Then I walked away, bowed, and flew at her. Again, I bounced off her. I flew at her twice more, and each time I felt like a tennis ball being thrown at a brick wall.

The last time I climbed to my feet slowly shaking my head. I walked over to Angel and cuffed her nose with a paw, then licked her.

I didn't give Scarlett any warning at all. I bounced twice and landed directly on her. I caught her by surprise and managed to flatten her to the ground, but I hadn't knocked her over. She shook me off. She was actually gentle about it. I tried it twice more, and it wasn't much different than bouncing off of Angel.