Fox Dish (Madison Wolves #6) (16 page)

"Are you going to hurt anyone?"

"Only myself, and no more than I am able to heal. I believe your
head enforcer can attest to my healing ability."

"Then you have immunity."

"Mr. Freund," I said. "Everyone underestimates me. Even you." I reached behind me, offering the towel to Wendy. I looked over my shoulder at her. "If you knock me out, I won't be able to heal it afterwards. Take that into consideration."

Then I looked down at my wrist and, with a thought, opened it wide.

I hissed with the pain as the blood began to bubble and spurt from the wound. Wendy dashed forth and wrapped the towel around my wrist. It quickly turned crimson.

I looked at the other one, and a fresh cut appeared there.

"Stop it!" Wendy yelled into my ear. "Michaela! Stop it!" She grabbed my other wrist, wrapping it in the towel as well.

I grimaced from the pain, but I looked at Greg. He held a shocked expression. "Perhaps you would prefer to see my throat slit instead? Or maybe I should close my eyes?" I closed my eyes and formed a new, shallower cut on my upper arm."

"Stop it!" Lara yelled. "Michaela, heal those!"

I opened my eyes and looked at her. "I don't take orders from you," I said. "Not after you banished me."

There was an intake of breath, but no one spoke.

"Greg, are you satisfied?"

"Shift and heal them," he said.

I looked down at my arm and healed the shallow cut. "Wendy, I need to see, left one first."

She released my left arm from the towel. I began healing it, and the wound closed. Then I pulled the right from her and healed that one.

I looked at Greg. "It's a lot like healing. Now, short of drugging me, do you think you could stop me if I decided to commit suicide?"

"No," he said in a small voice.

"Well then, I presume I will be offered a reasonable modicum of privacy when I am alone in my cell and when I am using the facilities. Are we agreed?"

"Yes," he said. "If the alphas agree."

"Yes," Lara said immediately.

"Yes," said Daniel. "But there must be no collusion. Recordings will be turned on from the moment your cell door is opened until you are returned to your cell. The recordings will be turned off in the bathroom, but no one may accompany you."

"Thank you," I said.

"Did you have other questions before we may proceed?"

"Just one more," I said. "I would like to know when the people in this room knew these hearings were going to occur."

Daniel studied me. "In what way is that pertinent?"

"I don't know," I said. "As I am left deeply in the dark a
bout everything that is happening, I can't judge what is pertinent, what is not."

Daniel was the only person who could look me in the eye, which meant to me that everyone had known for quite some time. I wanted a complete answer.

"Return the prisoner to her cell," Daniel said. "We will discuss this issue."

"Closed door hearings. Yes, I can see that I will receive a fair trial.
But you are wolves, so I should have expected betrayal."

But I turned my back on him and wal
ked to the door, waiting for my keepers to catch up. Wendy and Cameron stepped up on either side of me, each firmly taking an arm, and then another wolf opened the door. Without a word, I was marched to my cell. I stepped inside, and the door closed.

I immediately deflated.

I crossed the short distance to the cot and curled into a ball.

I wondered why Lara hated me this badly. I wondered why everyone else had helped her. I wondered what happened to Greg's vaunted honesty; that alone told me I wasn't going to be set free. He wouldn't risk my spreading rumors he couldn't be trusted.

I wondered why they had taken so long.

I wondered why I had been given the assignment to guard Suzanne for nearly two weeks. Were they just getting me out of the way while they set this up? It didn't seem like it would have required that type of setup.

I wondered why, if Lara wanted me dead, she had cared whether I demonstrated my ability to harm myself as readily as I could heal.

I thought about that. Was it so important she find me guilty first? Why would that matter, if she
was so angry as to bring these charges against me in the first place.

I wondered why Christopher West and Albert Stein were here instead of more respected members of the council.

I wondered whether these were questions I should be asking out loud.

I wasn't left alone very long, perhaps twenty-five minutes. The door opened and Wendy stepped in. "They're ready."

I climbed back to my feet and stood in front of her. "You don't have to say a word. These proceedings are a sham. There is no way Greg would risk his reputation for this duplicity if I could possibly live to tell the truth. I have nothing else to lose. You have helped take everything left to me. I hope you all rot in hell."

She rocked back, horror crossing her face. She was about to say something,
then clamped her mouth shut. Instead, she took my arm, Cameron on the other, and they marched me to the hearing room.

Everyone waited for me, and no one looked me in the eye. So they didn't intend to answer my last question. So be it.

I took my seat.

"Boulder Alpha," Wendy said immediately. "Before we proceed, I believe I must relay
something I was just told in the hallway."

I didn't even bother looking at her.

"If it were pertinent, it should not have been discussed in the hallway," Daniel said immediately.

"You make your rules, I make mine," I said. "I will say whatever I want, whenever I want, where ever I want. If you don't like it, you can add to my charges."

"It was not a conversation," Wendy said. "It was a statement by Ms. Burns. I believe it is relevant."

Daniel studied me. "Then perhaps she should repeat it."

So I did.

I could tell not a single one of them had considered it. I couldn't believe it. Even Greg looked startled by my statement.

I gave them a moment to think about it before crossing my arms. "Now, Alpha," I said directly to Daniel. "What was that about this hearing not being a sham? No one in this room expects me to go free, or at least Greg doesn't. And I don't believe Lara would have asked him to take part in this if she believed I would live to spread the word."

Daniel considered me. I could hear his heart beating more rapidly than normal. So were about half the heartbeats in the room.

"Ms. Burns," Daniel said eventually. "Your logic has some merit. But I will state again. These are honest hearings. I have come to these proceedings as impartial as possible, and the results are not a forgone conclusion. You have enough facts to search for other possible conclusions. I will not address this issue again."

I shrugged. It didn't matter. They were about to deny an answer to my previous question, and I was going to do what I was going to do, and that would be that.

"Regarding the question you asked. We do not believe the answer is pertinent and we will not be answering."

"Very well," I said. "Then if I am to be denied knowledge everyone else in the room has, with no way of obtaining it, then I decline to participate in these hearings."

"Stop!" Lara said.

"And as I have no one to speak for me other than myself, if I do not participate, I believe the conclusions are entirely forgone," I went on.

"Elisabeth!" Lara screamed. "Stop her!"

"And as the conclusions are forgone, there is no reason to waste any more time." And then I slowly opened a cut across my cheek.

Elisabeth burst from her seat, leaping onto the table and straight at me. I began slowly opening a cut across my throat.

I didn't even try to avoid Elisabeth. She knocked me out of the chair, and we both went tumbling. And then she struck me across the head, and I knew no more for quite some time.

* * * *

I woke slowly, my head pounding. "Great," I thought. "Another concussion."

I moaned.

"Lie still," an unfamiliar male voice said. "You've got quite the concussion."

"Who?" I croaked.

"My name is Craig," he said. "I am a medic. Before you ask, I don't know why you are in the cells or what is going on, so I can't answer any questions except those pertaining to your health."

"They told you to say that," I said softly.

"Yes."

I opened my eyes and immediately closed them. I should have known better. Pain stabbed through my head.

"Can you dim the lights?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "They have two settings, on or off."

"How long have I been out?"

"Several hours," he said. "You need to shift and heal. Do you need me to categorize your injuries?"

"Concussion," I said. "Poorly healed slice on my left cheek.
Short, shallow slice across my throat. Once I heal those, I may find cracked ribs or some serious bruising."

"Good summary," he said.

"Do you have food for me?" I asked him.

"Yes. Do you need some now?"

I considered. "I need to sit up a little. Are there more pillows?"

"I will obtain some," he said.

"You are being very solicitous towards the condemned," I said.

"I don't know anything about that. I was told to get you whatever you requested for your comfort."

"I suppose a water saw to cut my way out isn't in the offering?"

"No," he said. "I'm afraid not."

"Pillows. And juice, if it is available for me. And water."

"I will return shortly."

I heard him get up. He knocked on my cell door. It opened. He left, and I heard someone else step in.

"Wendy?" I asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Making sure I don't do it again?"

"Yes."

"Elisabeth knows how hard to hit me. I bet you don't."

"I can safely choke you out in about ten seconds," she said.

"I can stop my heart in two," I replied. "I think. I haven't been willing to try it. I'm not sure I could start it again."

"Why haven't you, then?" she asked. "Why such a dramatic display?"

"Why Wendy, I believe you are breaking the rules."

"Fuck," she said. Then she said. "I believe you were bluffing."

"I was raising the stakes. You're going to answer my question. And you're all going to answer any other questions I have. Or admit this is a sham and keep me drugged."

She sighed but didn't respond.

The medic returned and Wendy stepped back out, the medic replacing her. He helped me sit up, which hurt like crazy. Yes, I had cracked ribs. I leaned back into the pillows, panting and clutching my aching head.

"I have orange juice," he said. "I am told this is your preference."

"Only for this. The sugar hits fast."

He held it for me, and I drank slowly. I waited for a bit, trying to hurry the juice along, but my head hurt too much.

"Shift now," the medic said.

I sighed. "Why does everyone constantly think they get to tell me what to do?"

I concentrated on the concussion, trying to decrease the swelling. I'd done this before; I wondered if I would be doing it again anytime soon.

It took me a while, and I was panting with the effort by the time I had alleviated at least some of the damage.

"More juice," I told him. He gave me more.

"I have things to eat," he said. "I'm told these are your favorites."

I opened my mouth, not caring what he put in it. It was chicken. I chewed and swallowed slowly. I ate a little more then asked for water.

After that, I concentrated more on the headache, relieving more of the pounding. I opened my eyes cautiously, then threw my arm over my eyes, shielding them from glare of the overhead light. Then I concentrated on the ribs; they were cracked, not broken, and easy to heal.

When I was done, I asked, "How bad is everything else?"

"Nothing is bleeding anymore, but you risk a scar if you don't heal them."

"Like I'm going to live long enough for it to matter."

"Ms. Burns," the medic said. "There are a lot of very worried faces upstairs. Your alpha pounced on me the moment I appeared, asking for information about you."

I thought about what he had said. "I don't believe you were supposed to tell me that."

"No one told me what I could or could not say," he said. "Please, heal the wounds. It may not matter to you today, but maybe it will in the future."

I sighed. "Do you have a mirror?"

It turned out he did. He held it up. I opened my eyes again and looked at my face. He had cleaned the cut; it was held closed by a series of small butterfly bandages. I concentrated for a moment and watched it heal. Then I reached up and pulled off the bandages. The medic took them from me. I took the mirror from him and examined my face, brushing away a little of the blood. All healed, but I looked like hell.