Fox Dish (Madison Wolves #6) (2 page)

Joan leaned past Max and patted
Lily's shoulder. "I'm sorry about the cramps, honey."

"It's okay,"
Lily replied. "I'd rather have cramps once a month then testosterone 24-7."

Max looked like he would rather have been almost anywhere else. James looked like he would rather the women were anywhere else. That was when I asked
Lily what she liked most about fall term, fitting in my praise for what an amazing student she was. I managed to talk more to Joan and even to Max.

And then I helped
Lily do her own name dropping. She called me "Ms. Burns" once, but I pointed we weren't at school, so she switched to Michaela. Then I got her to mention Elisabeth's and Lara's names.

After that, four out of the five of us were much more comfortable with the drive, but towards the end, I pulled James back into the conversation. "James, do you fish?"

"Yes," he said. "But isn't the lake frozen?"

"You've never been ice fishing?" I asked.

"You fish for ice?" Lily asked.

"Yes," I said. "The bergs can put up quite a fight."
Lily and Joan grinned. James looked disgusted.

Max looked at me dubiously. "You're not fooling me," he said. "But it sounds boring."

"I suppose you don't care about the fishing contest then, Max," I said. "We have prizes."

"Prizes?" he said, his eyes lighting up.

"Yes," I said. "For the twelve and under kids, there's a new iPod."

"How about the under eighteen kids?"
Lily asked immediately.

"I'm not sure," I said. "It will be something good."

"Is there a contest for the adults?" Joan asked.

"Of course," I said. "I don't have all the details."

While I was talking, I fished out my phone and began texting Lara. "Promising a fishing contest. I hope you can fit it in."

"LOL," was the reply. "Already scheduled."

We arrived at Bayfield and went straight out to the ice road leading to Madeline Island. James read the danger sign, but I assured him it was safe.

* * * *

"Settle in and meet in our room," I told Elisabeth and then repeated it to Francesca, adding "Bring Angel". Twenty minutes later, there were five of us.

"So?" I asked Elisabeth.

She smiled. "She's only twelve," Elisabeth said.

"I thought perhaps you might like to start indoctrination early."

"What are we talking about?" Lara asked.

"Monique Simpson wants to be an enforcer," I said. "I believe Elisabeth would feel better about enforcers who had grown to love their high school teacher."

"I hadn't even thought about that," Elisabeth admitted.

I turned to Francesca. "She can't make my program. I don't know what to do."

Lara immediately spoke up. "Head Enforcer, do you believe the pack could use a high school program geared specifically for prospective enforcers?"

"There's no room in Michaela's schedule to teach it," Francesca said. "And I'm over-extended as well."

"Put them in the regular program that Francesca is teaching," I said. "But put them in those of my classes that make sense, and have some of the enforcers also teach some of the classes. Get them into as many of my classes as they can handle."

"That would be all the fun classes," Angel said immediately.
"Do you want Scarlett and me to see how we feel about Monique over the next couple of weeks?"

"Yes," Elisabeth said immediately. "Francesca, if we authorized another teacher and told you that we were going to start funneling a few prospective enforcers into your program, what type of teacher would you want?"

"Anything that offloads from me," Francesca answered. Then she and Elisabeth talked about the types of classes to be taught. Angel listened intently.

"Mom," she said. "I could teach some of those."

"Not with your schedule," Francesca said immediately.

"No," Angel said. "But later."

Elisabeth frowned. "No. I don't want any enforcers tied to a school schedule. We can guest teach, but that's all."

"We should get Violet to teach yoga," I said. "And Karen to teach martial arts."

"Yoga?" said Elisabeth dubiously. I smiled sweetly.

"I don't want responsibility for the enforcer program," I said. "But I will take students into my existing classes as it makes sense."

Francesca looked at Lara. "What are you telling me you want me to do, Alpha?"

Lara turned to Elisabeth. "Do you want to proceed with this? You would need to be involved heavily."

"Yes," Elisabeth said. "But it won't fix our immediate problem. It's a long term plan. Ten years from now, however, we could be enforcer rich."

"That would be a nice problem to have," Lara said. "All right. I like this. Francesca, start a search for a third teacher for the school.
The three of you to consult as needed, and the three of you to agree on whom we'll hire. Elisabeth, how did you feel about Monique? Would you want her in this new program?"

"It's hard to tell," Elisabeth said. "What if she's not really cut out for it?"

"We'll get all our kids ready for college," Francesca said. "Maybe she'll go in a different direction, but we won't let this program hurt her long term career chances."

"Then yes," Elisabeth replied. "I want Monique in the program."

"Do we need to free up more funds from the council?" I asked.

Elisabeth smiled. "This will be part of the money to be spent training enforcers. They didn't tell us how much to spend. Some of the council members won't like this, but the ones who count will be fine."

"This sounds good," Lara said.

"I have one more question," I said. They all looked at me. "Is this a little predatory? She's only twelve."

"No," said Elisabeth. "I started training to be an enforcer from the day I was born. So did Lara."

"We won't strong-arm anyone," Lara said. "I am more worried about parents using this program to
maneuver their kids closer to the pack power base when the child isn't really interested in becoming an enforcer."

"Let the older kids interview prospective students," Angel said. "Sometimes it's harder to fool other kids than it is to fool adults."

"I have a pretty stringent interview process for my students," I pointed out. "Elisabeth can have an equally stringent process." I paused. "And ultimately, if we take some kids who don't become an enforcer, is that a real problem?"

"No," Lara said immediately.

And just like that, a new focus was born, and what might turn out to be a long-term solution to a chronic pack problem.

Elisabeth looked pleased.

"We still have a problem for the next six years," Elisabeth said. "But Michaela, thank you. This should help."

* * * *

The resort we used on Madeline Island consisted of a central lodge and a number of cabins. The cabins were of various configurations. Lara and I had a larger cabin with two bedrooms and a lovely living room. This gave us, along with the babies, one room, and a second room for Elisabeth. Before going to bed, two more enforcers would move into the living room, keeping watch for the night.

The resort staff checked us in, but as we had in the past, the staff got the entire duration of our visit off; we were assured no staff would be on site, and we had relative privacy. The pack would prepare our own meals and clean up after
ourselves.

I woke at three, my internal alarm easily getting me up, and collected first Rebecca and settled her in on Lara's left side, then pulled Celeste from her crib and snuggled her in on the right. Lara looked up at me and smiled. "Thank you," she said.

I sat down on the bed watching the three most important girls in my life. Lara was such a beautiful mother. It was amazing to see my strong mate being so incredibly gentle with our babies. I curled up on the bed and snuggled against all of them, cuddling against Lara and Celeste, with one hand draped around to hold Rebecca on the other side.

Lara gazed at the two babies with a beatific smile. She looked over to me and said quietly, "Thank you, honey."

"For fetching the babies?"

"For being here with me," she said. "For being part of this. I wouldn't have these two without you. I wouldn't have wanted to do this alone, and I can't imagine anyone who would be a better mother than you."

I closed my eyes, feeling guilty, but I pressed it aside.

"I love you so much, Lara, and I love Rebecca and Celeste so much, too." I gazed down at Celeste, sucking away at her late-night meal.

Rebecca finished first. She always did. Celeste was growing faster, but they were both very healthy.

"It looks like Rebecca is done first," I said.

"Shocking, isn't it?" Lara said.

I sat up, collected Rebecca, and laid her over my shoulder, patting her back gently. She gurgled happily then offered a healthy burp and gurgled again. Still holding her, I settled back down next to Lara, cuddling with my baby. She settled in right away.

When Celeste was done, Lara burped her, and then the four of us cuddled for a while.

"Lara," I said. "If something happened to me, they'd be okay, wouldn't they?"

Lara narrowed her eyes at me. "Nothing is going to happen to you."

"The world is a dangerous place for a fox," I said.
"I have never met an old fox. Never."

"Please don't talk like this," Lara said. "Honey, please."

"They'd be okay, wouldn't they? You'd have lots of help."

"Michaela," she said. "Nothing is going to happen to you. You are going to live to a ripe old age, right alongside me."

I looked into Lara's eyes. "I need to know. Would they be okay?"

"No," Lara said. "They would not be okay. And neither would I. So nothing is allowed to happen to you. Do you understand me?"

I lifted my gaze to the ceiling then finally said, "I'm just being silly. You're right. I'm the safest fox that has ever lived. Thank you, Lara."

We cuddled for a little longer. I checked two pair of diapers, finding them both
dry for a change. Carefully I climbed out of bed. Rebecca had fallen asleep, and I returned her to her crib. Celeste was sleepy but not quite asleep yet. I took her from Lara, walked her around the room for a few minutes, then settled her into her crib as well.

Lara was asleep by the time I climbed back into bed with her.

The babies got their morning feeding. Lara was in the shower when there was a knock at the door. Answering it, I found Lily and Catherine there.

"Good morning, girls," I said. "Were we expecting you?"

"Baby sitting service!" Lily said cheerfully. "Where are the little darlings?"

"That's not necessary," I said. "You guys are up here to have fun."

"We'll watch them until after breakfast," Catherine said. "Have they eaten?"

"Yes, and you missed the diaper change," I said. "Good timing."

"Bummer," Lily said. "I was looking forward to changing diapers." She sighed dramatically. "Don't worry, Michaela, we won't teach them any dirty limericks."

"Lara and I wanted to be the ones to give them their first exposure to snow, girls."

"We'll stay right here with them," Lily said, gesturing to the living room. "Come on, hand them over."

I laughed then stepped aside. The two filed into the room, each scoopin
g up a baby. They had both babysat for us before, and they knew everything they needed to do.

Lara and I had a pleasant breakfast but hurried back to our cabin. When we got there, we found a party. Monique had joined her sister, and she was locked in conversation with Angel. Scarlett had joined Catherine and Lily, playing with Celeste and Rebecca. As soon as we stepped in, Scarlett looked up. "
Would you make them wolves, Michaela?"

I smiled. "In a few minutes. We're going to take them out in the snow."

"Yes!" Scarlett said. "I brought my camera, but I want to go out as a wolf. Do you think I could?"

"Yes, Scarlett," Lara said. "Who else?"

All five girls wanted to play as wolves. "If that's too many, I can wait," Angel offered. "I don't know if I'm on duty today."

"There's a duty roster," Elisabeth said. "It's pinned up on the back of the door." She pointed to the exterior door.

Angel got up to peruse the schedule. "I'm on nights all week?"

"
It sucks to be the low enforcer," Elisabeth said. "You'll be on days next week. Make sure you get some sleep today so you won't fall asleep tonight."

"Alpha," Angel asked. "Were you going to post a schedule of the activities?"

"Yes, Alpha," I added. "I would love to see a schedule, too."

Lara laughed.
"I can't post a full schedule because it will be weather dependent. But I'll put something up after lunch. This morning we're playing outside in the snow. After lunch we're getting cross-country snow skiing lessons, and there is fishing before dinner. There will be a run on pack lands after dinner, then we return here for a bonfire."