Fox Dish (Madison Wolves #6) (24 page)

"I am a fox, not a wolf," I stated. "I do not concede this point. I will argue to my dying breath that I am a sentient creature and make my own decisions. While I agree that membership in the pack comes with obligations and responsibilities, I fiercely deny the cost of pack membership includes my freedom." I looked directly at Daniel. "If you find me guilty of this charge, you are telling me I am her property." I pointed at Lara. "I require a short break."

Daniel nodded. "Ten minutes."

* * * *

Calmer, although not calm, I look around the room and consulted my notes.

"That leaves insubordination for defying Lara's order there would be no retribution. I am Michaela Burns, Madison Alpha. I promised Brody
Mortens, Johnny Mack, and the enforcers who were involved in my kidnapping that they would die. My promise predates Lara's orders to the contrary. Furthermore, it was absolutely my duty to do what I did. I stand by my decision."

I paused.

"Furthermore, in effect, Lara rescinded her order the day Greg came to visit us this past autumn. She gave me permission to plan an assault."

"I did not give you permission to carry it out."

"No," I said. "But I argue the original order was no longer in force, and I suggest that it was an order that shouldn't have been given, anyway. After all, you shouldn't give orders forcing me to break such important promises." I smiled sweetly at her.

She scowled at me.

"Unless there are additional charges," I said. "I have nothing further."

I sat down.

Daniel looked at me then looked around the room. "Does anyone have anything further to say?"

"She is a loose canon!" Christopher West yelled. "
She threatens council members. She refuses to recognize her proper place in the pack. She flouts pack tradition." He began to sputter.

Daniel let him sputter, and when he finally wound down, Daniel said, "Anything else? No? Then I will render my judgment in the morning. The prisoner will remain a prisoner, and the isolation will remain in force until I have rendered judgment. I do not want any last minute appeals for mercy to be colored by charges of collusion."

* * * *

Greg visited me later. "Elisabeth has talked Lara out of a run with you tonight."

"I understand," I said. "Thank you for telling me." I paused. "Do you believe I should ask you for one last run?"

He laughed. "No."

"Greg, we're not better. I don't know if we're going to be better. What you did was damned shitty, regardless of the motives."

"Do you intend to say those same words to anyone else?"

"I will certainly have words for Lara. I do not know whom else. No one else tricked me into giving evidence to be used against me."

He sighed. "Perhaps you haven't finished thinking everything through." And then he stepped away, and I was alone for the evening.

* * * *

I sat bolt upright in the middle of the night.

Greg hadn't given evidence against me. He had given evidence of my commitment to duty coupled with my competence in doing it.

I curled up and went back to sleep.

Smiling.

I ate a sparing breakfast. Wendy tsked at me.

"What?" I said. "It's not like it's a
last meal." I frowned. "If I have a last meal, it damned well better include spicy tuna rolls and some tuna nigiri!"

She smiled but didn't respond.

I looked up at her. "I'm nervous, Wendy. I won't keep more down."

She nodded and took the rest away, although I snagged the water from the tray.

I showered afterwards, and when I was done, I found a pure white dress waiting for me. I smiled at it. I decided it was Lara displaying a rare sense of humor. Sacrificial white.

I returned to my room and waited nervously, pacing the room.

Wendy and Cameron arrived to escort me to the hearing room one last time. They didn't touch me but flanked me instead, acting more like honor guards than prison guards.

Everyone was waiting for me. My chair was not waiting, so I moved to the foot of the table and stood proudly.

I looked around the room. Brooke wasn't giving anything away; either Daniel hadn't told her what to expect, or else she just wasn't sufficiently invested to give anything away. Christopher West didn't look pleased, but I didn't particularly care. Lara looked nervous. Her jaw was tight and her forehead furrowed, and she was clasping her hands together under the table. I could see from the set of her arms. Elisabeth was calmer. Serena looked at me with some worry, and Angel and Scarlett were clasping hands and both looked nervous.

I wonder if anything had been discussed before I arrived.

"Does anyone have anything to say before I render judgment?" Daniel asked.

I thought about commenting, but I was pretty sure Daniel had already made all his decisions, and nothing I could say would improve my position.
I shook my head, and everyone else remained silent.

Daniel picked up a piece of paper.

"I do not enjoy these types of proceedings," he stated. "I do not enjoy hearing the types of charges we have discussed this past week. I do not enjoy rendering judgment on issues such as these."

I thought about apologizing but kept my mouth closed.

"Michaela Burns, Omega Fox and Alpha of the Madison Weres, you have been charged with a lengthy list of offenses. The counts of trespassing on pack lands were dismissed. The counts of endangerment of a valued pack asset were wisely dismissed. Four charges of insubordination were dismissed. The remaining charges remain before us."

He took a breath. "Michaela you have argued that it was your intention to return to Madison to, as you say, take your lumps and afterwards resume your duties. You did not do so. However, I believe you honestly feel you would have if you weren't led to believe you had been banished. While you should have verified your banishment, I believe your pack leadership had ample opportunity to inform you it had not been carried out. Therefore, I find you not guilty on the charges of abandonment and dereliction of duty as regards your school duties."

"Thank you," I said.

Christopher West began to sputter. Daniel turned to him. "Oh shut up. Or I will charge you with contempt of court."

Christopher shut up.

I couldn't believe he hadn't charged me with that. He turned back to me and smiled. "I did not believe adding insult to your existing injuries would help the situation."

"Thank you."

"You have ple
d guilty to one charge of subordination but left it to the court to determine the severity. I find you guilty of one charge of insubordination for the events last Tuesday. I will list sentencing shortly."

I nodded.

"You are charged with two counts of insubordination for refusing Lara's orders to return to Madison. You have argued that Lara phrased them as requests, and Lara admits to having done so. You have both stated you recognize the difference between requests from a mate and orders from the alpha, and everyone here knows Lara is able to make it clear when she is making an order. I find you not guilty of these two charges."

"Thank you," I told him.

Daniel set the paper down and looked straight at me. "I find this next charge disturbing. Lara has ordered you to see to your safety. You admit to intentionally dragging out a challenge match for what appears to be the simple reason that you felt you could. You did so against an opponent you have described as a 'rabid dog that needed to be put down'. I agree with your assessment of the individual in question."

Daniel paused, studying me. "I do not fully understand why you felt the need to display signs of fear at the start of the fight. Will you explain?"

"I wanted him overconfident."

"Did you think he would make mistakes by being overconfident?"

"Oh," I said. "No, I'm sorry. No, I didn't want them to back out. That's all. I wanted to be absolutely sure the fight would start as a one-on-one challenge fight. I made sure to give Johnny Mack every reason to believe I would be easy prey. Maybe it wasn't necessary. Maybe it was poor judgment. I would welcome your wisdom."

"Are you appealing to my vanity?"

"No. You are a strong male wolf. I am a fox. You have perspective I do not have."

Daniel quietly consulted with Brooke, primarily through look
s. He turned back to me. "I cannot judge Johnny Mack's state of mind; I find it unlikely the lengths you took were necessary. But I do not find fault with you, either. You are building a reputation, and perhaps helping him underestimate you was, indeed, necessary." But he folded his hands. "I understand the need to pull yourself fully together before completely engaging with Mr. Mack, and thus you were required to drag the fight out at the beginning. But you admit to dragging it out longer than necessary, perhaps significantly longer than necessary, and you have admitted you did so because it amused you to do so. I believe you were showing off."

He paused, shaking his head. "If Brooke were ever to drag out a fight without a much better reason than you have given, I would be livid with her. I find you guilty of insubordination." He turned to Lara. "And if she were ever to do it again, I would elevate future charges to aggravated insubordination."

He turned back to me. "When you have a rabid animal to put down, you put him down. You don't play with him. Doing so is not seeing to your personal safety, an order you should follow in the future."

"Yes, A
lpha," I said, trying to sound contrite. "I wouldn't say showing off, sir, but I would say savoring. That's an ugly trait when wolves do it, and it isn't any less ugly when I do it. It won't happen again."

Daniel nodded.
"Your alpha ordered no retribution against the Iowa City wolves. I do not buy your argument she rescinded her offer by allowing you to plan an assault. I don't believe you do, either. Guilty of aggravated insubordination."

"Yes, A
lpha," I said. I agreed with his verdict. It was the only one I had expected to face when I'd started this.

Christopher West was looking much happier, but he was going to be disappointed. Daniel wouldn't have bothered lecturing me if he were going to have me executed.

"You have been ordered to accept a security detail. You have been charged with one count of insubordination for evading your security detail. However, we have heard testimony of three times you have evaded your security."

I wasn't expecting this.

"You evaded your security, and you were kidnapped. You evaded your security with the intention of enacting vengeance, and you turned around only because you were tricked to do so. And you evaded your security a third time, again with the intention of enacting vengeance."

He paused.

"I miss-spoke. You evaded your security with the intention of engaging in actions your security team would have prevented, actions that would be dangerous to you. I suspect there are other times you have evaded your security, but I am not concerned with a pack member who wants a few minutes of solitude. The constant attention is wearing, and I understand that. I find you guilty of one charge of insubordination for the first of these three offenses, the one that directly led to your kidnapping, and two charges of aggravated insubordination for the other two occurrences."

I glared at him but managed to press my lips
closed. Daniel set his notes down and folded his hands together, then looked up at me.

"I am not declaring you property. You are, however, a member of a wolf pack. You accepted membership, and I believe you understood the implications when you accepted.
Furthermore, you are the alpha's mate, and I believe you understand the related implications of that as well." He looked down for a moment then back up at me. "Do you believe Ysabella enjoys her restrictions?"

Ysabella
was Daniel's mate, and she had far harsher restrictions than I did.

"No," I said sullenly.

"No one expects you to like it, Michaela," he said. "But we do expect you to accept it." He paused again. "Your alpha has both the responsibility and the right to order you or anyone else in the pack to accept protection. Do you understand?"

"Why am I the only member of the pack in this position?"

"Because you are the alpha's mate. And you are not the only member. Your children are in the same position. Whether you like it or not, it is necessary."

I glared at him, and my mouth got away from me. "If wolves weren't arrogant, murdering assholes, it wouldn't be necessary."

There was a collective intake of air. Daniel tightened his mouth for a moment but managed to speak calmly. "That is not an accurate description of anyone in this room."

I looked down. He was right. "I'm sorry. You are right."

The room was silent until Daniel spoke again. "Most wolves are arrogant. That includes many of the wolves in this room. It certainly includes me and your alpha. It also includes the fox in the room."

I kept my head down but nodded.

"Some wolves are murdering assholes," Daniel said. "That is the reality of the world. It is a reality everyone in this room would change if we could."

I looked up. "I a
m doing my part," I said. "One-hundred and sixteen."

"Quite," Daniel said. "But in the future, you will do so with whatever security your alpha orders. Do I make myself clear?"

I stared at him for a moment. "Yes, Alpha."

He scanned his list. "That addresses everything except the most serious charges, dereliction of duty.
I have already addressed one of these charges. There are four charges of dereliction of duty remaining, and if you weren't doing your duty, I would be forced to find you guilty of extreme dereliction of duty. However, you most certainly were doing your duty!" He spoke quite firmly at the end. "Not guilty."

"What?" said Christopher
West. "Of course she's guilty!"

"You, sir, I find in contempt of court," Daniel said immediately. "Greg, see to it this man spends a night in one of your cells, beginning immediately."

"What?" Christopher said. But Greg gestured, and four of his wolves stepped forward and firmly escorted Christopher from the room. We heard his ranting all the way down the hall.

I tried very hard not to smile. I failed.

"Thank you, Alpha," I said when Daniel turned back to me.

"For the verdict, or for the contempt charge?"

"I was thanking you for the verdict. I would not rejoice in the contempt charge."

"There is hope for you yet, Ms. Burns." He looked around the room. "Does anyone wish to contest my findings?"

"No, Alpha," Lara said immediately.

"No, Alpha," I echoed.

Everyone else remained silent.

Daniel turned to Lara. "Do you wish me to assign sentencing?"

"Yes, thank you."

Daniel turned to me. "Michaela Burns, I have found you guilty of one count of insubordination for evading your security detail, leading to your capture. I believe you have suffered more than sufficiently for that offense."

I nodded.

"There are two other counts of insubordination. I sentence you to twenty-five hours of pack service per charge. I presume the Madison pack has a means of assigning duties and tracking your time."

"We do," Lara said.

"That leaves three charges of aggravated insubordination." Daniel leaned forward, studying me. "Lara, what is the typical Madison pack punishment for aggravated insubordination?"

"Typically a beating," Lara said. "For repeat offenders, a particularly severe beating. Daniel, she breaks too easily for that. I can not possibly allow anyone else to touch her, and I couldn't bring myself to do it personally."

"A beating would be a wolf punishment, but she is not a wolf," Daniel agreed. "And the charges are too severe to accept pack service."

Daniel frowned. "I dislike incarceration, as it consumes pack resources and takes an otherwise useful pack member and turns her into a drain on the pack." He sighed. "A beating would be so much easier. Two months house arrest. Credit for time served. You may leave your home to perform your duties for the pack as determined by your alpha. You may use the gym for physical health. You are otherwise confined to your home. You will not run and you will not shift to fox."