Fox Dish (Madison Wolves #6) (5 page)

I had presents for everyone in attendance. I actually had presents for everyone in the pack, although most of those were small gift cards. Lara and I had established a rule that only our closest friends were to give us presents, but anyone was welcome to give small gifts to Celeste and Rebecca. We had quietly talked to key people to make sure everyone understood the definition of a small gift.

Most of the presents I had were listed as from both Lara and me. Lara had a few friends in the pack that weren't my friends, and for those, she had bought their presents. I had handled the rest.

We all gathered to
gether for dinner in the lodge Christmas Eve. Lara gave a short speech, acknowledging the holiday as being based in Christianity, but pointing out it had become a part of American culture. "For pack, this is a celebration of the winter solstice and a time to acknowledge the close friendship that pack brings to us all. And it is also a time to acknowledge our families, and the bonds that our families each share."

Then she worked the room a little. "Not everyone has family here." She touched Karen on the shoulder as an example. "But all of you are part of the family that Michaela and I share, and any of you with no other family here is welcome to share the day with us tomorrow. Any families who wish to share the day with us are also welcome
, but we want families to enjoy their individual customs."

She stopped by Benny. "Benny, do you have family in town?"

"Yes," he said. "My sister. Our parents are gone, and we have no close cousins. I am spending the morning with my sister and her family." He reached out and clasped June's hand.

"Have they met June yet?" Lara asked.

"Yes. She is also invited."

"Enjoy your time
together, June. Will we see you later tomorrow, Benny?"

"Yes, Alpha."

She squeezed his shoulder and moved on.

Lara worked the entire room, touching everyone in attendance, if only briefly. She exchanged words with a few others, but most of what she said was addressed to everyone. She ended back at the table with me, standing behind me with her hands on my shoulders. She collected Celeste from Elisabeth and handed her to me, then looked around, wondering who had Rebecca. "Where is my other daughter?" she asked.

"Here, Alpha," Lily said immediately. She rose from her seat and carried Rebecca to us, the baby awake and alert, watching Lily with fascination.

Lara collected the baby then wished everyone a pleasant evening. We collected a security detail for an escort to our cabin. Then Elisabeth sent everyone home except herself and Karen. Angel looked surprised. "I have duty tonight. When should I be back?"

"Tomorrow night," Elisabeth said. "Spend Christmas Eve with your family or your lover, as you see best. Karen and I have the duty tonight."

That earned them both hugs, and then we were six.

Lara and I sat down on the sofa, each of us holding a bundled up baby. Elisabeth lit a fire, and Wendy sat on the coffee table in front of me, peering down at Celeste.

"Are they both awake?" she asked.

"Wide awake," I said.

"Do you think you could make them wolf pups? I would really like to hold a little pup."

The adoring look she gave Celeste warmed my heart. I thought back and realized she never played with the pups. She looked up at my inquiring look.

"The girls all want to play with them so much," she said. "I haven't had a chance to even change a diaper, much less hold a pup."

"Oh Karen," I said. "You should have said something." I handed her Celeste, then unbuttoned my blouse. I needed close skin to skin contact, but with the babies, I didn't necessarily need to be naked. Once I was ready, I took Celeste back from her, slipped her out of her clothes, and pulled her wolf to the forefront. After a moment, I had a squirming wolf pup licking my fox face. Karen reached forward and pulled Celeste into her arms.

Celeste didn't want to cuddle; she wanted to play. I shifted back to human and said, "They're both always rambunctious when I make them pups," I explained. "Maybe you want to play on the floor with them. They like to chase wolf tails."

Karen smiled and set Celeste onto the floor. I took an already naked Rebecca from Lara and pulled out her wolf, then Lara set her on the floor as well.

The two sisters immediately began to play together. Karen stripped out of her clothes and began her own shift.
I curled into Lara and sighed happily while watching the girls play. A few minutes later, Karen finished her shift. The girls saw her and immediately hid from her.

"They like to play hide and seek," I told Karen. "You get a half a point each time you catch one; they get a point every time they pounce on your tail."

Karen chuffed and went sniffing around the room for the pups. She found Rebecca; they weren't very good at hiding after all. But rather than catching her, she turned her back and sat down, sniffing for Celeste. Rebecca paused a moment then leapt on Karen's tail, grabbing hold and hanging on. Karen turned around to catch her, but Rebecca held onto the tail and was dragged around on the floor, snarling fiercely. Three circles later, and Celeste burst from her hiding space, overshooting the tail but then having her sister dragged over her. She ran after the tail, and Karen let her catch it.

Elisabeth, Lara and I watched in amusement as Karen played with the puppies until finally they both fell over on their sides, exhausted. Karen nuzzled them for a moment, then pushed them together into a little pile and wrapped around them on the floor, sharing her warmth with them. She looked up at us as she laid her head on the floor.

"We'll need to feed them before they sleep," Lara said. "And I am not feeding them as wolf pups."

"Sharp teeth," I said.

"Yeah."

Karen huffed and wrapped around the pups for a moment longer, but then she pulled away, and I collected Celeste from her. I returned her into her human form and gave her to Lara, then repeated the process with Rebecca. Karen began shifting back into human as well while the babies ate
their before bedtime meal.

Later, Lara let me pamper her in bed, giving her a thorough, although quiet orgasm. She kissed me afterwards, licking her own taste from my mouth, and we cuddled together, my head resting on her shoulder. We murmured softly at each other, and I thought Lara would sleep, but then she gathered my hands in one of hers, and I caught a smile in the dim light.

"Oh no," I said. "I feel really good right now, Lara."

She giggled. "You're going to feel even better very soon, Little Fox."

And I did.

* * * *

What do you get for a wolf who has everything?

I spent mo
nths agonizing over what to get Elisabeth and Lara. In the end, they ended up with similar presents.

I used the photo of
Elisabeth's and Lara's mother as a young wolf and found a sculptor who could make a ceramic replica. I then used the same photo as well as one I got from Francesca of their mother when she was older, and I found a painter who did a painting of the human wolf with her hand on the furry wolf.

Then I agonized over which of them got which. In the end, I gave the painting to Lara and the sculpture to Elisabeth. I made the decision based upon one simple fact: my house with Lara had little room for sculptures but there was artwork on the walls I was willing to relocate.

I bought something for each enforcer, but Serena's was special. I went back to the jeweler who had done my fox earrings, carrying photos of Serena's children, Alan, Jeremy and Kaylee, in their wolf. I had gotten them all to pose for me and given the jeweler all the photos I had. Included were individual photos as well as a group shot so he could see relative sizes. The hardest part was getting photos that looked like natural wolves. He made a pendant necklace using the wolves as inspiration.

Scarlett and Angel were just as hard. They would have been perfectly happy with clothes or electronics, but I wanted something more unique than that. I considered artwork and jewelry.
In the end, I bought Scarlett a set of fountain pens in different sizes. Angel received two gifts. The first was a book titled, "The Architect's Companion," which was designed to help her learn a little more about Scarlett's job. And then I bought her a high quality paddle to replace the inexpensive one she had purchased when she bought her kayak.

For the babies, I bought a Christmas ornament each, clothes, and a few toys for them to play with.

We started out Christmas morning. Lara wanted to exchange presents in the bedroom, but I told her I wanted to include Elisabeth when we exchanged. "Unless that's something naughty," I said, gesturing with my nose to the package she was holding.

She smiled and assured me Elisabeth already knew what it was.

I texted Angel. "Awake?" I sent a similar message to Serena. They were both awake, so I asked Serena to call Angel and arrange a time at their earliest convenience to come to our cabin. "Bring Francesca and Gia as well, please."

She called back ten minutes later and said, "We're on the way."

Lara had just finished feeding the babies when there was a knock. Everyone trooped in and exchanged greetings. I hadn't told Lara I was doing this, but she smiled when she saw everyone come in.

Karen was the head of Lara's security team, and Lara had a gift for her. I then gave Serena her gift. She loved it, and I got a hug and a kiss from her. "Thank you so much for looking out for me," I told her.

Angel was puzzled by the book, but Scarlett took one look through it and whispered into her ear an explanation. Angel beamed, but I think she liked the paddle more. Scarlett loved her pens.

We finished passing out gifts to Francesca and
Gia and accepted a few for ourselves. The babies received far more, not having a clue what the fuss was about, but when asked to make them into pups, I readily obliged.

I handed Lara and Elisabeth their presents at the same time.
Elisabeth opened hers first. The older wolves grew quiet as she pulled it out. Serena and Francesca recognized the wolf, of course.

"It's a wolf," Angel said.

"Not just any wolf," Francesca said quietly. "Elisabeth, that's your mother."

"I know," she said quietly. She stared at it, and I saw tears slide down her cheeks. I'd never seen Elisabeth cry before. Francesca started to tear up as well, and Lara had grown very quiet. Elisabeth looked at me and said, "It's amazing, Michaela. Thank you so much." She pulled me into her arms and held me for a while.

Lara didn't open her present until Elisabeth had released me. I had boxed it carefully and told her, "Be gentle with this." She opened the box and unwrapped it carefully.

"Mom," she said quietly when she saw what it was. I watched as she brushed the painting with her fingers. She turned to me, not able to speak.

"I hope it's okay," I said.

"It's wonderful, Little Fox," Lara replied.
She pulled me into a hug, holding the painting by the frame while hugging me.

Other gifts were exchanged. Lara gave me my present last. Nestled inside was a hand written book
titled, "Traditions and Customs of the Madison Weres". I pulled it out, giggling, and began paging through it. It was written in Lara's careful hand, and there were illustrations on many of the pages.

"Everyone helped by reminding me of different traditions," Lara explained. "Scarlett did the illustrations."

"We'll still let you know about any that are coming up," Angel said. "But there are little customs and traditions that we may not normally think about because they're so automatic to us."

"I love it," I said. "Thank you, Lara!" I pulled her into a hug and kissed her.

"I wanted to give you something you couldn't get anywhere else," she whispered into my ear.

"It's perfect," I told her. "I love you so much."

It was a wonderful Christmas.

"What are we doing now?" Angel asked.

"Well," said Lara. "We-" she stressed the word. "Are doing whatever the fox wants to do. You," she gestured at everyone else, "and your families are free to celebrate with your normal traditions or join us as you most prefer."

* * * *

Lara and I made dinner. We kept it simple but ample, accepting help only at the end when it was time to serve. It probably all would have been better if Francesca had made it, but it was important to Lara and me that we do it. I think everyone appreciated our efforts, and everyone ate with a hearty appetite.

Over dinner, I passed out the rest of the presents I had, receiving a few
myself. The enforcers gave me a DVD of "The Fox and The Hound," which was worth quite a few laughs. And my students had a carefully constructed white board eraser with a long handle that I could use to reach the top of the board at school.

"It comes with a guarantee we won't ever hide it," Derek promised.

"But that doesn't mean we won't put it out of your reach," Lily added.

Dinner wrapped up, and everyone helped to make quick work of cleanup. Francesca
tsked at the state of the kitchen, but it didn't take long to clean everything up.