Fox Mate (Madison Wolves) (22 page)

"I want to propose the next game."

"What?" asked Ava.

"Strip poker."

That earned more laughter. "What are you offering to take off?"

I looked down. "Well, I'm wearing all this tape."

"Good one," said Abigail, reentering the room
.

"How about
stories of the first person we each had a crush on?" I suggested. "I'll go first. I was eleven or twelve. There was another fox family living a few valleys away from ours. Our families used to do things together. They had a boy, maybe a year or two older than I was, and he was a beautiful fox."

"As they all are," Scarlett suggested.

"Oh no," I said. "My sister's fur was, well, ratty."

"It wasn't," she said.

"It was. I got the looks. So, this fox boy was named Jimmy. Um. Jimmy Longtail."

"Did he have a long tail?" Scarlett asked.

"No more than usual," I said. "Um. It was a surname though. Maybe his grandfather did. Or maybe it was a euphemism."

That earned some chuckles.

"I used to talk my sister into letting us hunt in the direction of Jimmy's house, just in case I could see him. Of course, I was just a little kid, and I think even as beautiful as I was, he liked my sister, Jean, instead."

"What happened?" Ava asked.

"They moved away. I think they tried to convince my parents to move, too, but my dad was pretty stubborn. I don't know what happened to him after that. I haven't even seen another fox in twelve years or so."

"Wow," Scarlett said. "My turn." She blushed. "I used to have a crush on Lara."

"Really?" I said. "Does she know?"

"I don't know. She sees everything. Maybe."

One by one, they told about their first crush, some of them giving stories.

And then my stomach rumbled.

"Oh god," I said.

"We're not spinning you next," Angel said. "Promise. Would you like a sandwich?"

"Am I going to regret it?"

"I won't promise for the time after this one, but no, you won't regret it for this one."

"A light sandwich would be nice."

"I'll make them," Sophia offered. Scarlett agreed to help, and the two went upstairs.

We finished our stories about the same time Sophia and Scarlett returned with our lunches. They fed me, poured more lemonade into me, and the phone buzzed.

I stared at it.

Angel moved to sitting on the coffee table in front of me. "Michaela, do you understand?"

"Not entirely, but yes."

"We're stepping it up then," she said. "You understand." I nodded. "You don't heal like a wolf, Michaela, and your pain sensitivity is much higher than ours." She grabbed the scissors from the coffee table and began cutting the tape over my knees, not freeing my leg, but exposing both of my knees.

"What are you doing?"

She looked at me, and I read a great deal of indecision. "I only have one more fox-like trick, and I don't want to use it yet. I don't want to use it at all."

The other girls were clustered around me. Angel nodded, and Ava wrapped her arms around me from behind the sofa. Sophia and Abigail knelt on the sofa and helped pin me into place. Scarlett took solid hold of my feet.

I looked between all of them. "Aren't you going to ask Lara first?"

"You asked what I am doing. I am going to give you a taste." Angel set one hand on my knee and began squeezing. She started soft, but then she slowly tightened her grasp. Angel was a werewolf, and she was very strong. I was sure she could crush my bones in her hand if she tried.
What she was doing hurt. I clamped my lips and eyes shut, but tears began leaking out of the corner of my eyes.

Then she released me.

"We won't break any bones," Angel said softly. "If Lara doesn't pay your ransom, I will do that to both knees until you scream. Please make the video, Michaela."

I opened my eyes. "No."

"Please beg Lara to pay your ransom. Our price is reasonable."

"I'm sorry. No."

Angel didn't leave the room. She picked up the phone and asked to speak with Lara. "We've started to really hurt her, Lara. Our price is ten percent lower than the last time. Please pay the ransom. She says she loves us, and she says she understands. But I am not sure she does. You should have made sure she understood, Alpha."

"I know," Lara told her.

"The ransom is ten percent lower than last time. If you do not pay it, we will make her scream."

"May I have some water?" Lara asked, presumably of Elisabeth. There was a pause, then she said, "May I talk to her? I need to know if she understands."

Angel looked at me. "You heard that question."

I nodded.

"Can I trust you to answer the question and nothing else?"

I nodded. Angel leaned forward and pressed the phone to my ear.

"Lara," I said. "Yes and no. I think I understand enough." I looked at Angel. "Please mute the phone."

Angel took the phone, told Lara to wait a minute, then hit a button on the face of it.

"I want permission to explain more," I told her.

"What do you want to say?"

"I want her to know I will make her proud of me. And maybe you'll let me tell her I love her."

Angel looked at the other girls. There were several nods. She looked into my eyes. "Nothing else." And I nodded agreement.

She unmuted the phone and held it to my ear. "Lara, can you hear me?"

"Yes,
Little Fox."

"I want you to know, I will make you proud of me. I love you."

"I am already proud of you," Lara said. "And I love you, too."

I looked into Angel's eyes, and she took the phone back. "Lara, will you pay the ransom?"

"Not at this time, Angel. Please be careful."

There was a shuffling from the other end, then Elisabeth was talking to Angel. I listened to Elisabeth's demands, told her calmly, "No." Angel hung up and set the phone aside.

"Michaela," she said a little sadly.

"I'll make you proud, too, Angel," I said. I closed my eyes. "Hold me tightly."

There was a kiss on my cheek, I think from Sophia. Arms tightened on me. Scarlett took firm hold of my ankles. Then Angel set her hands on my knees.

"If you promise to beg Lara to ransom you," Angel said. "I'll stop. I need to know you understand."

"I understand." Then I clamped my lips together.

She started squeezing, gently at first, then harder and harder.
I struggled, but they held me tightly. I began panting, first through my nose, then through clenched teeth. But I didn't scream.

It went on and on.

"I can't squeeze any harder," Angel said. "I'm afraid I'll really damage."

One of the girls, maybe Abigail, adjusted her
grip on me, and then she dug her hand into my shoulder, squeezing. I gasped, and she squeezed harder.

And then I screamed.

They let me scream for a few seconds, maybe two or three, then they released me, and my screams faded.

I sat on the sofa, gasping with the residual pain. Slowly they released me, their controlling hands turning soothing. I accepted a few more kisses on my cheeks, and someone cleaned my face for me. I opened my eyes, and Angel was staring into them.

I smiled. "Please tell me you have something really fun planned now."

She returned the smile. "We do. We're going to play five truths and a lie. We'll go around in a circle. It's us against you."

"That doesn't seem quite fair."

"Wait," said Scarlett. "You're going to like this. If you guess my lie, then you may either ask for a favor from me or demand a punishment for me."

"What kind of punishment."

"Spin her," Angel said. "Until she pukes. And we'll clean up afterwards, before your next punishment."

"So, the last person I catch lying is going to have the hardest time of it?"

"Yes," said Scarlett. "Please, may I go first?"

"Oh no, Scarlett, you're second to the last." I looked at Angel. "You're last."

Angel laughed. "Once we've all gone, then you go. Anyone who guesses your lie gets a promise of a small favor."

I smiled. "If I skunk all of you, I want an extra reward. Come up with something."

Angel grinned. "All right.
What do you want?"

"You'll free my hands for future bathroom breaks."

She grin faded. "No. Don't ask for anything that will make this easier for you, Michaela."

I studied her. "All right. Make an offer."

They huddled. I could hear every word. Then they broke up and looked at me. "If you skunk all of us, then between us we'll wash your car for a year. And we'll handle other wash up duties you have when we're doing things together, like cleaning your kayak after a day on the lake."

I smiled. "That's a good offer," I said.

"But-" Angel said. "If we all guess your lie or we all skunk you, then the favors you owe are major instead of minor favors."

"Medium favors if it's one or the other and major if it's both," I counter-offered.

Angel laughed. "All right. Pick who is first."

"Abigail. And I get to watch your body language. The hot seat is directly in front of me."

The girls shifted around. Abigail sat on the coffee table facing me. Scarlett handed her paper and pencil. She wrote on it, then faced me. She told me six things. The fourth was, "I cheated on a recent homework assignment, but I won't tell you which one."

I let her finish her statements then said, "You didn't cheat, Abigail. You're all going to need better lies than that."

She sighed. "I was hoping you'd be angry enough about that one you would believe it."

"Do we spin her first or do we do everyone else?"

"Spin her," Angel said. "Unless you're taking the favor."

"I wouldn't suppose the favor gets me out of punishments?"

They all laughed. "No."

Then I asked quietly, "If I have you all spun, will that make it worse for me later?"

"Oh honey," Angel said. "No. Absolutely not."

"All right," I said. "Move me so I can watch but out of the splatter range."

I was watching Abigail. She looked nervous, but not horribly so. Sophia and Ava moved one of the easy chairs so it was facing into the next room, and then they moved me to it. I giggled when they picked me up.

All the wolves stepped past me. Abigail stood still with her hands by her sides while Ava and Sophia taped her arms to her sides.

"We found that at some point, our self-discipline breaks," Angel said.

"Do you need to take me out of this harness?" I asked.

"No. We made that to save your ankles."

I watched as instead, Ava and Sophia used rope to tie Abigail's ankles firmly together.

Angel and Scarlett moved next to Abigail. Abigail looked at me and made a kissing sound with her lips. Then she closed her eyes and intentionally fell over backwards, Angel and Scarlett catching her. Ava and Sophia grabbed her legs, and the four of them hooked her up to the ceiling by her ankles.

"Anyone who lasts longer than I did gets to be taken down," I said.

Angel grinned at me and they wound Abigail up. She was stoic about it, not saying a word, but she was sick long before I was. As soon as the heaving started, the other wolves immediately stopped her, lifting her off the hook and holding her while she was sick.

I didn't laugh. My heart went out to her instead.

The girls were raucous about it, although gentle with Abigail. They cut the tape, and Ava helped her to the bathroom to clean up. She looked a little green when she came back. They had moved me back to the sofa.

Abigail sat down next to me. "You weren't laughing."

"No," I said.

"You didn't enjoy getting even a little?"

"No," I said. "If I were angry at you, I might."

She smiled. "So you're not angry with us?"

"No. Not anymore."

"Then if my getting sick helped with that, it was worth it."

I searched her face. "You're a sweet girl."

She frowned. "Do you think maybe you could start thinking of us as women?"

"You're a sweet woman, Abigail. I'm glad to have you as a friend."

She hugged me. "Who is next?"

"Ava." When she was seated in front of me, I told her, "If your lie is about something illegal or unethical, I won't believe it. Please try to fool me."

"Are you kidding?" she said. "I might have made it easy for you when I was going first, but not now. Eww!" Her lie was that her favorite color was green. "Damn it," she said. She stood up. "Hook me up."

"No," I said. "I didn't enjoy watching Abigail. I'll take the favor. Write it out now, please."