Fox Mate (Madison Wolves) (3 page)

There were some chuckles.

"No one really bet on that, did they?" I asked loudly enough to be heard.

"Yes," Elisabeth said. "A certain troublemaker did. I won't mention Eri
c's name."

Eyes shifted around, looking for Eric, and it was clear where he was just by watching everyone turn towards him.

"I wanted something no one else would pick," he said in defense. "At least if I'm right, I'll win the entire pot."

There were chuckles and a few good-natured ribbings before Elisabeth took control back. "Well, you will all need to be patient for a while. The alpha has demanded entertainment from her loyal subjects.
" That earned more chuckles. "Who has a story?"

Mr. Berg shifted slightly, and Elisabeth caught the movement out of her eye. She turned to him, and he nodded.

"Ron Berg has a story," she said. "Councilor Berg?"

The councilor rose from his chair, thanked Elisabeth, then waited for her to take her seat before he began talking.
He told a story of Lara getting into trouble as a young girl. As soon as he started, Lara said, "Oh hell."

I listened, rapt in attention, as I learned about Lara, in fur, getting chased by a Rottweiler through the neighborhoods of Madison with both of them being picked up by animal control. Mr. Berg told the story with a great deal of humor, and soon had the entire pack laughing at the escapade, including myself.

"Of course, she wasn't wearing a dog collar," he said. "No tags. No dog license."

"Oh god," she said again.

"Luckily, some of the other kids had seen her run off in wolf form."

"Probably the ones who dared me to taunt the Rottweiler in the first place!" Lara said.

"So her mother, the alpha's mate, contacted animal control. She had to pay a fine for having an unregistered dog, but luckily, Lara hadn't bit anyone."

I turned to her. "Did you enjoy your stint in a cage?"

"No more than you enjoyed yours," she told me. As part of my subterfuge in last autumn's investigations, Lara and Elisabeth had stuffed me into a cage; I hadn't taken it kindly.

Mr. Berg finished the story with a warning to the younger wolves before sitting back down, relinquishing the space to Elisabeth.

"Who wants to go next?" Elisabeth asked.

Vivian
cleared her throat.

"Oh bloody hell!" Lara said.

Vivian got up, thanked Elisabeth, and told a story about Lara borrowing her mother's car when she was eleven. Lara tried to hide her head.

"It seems Lara was upset because her mother wouldn't let her have? What was it, Alpha?"
Vivian asked.

"A pet
hawk," Lara said. "All right? I wanted a pet hawk."

"What were you going to do with a pet hawk?"
Vivian asked her.

Lara looked away.

Vivian turned back to the assembled wolves. "I believe she expected to train the hawk. Something about pigeons."

"The pigeons used to roost outside my bedroom window, and the
y would begin that infernal cooing at sunrise every damned morning," Lara said. "I was going to use the hawk to catch the pigeons."

"Very resourceful,"
Vivian said. "So, undoubtedly suffering from a shortage of sleep, only getting nine hours a night instead of the eleven she wanted, Lara stole her mother's car, determined to drive to the pet store and buy a hawk. Alpha, I am pretty sure the pet stores don't sell hawks."

"Now you tell me!" Lara said, earning some laughs.

"But of course, she got lost. And didn't exactly know the traffic laws. How did that end, Alpha?" Vivian asked.

"I got arrested," Lara said.

"Another stay in a cage, Alpha?"

"No," she said. "They hauled me to the police station. When I refused to tell them my name, they simply called the registered owner of the car. Mom and Dad both came down to pick me up."

"What was the end result?" Vivian asked.

"A hundred hours of community service," Lara said. "And another two hundred of pack service. And no one did a thing about the pigeons. They would still be there, but once I was alpha, I took care of them myself."

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"I mak
e an annual gift to a local animal shelter under the agreement they make sure I never wake up to another cooing pigeon."

"Alpha, how do they keep the pigeons away?"

"They put up this damned plastic owl at one corner of the house and a plastic hawk at the opposite corner. It keeps the pigeons away. Every spring someone comes out and repaints them so they look fresh."

The pack loved that story.
Vivian sat back down and Lara said, "The next story better not feature the alpha."

Elisabeth scanned the audience and called on Francesca.

"As many of you know, I am Elisabeth's and Lara's aunt. They should call me Aunt Francesca and offer far more respect than they do, but I've learned not to expect too much from them."

"This story better be about Elisabeth," Lara said with a growl.

"Oh it is," Francesca said. She proceeded to tell a story about what a difficult baby Elisabeth could be, soon having the audience laughing loudly over a story involving Elisabeth's and Lara's father trying to change a set of diapers.

"How did the story end?"
Vivian asked.

"Elisabeth ran into the room, took one look at the mess, and asked her father, 'would you like me to change her, Daddy?'" Francesca paused. "Oh, my mistake, I could have sworn it was Elisabeth who had been difficult, but now that I think about it, I guess it was Lara."

She sat down. Elisabeth got up and asked, "Who is next?"

"I am!" Lara said firmly, rising to her fee
t. "Story time is not embarrass-the-alpha time."

"Maybe you shouldn't have made us wait to hear
your announcement, Alpha," Vivian suggested.

"I think she should make you wait longer," I piped in. "I bet there are a bunch more stories out there. Elisabeth hasn't told any yet."

"Hush, you," Lara said. She turned to the assembled wolves and began talking. She talked about duty to pack, looking to the future, the importance of teaching our young, and was still going on ten minutes later when I realized she was babbling. I hadn't been paying any attention to anyone else, but I finally glanced over at Elisabeth, and she was looking at me pointedly.

Lara was nervous.

When she started in on yet another version of duty to the pack, I stood up. I walked to her, took her hand, and said simply, "Yes, Lara, I will marry you."

The assembled wolves immediately grew silent.

Lara turned to me. I saw a tear in her eye.

I suddenly wondered if she was filled with doubt. "If you still want me," I said more quietly.

She stared into my face, and the tear began to slide down her cheek, and with it, my own smile. "Oh god," I said.

I started to back away, but Lara reached out and pulled me into her arms, saying firmly, "Mine!"

The wolves weren't sure what was going on. Neither was I anymore. Lara held me tightly, then whispered into my ear, "Yes, I want you. Fourth Saturday in August?"

"Yes," I said back.

Lara turned to address the wolves. "Fourth Saturday in August. Here."

At that, the assembled wolves began to howl their pleasure. I buried one ear into Lara's chest, and she wrapped both her arms around my head, protecting my
delicate hearing as best she could. She turned us so we could both see, me peeking out under her arm, and every single face was raised to the sky, howling, even that of the council members.

The howling went on for a goodly while, at first all the voices together, but then it morphed, voices coming in and
out, the low male voices shifting into the higher female voices, modulating up and down. I hadn't heard them do that before. I shrugged Lara's arms off my ears so I could hear for a moment, then wrapped her arms around my head again. They were still loud, even though it was very beautiful.

The odd singing went on for a while, and then slowly voices began to drift out. As the sound grew to a manageable level for me, Lara stepped away from me, smiling at me, then she lifted her own face to the sky and began to howl, modulating her frequency.
The other voices grew still, and only Lara was howling. She lowered her nose, still howling, and her gaze settled on Mr. Berg. He stood up, and the two of them howled together, shifting in and out, sometimes only Lara, sometimes only Mr. Berg, most of the time both of them.

I wondered if he
was filling in for her father.

Lara looked at Elisabeth, and she immediately joined in, her voice fitting between Lara's and Mr. Berg's. Then Lara found Francesca, and she stood up, and her voice was higher than Lara's
, Francesca substituting for Lara's mother. Then Lara looked at me.

I couldn't howl, and they
had all laughed whenever I had tried in the past.

But then I heard two new voices, and I turned to see Angel climbing to her feet, pulling Scarlett with her. The two stepped forw
ard, flanking me, each wrapping an arm around my waist, and it was clear they were singing my part for me.

They howled like that for a minute or two, then Lara looked
into the assembled wolves, still howling when it was her part, but it was clear she was looking for someone. She finally located Eric and pulled him to his feet. When he began to howl, I understood he was taking the place a brother may have taken.

But I didn't have a father here, and I didn't have a brother or a mother. But
Lara grabbed Rory. He didn't start howling but instead he walked until he was standing behind me. He put a hand on my shoulder, and then he joined in, an adoptive brother, at least for the duration of the song.

Scarlett stepped away from me, but put her hand on my shoulder, and she took a different place in the song, and I knew I had a sister. Angel stayed plastered to me, singing my part for me.

Lara was looking around, wondering who to fit as my father and my mother, but I caught her eye and smiled. I had her, and I had my friends. We could share Francesca as our stand in mother. We could share Ron Berg as our stand in farther. I held out my hand, and Lara came to me.

The voices began to drop out, one by one. Eric and Rory dropped out together, then Scarlett and Elisabeth. Ron Berg and Francesca, Lara and as my voice, Angel, continued to sing. And then Ron and Francesca dropped out, first growing quieter before becoming silent.

I realized then I was crying, and so was Lara, tears steaming down both our cheeks, and when I looked at Angel, she was crying too, right along with me. Lara stepped very close to me, looking down into my eyes, and slowly she and Angel grew quieter and quieter. And then their voices were still.

I turned to Angel, kissed her cheek, and said, "Thank you for being my voice, Angel."

I looked back to Lara. She pulled me into her arms and kissed me. The pack picked a human expression of approval this time, clapping enthusiastically.

Lara's kiss lasted a very long time, and then she hugged me. "I didn't have any doubts,
Little Fox," she said. "I was just so nervous."

I squeezed her in understanding, and slowly she released me. I became aware of the people clustered around me. I hugged Angel again, offering another kiss to the cheek. Then I grabbed Scarlett. "You were my sister's voice?" I asked her.

"Yes. I'm sorry-"

"No." I interrupted. "I haven't had a sister in a very long time. I'd love to think of you and Angel as my little sisters. Thank you."

After that, I turned to Rory. He looked a little embarrassed. I pulled him into a hug. "You make a good brother," I told him.

"You realize a brother gets to tell his little sister what to do."

I laughed. "You're free to try, but you know I'll kick your ass."

He laughed and made a point of checking my wrists. I was still wearing my silver daggers. "I believe you," he said.

"I wouldn't use the silver ones on you," I told him. "The ones at my ankles are steel."

He laughed.

Elisabeth was next, and then Francesca and Mr. Berg. "Do I call you Ron now?"

He laughed. "I should have invited that some time ago."

Lara and I spent the remainder of the evening accepting our congratulations. I didn't notice a single false look. Everyone seemed genuinely pleased we were getting married. During a lull, I asked Lara about it. "Surely someone isn't happy the alpha is marrying a fox, and a female fox at that."

"They're wondering about pups," she said. "And kits."

"No kits, Lara."

"But-"

"You'd kill the fox that tried to mate with me," I told her.

"There are other ways."

"And I'm not bringing more foxes into this world, Lara. I won't do it. I will help you raise pups. But they better be conceived through those other ways you mentioned."