Fox Run (11 page)

I nodded. David took my keys from me and entered via the front door while the other wolves spread out, circling my house. David slipped into my house. I could have told him there was no one there, but I listened as he searched my house, checking every nook and cranny. Finally he slipped out and nodded to Lara.

"Paranoid wolves," I said halfway under my breath as Lara and I slipped into the house. "You may change down here," I told Lara, pointing to the bathroom. "I will only be a few minutes."

In my bedroom, I changed into a simple one-piece suit, tossing a white blouse over my shoulders, and a pair of sandals. Downstairs, Lara showed her appreciation for my bare legs. I basked.

Yes, I am vain about my appearance. I am fox, after all.

Lara looked pretty good, too. She was in a bikini, and her body was amazing. All sinew and muscle, but she had her own curves, and I appreciated them, even if she was taller than an Amazon.

I transferred my wallet from my purse to a waterproof bag I use when I am on the water. "Give me yours, too," I told Lara, and we added hers before stepping out back.

The other wolves were all ready for a day on the beach, but they looked at me dubiously. "All right," I said. "I need some big strong wolves to help me." That earned me some grins. I led the way back into the garage and pointed to the ceiling. "I want that down."

"A canoe?" Lara asked.

"Kayak."

She eyed it dubiously. "We won't all fit."

"I have it covered," I told her.

"Elisabeth and June, if you wouldn't mind?" she asked them. They sprang to it. I helped them release the right ropes, and they gently lowered my kayak to the floor of the garage. I double checked that everything I needed was in the cockpit and hit the garage door opener.

"If two of you can carry that," I asked. "Who likes to fish and has a license?" Rory, Elisabeth and June raised their hands. "Let me see your licenses," I said.

"You don't trust our word?" Elisabeth asked.

"I work for US Fish and Wildlife," I said. "If I take you fishing and you're caught without a license, I don't know what happens to my job." It took a minute, but all three produced fishing licenses. I added them to my waterproof bag then asked Rory to help me collect fishing gear.

Ten minutes later, our little troop was back at the waterfront. "Wait here," I said, stepping into a boathouse next to the water. "Lara, with me if you please."

Benny, the shop owner, was finishing with another customer. I waited for him to be finished. He turned to me. "Michaela!"

"Hey, Benny. This is Lara. We need full gear for five. And you need to take a peek at them."

Benny stepped outside, and I pointed to the four enforcers clustered around my kayak. It looked tiny next to them. "Oh my," he said. "They're-"

"Big."

"Yeah. Even the women." Benny stepped closer. "Is the brunette single?"

I laughed. "She'd eat you for lunch, Benny. Would you like an introduction?" I raised my voice. "June, we'll need you, too."

Benny was small for a man. Compared to me, he was a giant, but June had three inches of height on him. I introduced the two of them, and we retreated back into the boathouse. Lara was looking at the boats.

I let Benny and June handle everything. The two of them carried kayak after kayak down to the water, then Benny handed June paddles and life jackets. Lara stepped up to me, giggling.

"I am reminded of a movie."

"I know, I was just thinking of that. Is she single?"

"Yes. Benny?"

"He's a good man." I stressed the last word.

"I don't know if June will be interested, but if she is, she'll be gentle with him."

Outfitting the wolves in wetsuits was less of a challenge than I expected. The women wore men's wetsuits, and Benny had two super extra humungously large suits for David and Rory.

"Do you need a safety clinic?" Benny asked us finally.

"I'll handle it," I told him. "If that's okay with you." I handed Lara her billfold, and she paid Benny for the rentals.

I got them all into the shallow water with their kayaks. There was grumbling when I made them all wear lifejackets, but Lara growled, and they all shut up. I noticed Elisabeth was very quiet and hadn't grumbled about putting on a lifejacket. I eyed her and she grinned at me.

I demonstrated the basics while they stood in the water. I showed them how to use the splash skirt and how to paddle. Then I stopped some distance from the shore and tipped over. I didn't want to try to teach an Eskimo roll, so I slipped out of the boat and came up next to it. I explained everything then one by one, starting with Lara, let them climb into their boats and demonstrate they could escape if they tipped. I kept Elisabeth to last.

"Everyone into their boats," I said. "Elisabeth and I are going to demonstrate two other ways to right a tipped over kayak."

They got into their boats, and we paddled into mildly deeper water. I slipped mine up to Elisabeth. "How good are you?"

"Probably not as experienced as you are, but good enough."

"We're going to demonstrate an assisted righting first," I said. She nodded. "You first." I raised my voice. "Now, Elisabeth is going to tip over."

She promptly flipped her boat. Then her hand came up out of the water, and she tapped the bottom of the boat. I paddled up next to her on the opposite side, grabbed her arm, and she flipped back right side up. There was sarcastic applause. I immediately flipped my boat, then while hanging upside down in the water, reached up and tapped on the bottom. I felt Elisabeth grab my wrist and pull.

She almost pulled my arm out of the socket, and I popped back out of the water. I worked the shoulder and turned to her. "Gently next time."

"Sorry."

I made everyone practice that, both tipping their kayaks and helping someone right theirs. Only two people let go of their paddles, but they floated and were quickly retrieved.

"You guys can try this next one if you want," I said. "But it takes practice." I nodded to Elisabeth. She paddled a short distance away, flipped her kayak, and then attempted to right it herself. It took her three attempts, but she got it. "Nice job, Elisabeth." I waited for her to pump out her kayak. "Help me with this now if you would, Elisabeth." I flipped and immediately exited, popping to the surface.  Elisabeth paddled over and I explained what we were doing.

I righted my kayak in the water, and Elisabeth paddled to the front end, her kayak forming a T against mine. I swam to the front of her kayak and steadied it. Elisabeth reached down, grabbed my kayak by the handle, and pulled it across hers. She flipped it over, tipping the water out of it, then set it back in the water.

"Lara, go to the other side and stead Elisabeth's kayak." I waited until she was in place, then with Elisabeth steadying mine, and Lara steadying Elisabeth's, I climbed back in, slipping into the cockpit.

"We're not going to practice that," I said. They laughed. I told them to wait where they were, bringing Elisabeth with me. We retrieved the fishing gear and food from shore, storing everything in our kayaks. And then we began our tour of the waterfront.

We paddled around in front of Bayfield for a half hour before I was sure everyone knew how to paddle properly and they could be trusted not to screw around. After that, we left the harbor. There was only a light breeze, and this portion of the lake was sheltered. Everyone rode the very light waves very well. We pointed our kayaks north and proceeded up the shore.

At first, everyone stayed clustered together, but the further we paddled, the more obvious it became the wolves were bored with the pace one little fox was setting. As a were, even as small as I was, I was strong compared to a human, but tiny, so my speed over the water was significant. We had traveled much further than a human would have paddled. But I was close compared to the wolves, and they were growing bored. They began screwing around. I sighed.

Lara looked over at me. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"Probably." I looked at Elisabeth. "Paddle ahead of us, two hundred yards, and stop. Everyone else stay here."

She nodded and really set her paddle into the water, shooting ahead of us. When I deemed the distance was good, I told Lara, "That's far enough." She whistled loudly, and Elisabeth came to a stop, turning around to face us.

"All right, time to race." Four wolf ears perked right up. "From here, past Elisabeth, and back here. Contact with Elisabeth's boat is a forfeit. Two at a time."

"Me and June," Rory said immediately. I looked at her and she nodded.

We got them lined up and I said, "The alpha will call the start and the winner."

"Three, two, one, go!" Lara said immediately. Both of them dug their paddles in and set off.

Damn! They were fast. Sloppy, but fast. June settled into a cleaner pace sooner than Rory did, and she was turned around and heading back a second or two ahead of Rory. Halfway back, it was clear she was a boat length or so ahead, but Rory was really pulling hard on the water.

I had thought that I would race as well. My style was significantly better than anyone else here, and that was an advantage. I also had a sleeker kayak than the ones they were using, a better paddle, and due to my size, I rode lighter in the water. But no way did I have the upper body strength I'd just seen June display.

June flashed between my boat and Lara's, Rory a half length behind her.

"The win to June," Lara declared. The winner raised her paddle in victory. From across the water, Elisabeth offered a wolf call to celebrate the win.

"David and Lara next," I declared. "Rory, if you can paddle wide of their path, please head down and replace Elisabeth. Tell her to conserve her strength."

Lara and David lined up. I called the start and they were off. David took an instant lead, but they were neck and neck when they turned around, and Lara won by a small amount. Both of them were breathing hard and grinning. With Rory now at the other end, Elisabeth followed them at a sedate pace.

I made everyone run multiple races, watching them tire themselves out. The men all relied on brute strength. The women did, as well, although their style was better than the men's. Finally, when everyone had raced everyone, and I saw a lot of heavy breathing and people working out stiff shoulder muscles, I said, "Last race. Lara and me." She had just raced Elisabeth, and they had both been very competitive about it. "Call the start, Elisabeth."

I was already set to go and was hoping Elisabeth would call the start before Lara was even ready, but she waited for the alpha to line up and nod to her before getting us started.

I paddled firmly but easily, maintaining a crisp clean track through the water. Lara relied on her strength. By the time we reached David, serving as the turning point, Lara was ahead by a half boat. I did a crisp reversal whereas Lara's was sloppy, and I gained a full boat length on her during the turn.

"Damn it!" she said from behind me. I could tell from the sounds that she put renewed energy into winning the race.

But she was just a wolf, and I was the fox. I waited until I saw the bow of her boat out of the corner of my right eye and began edging towards the right. "Don't run me over," I told her. "The passing boat is responsible for passing cleanly."

She continued to gain on me, and I continued to edge her further towards the right. Soon we faced towards the shore rather than the finish line.

"What are you doing?" she asked me.

"Playing to win, Alpha."

I knew the moment she dug a paddle in to turn towards the finish instead of being pushed closer to shore. I turned faster, and her boat dropped behind my peripheral vision again. I'd regained the lead I'd had from the turnaround.

This time, she came up on my left side. As soon as I saw her boat, I turned further to the left. She realized it right away and she swore at me.

I pushed her slightly left, but we only had fifty yards to go, and I turned immediately towards the finish. Elisabeth and June were marking the finish, and Lara and I would need to pass between their boats. I aimed my boat on a line that would take me very near Elisabeth's boat with no room for Lara to pass between me and Elisabeth. With twenty yards to go, she had almost caught up to me before she realized what I was doing.

"You fox!" Lara yelled.

"Don't hit anyone," I yelled back.

Seconds later I flashed across the finish line. Lara narrowly missed Elisabeth's boat on the wrong side.

"The cheating little fox won," Elisabeth declared.

Lara and I came to a stop well past the others. I paddled over to her. "Are you angry with me?" I asked her.

Panting, she shook her head. "No. You just demonstrated why I want you around. You didn't win on strength, you won by being more clever."

I grinned at her. "That was hardly clever."

"So you had more tricks up your sleeves?"

"Sure. I didn't even have to tip your boat over."

"Oh, like this?" and then she reached over and leaned on the edge of my cockpit. I counter balanced, and she suddenly straightened, pulling up on the cockpit of my boat, flipping me over.

She'd caught me completely by surprise.

I did an Eskimo roll, but just before I was fully upright, Lara used her paddle against my side to roll me back upside down. She did it twice more, and I hung from my boat, out of breath, then reached up and tapped the bottom of my boat several times. I felt her grab my wrist, and she gently pulled me upright. I came up, sputtering.

Once upright, I saw that Elisabeth had moved closer and was hovering nearby, ready to assist if I'd needed it. She saw I was all right and then said, "I should have warned you, Michaela. My little sister is a poor loser."

"Naw," I said. "She just needed to reassert her dominance. She keeps forgetting I am outside the pack hierarchy." I began paddling slowly, taking us to my favorite fishing spot. The wolves had burnt off quite a bit of their excess energy, but it wasn't long before they were paddling circles around me or challenging each other to additional races. Lara held herself aloof from all of it but after a while paddled up next to me.