Fox Afield (Madison Wolves) (2 page)

"The women," she said. "Rory and Erik will drive the vehicles home and take care of things there."

I saw Elisabeth, Karen, Gia and Serena. "Only four? Will we be safe?"

"Yes," she said.

Finally Elisabeth opened the door. Lara stepped out first, then drew me after her.
A human woman wearing a pilot's uniform met us near the plane. "I am Kristin Nash," she said, holding out her hand. "I will be your pilot today. Our flight plan is filed and we're ready to go as soon as you step aboard."

Lara introduced everyone. The pilot led us into the aircraft where we met a flight attendant named Pam. There was a copilot already in the cockpit who we were told was
Gwen Silverstein. We received a quick tour of the small aircraft. I could stand up straight, but the wolves all needed to duck, which amused me to no end. The seating was plush and comfortable, far finer than the seating in Lara's little planes. Lara directed me to the forward passenger seat on the right; she took the seat on the left. Lara insisted I strap in, then she went up front to talk to the captain.

I listened in.

"I do not want my wife to see where we are going," Lara told her. "We would like to watch out the windows during takeoff, but then we'll pull the blinds. Can we avoid turning onto course until we're past five thousand feet?"

"Certainly."

"When we get close, I'd like to give her an aerial tour, once we can see some of the more distinguishing features."

"I'll let you know when to open the blinds," Captain Nash assured her.

"Excellent, thank you," Lara said before returning to me. The aircraft held seven passengers; with the six of us and the flight attendant, all the seats were filled. Lara and I had the two front seats, side by side with a small gap between them. The seats immediately behind us faced backward, and the rearmost seats faced forward again. That meant the enforcers could easily talk to each other. But I was happy holding hands with Lara.

"I heard all that, you know," I said.

"I want to exchange promises with you," she said. "I will promise to be completely honest about your earrings if you promise not to listen to the flight crew during the flight."

"You already promised to be honest, Lara," I pointed out.

"I promise to not make you wear ear buds and bad music if you promise not to listen to the flight crew," she offered.

It was an amusing threat, one she wouldn't actually enforce.
I laughed. "I will not intentionally ruin your surprise, Lara, and will make no special effort to listen to them. I do not take responsibility for things I hear incidentally."

I wouldn't have admitted it, but I was excited and very touched she had arranged all this.
Lara had a history of being heavy-handed with me in fashions both big and small, and this was another example. But I knew her heart was in the right place when she did it. It was her way. I never liked being in the dark about anything. Not only am I fox, so curiosity is my middle name, but danger lurks in the unknown. But I knew Lara, and Lara knew me, and I knew where ever she was taking me would be amazing.

I tried to feign indifference, but when I heard noises from outside the aircraft, I couldn't help but look out the window.

"What is happening?"

Lara reached
across the aisle and took my hand. "They are probably stowing our luggage. After that they will tow us from the hangar. And then we will be on our way."

The flight attendant worked her way through the cabin, making sure we were all buckled in. Then she talked to us about what to do if we had an emergency. I looked nervously at Lara, but she whispered it was a required briefing, and emergencies were literally a one in a million chance.

I didn't comment about my luck, but I didn't need to be worried. We would arrive at our destination free of any harrowing incidents.

Once the briefing was over, I held tightly to Lara's hand and watched out the window. There was a sudden movement, and we were rolling forward. We were towed well away from the hangar. There were more noises, and then the little tug that had towed us drove away. There was a pause followed by a whirring noise from the back.

"What's that?" I asked Lara.

"They're starting the engines," Lara said. "There are two, and they are located in the tail. They'll start one, then the other."

"Have you ever flown something like this?" I asked.

"No. It's way too much aircraft for me. We'll leave this flight to the professionals."

"Alpha," I said. "Did you just admit there's something you can't do?"

She laughed lightly. "There are many things I can't do. There are even some I couldn't even learn to do."

I stared out the window, watching the activity. The noise from the engines increased slightly, and we were rolling forward.

"It will be a few minutes before we take off," Lara explained. "We need to taxi to the end of the runway, and sometimes there is a line. We'll need to wait our turn. When we take off, the acceleration may be high, and you may get a little airsick if you don't look straight ahead."

I glanced over at her, offering a droll expression.

"Right," she said. "Sorry. Elisabeth would though."

Lara had been right. The airplane traveled along the concrete paths for several minutes, then the pilot started speaking over the intercom, telling us we were number two for take off, and it would just be a moment. "Sit back, relax, and have a pleasant flight."

She spoke very calmly, quite the opposite from how I felt.

I glanced over at Lara. She was looking out the window, as well. Her eyes were bright, and I heard her elevated heartbeat. She was fully as excited as I was.

We began moving again, and I could see down the length of the runway before we made a sharp turn to the right. "Here we go," said Lara.

The engine noise increased, there was a brief pause, and we were moving forward, the acceleration much stronger than in the small planes Lara flies. I was pressed back into my seat and began giggling.

Be
hind us, Elisabeth muttered, "Damned fox."

"I heard that!" I
told her. "The proper term is 'Damned Alpha Fox!'"

Lara and the other three enforcers giggled, then Lara reminded me gently the flight attendant was human.

We went faster and faster, and then the front of the airplane tilted up, surprising me. Elisabeth muttered again as we leapt into the air.

"I forgive you, Lara," I said, grinning broadly.

"For what?"

"Being heavy-handed this morning." I giggled.
I raised my voice. "Elisabeth, I have this little blue bag; do you need it?"

"Shut up, you," she said.

I handed the little bag backwards anyway. Karen was seated behind me, and she took it. Elisabeth muttered at both of us.

I watched the ground disappear underneath us. I recognized some of the landmarks of Madison, and I realized we were flying north.

"We're going to Canada?" I asked.

"That's it!" Lara said. "Close the blinds."

"But-"

"You promised not to try to guess."

I glanced over at her. She was looking at me sternly. She had already lowered her blind, and she narrowed her eyes. I reached up and obediently lowered my blind. "Everyone else, too," she said, her voice raised to carry throughout the cabin.

Once we
had reached cruising altitude, we made a party of it. The flight attendant had a variety of things for us to eat and drink. Lara and I slipped from our seats and we shuffled around, Lara taking the rearmost seat on the left with me sitting on the floor, leaning against her legs. Gia sat on the floor between Elisabeth and Karen. Serena offered to take the floor, but I pointed out I was a lot smaller than she was and was perfectly comfortable. The flight attendant gave me extra pillows for padding, and I was happy where I was.

We had several card games with us to pass the time.

"What are we playing for?" Karen asked.

"Favors," I said. "Minor personal favors. Unless someone has a better idea."
Gia had come well-prepared, and soon we were all writing notes promising personal favors. The notes went into a pile, and the winner of each game won the pile of promises. We played several games, with the competition fierce, but everyone having a good time. When all was said and done, I owed Lara and Gia two favors and one each to Serena and Karen. Elisabeth and I were left out in the cold, but I didn't mind, and the games seemed to take Elisabeth's mind off her queasy stomach.

When Serena won, she grinned down at me nestled on the floor between her feet and Lara's and immediately handed my favor card back. "I would like to redeem this for a foot rub, Michaela."

I laughed, pulled her shoes off, then spent the next forty minutes, while we continued to play cards, making Serena moan in pleasure. Lara growled at me playfully and said, "You're not supposed to make anyone else make those noises but me," but grinned at Serena to let her know she was teasing.

We had a pleasant flight. We'd been in the air for a little over two hours when the flight attendant stepped back and talked directly into Lara's ear. "The captain would like to see you."

Lara grinned at me and said, "Remember your promise!"

I nodded and
pulled my legs up so Lara could climb past me. I laughed as she hit her head on the ceiling. She came back a minute later and said, "No winner for this game. Time to return to our seats." She helped me climb to my feet, and we both settled back down, buckling our seatbelts. "All right, Michaela," she said. "You may open the blinds. It is a little bright outside.

I lifted the blind over the window and stared at the most beautiful sight imaginable. "Mountains?" I asked.

I glanced over and Lara was grinning at me.

"Where are we?"

"Colorado," she said. "Greg Freund set it up for us."

Over the intercom, the captain gave us a verbal tour of what we were seeing out our windows. Finally she said, "We'll be on the ground in ten minutes."

Pam, the flight attendant, checked on us before taking her own seat, and I watched out the window, rapt with attention, until we touched down. As we taxied across the airport, I turned to Lara. "Oh, you are so getting some tonight."

She grinned.

"Insatiable," I heard Elisabeth mutter. "I can't tell which of them is worse." She knew I could hear her.

We taxied for a few minutes before coming to a stop and, a moment later, everything grew still. The pilot spoke over the intercom to us. "Welcome to Boulder, Colorado, where the air is thin and the mountains are beautiful."

I unbuckled and started to get up, but Lara said quietly, "Enforcers first."

"Oh sorry," I said. I shouldn't have needed the reminder.

Lara looked over at me then she handed the envelope with my favor promise back to me. "Little Fox, this may qualify as a major favor for you, but this minor one is all I have to use."

"Lara?"

"We are in the territory of another pack, another alpha. And I need you to be exceedingly meek and mild. I would trust you to make the right choices, but you don't have the experience to handle the politics involved, and I don't know how to teach you. I need you to defer everything to me. Everything."

The enforcers slipped out between us, heading to the front of the aircraft, not looking at either of us.

I handed the favor promise back to Lara. "You don't need to use this, Lara. I promise to behave. As long as I only answer to you. No one else."

"No one else," she agreed.

"And don't push me or it will get my back up."

"Keep your back down until we're in private and I can explain anything that went too far."

I looked her up and down. "All right."

She smiled, but it was tight and forced. "Thank you."

"Lara, do not worry about me. I will behave, but keep any strange wolves at a respectful distance from me, all right? And if I catch anyone looking at me the wrong way, they are tasting silver or we are leaving."

"Agreed.
Greg Freund assured me we would be safe and welcomed in Boulder area, but this is an experiment."

"High risk experiment," I commented.

"I think we're safe," she said. "Daniel and I talked several times on the phone, and Greg assured me over and over I can trust him."

"All right."

I started to get up, but she said, "Me first, honey."

"Side by side, Lara," I told her. She studied me, then agreed, but she still was the first to stand in the doorway of the aircraft. She looked out, then she reached behind her for my
hand, and we descended to the pavement.

I looked around. Our enforcers
had set up their usual box defense, two out in front, two flanking us, Lara and me in the middle. I suddenly realized how thin a defense this would be if the Boulder alpha decided he had a taste for fox.

We were parked outside a large open hangar. In the shade of the hangar were several cars
and a significant number of people, clearly waiting for us. We were deeply outnumbered.