Fox Mate (Madison Wolves) (18 page)

"Yes," said Angel.

"You aren't threatening to pierce the
cartilage, are you?" Piercing the cartilage hurts quite a lot and bleeds profusely. On humans, it can also become infected, but that wouldn't be a problem for me.

"No," Sophia said. "I pinched your lobe. I was showing you where we would pierce."

"Is tricking me allowed?" I asked.

"No," said Angel.
"Although Elisabeth will try to psych you out about the ransoms."

I smiled. "Pierce them."

"Excellent!" Sophia said.

"Did you want to beg Lara to ransom you?" Angel asked.

"No," I said.

"All right," she said. "I'll be back soon."

Angel got up and went upstairs, closing the door. I listened as she walked away, and another door opened and closed, then I couldn't hear her further.

"While she's talking to Lara," Sophia said. "Tell me. Do you want us to ice your ears before we pierce them?"

"Why would you do that?" I asked.

"It numbs them."

"I presume there would be a price."

Sophia laughed. "Of course."

"No thank you," I said.

I heard more rustling from where I thought Ava was sitting. I asked for water and was given some. Then Angel returned.

"Michaela, your lover refuses our generous offer to ransom you, but we have a message for you." She pressed a phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Michaela," Elisabeth said. "Lara recorded something for you. I am going to play it." There was fumbling, then I heard Lara's voice.

"How can I not love her?" Lara said. "That day last year wasn't the first time I'd seen her. I saw her once or twice in Bayfield over the years, and of course, we'd been keeping an eye on her. But that day we went to visit her. Wow, did I handle that badly. So stupid. It didn't occur to me we would scare her. We knew she was inside. Her car was there, and we knew her schedule. David caught a glimpse of her as she peeked out the window, and John saw her when she headed to the back door. Then she went upstairs, and we didn't know what she was going to do. David broke in
through the front door, and ten seconds later, this little fox ran right into my legs. I'm not sure which of us was more surprised."

Lara paused. "May I have some water?" There was another pause. "I picked her up by the scruff. I shouldn't have. She'
s an adult fox, not a wolf pup, but she was as small as a pup, and I wasn't really thinking about it. There was this little fox, dangling from her neck, and she attacked me. I've never been attacked by anything that small before! Elisabeth, you've seen her. She's so small but wow! She's so tough. She never backs down. I am always so frightened she's going to get hurt, but even when she does, she bounces right back. And oh my god, she's so amazingly beautiful. I love her in both her forms, that beautiful fox, so amazingly beautiful, and her hair. I love running my hands through her hair."

Then the recording ended, and Elisabeth was back on the line. I was trying not to cry. "If you want your bride back, Michaela, the ransom is one million dollars and your throat to each of us in perpetuity."

"I am sorry, Elisabeth, but I decline your offer."

"I
thought you might."

"Elisabeth?"

"Little Fox."

"Would you play that again?"

She paused. "That sounds like a favor. I will email it to Angel. It will be your kidnappers' choice. I suspect there will be a price." And then she hung up.

I nodded, and Angel withdrew the phone.

"Needle," Sophia said. There was a pause, then Sophia grabbed my left earlobe. She pressed a cloth behind it and said, "Don't move, Michaela." There was a jab. It stung, but not so badly. She cleaned the ear then inserted an earring. "Michaela, these earrings are my wedding present to you. They are white gold with blue sapphires."

"Oh, Sophia," I said. "Thank you."

"You are welcome. They will shift with you, so you may shift back and forth between human and fox, and they won't fall out. At least, they don't for wolves. The holes will heal, though, if you shift too many times without an earring in. The first time you try it, you may want to do it somewhere you won't lose them if they fall out."

"Thank you," I said again.

She shifted to the other ear and pierced it the same as the first. Once the ear was settled, she stood up.

"Who has the most ticklish feet?" she
asked.

"You do!" Ava said immediately.

Everyone laughed. Sophia sighed. "All right. Michaela, because you would have been helpless while we tickled you, they're going to pin me to the floor, probably on my stomach, and take turns tickling my feet until I agree to whatever they demand, I wet my pants, or they grow bored. Whatever comes first."

"Oh good lord," I said. "Is that what would have happened to me?"

"Yes," she said.

Sophia walked back around the couch. I heard all the other wolves get up. "On your stomach," Ava said. There was rustling, and then I heard Sophia start to squirm.

It took a minute before she began laughing. It didn't take much longer until she was screeching, begging them to stop.

"Clean my room for a week," Ava said.

"No!" Sophia said. The tickling obviously continued, Sophia shrieking. Everyone was laughing, even me. I could tell by the shrieking when they switched ticklers, and it was clear some people tickled better than others.

Soon Sophia was laughing so hard she couldn't catch her breath. Still, they didn't stop.

"Okay!" she finally said. "Stop!"

"Write that down," Ava said.

"I got it," Angel replied.

Sophia lay panting from the floor for a while before climbing to her feet, everyone else still giggling. Then someone walked over to me, put her arms under me, and shifted me to the right. It smelled like Angel. She sat down on my left, and then
Scarlett was on my right.

"We told you," Angel said. "Fun."

"Yeah," I said. "I'm sorry I doubted you."

They offered me water, which I accepted, then Angel said, "Michaela, you may ask for anything you want, but there will be a price
."

My arms were getting stiff, bound the way they were behind me, but it wasn't a problem yet. I thought about asking them to remove the blindfold. I had gotten over being shy that I wasn't dressed, which surprised me.

"I want popcorn," Chloe said. "Please?"

"All right," said Abigail. "Do you want to make it?"

"Yes!" she said.

"All right," said
Abigail. "We'll go upstairs and make a big batch. You guys can continue the game without us for now, if you like."

I listened as the two sisters climbed the stairs. "Angel," I said. "I will eventually
want you to remove the blindfold. Will that be possible?"

"For a price."

"And my arms are going to get stiff."

"I did warn you. Re-taping you will require a promise you will cooperate and a fairly large price."

"I will cooperate, Angel. What is the price?"

"Five thousand dollars," she said without a pause.

I held my breath, holding my response back in. I was sorely tempted to offer a smart ass remark. I was pretty sure that was a bad idea.

"I can wait," I said eventually. "And the blindfold?"

"I changed my mind," Angel said. "The blindfold is currently also five thousand dollars."

"I can wait," I said.

The girls chuckled.

"It's your turn, Michaela," Scarlett said.

"Angel, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Ask Scarlett to slap you as hard as she slapped me earlier."

The room immediately grew silent.

"Did I make an illegal dare?" I asked in a small voice.

"No," Angel said. "I am trying to decide if I intend to accept it." Finally she sighed and rose from the couch. "Scarlett, will you please slap me like you slapped the fox?"

"I wonder if I have to do it," Scarlett said.

"Yes," said everyone else in the room, including Angel. "Or you're out," Angel added.

Scarlett stood up, and I heard a slap directly in front of me. Both girls sat back down. "Wow," Angel said. "You can't hit her that hard."

"I know," Scarlett replied. "I'm sorry, Michaela."

"It's okay, Scarlett. No damage done."

"You still have a red mark on your cheek," Angel said. "But it's fading."

The game went halfway around the room before it came back to me. They weren't exactly picking on me, but they were picking me about twice as often as each other. Just as Ava asked me, "Truth or dare?" Chloe and Abigail came back down the stairs.

"We have popcorn!" Chloe said. "And chicken."

"That's what took so long," Abigail added.

I listened as bowls and plates were passed around. Someone waved a bowl of popcorn under my nose, and then a piece of chicken.

"Hungry, Michaela?" Abigail asked.

I laughed. They were assaulting me with the smell of food, and yes, I was suddenly hungry.

"Open," Abigail said, and when I opened my mouth, she tossed two pieces of popcorn in. It was very salty. I ate the popcorn and asked for some water.

"I'd love some chicken," I said. "Is there a price?"

Abigail laughed. "Of course there is."

"May I have this one?" Angel asked.

"Sure," Abigail said.

"Michaela, Gia asked for an opportunity to demand a price.
This is for all the food you want, and we will try to provide what you ask for, within reason." There was a pause, and then I heard Angel talking to her sister. Angel held the phone to my ear.

"Hello, Gia," I said.

"I don't know what favor you're paying for," she said. "But the price is your friendship."

"My friendship?" I said. "I don't understand."

"I want us to be friends," Gia explained. "I want you to treat me like a friend and think of me as a friend. That is the price."

"Oh Gia," I said. "Ye
s, of course. I really didn't think you wanted me around."

"I know," she said. "I honestly like you, Michaela. Everyone does."

"Thank you, Gia," I said.

Angel took the phone away and I listen
ed as Gia told her the price I had accepted. "I'll write it down," she said. "Would you tell Lara we made her cry three times already?" Then she hung up

"Oh my god!" I said. "Angel!"

"Not another word, Michaela," Angel said.

I closed my mouth.

"Besides, Lara knows we wouldn't want her to ransom you this quickly. Our terms are still horribly unreasonable."

"May I have some chicken now? A small piece?"

"Of course." I heard a knife and fork, and then they slowly fed me some of the chicken and washed it down with more water. "Perhaps you would prefer lemonade," Sophia offered.

"That would be nice," I agreed.

"You may, of course, have all the water you want. The price for any of the other beverages available, including limitless lemonade, is one backrub, on demand, for each of us."

I laughed. "One backrub
each, on demand, but subject to reasonable limits on when and where. Not during class, for instance. Elisabeth, Lara or Francesca to judge if there is a dispute on reasonable."

"Agreed," said Sophia. "We have water, lemonade, coffee, tea, a wide variety of soft drinks, wine, beer, a variety of hard alcohol. Cider-"

"From Bayfield?"

"Of course.

"I would love some cider," I said. "And lemonade later. But I don't like cider through a straw. Can you serve me without pouring it down my face?"

"Of course," Sophia said. She got up and opened a refrigerator door.
I heard pouring, and then she moved in front of me. "Lean forward," she said. "Two inches." She let me drink, and she didn't spill.

"
Thank you," I told her when I was done. "Ava asked me, 'Truth or Dare'. I'll take truth, please."

"Tell us what you dislike or hate the most about Lara," Ava said immediately.

"Oh god, you're going to record that, too."

Someone leaned forward and tweaked a nipple. "Ouch!"

"Be nice," Ava said.

"I'm sorry." I thought about it. I intended to win this game. "All right. I don't like the way she is heavy handed with me sometimes. Most of the time she's doing it because she thinks she needs to protect me, and I like when she protects me from outside forces. But I don't like that she doesn't trust my judgment.
And I don't like some kinds of surprises."

"What kind of
surprises?" Ava asked.

"Wolf ways of doing things," I said. "I guess. Or..." I thought about it. "I was invited to talk to the council, and no one would even tell me that's what was going to happen, and they certainly didn't tell me what it was about. I didn't like that at all. It made me angry and frightened.
Surprises like that."