Fox Play (15 page)

"You know," I said. "I don't know how to stop."

Everyone laughed lightly.

"I'm serious," I said, "And my arms are getting tired."

Lara grinned at me.

"Oh hell," I said. "Karen, catch!" I tossed her my knives. Lara tossed me her knives, I juggled them, and kept throwing knives to Karen. She collected them all for me, and we all took a brief bow amongst the chuckles.

Lara walked over to me and threw an arm around my neck. "That was fun," I told her. She pulled me to her for a kiss. "Yes, it was."

We told stories. We played a few easy games around the fire. We sat together and enjoyed each other's company.

In other words, we were pack.

I felt like I belonged.

* * * *

The enforcers managed security, Greg's wolves coordinating with Elisabeth, and she ensured us it was handled readily. "Lara, we're in security riches right now. I can't believe how much better I feel. I want to talk to you about asking Greg's guys to help us set up our long term needs as well."

"Use your judgment, and if we need to train up more enforcers, let's do it. Also, see if Greg wants to test the training of our existing enforcers, including yourself. I bet we can learn a lot from them."

Lara and I disappeared into our room, after a thorough search by Karen and Wendy. We slipped out of our clothes and under the covers, curling up with each other.

"Thank you," I told her.

"For what?"

"Making me pack."

She squeezed the stuffing out of me.

"It's been so long since I've had a family, Lara," I told her when I could breath again. I offered my throat, and she kissed it. "Do it for real," I asked her, so she opened her mouth. Squeezing until I whimpered.

"You're asking for that more often."

"I know. I can't explain it. Does it bother you?"

"No. You know it doesn't. Quite the opposite."

"Lara, I didn't ask you. How hard was it to write the check to Greg?"

"I wouldn't want to do it very often, but the Chicago pack has been a thorn in our side for a very long time. I'm tired of it. And I think we might actually come out ahead financially in the long run. We'll see what happens when we go after their businesses. As badly as the pack is run, I bet the businesses are doing far more poorly than they would under proper management."

"I feel guilty. I know I didn't cause this problem, but I feel like I just cost us five million dollars."

"No," she said. "He was coming after me, with or without you. You gave us a solution to resolve it. This is a win for Michaela."

"But you have to spend more on security for me."

"No. If not you, it would be someone else."

We lay together, Lara caressing my hair like she always did. I drew circles in her skin, not going anywhere erogenous, just enjoying the contact.

"That was sweet what you said to Derek," I told her.

"He had a legitimate concern, and it's one we can't expect him to solve himself," Lara responded. "It's my job to not only deal with the big issues, but also the small ones. This may only affect three members of our pack, but it will affect them dramatically for their entire lives, and I will solve it."

"I love you." I thought about it. I loved how she took care of everyone around her. I can't imagine someone like Durian worrying about his wolves the way Lara did. All he would care about was whether they were paying tithe and offering their throats.

"Lara, what do I smell like to you?"

"Spring."

"Really?"

"Yes. With a hint of oak bark. Just a hint."

"I like listening to your heart beat," I said. "It's so slow and strong. I sleep better to it. When I listen closely, I can hear the blood wooshing through your veins."

"Can you tell when someone has a good poker hand by their heart beat?"

"Only those who get really excited, but all I can tell is excitement. That can be excitement from attempting a bluff. Or excitement from looking at someone attractive in the room. It can be hard to tell them all apart. And by the way, your heart rate just increased."

"What does that tell you?"

"It suggests that you are thinking about something you find stimulating," I said.

"What do you think I might be thinking about?"

"You are hoping I will start a tickle fight. You were thinking about lying very still while my fingers explore all your most ticklish places."

I started moving on top of her. I knew she wouldn't allow me to stay on top, but she would let me be playful for a moment or two.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked.

"Climbing the mountain. Oh look, I found the twin peaks." I lowered my mouth to a nipple and nipped playfully. She gasped. I brought a hand up to play with the other breast.

I pulled my lips from her breast. "Oh, and your heart rate went up another twenty points."

"You know you smell different than you did three minutes ago, too." She breathed deeply. "God, that's intoxicating."

I moved my lips to the center of her chest and began kissing my way to her neck.

"Don't do it!" she warned me.

I nipped her, and she flipped us over. She shifted in an instant, and her entire furry wolf lay across me, pinning me to the bed, and then she lowered her head, taking my entire neck in her mouth.

She held me like that, gently, and chuffed, a wolfy laugh. Then she tightened, and I whimpered immediately. She pulled her mouth from my neck and licked my face.

"Eww! Stop it!" I complained. In response, she settled more heavily on me and licked me, over and over. "Stop it, Lara!" Pushing against her had no effect at all. She continued to lick until I went limp, surrendering to her. Then, in an instant, mid-lick, she shifted again, and it was her wet human tongue that slipped between my lips and into my mouth.

She chuckled as I moaned and clutched at her.

* * * *

Saturday morning, Marty, one of Greg's enforcers, gave us a status update. The Grants were in Chicago and appeared to be going about their business. We had a growing collection of photographs, and Greg's people were watching the photos from Chicago to see if any particular faces disappeared for any period of time. He set up security systems around the house in Madison and the compound, with software that automatically caught faces and compared them to the collection of photographs.

The information experts continued to pull in information. I had nailed it when I had predicted the state of their finances.

"We think we could get them arrested for tax evasion," Marty said. "But it's not like a wolf would do time."

We hadn't approached anyone to subvert yet; we were still gathering information. But so far, that information gathering was yielding a vast amount of data.

"In short, we feel you are probably currently safe. It may be that your ruse has bought you the full two months. We will of course, remain fully vigilant."

"Thank you," Lara told Marty. "Is Greg working with Gia back at the compound?"

"Yes," he said. "She is helping with digging through financial information. We have paired her with our other information specialists. They say she is untrained, but a delight to teach."

Lara smiled. She took pride in all the pack members.

"One more thing," he said. "Greg recommends a proper security system at Ms. Redfur's home. We know you won't use that home until this is resolved, but he is uncomfortable with the thought of leaving her unprotected over the long term."

"I am not opposed to that, but I would need to be there."

"Rest assured," Marty said. "We can install a secure system without damaging your house."

"I have no doubt," I said. "But my house is trapped. I would rather disable the traps."

He smiled. "The silver over the front door was ingenious. The trap at the back door was flawed. We fixed it for you. Are there others?"

"No. Just caches of weapons."

"They're a little crude, but effective. I liked your super soaker, but the switch on the kitchen sprayer to route the silver nitrate through the hose was especially genius."

I sighed. "I wasn't as clever as I thought."

"You prepared to be ready for invasion, not for a very well prepared security team."

"Did you make Angel's bed for her while you were there?"

He laughed. "Yes, actually. We wouldn't have investigated the house so carefully, but we were doing the study for the security system, and that's when we found the trap over the front door. That got us curious."

I looked at Lara. "You know I can't pay for it."

"Do it," she told him. "Michaela, this falls under future favors that we talked about last fall."

We wrapped up the briefing, and it was time to begin the morning activities. Everyone took their assignments from me and we all spent several hours in the field. Lara and Elisabeth joined me, and we had a lovely time.

* * * *

People finished their tasks for me at different rates, and the boats we had rented were used to ferry people back to the island.

About 11:30 while we were driving to the last site I had hoped to hit that day, Lara started playing with her phone. She was texting someone. Then she turned to Elisabeth, who was driving. "Take us back to Bayfield." Lara was smiling.

"We have one more site," I said. "Then we're done. We'll be back for lunch."

"Take us to Bayfield, Elisabeth," Lara said. "Sorry, Michaela."

Parking at the marina was limited, so we parked in my driveway and walked down the hill, all the wolves alert. I used my ears, but it was nearly impossible to pick much up in town. I traveled in the center of a square of four very dominant wolves. "She's just as much at risk as I am," I muttered, nodding towards Lara.

"She's not as fragile," Elisabeth replied.

"Bite me," I told her.

"Later," she said. "I'm busy right now. Stop fussing."

We arrived at the marina. Our large ferry was tied up with Serena watching over it, but we stayed on land, waiting for something. Lara wouldn't comment, and Elisabeth didn't look concerned, but all four wolves remained alert. I kept my ears going too.

Then I heard the distinctive sound of an SUV crunching on my gravel driveway three blocks away.  I stiffened and edged up between Lara and Elisabeth. "I thought everyone else was back. Someone just pulled into my driveway."

Lara glanced at me. "You can hear that over the noise?"

"SUVs on my driveway are distinctive. I couldn't explain it. There were two of them."

I heard a variety of car doors slam, and I was sure they were also from my driveway. After that, I didn't hear anything specific, and it was my eyes that identified the wolves approaching us, not my ears.

"Shit," I said. "Alpha, wolves, and I don't recognize them."

She glanced over at me. "That's why I am the Alpha and you are the Omega."

I counted the wolves. There were eight, only one male. Then I realized one of the females was human. I relayed that. Lara turned around and smiled. "I know. Her name is Michele. She is very sweet."

"You invited more people."

"Who did you think they were?"

As the group got closer, I realized that four of them were teenage girls; one of the girls appeared to be 13 or 14, the rest were 16 or 17. Lara had solved Derek's problem from last night.

"You did this since last night?" I asked her, incredulous.

"Heavens no," she said over her shoulder. "I've been planning this for a while." She turned to face me. "As I said. This is why I am Alpha." She grinned at me, and I immediately felt a fresh rush of love. I pulled her to me and kissed her soundly. When I released her, she seemed particularly pleased.

Our enforcers watched the approaching wolves warily. "They're pack," Elisabeth said, and the enforcers relaxed only marginally, but I realized they were watching far more than the approaching wolves. I was happy to have them.

"Elisabeth, I hate to say this-"

"I know," she said. "They're good. Really good. They make me feel like I can actually relax."

"You know I feel safe with our enforcers," I said. "I know that they will stop any random attack. But Durian represents an attack by organized crime, and that's a whole new level of threat."

"I know," Elisabeth replied. "Greg and I are talking about that. We're going to get everyone some pretty solid training. But alertness like this is hard to maintain when nothing ever happens."

The eight wolves finally reached us, stopping several paces in front of Lara. The male nodded to Lara. "Greetings, Alpha." I was still behind Lara, flanking her, so I didn't see if she offered any expression, but the male said, "Um. Greetings, Lara." I caught Lara's nod.

"It's good to see you, Donald," she said. "It's good to see all of you." Lara handled greetings. Donald Lassiter was married to Michele, the only human in the group. They had two daughters, Abigail and Chloe. Abigail appeared to be about Angel's age, 16 or 17, and Chloe was a few years younger.

Hadley Smith was there with her 16-year-old daughter, Ava. Ava seemed shy, and she seemed fascinated by me. I guess I had a reputation.

Harper Armstrong had her arm around her daughter, Sophia, who was 15 or 16. Sophia was somewhat plain, although she had the physique that all the wolves seemed to have. She was also clearly very outgoing, with a quick, friendly smile and friendly personality.

With the introductions completed, we all moved to our work boat and had soon cast off.

The four girls all rushed to the front of the boat, standing at the rail and soaking up the sea breeze. Serena drove the boat, and the adults hung out in the open area at the back, talking over the noise of the engine.

I found myself fascinated with Michele Lassiter, the human. She seemed exceedingly relaxed around the wolves. Her husband was extremely solicitous of her, maintaining a level of watchful alertness even once we were out on the water. Michele caught me watching her and she smiled.

"We're the odd ones out," she said. "I bet you are still getting used to it. Congratulations, by the way."

"Thank you," I said. "And yes. There are times that I am struck by how odd this is."