Fox Run (18 page)

Once I had halved the distance, it was clear. They had been caught in wolf traps. One had his front leg caught; the other two were trapped by a rear leg each. They kept trying to pull their legs free.

I stepped closer. "Hey," I said. "I can help."

All three turned to face me and began to snarl. I spoke in a quiet voice as I approached closer. "I can help," I said. "If you promise not to attack, I can help."

They snarled at me.

The traps were attached to chains, which were in turn anchored by spikes to the ground. An adult wolf may have been able to pull free; I wasn't sure. I wouldn't have been able to, but I thought perhaps my foot would have been cut right off by those nasty traps.

"Let me help," I said. "Please, let me help."

One of them whimpered and lay down. I approached slowly. "I promise, I am trying to help. I'm just a little fox. No threat to anyone. Will you let me help?"

The other two continued to snarl, but in a less threatening fashion. I approached the nearest, the one that was lying down, and I knelt down a few feet away. "Will you let me try to help?"

The wolf whined.

I crawled to the trap, watching the wolf warily. "I'm just a little fox," I said. "I couldn't possibly hurt you. I don't know if I can get this off, but I'll try. If I can't get it, I'll run and get the alpha."

The wolf whined but didn't bite.

I put my hands on the trap. The leg was bleeding badly, and the trap was slippery. I tried spreading the heavy jaws, but I couldn't even move them.

"I can't get it," I said. "I'm not strong enough."

The wolf whined and licked my hands.

"I'll try again." I looked at him. "Do you know to get it off? Maybe a stick?" He just whined.

I struggled and struggled with the trap. Then I struggled with the stakes driven it in the ground, growing increasingly desperate.

Nothing worked. By the time I was ready to give up, I was covered to my elbow in the poor wolf's blood.

That was when I heard noises from the west. Lara's compound was east, but I heard wolves coming from the west.

"Wolves are coming," I said. "Can you hear them? Can you call them? They can help."

The three wolves whined and buried their bellies in the dirt.

"Call them," I said. "They'll come help."

In response, they whined again. I didn't understand why they didn't call for help. I cocked my head and listened. And then I heard a huff from about where my car was parked, a huff I recognized. It was one of the wolves that had laid the trap for me three weeks previously.

"Oh no," I said. "These are the wrong wolves." Frantically, I tried to free one of the wolves. He reached over and licked my hand, then nipped at me.

I heard a howl, and it was far too close, and suddenly I was fourteen again, being hunted.

I shifted instantly, still dressed, I shifted right to fox. I struggled out of my clothes and didn't even have the presence of mind to hide the evidence.

I ran.

I was in full panic for five minutes, not calming down until I had climbed a tree and was well hidden. That was when I realized what I had done. I'd left my cell phone behind. My car keys. And they knew where my car was.

I jumped from the tree and turned east, using every trick I knew to hide my trail.

I covered the ground to Lara's compound quickly, quickly for a fox. As I grew close, I stopped and listened. I heard a wolf patrolling, and I adjusted my route to avoid him. I avoided two more and was within sight of the compound before anyone spotted me. The cry went up.

Suddenly there were wolves in both two and four feet converging on my location. I turned to the right, dashed right between two wolves on two feet. I thought one of them was Reggie.

"She smells of wolf blood!" someone yelled. "She's here to spy!"

Oh shit.

I dashed into the compound, then turned sharply left directly before Elisabeth in full fur. She pounced after me, but I ducked around her.

After that, it became a fox hunt, but I wasn't going anywhere. I was only waiting for Lara to appear. I used every trick I knew to avoid getting caught without actually running away.

After a couple of attempts, though, I realized that Elisabeth wasn't actively trying to catch me. Instead, she was getting in the way of the other wolves, and she huffed before every pounce, warning me she was leaping after me. I dashed under her, causing a wolf pileup behind me, then threw myself at the feet of the alpha, just exiting her home. I skidded to a stop and immediately rolled onto my back, exposing my throat.

"Stop!" Lara yelled, then reached down and scooped me up by the scuff.

I hated it when she did that, but rather than trying to bite her, I hung limply, whining.

She turned me to face her. "What are you doing here?" It wasn't said nicely. "And why do you have wolf blood on you?"

I whined.

She shook me. Like I could answer while furry. She stopped shaking me and held me up so she could look into my eyes. I gave her arm a passing lick, what I could reach, then in front of everyone, I shifted back to two feet.

Lara dropped me in the process, and I fell to the ground at her feet.

"Holy shit," someone said. "Did you see how fast she shifted?"

I slowly climbed to my feet and looked around, then asked calmly, "Missing three pups?"

David walked up behind me and cuffed me across the head. I crumpled to the ground and knew nothing for some time after that.

Imprisoned

When I woke up, I was still naked and lay on the floor in a small room. I had the devil of a headache and was a mess. I groaned.

They left me there for some time. I don't know how long. I curled up and wrapped my arms over my aching head. I think I slept, because I didn't hear Lara arrive. She was shaking me awake.

"My head hurts," I told her, curling back into a ball.

"Yes, we are missing three pups. What did you do with them?"

"Tried to rescue them. If you believe I had anything to do with taking them, why am I still alive?"

"David wanted to kill you."

"I should have walked away, then. Instead of, you know, trying to help."

"What happened?"

"I need a doctor, Alpha."

"Answer my questions and I'll think about it."

"Lara, when you discover I have been loyal all along, will you be able to live with the guilt? Even after you treated me so badly, I have remained loyal."

"You have a concussion. I'm sorry. I didn't order him to hit you."

"You didn't stop him."

"No, I didn't."

"So much for being safe."

"Do you know where they are?"

"No."

"David wants to beat it out of you."

"Do you think I did it?"

I watched her, and that was when I had hope. "Are you normally this bad a judge of character, Lara? Could you have been this wrong about me?"

"You're a fox, Michaela. I don't know what to believe."

"I have risked my life for your wolves, Lara. Just remember that. Get me water and clothes and I'll tell you everything I know."

"You're in no position to bargain with me."

"Fine. Have David beat me then, if water and clothes are such an unreasonable request. He'll kill me before you learn anything."

She got up and left. I stared after her as the door to my cell closed.

I was a fool. I was in love with her.

She was gone only a short while. She returned with a bottle of water, a tee shirt and a pair of sweat pants. "Slowly on the water," she said.

I put the clothes on first then drank cautiously.

"What order do you want the story?"

"From the beginning?"

"From today or from the day we met?"

"Start with today."

I gave her an overview, hitting all the high points, ending with my arrival in her compound.

"They probably have my clothes, cell phone, car keys, car, all my notes I took today, everything. I should have called you as soon as I found them, but I didn't think of it. I'm sorry."

"Where?"

"Get me a map."

She was gone for several minutes. "David doesn't believe you," she said, but she spread a map out on the floor.

I pointed out everywhere I had been. "You can probably find tire tracks from my car." I pointed out where I had last parked, where I had taken readings, and where I had found the pups. "I have no idea if they'll disguise everything. I don't know what evidence you'll find."

"What route did you take to get here?"

"I'm not sure. When I realized they were the bad wolves, I panicked. I ran north, I think. Maybe like this." I traced it. "I climbed a tree."

"You can climb trees?"

"Fuck." I hadn't meant to tell her that.

"Is that why I couldn't find you that first night?"

"Is David listening?"

"No."

"Please don't tell anyone, Lara. I know you don't believe me, but what if I've been loyal? Please don't tell anyone. I haven't shared all my abilities with you, but not once have I lied to you. Not once."

"I don't see why it would be important to share," she said.

"Thank you." I paused. "I was around here somewhere. I came something like this. I didn't even try to hide my tracks. You should be able to backtrack easily."

"Do you have anything else to add?"

I thought about it. "Yes. If they took my car, I can track it."

"How?"

"Foxy ways."

"You're not going to tell me?"

"No. Is David going to beat it out of me?"

"Not tonight."

"I have never lied to you, Lara. I think you once cared about me. But I'm just a fox. I don't matter to a wolf. I was a fool to believe otherwise."

She tightened her lips. "You mattered, Michaela. You still matter."

"Feels like it," I said. "Are you leaving me in here?"

"Yes."

"Nice accommodations. Tell me why I would lie about any of this? You would just kill me? What gain is there for me?"

"Maybe your sister isn't really dead but is instead a captive somewhere."

"Oh fuck," I said. "Blackmail. My life for my sister's."

"That's what David thinks."

"I have never lied to you, Lara, but I have absolutely no way to prove that."

"I'll send in something for you to sleep on and make sure you have food and water."

"Bathroom privileges?"

"I'll arrange that as well." She paused. "If you are telling the truth, I will spend the rest of my life apologizing to you. If I decide you are lying, I will kill you myself."

* * * *

A half hour later, a wolf I didn't recognize arrived with a ground pad normally used for camping and a blanket. I thank him, but he said nothing. I curled up into a ball and tried to will my headache away.

Lara returned some time later, hours later. I was in and out of consciousness and should have had medical care for my concussion. But the big wolves wouldn't have needed it, why should the fox, right?

Lara entered the cell and woke me. She pulled me into her arms, and I went limp. And then she was crying.

"I'm so sorry," she said between her sobs. I put my arms around her and clutched at her. She picked me up, and the world swam. I passed out.

When next I awoke, I was in her bed, and she was still holding me. The tears had dried on her cheeks.

"Tell me what you found."

"They didn't even try to disguise it. You were off on some of the locations."

"I told you they were rough, that I wasn't exactly sure."

"I know. We followed your trail back. You didn't try to hide anything. I found the tree you climbed."

"Did anyone else?"

"No. Your tracks before that were wild, stumbling a little. After that, you were like a fox on a mission. Other than being off on the map a little, every detail was right. We found where the traps were. We found where they dragged them away. We found your tiny human tracks walking in and your fox tracks leaving. We found where you stopped. David sent people out to check where you said you had parked your car, and we found tire tracks at each of them, all the same."

"My car?"

"Gone. And we didn't find your clothes either."

"Do you believe me?"

"Yes. Even David does."

I clutched at her. "Lara, my head hurts so bad."

"Shift and heal."

"I don't heal when I shift, Lara. Another fox secret. Please don't tell anyone."

"I'm sorry, Michaela," she said. "And your secrets are safe."

"What do you think they'll do with my car?"

"Dump it somewhere."

"I can track it," I told her. "I just need a computer."

"A computer?" she asked. "That's your foxy way?" She smiled.

"Well. Maybe my U.S. Fish and Wildlife way. There's an active tracking collar hidden beneath the spare tire. It uploads real time to a web site."

Lara kissed the top of my head very gently. "I am so sorry, little fox."

"It is going to take me a very long time before I can fully trust you again, Lara."

"Does that mean I'll get another chance?"

"I love you, Alpha. Can you believe it? After the way you treated me, and I love you."

"I'm so sorry, Michaela. And I love you, too."

I took a deep breath, breathing her in, the scent of safety, even now. "Bring me a computer, Alpha. And about four hundred aspirins."

Lara gently settled me into the bed and went in search of a computer. I fell asleep again, but she woke me. I tried to push her away.

"Little wolf, I just need the web site. Then you can go back to sleep."

She helped me sit up, propping me up in her bed, and slid the laptop onto my lap. I stared at it, then slowly typed in the web site URL. It took me a while to get it narrowed down to my car. I zoomed in on the map. "Hayward," I said. "Looks like a shopping mall."

Lara took the laptop back. "You're sure?"

"Yes. But they could have found the tracking collar. Or dumped the car. That's the most likely."

"I'll be back in a few days."

"Please don't leave me, Lara."

"I have to. You understand why."

I started to cry. My head hurt so badly, and now my safety was leaving.