Wolf Watch (The Madison Wolves Book 8) (13 page)

Scarlett and Angel immediately dug their paddles into the water, and we watched them paddle expertly away.

"How far, sister?" Lara asked.

I glanced at her. I wasn't sure if we were going to demonstrate our real abilities. "Two hundred yards each way."

Zoe dipped her own paddle in the water, floating over to me and then coming to a stop next to me. She smiled sweetly at me. "It sounds like I win either way," she said.

"I should have had a bigger snack," I muttered.

Lara hollered. Normally she would have howled; it would have carried better. But the girls heard her and came to a stop. They separated about twenty yards then turned to face each other, bobbing in the water.

"I don't know," I said. "You haven't heard what story she wants."

"How bad can it be? She probably wants to know about one of my arrests."

I was pretty sure Michaela couldn't care much less about Zoe's arrests.

"All right, Zoe," Michaela said. "We need to form a finish line." The two of them set up with all the other wolves giving them a little distance, and then Lara and I took our places.

Lara looked over to me. "Sorry, sister. It wasn't my idea. I swear."

"I know," I said. "It's your mate's. Side wager."

"Oh?"

"If you win, you have to find out what I did. What do you want if I win?"

Lara laughed. "Baby sitting services one night next week."

"Agreed. And my interpretation of this wager is that you'll tell me."

"Of course."

"Are you two finally ready?" Michaela asked. She was grinning.

"Ready," we each called.

"Zoe, call the start."

"Ready," said Zoe. "Get set. Go!"

When we first began kayaking, I could beat Lara my share of the time. But that was years ago. Physically, we were very competitive, and we were both exceedingly dominant.

But Lara didn't lose. Ever. And I also knew I wasn't supposed to win. Michaela was up to something, and it was far more important than my meal tonight.

So, I didn't throw the race, and we each put our real abilities into it. Near the end, with Lara about a half boat length in the lead, I really put all I had into winning, straining with the effort, but I made sure I grunted when I did it, warning Lara, and she put in her own effort.

She won by a bit more than half a boat length.

Afterwards, both of us were panting heavily. Zoe paddled over to me as I leaned over, trying to catch my breath.

"Holy shit, Elisabeth," she said. "You were magnificent." She drew closer and spoke softly. "Trust me. I can cook things you'll like."

I looked up at her but used my panting to cover my natural response of, "I doubt it."

But she looked at me and moved even closer. "Trust me."

I hoped Michaela got a really good story out of her.

We ran more races, Michaela's efforts to give everyone some exercise. Michaela lost a race to Lara; I didn't hear if they made a wager of it. I beat Serena in a race, and then Michaela said, "So, Zoe. You haven't raced."

"You're the only one who won't completely humiliate me."

Actually, Michaela could easily humiliate her, but I didn't say anything.

"Another wager?" Michaela offered.

"You're going to win. I just won't lose as badly as I will against anyone else."

"Fifty yard head start," Michaela offered. "It's just a race. There's no money involved."

"All right. What to you propose?"

"Actually, this is for our partners," Michaela said. "If I win, Lara gives me something and you give Elisabeth something. If you win, then I give to Lara, Elisabeth to you."

Michaela had just apologized for my dinner tonight. I offered her a smile and partial bow.

"All right," Zoe agreed. She turned to me. "If I win, you have to pose for my camera and sign a release. I can do whatever I want with the photos."

Everyone grew quiet. She was asking for a lot. I looked past her to see Michaela smirking, and I wondered if she intended to throw the race.

"What will I be wearing?" I asked.

"Not. A. Thing."

I took another look at Michaela. She was watching intently. It was time to find out if she was really mad at me. "All right. That's a big wager. If Michaela wins, what are you offering me?"

"What do you want?"

What I wanted was to know exactly what was going on. "A promise," I blurted.

"A promise of what?" she asked. She was smiling, and I thought she expected me to ask for her body.

"Complete and utter silence of any of my secrets you have now or ever learn of in the future."

Her smile faded for a moment. "You think you need a wager for that?"

"You're disappointed?"

"No," she said. "Surprised. You don't need a wager for that, Elisabeth. Yes, if Michaela wins, then I vow that I will never, ever share any of your secrets with anyone else."

The conversation had been quiet, just between the two of us, but I knew Michaela would have heard. I looked past her, and she nodded.

"Kiss for agreement," Zoe said. She moved closer, and we carefully leaned together, kissing briefly. "We'll have to do better than that later." She paused. "Do you guys wager like this constantly?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"I want that photo shoot, Elisabeth."

"Paddle hard then."

"If I lose, will you give me more opportunities to win it?"

"I might," I said with a grin.

"All right," Michaela said. "You two form the finish line." She meant Lara and me.

Even with the stakes as high as they were, Michaela played it to the end. She gave Zoe her fifty-yard head start, a quarter of the way to Karen and Portia who had replaced Scarlett and Angel a while ago. She erased most of Zoe's lead before they each passed between Karen and Portia and circled around, but then she relaxed, letting Zoe hold a one- or two-boat lead much of the way back to us.

"What is she doing, Lara? This is too important for screwing around."

"If Zoe can be trusted, you don't need this wager," Lara said. "And if she can't, then this wager won't matter. You should just have asked for really good sex. You could use it. You're way too high strung lately."

"Pshaw," I said. "I've got that little human wrapped around my little finger."

"Looks like it's the other way around to me, Sister."

"She finds me riveting," I countered.

"She's after your money."

I glanced over at Lara. She was grinning. "Tell me you're teasing."

"Of course I'm teasing. But we know she's not being honest with us, Sister. Keep that in mind."

"Of course, Lara. Always."

With a quarter of the race to go, Michaela put on more speed, and in the end, she won by just enough it wasn't in question. However, I thought Zoe had paddled a good race.

Michaela feigned being out of breath. Zoe was deeply out of breath, and I was worried we'd have to tow her back. She drifted to a stop and then panted and wheezed. I dug a paddle in and drifted over to her.

"Are you okay?"

"Thought." Pant, pant. "I had." Pant, pant. "Her." She looked up. "Wanted." Pant, pant. "That photo shoot."

It took her several minutes to catch her breath. Michaela and Angel spent the time fishing, and Portia and Karen ran a race back to the main group. Finally Zoe turned to me. "Elisabeth. I vow, I will never, ever, ever share any of your secrets, big or small, with anyone else excepting under your express, clear permission."

"Thank you, Zoe." She beckoned me closer, and we kissed again. She whispered, "but I want more wagers until I win that photo shoot."

"We'll see," I said. "You understand that also means clan secrets can't be shared outside of the clan."

"Of course," she said.

I looked around. Michaela was watching intently.

We actually weren't that far from Bayfield, and Zoe made it without needing to be towed. We cleaned the kayaks, put Lara and Michaela's away, and then carried the rest, as well as the two fish, up to the house.

Michaela impressed me. She acted as if it was no big deal, being at her
old house. I knew it pained her, and it took something like this to get her near the house. She left putting away the kayaks and cleaning the fish to the rest of us and disappeared into the building.

She was outside three minutes later, screaming my name.

"Elisabeth! What did you do to my house?"

"Michaela," said Lara, trying to head her off.

"Do not 'Michaela' me," the fox said, ducking around her mate and making a beeline for me. She moved right up to me and stared up into my face. "What did you do?"

"I have no idea what you're so upset about." I didn't, either.

Lara came up behind her and tried to pull her away, but Michaela shrugged her off. "My deck. What did you do to my deck?"

"It's not our fault. The city has a new inspector, and she's a total hard ass.

Zoe moved closer.

"What's wrong with the deck?"

We had actually added a new deck off the back door that led into the kitchen, and that was the one Zoe could see. But the city had made us remove the one from the roof.

"Good riddance," said Angel. "That thing wasn't safe. It wobbled."

"Then you didn't have to sit on it," Michaela said. "And this doesn't concern you. This is between me and Elisabeth."

"Actually," said Angel. "It's my fault."

Michaela turned to her. "Excuse me?"

"It wasn't safe!" Angel said. "I insisted we fix it. So we tried to get a permit."

"They weren't going to give you a permit for that deck," Michaela said. "I could have told you that."

"Well, we didn't know that," Angel said. "I just wanted it safe."

"You ruined my house," Michaela spat. "That deck was the best part of the entire house."

"No, Michaela," Angel said. "It was not, not to me. You were the best part of this house. I wanted to feel safe to go up there and remember the conversations we had when I lived here with you. I couldn't do that. I'm sorry they wouldn't let us replace it with something safer, but I'm not sorry we tried to fix it."

"It wasn't broken," she said, but the wind was out of her sails.

"It got hit by a branch from that tree," Angel said. She pointed. "It didn't break it, but it was already kind of scary, and after that, it was really scary. If you want to yell at anyone, you can yell at me."

Michaela deflated then turned away.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It's not even my house anymore. I have no right to tell you what to do with it." She stormed away, her protection detail suddenly on high alert, following her at a loose distance.

An upset Michaela frequently evolved into a ditched security team, even after all the troubles over the years.

"Angel, stay here," Lara said when she tried to help guard. "Karen, replace her."

We watched after them, but apparently, Michaela only moved around to the front of the house to sit on the steps.

"What just happened?" Zoe asked. "The deck is fine."

"This used to be her house," I said quietly. "She lost it, well, not quite in a wager, but a clan tradition. Now it belongs to me, sort of."

"Sort of?"

"It's an employee perk. She used to have a deck on the roof. You can see the lake up there."

Lara chimed in, "Michaela hasn't really let go. I keep hoping she will."

"This is why you told me not to mention the house."

"Yeah."

"Someone needs to go talk to her," Zoe said.

"Yeah," Lara said. "You."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Normally she'd come to one of us." Lara gestured between herself, Angel, Scarlett and me. "But right now, she can't. She can't talk to Serena, either, because Serena in effect owns a partial share of the house and thus is as guilty as anyone else of taking it from her. That leaves you. The outsider. Or perhaps newcomer. I guess we're still seeing. Either way, you."

"All right." She turned around and headed for the house, disappearing around the front.

"Well," I said after a moment. "That went well."

"You should have told her."

"Oh?" I countered. "Really? Cause she really loves talking about this place with me."

We both turned to Angel.

"Hey! I just took the blame. I'm not taking more. I didn't hear a single person disagree when I said we had to fix it. The rest of you didn't want to do that. You just wanted to tear it off. At least I tried to keep it."

"Damned politics," I muttered. "I'd buy out the house from the enforcers and give it back to her if I could."

"She knows that, Elisabeth," Lara said. "None of this is about the house. It hasn't been about the house for a long time."

"Then what is it about?"

"Her independence, and there's not a damned thing we can do about it. The house is just a symbol."

We were quiet for a minute before Angel said, "Alpha?"

"Yes, Angel?"

"Are we going to have to kill Zoe?"

"I really hope not, honey. I really hope not."

"If we do..." her voice broke. "Am I going to have to help?"

"No, honey," Lara said. "Portia and Karen will handle it."

Angel looked down. "Does it make me a poor enforcer to admit I don't want to do it?"

"No, honey," Lara said. "It would make you a poor enforcer if you couldn't do what you needed to do. It would make you a poor person if you looked forward to doing it."

Angel looked up. "Thank you, Alpha."

Lara opened her arms, and Angel stepped in for the hug. The two of them held each other for a moment.

The four of us finished with the kayaks and had everything closed up by the time Michaela and Zoe returned from around front. I expected Michaela's eyes to be red, but they were clear.

And I suddenly wondered if all the drama had been another of her foxy plots to get Zoe alone with her for a few minutes. I wondered what they talked about.

A few minutes later we climbed into the cars. We needed more groceries, but we didn't want to bring everyone, so Zoe, Angel, Scarlett and I headed to the store while the rest headed to the lodge. We grabbed two shopping carts, giving Angel and Scarlett their list. Zoe was going to try to find vegetarian foods I might like, and so we headed to the produce section.

"All right," she said. "What do you like?"

"Venison."

"Yeah, well, you don't get to eat that tonight, and you can blame Michaela. It wasn't my idea. Help me out or I'll just make what I want and you can suffer."

I sighed and eyed the foods. "Some fruits, I guess."

"All right. Not a lot of protein. Which fruits?"

"Apples?"

"Is that a question?"

"It's one meal, Zoe," I said. "Make whatever you want. I'll be fine."

"No. I want to prove something to you. I want to prove I can cook vegan and you'll like it."

"You won't convert me."

"I'm not trying to convert you. Well, maybe a little conversion. You can still have a hamburger tomorrow."

I sighed. "Potatoes."

"Okay, that's good," she said. "Still no protein, but you burned a lot of calories today, and starch is good, too. I can do a lot with potatoes. Do you like curry?"

I smiled. "Yeah. Curried lamb especially."

"Uh huh. Ever had curried potatoes?"

"No."

"All right. How about rice?"

"It usually goes under the curried lamb," I pointed out.

"All right. Would everyone else like if I made a curried dish
over rice, even if there's no meat?"

"It depends what else is in it. I don't think tofu is going to be popular."

"So that's a yes. Fine. I won't cook the tofu tonight or Michaela might decide you have to eat it."

She moved through the produce section, picking a few vegetables. Then I realized she was checking prices, and I stepped up next to her. "I'm paying the bill. And we have to be a little
time efficient."

"Right. Sorry. We'll need rice and spices. And soy yogurt."

"Soy yogurt? Seriously?"

"Regular yogurt is a dairy product," she said. "It's not vegan. And even if I were willing to allow your family farm to provide milk from lovingly-tended cows, I bet that's not what we'll get here."

"You might get soy milk here, but soy yogurt?"

"We'll have to look. All right. What kind of beans do you like?"

"The kind I don't have to eat."

She sighed. "Fruits?"

"Not high on the list."

"Seriously? Everyone loves fruit. Even picky little kids that don't like anything love bananas and apples."

"Apples are edible," I said.

She sighed.

"And local," I pointed out. I paused. "If it helps, it's almost impossible for me to get fat."

"Well, it's very easy for me to get fat."

"Even eating like a rabbit?"

"It's healthier than eating the rabbit."

At that point, Angel and Scarlett came up. "Did someone say something about rabbit?" Angel asked. "They're kind of small, but if we got several, they could supplement the fish." She eyed the basket. "You're going to make Elisabeth eat cauliflower? Good luck."

"She of little faith," Zoe said. "You're going to eat them
, too."

"Oh no," Angel said. "I didn't make any foolish wagers, and I am going to enjoy my fish tonight."

It took us about a half hour to find everything Zoe wanted. They didn't have soy yogurt, but they did have soymilk, and she picked up some coconut milk, too. She turned to me. "How good is this kitchen?"

"Gourmet," I replied.

She smiled. "I'm going to be so spoiled."

We stopped by the liquor store, too, picking up wine and beer. And then we were on our way.

* * * *

Zoe turned to me. "Northern Wolf Run?"

I nodded. "I told you. We sing to the wolves."

"I suppose you do," she said. She looked around. "This is beautiful, Elisabeth."

"It's all Lara. Well, and Scarlett."

"Scarlett?"

"She designed all the buildings you're about to see."

"I had a lot of help," Scarlett said.

"Don't let her kid you," Angel said, gazing at her mate fondly. "She did everything. Her boss helped, but they are her designs. She's brilliant."

I was always touched at how supportive Angel and Scarlett were of each other.

We drove into our cluster of buildings. We had the main lodge as well as the dormitories that Michaela kept making for her students. All the buildings were built to be one with the surroundings, and we'd cut down very few trees to make everything.

"Wow!" Zoe said. "Scarlett, it's beautiful."

We had just come into sight of the lodge. It really was quite stunning.

"I had help," Scarlett said, but she seemed pleased. "And clearly, I didn't build it. Michaela did."

"Michaela did?" Zoe asked.

"Well, with a whole lot of help," Scarlett added. "She and I designed the dormitory buildings you see, too. They're designed to blend into the trees and look like they belong with the lodge, but they're built using techniques she knows well. She comes up with a crew and can build one in a weekend."

Zoe shook her head. "You people are very impressive." She turned to me. "We're not staying here?"

"Oh no," said Angel. "You get the house in Bayfield. In case you want to, well, you know."

What she really meant was that everyone else was going to want to be in fur later, and we didn't want to explain that to Zoe. I'd whisk her away, and five minutes later, the place would be overrun by furry wolves and one tiny fox.

We parked and carried a load into the lodge. Angel and Scarlett offered to carry in the rest while I gave Zoe the tour.

I kept it short, not showing her any of the bedrooms. We had a large central room, an equally large dining hall, and the kitchen. When Zoe saw the kitchen, she practically had an orgasm. "Oh my god. This is fantastic. When you said gourmet, you weren't kidding." She turned around then said, "Oh look. Everyone else is out on the deck."

"We can exit here," I said, gesturing to a door.

We stepped outside. Michaela would have announced us, so I didn't worry we were interrupting a conversation. They all turned.

"This place is
incredible," Zoe said. "Lara, if you ever want to offer non-cash donations to GreEN, I could host seminars up here."

Lara laughed. "I was wondering when I'd get a pitch."