“Well,” said Michaela, “We’re going for a little run. Karen, how long did you give the kids?”
“Twenty minute run plus whatever time it takes to shift.”
“Perfect. Come on.” She stepped forward and grabbed my hand.
“I can’t keep up.”
“You can keep up with me,” she said. “I’m not so fast.” I thought it was likely she was still a lot faster than I was, but I let them pull me outside. As we got there, I saw the last of the wolves just getting up from their shifts and shaking their fur out. The pups were there, already in fur. “You set the pace,” she said. “Just head that way.” She pointed. “If anyone wants to run faster than you run, they can run ahead.” She dropped my hand, loosened her clothing, and then shifted to fox. Twenty seconds later, I was the only person still on two feet.
I knelt down, and Elisabeth moved to me, bumping me with her chest. I hugged her, and then I ran fingers through Michaela’s fur. Michaela then gave three yips, and I knew she was impatient to run.
I took off at a fast jog, heading north.
They gave me a few seconds head start, and then suddenly I was surrounded by leaping wolves, many of them dashing ahead of me and disappearing. But Michaela, Lara, Elisabeth, the pups, and several enforcers surrounded me, some closely, some further way, but clearly traveling at my speed.
I didn’t know what to think. I was running with a werewolf pack.
I was sure even Michaela could travel faster than I was jogging, but it was a pace I could keep up at least for a while.
The pups played as we ran, chasing each other or one of the adults.
We ran for about five minutes before I panted out, “Are we just running, or were we playing a game?”
At that, Lara bounded ahead and came to a stop across the trail, and so I came to a stop, bending over and panting a little. But it was Michaela who flowed back into her human form. I averted my eyes.
“Zoe, it’s best if you just get over it. You’re going to see us naked. Get used to it.”
So I turned my eyes back and chalked it up to more of the surreal nature of being a new member of a werewolf pack. I nodded.
“All right, who do we have who can play?” She looked around. “Head enforcer, will you allow our security to play?”
Lara and Elisabeth looked at each other, and then Lara turned away, perhaps leaving the decision to Elisabeth. Elisabeth grunted “yes”.
“Excellent!” said Michaela. “Lara, would you run back and grab my clothes? Don’t forget my shoes. I’ll play on two feet, and we should have an even game.”
Lara didn’t wait, and she was out of sight in seconds. Michaela watched her disappear then turned to me. “We’ll play with two teams. You, Elisabeth and one of the pups against me, Lara and the other pup. And we’ll divide the enforcers.” She grinned. “You can only pick one if you can point at her and name her accurately. Pick first.”
I looked around. “Portia.” I pointed.
“Good,” she said. “Rory.”
“Karen.”
“Two for two. I wonder if you know anyone else. Serena.”
There were two wolves left, and I didn’t have a clue whom they were. “Do I get a hint?”
Before Michaela could answer, Lara was back. I couldn’t believe how much faster she was. And I was amazed she’d been able to carry Michaela’s clothes.
“Thank you, you magnificent wolf,” Michaela said, hugging her mate. She began pulling on her clothes. “A hint. Hmm. Do you have any idea who they are?”
“No. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Tell you what. I’ll tell you who they each are, and then you’ll close your eyes. They’ll run around, then you open your eyes and pick one. If you get her wrong, I get both of them.”
“All right.”
“Angel and Scarlett, come here,” she said. The last two wolves bounded over and sat down on either side of Michaela. She finished pulling her clothes on then knelt down and hugged each wolf. “This one is Angel. Turn around for her so she gets a good look.”
Angel stepped away and turned in a circle, her tongue lolling in a wolfy smile.
“And of course, this is Scarlett.” Scarlett let me get a good look.
They were both big — all the wolves were big. But Angel was clearly bigger, almost as large as Lara and Elisabeth. And now that I knew it was her, I saw a family resemblance besides. She was silver, just like her cousins, with black markings. Scarlett was nearly all white with touches of charcoal here and there.
“Close your eyes,” Michaela ordered. I dutifully closed them, putting my hand over them besides. Then I heard wolves bounding around for a few seconds before Michaela said, “Open.”
When I did, all the wolves were lying down, spread all around me, except the pups, who were busy stalking each other.
“So, Angel or Scarlett?” Michaela said with a grin. “You didn’t think I was going to let you just pick between the two of them. That would be too easy.”
I turned around. “That’s Portia. There’s Karen. Lara and Elisabeth. I can’t tell the two pups from each other.”
“Celeste is stalking Rebecca,” Michaela said. “Who else can you tell?”
I wasn’t absolutely positive I had Angel picked out, but there was only one nearly all-white wolf. So I stepped over to her and pointed. “Scarlett.”
“Good. Can you do the rest?”
I moved between them. “If they stand side-by-side, I bet I can.”
“Try this way.”
All three of them were silver, but one of them was more black than silver. “This isn’t Angel, so it’s Rory or Serena.”
“True.”
I looked back and forth between the other two. “I’m not sure. I think this is Angel.” I pointed.
“That’s Serena,” Michaela said.
“So the black one is Rory, and that’s Angel. I’m sorry.”
“Naw,” said Michaela. “You’re learning. All right. We’re got our teams. We’re going to play a game of freeze tag coupled with a sort of hunt.”
“A hunt?”
“Yes. The pups are the ones who can freeze us. Anyone unfrozen gets to herd you — or me — in a direction. You and I may run or walk in any direction we want, but we aren’t allowed to touch one of the competing wolves. But they aren’t allowed to make you move any faster than a normal walk. My wolves will try to herd you onto the steps of the house. Your wolves will try to do the same with me. But any wolf touched by one of the pups is frozen for thirty seconds.”
I laughed. “Sounds good. They won’t bite me, will they?”
“If you don’t back away from them, they’re allowed to bite gently. But if you touch them, they’re allowed to drag you twenty yards closer to the house.”
“I’m not as agile as you are. They have to give me a chance.”
“They will,” she said. “If you’re running and they get in front of you, they’ll give you a chance to stop, but if you try to dash around them, they might tackle you. Is that a problem for you? They’ll be gentle.”
“It’s not a problem,” I said.
“Your wolves can try to protect you from my wolves,” Michaela said. “But if they do, they leave me free to run the other direction. Zoe, the wolves play rough. Don’t let that freak you out.”
I nodded.
“All right. Pick a pup.”
“Celeste.”
Celeste heard her name and turned to look over at me. “Darlings,” Michaela said. “Were you paying attention to the rules?”
They both grunted, and then Celeste came over to sit down beside me. Rebecca bounced over to Michaela and lay down on her feet.
“No climbing trees or hiding somewhere small,” Michaela said.
“Or climbing into a car.”
She laughed. “Right. Okay, to make this interesting, we’re going to separate and run for one minute in any direction you want, then Lara will howl and the game is on. Ready?”
I looked at my wolves. They were all watching me. I settled my eyes on Elisabeth. “Lead the way at a pace I can handle.” She grunted. “We’re ready.”
“Go!” And suddenly Michaela was running deeper into the woods. Elisabeth paused only a second before turning the opposite direction, well away from the compound. She took two leaps before settling into a trotting motion. I ran after her, barely keeping up, Celeste, Scarlett, Portia and Karen flanking me.
We only ran for thirty seconds before Elisabeth came to a stop and flowed into human form. “Karen, you and I protect Zoe. Scarlett and Portia go after Michaela. Celeste, you stay with Zoe and tag the other wolves.” She didn’t wait for a response but shifted back to wolf and was trotting along again.
Then Lara howled. Elisabeth came to another stop, shifting back into human. “Scarlett, Portia, go.” Like a flash, they were gone. “Let’s keep moving. They’ll be here in seconds.”
She shifted again, and then I was following her. Celeste stayed at my side, Karen following along behind. I ran as fast as I could, following Elisabeth.
Then behind us I heard growling, and in a flash, Elisabeth spun around and dashed past me to take a defensive position next to Karen. She shifted to human long enough to say, “Keep heading north. Celeste stay with her.”
“Celeste, do you know where to go?”
She grunted.
“We have to slow down though, I can’t keep running.” And so I followed the pup now, looking over my shoulder periodically to see Karen and Elisabeth following along.
And then I saw four wolves running quickly towards us. Elisabeth and Karen both began growling menacingly, and I would have wet my pants if I didn’t know we were all friends.
“Celeste, they’re here,” I said. And with that, she dashed around behind me, then ran back and forth between the four approaching wolves and me, doing her own growling.
I was impressed.
The oncoming wolves were in a V-formation with Lara at the apex, and I saw Rebecca bounding along behind her.
They had left Michaela entirely unguarded. I thought that was a poor choice.
What happened at that point was largely a blur. I continued to back away, heading north. Lara and Angel flew at Elisabeth, and Serena and Rory flew at Karen.
Two on one wasn’t fair!
Or four on two. Whichever it was.
There was a lot of snarling, which I found scary, but Michaela had warned me. Still, I backed away.
I couldn’t really keep track of what was going on, but I saw both Rebecca and Celeste dash forward. Rebecca tagged both of my wolves, and they went still after a moment. Celeste managed to tag Angel but when she went after Rory, he leapt away from her.
Celeste chased after him, and he drew her away. In the meantime, Lara and Serena both turned to me. In two bounds, they were past me. They skidded to a stop and began stalking me, edging me away at an angle toward the compound, picking a path that bypassed my frozen guards.
I stepped backwards, but apparently they didn’t think I was moving fast enough. Together they began growling and lunged at me, snapping the air just inches in front of me.
I panicked and ran.
It was, of course, the wrong choice.
At least I didn’t run in the direction they had been pushing, but instead perhaps somewhat left of that. They let me run, and the sound of Celeste chasing Rory faded behind me.
They let me run perhaps a hundred yards before Lara dashed past me and came to a stop, blocking my path. I tried to slip around her, but she shifted into human and caught me about the waist.
“Calm down,” she said. “Zoe, we won’t hurt you. Calm down.”
Then she held me, and a moment later, Serena was human as well. They both held me while I struggled to free myself, but slowly, while Lara spoke soothingly, I calmed.
“There you go,” Lara said. “Are you okay if I let you go?”
“Yes,” I croaked. Slowly, she released me, and they both stepped away.
“We won’t hurt you,” Lara repeated. “This is just a game.”
“I’m sorry. I panicked.”
“Are you going to panic again?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“You can run if you want, but we were just trying to hurry you a little. And we’ll do it again if you dawdle.” She pointed. “The compound is that way. Is this too intense for you?”
“No.” I smiled. “Intimidating, but no.”
“All right. We’ll give you a fifteen second head start. If you run into one of us like that again, we get to drag you after we catch you.”
I nodded then turned and ran in the opposite direction from the one she had pointed.
My fifteen seconds ended, and five seconds later, they both flowed past me, coming to a stop in front of me. I came to a skidding halt myself.
After that, I tried repeatedly to dash past them, but they began pushing me towards the compound. But then I heard growling, and Elisabeth, Karen, and Angel all came running in. Elisabeth and Karen plowed right through Lara and Serena, leaving me a chance to dash past all of them. I made about three steps before Angel was in front of me.
Growling.
After that, for a few seconds, it was all a blur again, with the wolves scrambling around. I slowly got pushed back towards the compound while Elisabeth and Karen did the best they could to keep the other three wolves from touching me.