Then Rebecca arrived, changing the dynamics significantly. Elisabeth and Karen managed to avoid getting tagged by the pup, but their ability to interfere with the other three wolves was reduced, and I found myself backing away from at least one and frequently all three of my opponents.
Then Celeste arrived, and she interposed herself between me and the other wolves, snapping her teeth and lunging at anyone who came close. Ten seconds later, Rory was there as well.
To some extent, we had a standoff. Celeste moved back and forth in front of me, keeping the wolves back and even forcing them to retreat slightly. Elisabeth and Karen were able to help, in between avoiding Rebecca, and we made little progress in either direction.
But then suddenly Lara leapt on Elisabeth, Angel helping her. There was a lot of snarling, but then Rebecca tagged Elisabeth. Serena went after Karen, and then Angel dashed right past Celeste, who started chasing her.
Ah, kids. Easily distracted.
Karen got tagged, and I was back to no protection.
Three snarling wolves began pushing me towards the compound, and I found myself dashing away from snapping teeth.
Not once did they touch me, but I knew if I didn’t move fast enough, they would.
It took another seven or eight minutes, with Elisabeth and Karen periodically doing their best to interfere. But I didn’t see Celeste again. I presumed Angel was keeping an eye on her. With three wolves to two, and Rebecca there, my attempts to run for freedom were entirely curtailed, and I found myself backing into the clearing that formed the main compound.
They pushed me nearly to the steps before I saw Michaela exit the trees, backing away from Scarlett and Portia.
I tried holding my ground at the steps, hoping that Scarlett and Portia could move Michaela faster, but Elisabeth and Karen were both frozen again. The three wolves growled and snapped at me, and I dashed up onto the steps.
They promptly drew silent. Then a moment later, Lara lifted her nose to the sky and began howling.
I sat down on the steps. Elisabeth jumped to her feet and bounded over, then began sniffing at me thoroughly.
“Knock it off,” I said, trying to push her away. “It’s not my fault if I smell.”
She ignored my efforts, and a moment later, Michaela called out, “She’s making sure you’re not hurt, but if you don’t relax, she’s going to turn dominant.”
So I let myself get sniffed. Thoroughly.
Michaela walked over. She knelt down and hugged Lara then looked around. “We’re missing Celeste and Angel.” She stood up and cocked her head. “Oh, they’re coming.” Then she looked at me. “I win.”
I laughed.
“Did you have fun?”
“Yes,” I said, “although it was intimidating to watch the wolves fighting. How about everyone else?”
The wolves grunted happily.
“I want to talk about this,” Michaela said, “but you have a class. We’ll have a bonfire after the scuba class and discuss the game.”
* * * *
The teenagers were all waiting for us in the classroom when we got back. We shuffled around and took our seats, but before Karen could resume class, Kaylee leaned over. “Did you go for a run?”
“Yes. And we played a game Michaela invented.”
“Oh, she invents the best games. Was it fun?”
“Yeah. There’s a bonfire later.”
“Excellent. You can tell me about it.”
We only had one more short break, and class went until ten. I was wiped out long before then, and I was deeply impressed by the attentiveness of the teenagers. At no point did any of them screw around or seem to lag, and I didn’t think their stamina was entirely due to being werewolves.
During the break, I asked Karen about it.
“These are some of the best teenagers in the pack,” she replied. “We only accept the cream into this school. Plus they’re all scared of me.”
“They aren’t!”
“They certainly are, or I’m not doing my job.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. As a human, you’re not part of the dominance structure of the pack, but all of these kids are. They know I’ll put up with a certain amount of levity, but when it’s time to pay attention, they pay attention. Or else.”
“Wow.”
“It doesn’t take much with these kids though. We’re very proud of them.”
* * * *
Everyone collected for the bonfire later. My head hurt from everything Karen had been teaching us, and I really wanted to go home and go to bed, but I didn’t think Michaela would be impressed if I disappeared.
Plus I needed a ride.
Elisabeth had a seat for me then asked what I wanted to drink.
“Is someone driving me home, or am I borrowing your car again?”
“I’ll drive you.”
“Then a little alcohol, but I can’t stay long. I have to be back here by eight tomorrow, and I am entirely fried.”
“You could stay.”
I considered it. I really did. “Elisabeth, please don’t take this the wrong way, but I want us to go slow.”
“Um. Too late.”
“Well, I don’t want to basically move in. Two nights in a row this early is too much.”
“All right. We’ll leave whenever you want, but you should stay for a little while.”
“I will.”
She got me a beer. Then the kids began making s’mores. A few minutes later, Kaylee stopped by to offer one to me.
“No thank you.”
“But. It’s a s’more!”
I smiled. “I see that. I don’t eat them.”
She cocked her head.
“Kaylee, they aren’t vegan.”
She eyed it carefully. “It’s cracker, marshmallows, and chocolate.”
“The chocolate has milk, and the marshmallows normally are made with gelatin, which is another animal product.”
She stared at me. “Wow. You can’t eat anything!” She turned to Elisabeth. “Would you like this one?”
“Sure. Thanks, Kaylee.” Elisabeth then made a big deal of enjoying her treat. “Sure you don’t want to try a bite.”
“If you expect this relationship to have any life to it, you won’t do that.”
“Enjoy this sticky treat?”
“Tease me about choices I make for moral reasons. You may eat what you want and I won’t pass judgment, but I don’t appreciate you suggesting my morals are silly or foolish.”
She stilled. “Is that what I was doing, Zoe?”
“It felt like it.”
“I’m sorry,” she said after a moment. “You’re right. I won’t do it again.”
“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure if I believed her, but now I could yell at her when it happened again.
Or invite her to dinner and feed her tofu. That thought made me smile.
“All right,” Michaela said eventually. “We tried a new game tonight.”
“What game?” one of the kids asked. So Michaela described the rules and the final result. Then she turned to me.
“Did you have fun?”
“I did. I’d play again.”
She smiled. “Good. Lara and Elisabeth, what did you think?”
Lara spoke first. “I think that if Celeste had stayed with Zoe, we would have lost. I understand Elisabeth picked the strategy for their team, and it was better than ours.” She turned to Celeste. “Do you understand what you could have done better?”
“I should have protected Zoe. I followed Rory and Angel.” She looked at me. “I’m sorry, Zoe.”
“It’s all right, Celeste,” I said. “You’ll be better next time.”
The girl nodded.
“Celeste, the games we play are often designed to teach you things.”
“Like when we stalk Mommy Fox, we’re learning to stalk rabbits and deer.”
“That’s right, ” Lara said. “For you, this game is a teaching game. When you’re an enforcer, you need to remember that your top duty is to protect your target.”
“I’m sorry, Mommy Wolf.”
“You learned something, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Mommy Wolf.”
“Good.” She looked up. “If Celeste protects Zoe, it’s at best a standoff.” She looked at Michaela. “Unless you’re allowed to shift, leaving you unprotected was a mistake.”
“My fault,” Michaela said. “I was going to hide, but after I sent you away, I realized I had to stay on two feet, and I’m easy to find that way.”
“If our strategy was better, why did we lose?” I asked. “Was it because I panicked?”
“No,” said Lara. “Once you ran, we could easily have driven you all the way to the house, but you would have had a horrible time. So I caught you and then spent time calming you down. That more than made up for a hundred yards.”
Then they all talked about different strategies. It was fascinating to listen to. They went in circles. Finally Michaela said, “It feels like we’re on the edge of a good game the humans can play, but we’re not quite there.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “You’re big werewolves. You could just pick me up and carry me back here.”
“But that wasn’t in the rules,” Lara said. “And that would make it too easy.” She paused. “You did well once you calmed down. Are you going to panic again?”
“Not with wolves I trust,” I said. And I suddenly realized my entire perspective had changed. I saw Michaela smiling, and a moment later, several others. I joined them.
“Could we be a little bit rougher?” Lara asked.
“Not like you are with each other.”
“No,” she said. “We have to be careful with Michaela. She is very delicate, even more delicate than you are, but of course, she heals faster. Do you think we could treat you like we treat Michaela?”
“Michele Lassiter would let you,” Michaela said.
“I don’t know how you treat Michaela,” I said. I glanced at Elisabeth. “I let Elisabeth catch me last night. She let me surrender or run, and I ran each time.”
“I think she should see what we mean,” Michaela said. “Lara pick your team.”
“Four?” Lara asked, and she nodded. “Serena, Angel, and…” she looked around. “Scarlett, do you want to play?”
And so four wolves stripped out of their clothes and shifted. Michaela moved away from the fire and nodded, and then suddenly she was backing away from the four wolves, arrayed in front of her.
Then Serena leapt at her. Michaela wasn’t even looking, but she ducked and rolled under Serena the other way, but Angel leapt. Michaela barely avoided her, jumped to her feet, dodged Lara’s rush, but then got taken down by Scarlett.
Scarlett wrapped around her entirely and then — the same as Elisabeth did with me Thursday night — they twisted in the air so that Scarlett landed first, not entirely cushioning Michaela, but partially cushioning her.
Michaela pushed her away, jumped to her feet, and continued to scramble.
She was laughing the entire time.
They played for two minutes or so before I stood up and slowly walked towards them. Michaela got knocked down again and was on the ground, looking over at me. “Everyone freeze,” she called out, and the wolves stilled. She crawled out from underneath Angel.
“Accidents happen,” she said to me. “You understand. If you play rough with them, you’ll get bruises for sure.”
“You don’t have to do this,” said Elisabeth from behind me. “We can make other games.”
No one else said anything. “I won’t do as well as you did,” I said to Michaela. “You’re so fast.” I looked over at Elisabeth. She was watching me. I glanced at Eric, and he nodded, just once. I’m not sure anyone saw it. But I think he knew what I was asking.
“If I get hurt…”
“The pack will take care of you,” Michaela said. “We can make other games.”
“Let’s try it. Can they go slowly at first?”
Michaela stepped away. “Give her a chance,” she said. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
“Begin,” said Michaela.
Angel growled for just an instant and launched herself at me. She went from a crouch to flying at me, but I had so much warning I was already ducking before she jumped, and she passed over me as I fell to the ground. I jumped back up as quickly as I could, surprised I had avoided her. They gave me a few seconds, then all of them began stalking me, pushing me around the field a little. Then Serena growled, coiled her muscles, and leapt.
She knocked me down, but she wasn’t able to grab me, and I squirmed away, climbing back to my feet. But then Scarlett waited until I was ready and growled, and for the wolves, the third time was the charm. She took me down to the ground.
She twisted, just like she had with Michaela, but I landed heavily anyway. I made a big “oof” as the wind was knocked out of me, and then I curled up, trying to breathe.
“Halt!” Michaela yelled, and a moment later she was there, kneeling next to me. “Are you all right?”
I shook my head and continued to try to get my lungs working again. A moment later, Elisabeth was there, and Lara was sniffing at me as well. Slowly, I began breathing properly.
“Just got the wind knocked out?” Elisabeth asked, and I nodded.
Finally I accepted a hand up. I turned to Scarlett. “Good one.” I smiled. “What would the rules be for for that? I think if I get hurt, then I get to walk twenty yards in my preferred direction before we continue.”