Fox Mate (Madison Wolves) (15 page)

"I don't know," she said in a small voice. "It's hard. I can't help it sometimes; I am driven to play to win."

"Don't you have rules for that?" I asked. "Basic things you won't do just to win?"

"I am Alpha," she said. "I make the rules. I can change the rules."

"Is that the nature of the relationship you want with me?" I asked her. "One where I routinely feel violated?"

"Oh honey," she said.

"Here is something to consider. If the fox is going to feel violated, perhaps it's a bad idea. Do you think that you can at least keep that as a guideline?"

"I'm sorry," she said. "Yes, that's a good guideline."

"Thank you," I said. I wasn't quite done with her. "When you do something that I consider cheating, it makes me feel like you want to take my spirit away from me."

"Oh god, Michaela," she said. "No!"

I thought about what she had just said. Accepting someone's flaws is part of loving that person.

I stepped a little closer. "Lara, I love when you beat me fair and square. I love what you do to me there." I pointed to the bed. "I love your strength and speed. I am terribly amused when you outfox me, even if sometimes I am ungracious about it. But when you cheat, it cheapens everything. Will you please at least think about what I've said?"

"Yes, honey," she said. "I'm sorry."

I moved into her arms, pulling them around me.
"Tonight, you will pamper me. You will hold me. You will make me feel safe." Then I shifted to fox as the fastest way to slip out of my clothes, stepped out of them, jumped onto the bed, and shifted back human, slipping under the covers.

Lara stripped out of her own clothes in a more traditional fashion, turned out the lights, and climbed into bed, pulling me into her arms.

"No," I said. "Back rub. Soothe me."

"All right," she said.

I rolled over, and she used her big strong hands on my small body, gently soothing away my cares. After a few minutes, I began to relax and gave sounds of gratitude, little moans and purrs.

I let her pamper me for a long time. It felt so nice. But I wasn't completely settled yet.

"Lara?"

"Yes,
Little Fox?"

"Did I over react?"

"No. But it wasn't wise to keep those files. I am glad they're gone."

"Did Gia lie?"

"No. And before you ask, yes, I'm sure. It's not like I never talk to my cousin, Michaela."

"Do you think she'll read everything before she destroys them?"

"She might. Would it bother you?"

"No," I replied.

I moaned under her hands. Her touches grew more erotic, which was a step in the right direction.

"Lara?" I said.

"Yes, Little Fox?"

"Do you like my body?"

She chuckled. "Very much."

"It's not big and strong like yours."

"You are perfect, Michaela."

"Do you like... owning my body."

"Yes. Very, very much."

"Do you like making me scream?"

"Yes." She started to chuckle again.

"Is it true I make you happy?"

"Yes."

"Would it make you even happier if I told you I like when you make me scream?"

She laughed. "I was starting to understand that."

I giggled. "Did you really come in the shower?"

"Yes. I like when you take care of me, but every time you give yourself to me completely like that, I come, and they're the best orgasms I ever have."

"You understand, there are times I need to do the love making."

"I like the love making," she said.

"There are times I want you in my mouth."

"You have a very clever mouth," she said.

I squirmed a little from what her hands were doing, massaging my bottom.

"Lara," I said. "Do you want to make me beg tonight?"

"Yes."

"Will you roll me onto my back and make me taste you?"

"Yes."

"Will you make me scream your name?"

"Yes."

"Good."

And then, slowly, she did everything she said she was going to do.

The
summer flew by. I settled more and more into my roles within the pack. When I'd first started dating Lara, I'd been nervous of all the wolves all the time. Over time that softened, but by mid-summer, I found their presence comforting, even that of wolves I didn't know very well, as long as I knew they were pack.

Lara accepted a delegation of wolves from the Minneapolis alpha, and there was a "state dinner" so to speak at the steak house in Madison. Lara requested I
attend but told me she understood if I chose not to. Of course I went. And as soon as I saw the Minneapolis wolves, I could tell they weren't from our pack. Their presence unsettled me, but I was gracious and charming, and the evening was pleasant. When I told Lara about it in the car, she was ecstatic.

I started paying attention to the business conversations. Lara, Elisabeth, and half the pack council took it on themselves to educate me. If I joined a conversation that involved business, they all made sure I knew I was welcome, and they all encouraged me to ask all the questions I wanted. In late July, I repaid their kindness.

It was a pack play night, and we were enjoying the dinner and conversation before the games were to begin. It was to be a night of games too rough for one little fox, but I was okay with that. I'd gotten a good run in during the afternoon, although I'd lost all the wagers I'd set. I still owed everyone on the run a small favor from it. Lara had already collected her favor in the shower.

At the picnic, I joined a conversation with Dominick, Ron Berg, and two wolves who I learned were managers for a business venture co-owned by Dominick and Ron. It was a startup company, but the company hadn't been doing as well as expected, and morale was beginning to lag; lagging morale led to lagging productivity
. "If we can't fix it, we may as well shut down," Ron said.

"It's a great company," Dominick said. "The sales cycle is just longer than expected."

I'd been listening for several minutes, not saying anything. "I'm sorry," I said. "I think I must misunderstand."

Both Dominick and Ron had been very kind about helping me understand business issues. "What don't you understand?" Dominick asked.

"Well, it sounds like you have a product you're proud of, and you have good people and a good business plan. You don't think you need to change any of that. You're even happy with marketing and how you're approaching sales. The only thing is there is some frustration and some morale problems."

"Right. But people are starting to slack off because they're giving up hope," said one of the managers. "We've been cracking the whip at them, but that seems to be making it worse."

"Oh hell," I said. "Of course it is. Look, people do a good job because they want to. I bet half the company has their nose in the help wanted pages, and it's going to get worse if you don't give them reasons to be happy."

Ron and Dominick were looking at me closely. The other manager said, "No disrespect, but that is pretty obvious to all of us."

"All right," I said, one hand on my hip. "And what are you doing about it?"

"We're already paying good wages," he said. "And everyone has stock options. They need to suck it up and hang in there."

"Well, more options they think are worthless aren't going to help," I said. "And if you really are paying competitive wages, more money isn't going to accomplish what you want. People are happy when they feel fulfilled and when they feel needed and appreciated. What are you doing about those?"

I turned to Ron. "I didn't say anything you don't already know. What are you doing about it?"

The four of them looked at each other. "Not a thing," Dominick said.

"Emotions aren't logical. Morale is an emotion, and it requires an emotional repair." I looked at Dominick and Ron. "Show your appreciation. You both have vacation property somewhere, I bet. Give away weekends to people. I assume some of your employees are pack; invite them to these play nights.
Invite them to dinners at your homes. I bet if you asked, you could get Lara to meet you for lunch, or ask me. And invite employees to those lunches. Spend time with them, find out what they like, and give out little surprises. They won't cost you anything, but you will build loyalty and you will show your personal commitment to making the company a success."

After that, Lara and I began receiving invitations to small social events. I couldn't make lunches, but I made dinners, and time with one or the other of us became part of the employee appreciation program for a number of companies. I would never have guessed time with me would matter that much to anyone, but apparently the competition to be invited to small events I would be attending became quite fierce, all in the matter of a couple of weeks in July.

August arrived, and the wedding was close. I'd attended my dress fittings blindfolded, but I could tell by the way the dress hung on me that it was a long, flowing dress that would drag on the ground. I smiled cheerfully, drank my grape juice, and teased Lara by flirting with Georgia's assistants. She took it good naturedly; they were human, so she couldn't go alpha all over them, after all.

Remarkably, I wasn't at all nervous. This was what I wanted. Lara and I had never done any better. I felt I'd found my place in the pack and was treated exceedingly well. My opinion mattered, something that had never been the case in the past. It was odd, as I was surrounded by people who could break me with little more than a backward glance, but I had more control over my life and my surroundings than I ever had.

I was safe, I was in love, I was happy.

Still, when it was Thursday night, two days before our wedding, and my bedroom door opened, I was immediately wide awake. Whoever was at the door was trying to be very quiet, but I woke up to the sound of the knob turning.

I was wrapped in Lara's arms. I lay very still, listening, one hand reaching silently under my pillow to clasp one of my daggers. I could hear several heartbeats outside our door, and my own heart began to pound. I pinched Lara's arm to wake her.

"Shhh," she said very quietly. "It's Elisabeth and Angel."

"More than that," I said. "On the stairs."

"I know," she said. "You are
being kidnapped. I will ransom you. It's traditional to struggle, but you should let Angel identify herself first so you know it's in fun. We're safe, Michaela."

"Lara-"

"It's in fun, Little Fox. Pretend you're asleep, let Angel wake you."

I caressed Lara's arm
to let her know I understood, and I released the dagger.

I listened as several heartbeats drew closer. The strongest heartbeat moved to Lara's side of the bed. Two moved to mine. The wolves were being quiet, but I could hear their footsteps as they crushed the carpet. I couldn't smell them; my nose was too full of Lara's scent and the remaining scent of our passion from two hours previous.

One of the wolves crouched down at the side of my bed. Then, at the same time, I felt a finger brush my cheek while I heard Elisabeth whisper into Lara's ear. "Alpha?" she said. I opened my eyes to see Angel's face in front of me.

Elisabeth asked Lara,
"May we?" and Lara answered, "Yes."

Angel was smiling. "Do you know this tradition?" Angel asked gently.

"Kidnapping me," I said. "I am supposed to struggle. That's all I know."

Elisabeth said to Lara, "There are two brides, Lara. We're taking both of you."

"Once we touch you," Angel said, "it's real. Struggle hard but no shifting. If you make it easy, we get to cut your hair and do other things you won't like. If you get away from us, you get to cut our hair. Michaela, once we touch you, play to win. Don't make me cut your hair."

I nodded.

"It's too dangerous," Lara said to Elisabeth.

"You shouldn't have shared a bed tonight, Lara. You knew better. We're taking both of you.
To protect the fox, you may need to go easy; you might have to let us cut your hair. We won't let Michaela get hurt."

"We got distracted," Lara said.

Elisabeth chuckled. "So I heard. You two don't help each other now. Two separate kidnappings. You should have been in different rooms."

Lara kissed the back of my head. "Good luck,
Little Fox," she said.

"Michaela," Elisabeth said. "There is a great deal of pride when the bridesmaids show up in short hair. Try to escape."

I nodded.

"Do it," said Elisabeth in a normal voice.

No one asked my opinion.

The room exploded into action, filling with wolves. As soon as I felt hands clasp my ankles through the bed covers, I kicked away. I snapped my teeth in Angel's face, and she fell backwards away from me in surprise.
I rolled off the bed at the same time I felt Lara pulled away from me. I fell to the floor and narrowly avoided Angel pouncing on me. I rolled, rolled, rolled, and came out on Lara's side, surrounded by legs. I bit an ankle and heard Karen howl in surprise, then jumped to my feet and ran for the bathroom. It was a sturdy door, and I thought I could get out the window.

Instead, I felt a hand in my hair, and Elisabeth pulled me into her arms.

"Nice try," she said and threw me onto the bed.

I bounced once, jumped up, and felt strong arms wrap around me from behind. "Got you," said Scarlett. "Surrender now and we won't cut your hair tooooo short."

I got a chance to look around the room. Every female enforcer in the pack was concentrating on Lara. I had Abigail and Chloe Lassiter, Angel, Scarlet, Ava and Sophia concentrating on me. Six to one. Oh, that was fair.

Ava and Sophia made a grab for my legs, lifting them up, and I was suspended above the floor with Scarlett's arms around me and the other two girls holding one leg each. I bunched my legs to my chest, Ava and Sophia struggling with me as I squirmed, then I pushed off as hard as I could.

Scarlett fell over, landing on her back, her arms still wrapped around me, all hundred pounds of me knocking the breath firmly out of her. She gave an oof and released me. Ava lost hold of my leg. Sophia had managed to hang on, but I twisted, and she lost my leg.

I rolled over and looked at Scarlett. "Are you all right?"
I asked her. She nodded.

"Worry about yourself," Angel said, and then she pounced at me.

I rolled underneath her, and she landed on top of Scarlett, adding insult to Scarlett's winded injury.

I tripped Ava, tangling her in Sophia's path, and then I saw Chloe and Abigail Lassiter guarding the door.

I heard a snap and a howl of pain, and I glanced over. Lara had just broken Serena's arm. It would heal. Karen had a bloody nose, then I had to pay attention to my own situation. Angel was climbing off of Scarlett, Ava and Sophia were both climbing to their feet, and I had two wolves between me and the door.

I feinted for the bed, dashed at Abigail, then pulled back. She clasped at me, allowing me to draw her away from the door. I grabbed her little sister, who was still smaller than I was, and thrust Chloe into Abigail's arms. I ran out the door, no one between me and freedom.

Or so I thought.

I turned towards the stairs in time to see Gia standing two feet away
, and I didn't have time to react when she threw a heavy net over my head.

A net? Seriously?

I lifted my hands reflexively to ward it off, which was exactly the wrong choice. I got myself tangled, and then the net dropped around me. Gia threw herself at me, taking me to the ground, and then rolled me over several times, completely tangling me in the net.

I squirmed and struggled, but Gia was a full sized wolf, outweighing me by half my body weight, and I was thoroughly tangled in the net.

"Got her!" she yelled as my share of our kidnappers streamed out of the room. Sophia and Abigail immediately added their weight to Gia's, and I found myself face down in the carpet, tangled and not going anywhere. Someone sat on my legs. I heard the sound of tape being pulled off a roll.

"No!" I yelled, and began to kick. But strong hands clasped my feet, and someone firmly taped my ankles together, working her way up until I was wrapped in tape all the way to my knees.
  I continued to struggle and kick, but they all outweighed me and they were all far stronger than I was. "No!" I yelled again. "Stop this!"

Scarlett lay down on the floor, her face in front of me. "Michaela," she said softly. All other movement stopped except enough to counteract my struggles. I turned my face to look at Scarlett. "You couldn't have done better. Your hair is safe. We won't hurt you."

"How do I know you're not lying? If I stop struggling, maybe that's permission to do things to me." I bunched my legs and tried to kick out while trying to untangle myself from the last of the net.

"
We weren't sure how well you understood the customs," Gia said from above me. "Scarlett or Angel aren't allowed to lie to you tonight. The rest of us are."

"Angel?"

"She's right," said Angel. "Scarlett and I don't get to lie. But we're not obligated to answer questions, either."

I relaxed my struggles, catching my breath.

"We're sorry," Scarlett said. "You should have been in pajamas tonight. The tape is going to hurt coming off. But we're still taping you. You can thank Lara for forgetting. If you were in pajamas, we could have taped only to the cloth and not your skin."