Fox Rematch (The Madison Wolves Book 10) (3 page)

Elisabeth had long since hung up on Lara and was storming around the room. I would have apologized; it just slipped out. But all I could do was watch her.

“Where are her knives?” Elisabeth finally asked.

“Upstairs,” Abigail said.

“Get them,” Elisabeth said.

Abigail ran upstairs and returned a minute later carrying the bag they’d put my things in. Elisabeth snatched it from her hands, dug through, and found one of my knives.

“Hold her down,” Elisabeth said. Strong arms held me, still lying across Angel’s lap, and Elisabeth pressed the silvered blade against my cheek.

Of course, I tried to pull away, but they held me firmly. And then I looked Elisabeth directly in the eye as the silver burned me and I pushed my cheek more firmly against the blade.

I would have been smiling sweetly if I hadn’t had my mouth taped. I was healing the silver burn as fast as I could, and when she finally removed it from my cheek, the girls gasped. I felt the last of the burn fade away in the seconds after Elisabeth pulled the blade away.

“Shit!” she said. She tried the blade against her own skin and hissed, then showed the silver burn to the cameras.

She leaned down, her mouth inches from my ear.

“Did those words just slip out? Not planned?”

I nodded.

“If I hadn’t gagged you so quickly, would you have apologized?”

I nodded.

“I have to punish you. Let this burn. I need to leave a good mark on each cheek.”

I nodded.

She grabbed a second knife.

“Hold her down now!” she said firmly, then both blades were pressed into me, one across each cheek above the tape from the gag.

I could smell the burn this time, and I couldn’t have healed both fast enough to keep up. I began to whimper, just lightly, and Elisabeth finally pulled the blades from my skin.

She smiled. “Do not do that again, Michaela. Or the next time it will be worse!”

I nodded understanding then concentrated on healing my burns. I closed my eyes and zoned out while doing it. I didn’t notice when they removed the gag and pulled off the tape, but concentrated on healing my burns.

“Come back, Michaela,” Elisabeth was saying in my ear. “Come on. It’s time for more fun.”

I opened my eyes and turned my head to face her. I smiled. “How long did you spin me?”

She offered me a look of gratitude, then she stood up and set her leg on the coffee table where I could see it. She had a set of wolf tracks on her ankle, and next to it, a smaller set of fox tracks.

“Ah,” I said. “Very lovely. You honor your alpha.”

Gia showed me her ankle. Wolf and fox tracks. Then Karen, then Ava. All the women had wolf and fox tracks on their ankle.

“Mine too,” Angel said. “But I can’t show you until you get up.”

“I have to wait,” Scarlett said. “I’ll get mine done when I can.”

I nodded understanding. I didn’t think Scarlett could do her own tattoo. “You all honor your alpha,” I said. “That is good. I feel honored. Thank you. My turn?”

“We did yours to match ours,” Elisabeth said. “Our artist requested a break.”

I nodded understanding. “How long did you spin me?”

“Two and a half hours.”

I began to laugh. “Lara told me she didn’t think you would bother again. Was that the time limit?”

No one answered.

“May I have a little water?” I asked. I took a few sips through the straw. “Now what?” I asked.

“A new game,” said Scarlett. “More poker after your next punishment.”

* * * *

They slept in shifts, those awake tasked with keeping me awake. I made it difficult for them. I zoned out. I could feel them trying to wake me, but I ignored it.

Then Elisabeth’s mouth was at my ear. “Come back, Michaela, or I shave your head.”

My eyes snapped open.

“There you are,” she said. “No sleeping.”

“Just resting my eyes,” I said.

“New rule. If someone asks you a question, and you do not respond in a reasonable fashion, we shave a portion of your hair.”

I looked at her. I smiled. “I have paid to keep my hair. We had an agreement. You will honor our agreement or you won’t.”

And then I closed my eyes.

They left me alone for some time and then Elisabeth asked me a question. I didn’t respond. Her mouth moved to my ear. “If you sleep, we will not allow you food after noon today, at any price.”

It took a while for my brain to process that. I opened my eyes later, and she was no longer next to me. “Elisabeth?”

“She’s sleeping,” Karen said.

“How long has she been gone?” Karen didn’t answer. “Karen, it took this long for the last thing she told me to register. I am now awake. I would like to know if I should bother staying awake. If it is too late, it is too late. But I will only accept an answer from Angel.”

“Why should we answer you?” she asked.

“Because you don’t want me to sleep, and you can’t stop me, so you can only bribe me. So. Bribe me or don’t bribe me. I will remain awake for ten minutes, and if I am unbribed, then I sleep.”

“Watch her,” she said. I looked around, and the only other person there was Abigail. Karen disappeared upstairs. Abigail looked tired. She was sitting in a chair, watching me, her chin in her hand.

“May I have some water and some food? Something mild.”

“I have water here. Food is upstairs, and I can not leave for it until someone else returns.” She slipped over to sit on the sofa with me, offering me water. I drank sparingly.

“All right,” I said. “But I believe it is well within the cutoff time for food, so I presume this delay will be short, and if I sleep without eating, I will expect mild food available when next I wake, whenever that is. I have paid for this food.”

She nodded. “You’ll get it as soon as someone returns.”

“Thank you, Abigail. You’re a good woman.”

She smiled.

“My eyes are sore,” I said. “I am closing them. I am not sleeping. You may talk if you want. I will answer.” I closed my eyes and relaxed. Abigail was silent for a minute.

“What is two plus two?” she asked.

I smiled. “You can do better than that. Pick a topic.”

“What is your favorite thing about being fox?”

“Ah. I am very vain. I love my fox appearance.”

“You are a beautiful fox,” she said.

“Thank you. I am very vain about it, and I never hear it enough. I love moving silently while hearing everything else around me. And I love that my reactions are so much faster than yours are. Well, probably not right now, my body is abused, but normally.”

We continued to talk, and after some time, Elisabeth and Angel came downstairs with Karen.

“She requested food,” Abigail said.

“Did she sleep?” Karen asked.

“No. We’ve been talking the entire time.”

“And you were gone longer than ten minutes,” I said.

“Cheeky fox,” Elisabeth declared. “Karen told us what you said. Repeat it.”

So I did. I finally said, “I came awake as soon as my brain fully registered what you said. You made a threat. If I was gone so long the threat is activated, I would like to know. I have paid for food until noon today, and I will point out I have not received any per my latest request.”

“Get her what she asked for, Abigail,” Elisabeth said.

“I would negotiate now for food through noon tomorrow,” I said. “If we can not reach an agreement, I will respond accordingly.”

“You will remain awake,” Elisabeth said. “The price is one major favor each and five thousand dollars.”

The had asked for a few payments that would cost me money, but not an enormous amount. This was the first favor that had a significant cost. I was about to protest but then realized that was almost as much as I’d taken from them in poker so far.

I smiled. “I will not strive to sleep,” I said. “But I may zone out during punishments. I probably can’t help it. The rest as you stated.”

I opened my eyes and looked at her. Finally she nodded.

“I would prefer to hear a verbal agreement,” I said.

“Agreed as you stated.”

“You will need to entertain me or I will sleep from boredom.”

She smiled. “I believe we can do that.”

“Angel,” I said. “I am sorry for getting you out of bed.”

“It’s all right. I was due for my shift anyway.”

Abigail returned. She had cold meats and bread. They fed me a few tiny little open-faced sandwiches until I was satisfied. “Thank you,” I told them.

“Abigail and Angel, you may go to bed. Karen and I will take the next shift.”

“I’m awake,” Angel said. “I can stay.”

“Angel,” I said. “She’s going to start questioning me again about the chopsticks or the belt.”

Angel didn’t say anything, but she soothed my face, then both girls headed upstairs. The door closed.

Elisabeth sat on the coffee table facing me. Karen handed her the belt and chopsticks. She set the chopsticks down and examined the belt carefully. Finally she asked me, “Why did you remove this?”

“A girl has her secrets,” I said.

Elisabeth grunted. “So be it,” she said. “One of her knives and the tape please.”

“You risk silver poisoning me,” I told her calmly. “I won’t be able to heal it indefinitely.”

“You can call it off any time. Answer the question.”

“Elisabeth, I would die before giving away real pack secrets.” I sighed. “Have it your way.”

Karen returned with one of my daggers and the tape. Elisabeth moved onto the sofa next to me, pulled my feet across her lap, then took the dagger and placed it flat against the bottom of my foot.

It began burning immediately and I began healing it just as quickly.

Elisabeth wrapped my foot and the dagger in tape.

“Give her whatever food and water she asks for. If she agrees to answer the question, remove the dagger as fast as you can and treat her foot in any fashion she requests.”

“Karen, please bring enough mild foods to feed three wolves. It is all for me, so if you want any yourself, bring more. I will also be going through a lot of water.”

Karen ran upstairs while Elisabeth stared into my face. I smiled at her. She shook her head. “You’re a cold one.”

“This is what I was for a long, long time, Elisabeth. I don’t like this fox. I like the fox you normally know. I am starting to think of ways to fight back.”

She scoffed at that comment.

She was still sitting on the sofa with my legs across her. She was wearing only a tee shirt and undies. And I had a silver dagger taped to the bottom of my foot. I smiled and pulled my feet up, snaking them under her tee shirt and pressing the bottom of my foot to her breast. She screamed, shoved me away, and flew off the couch, putting distance between us. The dagger was not completely covered by the tape, and I had pressed the silver against her sensitive breast.

“I know that was very foolish of me, Elisabeth. If this were a real kidnapping, and I thought it were hopeless, I would be trying to either free myself or force you to kill me. I’m worth nothing dead, so Lara wouldn’t have to pay some horrendous price.”

She was panting from the pain in her breast.

Karen came tearing down the stairs, then stopped, staring between us. “What happened?”

“The fox has fight in her,” Elisabeth said. “Damn, that hurts.” She narrowed her eyes at me then glanced at Karen. “Finish getting the food. I need to shift.”

“Don’t be such a baby, enforcer,” I said. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the wisest comment to make, but I was getting crabby.

“Finish getting the food,” Elisabeth said. “And then tape a second dagger to her other foot. Make sure someone holds her down tightly while you do it.”

Elisabeth slipped out of her clothes, lay down on the floor, and began her shift. I glanced over and saw a raw red mark on the side of her breast. I didn’t think I’d touched her that long with the silver. Karen went upstairs, and I looked between the two cameras and smiled before closing my eyes.

Karen returned about the same time Elisabeth was finished shifting. I opened my eyes and looked at her. “Are you ready to answer our questions?” she asked.

“What did you bring me for food?”

“More little bites.”

“May I have a little before you add the second dagger?”

She nodded, then knelt down in front of me and fed me and offered me water. “Thank you,” I told her.

“Doesn’t it hurt?” she asked.

“Of course it hurts. But I am Alpha.” I smiled. “I will win.”

Her lips tightened. “No, Michaela. You won’t. Not eventually.”

“One more little bite, please, and a little water, then you have your orders for another dagger.”

She fed me and let me drink. “She told me to hold you securely.”