Wolf Women (The Madison Wolves Book 10) (21 page)

"It's time for a game," Michaela said. "We're going to have our own version of Fear Factor!" She looked around. "Cassie, pick your partner."

"Hadley!" she said immediately.

"Iris?"

"I pick Michele."

"Lindsey?"

"Angel, will you be my partner?"

"Evangeline?"

"Scarlett."

"I am the host," Michaela said. "But Monique doesn't have a partner. Zoe, you may be the studio audience, or you may play."

"Oh god," I said. "Are you going to tell me the things we have to do?"

"Nope. But there's a prize to the winner."

"What sort of prize?"

"A good prize," Michaela said with a grin.

"Maybe you should tell me the rules."

"We'll spin a wheel." She nodded, and Lindsey and Angel got up and left the room. I turned over my shoulder to watch their progress. They returned a moment later carrying an easel with a spinner wheel attached to it. Scarlett collected one of the video cameras on its tripod and moved it so it was pointed over my shoulder; anyone watching that video would see what I saw.

The spinning wheel was big, and when it stopped, it would land on one of the slots. I couldn't quite read what was written on the various places. The girls set the easel down on the other side of the coffee table where I could see it. Michaela stood up and gave the spinner a good spin. There was a tab that poked through nails embedded in a circle around the perimeter of the wheel, and it made a sound similar to a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle. Finally it came to a stop, and Michaela pulled out the piece of paper in the corresponding slot. She read it out loud. "Diet Coke and Mentos Challenge!"

"Oh god," I said, laughing.

"So the way it works is this," Michaela said. "We'll pick an order to play. One of the partners spins the wheel, and you see what you get. Then the other partner picks which of you will do it. We do a round, and then each team scores the other contestants based on whatever criteria they want. Four for best, three for second, et cetera. Most points at the end wins."

"I need a partner," Monique said. "Please..." She made it about four syllables.

I looked around and spotted Hadley. "I can't believe you're agreeing to play this."

She smiled sweetly.

"I'm in, but I'm not exactly mobile."

"Don't worry," Michaela said. "You can do all of these."

"Yes!" said Monique.

"Round One for this edition of Fear Factor! The order is by the first initial of the middle name of the oldest on the team," Michaela said.

Michele's middle name was Chelsea. Mine is Everest, so she was first, we were second, then Scarlett, Hadley, and finally Angel.

"All right," Michaela said. "Michele and Iris, come on up!" She sounded like a game show host, pitching her voice low and sounded over-excited. "Michele, you may choose if you wish to spin first or let Iris spin."

"I'll spin," she said. She stepped forward and gave the wheel a good spin. It went around and around, clicking and clicking, finally coming to a stop. The whole time everyone clapped -- except me, of course. Even Hadley was getting into it.

They were such goofs.

Michaela stepped forward and collected the slip of paper. "What challenge shall Michele and Iris accept?" she asked dramatically. "Shall it be the spider munch? Or the dreaded bowl of Brussels sprouts?"

"Eww!" said the wolves together. I laughed.

"Save that one for me!" I called out.

"Ohhhh," said Michaela, reading the note. "It's the Chubby Bunny! Iris, are you playing, or will you make Michele play?"

"But I don't know what Chubby Bunny is."

"Ah, but that's part of the fun," Michaela said. "Choose wisely."

"Michele will play!" Iris said.

"All right," said Michaela. "Michele, stand here, facing the television audience." Michele moved into position, and Michaela went to the storage cabinet, returning with a bag of marshmallows and a metal pan. "Now, in deference to our guest vegan, everything we have here for the games tonight is vegan."

"Spider Crunch doesn't sound vegan to me," I said.

"Hush, you," she said. "Do not question the game show host." She stepped up next to Michele. "Here is how Chubby Bunny is played. I will pop a marshmallow into your mouth. You will keep the marshmallow in your mouth and say, 'Chubby Bunny'. Then I add another, and another. Eventually, of course, you will no longer be able to hold any more marshmallows, and you may spit them all into this pan."

There were a bunch of laughs.

"But, that's the tame, Boy Scouts version of Chubby Bunny," Michaela said. "In Werewolf Chubby Bunny, your partner then has to eat the discarded marshmallows while keeping her hands behind her back. You will hold the pan for her."

"Gross!" Iris complained, generating more laughter, not least of all from me.

Michaela turned to us. "You should score this game based on how many marshmallows Michele is able to hold in her mouth while successfully and clearly saying 'Chubby Bunny', and then after that, on how much laughing you do while Iris eats the marshmallows."

"Can I change my mind what role I have?" Iris asked.

"All decisions are final!" Michaela said. Dramatically, of course. "Are you ready, Michele?"

"Ready!" she said.

Michaela ripped a hole in the bag, withdrew a marshmallow, held it up, and then popped it into Michele's waiting mouth. She clearly shoved it to one cheek and said, "Chubby Bunny".

"That's one!" Michaela said.

By the third marshmallow, Michele was really working to stuff them into her mouth. The rest of us were laughing uproariously, and Iris was talking about how hard it must be, and surely she couldn't fit any more. In the end, Michele got seven marshmallows into her mouth, saying, "Chubby Bunny" afterwards, but she couldn't get the eighth in. She took the metal pan from Michaela and spit out all the marshmallows.

They looked truly disgusting, slimy from her mouth and sliding around on the pan.

"All right, Iris," Michaela said. "Hands behind your back."

"Oh god," Iris said, but she clasped her hands, and then Michele held the pan out for her. Soon Michele was laughing as Iris chased the marshmallows around the pan, and I was sure she was tipping it intentionally, causing them to slide around.

Iris finally corralled all the marshmallows, but Michaela took a look at the pan and announced, "It's not clean!"

That generated more laughter as Iris went after the pan with her tongue. It got worse when Michele intentionally smeared some of the marshmallows against Iris's nose and cheeks.

"No hands!" Michaela said in warning. And then a minute later, Michele showed her the pan, now clean, more or less.

Iris wanted to wash her face, but Michele whispered to her, and so she took her seat next to her partner.

"Next up, Zoe and Monique. Zoe, do you want to spin or let Monique?"

"How am I supposed to spin?"

"You have feet," Michaela said.

I laughed. "I'll spin."

"All right, girls. Pick her up and bring her to the wheel!"

Monique and Cassie did the honors. They carried me to the wheel until I could reach it with my toes. "What do we do if we land on the same slot?"

"Oh, wait!" Michaela said. She stepped forward and pulled a nail from the perimeter, dropping it into a little can. "I have to pull the nails as we go. Spin away!"

The girls adjusted me. "May I have a practice flick?" I asked.

"Go for it," Michaela said.

It took me a couple of tries before I could get the spinner to go around more than one time. Then I said, "Here's the money spin." And I gave it a good flick.

The applause was funny, and then they kept clapping. "Mentos!" yelled Lindsey. "Mentos challenge!"

The spinner came to a stop. "Oh, I think that's the Pigeon Poop!" declared Michaela.

"Eww," everyone said.

She stepped forward, grabbed the note, dropped the nail into the can, then read it. "Ah ha, I was wrong. This is Bobbin'. Monique, are you playing or is Zoe."

"Zoe is, of course," Monique said.

"Is this a game I can play like this?" I asked.

Michaela grinned. "They all are, although some have roles, and you can only do one, not the other." She stepped away to the bar, rummaged in a refrigerator, then returned with a bowl. She set the bowl down, and I saw it was half full of Brussels sprouts.

"Tonight, Zoe will be bobbing for these delightful, vegan, baby cabbages." I laughed. "But bobbing while they float in water is far too easy." She went to the storage cabinet and came back with a large bag of flour and a large cake pan. Even I laughed, knowing what was to happen.

She dumped the Brussels sprouts into the cake pan then poured the flour over them before giving it all a stir.

"We need to move the coffee table." Iris and Lindsey handled it. Michaela recruited help to spread a plastic drop cloth, and then she set the pan on the floor, also adding the pan from the Chubby Bunny game next to it. "Zoe, we'll move you here, and when you're ready, you have two minutes to find as many of the Brussels sprouts as you can. You must bite them in half and then drop them into the pan. And Monique, when she is done, you get to eat them."

"Oh god," she said. "I knew it."

"Don't worry," Michaela said. "They've been blanched."

Monique wasn't acting about the Brussels sprouts. I loved them, but the wolves disliked most vegetables, especially Brussels sprouts and asparagus. Asparagus was so offensive that Portia had asked me not to cook it if she were going to be home. Even the smell was offensive, or so she explained.

Cassie and Monique set me down on the floor, but without my hands, I couldn't support myself over the pan. They let me drop with my face into the flower anyway.

"Oh dear," said Michaela. "That won't work. Maybe she can kneel."

They picked me back up, sputtering flower, which of course resulted in laughter. I tried kneeling, but I was taped so tightly, I couldn't bend my legs far enough.

"Oh my," Michaela said. "Well, there is one answer. Stand her up." She waited until I was on my feet. "Cassie, support her. Monique, lie down on your back in front of the pan." Monique lay down, and then Cassie and Hadley picked me up and laid me down with my stomach across Monique's, my face hovering over the pan of flour and Brussels sprouts."

"If you let go, I'm going to flop over," I said.

"Cassie, hold her ankles to the floor, if you don't mind."

"I'm ready," I said.

"Ready, go!" Michaela said.

At first it was easy. There were a lot of Brussels sprouts. I would find one, getting a face full of flower, pick it up, then I could bite it before squirming over to drop both halves into the other pan. Of course, I was left with an enormous amount of flour in my mouth and even more on my face.

"One minute," Michaela said.

It got harder as I went. I was spreading flower all over, including splashing quite a bit on Monique. Everyone was laughing, of course, even me.

"Thirty seconds.... Fifteen. Five... Stop!"

I bit the last Brussels sprout and dropped it into the pan.

"Does that one count?" Lindsey asked.

"Sure," Michaela said. "One more for Monique to eat. Help her up!"

They stood me up, and everyone got a better look at me. "Oh my," Michaela said. "She's a mess. It's a good thing we have more drop cloths."

A minute later I was back on the sofa, a drop cloth spread over it to protect it.

Monique had to eat the Brussels sprouts without her hands, Michaela holding the pan for her. She got a face full of flour, but I was sure mine was worse. She made a face after each one, but she ate them, each and every one.

* * * *

I'm not sure I have ever laughed harder.

Michaela let us all clean up before the second round. I sat quietly on the couch until Monique came back with two towels: one damp and one dry. She cleaned my face carefully and gently, then delivered a sweet hug and kiss on my cheek.

For our second round, we got a game called Burp. "All right," Michaela said, "for this game, Monique, you have to get Zoe to burp. You have thirty seconds to give her anything you want to eat or drink. After that, you pull her into her arms and burp her like a baby. Extra points for good baby talk from both of you."

I was not one of those people who could burp or belch on command.

"And to make it more fun," Michaela said, "the baby gets blindfolded again, so she doesn't see what she's about to eat."

Monique played to win. They actually had an adult size high chair. They moved me into it, then I was blind folded. "Go get what you're going to give her first."

I heard Monique rummaging around, including a trip to the refrigerator. The audience stilled, and then I heard, "Oh no!" From Cassie. A moment later, "Gross!" from Scarlett. The others laughed.