Wolf Women (The Madison Wolves Book 10) (23 page)

A punishment time came. Angel and Scarlett had been missing for a few minutes, but they returned carrying a few platters of food -- all of it some form of animal product. There were a roast chicken, a plate of eggs, and something they told me was venison. There were even biscuits and a jar of honey.

Michaela moved a chair in front of me again. "Since joining us, I have never seen you eat proper food. You claim to be vegan."

I eyed the food.

"We don't think that's a real thing," she added. "So, you're going to eat a little of everything Angel and Scarlett cooked up."

"No, Michaela, I am not."

She reached over, picked up a fork, and speared a piece of the venison, popping it into her mouth. "Mmmm," she said. "That's good. Your body needs protein for what we're going to do to you later." She speared another piece and held it in front of me. Then her tone turned serious. "Eat it."

"No."

"That is a direct order from your alpha. Eat it."

"With all respect, Alpha," I said, "No."

"You are acting like an ill behaved child, refusing food from her mother."

"I'm not compromising my morals for this, Michaela. The answer is no. It was 'no' when we met. It was 'no' when I sat in your cell. And it was 'no' last week. It is 'no' today, and it will be 'no' until the day I die."

She leaned back. "She's being a wayward child. While I don't believe in corporal punishment for children, I'll make an exception. Spank her. Hard."

The girls didn't wait. They pulled me over the sofa again, and they weren't gentle. They bent me over the sofa, holding me roughly. Someone grabbed my legs and held them higher, and it was Iris pressing my chest into the cushions. Then I got a swat.

It hurt! I yelped.

"One slice of venison won't kill you, and the deer already died," Michaela said.

"No!"

Three more swats, and tears were leaking from my eyes. I yelped with each.

"It's a chicken, a stupid bird," Michaela said. "They're so dumb, they're practically begging us to eat them."

"You eat them," I said. "But I won't."

That was five swats, delivered slowly. Each swat resounded loudly, and they each hurt. I yelped and tried to kick, but they held me tightly.

"The eggs are from lovingly raised chickens," she said. "They aren't kept in cages. They have a nice coop. No animal died for these eggs."

"I don't care," I said. I did. At least they weren't shoved into tiny cages. But I wasn't going to eat them.

Ten swats, and they counted them. I began crying.

"You think I'm kidding?" Michaela said. She put her face down near mine, looking into my eyes. "You're going to eat this venison before we're done."

"Then you better mush it up real good and get a funnel, because you'll have to shove it down my throat."

Another ten swats, and by the end, I was crying freely.

"The honey," Michaela said. It was said gently. "The biscuits have milk, but cows don't suffer to give us milk. And the bees don't suffer to give us honey. Please, Zoe. A few bites are all I ask."

"No."

Ten swats.

"You can stop this," she said. "Agree to eat a biscuit with honey. They're really good. There must have been a time in the past you weren't vegan. You remember what honey tastes like."

"No!"

Ten swats.

"Come on, Zoe. We're not going to stop. Eat the biscuit or beg Portia to ransom you. That's the only way we're stopping."

"No!"

Ten swats. And then ten more. And then I was crying hard enough I couldn't breathe.

"Well," Michaela said. "I guess she's vegan. Help her up."

They put me on my feet, and then someone pulled me into a hug. "I knew you'd outlast her," Monique whispered. "You think you're weak, but you're not."

And then I was crying in earnest. They all clustered around me, touching me, calming me. Monique held me for a while, but then they passed me around, and I accepted a great amount of affection. I got hugs and kisses, even a quick peck on the lips from several of them. I couldn't have been more surprised when one of those was from Hadley.

"You're very brave," she whispered into my ear.

"I'm not," I whispered back.

"Did you think she'd stop?"

"No."

"Then you were brave to stand by your convictions. Strength comes in different forms, Zoe."

I calmed down, and they cleaned me up, and then they turned me to Michaela. She hadn't hugged me yet, holding herself aloof. She was watching me carefully.

"Where's my hug?" I demanded. She moved forward and wrapped her arms around me, holding me tightly.

* * * *

We continued our game of Fear Factor. The challenges weren't terribly frightening but were instead designed to be funny and not too terrible. Michaela changed out the cards again, and we found ourselves doing much more outrageous things.

I spun the wheel and got one called, "Crisco Coin Search." Monique declared I would be playing.

Michaela grinned then directed the wolves to do the preparations. They had PVC pipe amongst their supplies, and they made a frame from the pipes, eight feet long by four feet wide. That went onto the floor, then they spread one of their thick, plastic tarps over it, taping it in place to the frame, but loose so the plastic rested on the floor.

Michaela had twenty one-dollar coins. She spread them around on the plastic. Then she had the girls collect large tins of Crisco. "All right, Monique. You have to dump out all the Crisco and hide the coins."

"Oh no," I said.

"Oh yes," Michaela replied. "And when you're done, Zoe has to find the coins, every last one."

There was a lot of Crisco. Monique dumped out the large tins and then spread it out in an even layer within the frame. I stared at it.

"You have an evil mind, Michaela," I said.

"I know," she replied. "Help her over there."

"Help" meant they picked me up and set me down right in the middle of the Crisco. I was immediately a slimy mess, and I knew it was only going to get worse.

At first I searched with my feet, digging my toes into the white mass. The Crisco squished between my toes, and soon my feet were covered. The girls laughed for a while, but I knew it would turn boring long before I found them all. I found several that way, but I couldn't manage to pick them up with my feet. I looked at Michaela.

"You have to pick them up," she said.

"I can't!"

"You haven't tried everything." She grinned, and I knew she wanted to see me bury my face.

So I did.

The girls loved it. Scarlett picked up one of the video cameras and filmed carefully, showing my entire, slimy body. I got it all over my face, my chest, and in my hair. The more I flopped around, trying to find the coins, the worse it got, and the louder the girls laughed.

Michele and Hadley were having just as good a time, and my gaming partner was doubled over with her hands on her knees, she was laughing so hard.

Even while I was doing it, I was amused by it, too, and at one point when I felt Crisco sliding where it didn't belong, I broke into paroxysms of laughter.

"This is only twelve," Michaela said. "Where are the rest, Zoe?"

"Perhaps you would care to help me, Alpha," I suggested.

"Maybe I will," she said. She went to the supply cabinet and pulled out a pair of disposable gloves, pulling them on her hands. Then she moved over to kneel next to my little Crisco playpen, being careful to avoid the splashes that had escaped containment. She felt around, then said, "There's one here."

"Where?"

"Right here."

I shifted around, which was work, given that I was exceedingly slippery, and absolutely no traction, and was bound neck to ankle in duct tape, now very, very slimy duct tape.

"A little more... a little more... Right there." Then she pressed down on the back of my head, pushing my face into a deep pile of the Crisco.

I came up, sputtering. I should have seen that coming. What can I say? I'm gullible.

Of course, my audience renewed their laughter, and I was sure whatever video Scarlett took would be jerky and hard to watch. She was laughing as hard as everyone else.

Michaela was still crouched down, grinning at me and, perhaps, wondering how I was going to react.

"It sure is too bad I wasn't around for your ransom night," I told her.

"Crying shame about that," she agreed. "I think you've found as many as you're going to find."

I squirmed around until I was lying on my side. If I splashed a little Crisco on her in the process, that would be all for the better.

I laid my head down and closed my eyes. "I heard your phone go off."

"Yeah," she said. "We'll score this round and see who won the game."

"You're not going to make Monique do something with the coins?"

"Oh please. Like I could come up with anything remotely as hilarious as watching you dig for them."

I had to admit she had a point. "You put a lot of work into this game."

"It was most of us," she said. "Honey, we've been planning for months."

"So they all know the challenges?"

"People submitted challenge ideas to me privately. Some ideas resulted in discussion. Some I didn't care for. I changed most of the names and fiddled with them enough the person submitting them probably isn't guessing what they are from the names."

"So, are you going to move me to the sofa, or do I have to wriggle my way there?"

"As entertaining as that might be to watch, we're leaving you right where you are for a few more minutes. Come on over, Monique. You have to score your opponents."

"I'm not getting near her," Monique said. "She'll splash."

"I promise I won't splash," I said.

I watched Monique. She eyed me carefully then got up from the sofa and made her way to kneel next to me. Michaela moved away, told us to go ahead and score our opponents, and reminded us what game each group had played. I waited until Monique was distracted then stretched out and brushed my face against her leg, wiping off some of the Crisco onto her jeans.

"Hey!" she complained, pulling away. "You promised you wouldn't do that."

"I promised not to splash. I didn't splash. I rubbed. I had an itch."

Behind me, the others snickered, but Monique eyed me carefully. I grinned up at her.

"Michaela, shouldn't I punish her for that? She was naughty."

"Probably," Michaela said. "What are you going to do?"

Monique eyed me. "I don't know." Then she smiled. "The next punishment is the cold water one?"

"Yes."

"I am adding ice," she said.

"All right," Michaela said. "Have you scored everyone yet?"

"No." Monique eyed me carefully.

"I'll behave," I said. "I'm sorry. I was feeling playful."

She leaned closer. "I don't want to punish you, but I have to. I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "It's fine. What order did you want?"

She wrote up our score sheet, and then Michaela asked for the scores, totaling them up. We got the four from each of the other teams for sixteen points total, pushing us into the lead by two points.

"And, by a scant two points, the winners are Zoe and Monique!" she announced. Everyone clapped and cheered, just like contestants on a game show were supposed to do. "We'll discuss the prize after Zoe's punishment. Angel and Scarlett, please go get the box."

"We won!" said Monique. "It was all you."

"I had a great partner," I said.

Angel and Scarlett returned carrying a long, clear box. I rolled back over to see what they had, and they set it down several feet away so I could get a good look at it.

It was a Plexiglas box, six feet long, about two feet wide and less than that tall. The lid was locked in place, and they undid the latches and pulled the top off. I stared at the box. When I finally glanced at Michaela, I saw everyone was watching me.

"I'm going in that, aren't I?"

"Perhaps not," she said.

"Uh huh. You went through a lot of work for that."

"Perhaps you won't see the inside until later. Or if you beg Portia to ransom you, you won't see it at all."

"Does something go into the box with me?"

"Water. Cold water."

"And ice," Monique added. "I didn't splash; I rubbed." She quoted me.

"How long?" I asked.

"Well, I guess we'll see," Michaela said. "Is someone filming?"

"I am," Cassie said. I looked over, and she was pointing an iPad at me.

Michaela moved to kneel down in front of me, looking into my eyes, but not close enough I could rub any of the Crisco on her.

"Zoe, you have a teenager living in your house. She has taken to calling you 'Mom', and I've heard you call her 'Daughter'."