Fox Revenge (Madison Wolves #5) (11 page)

"We don't have any horse stables," Derek pointed out.

"Then I will make you build them, and then I will make Lara buy horses with gastrointestinal issues. Do I make myself clear?"

They smiled at me. "Yes, Michaela," they said.

"All right," I said. "Back to class." I followed them into the room, arriving just in time to catch Catherine, one of the new sophomores, writing a limerick on the top of the board, out of my reach, about a teacher with red hair.

There once was a small, red-haired vixen,
              Who loved to always go missin'.
                            She runs and she hides,
                            With no friends at her sides,
              'Cause the alpha is always left chasin'.

"You know," I said. "You guys aren't supposed to get caught! And Scarlett-"

"Catherine asked if she could share her poetry with the class," Scarlett said sweetly. "And I don't think I can write the quiz for the seniors."

I smiled and let Catherine finish; it was really quite clever. "Catherine, do you have that written down?" I asked when she took her seat.

"Yes, Michaela," she said.

"Give it to me," I demanded. She pulled a piece of paper from her notebook and walked to my desk to hand it to me. "Sit," I said.

I called the class to order and explained Scarlett would be teaching. "But, contrary to the lesson plan, it seems we will be having a pop quiz." I gestured to Scarlett, who took the left side of the board and began writing out five questions for the younger kids. I wrote five for the seniors.
Mine were based on the material they should have read last night, but that I hadn't taught yet. We told them to begin, then Scarlett and I stood in the doorway.

"Why do the seniors look so nervous?" she asked.

I told her what I had done.

"Oh god," she said. "Tell me that's not my fault."

"I want to know if they have read the assignment."

The kids finished their quizzes. I turned the class over to Scarlett, taking a seat in the back. I kept a half an eye on Scarlett while I graded the papers. The kids all did well, and Scarlett was doing a good job teaching. She gave the older kids their assignments then began teaching the math class to the younger kids. She explained things well. Her style was different from mine, but I could see elements of my style in her presentation.

I was so proud of her.

She finished the lecture and gave them a problem set to work on then stepped back
to me. She was sweating.

"Oh my god," she said quietly. "I didn't know that was so hard!"

"You're doing great," I said. "The kids did well on their papers. Glance through them before you hand them back. There was consistent trouble with two of your questions and one of mine. Go over them."

She looked through the papers. "I don't know this material," she said, referring to the questions I had written. I showed her what the right answers were and told her to let the kids spend time figuring it out themselves.

"I have to go," I told her. "Francesca is right next door. If those limericks are still there on Monday, there will be another quiz, and no one is going to enjoy it."

She smiled. "Yes, Michaela."

"Thank you, Scarlett. You'll be fine."

She looked at me with a little worry as I stepped out the door, but then she turned to the kids and stepped in to answer a question. She'd be great.

I pulled out my phone and texted Lara. "Where are you?"

"Our house. We were about to walk over."

"OMW."

I picked up my security detail
and took the thirty steps to the front of the house, and found Lara and Elisabeth waiting for me.

"All right," I said. "This doesn't count as complaining. But seriously?" I gestured to Rory and Eric, following me around. "Seriously?"

"If they follow you everywhere," Elisabeth said. "Then they follow you everywhere. No judgment calls to quibble over."

"Look," I said. "It doesn't matter to me." I turned to them. "Aren't you guys bored?"

They just shrugged.

I looked at Lara. "It seems like a waste of resources."

"It's a fixed operating cost," she said.

"You both think this is necessary?"

"We think it's the right habit," Lara said. "All right? And my interpretation of a recently lost wager is you will not try to ditch them."

"What about during runs?" I asked. "Did I give up my fun for six months?"

"Good question," Lara said. "No, but let's focus on that later."

I nodded.

"Thank you," Lara said. "Ready?"

"Yes." I took her hand as she stepped down from the porch, but she adjusted it so I was clutching her arm instead. I leaned my head against her shoulder as we walked to the barracks together.

"You know," Elisabeth observed. "I thought you guys would calm down after a while. I don't think it's ever going to happen."

"God," I replied. "I hope not."

Rory and Eric chuckled. "Neither do we," Rory said.

"Don't follow that thought!" I said. "Or you will be watching me in some exceedingly boring situations for a long, long time."

It was Lara's turn to chuckle. She leaned over and kissed the top of my head. "Now you're learning," she said.

"Will I need to cancel my flight lesson with June today?"

"I don't know yet," Lara said. "Hopefully not."

We stepped into the barracks and climbed the stairs. Wendy and Serena were guarding the outside of the conference room where the meeting would be held. Lara looked at Elisabeth. "Get rid of her," she said. "I don't want her called in to talk to
the council. Angel and Scarlett are tied up. Get Emanuel and Serena out of here. Tell them not to answer the phone unless it's you, me or Michaela."

Elisabeth nodded
, peeling off to talk to Serena for a moment.

As we stepped into the conference room, Lara noticed I was smiling. "Looking forward to a fight?" she asked me.

"No. You grouped me with you and Elisabeth, almost as if I'm one of the big girls."

I got a quick kiss, then it was time to play politics.

* * * *

Lara called the meeting to order on time. That was the high point. Most of the council members already knew what we'd shown last night. Most, although not all of them, were angry they hadn't been the first to know. I kept my mouth shut and let Lara handle that. No one was mollified.

Lara finally said, "There's nothing that can be done about it now. Do you wish to continue to lambast us or can we move on?"

"I want a guarantee this isn't going to happen again?" Christopher West demanded.

Lara was already running out of patience. "I promise you," Lara said. "The next time we announce that Elisabeth and a few others have learned how to shift instantly, we will tell the council first."

That was the absolute wrong thing to say. Mr. West began to sputter. "That is not what I meant!" he spat at Lara.

I reached out my hand and put it on her arm. She glanced down at me, and I watched her visibly calm down.

"This all developed this week," Lara said. "I try to include the council in the day to day operations of the pack when I can. But there are going to be times where that is not going to be practical."

"You should have told us before you announced it to the pack at large," he shot back.

"I understand why you feel that way," Lara said. "I did not believe this was something that could be easily contained. Can we move on?"

"I want assurances!" he bellowed.

"I. Am. Alpha!" Lara thundered back. Then she spoke more calmly. "Unless you intend to challenge me for that position, right here, and right now, you will address me with respect."

He backed down. He knew he had gone too far, and he also knew Lara would have kicked his ass. And if she didn't, I would have. Still, it perhaps stuck in his craw that a woman half his age was standing up to him.

Some members of the pack were still very traditional, and I had learned Christopher West was one of them.

"You are right," he said. "My apologies, Alpha. But I still-"

"You made your point," Ron Berg said. "And the alpha has made hers. She is right. Can we move on? I would like to know the details of how this happened, and then I would like to know what we intend moving forward."

"I would like to know how a child of the pack learned this trick and no one on the council has," Christopher West said.

"That's not entirely accurate," I said in a calm voice. "I already knew this 'trick'. Lara has known it for nearly two years. And now Elisabeth knows it. That makes three members of the council.
Furthermore, there are no children involved. The youngest would be Angel and Scarlett, and they are both eighteen. Hardly children."

I'm not sure Lara appreciated my
chosing that time to make the points I had just made, but they were accurate, and I was tired of being discounted. Either I was alpha or I was not. Either Elisabeth as head enforcer was part of the council, or she was not.

Christopher turned his attention to me. "You know what I meant," he said.

"No, Sir," I said. "I am afraid I do not. You implied no one on the council has this skill that you seem to feel is so new, but I have been demonstrating this skill the entire time you have known me, and Lara has done so for almost as long. Are we not members of the council? Is Elisabeth not a member of the council?"

"I believe," said Vivian, "If Councilor West would allow me to speak for him, that he feels perhaps a skill like this should be taught to the senior members of the pack before someone as junior as two teenagers."

"Ah," said Lara. "If that is indeed what he meant, it wasn't clear to me from his words. Thank you for interpreting, Vivian."

I wasn't sure the good Mr. West would remain a member of the council for much longer if Lara had anything to say about it.

"Yes," Christopher said. "That is what I meant."

"Well," said Lara. "That is certainly something we shall address in due time. Perhaps I should start at the beginning?"

Everyone else sat down, and Lara explained things, starting as if no one in the room knew what we were talking about. She glossed over some of the details as we'd agreed previously. She summarized at the end what we knew, what we didn't know, and that she felt this skill was a pack asset that should be protected carefully.

Christopher West again demonstrated his arrogance. "You," he said, pointing his finger at me and snapping his fingers.
Lara bristled, but I put my hand on her arm again. "Fox. You are the only one who can teach this skill?"

"Councilor West," I said calmly "You seem to be unduly angered by this news. This is good news we have shared. The pack is now safer than it was a week ago, is it not? Both our alphas, our head enforcer, two other enforcers, and t
wo young but respected members of the pack are now better able to serve the pack's needs and see to the pack's defenses. I do not understand why you are so upset and acting in such a belligerent fashion."

No one else said anything. He was digging a hole. Vivian had dug him out once, but I think they were all amused by now. I was not amused.

"Who are you to talk to me like that?" he asked, climbing to his feet.

I climbed to mine at the same time, then stepped up to stare into his face. "I. Am. Alpha! And you will treat me with the respect of my position. You may address me as Michaela or as Alpha. I may answer to Fox if said with some amount of respect. I will not respond positively to being pointed at and having fingers snapped in my face. You are a member of this council, but you are not treating your own position with the dignity it deserves. If you do not wish to be removed from this council, you will amend your behavior."

"Oh shit," Elisabeth said, loudly enough to be heard. "Pissed off the fox now."

He laughed in my face. "And who would dare to remove me from the council?"

I lifted my arms so the sleeves of my blouse would drop away from my wrists. I didn't point to the knives I kept there, but my message was clear. "I would dare. My wolf body count is over one hundred. I wouldn't blink twice at one more. I couldn't care less what your personal feelings are about me, but when we are in these chambers discussing pack business, you will address me with the respect of my position."

Christopher actually began to ball his hands into fists. What an idiot. My pregnant mate began climbing from her chair. "I am handling it, Alpha," I said without looking at her. "Try it, Councilor, and you won't live to know you never touched me."

"She's not bluffing, Chris," Vivian said. "She'll kill you on the spot, and if she doesn't, everyone else in this room will if you touch her. Lara won't be able to reach you before the rest of us kill you. Apologize to the alpha and consider asking your question in a tone that is in keeping with the position of everyone in the room. You are in the wrong, and you need to admit it."