Fox Revenge (Madison Wolves #5) (16 page)

But I hadn't eaten for hours, and healing the burns was beginning to take a toll. I adjusted my grip, trying to hang onto the safe wooden handle, but I couldn't reach the ropes that way.

I started falling further and further behind on healing the silver burns, and I knew if I didn't stop, I'd be dealing with silver poisoning. I finally sighed, found the free end of the chopstick, and slowly worked the pieces back together. I slipped the chopstick into the waistband of my skirt directly under my hands. I thought it would stay there. I lay still and tried to conserve my strength.

I don't know how long I waited. The door opened, startling me. I might
have dozed. Two women stood in the doorway, backlit from the hallway. They crossed the room and looked down at me.

"Are you awake?" they asked.

I didn't answer them.

"We are here to help you use the bathroom and feed you," the other said. "But if you are not interested, we can leave."

I ignored them.

"If you wet the bed," the second speaker said, "We will let you sleep in it."

"I haven't had a bathroom break, anything to drink, or anything to eat since you animals stole me from my home."

"If your alpha hadn't stolen
Kimber," the first one said. "You would not be here."

"She came to us to avoid marrying one of your animals," I said. "And based on my treatment so far, I don't blame her."

"You lie!"

"No," I said. "I do not. She begged us for asylum. She said she wouldn't let Johnny Mack do the things he would do to her."

Neither said anything right away, then the first one spoke again. "Prove it," she said.

"How am I supposed to prove something like that? Call her yourself. I can give you several phone numbers you can call; any of the people on the other end can reach
Kimber."

"You killed Elaine, Frankie, Hank and John," she said.

"No. I only killed Elaine and two of the males. I damaged the other one, but he was still breathing when I was carried away. Are you going to blame me for fighting back?"

"She's telling the truth," the second woman said. "You can smell it. She's terrified, but she's not lying."

"I would run if I were going to be forced to marry that pig," the first one agreed.

"Does that mean you will help me?"
I asked.

"Yes,"
the second one said. And my heart soared. "We will help you to the bathroom, and we will feed you." My heart sank.

"I was hoping you would untie my hands."

"That would be worth our lives," she said. "And dying would take a long time."

"Ah," I said. "So you believe me."

"I believe you," she said. "We are to carry you to the bathroom then back here."

I paused, struggling to pull the chopstick out from my skirt, making it look like I was trying to sit up. I managed to work it loose, leaving it on the bed behind me, and hoped they wouldn't notice it.

"Fine," I said once I was ready.

She bent down and picked me up. "You weigh nothing," she said. "Less than a human."

"Yes," I said.

"Wait!" said the first one. "The hood." She looked around, spotted it on the floor, and jammed it over my head. "You are not to see."

"Fine," I said.

That one led the way, and the one carrying me followed. I was brought through several rooms and then she set me on my feet.

"I am sorry," the second one said into my ear. "But this will not be as degrading as any of the other choices." Then she pulled my skirt and panties down before helping me sit down on the toilet.

I did what was needed, wriggling at the end. The wolf didn't try to clean me, but helped me to my feet and pulled my clothes back up around my waist.
Then she picked me back up and carried me back to my cell. She set me down on the bed, and she was gentle about it. One of them pulled the hood off my head and walked out. The one who had been kind was left with me.

"Please untie my wrists," I said.

"No," she said very quietly. "But I also didn't notice you are making good work on it yourself."

The other one came back; she was carrying a plate with food and a glass. I looked at the plate. It was piled for a wolf.

"I eat about a third of that," I said. "I'm not a wolf."

"That's fine," said the kind one.

The food was already cut into small pieces. The one who didn't like me handed the plate to the kind one, and she slowly fed me. There was chicken and potatoes, the only vegetable the wolves seemed to eat. The potatoes were flavored oddly, but they were warm and filling.

"Enough," I said when I was full. "Thank you."

"More of the potatoes," the mean one said.

"I am full," I said. "I'm not a wolf."

"More of the potatoes," she insisted. She took the fork from the first one and speared some of the potatoes. "You will eat them or I will hurt you."

I stared into her face. "They're drugged."

"Yes," said the kind one. "I am sorry."

"With what?"

"I don't know the name," she said. "It will make you sleep, that is all. Sleep is good. Time will pass faster."

"Eat them," the mean one said.

"Did you put enough in them for a wolf or a fox?"

"We guessed," the kind one said. "Less than an adult wolf. More than for a child."

"I am the size of a wolf child of nine or so."

"We do not intend to kill you," said the
mean one. "You are worth nothing dead. You will eat the potatoes."

I looked at her. "You'll kill me," I said. "Too much of whatever it is will dull my respiration. Furthermore, too much food will cause me to vomit. If I have passed out, I will choke to death. It happens to rock stars all the time. Look up Jimi Hendrix sometime."

"You will eat the potatoes," the mean one said. "You will eat them willingly or we will shove them down your throat. Either way, you will eat them."

"Fine," I said. "When I am dead, Lara will kill all of you. She will smell me on you and know to kill you slowly." I opened my mouth, and the girl angrily shoved potatoes in. I chewed slowly and gulped them down.

"Wait," said the kind one. "She's right. Rock stars die on vomit all the time. We will feed her slowly. She will pass out before we are done."

"But don't think you can fake it," said the mean one. "Your scent will change, and we know all the symptoms. This is not the first time we have used this.
" She looked at the amount of potatoes left. "If you cooperate, we will allow you to eat slowly, but if you try to fake it, we will pour the rest into you."

"And I will change my mind about what I told you earlier," the second one said.

I nodded.

"How much more than a child did you use?"

"Halfway between a child and an adult," the kind one said.

"A child's portion would make a child sleep?"

"Yes, and an adult portion would make one of us sleep. A male might sleep for a shorter time, but he would sleep."

I looked at how much I had eaten. "Two more forks, then let it settle," I said. I opened my mouth, ate, and ate again. Then I looked at the bed. "That pillow is thin. If you elevate my chest and head more, I am less likely to get sick in my sleep."

"How do you know all this?" the mean one asked.

"I am a science teacher. I know things."

"All right," she said. "If you agree to cooperate, I will retrieve more pillows."

"I have no choice, do I?"

"No, but you could be difficult."

"I will eat enough potatoes to sleep, and I will not fake it."

She handed the fork to the kind one and disappeared. While she was gone I asked the other one, "How long will I sleep?"

"I don't know. At least several hours. Possibly until morning."

"If you help me escape, you could go to Wisconsin with me. Lara is going to kill everyone here."

"She will trade for you," the woman said. "I am sorry, but if she doesn't trade, Johnny will start to hurt you until she does. You are lucky to be asleep. Can you feel the drug?"

I assessed. "A little," I admitted. I opened my mouth and accepted more of the dreaded potatoes.

"How long does it normally take?" I asked.

"Not usually that long. You haven't had enough. A child would fall asleep while still eating. An adult wolf might eat everything down and then fall asleep at the table. Take more."

I let her feed me more of the potatoes.

"Would you really die if we gave you too much?"

"I don't know," I said. "It depends on what it is. Vomiting from too much food was the bigger risk. The extra pillows might help. You will need to arrange me on my side with my head higher than my stomach, and do your best so I do not have a strange shape.
"

"Then you should eat the rest," she said. "You will sleep longer. I won't let you die."

I took a deep breath. "Will you be keeping me drugged?"

"Probably. Unless Johnny needs to hurt you. Then they'll want you awake."

"They'll need me awake for proof of life," I said.

She gave me more of the potatoes and asked, "What is proof of life?"

"Lara will want proof I am alive. She'll want to talk to me."

"I don't know anything about that. Please eat the rest. Sleeping is better. Even if you free your hands while we are gone, you won't get free. And you now have enough of the drug, even when you wake, you will be very groggy for hours."

"You are trying to be kind," I observed, then let her give me more potatoes. I could feel the drug working through my system, and I knew I only had a few more minutes.

"
Kimber is my friend," she said. "My name is Emily. But you should know, Hank was Sarah's brother."

"I am sorry she lost her brother, but he shouldn't have helped kidnap me."

"No," Emily said. "He should not have. Eat the rest of the potatoes now."

I let her finish feeding me. She set the plate on the floor.

"Can you feel it?"

"Yes," I said, and I realized my tongue felt heavy. "If I choke, I will die."

There were noises, and then Sarah appeared with several pillows.

"She ate them all?" Sarah asked Emily.

"Yes. She is nearly asleep."

"You!" she said. "Say something."

"Sorry about your brother," I said.

"He was an asshole," Sarah said. "I am sorry this is happening to you."

"You... changed... mind."

"Yes. But don't ask us to help you." Then she was beside me, arranging the pillows. Emily told Sarah what I'd said about how to help me sleep. I fell over onto the pillows, and I felt my legs pulled up onto the bed. They rolled me more onto my side and used a pillow to prop me there.

"One... ribs... bent," I said. And I don't remember anything after that for a long time.

I don't know how long they kept me drugged. I remember Sarah and Emily several times. I couldn't tell you how many, and I couldn't tell you how long it was between visits. I might not even remember all their visits. One or the other of them would carry me to the bathroom and help me as much as necessary. I remember barely being able to sit up, and one of them would steady me, then clean me up and carry me back to my cell. They would give me more water and food. They told me which choices were drugged, and they made me eat the drugged food first. Then they fed me very slowly whatever else was left until I passed out again.

I don't remember ever being sick.

And then there was a change. It started the same, with them entering my cell and struggling to wake me. The bathroom, and feeding me, but they didn't seem to care what I ate or how much. Then they arranged me on the bed and I slept more.

The next time they came, I was groggy. They took me to the bathroom again, but they didn't feed me. They gave me more water and made sure I was all right on the bed.

Some time later, I woke on my own.

They had stopped drugging me. I searched for my chopstick. I found it, buried in the bed covers. No one must have noticed it, or else they didn't care. I began working at the rope.

There was noise at the door, and I struggled to put the chopstick back together. I was still fumbling with it when Emily and Sarah stepped in. I lay quietly as if I were still asleep.

"You should be awake," Sarah said.

"I am," I said. "But it's too much work to sit up without help."

I barely got the chopstick back together and dropped it on the bed behind me. They crossed the room to me and helped me to sit.

"Your alpha refuses to trade for you," Emily said. "You must convince her."

I sighed.

"We are not your enemies," Emily said. "We would free you if we could. We would run with you if we could. But we both have family. You understand."

"Yes, I understand that your pack is run by a coward and dominated by a sadist. And I understand no one is doing anything about either of those. If this were my pack, I would kill both of them or die trying, and my entire family would be here helping me."

"Then you are far braver than we are. After you have spent time with Johnny, maybe you will understand."

"If he hurts me, Lara will move heaven and earth to make sure he dies."

"Perhaps," Emily said. "But they believe she is a weak woman who will do whatever she is told when she hears your screams."

"Maybe she doesn't love me that much," I said. "I am just a fox."

"No," Sarah said. "Elaine reported everything."

"Then I am glad I killed that bitch," I said.

They were quiet for a minute. "Did you really?"

"Yes," I said. "Her and two of the males.
I don't know which two. I was a little busy. The third may still be alive. I stabbed him with a sewing needle."

"Where is this sewing needle now?" Emily asked me.

"The last time I saw it was sticking out of his cheek. If he is not here, then my enforcers have him. I don't know if he lived more than a moment or two with them. They would have been angry."

The women nodded. "We are to take you to the bathroom, give you very little to eat and drink, and then Brody will give you a chance to convince your alpha to trade for you. If you refuse, or if she refuses, then Johnny comes. You do not want Johnny to come."

"I understand," I said.

Emily reached underneath me and picked me up. Sarah pulled the hood over my head, and Emily carried me to the bathroom. She stood me on my feet, then she checked the ropes on my wrists.

"Your wrists are bleeding," she said.

"I don't care. How close am I?"

She paused before answering. "I don't know. One length is frayed almost entirely, but it is a complicated knot. I don't know what it takes for it to fall off. It could just take another few minutes or it could be several days."

"If you loosened it, I would claim I did it all myself."

"I'm sorry. It is very hard for me to lie to Johnny, and he would ask."

"He's going to ask if you knew I was working on the knots."

"I am a stupid woman," she said. "What do I know about knots?"

Then she helped me use the toilet before carrying me to my cell again. As soon as she set me down, my hands found my chopstick, and I began working at the rope, trying very hard not to get caught.

The women fed me slowly, perhaps delaying. I ate lightly, but enough I would have energy to heal. They rinsed it down with water for me, then they apologized once more before leaving. They left the door open, and after a moment, Brody was standing there. He crossed the room, pulling a chair with him, and sat down facing me.

I worked on the knot. Johnny was the one I most wanted to kill, but I would accept Brody.

"Did Emily and Sarah explain things to you?"

"Yes. It's not hard to explain. One coward is going to tell another coward and sadistic bully to hurt me. Lara is going to kill all of you. It's a simple story."

"I am doing the best I can," he said. "All she has to do is return my sister to me."

"You are a coward," I said. "So is Johnny. He didn't have the guts to take me himself but sent underlings in. That makes him a coward. Lara would have been in
the front, and I would have been right behind her. You are both cowards compared to other men, and especially cowards compared to two women."

"Perhaps you are right," he said. "But this coward cannot let Johnny Mack do to all of Iowa what he will do only to a select few."

"Then kill him," I said. "Drug his food and kill him in his sleep."

Brody stared at me as if it were a fresh idea.

"Oh please, you haven't thought of that?"

"No," he said. "I haven't. I do not believe we can put enough of the drug into him before he would notice."

"Other poisons exist," I said. "Some of them can't be detected until it is far too late. Look them up. Or ask Lara to do it for you. She'd be happy to drug Johnny for you."

"Perhaps my sister will be smart enough to appease Johnny," Brody said. "Long enough to do it herself."

"Will you allow me to suggest she feed the idea to Kimber?"

"Yes. But then you will beg her to rescue you."

I didn't say anything.

"You will beg eventually," he said. "Either before or after Johnny has done things to you."

"You might live if he only hurts me a little, but if he hurts me too much, Lara's rage will know absolutely no bounds, and the entire Madison pack will descend on Iowa. They may counsel her to trade for me, but they will follow her, especially for me. If he kills me, there won't be a wolf left alive in Iowa before she's done."

"She'll trade, either before you scream or after. I will strive to trade you alive. I would rather trade you without this becoming worse than it has."

He pulled his phone out and placed a call. "Let me speak to the alpha," he said.

I heard Elisabeth's voice. "One minute. May I speak to the fox?"

He held the phone to me. "Hello, Elisabeth," I said.

"Are you whole?"

"So far."

"Convince me," she said.

"Ask me something."

"The name of one of your children."

"Celeste Elisabeth Burns," I told her.

"Oh honey," she said. "Really?"

"Yes. Lara hasn't told you?"

"No. Why that name and not a kit?"

"You'll figure it out." I was saving the names of the kits to send other messages.

Brody took the phone from me. "She is alive and unhurt," he said. "Let me speak with the alpha."

"You are negotiating with me," Elisabeth said. "If Lara hears your voice again, I won't be able to control her. She has most of the pack mobilized. We have arranged for an assault force with Lima Consulting. Ask the fox who they are."

She was lying. Greg was busy.

"Tell the fox that the business Lima was on has finished." She knew I could hear. "We have Blackhawk helicopters. We have a ten million dollar war fund in cash, and we can easily liquidate fifty million more. We took down the Chicago pack for three million. How much damage can we do to you for sixty million?"

"You're bluffing," Brody said. "We'll kill her."

"You and everyone in your pack will die, Alpha," Elisabeth said, and that was the first time I heard her say that phrase so it wasn't in honor. "We will hunt you to the ends of the earth. How much cash do you have? A few hundred thousand, if that? Do you think you can hide from us with sixty million to spend finding you? Give our fox back. Now. The little fox killed three of your enforcers and that traitorous bitch when outnumbered seven to one. She did it alone. What the fuck do you think I will do to you?"

The last was growled. Elisabeth could be damned scary when she wanted to be.

Brody listened to all of it. I couldn't tell if he thought she was bluffing or not.

"I am out of choices," he said. "Your fox wants to tell you a few more things. And then if you do not agree to return my sister, Johnny Mack is going to spen
d some time with her. Ask Kimber what that means."

"Brody," Elisabeth said. "Every conversation we have is going to start with proof of life, and if Johnny Mack rapes Michaela, she will tell me. And then we will descend on you like the wrath of god. Right now, she is alive and unharmed, but she has been through enough in her life, and you will not add to that. Do I make myself clear?"

Brody held the phone to me. "Elisabeth," I said.

"Do you understand, Michaela?" she asked.

"Yes, Elisabeth. I am not worth all that."

"Lara won't stop, honey," Elisabeth said. "You know that."

Then, for the first time, I started to cry. "I'm so sorry, Elisabeth. This is my fault."

"No, it's not. It's Elaine's, and she got what she deserved.
Good job. We're all proud of you."

"It was just the bathroom. No one should have known we were there."

"Are you ever going to fight my security again?"

"No."

"We'll get you back. Anything to tell Lara?"

I looked at Brody. "May I tell her?"

"Yes," he said.

"If you have to trade
Kimber, teach her about poisons," I said. "Teach her to be patient, and she will get her chance."

"Oh Michaela," she said. "Clever fox. Brody is okay with this?"

"He wants to be rid of the problem. Tell Lara I love her. Tell her to take care of our babies."

"Let me talk to Brody again."

"She wants to talk to you."

Brody took the phone, and Elisabeth said, "You would keep quiet about poison?"

"Yes," he said. "I don't like any of this, but I can't let him do what he would do to all of Iowa."

"Don't let him hurt Michaela."

"I have to," he said. "He is insisting. He is growing impatient."

"If he rapes Michaela, we will know. Every conversation will start with proof of life, and if we are not satisfied, we descend on you. You understand."

"No rape, but she'll scream. Give me my sister."

"Give me our fox, and we'll let your sister decide if she wants to willingly come poison your problem for you."

"I'm sorry, enforcer," he said, and he hung up.

I stared at him. I hadn't stopped working on the knots, but I felt no give at all.

"You are a horrible alpha," I told him.

"I know. I never should have challenged the old alpha. But I love my pack. Do you understand?"

"If he rapes me, Lara will kill all of you. If he only hurts me, she might be satisfied with him and you, if she gets me back alive."

Brody didn't say anything, but he stood up and walked to the door. "I am sorry," he said.

"Fuck off," I told him. "Do not expect forgiveness. Free me now and we might offer mercy."

"I can't," he said, and then he stepped out, leaving me in the dark.

I worked like crazy on the rope.

* * * *

It would be nice to say that I freed my wrists. I didn't. And then Johnny Mack stood in the doorway, looking at me.

He was a big wolf, and
from what I could tell, ugly. He approached slowly.

I stashed my chopstick amongst the bedclothes, thinking I might still be able to free myself later. I glared at him. I didn't bother talking to him. This was someone who liked to hurt people, and nothing I said was going to change that.

"You will scream until you are hoarse or I grow bored," he said. "I won't stop until then." He turned around. "Get in here. Record this."

Emily entered the room, and she was holding a video recorder.

"There isn't enough light," she said.

"We just need sound," he said. "If you screw this up, I get to do it again."