Fox Revenge (Madison Wolves #5) (20 page)

"I told you I would give you plenty of warning," I said. "I have not done so yet. I have no immediate plans to make your life difficult."

She studied me carefully. "I expect my alpha to keep her promises to me, Michaela. Or don't make them."

I wasn't accustomed to the enforcers talking to me like this. "Why are you angry with me, Serena?"

She looked down. "I'm not. I have never been more scared or felt more guilty than I did watching you taken away from me, Michaela. You must never make me feel like that again."

"I'm sorry, Serena."

"This is why you want to talk to Elisabeth."

"Yes. I am in no shape to do anything foolish today, Serena."

"This is why you want us to give you a workout. I should drug you instead."

"I want the workout because I hate being weak," I replied.
"And I've been drugged most of the last week. I surely hope that was a poor joke."

"Some days I am not sure. I understand now why Lara and Elisabeth get so frustrated with you."

"Regretting accepting the new position?" I asked her.

She looked up into my eyes. "No. Are you going to make me regret it?"

"Not this weekend. I'll promise that much."

"Please let it go, Michaela."

"They must pay."

"They did. Let it be enough."

"Please, take me to the gym, Serena." I looked at Karen. "I thought Elisabeth wanted you near Lara."

"Former drill sergeant," she said with a smile.

"Really?" She nodded. "Good," I declared.

* * * *

They took me at my word in the gym. I did whatever either of them said. We began with a light warm up, but then it got serious. It didn't take too long before they had me sweating and panting for air, and then Karen held that intensity for a long time.

Elisabeth stopped in. I tried to call a break.

"No," said Karen. She had me on a stair climber at the time, and I could barely keep up with the pace she demanded of me.

In between pants, I told Elisabeth, "Enforcer, I would like a report on my capture and recovery. I would like the details of whatever assault plans you made. I would like full data on everything we have about the Iowa pack. Please be ready for me in your office in one hour."

"Three," said Karen. "Assuming you want a shower in between."

"Alpha, the presentation will be in the committee room," Elisabeth said. She looked pissed, but she didn't yell at me.

"Thank you, Elisabeth."

"Work her until she drops," Elisabeth told Karen and Serena.

"That's what she asked us to do," Karen said.

Elisabeth left, and Karen turned up the intensity.

I held to whatever they ordered for over an hour, but I was running on empty. Eventually I began complaining. Karen called a break. They took turns slamming water and food into me, then we moved to the weights. She ramped it up slowly, but it didn't take that long until every muscle felt like limp pasta. Still, Karen managed to find more muscles I didn't know existed.

They gave me another break, feeding me and massaging my muscles. Then it was back to the weight machines, but on very light weight.

"This is just stretching," Karen said. I nodded weakly. She worked each muscle group lightly, then told me to follow her.

I could barely stand, and Serena had to steady me, but we followed Karen as she led the way to the pool.

"No," I said when I saw it. "I'm done."

"You are going in that water," she said. "And you are swimming laps."

"I can't, Karen."

"Throw her in, Serena," Karen said.

"All right!" I said. "Suit? Please?"

They had thought of everything. There was a one-piece suit waiting for me in the locker room. They let me change, but they watched me warily, lest I bolt. I wouldn't have gotten far if I had tried. Then I followed Karen back to the edge of the pool. She brought me to the deep end.

"You will dive in and swim laps, or we will throw you in and you will swim laps," she said.

I jumped in and began swimming.

"Faster!" Karen yelled at me. I stepped it up. "Faster!"

I stopped and looked at her. "I'm not an Olympic swimmer."

"You are a werefox," she said. "And you have more energy than you are giving me. Faster."

I began swimming again.

"Faster," she said. And then she threw a tennis ball at me, bouncing it off my head. It hurt. She threw two more, and I began swimming as fast as I could.

Every time I
slowed down, she threw tennis balls at me. They hurt!

She made me swim until long past
the point when I thought I couldn't swim anymore. I knew I was going slower, but she had stopped throwing tennis balls. I thought perhaps she had run out, as most of them were floating in the water, but I glanced up and saw she held three in her hands. She raised a hand to throw one at me, and I put renewed energy into swimming.

Finally, well into the deep end, my body gave out. It happened from one stroke to the next. I went from swimming to sinking, and I didn't even care.

Then Karen was in the water next to me, pulling me back to the surface. I sputtered, and she held me. "I've got you," she said. "You're okay."

I was too weak to even clutch at her. She handed me up to Serena, who pulled me from the water. Then the two of them held me at the side of the pool while I lay limply in their arms.

"Was that what you wanted?" Karen asked.

I turned my head to look at her. "Yes. Do it again tomorrow."

"Yes," she said. "This afternoon, we spar. Tomorrow I'll really push you."

I laughed weakly.

They fed me a little, then steadied me as I walked to the showers. When I was done, they had fresh clothing for me. I sat on the bench and pulled it on slowly.

* * * *

Serena coordinated with Elisabeth. She and Lara were both waiting for me in the conference room when I arrived, and there was more food for me. I could barely walk, but I made it there without help.

"Enforcer," I said. "I thought this would just be the two of us."

"You are going to be stubborn," she said. "And we are going to be clear."

I sighed and sat where Elisabeth gestured. They let me grab some food. Elisabeth asked Karen, "Did she drop?"

"Technically, she sank."

"Good," said Elisabeth. "Do it again tomorrow."

Karen laughed. "That's what she said."

"And she should spar with Angel."

"Not yet," Karen said. "Angel needs control first."

Elisabeth nodded. "Then you and me."

"Yes," said Karen. "I have safe weapons for her to use."

"Teach me to beat six of you," I said weakly. "That's my goal. Six."

"Honey," said Elisabeth. "You understand that we'll learn to counteract your style as fast as we can teach you. It's going to seem like you're going backwards. You're already very good, and we're not used to your style. We have more room for improvement. You won't beat six of us."

"That is my goal. Find a way," I said.

"It won't be six of us," Elisabeth said. "But maybe six enforcers who haven't learned to fight with you. I don't know how we'll simulate that."

"You will wear a helmet," Lara told me. "And you guys need to be careful about her neck. Also, make sure I'm not around."

"Yes, Alpha," Elisabeth said.

I ate slowly after that, replenishing my energy. I thought I would hurt, but my muscles felt good, if tired. Finally I turned to Elisabeth. "Enforcer, I would like your report."

At first, she told me what I knew. How I was taken, what the immediate response was. How the mess at the mall was covered up. What happened to the one I had injured.

"I don't want the details about that," I said. "Unless they are pertinent."

She summarized. "You were taken through a combination of subterfuge on their part and miscalculation on yours."

I looked down at my hands. "I know."

"Everyone was taken in by Elaine," Elisabeth said. "Kimberlee was in denial at first, but the evidence was clear. You had blood on your hand by the time you grabbed that last dagger, and your handprint was clear on the handle. It was your hand that drove it into her skull, and there was only one reason you would have done that. But we also saw the silver wound in her arm and the unhealed slashes across the backs of her legs. If she had been the only wolf you had fought, we would have been impressed."

"I didn't want to kill her. She was being blackmailed. But then she grabbed my ankle. I would have gotten free." I looked at Serena. "I was inches from escaping from them. But there were four still healthy."

"We had four plus you, and they wouldn't have fought us with all the humans around," Serena said.

I nodded.

Elisabeth had photos of the scene. She went over and over how much damage I had done.

"I slashed a couple
as well, but not enough."

"What should you have done differently?" she asked.

"Not have left Serena."

"After that."

"Killed Elaine as soon as I knew what was going on."

"Y
es," she said.

"I let her lead me from the bathroom. Should I have killed her there and waited?"

"The hallway was a better place for you to fight," Elisabeth said. "In the bathroom, you would have been cornered. Taking the fight into the hallway was a better choice, and it got you a little bit closer to your security. I don't know the specifics of the fight, but you fight better with obstacles around, so killing her in a fashion that leaves an obstacle is probably more advantage to you than to them."

"All right.
So if I have a killing blow, take it."

"
Yes," said Elisabeth. "How about the fight itself? Were you trying to kill them or were you trying to escape?"

I thought about it. "Escape, I think. If I could have shifted to fox, I could have escaped, but I hadn't loos
ened my clothing, and I would have gotten tangled. I'd have been easy to catch if I shifted, and a male wolf on two feet is faster than I am on two feet. I couldn't outrun them."

"I concur," Elisabeth said. "You made exactly two mistakes. You left your security and you should have been faster to kill Elaine."

Lara stared into my eyes. "Leaving your security is your fault. Not wanting to kill Elaine is not."

I nodded at her.

After that they talked about efforts to find me.

"
Our car was too far," Serena said. "And we couldn't leave the mess. I'm sorry, but we couldn't let the humans have the bodies. We lost time dealing with that."

"We've analyzed that," Elisabeth said. "We haven't come up with anything we can change without more forces. We sent it to Daniel and Greg as well. They both agree."

"Was it wrong for me to create the bodies in the first place?"

Lara actually laughed. "No. I am proud of you. You kicked their asses, Michaela, and if presented with a similar situation again, I want you to kill anyone you have to."

"All right. I had to be sure. Do we think there will be a next time?"

"Yes," Elisabeth said. "We do."

"All right. I want, I don't know. Things sewn into my clothing. Things no one will recognize. Things that will help me cut rope." I explained what I had tried to do with my chopstick.

"It has to be exceedingly subtle," Karen said. "If anyone thinks you have hidden weapons, the first thing they'll do is cut your clothes off you and throw it all away."

"That's what they did when they discovered the chopstick," I said. "I was unconscious for it."

Lara's lips clenched.

"It was the women," I said. "They were kind to me. Don't fret, Lara."

"Another woman had her hands on you?" she asked me.

"Don't tease me, Lara." She nodded just once. "Lara, there is something I need to say, but I don't want it to upset you."

"I'll be fine," she said.

"I need to know if I can heal dislocated shoulders without help." I explained about shifting with my arms tied.

"That's a bad idea," Elisabeth said immediately. "You might do more than dislocate them, especially as fast as you shift. You can heal a dislocated shoulder, although both might be rough. I've done one. It hurts like a son of a
bitch, but you can do it. I wouldn't want to heal two."

"If it's life or death, Elisabeth?"

"It wasn't, Michaela," Lara said.

"It's
Kimber's life," I said. "He's going to kill her if she doesn't kill him first. I need to know."

Lara sighed. "Do not do this until I am able to take the stress if it goes badly."

"All right," I told her. "I'll wait. For now."

"Thank you."