Fox Revenge (Madison Wolves #5) (30 page)

"We're not doing a full frontal assault," I said.

"You wanted Lara to kill every wolf in Iowa," Elisabeth said. "That's a full frontal assault."

Greg set up figures in the house. He set up humans holding guns. And then he had a variety of wolf figures. Each wolf had a name on it. And there was even one small fox.

He ran several scenarios, over and over, talking through them. In the first, the wolf representing Angel died first, then about half our forces before we retreated under heavy fire. It went downhill from there. In one of them, he added a wolf labeled Lara, and he had two tiny wolf pup figurines he left to the side.

"This isn't funny," I said.

"No," he said. "It is not. It is, however, honest."

In the next scenario, he pushed over the figure representing Lara. When he was done, he held up the two tiny wolf pups, and Angel and Scarlett behind me began making mewling noises.

"Stop it!" I said, covering my ears. They got louder, whining and crying for their mother. "Stop it!"

"Michaela," Greg said gently. "We don't know who is going to die in an assault of this nature. But I absolutely guarantee you, some of your friends will die. I promise you, you will lose friends. Maybe only one or two. Maybe all of them. You will lose friends."

I nodded. "What if we wait for you?"

"The outlook is better. I can bring enough forces we will overwhelm and win. Some of my forces will die, guaranteed. The death benefit you would pay is a million dollars each. Well, I presume that Lara would pay. If your forces augment mine, then again, some of your friends may die. Your mate may die. You may die. I promise you, there will be friendly deaths. Given the firepower in the house, and given that we can't blow the house up, I estimate at least five friendly deaths, possibly far more, depending upon how good they are."

"We can win," Wendy said. "But at a stiff price."

"I won't help though," Greg said.

"What?"

"This is a full frontal assault in a human residential neighborhood. Rounds go everywhere. This would be messier than a bomb. And the human authorities would go insane."

I nodded. "There's still the sniper approach. And there's the send Michaela in alone approach."

Elisabeth had a new folder. She pulled out the first photo. It was a tombstone with Angel's name on it.

"Stop it!" I yelled. "We won't do it that way."

One had Scarlett's name. One with Karen's. Serena's. Lara's. Mine. Rebecca Angel's.

"That's just ridiculous!"

"The next alpha may not want the previous alpha's children to live," Elisabeth said quietly.

"Put those away," I said. "Please don't make me look at them anymore."

"All right," Elisabeth said. She collected the photos. But then Greg slid the two tiny wolf pup figurines to rest in front of me, and Angel and Scarlett began mewling again.

"You two stop it!"
I looked at Greg. "Snipers."

"All right," he said. "This
type is the only plan I can help you with in this neighborhood." He pulled out maps and more surveillance photos.

"These are the points with line of fire onto the back deck that are sufficiently far enough away to avoid detection. As you can see, they are all the upstairs windows of some of the surrounding houses. You might be able to do something from one of these outside locations, but the problem is that you would need to wait days for the opportunity."

He went through all of them with me.

"The most viable choice would be to place snipers here, and here." He showed me on the map. "Then wait for the opportunity. Eventually Johnny Mack will step outside and we can take him. I don't know how we're supposed to get Brody."

I stared. "If we get Johnny, Brody will fall to a challenger."

"That is my guess as well," Greg said.

"So, this is our plan," I said.

"Sure. So, to place snipers at these windows, we either kill the human occupants, or take them prisoner and hold them in their homes for a week or two."

I stared at him. "Neither of those are viable choices."

"Good, I'm glad we agree. The other choice is to buy the two houses. Neither is for sale. But if we offered enough money, you could convince them to leave. That tends to leave a paper trail, but that'
s probably not a problem if the human authorities have no reason to become suspicious. Sell the houses at a loss later."

"Downsides?"

"It takes one to three months to set up and then several weeks to implement, waiting for the right moment. Tell me, how long do you think you can stare through a rifle scope waiting for your shot? A few weeks? I know I'd go crazy, but I have a few guys who are just patient enough to do it. Anyone can be killed if you are determined enough."

"Plus," said Karen. "You can miss. I've missed shots like that before."

"The guy moves just as you fire," said Wendy.

"The wind around houses can be weird."

"All sorts of things can happen," Greg said.

I nodded numbly. Elisabeth had a new set of pictures. Me. Lara. Lara happy. Lara looking very upset.

"This was yesterday," Elisabeth said. "When she realized we couldn't change your mind."

She went on and on with more photos.

"Oh," Greg said. "I forgot to mention. The guys from the house can fire back."

"Or see you and fire preemptively," Karen added.

Elisabeth nudged the wolf pup figurines even closer, and Angel and Scarlett began mewling for "Mommy Fox, Mommy Fox".

Elisabeth placed another photo of the ultrasound in front of me and ordered me to look at it. Scarlett and Angel kept mewling.

And I began to sob.

I heard Serena make a call. "She's ready."

Elisabeth kept pushing photos of me. The ultrasound. Lara. The wedding. Herself. Scarlett and Angel dancing. Angel studying. Angel doing a fist pump. Lara kissing me. Photo after photo, and I continued to sob.

Elisabeth pushed the ultrasound at me again. Angel and Scarlett changed their tone. It was still "Mommy Fox, Mommy Fox," But it was said with excitement, with joy.

The door opened behind me and Lara walked into the room. I sobbed, staring at the photos, and Lara crossed the room, stepping between Angel and Scarlett, and wrapped her arms around me.

"Please help me raise our babies," she said. "Please. I don't want to be a single mother."

I turned around and wrapped my arms around her, pressing my head to her belly, and listened to the pitter patter of my babies' hearts.

I switched places with Lara, giving her my chair, and wrapped my arms around her. With her sitting and me standing, I was slightly taller than she was. She held me tightly.

Elisabeth, Scarlett, Angel and Serena crowded around behind me. They all held me.

"We're so sorry," Elisabeth said. "We're so sorry you hurt."

"I remember now, Lara," I said.

"I know."

I cried myself out.

Eventually Lara turned around. I took the chair next to her, pulled as close to her as I could get. My friends clustered around us.

Lara addressed Greg.

"Can you kill Johnny Mack and Brody Mortens?"

"Johnny Mack for sure. Brody Mortens, maybe, but I can't promise it, not without drawing human attention."

"Brody will die if Johnny does," Lara said. "The other enforcers won't support him. One of them will challenge him."

"That is our assessment as well," Greg agreed.

"Will you do this for us?" Lara asked.

"When?"

"Is Kimber still alive?"

"This woman?" Greg said, presenting a photo. It was
Kimber on the deck of the house. She was crying. "Two days ago."

"Does she ever leave?" I ask.

"Not that we have evidence," he said.

"She is owed greater vengeance than I am," I said. "Give her a chance."

"Six months?" Lara asked. I nodded. She turned to Greg. "Six months. If Johnny Mack is not dead in six months, will you do it?"

"Yes," he said. "If I'm not available on that schedule?"

Lara turned to me.

"We'll wait," I said.

Greg slid an envelope to Lara. She opened it and looked at it, then nodded to him.

"How much?" I asked.

"You don't need to know," Lara said.

"How much?"

"A million dollars," Greg said. "It's only that high because we'll have to buy those two houses, and we're going to loose a lot of money when we sell them."

"A million dollars for my vengeance," I said.

"Yes," said Lara.

"You would pay this for me?"

"Yes," she said again.

"But you don't want to."

"It would be breaking my word. No, I don't. But I will do it for you."

I got up and walked around to Greg. I hugged him and whispered into his ear. "Thank you for showing me what is important."

"My pleasure," he said.

I hugged Wendy as well, then I turned to Greg. "Greg, do you believe that the world catches up to people like this?"

"I believe he is a rabid animal who will get put down one way, sooner or later."

"If it is later, he is allowed to hurt other people in the meantime."

"That is true," he said.

I turned to Lara. "We have let these people take too much from us. I do not believe we should spend anything else on them. But perhaps a modest donation to Amnesty International or some other suitable charity is in order."

She smiled broadly and struggled to her feet, Elisabeth and Serena helping her. Then we were in each other's arms.

But I felt defeated.

"Michaela," came Serena's voice over the radio. "Land. Now."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Land, come straight to the hangar. We have to go."

Then I heard Angel's voice. "Fly the plane, Michaela," she said. "Make this a landing to be proud of."

I set up my landing, set the plane down gently, and taxied carefully to the hangar. I killed the engine and started doing the paperwork.

Angel was immediately at my door. I had to open it for her, and she unbuckled my seatbelt and pushed the seat back.

"I have to do the paperwork," I said.

"I'll do it." She pulled me from the plane and thrust me at Serena. "Go. I'll catch up."

Then Serena was dragging me towards the waiting car. "Serena! Stop! What's going on?"

"It's the babies," she said. "Lara's water broke!"

Emanuel was already behind the wheel of the car. Serena practically tossed me into the car, following after me. "Go, go!" she said, slamming the door. Serena pulled my seatbelt around me and clicked it closed then sat down next to me and buckled in. "We're buckled!"

We made the ten-minute drive in three minutes.

We came to a stop in front of the school, which also contained a small medical center. Wolves don't go to human hospitals; there are too many pesky questions to answer.

As soon as the car was stopped, Serena opened the door, unsnapped both our buckles, then dragged me from the car. Emanuel ran ahead, opening doors, and Serena half dragged me into the school. We ran together to the medical center, bursting in through the doors.

Karen was waiting just inside the medical center. She pointed, and Serena dragged me in the right direction. We burst into the delivery room, and the midwife started yelling. "Scrubs!"

Serena pulled me back out and dragged me to the wash station. I began scrubbing up while Serena pulled a set of surgical scrubs over me. Then she took over washing my hands for me while I stood there like a child. When she was satisfied, she grabbed a sterile towel and thrust it at me. I'm not sure what that did to the sterility.

But it's not like the wolf pups were going to catch anything. They were werewolves, after all.

I dried my hands, then Serena shoved me back into the delivery room.

There were two midwives. Lara was already on the bed, looking quite calm in spite of the unusual position she was in, with her legs up in the stirrups. Elisabeth was there, looking nervous.

"Thank god," she said. "I'll wait outside."

"You'll do no such thing, enforcer!" I said. "You will wait here for your nieces. You know you want to see them as much as we do."

She grinned. "You're right. I didn't want to intrude."

I yelled at Serena. "Get Angel here! Where is Francesca?"

"She's making food," Elisabeth said. "You know how Aunt Francesca is about feeding people. Gia is helping her. Angel and Scarlett are already on the way. Vivian is coming, too. She wants to see."

"Everyone wants to see," said the midwife. "The alpha is having babies."

I crossed to Lara and took her hand, then kissed her.

"You guys are all worked up," she said. "Wolves have been having pups for a long time."

And then she made a face.

"What was that?" I asked. "Are you in pain?"

"Oh honey," she said. "Contraction. Calm down. Can someone get my wife something to calm her down?"

"How long?" I asked.

"Soon," said the other midwife, seated in front of Lara's open legs. "Very soon."

Angel barely made it in time. Serena kept everyone else out but sent Angel in, probably to help keep me calm.
Then, a very short while later, the midwife was cleaning the first baby.  She wrapped it up and offered it to me, but I pointed to Elisabeth. Elisabeth took the small creature, and I had never seen her look at anything so tenderly.

"We made a baby," I whispered to Lara.

"We did," she said. "Now we're making another one."

It wasn't long, and Angel was holding the second little baby. The midwife helped Lara, and then I climbed onto the bed next to her. Elisabeth slipped to Lara's side, holding the baby for her to see. Angel came to my side.

"Lara," I said. "Look. We made two beautiful babies."

"Yes," she said. "We did."

Elisabeth moved her baby to Lara's arms, and Angel gave me the second baby. "Hello, Rebecca Angel Burns," I said.

"Hello, Celeste Elisabeth Burns," Lara said.

I stared into the beautiful faces of our two little babies.

Then my face grew troubled.

"Lara," I said. "We have a problem."

"I know," she agreed.

Instantly we had the attention of everyone in the room. I looked at Angel. "Are you sure this is the second baby?" She nodded.

"And this is the first baby?" Lara asked Elisabeth. Elisabeth nodded.

"Lara, mine doesn't look like a Rebecca."

"And mine doesn't look like a Celeste."

"Yours looks like a Rebecca," I said.

"And I think you're looks like a Celeste," Lara agreed.

I stared into the face of the baby I was holding. "Hello, Celeste Elisabeth."

"Hello, Rebecca Angel," Lara said.

Elisabeth and Angel switched sides of the bed. "You really named a baby after me?" Angel asked.

"Yes," I said. "But you better not play favorites."

"I couldn't possibly," she said. "They're both so perfect."

"This one looks like a trouble maker," I said.

"So does this one," said Lara.

"They got that from their Mommy Fox," Elisabeth said.

"Damned right," I agreed.

"Honey, don't swear in front of the babies," Lara said. "You know they start picking up words at an early age."