Fox Revenge (Madison Wolves #5) (6 page)

"Let's see if we can find another one." I shifted back to fox and headed north.

It took another ten minutes before I heard a single deer. I was just setting us up when we heard a distant howl. I immediately shifted human and turned to Lara. "I have one, it would take us ten minutes. Your call."

She chuffed and turned north, signaling her intent. I stepped in front and set us up for the hunt. I led them to within two hundred yards of the deer then shifted again, quietly saying, "It sounds bigger. Your hunt, Lara."

She dispersed her wolves, Serena watching over me. The last stage of the hunt took another five minutes.

Things didn't go exactly as intended. Normally when I find the deer, we scare the deer towards one of the other wolves. But this one took a turn, barely eluding Lara, and suddenly all the wolves were behind the deer.

It ran straight for Serena and me
.

I immediately ran behind a tree. Serena took a protective stance in front of me, and when the deer nearly ran us down, she leapt, knocking the deer well away from my position before taking it down. She snapped its neck then stood over it and howled a victory.

I shifted to human and approached Serena and the deer carefully, wrapping my arms around her and whispering, "Thank you."

She chuffed and gave me a lick.

The wolves congregated on us. Lara was huffing her displeasure but I said, "Knock it off. Serena kept it well clear of me, and I was completely safe. Serena's kill. Serena, will you share with the pack?"

She chuffed happily.

* * * *

We dragged our kill back to the compound. Karen's group had dressed theirs out and shared out some of it before dragging it to the compound as well. They got there ahead of us, and most of them were back to human by the time we arrived.

"We were much faster," Karen said.

I shifted human and said, "Not exactly." I grabbed a blanket. "This is the fourth deer we found."

"No way!" Karen said.

Lara shifted and laughed. "The fox doesn't like it when we kill a mother with yearlings."

Karen laughed. "Tie?"

"Tie," I declared. "Who wants one more game?"

Everyone wanted one more game.

"This is a game of freeze tag coupled with catch the fox," I said. "All of you against me."

Lara laughed. "This will be a short game."

"Anyone I tag with paw, teeth or tongue is frozen in place for a slow count to sixty," I said. "
I have to get at least five feet away from you for the freeze to stick, so I can't freeze you to prevent you catching me. I am allowed to use frozen people as obstacles. Any wolf who bumps someone frozen becomes frozen with them. Once you unfreeze, you must run up onto the porch before you may chase me again."

Lara began laughing.

"Anyone I tag a second time is frozen for two minutes. Third tag is three minutes, etc."

"This sounds like a dangerous game," Lara said. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

"Game freezes if I start yipping," I said. "If I continue to yip or whine, everyone back off and I forfeit. But try not to hurt me. I might yip a couple of times if I get tripped, and there is a five second delay before I can tag anyone from my last yip."

"All right," Lara said. "Everyone be careful."

"I win if I can get you all frozen."

Lara began laughing. "Is there a wager?"

"I won't complain about my security detail for at least six months," I said.

Everyone became quiet.

"What do you want if you win?" Lara asked.

"I really didn't like cleaning my kayak today," I said. "Are we agreed I have a distinct disadvantage? I want a year of no cleaning."

"The pack will handle all your cleaning duties for a year if you win," Lara said. "But no intentional messes."

"Last rule," I said. "I want five seconds to tag people at the beginning. I need a little advantage or this will be over
immediately."

Lara laughed. "Elisabeth and I are excluded from that tagging."

"All right, but you two stay on the porch during that part," I said.

"All right. Anyone who wants to play as a wolf, start shifting."

About half of them started shifting. Lara and I sat down on the edge of the porch. She was chuckling.

"You're going to lose," she said.

"Maybe," I said. "Possibly almost immediately."

"That will be disappointing, I think," Lara said. "Can you make it a good game?"

"I have no idea, but I'm going to try. But you better play to win, Lara."

"Elisabeth and I will hold back at the very beginning," she said. "If you get more than half of them frozen
, we'll get serious. Otherwise we're just going to try to keep you corralled for the first minute or two. But if you come close to us, we will try to catch you. After that, we'll get serious."

I leaned against her.

The wolves finished their shifts.

"All right, you guys," I said. "Spread out a little at the beginning. Give a fox a chance. Action starts when I shift to fur."

"I'll count out your five seconds," Lara said. "Everyone should try to avoid getting tagged for that five seconds."

My heart started pounding in anticipation. I whispered into Lara's ear, "If you win, I'll let you do anything you want to me later."

She grinned. "And if you win, I'll do anything you ask me to do."

I kissed her quickly, jumped from the porch, and immediately shifted to fox.

"Five!" Lara said.

I tagged Rory. The wolves all tried to get away from me. Rory froze in place. He should have chased after me, trying to stay close.

"Four! Three!"

I got three more of them before Lara yelled, "Zero! Get her!"

The first thirty seconds were chaotic. Lara and Elisabeth stayed on the porch, Elisabeth in fur, Lara remaining human. She tried directing people, but they weren't listening to her.

I managed to tag several more, and the more I tagged, the easier it became. Angel almost caught me, but I dashed under Rory, and she ran right into him.

"You're frozen, Angel," Lara yelled down to her.

Then Lara and Elisabeth came down the steps, Elisabeth catching me by surprise. She actually managed to grab me, but I bit her paw, squirmed away, and she chased after me. It took me several seconds before I got a lucky turn and she fell behind. She huffed, freezing in that position. Lara laughed.

"Good game, Fox," she said. "Everyone back off, make her work to tag you. Run off the time on the ones who are frozen."

I huffed my displeasure. I needed them to bump into each other.

I made a rush for Alan, growling angrily at him, and suddenly Serena jumped in front of him, protecting her offspring from the crazed fox. I chuffed and tagged her, dancing away. She chuffed back at me, amused at my trick.

Rory's timer ran off and he ran up on the porch. "You too, Angel,
your timer expired with Rory's," Lara yelled.

I followed after them to the porch and they both leapt after me together. I ducked underneath, tumbling, but managed to tag Angel. I missed Rory on the first try then had to duck away from Kaylee and Thomas, working together. I tapped them both and ran, Rory on my heels.

"That was your first tag, Angel," Lara called out. "Only one minute."

I huffed, but I wasn't in a position to argue with Lara.

I feinted to Lara and she leapt at me. She got her hands on me, but I shifted to human, surprising her, then back to fox, batting her with a paw. Rory tripped over her, and I tagged him.

Lara laughed. "One minute for me, two for Rory."

The game shifted back and forth. I got knocked over a lot, yipping more than once, but I managed to tag a lot of people, too. There were a lot of close calls, and I got cornered against the porch once, finding freedom only when Kaylee and Thomas both tried to leap on me. I ducked under both of them, tagged them, and managed to use their surprise to break free.

When too many people were frozen, Lara ordered everyone to burn up the time. I thought that was a good strategy, one that had a decent chance of winning in the end. It went from me getting chased to me cautiously chasing people. The freeze times slowly grew, which meant I slowly was able to keep more and more of them frozen.

The game almost ended when I got squished between Lily and Catherine, two of my new students. Two ribs cracked. I managed to tag them at the same time, but tumbled away, yipping. Everyone froze.

I immediately stopped yipping, climbed to my feet, and assessed.

"Are you all right?" Lara asked.

I took a breath, feeling the ribs realign, and healed them. Everyone would have heard it. I shifted to human. "I would like to continue playing, but your call, Alpha."

"Are you all right?"

"I am now. I will call that a forfeit if you think it should be, but I would rather keep playing."

"As soon as you are in fur," Lara said. "We can all move. You take no more than two steps as human."

I nodded, feinted directly towards her, then took one real step to the left and shifted to fox, Lara on my tail.

I felt bad for Rory. I started targeting him plus anyone else who had been frozen out. He spent most of the game frozen. So did several others. Most of the wolves were up to three minute freezes. I had only gotten Lara once, although she'd been frozen by contact with frozen wolves a few times.

Then I managed to get Elisabeth to run into Rory, with both Serena and Karen running into a suddenly-frozen Elisabeth. I chuffed and barked happily.

"Shit," Lara said. And she shifted to fur.

I thought that was a mistake. She was more valuable as their general.

In the end, it was Scarlett who caught me, leaping from the porch as I ran past. There were only four wolves unfrozen at the time, Lara one of them. Scarlett landed right on top of me, her paws landing on the ground to either side of me. She bumped me, wrapping both front and rear paws around my body, and together we rolled, Scarlett protecting me with her own body. I tried to squirm away, but she rolled us both over with her on top, plopped down heavily, pinning me with her weight, and wrapped her jaws over my throat, pinning me firmly into place. I squirmed for another moment, but she closed her mouth until I whimpered.

Then I shifted human underneath her, laughing. She had to release my throat to avoid crushing it, but she was very gentle. "Don't climb off me," I said. "I'm a little exposed."

She chuffed and covered me a little more carefully, just like Lara normally did. Lara huffed, but she didn't growl.

"Your team wins," I said. "Lara, I believe you owe a favor to Scarlett."

Scarlett chuffed happily. Lara chuffed once, walking over and nudging Scarlett off of me.

"You can climb off once I am fox," I told Scarlett. She chuffed and I shifted back to fur. Scarlett stayed there for a moment, then she took my throat again.

Lara began to growl at her. Scarlett released my throat and looked at her, chuffing, but she didn't climb off of me.

I huffed and Lara growled louder.

Still, Scarlett didn't move.

I shifted back to human and Scarlett chuffed happily, adjusted her position for my modesty, and licked my face once.

"She's serious, Scarlett," I said. "Get off of me once I shift."

She chuffed. I shifted back to fur. Scarlett paused for a moment then climbed off of me. Lara bumped her away then took my throat very, very slowly, settling herself full into place above me. She held me pinned like that for a long time, and I could tell from her breathing she was unhappy.

I shifted back to human again. "Lara," I said quietly. "It's okay. I am yours. No one else's. She knows that. I don't know what that was about, but she wasn't trying to claim me. You know that. Take me to bed and allow me to satisfy your every need."

She chuffed but didn't move.

"Lara, please," I said. "I am yours. Please."

Lara
took my throat again, squeezing until I whimpered. She settled her weight over me and chuffed. I shifted to fur. She clutched my throat, making me whimper, then held me pinned as she rose off of me. Once she released me, I climbed to my feet, chuffed at her and licked her face, and then turned to Scarlett. I was going to give her a quick lick, too, but Lara interposed herself. I decided not to push it.

I turned to the porch, shifted human, and wrapped a blanket around me.

"Good game?" I asked.

I got a round of chuffs. Lara shifted
to human as well, not bothering with a blanket, and pulled me into her arms.

"Good night, everyone," I said. "See you tomorrow. Someone take care of the deer."

Then Lara picked me up and threw me over her shoulder. I giggled and didn't complain. I knew she was just showing more dominance, and I didn't mind.

She carried me to our bedroom, threw me onto the bed, and pointed at me. "Do not move."