Fox Afield (Madison Wolves) (34 page)

"You were late," Lara said. I didn't say a word.

She turned to Brooke. Brooke nodded.

"Of course," said Lara. "You were only late because Brooke and I interfered with you. Whom do you want your favor from?"

"Is Brooke eligible?" I asked.

"I am," she said.

"Well then. Lara, I believe I need your permission to ask the favor I have in mind. Do you have a moment? But none of you shift yet; we still need a proper run."

I pulled Lara to the side and told her what I wanted to ask from Brooke. She was pleased and told me it was a lovely favor to ask.

"Brooke," I said, and the entire pa
ck quieted. "I would like to ask my favor immediately, if that pleases you."

"It does, Michaela."

"My favor is this. I would ask you to remain as our guest for-" I thought about it. "How long do you feel a favor like this could extend?"

"Perhaps two weeks," Brooke suggested.

"Then, I would like you to remain as our guest for another two weeks, sharing your friendship and your experience with us. I have a topic or two I would definitely like to discuss with you."

She bowed. "I would love to grant this favor, Michaela. Thank you."

"All right," Lara said. "Who enjoyed Brooke's game?"

There were chuffs and a few howls.

"Perhaps she has others she will share with us, and we'll show her a few of our own," Lara said. "And I believe we'll add this one to the pack repertory."

"This game can be played with a very small number of people or a fairly large number," Brooke said. "At some point, it becomes quite chaotic, but that can be okay, too. You can make it last longer if you allow for more time to hide the balls or use smaller tokens that are more difficult to identify. If you are playing with young children, you may want to hide something larger than a tennis ball. We've hidden half-length nerf sticks in the past."

Then she looked at me. "I also believe you may want to add a few more restrictions on where things may be hidden."

"Hey!" I said. "The rest of the pack knows not to tangle with the fox. I knew it would be you and Lara looking for mine, so I hid it somewhere the two of you could have found it, although perhaps it might have taken you an additional fifteen minutes
." I paused. "I bet if I tried hiding it that way again, you'd find it right away."

"Nevertheless," she said. "Perhaps in the future, you will hide your ball somewhere that even the younger pack members could find it."

"I'll agree to that when my wife stops targeting me on every single game we play."

The wolves chuffed at that while Lara gave a "who me?" look.

"Or we can agree I am able to do things so that ONLY the youngest of you could beat me. Hide it in small culverts, for instance."

That was met with a chorus of huffs and a "Not going to happen" look from Lara.

"All right," Lara said. "Let's run!"

Lara, Brooke and I all took two steps, jumped, and mid-air, shifted into our fur. At a fox's pace, we entered the woods, but then the majority of the wolves ranged ahead. I enjoyed listening to them have their fun.

Lara, Elisabeth, Brooke, Angel and Scarlett all stayed with me. Angel and Scarlett chased each other around, but they never got very far from the rest of us. We followed the rest of the pack for a while, but then I turned us to the west and started hunting. Angel and Scarlett recognized my changed posture, and they settled down, letting me hunt and being careful to not scare the game. I took us a mile to the west, passing several chances at small game, until I heard a deer, still a long way off.

I shifted to human and gathered them around. "Do we want a deer, or should I just get us a couple of rabbits."

Lara flattened herself to the ground, tail erect, in a really good facsimile of my hunting posture.

"You want to hunt, Lara?" I asked. She chuffed. "Because there's a deer about three quarters of a mile. Do you want the deer, Lara?" She chuffed. I hugged her then whispered in her ear. "Brooke's kill or Angel and Scarlett?" She glanced at Brooke almost
unperceptively.

"I'll get us close," I said. "You'll be able to smell it in a few minutes. Brooke, this is a different hunting style than you're familiar with. It's how they pander to the little fox."

She chuffed.

I shifted back to fur and led them quietly to the deer. Lara chuffed when she could smell the deer. I got us to two hundred yards downwind and stopped, shifting back. "As usual, if it's young, let it grow up. The hunt is all yours, Lara."

Lara huffed and looked at Brooke.

"Your hunt, Brooke," I said. She chuffed.

I shifted back to fox and watched her deploy the wolves. Her communication style was different from Lara's, but she deployed Lara to the far side then tried to send Elisabeth north to cut off that direction. Elisabeth huffed and moved to a standing position over mine. Brooke chuffed and sent Angel that way and Scarlett west to cut off escape to the south.

After that, we crept closer. Brooke led Elisabeth and me, and she approached the same way I would, with a great deal of stealth. She was impressive to watch.

Then, in a rush, she was gone. She howled twice, and I heard Angel and Scarlett break their cover. Then Lara began howling and let the deer smell her.

The deer ran straight for Scarlett. I was worried it would be too much for Scarlett, and I tore off through the woods in that direction, bringing Elisabeth with me.

The sounds told the story. The deer didn't realize Scarlett was there until she was leaping at it. He tried to change direction. But she took him down in her first leap. There was a crunch of strong jaws, and then all was still.

Then I heard a beautiful thing. Scarlett raised her nose to the sky and began to howl a victory howl.

I led Elisabeth to the kill. Scarlett was standing over the deer, and her posture told her pride. Brooke was there, belly down, and chuffing. Angel arrived just as Elisabeth and I did. She came to a stop and stared at Scarlett and the deer, then began chuffing happily before bounding over to Scarlett and delivering a flurry of licks.

Lara arrived last, and her pride in Scarlett was evident. She chuffed merrily, delivered her own licks to S
carlett, then bounded over and delivered a few licks to me. I accepted them stoically then wondered if I were quick, could I bite her tongue for her.

Brooke shifted to human. "I don't know your traditions," she said. "Someone else should take over."

Lara shifted to talk to her. "Nice job leading so far," she said. "We need to dress this out. The fox is going to tell us to take it back for dinner tomorrow night."

"We do that a lot," Brooke said. "But we share out some of the nummy bits here."

I chuffed at that.

"This is Scarlett's first solo take down," Lara said. "Scarlett, do you want to clean it, or do you want Brooke to do it?"

Scarlett moved over her kill and used her claws to cut the deer open. Wolf claws are razor sharp, although she had to work at it a little.

The rest of the pack was drawing closer. Elisabeth howled quickly twice to help them find us.

"Our tradition," Brooke said, "Would have either me or Scarlett divide out a little bit to share. Then we can carry the rest back. Scarlett, would you like the honors?"

Scarlett chuffed.

"You can set aside what you want," she said. "Give a little to me, then Lara and Michaela, then Angel. After that, use whatever judgment you want."

Scarlett chuffed again. She dug into the deer, cleaning it out and finding the best parts. She used her teeth and claws to begin dividing pieces.

"To give everyone a piece, they need to be small," Brooke said. "Unless you want to carve off some meat."

"Small, if you can, Scarlett,
" Lara said, "but if that's too difficult, use your judgment. It's not like we won't have enough other food tomorrow."

She chuffed again. She tore a piece for herself and ate it with great joy, then offered Brooke a choice of a few different pieces.

When it was my turn, I took the smallest piece she had then lay down next to Lara, now back in fur, to watch.

As wolves arrived, they took in the tableau and each waited patiently for his or her bite. This wasn't how we would have done it, but it wasn't a bad tradition.

I knew people would still want more to eat, so I tagged Karen, Serena and Elisabeth, and we slipped from the group, bumping Lara on the way past. I led us a half mile away, listening for something I could take down. The squirrels were in bed, but the rabbits were out. I heard three in a small clearing and went on the prowl for them, moving slowly and silently, the three wolves in my wake. I nudged Karen and Serena, then looked forward. We crept closer, then I pounced.

I caught mine on my third bounce. Karen and Serena chased theirs around but finally caught them. I dropped mine at Elisabeth's feet;
I let her carry it. I listened, hearing two more rabbits, and I went off to catch one. The wolves followed, but they were noisy now, and I turned around and glared at them. They dropped their rabbits where they were and followed me. Two minutes later, we had two more rabbits. I picked one up and led the way back to the ones we had dropped. Elisabeth ended up carrying two; it was fun watching her try to pick them both up. And we headed back to the pack.

Once we arrived, Lara chuffed in amusement, probably at the sight of Elisabeth awkwardly carrying two rabbits.

I dropped my rabbit at Lara's feet. Then I took one from Elisabeth and dropped it in front of Brooke.

Five rabbits amongst twenty wolves wasn't much, but I liked to contribute in my own small way. The wolves divided up
the rabbits, and everyone got a little more to eat.

* * * *

I caught up with Brooke at the house. "Could I talk to you?"

"Sure." She invited me into her room.

"You don't have to answer these questions," I told her. "You wanted a favor from Lara?" She nodded. "A big favor?" She nodded. "Does Lara know what it is?"

"No."

"Do you want to tell me?"

She studied my face. "You might get angry."

"You are under no obligation to tell me," I told her. "Forget I asked."

I backed away to the door, but she said, "Wait." She prowled the room for a minute. "You're a biologist. You understand about biological diversity."

"Yes," I said. "If you have too small a DNA pool, birth defects tend to multiply."

"The Boulder pack needs outside DNA."

I thought about it. "You were going to ask for some DNA."

"Yes," she said. "As a personal favor."

"What form would this DNA take?"

"Eggs."

"You want Lara to allow you to harvest some of her eggs?"

She nodded. "Technically, we assume she would use her own doctors, but yes."

"How many people would you attempt to impregnate with these eggs?"

"Just one," she said. "Me. We would want this kept quiet, very quiet. I would know as would my alpha. The two of you would know. Her doctors would know she had donated eggs but not know what happened to them. My doctors would know I had
obtained eggs but not know from whom. I would raise any resulting children as my own, and I wouldn't want Lara to show any special interest in them."

"So, a large favor."

"Yes."

"I don't know the politics involved," I said. "It may be that Lara would need to consult with Elisabeth or
members of the council."

"I would allow Elisabeth. No more. If she feels the need to consult further, I withdraw my request."

I nodded. "All right. Would you be offering a return favor?"

"Not from me," Brooke said. "I don't seem to be producing viable eggs. However, we could discuss other options."

"Sperm?"

She smiled. "I'm not producing that, either, but I'm sure we could talk about that."

I returned her smile. "Did you want me to approach her or do it yourself?"

"Perhaps the three of us could talk tomorrow."

"She'll need to work, and the party is afterwards. If not tomorrow, we'll find a time this week. I will not argue for you, but I will support you if there aren't political concerns."

"Thank you," she said.

"Thank you for telling me. You've given me something to think about."

"Michaela, this is important to me."

"I understand," I said. "Brooke, this strikes me as a somewhat larger favor than the pack usually plays for on nights like tonight."

"It is for us as well," she said. "The favor I would have asked would be for her to fully consider it and not dismiss my request out of hand.
I only wanted a fair hearing."

"I'll make sure you get a fair hearing, even without having won a favor."

"Yet."

I laughed. "Yet."

* * * *

I found Lara next. I didn't have to look very hard. She was in our bedroom waiting for me. She moved to pull me into her arms, but I held up a hand. "I want to ask you something, and then I have something I need to do. But when I come back, I hope you'll take me to the shower with you."