Fox Mate (Madison Wolves) (21 page)

"This is-"

"Tradition," Angel inserted quickly. "And Lara agreed. She'll stop this if you ask. She agreed. Don't get mad, Michaela."

I nodded.

"There is pride for her to pay a large ransom," Abigail said. "Although we're still in the level of deep pain. And of course, we're all poor teenagers; you can imagine how much this would mean to us."

"I don't understand," I said. "Lara is your friend."

"Honey," Angel said. "We have college to pay for."

I looked around between them. "You're doing this for your college funds?"

"No, honey, we're doing it for the tradition. I'm sorry we aren't explaining it very well."

"All right," I said.

"We aren't going to hurt you yet," Angel said. "But you won't like your punishments."

"I understand."

"Stand her up," Abigail said.

They helped me to my
feet, then they strapped me into some sort of harness. It went over my shoulders and cinched tightly above my hips and around my legs and ankles. Then they picked me up and carried me into the room closer to the stairs.

There was a steel hook embedded in the ceiling with ropes hanging from it, and at the bottom, another hook. They lifted my feet well above the height of my h
ead and hooked me in then gently lowered me until I was hanging upside down.

"Oh god!" I said. "Aren't you supposed to let Lara pay my ransom first?"

"We're not done," Angel said. "Michaela, we practiced this, taking turns. We all broke. You'll break from this."

"Wind her up," Abigail said. And they began turning me around in a circle, clockwise, six times around.

"Please stop," I said.

"Will you make the video we want?"

"No!"

"I'm recording," Angel said.

"Let her go," Abigail said. And, slowly at first, the windings on the rope began to unwind, and I began to spin counter-clockwise, faster and faster, and the world spun past me. I instantly became dizzy, and I clenched my eyes shut.

"Angel!"

They let me spin, and then it was going slower and slower. I came to a stop, and then I began to spin the other way; I had wound past the middle and wound it in the other direction. I spun, faster, then slower, then it began the other way again. And I begged them to stop.

"Make the video," Abigail said.

"No!"

Eventually, I came to a
complete stop, swaying back and forth, and I thought I was going to be sick.

"Take her down," Abigail said. They lifted me up, unhooked me, and carried me into the other room. I kept my eyes clenched, but my stomach was heaving.

They set me on the sofa and I opened my eyes. "You gave me breakfast."

"Yes," said Abigail. "What is going to happen is one of three things. You will make the video we wa
nt. Lara will ransom you even without the video. Or we are going to hook you up until either you beg to make the video or you are violently sick. Every time we wind you up, we add two rotations. And we don't have to let you hang straight upside down, we can make you spin other ways, too. You will heave. We all did."

I looked down. "What do you want me to say?"

Abigail picked up a piece of paper. It said simply, "Lara, I love you. Please pay my ransom."

"You can read it any way you want, but you will say those exact words, no more, no less, and you will not smile or laugh or in any way suggest you are enjoying yourself or you do not want her to pay yet. You get two takes. If you make us hook you up, you will either get sick, and we'll stop, or you will beg to make the video, but the video we send will include video of you begging for us to stop."

"You're going to send the video you just took?"

"We're sending that regardless," Angel said.

I sighed. "I'll read it."

They didn't react, so I couldn't tell if they were disappointed. "All right," Abigail said. "Read this through like you intend to read it on video."

She held it up and I read it out loud in a dull voice.

"Again," she said. I read it again. "Once more." And I read it a third time.

Scarlett held up her phone and said, "This one is live. Hitting start now." She pressed a button and pointed her phone at me. In a dull voice while looking into the phone, I read the note.

"Send
the videos," Angel said. Then she called Elisabeth. "Do you have an offer for us?" she asked.

"Let me talk to her."

Angel held the phone to me.

"Do you want Lara?" Elisabeth asked.

"Yes."

"Your house, fifty thousand dollars, a favor each, and your throat."

"Elisabeth," I said. "This just turned not fun."

"Make the videos they want," she said.

"I did."

She was quiet for a
moment. "Too much?"

"It would have been. They gave me a taste."

"Are you ransoming Lara?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Elisabeth. No."

"All right. I need to talk to Angel."

"Angel, she wants to talk to you."

I heard Elisabeth say, "Take me where she can't hear." Angel ran upstairs. The girls mopped my face, and I asked for a little water to wash the taste out of my mouth. They didn't unstrap the harness around me, which left me nervous.

Angel returned ten minutes later. "Michaela, Lara has declined to ransom you."

"Yes!" I said. Then realized I gave myself away.

The girls laughed.
Angel kissed my cheek. They fed me soothing food and poured more lemonade into me.

Then we played a game of charades, and the things they had to act out were hilarious. I, of course, sat on the sofa doing nothing but guessing and laughing.

Then Angel's phone went off. I sighed.

Ava got up, disappeared upstairs for a minute, then came ba
ck downstairs. She set an electric hair clippers on the coffee table.

"Not my hair," I said.

"You will make the video we want, or we shave your head," Sophia said. She held up a piece of paper. It said, "Lara, if you do not ransom me, they are going to shave all my hair off."

"You'll get two takes to do the video right. You will read the note then remain silent until Scarlett says she's done. If you ruin both takes, we hook you up to the hook and spin you until you beg to make any video we want."

I sighed. "I'll read it."

Scarlett grabbed her camera. She pointed it first at the clippers sitting on the table. She held that for a five count, then she turned it to me. I read the note Sophia was holding. My voice quavered a little, but held steady. Then Scarlett turned to Angel, and Angel held up the locks of hair they had taken earlier. "As you can see, Lara, we already started."

Scarlett hit stop and said, "Done."

"Good girl," Sophia said. "One take."

Angel waited for Elisabeth to call her this time and held the phone to my ear. "What is the ransom, Elisabeth?"

"Your house. No money. The favors and your throat."

"I'm sorry, Elisabeth. I decline."

She was quiet. "You should pay this,
Little Fox."

"I don't think so, Elisabeth, but I appreciate the advice."

"We're hurting her, Little Fox. Make a counter offer. Do not be insulting."

"The entire contents of my bank account after I pay any immediate bills plus the favors. The amount at this time is over a hundred thousand dollars, but the girls
clearly aren't done taking my money. I can't promise it will remain that high."

"Especially now that they know how much money you have to give them." Elisabeth laughed. "I am going to decline your offer at this time. Do you understand why?"

"You asked only because you wanted to know what my sticking points are."

"There will be hints in my next call,
Little Fox. Do you think you will pick up on them?" she asked.

"I don't know."

"Say goodbye."

"Goodbye, Elisabeth."

Angel took the phone upstairs. She was gone for only a few minutes. "She declined."

I smiled.

We continued the game of charades. They fed me three glasses of lemonade, and I began squirming badly. When Angel's phone went off, I said, "May I go to the bathroom first?"

"If you throw up in there, you will pay horribly," Angel said.

"Just to piddle," I said.

Angel knelt in front of me an
d cut my legs loose. She pulled more loose tape away and escorted me to the door of the bathroom. I piddled as thoroughly as I could. Angel cleaned me up then held onto me firmly as she walked me back to the other room. They taped my legs extra tightly.

Then they picked me up and carried me to the hook.

"No!" I screamed. I began thrashing, which did me no good. "No! Don't do this! No!"

They hooked me up and then let me go, and I swung around crazily for a while, begging them to stop me.

Abigail sat down in front of me, our eyes at the same level.

"Here are your choices. You may make any video you want. You can tell her not to pay if you want. If Lara pays, we're done. If not, we spin you until you get sick. That's option one. Option two. You will make a video reading what we tell you to read. You will sound desperate. If Lara refuses to pay, we don't spin you. The price of option two is twenty thousand dollars. If Lara pays, you don't owe us the twenty thousand."

"Honey," Angel said. "She'll pay if you beg. You're not going to last much longer, you know."

"What do you want me to say?" I asked.

Abigail held a note in front of me, but it was upside down to me.

"Abigail," I said. "I can't read it that way."

"Oh, sorry," she said, and flipped it over. "Lara, please, please pay my ransom. If not, the wedding is off."

I stared at it.

"No video and twenty thousand," I offered. "Option two-bee."

"We just removed option two as a choice," Abigail said. "Option three, we spin you until you beg us to stop, and we're going to video it. If you say anything to discourage Lara from paying, we continue to spin you."

I closed my eyes. "Option three." I felt hands, and they began turning me around and around. They released me.

I lasted twice before I started begging them to stop. By the third one, I was screaming at them to stop, and they stopped.

They took me down and were very gentle. They mopped my face, but I kept my eyes closed, refusing to look at them.

Angel's phone rang. She answered and asked Elisabeth to play the last video, then I listened as she talked to Lara. "One dollar less than the last offer. One medium favor each." I heard as Lara asked if she would be allowed a counter-offer. "Yes, but you have to wait."

All the girls went upstairs, leaving me where I was. I sat and fumed. They came down a few minutes later. "No deal, Michaela," Angel said. Then I talked to Elisabeth.

"Your house, no cash, no favors, your throat."

"No. Hang up, Angel."

"This is torture now," I said, once she had hung up.

"Beg her to pay, Michaela," Angel said.

"No."

"It's going to get worse," she said.

"You
are all losing a friend, and I am going to resign as teacher."

They didn't respond at first. Then they tried to cajole me back into a good mood, but it wasn't working. Angel picked up the phone and called Elisabeth. "Let me talk to your prisoner." Then she repeated the recent discussion.

"Will you allow me to talk to her?" Lara asked.

"Yes, that's why we called."

I opened my eyes and looked at them. Angel sat next to me, and I tried to move away from her, but she held the phone to my ear. I didn't say anything.

"Little Fox? Little Fox?" Lara said.

"I'm here," I said
sullenly.

"Your damned pride," she said. "You weren't supposed to let it get that bad."

"I gave them a counter offer, but they denied it, and then punished me for it. That was the video you saw."

"Do I need to pay your ransom, honey?" she asked.

"This wasn't fun right away," I said. "But then it was. But the fun stopped."

"You should have begged. I'd have paid if you begged, honey. You know that."

"I know," I said. "Are they hurting you?"

"This is pride for a wolf," Lara said. "If I were marrying a big male, he would take pride in how long I lasted."

"I'm disappointing you." I started to cry.

"No, honey," she said. "Don't cry. I'll pay your ransom now."

"No," I said.

"Honey, it's okay. Ava is the only one whose mother can afford the type of education they all deserve. I'll pay now if you promise to forgive them."

"No," I said.

"Honey, these are your friends, you need to find a way to forgive them. This is about pride. My pride to pay, your pride to take what they do. Your pride in me to take what is happening here."

"They're hurting you."

"You will know when it's time to pay my ransom,
Little Fox. It's not yet. If you pay now, you dishonor me. Elisabeth was brilliant to do it this way."

"Why is it the brides go through this, not the grooms?"

"Traditionally, the brides don't have anything to pay, and the grooms won't break until you kill them."

"You won't break, either."

"No, but you'll know when to pay for me."

"All right," I said.

"Honey, you need to do whatever it takes to forgive them, because they are doing this for your honor. I know you don't understand."

"Don't pay until I beg."

"But you'll beg before you lose your friends. Promise me. Promise me you're forgiving them. Try to understand."

"Angel, may I ask what the current ransom is as compared to the educations you are after."

"Say goodbye to Lara first while we think about it."

"I love you, Lara," I told her. "I already counter-offered once, you know."

"I know," she said. "I love you. Forgive your friends."

And then Angel took the phone away and hung it up. She sat down next to me with Scarlett on the other side.

I looked between them, and they were all very nervous. I offered a wane smile. "Will you answer my question?"

"It's about twice the estimated cost for each of us to earn our
doctorates," Angel said. "We probably won't all earn one, but Ava wants to be a lawyer and Chloe has dreams of being a doctor."

"Not a record anymore?"

"No. We came down dramatically after we gave you the tattoo. That was our hint to Lara she should think about paying us. If you were a wolf, or if we thought you understood better, we wouldn't have come down as fast."

"Is this normally a scholarship program?"

Angel laughed. "No."

I looked away and closed my eyes.

"She's not going to understand," Scarlett said. "End this now. Maybe in a few years, she'll forgive us. I'm so sorry, Michaela."

Scarlett got up and I heard her start to walk upstairs.

"Scarlett!" I screamed. "No! Don't leave!"

She stopped on the stairs. "Scarlett," I said. "Please come back.
Help me understand. I believe Lara wouldn't allow this if it weren't important. I believe you wouldn't do it if it weren't important. But I don't understand!"

I still felt deeply aggrieved, but I knew they loved me, and I knew Lara and Elisabeth did, and I thought if I could only understand why, this wouldn't be so difficult.

She returned slowly, and I turned to watch her return. "Please, Scarlett," I said. "Please don't leave."

She came back and sat down next to me again. I leaned against her, the tape crackling.

"Was this about the money?"

"Oh Michaela, no," said Scarlett. "It's about pride
and tradition."

"But you started doing such horrible things."

"Michaela," she said. "You wouldn't want us to cheat you! Or cheat Lara! We could have asked for a dollar at the beginning, and Lara couldn't have been more disappointed."

"Angel, when do brides normally break?"

"Some break during the drive," she said. "We could have broken you that way, but we had all the nice things to do, and the party. But if we didn't like you, we could have put you in the trunk and made it a horrible ride. But-" she looked so frustrated.

"All right, what is normal?"

"An enforcer might last a few days. I don't think I will."

"I know I won't," said Scarlett.

"But you guys are being extra nice to me, aren't you?"

"Sort of. We aren't really hurting you. But we know where your buttons are."

"I still don't understand why you want to do this," I said. I was trying not to cry. "You couldn't pay me enough money to hurt either of you."

And then I was crying again.

They both leaned against me, wrapping arms around me. "Michaela," Scarlett said. "Let me explain once more. Please, stop crying. If you still don't understand, we'll figure something out. All right?"

I nodded. Ava helped me clean up from crying, then I looked at Scarlett.

"Imagine that Lara were marrying, oh, James Berg for instance."

"Who is James Berg?"

"Ron Berg's son."

"All right," I said.

"James and his family deserve to know they are getting a strong wolf. You understand?"

"Everyone knows Lara is strong!" I replied.

"I know, but what if they didn't? Remember, this is a tradition."

"All right. Like an arranged political marriage."

"Right. So, Lara's sisters and friends would want to make sure James and his family knew they were getting a strong wolf, someone who James could count on to protect his young. Someone worthy."

I snorted.

"I know, strength is a stupid measurement of worth. But you understand so far?" Scarlett said.

"I guess." I sighed deeply. "Yes, I understand."

"So Lara's sisters and all her closest female friends would demonstrate to James, look how strong she is. The rougher they can be with her, the stronger she is. The people who love her so much know how strong she is, and they are helping her to show off."

I considered what she said and I started to cry again. "I'm not measuring up. Oh god, everyone knows it, too."

"Shh," Scarlett said. "No one expects that sort of strength from you. But honey, Lara is owed other strength from you."

"We're trying to help you show the strength Lara needs from you," Angel said. "The strength the pack needs to know you have."

"What strength?" I asked. "I'm not strong like a wolf."

"No," Scarlett said. "But you are clever and brave.
But you aren't always very tolerant of our customs, and that grates with people. Even those of us who love you are sometimes hurt by your reactions, Michaela."

"We need you to be more resilient," Angel said. "Lara needs that, too."

"Why the ransom?" I asked. "Elisabeth is asking such a deep price. I know it's nothing to her, she wouldn't think twice about the cost of my house. But she must know it's important to me."

"If you were James," Scarlett said. "Then you need to show that you value Lara. Do you understand?"

I took a deep breath. "I don't know. I am trying. Kiss me, you two, and I promise I'll beg before I let this destroy our friendships."

The tension disappeared imm
ediately. I got hugs and kisses.

"All right," I said. "How are you going to entertain me?"

Angel's phone buzzed.

"Oh no," I said, my face falling. "No. Not so soon."

"It's been over an hour," Angel said softly. "Are you going to beg?"

"No."

"If she doesn't pay, we're going to spin you until you are sick. We won't stop. You'll throw up eventually. It's not pleasant."

I closed my eyes and didn't say anything. Angel called Elisabeth while walking up the stairs. I waited in dread. She returned almost immediately.

"She declined," Angel said. "Michaela, please beg her to pay. Please."

"No."

"Please, Michaela. We don't want to do this."

"No."

She sighed, and then she held the phone to my ear. "Hello, Elisabeth."

"You've gotten stubborn again."

"Yes."

"
Your house," Elisabeth said. "And your throat."

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Elisabeth, is it common to expect a groom to give up half of his net worth the day before his wedding?"

She was quiet for a while. "You're not the groom, and you're about to marry someone very wealthy."

"That's her money, not mine, but whatever. Is it common to ask a groom to pay something he spent eight years building?"

"Michaela," Elisabeth replied. "You are marrying the alpha. You have to expect a significant price. You have three things of significant value: your house, your throat, and your cash. And frankly, the amount of cash you have is an insulting amount for the alpha. I am not letting you have my sister for a song, Michaela."

"
I see. Hang up, Angel," I said.

Angel hung up the phone.

"Please, Michaela. It's time to beg."

"No."

She sighed, and they picked me up, carried me into the other room, and hooked my feet. They let me dangle straight down.

"Please, Michaela," Angel said. "
Please at least tell us you understand."

"I don't know. Do it.
"

"Michaela, I don't want to lose you as a friend. I love you."

"I love you too. Do it."

I closed my eyes, and I felt their hands on me. The
y started easy at first. Four turns. I hated it, but I thought about Lara. They had all done this. And I wanted them to be proud of me. It wasn't about being proud of myself, it was needing their pride in me.

I hated the spinning. They let the four spins come to a stop, then it was six turns around, and still I said nothing. And then eight. And then they started counting out loud as they wound me up. Ten. And I felt the bile start, but I clamped my lips shut. Then twelve turns, and I made not a sound. And then it was twelve turns again. And a third time. And then the fourth time, they added a sway.

And I sprayed them all as I threw up while spinning around.

They stopped me instantly, although there were
cries of "Oh my god!" I felt strong arms lift me up, and they unhooked me, and then I continued to retch as they held me.

Once I was done, they carried me into the bathroom and helped me rinse my mouth and washed me off
. I opened my eyes, and they had all stripped out of their pants and shoes. Scarlett was washing her feet.

They stood me up, and Angel pulled me into her arms. "Still friends?"

"Tell me you filmed that."

"Oh yeah," she said. "You rocked!"

"Literally."

"Am I doing better?"

"Yes, honey," she said. "You're doing better."

They carried me into the sitting room. I could smell the retch from the other room. "That smell must really bother you guys," I said.

Angel laughed. "Yes, the next time we spin you, you're going to be hanging over it."

"How much to get you to clean it up and use some air freshener?"

She laughed. "Ten grand."

"
Two. It has to smell far worse to all of you than it does to me."

"Done," said Scarlett
, laughing. "All of it to whomever cleans it up."

"I'll do it," said Abigail. Then Sophia offered to help, and the two of them took care of the mess. It took a while for the smell to waft away, even after liberal doses of air freshener.

"My mouth tastes like crap. May I have some lemonade?"

Angel laughed and gave me as much as I wanted.