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

"I don't recall anything about trees being off limits. And I am pretty sure all of you are capable of climbing a tree as a human."

"Not as wolves."

"Thirty minutes, Lara. There isn't a one of you that couldn't have picked a tree, shifted human, climbed the tree, and come back with a tennis ball."

My team was chuckling. Lara looked unhappy.

"You need to get back with the tennis balls," she said. "And I am
going with you."

"All right," I said. "Let's go."

I shifted to fox and set off into the woods. When we got to the first tree, I waited for Angel and Scarlett to catch up. As soon as Lara was watching, they picked me up and tossed me high enough to catch the first branch, ten feet off the ground.

"Son of a bitch!" Lara said after shifting to human, staring up at me. I clambered up the tree, found the first cache, and dropped them down. Tennis balls got passed out to their owners, who ran back to the compound and dropped them at Elisabeth's feet. I climbed back down from the tree, shifted to fox, ran to the next tree, and repeated everything.

We made it back into the clearing with plenty of time, Lara huffing at me continuously. I pranced the entire way back.

The kids were all ecstatic. Once we were all assembled, Lara and I shifted to human again and I said, "Alpha, did we win fairly?"

She grumbled. "Yes," she said. "Damned fox."

I laughed. "Want a rematch, no unusually foxy tricks?"

She laughed. "Yes."

"
One ball each." I counted. There were more adults than kids. "I'll hide enough of my tennis balls so everyone at least has a chance of finding one."

"No trees," Lara demanded.

"All right, but I want a small head start if I'm hiding five tennis balls. Give me the time it takes Scarlett and Angel to shift."

"Go," she said. "You two shift, and be quick about it."

I grabbed all five of my tennis balls, remaining human, and dashed into the woods. I was faster in fur, but not fast enough that I wanted to run back and forth to the compound. I stuffed the first two balls underneath fallen logs, barely slowing down as I ran past them. The third one I left as a puzzle. I left it in a culvert too small for an adult wolf to climb through. Lara was going to cry foul, and I was going to get an extra wager from her for it.

I made sure my name was clear.

I dashed towards the pond after that. Lara howled, and I heard the kids all dash into the woods to hide their tennis balls. I dived into the pond, swam to the bottom, and shoved my tennis ball into a crack between a couple of rocks. I made sure it was going to stay there then climbed out of the water, shifted to fox, and ran into the woods. I used all my fox tricks to confuse my trail, stashed my last tennis ball in the partially-eroded root system of a tree right on the edge of the stream, then set as many other false trails as I could, ending each of them near a good hiding place for a tennis ball. I even found a few of the unmarked tennis balls and hid them before dashing back to the compound, arriving in the nick of time.

Everyone was back. We sent the
adult wolves into the woods while the kids played more games.

Benny and Nick got included in the new game, and they were soon both laughing. Michele sat next to me. "I am going to owe a favor," she said. "But this was fun."

"I'll owe one or two," I said. "But not five." I chuckled. "Lara is going to be angry with me."

"Did you cheat?"

"I never cheat," I said. "But she is going to accuse me of it." I listened. "Right about now."

I'd been following Lara with my ears. She found the ball I had stashed in the culvert. She spent a minute trying to reach it, first as a
wolf, then a human. But it was ten feet down that culvert, and no way was she going to fit. As a human, I wouldn't have fit, and only the youngest wolves would have been able to run through.

Lara yelled, "Michaela!"

I grinned. "Find the next one, Lara!" I yelled back. It was close enough, she should have heard me.

Serena found one of my tennis balls. I recorded it and told her, "You'll need to tell me where you found it." She chuffed then joined the game the kids were playing.

Elisabeth found the one I had stashed in the root system near the stream.

All told, the adults found most of the tennis balls we
had hidden. Three of mine were found, but only two retrieved. Lara eventually returned to the compound with Angel's tennis ball, dropping it at my feet in disgust. She shifted to human and said, "You cheated."

"Did not," I said, grinning. "Wager?"

"You are enjoying this too much," she said. "What do you want?"

"Earrings," I said.

"You want me to buy you earrings?"

"No. If I can prove I didn't cheat, you will get your ears pierced."

Michele started laughing but shut up when Lara glared at her.

"If I cheated, I'll grant all the favors I could have lost plus let you
give my ears additional piercings."

"I'm not exactly a pierced ear kind of wolf," she said.

"Chicken," I said.

Michele snorted, then covered her hands with her mouth.

"No," Lara said.

"If I cheated, I'll also let you paddle my bottom for cheating."

"If you cheated, I'll be paddling your bottom anyway."

"Do you think I cheated, Lara?"

"I know you did. But I don't wager when I'm not willing to lose."

"You may pick my earrings to be as sparkly as you want," I told her.
"And I'll wear them when we're playing."

"Now you're just getting cocky," Lara complained.

"Do you want to pierce my ears or not?" I asked her.

"Of course I do," she said. "But I'm not willing to let you pierce mine."

"All right," I said. I turned back to Michele. "Surely we're past time?"

"Two more minutes," she said.

"It's too bad my wife is willing to accuse me of cheating but isn't willing to put her ears where her big mouth is," I said.

"Michaela," Lara said with a half a growl.

I ignored Lara after that. She was annoyed with me. Michele called time, and Lara howled for us. While the wolves were collecting, I grabbed Lara's blanket, pulled her to me with it, and kissed her softly. "I didn't cheat," I said into her ear. "Accept my wager or offer an alternative." I paused. "Or maybe I did cheat, and this is my way of giving you something I know you want."

"Michaela," she said
in another warning.

"Fine," I said. "I
even promise I will never heal the holes, but I reserve the right to remove the earrings for game nights or during times I have a legitimate reason to feel they may endanger my safety. I will wear any earrings you pick, as long as they won't catch on things when I'm running."

"No."

"Accept the, and I'll wear the earrings on game nights," I offered.

She pulled away, searching my face.

"Why?" she asked. "Why this wager?"

"I'll be right back," I said. I ran into the house, collected a small box from my underwear drawer, and ran back downstairs. I handed it to her, and she opened it.

Nestled inside were two little earrings. I'd had them custom made using a photo of myself as the design. They showed a fox in profile. "This is what I want you to wear, at least sometimes," I said. "Not all the time, just sometimes."

She stared at them for a minute. The last of the wolves arrived, but the two of us ignored them. Elisabeth wandered past, nuzzling both of us to ask what the delay was.

"You didn't cheat, did you?" Lara said.

"I am about eighty percent sure Angel can retrieve my ball from the culvert. I am positive no one would ever find one of my balls, and I will accept your judgment on it when I show you where it is."

"Did you buy these for yourself?"

"I had them made for you."

She stared into my eyes.

"I'd get you to accept a piercing sooner or later. Even if it took a major favor."

"I'll accept your wager," she said, her voice was filled with warmth.

"I'll need
extra time to retrieve three balls," I said. "Especially if I have to show you how to get to one of them."

She nodded. We sent the kids out to retrieve their balls, leaving Elisabeth in charge. I showed Lara my first ball, the one underneath one of the downed trees. I shifted to human to pull it out.

"Michaela," she said.

"Fine," I said. I shoved it back. "Serena found one of mine this way, you should be able to dig that one out."

She shifted back to wolf, dug where I had buried it, and soon had my ball in her mouth. "Carry that one," I told her, shifting to fox. I led her to the pond and shifted human again. I dived in without delay, found my ball after a minute, and came to the surface.

I climbed out of the water and told her, "That's the one I will accept your judgment on." I described where it was, shifted to fox, and picked up my ball, running to the compound. Lara and I dropped off two of my tennis balls. I tagged Angel, and the three of us ran to the culvert.

I again shifted back to human. "Angel," I said. "I need you to retrieve that ball for me." She took one look and whined at me.

"Come here," I told her. I ran to a recently downed tree. I looked over the branches and told her, "Bite most of the extra branches off this branch, leave it straight with some leaves on the end, then break it off and bring it with
you."

Lara began huffing indignantly. Angel chuffed, took a minute to prepare the branch, then carried it proudly to the culvert. It took her several minutes, but she managed to fish my ball out from the middle of the culvert, finally picking it up and showing it to Lara. Lara huffed, licked both of us, and led the way back to the compound.

We recorded the winnings and I proposed one more game. "A hunt," I said. "Two new teams. One team will go north, one will go west. First to bring down a deer wins. Alpha to pick the teams. Whatever team I am on will go west, and we'll find our deer my way."

Lara shifted human and said, "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I've always wondered whether my way of finding them was dramatically slower than a wolf's."

"You don't think it's faster?" she asked.

"No."

"Is there a wager?"

"Pride."

"All right," she said. "The alphas are heading west. Who thinks the wolf hunting method is fastest? Stand over there." She pointed to a spot on the ground. About two thirds of the wolves collected there.

"Who thinks the fox is fastest?" No one joined us.

"The rest of you are undecided?" she asked. They all chuffed.

Lara turned to me. "The teams won't be even," she said.

"Pick enough
to help you take it down," I said. "Who is leading the other team?"

Karen was standing with the wolves who thought the wolf method was faster. Elisabeth was undecided.

"Karen, you're leading that team," Lara said. Karen chuffed. "Elisabeth, do you mind joining us?"

Elisabeth padded over. Lara looked over the rest. "Scarlett and Angel, do you want to join us?" They chuffed and joined us.

I looked at the rest. None of them were known for being particularly quiet. "Lara, if you are satisfied we're safe with this group, send the rest to hunt the wolf way."

"Serena, you're protecting the fox," Lara said. Serena left the wolf group and padded over to us.

"I'm sorry," I told her. She bumped me.

I talked to Karen. "You have a lot more wolves than I do. I want to see which method is faster, but if you
all fan out, I won't learn anything."

She chuffed and gave me a quick lick.

I turned to the humans. "Sorry," I said.

Benny laughed. "It's okay. We can make a bonfire."

I smiled. "Let's go," I said. I shifted to fur, dropping my blanket, and I led the way west. We ran all out for a mile and a half before I went into hunting mode, slowing us down. As we neared the edge of pack territory, I turned us north and heard three deer shortly after. I shifted to human. "Three," I said. "Nearly a mile north." I shifted back to fox and led us to a point downwind. The wolves with me all began chuffing as soon as they caught the scent.

I shifted back to fox. "Three hundred yards," I said. "Your hunt, Lara. But I think it might be a mother and two yearlings. I don't think we should take them. Should I go look?"

She chuffed.

"Wait here," I said. I shifted to fox and ran for the deer as quietly as I could. Deer weren't afraid of a fox, so they ignored me. I was right; it was a mother and two yearlings. I ran back to the wolves, shifted human, panting for breath.

"I was right," I said. "We found ours first, but I don't want to take these down. Lara?"

She chuffed.