Fox Run (16 page)

"Oh yeah," I said, smiling. "Isn't this just the funnest game ever?" I said the last bit more loudly just as Janice joined us in the corner. I smiled at her. "Janice, you must have lived very carefully; I don't know if I've ever met an older female wolf before."

If looks could kill.

We all sat back down, and it was David's deal.

I didn't help Lara with David or Elisabeth, but I helped both Lara and Elisabeth with Janice. I couldn't do anything about unlucky cards, but I was able to move a portion of Janice's stash back to Lara and Elisabeth.

I also started spreading my own tells for when Lara had bad, medium and good hands. It took the longest time, but eventually Janice started responding to me as much as Lara's manner of holding her cards differently based on their quality. She also sat differently, and her pupils changed.

Near the end of the second hour, Lara had her money back plus a little more. Elisabeth was up a little, too. But then Janice had a good hand and hit her most obvious tells. I checked her more subtle ones and put five fingers on Lara's leg and squeezed, then I reached over to Elisabeth and held her arm for a moment, saying, "If Lara and I get married, you'd be my sister-in-law."

Lara and Elisabeth both folded. Liam had a decent hand. Morgan and David both stayed in for a portion of the betting, but then dropped out. When all five cards were out, Janice played her "I'm bluffing" tell and said, "All in." So Janice knew her outward tells; they were intentional. But she had tells she didn't realize.

Liam called and groaned when Janice displayed her cards. He was out.

David called a break. Liam excused himself and said, "I'm going to go home and lick my wounds. Congratulations, Janice." He was gracious about it.

After the break, I started giving Lara the worst advice I thought I could give and not be obvious. I spoke very quietly in her ear, pitched just high enough everyone else at the table could hear me. Lara ignored my verbal advice but continued to siphon money from Janice based on the number of fingers I used to touch her. I made sure no one could see the nature of the touches.

After about fifteen minutes of my giving Lara bad advice, Janice asked me, "So, Michaela. I was curious. What sort of hearing does a fox have while on two legs?"

I smiled sweetly. "Usually, very good, maybe even better than a wolf. But I'm not sure, really. When I was fourteen, I damaged my hearing."

"Really? How did you do that?"

"Well, I lived on a little farm, and we had a problem with wolves. I had to shoot a few, and my hearing has never been the same since, either as a human or when furry."

She glared at me, but I just smiled.

"How late do you play? Until everyone is out of chips, or until a particular time."

"Two AM," David said, "But it doesn't usually go that long."

I continued to whisper bad advice into Lara's ear. Then Elisabeth dealt Lara two kings. As soon as I saw the cards, I put my hand on Lara's and said, "It's just a card game. Why aren't you paying any attention to me?"

Lara looked over at me with a strange expression. I leaned into her and nuzzled her neck then whispered into her ear so quietly no one could possibly hear, "Trust."

Lara bet cautiously. Morgan and David folded. Of the next three cards that were dealt, two of them were kings. I draped myself over Lara, making sure she couldn't give away any tells. Lara bet cautiously. Elisabeth folded. Janice publicly gave her "my hand is so-so" tell and privately told me she was holding a decent hand.

Lara continued to bet cautiously until the last card was played. I studied the cards and realized that the best possible hand Janice could have was a flush. A straight flush wasn't possible. This was Lara's hand with four kings. The trick now was to get as much money from Janice as we could.

Janice was first to bet and she bet moderately. Lara wanted to study her cards, but I knew she'd give her tell if she did, so I kept hold of her hands. She saw and raised Janice. Janice saw and raised back.

"Lara, I'm bored. You said we wouldn't stay this late. When are we going home?"

"Soon, little fox," Lara said kindly.

"If we go home now, I'll do that thing you've been asking me to do," I said.

"Really?"

I opened my eyes really wide and nodded.

Lara shrugged and turned to Janice, sliding her tray of chips into the center of the table. "She wants to go home."

"Well, I wouldn't get in the way of that," Janice said, smiling. "How much do you have in there?"

"It was an eleven hundred twenty-three dollar raise," Lara said.

Janice counted out chips and tossed them onto the table. "Call," she said. She flipped over her cards. She was holding the flush and smiling.

Lara turned over her cards and collected the pot.

Janice was livid, and she glared at me. "You won?" I asked Lara, clapping my hands. "Oh, that means we're not leaving yet." I sighed and slumped against Lara.

After that, I didn't have to do too much. David cleaned Morgan out. Janice was so low on chips and was forced into very conservative play just to stay in the game. Finally she tried to bluff Elisabeth with a bad hand, and Elisabeth cleaned her out.

David called a break and offered to walk Janice out. She turned to me and offered a false smile. "It was so good to meet you," she said. "I heard about the little fun at the Iron Horse and I have so been wanting to meet you ever since. Will you perhaps be playing next week?"

"It looks like so much fun, but it's all very confusing," I replied. "Maybe I can watch one more night, but it would be fun to play. A thousand dollars?"

"Yes," Janice said.

"Well, it will have to be after payday," I said. "I usually have money right after payday."

"Isn't she delightful?" Janice said to Lara. "I can understand what you see in her. She's so bubbly."

"She makes for a pleasant diversion," Lara agreed. "I'm sure I'll see you soon, Janice."

Then David walked Janice out. I listened, and once I heard Janice's car start and drive away, I began giggling.

"Half that is mine," I told Lara. "You would have gone broke an hour ago without me."

David came back downstairs, Natalie in tow, and said, "What was that all about?"

I grinned at him. "I didn't like Janice."

"No one likes Janice," Natalie said. "I've been trying to get David to uninvite her to these things for three years. She always makes a snide comment about my house."

"It's a lovely house, Natalie."

I looked at the piles of chips in front of David's, Elisabeth's and Lara's places at the table. They were all up, Lara by the most. "Are you guys really going to play for another two hours?"

"It wouldn't be my choice," Lara said. "Someone made some very interesting promises to me if we went home."

I laughed.

I took fifty dollars in chips from Lara. "Could we play a few hands just for pocket change? David, give your wife fifty dollars in chips."

Soon we were all sitting at the table with a small pile of chips in front of us. Lara, David and Elisabeth moved their large piles to the side. I asked for the cards then asked someone how to shuffle.

"Seriously?" David said. "I thought you were kidding."

"Absolutely seriously," I said. David taught me to shuffle, and I only spilled them all over the table twice before getting it right. Then, carefully, I dealt.

We played for a half hour. David cleaned Elisabeth out on the second hand. I folded repeatedly and watched my chips dwindle in half, then I did an all in with the last half of my chips. I was bluffing, but they let me buy the pot. Lara actually had a proper hand, so I couldn't figure out why she let me have it. At the end of the half hour, I was up a little bit from the start. We all cashed out with David, and then I reached over and took half of Lara's winnings. They all laughed, including Lara.

"Did she really earn that?" David asked.

"Technically I owe her at least five hundred, too," Elisabeth said. She slipped me two hundred. I thanked her.

"You were telling them both how to play?" David asked.

"Only against Janice. What a bitch."

* * * *

That night, Lara shared her bed with me, but we still weren't sharing bodies. "Lara, am I hurting you politically by playing games with them?"

"No. I will tell you if you're meeting anyone who I need you to impress."

I snuggled in against her back.

"Was that true what you said about your hearing?"

"No."

We lay quietly for a while. "How good is your hearing?" She asked it quietly, but loud enough a wolf would have heard."

"What did you say?" I asked her.

"Nothing," she said.

I slept well.

* * * *

Lara had to travel over the weekend, so we didn't see each other, but she sent June for me for poker night the next week. I asked Lara not to play, and only stayed for ninety minutes. Janice was winning when we left. Elisabeth was sad to see us go.

* * * *

The replacement measuring station arrived the following Monday. I called Lara immediately. "I need you," I told her.

She laughed. "It's about time."

"The measuring station arrived. You made me promise to call you. I will happily take guards when I replace it, but I think they should be subtle. Make it look like we have a date, and you and your enforcers rode along just to see what I did for a living."

"We can come tomorrow morning," Lara offered.

"I was hoping you'd let me play cards on Wednesday."

"Have we created a monster?"

I laughed. "Maybe. Who is afraid of the big bad fox?"

"You know, even the best players have bad luck nights. You could lose your money."

"I know. But I figure I'd be playing with Janice's money, anyway."

She laughed. "Try not to give it back to her. So we should fly up Wednesday morning?"

"Tuesday night?"

"Can you handle us overnight?"

"Sure. Bring people I know. But the spare bedroom only had a pullout couch, and it would be cozy for two wolves."

"We'll make do," she said. "See you about eight."

"I'll have food if someone else can grill it."

* * * *

I met them at the airport, taking my car. By now I recognized the planes, but when three planes landed, one after another, I was puzzled. I was only expecting one, or at most, two.

Lara, David and Elisabeth climbed out of the first plane. June, Eric, and a female I didn't recognize got out of the second. Rory and two males I didn't know got out of the third. I stared at all the wolves. Too many wolves.

Lara left taking care of the planes to everyone else and walked over to where I was standing. Instead of looking at her, I stared at all the wolves. She didn't say anything but pulled me into her arms and pulled my head against her chest. "Breath. Safe, Michaela. I'm here."

I breathed in her scent and felt better.

"I don't have room for that many," I said. "And it's way too far to run. I only have one car. It might be a little obvious if they climb on top."

She chuckled. "We'll need to borrow your car. There are rental cars waiting for us in Ashland. We'll send people to get them."

"This is a little obvious, Alpha. I didn't agree to this many. It doesn't look like a date."

"They wouldn't let me come with less."

"More incursions," Lara explained. "These are here for my protection more than yours. Please will you stay in the compound until this is over?"

"We've been over that, Lara."

She sighed and pulled me to her again.

I checked the time. "The ferry is in ten minutes."

"Do you mind walking?" Lara asked me.

"No."

"David, take three more and go get our rental cars," Lara yelled. "Ferry in ten minutes."

David grabbed Eric plus the female and one of the males I didn't know. I handed him my keys. They tossed a large cooler and all the backpacks into the back of my car and drove away. The other wolves finished securing the airplanes. I checked my watch. We had missed the ferry. We walked casually towards the docks, the wolves all fanning out around Lara and me.

It was a nice evening for a walk.

I hadn't bought food for this many wolves, but Lara assured me we were covered. We fired the grill and used the food I'd bought as appetizers. David returned with three SUVs following behind him, and the wolves got serious about their food.

I got picked on for the size of my grill. It took forever to cook all that food. "I'm not upgrading everything I own to serve your retinue, Alpha," I told Lara.

"I don't expect you to." She hugged me. "Are you upset?"

"Intimidated. Where are we going to put them?"

"We have tents and sleeping bags with us."

"Who will be in the house?"

"The females."

"I should stop worrying about the arrangements," I said.

"Yes. It's handled."

* * * *

In the morning, we piled into the cars. I actually gave Lara a good view of what I did. We took some water and soil samples, I serviced one monitoring station that had been having issues for months, and then we headed towards the one that had been smashed.

Every time we came to a stop, David directed security. Half the wolves fanned out into the surrounding area. The rest stayed with Lara and me. We saw absolutely no signs of trouble.

When we arrived at the lake with the broken station, I pulled out a topographical map and showed everyone where the station was on the other side of the lake. "I usually run there furry," I said. "But it's not a bad walk on two feet." David looked over the map and sent his guards out.

We got three quarters of the way to the station. Elisabeth was carrying the replacement for me. Suddenly I stopped, listening, pulling Lara to a stop next to me.

"What?"

"Quiet," I said. That earned me a dirty look, but she didn't say anything. I had heard something, and I didn't like it.

David turned around and was watching us. I gestured him to join us. "David, how far out are your scouts?"

"Two hundred yards."

"That's what I thought. Do you have radio communication? Silent radio communication?"