Wolf Women (The Madison Wolves Book 10) (19 page)

We grabbed jackets and moved outside, three of us flanked by our escorts. Iris and Lindsey grabbed me, but I said, "Hang on." I turned to Michele. "They'll take your arms -- as you can see. You sort of run with them, but let them do the work and let them do what they want."

"How often do you do this?" she asked.

"A normal run?" I asked. "Some days it's several trips a day. At events, they just sort of grab me and take me somewhere, then return me. Portia and Ember take me for a run most evenings if I haven't had one already that day, and sometimes even if I have."

"It's dark," Lara said. "So don't get carried away."

"We won't, Alpha," Iris said. "Ready, Zoe?"

I shook myself out. Then I looked over my shoulder at Portia. "Wager."

"Oh?"

"If I make it without screaming, then..." I gestured for her to come closer. She approached and leaned down. "Then later, you don't get to make me scream more than your name."

She chuckled. "And if you scream?"

"For every scream, you can add other things I have to say."

"Agreed," she said immediately. "Ah, if only it weren't nighttime, I'd ask these fine wolves to make it a seven. Take her, girls!"

Iris and Lindsey immediately grabbed my arms again, and moments later we were off.

They ran straight for the back corner of the gym, pulling me sideways along it just at the last instant. I managed to avoid screaming, but it was close.

They did jump me over one of the cars in the parking lot, and then they almost ran me right into the alpha's house. I didn't scream about the car, but I gave a good scream when we came to a stop inches from the wall of the house. They laughed, then they dragged me along the porch, picking me up in what I called 'superman style' to clear the railing.

More or less, we remained a group. I recognized the people around me, although I was too wrapped up in my own experience to see what happened with Michele and Michaela. I got about a ten-minute ride before we came to a stop deep in the woods. Iris and Lindsey were breathing hard and laughing. They set me down.

"I heard screaming," Michaela said after being released by Monique and Evangeline. "And none of it was from me."

"I am not convinced Zoe plays to win," Portia said. She and Lara were barely winded. She stepped over and hugged me.

Sebastian and Nash brought Michele to a stop, and then the rest of the wolves gathered around, many of them laughing.

"What did you think, Michele?" I asked her, still panting.

"I understand why you come back laughing from your runs," she said. "That's fun." She turned to her wolves. "You two may step it up on the way back."

They grinned. "How far, Ms. Lassiter?" Nash asked.

"Dial it back a little from what they were doing to Zoe," she said.

"Your mate has come a long way," Lara told Portia. "We are very proud of her."

"I am, too," Portia said. "But it is very difficult to hear her scream and not intervene."

"It's good for you," I said. "Besides, they made me scream so you could win our wager."

She laughed. "They made you scream because it amuses them," Portia replied.

"You'd think she'd get used to it," Iris said. She grinned. "She keeps us working to come up with new routes to take."

"Eventually someone is going to make a mistake," Lara said. "I'm not sure why I allow this."

"That's part of how they get me to scream," I said. "One or the other 'slips'."

"Works every time," Lindsey said. "Every. Time."

I hung my head. It was true.

"Got your breath?" Iris asked.

"Yep." They picked me up, tossed me in the air, and then caught me on the run.

A minute or two later, I heard a scream from Michele.

* * * *

Back at the house, once my heart slowed down and I had thanked the girls, I offered dessert. That meant fruit for me and whoever else wanted some and ice cream for everyone else. Then we sat down and enjoyed a very sweet romantic comedy.

I soon found myself lounging in Portia's arm, snuggled tightly against her. Beside me, Michaela was in Lara's lap. I loved watching how tender the large werewolf was with the little fox.

Ember was paying more attention to Cassie than to the movie. They were holding hands, and Ember was lightly caressing Cassie's arm. Cassie had her head on Ember's shoulder. It was really cute.

Iris and Lindsey were flirting with their dates, but it didn't look very serious. Monique had Evangeline's head in her lap. She was running her fingers through Evangeline's short hair while another hand rested on the girl's hip.

It was a sweet movie, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. When the credits rolled, there were a few sighs.

"Well," Michaela said. "I had a lovely time. Thank you, Zoe."

"I'm glad you could come."

"Kids," Michaela ordered, "take care of the cleanup. Then it's time to go."

"Actually," said Ember. She turned to Portia and me and offered a perfect puppy-dog expression. "Do you think we could have a slumber party? We'd sleep down here."

"You're not having a co-ed slumber party," I said firmly.

"Just the girls," she clarified. "Please, Moms!"

I didn't ask Portia. I turned to Michaela. She immediately said, "It's up to the two of you."

So I looked at Portia. She raised an eyebrow. "You ask me after you ask Michaela?"

I shrugged. "That's better than not asking you at all."

Portia looked at me, then at the girls, then back at me. "Your decision," she said finally.

I turned back to Ember. "You aren't going to do anything that might cause me shock if I walk in on it, are you?"

"Mom!" she said, dragging out the word. "No!"

"All right, but everyone needs to run home for tooth brushes and pajamas."

"No we don't," said Iris. "We came prepared."

"Just how long have you been hatching this plot?" I asked.

"Um."

"Never mind," I said. "I don't want to know."

"Well then," said Michaela. "You still have cleanup to do. I expect everyone for breakfast in the morning."

"I'm not sure I'll make it, Michaela," Hadley said.

"I didn't mean you," Michaela replied. "Although you know you're always welcome."

The adults collected their coats, and then we moved outside to see everyone off. Hugs were exchanged, and then Michaela smirked at me.

"What?"

"You forgot the terms of your wager when you agreed to a house full of giggling teenagers. And I don't think your mate is going to postpone, either."

"She wouldn't!"

"She certainly would," Portia said with a grin. "And I counted seven clear screams. I really do have to thank Iris and Lindsey."

* * * *

Over the next several months, we established a variety of patterns. Both Hadley and Michele went out of their way to establish friendships, which I thought was very kind. Once or twice a week, I had lunch or dinner with some combination of Michaela, Hadley, and Michele. They came to movie night, not every week, but often. We had cards once a month at Hadley's.

The third Thursday in March, Portia was working late, and Ember was scheduled to work on a class project with some of the other girls. Hadley and Michele picked me up and took me to dinner, where they managed to pour an obscene amount of alcohol into me. Then we went back to Hadley's, where they poured more alcohol into me. I never enjoyed getting drunk, and I tried to stop, but they were insistent, and, well... I let them.

I don't remember everything we talked about. I do remember at one point declaring loudly, "I totally love you guys!"

We talked about Portia. I think I told them about all my old girlfriends, every single one. Every time I stopped talking, they tried to make me drink more, and by tried, I mean lifted a glass to my lips while holding my shoulders. They gave me the choice of talking or drinking.

So -- mostly -- I talked.

At some point, I fell asleep. I woke hours later in a strange bed, and I wasn't alone.

"Portia?"

"Not Portia." I was in bed with Hadley. I sat bolt upright.

"Relax," she said. "You were so tired."

"Why am I in your bed? Hadley!"

"Relax," she said again. "It was just sleep. We're both chastely dressed. Portia knows you're here."

"Ember!"

"Overnight at Michaela's," she said.

"You got me drunk," I accused.

"We sure did," she said. "And you sang like a canary. You're not going to be sick, are you?"

"It would serve you right." I lay back amongst the pillows. "I should go home."

"I'll drive you in the morning," she said.

"Oh god," I said. "What did I tell you?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"No. I want to know why though."

"Bonding experience," she said. "Now Michele and I know
all
your secrets." She dragged out the 'all'.

"Hadley..."

"Relax," she said for a third time. "I'm just teasing you." She paused. "I may not be very good at it. I don't get much experience."

I lay there staring at the ceiling. "Did I really tell you all my secrets?"

"Only a couple," she replied. "You're actually pretty closed mouthed. We could get you to tell your secrets, but try as we might, we couldn't get you to tell anyone else's."

"Is that why you did it? To see if I could keep a secret?"

"No. It really was supposed to be a normal girls' night out. But then we got a little carried away. Please don't be angry."

"If I have a horrible headache in the morning, all bets are off."

"There is a glass of water on the night stand next to you, and we got some ibuprofen into you. You should be fine."

After that, I drifted off again.

I did have a little headache in the morning, but it wasn't horrible. Hadley was amazingly solicitous of me, anyway, and I wondered if she felt a little guilty.

I wasn't sure if I fully believed her explanation, and I wanted to know if I'd told them anything terribly embarrassing or private, but she didn't tease me about any of it, and the next time I saw Michele, she didn't, either.

Hadley drove me home, and we hugged tightly. "Thank you," she said.

"For what?"

"I don't have many friends," she said. "We're friends, right?"

I thought about it. "Yeah, Hadley, I think we are."

We broke ground in April, as soon as it was safe to dig a foundation. Portia hired a contractor -- werewolves, of course -- to do the concrete work. We, along with our friends, would do the rest of the work ourselves, except for the plumbing.

At first, everything seemed to go slowly. But then we took delivery of a great, great pile of lumber, and then it became a whirlwind.

Portia, Ember, and I did most of the work together, but we had a great, great deal of assistance. It seemed like everyone wanted to help. The shell went up quickly, amazingly quickly, and by early May, it began to look like a house. But then it slowed down again. The roof was much more complicated than our old house, and even with help, it took over a week to do the shingles.

Of course, it didn't help that we both had jobs to attend to.

Siding, windows, doors: they all took time.

And then inside there was plumbing to do, and by then, I was grateful we were hiring a plumbing contractor. We hired someone else for the heating and cooling system. But Portia did the electrical work herself, teaching all of the helpers. That part went quickly, as we had ten people in the house that afternoon, drilling holes and running wires. Portia checked every single connection herself.

The drywall was the worst, and I remembered what it had taken to drywall my office in the old house.

"I want you to hire someone to do the taping," I told her. "It will take us months."

"Trust me," she replied.

It didn't take months, not with the amount of help we had. But it took weeks. June arrived, and then July.

We used a sprayer to paint the walls. What would have taken weeks by hand was done in three days. The exterior paint went just as quickly.

Cabinets and flooring were installed, and she hired professionals for both of those. The plumbers finished their work.

It was the first of August when Portia, Ember, and I stood in the center of the room that was to become the master bedroom.

"The wedding is in two weeks," Portia declared.

* * * *

There was a flurry of last-minute activity, most of it by Michaela and Karen. "We've got it," Michaela said. "Don't worry, Zoe."

"Shouldn't I be doing all this?"

"No."

Invitations went out the next day. In effect, we appropriated pack play night, so everyone was already expecting to be there. And the pack had everything we needed, so there were no companies to deal with, except for flowers.

It felt weird to me knowing I was about to get married, and I wasn't running around like a chicken with its head cut off, making sure everything would be settled.

But it was Thursday evening, just a bit more than a week before the wedding, when I got a call from Michaela. I was home alone. Portia was helping Karen and Elisabeth deal with some pack issue, and Ember was doing homework with a few of the kids.

"Good evening, Alpha."

"Good evening, Zoe. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Nope. I was actually relaxing with a book."

"Well, we need to talk about something for the wedding. Could you stop over? I'd come to you, but I don't have enough of a security detail to step out of the house." She sounded annoyed about it.

"Of course. I'm kind of grungy though. Let me throw something on."

"Naw, grungy is fine. I am, too, actually. This won't take long."

"All right. Five minutes."

I thought about changing anyway, but I didn't want to make her wait. So I slipped my phone into my jeans pocket, left a note for Ember and Portia in case they got home before I did, and stepped outside.

It was a beautiful night, just turning dusk. I stood on the steps for a moment and breathed the clean, spruce-scented air.

Life was pretty darned good.

I climbed down the steps, glanced over to where the new house was waiting for us, then turned towards Michaela's home.

I was just passing Elisabeth's house when Iris and Lindsey came walking around the corner heading in the opposite direction.

"Hey, Zoe," Iris said. "Where are you going?" The two of them ran over, flanking me on either side. They grabbed my arms.

"Hi, girls. As much fun as that is, I don't have time. Michaela's waiting for me."

"No problem," Lindsey said. "We'll take you to her."

"No," I started to say, but they tightened their grip and then, whether I cooperated or not, we were running. They basically carried me until I began running with them, but of course, this wasn't anything new anymore.

We headed straight for Michaela's house, but then they turned playful. They tried to get me to believe they were going to bounce me off the house, but of course, I knew that trick by now, and I only grunted heavily when they jerked me to the side at the last instant, Iris on my left using her body more than anything to change my direction. We dashed around the house then ran for the cars. We jumped over them, ran past them out to the road, then did a quick U-turn, which left me a little dizzy. Then another trip over another car before we ran to the front of the house, both of them moving in front of me to stop me from hitting smack dab into the front door.

"You girls are good," I said.

"We know," Iris said. "But that was too short."

And then as I protested, they dragged me backwards off the porch. "Michaela's waiting!"

"She won't mind," Lindsey said. I struggled lightly with them, but they had a firm grip, and soon we were heading into the woods.

"Girls!"

They just laughed.

They gave me a two-minute run at about a four, finally coming to a stop and releasing my arms.

"Very funny. Take me back now."

"Backwards?" Lindsey said. "Okay." They both shifted their grip, and then we were running, but I was facing the wrong way.

"Girls!" I shrieked.

I had gotten pretty used to a fright factor of four, and it was rare they got me to scream, but going backwards was a lot worse. To add to it, I was growing angry. "No" had always meant "no" in the past.

They got a couple of shrieks, but they also got quite a bit of yelling. They ignored all of it.

"Are you two on drugs?" I finally asked.

We came to another stop.

"That's enough," I said. I glared to one side then the other. "How far are we from the compound?"

"A half mile or so," Iris said. "That way." She pointed.

"Fine. I'll walk." I tried shaking them off, but they didn't let me go. "I've had enough tonight, girls. Let. Go."

"You know," said Lindsey, "Michaela said you wouldn't see it coming."

"Wouldn't see what coming?" I asked.

"We're kidnapping you, Zoe," Iris said.

"What?" I spat.

"Ransom night," Lindsey clarified. "Remember to struggle."

I was stunned into silence. Before I could absorb what they had said, they bent down, each grabbed a leg just below my knees, and then picked me up, tipping me upside down. They still had my arms, and this was a little awkward for them, but they began to run.

And I began to scream and didn't stop.

They gave me a seven, or close enough. Flying along upside down like that was far more terrifying -- and humiliating -- than what they normally did, and I spent the entire time screaming.

But I was so terrified they would drop me, I didn't struggle.

"I'm going to be sick!" I finally called out, but that didn't result in any mercy at all. Still they ran.

But then they came to a stop, spun around once, and then lowered me to my hands and knees. Immediately in front of me were a pair of legs in a skirt, and I knew it was Michaela. I screamed for another fifteen seconds, reverting to panting. My heart was pounding out of my chest with a mix of fear and anger, and my stomach was heaving, barely contained.

Finally I said quietly, "I should throw up on your feet."

She laughed lightly. "You really don't want to do that, Zoe. Did she struggle?"

"Not really. She yelled a lot."

"I heard," Michaela said.

Still on my hands and knees in front of her, I looked up. She was looking down at me. "Please don't shave my head," I said in a small voice.

"We're making concessions because you're human, and I really dislike that part of the tradition, anyway," she said. "If you had struggled, we'd let you keep your clothes. Well, some of them, anyway." She paused. "Strip her."

At that, I did struggle, but the ride through the forest had taken whatever fight I may have had and spread it out in little driblets along the forest floor. Iris and Lindsey picked me up, and I got a look at my captors.

Michaela was there, of course, and Iris and Lindsey. I got a glimpse of both Hadley and Michele. Angel and Scarlett were there as well, as were Monique, Cassie, and Evangeline. I hadn't spent as much time with Kaylee, Kimber, or Val, so I wasn't surprised they weren't there, but I wondered where Ember was.

I didn't have time to ask.

I protested I hadn't any warning. I protested it was unreasonable to expect a struggle while hanging upside down. I protested I had tried to struggle even before I knew what was going on. I pointed out they were a lot stronger than I was, and perhaps they just hadn't noticed my attempts.

None of that mattered, and they collectively ignored everything I had to say.

I think Michaela knew all that, and telling me they would have let me keep my clothes if I had struggled was a means of conciliation with the tradition.

The girls took turns stealing my clothes. Monique bent over and collected my legs. I tried to kick her, but she just laughed and wrapped them in a hug, then picked my legs up. Cassie stepped forward and removed my tennis shoes and socks. Monique put my feet back on the ground, but she held my legs tightly while Evangeline undid the buttons of my jeans.

"Stop this!" I said. "Michaela!"

Michaela smiled and said nothing.

They stole my jeans, then Evangeline grabbed my legs from Monique, and she looked at my tee shirt.

"Ratty," she said, and rather than pulling it off me, she grabbed the collar, then bent forward and bit the hem. Then there was a rip, and she tore it down the front. More rips tore the sleeves, and then the material dropped to the ground.

"That's a nice bra," Michaela said. "If you cooperate, she won't destroy it taking it off you."

"Go to hell!" I said.

Yeah, I'd agreed to this, but I hadn't agreed to how they had taken me. Monique shrugged, and a moment later, she began destroying the straps of the bra. It only took her seconds.

I tried to cover myself, but Iris and Lindsey still had my arms. I began blushing furiously, looking anywhere but at my captors. That was hard, as they were all around me.

"Let her keep her undies," Michaela said. "Tape her. Don't forget to wrap her first."

"No!" I said. I struggled again, quite ineffectively. It did me no good, and then they forced me onto my knees, then flat on my stomach. Iris and Lindsey pinned me while I swore at them. I tried kicking at whoever had my legs, but Evangeline tightened her grip. I didn't see what they were doing after that, but I felt them begin to wrap my ankles in something; I would learn shortly it was Saran Wrap. They wrapped the ankles, then I heard the sound of tape coming off a roll.

"No!" I said again, but they wrapped the tape around my ankles, binding them tightly. After that, they worked their way up my legs, lifting them into the air behind me, which was awkward with my face pressed into the ground. They taped me all the way to just below my buns.

Then everyone stilled. Michaela knelt down in front of me. I tilted my head sideways to try to look at her. She studied me.

"Are you all right?" she finally asked.

I thought about it. "Yeah." I said it calmly, more or less. "You're not going to cut my hair?"

"No. I'm about to give you a choice. We need to tape your arms. It is trivial to tape them behind your back. If we have to do that, we won't use the wrap, and it will hurt when we pull the tape off. If you promise to cooperate, we'll sit you up and tape them along your sides."

"We should tape them behind her back," Evangeline said. "That is more secure, and less comfortable. She will break sooner."

"Ransom night is about helping the bride demonstrate her strength," Hadley said. "Good judgment is one of Zoe's strengths."

"Sides," I said. "I'll cooperate."

"Sit her up," Michaela said.

They rolled me over first then helped me to sit. Iris and Lindsey grabbed my arms again, holding them straight out to either side. I looked down at my legs and saw them wrapped in duct tape, and just peeking out of the top of the tape, I could see the Saran Wrap.

"They did this differently with me," Michaela said. "It was awkward." She pressed something into my left hand. "Hold this. If you drop it, we're taping your hands the way Evangeline wants them."

"What is it?"