by Robin Roseau
“Maybe.”
“Not an hour,” Parker said. “Forty minutes, maybe.”
“All right. Who?”
“Alexia and Barb are gone,” Parker replied. “We didn’t check the other bunkhouses.”
“So they might not have gone to town but could instead be visiting another bunkhouse.”
“Yeah, but we’re not supposed to do that, either,” Parker said. “But we weren’t sure if we should look for them or come here.”
“You would not have been faulted for checking the other bunkhouses first,” Lara said before Michaela could answer. “But if you’d gone out looking elsewhere, that’s a different thing.”
“We didn’t want to get in trouble for being in the wrong place,” Cassie explained.
“Nor are you faulted for coming straight to us,” Lara replied. “Girls, step aside for a minute and let us talk.” She waited until the girls were near the inactive fireplace, looking nervously at each other, before she turned to Deirdre. “Do you have any way to find them more readily than our methods?”
“No. I’m sorry.”
“Does your magic work within our home?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“I’d like to deputize both of you,” Lara said, looking first at Deirdre and me. “This may be entirely unnecessary, but can I treat you like enforcers while we resolve this?”
“Of course,” Deirdre said. I simply nodded.
“Anna, will you shift? As soon as you’re done, I’d like the two of you to guard the pups. Send the rest of the enforcers to join us.”
I didn’t wait but began shedding my clothes. I moved to the floor and began my shift, all the while listening as they talked about the rest of their plans.
It was simple, really. They would check on all the kids, and then once they knew who was missing, they could respond.
I hurried my shift, which I didn’t necessarily enjoy, but I thought it was necessary. By the time the alphas were ready to go looking for their missing teenagers, I was on four feet and stretching.
“We’ll watch your pups,” Deirdre said. “They’re safe with us.”
“Of course they are,” Michaela said. “We’ll keep you posted.”
“Ready, Anna?” Deirdre asked.
* * * *
I didn’t learn about the rest until later. First, watching the pups was easy. They slept, and we weren’t bothered. I remained on high alert, picking a guard position midway between the door and the windows. Deirdre sat in a chair, but she was also on alert, and I thought perhaps she was using some of her magic. But I wasn’t sure.
Michaela and Lara performed a bed check. Along with the two missing girls there were two missing boys. Everyone else was present. None of the missing kids was from Michaela’s regular program.
I learned later that Michaela felt deeply hurt and betrayed the kids would violate her trust, although it wasn’t as great a violation as she originally thought.
I’m going to tell the rest as though I were there, but I am relaying it as I learned about it.
Outside the bunkhouses, Michaela cocked her head, listening. Around her, all the wolves stilled, knowing what she was doing. She listened, then cocked her head and turned, listening again. “There’s something,” she said.
A moment later she was on four feet, slithering out of her clothing. She listened again, her fox ears better for the job than her human ears. Then, with a bark, she set off in a run.
A moment later, those wolves who could instantly shift hurried after her, the rest remaining behind, wondering what they were supposed to do and following back on old habits. They went on guard, watching over the lodge and the bunkhouses.
It took seconds for Lara, Elisabeth, and several of their enforcers to surround the fox. But they didn’t hinder her. She was alpha, after all, and fox besides. If she was running somewhere, there was a reason for it.
It wasn’t a long run, perhaps a half-mile or a little more. Halfway through the run, Michaela came to a stop and shifted back into skin. “Listen to me,” she said. “Elisabeth, head that way.” She pointed. “Take half the enforcers with you and circle around. When you can smell it, you’ll know where we’re going, but don’t spook them. Lara, we’re going to circle the other way. We need to fan out and close them off.”
Lara shifted into her own skin. “They’re out in the woods?”
“I’m still too far to tell,” she said. “I hear talking. It’s not very loud. But I’m too far for heartbeats. There’s one. There might be four.” She pointed. “It’s another five hundred yards that way, but I won’t keep up if they take off.”
“And we’re not leaving you out here alone,” Lara said.
“Right.”
“Go.”
And so the force split into two, Elisabeth heading east and Michaela leading the others northwest, then curving around to approach from upwind, but moving faster than their scent would carry.
The two forces arrived within seconds of each other to find not four teenage wolves, but instead, only one.
Alexia.
She didn’t say a word when they all converged on her. Michaela shifted back into skin. “Well. I wasn’t expecting to find you alone out here, Alexia.”
The girl didn’t look up. “You’re going to send me home.”
“We’ll see. Where are Barb, Evan, and Jim?”
She began crying. Michaela moved to her and knelt down. “Alexia, is anyone hurt?” The girl shook her head. “We need to know where they are.”
“Town,” the girl said. “God, I was so stupid.”
“How long have they been gone?”
“A half hour.”
“Please tell me they’re not in fur.”
“Jim wanted to steal a car.”
Lara shifted into her own skin. “Alexia, are they on two feet or four?” she demanded.
“Two,” she said.
“Why are you here alone?” Michaela asked.
“I didn’t want to go,” she said. “I let Evan talk me into it. And. I didn’t want Barb to go with just the two of them.”
“But you’re here, and they’re not.”
“We got here, and I told them we were going to get into trouble.” For the first time she looked up. “I’m sorry, Ms. Redfur.”
“Why didn’t you head back?”
The girl dropped her gaze but shrugged.
“Do you want to go back to Madison in the morning, or do you want to stay here?”
“Stay,” she said after a pause.
“Then you’ll answer my questions,” Michaela said. “Why didn’t you return?”
“I didn’t want to face you.”
“You were going to eventually.”
“I know.”
“All right. We’re heading back. I’ll decide later what we’re going to do with you. Right now we have three more very foolish idiots to find. It’s not that far, and I don’t run that fast. Keep up.”
Then she shifted back into fur. Lara clasped the girl’s arms, pulled her to her feet, and then shifted into her own fur. Michaela turned for the compound, and soon the entire group was heading back, Alexia the only one on two feet, running to keep up with the fox and surrounded by enforcers.
Arriving outside the lodge, Michaela shifted back into skin. “Head Enforcer!” she called out. “Lock Alexia up. Let her consider her choices. Assign a couple of guards. We’re heading into town to try to find our wayward pack members. Handle security.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Elisabeth replied, shifting from her own fur. “Rory. Lock this girl up. Evangeline. Nash. You’re her guards. Shelton and Monique. Guard the area. Shelton, shift to fur. Monique, do you have your phone?”
“Yes, Head Enforcer. And it has a full charge.”
“Good. Hands free with Eric full time.”
“Got it,” Eric called out.
Three minutes later, three SUVs filled with large wolves and one tiny fox were heading towards Bayfield.
It took exactly two stops to find t
hem. The first was near the waterfront. Michaela, surrounded by enforcers, climbed out, turned a slow circle, and said, “Let’s try the Pierpoint.” The local dive. Every place has one, right?
They didn’t worry about subtle, pulling into the main parking lot. Elisabeth dispatched wolves to watch the outside, and then the rest stepped into a bar. It took Michaela a second and a half to dip her head. “Corner. Handle it, Elisabeth.” She turned around and stepped outside, Lara, Serena, and Portia flanking her.
Five minutes later, everyone plus three boisterous teenagers were back in the SUVs. Elisabeth intentionally kept the kids separated, and no one said a word to them during the return to pack lands. They arrived back at the lodge and climbed from the cars.
“Alpha, what do you want to do?” Elisabeth gestured to the teenagers, each in the grip of one of the enforcers.
“Eric, did you tell Monique we found them?”
“Yes.”
“Head Enforcer, keep them separated. Bring them to me one at a time. Barb first.”
Then she turned and headed for the picnic shelter.
Each of the kids faced the alpha, one after another. The conversation with each was similar. “You are going home in the morning. That is not under discussion. But you have a few choices. You can answer my questions. If you do not, I’m first handing you back to Elisabeth for some well-deserved discipline. If you answer my questions truthfully, Elisabeth won’t need to touch you.”
None of them said a word to that.
“You also have one other choice. You are banned from future participation in my activities. If you wish me to reconsider that choice, you will first perform 500 hours of pack service. It’s your choice, but until I see significant progress towards those 500 hours, do not bother applying for anything I run. Whose idea was it?”
They all talked, although Jim tried lying a few times. Michaela built as complete a picture as is possible when questioning wayward teenagers.
“Head Enforcer,” Michaela called out when she was done. “Lock them up for the night. We’ll need to find someone to drive them home.”
“We’ll see to it, Alpha,” Elisabeth said.
“Bring Alexia to me now.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Elisabeth replied.
Three minutes later, Alexia sat across the picnic table from Michaela. Michaela studied her for a moment and then said, “They’re getting sent home and have a choice of 500 hours of pack service or be permanently banned from my activities.”
“Ms. Redfur.”
“Just hang on. Alexia, in American society, especially among teenagers, there is a belief that it’s bad to tell your teachers and other authority figures when someone is doing something stupid. That attitude is perpetuated by the very people who are making trouble in the first place. They use words like rat and snitch and tattletale.”
Alexia looked away, not saying anything.
“This pack does not encourage that attitude,” Michaela continued. “Frankly, it’s too dangerous. We are always at risk of being discovered by humans, and so we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
“I know,” the girl said, barely a whisper.
“We have good kids here,” Michaela said. “We have kids I am personally very proud of. Angel and Scarlett were two of my first students, and they have become two of my dearest friends.” She paused a moment. “I’m going to ask you some questions. You do not have to answer them. If not, you will be going home with the other three, and if you ever apply to one of my programs again, you will have an uphill battle being admitted.”
“What if I answer?”
“Then we’ll see,” Michaela replied. “What should you have done the minute some of the kids started asking about going to town?”
“Told you.”
“Or another adult,” Michaela said. “Why didn’t you?”
Alexia didn’t answer right away. Michaela frowned and said, “I’m waiting.”
“I didn’t want to be a snitch.”
“And when you sat down out in the woods instead of going with them?”
“I still didn’t want to be a snitch, but if I came back, you’d make me tell.”
“Do you want to be here, Alexia? Or did your parents make you come?”
“I want to be here.”
“You don’t act like it. You act like hanging out with us is totally uncool. You act like enjoying being together with people who could be your friends is even less cool. You act like hanging around with the pack enforcers is also uncool. In some ways that makes you a typical teenager. But part of the goal of this program is to take kids like you and show them they can be far more than they expected.”
Alexia had nothing to say over that.
“Maybe you don’t think it means much to become a pack enforcer,” Michaela said. “Maybe you look at Monique and think about how you’re smarter than she is, or you’ll get a better job and make more.”
“Monique is okay,” Alexia muttered.
“Monique is better than okay, Alexia. All my students are far, far better than okay. But if you think they’re just okay, that’s about you and your view of them, and not about them at all.”
“Monique can shift instantly, like you, Alpha.”
“She can. I think that’s pretty darned awesome. Don’t you?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“She is also exceedingly loyal, and not only to me, but to all her friends. I think that’s pretty darned awesome, too. What do you think of that?”
“I don’t know,” Alexia muttered.
“Who in your life can you count on, Alexia? Who do you trust, no matter what?”
“Nobody.”
“Your parents?”
“No way.”
“Teachers?”
“No.”
“Friends at school?”
“No.”
“Barb? Jim? Evan?”
“Hell no. I mean.”
“That’s fine, Alexia,” Michaela said. “I don’t have the slightest problem with strong language when it’s appropriate. I’d much rather hear strong, honest language, than dishonest language. There’s this thing about loyalty and trust. It’s hard to earn and easy to destroy. You’re probably a little young to understand that. But my students understand it. And I know I can count on them to do the best they can in any situation. Oh, they won’t always have the judgment of an adult, but when they know the right thing, they’ll do it. Always.”
Alexia hung her head.
“I think you could be like that, too. I think you could be the sort of wolf people could count on. I think you could be the sort of wolf people could trust, no matter what. But you have to decide to be that person, and then you have to actually be that person every minute of every day until people learn that’s who you are. That’s not easy to do and it’s not necessarily easy to learn, but do you understand?”
“I suppose.”
“You said there’s no one you trust. I will tell you a bunch of people you can trust. You can trust me. You can trust Lara. You can trust every enforcer in this pack. You can trust my students as long as you remember what I said about being young and still learning what is best to do in any given situation. Tell me, Alexia. Don’t you want people like that in your life?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Tonight you did something stupid. Do you agree with that statement?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
“I believe you,” Michaela said. “When we do stupid things, there are consequences. You and I haven’t decided what those are. But even if I decide there are consequences you need to pay, you can still trust me. Next week or next month or next year, when there’s something I should know, you can trust me. You can come to me and know that I will do the right thing, as best I can, with what you tell me. And the last thing I’ll do is judge you for telling me. Do you understand?”
“I guess.”
“And do you believe me?”
“Yes,” Alexia replied.
“All right. Tell me. What do you think we should do with you?”
“Send me home, I guess. Do I have to do the pack service hours?”
“Let me ask you this: do you think we should send you home, or do you just think that’s what we’re going to do?”
“What you’re going to do, I guess.”
“But that’s not what I asked. I asked what you think we should do. Or if you aren’t sure, maybe you can tell me what you want us to do.”
“I-“ She looked up. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s not hard. What do you want me to do about this?”
“Forgive me?”
“You make it sound like a question. What do you want me to do about this?”
“Forgive me. Alpha, I’m really sorry.”
“So. You think I should send you home. But you want me to forgive you. Why do you think I should send you home?”
“I-“ she broke off. “I don’t know.”
“If you were on my side of the table, and it was another girl sitting where you’re sitting, is that’s what you would do?”
“Probably.”
“If I send you home, it’s going to have lasting implications in your life. If I let you stay, and you abuse my trust again, something far worse could happen. Even the time I’m forced to spend on this is time all of us could have spent relaxing and getting ready for tomorrow. It was very selfish of the four of you to require us to spend this time. Did you really think you wouldn’t get caught?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
She girl paused before answering. “I told them we were going to get caught.”
“Is that the only reason you didn’t go to town?”
“No. There were other reasons.”
“Like what?”
“They were going to do something really stupid. I bet they were drinking.”
“They were,” Michaela replied.
“And I think Jim and Evan expected sex later, too.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. How do you feel about that?”
“They’re both jerks. I’m not spreading my...” she trailed off.
“Right. I get it. Alexia, you have a choice. You can ride home with them tomorrow. Or you can make some promises, and you can stay, but you’re on probation.”
“What promises?”
