Wolf Women (The Madison Wolves Book 10)

by Robin Roseau

  "I-"

  "Michaela is pushing you physically. She's pushing you harder than I would be, but she has a better feel for what you can take. She's not trying to break you, Zoe. She's trying to show, we're almost breaking you, but you stick to your morals. Tell me, what would it take to tell us about Ember's bad habits?"

  "I don't know."

  "Would you die for them?"

  I sighed. "No. She wouldn't want that."

  "No one would want that, not for a few bad habits. Would you die to protect the pack's secrecy?"

  "Yes."

  "Well then?"

  "I'm... I'm doing okay?"

  "You're doing great, Zoe. No one expects physical strength. Most people don't expect any strength at all. There are people in the pack who do not understand why an enforcer would want a human."

  "June has Benny."

  "They don't understand that, but June is not as visible as Portia is."

  "Could you hold me tighter, Hadley? I'm still so cold."

  "I can," she said, and she pulled me more tightly against her.

  We lay quietly for a minute before I said, "What's she asking for the ransom?"

  "If she wants you to know, she will tell you. Portia can afford it."

  "The punishments are going to get worse. I thought they were supposed to get worse slowly, but they started harsh, and then it's been erratic."

  "Are you asking a question?"

  "I don't understand."

  She paused before answering. "We wanted to be sure to show your strengths, and we wanted to do so before you were too worn out. We have a few easier things after our nap, and a few more ways to show you off. And then I think the gloves come off."

  "I don't understand that part. If you are showing how strong I am, then why push me until I break?"

  "So that your mate knows the punishments aren't fake. Remember, this is a tradition, Zoe, and your human mind won't understand all of it."

  "How do I know when I should beg, Hadley?"

  "You could have begged already, and it would have been okay, Zoe. The pack would have been satisfied. There are wolves who would have freaked out just being put in that box, and others who would have begged when the water flowed over their faces."

  "Not strong wolves."

  "You would be surprised. Zoe, you are honoring the tradition, and that is what matters. You should stop us when you become unwilling to take more and before it threatens to hurt you psychologically."

  "I don't know when that is."

  She paused. "We have several easy punishments. I won't say what they are. One is momentous, and you will recognize it. After that, Michaela wants you to beg, and she'll make you beg eventually. You know she will. If you hold out after that, it is for your stubbornness and pride in an attempt to be a wolf when you are not a wolf."

  "Are you telling me I should give in easily?"

  "No. I will respect you for this, but it is not necessary to take more."

  "But it is the tradition, to hold out as long as I can."

  "Honor will be satisfied, Zoe. Do not worry about the tradition."

  "We'll see."

  "Unless you have more questions, you should sleep. Two hours is not a long time."

  "As soon as whoever is joining us arrives."

  "Well, try to relax." And then she began singing quietly, soothingly. She had a very pleasant voice, deep and smooth. She sang no words, she just... sang.

  I began to drift.

  There was a knock at the door, and then it opened. "Hadley, it's Cassie and Monique. Is there room for both of us?"

  "Of course," Hadley said softly. "She's trying to sleep now. Come cuddle with her."

  A few minutes later, sandwiched between warm wolves, I slept.

  * * * *

  I woke groggily when my warmth was removed. I tried to stretch, but I couldn't, and then I remembered where I was.

  I felt hands clasping me, and then they rolled me from the bed and lifted me. "Mmm," was all I could say at first, then, "I was warm."

  "Nap time is over," Monique said. "It's time for your next punishment."

  "Wait," I said. "Don't tell me. You're going to wake me up without any coffee."

  "Darn!" said Michaela. "Why didn't I think of that?"

  They carried me downstairs and set me on the sofa. They hadn't taken off the blindfold yet. "May I have some water?"

  "Of course." A moment later, there was a straw in my mouth. I took several slurps then offered thanks.

  "It's punishment time," Michaela said. "We are going to spank you until you are sobbing or you beg Portia to pay your ransom."

  "Why aren't you offering alternatives?" I asked. "I thought that was part of this little tradition. Someone else should get spanked until she sobs, and I should accept something worse."

  Someone climbed onto my lap, and by her size, I realized it was Michaela. She caressed my cheek. "That part of the game is for more of the fun. But we played Fear Factor instead, and you got to see all of us engage in a variety of silly, humiliating, or uncomfortable behavior."

  "I didn't get to see you engage in any of those, Alpha."

  She chuckled. "Of course not. I'm running this show, so I get to make the rules. But we do have a few alternatives coming up. However, perhaps you wish to beg Portia to ransom you."

  "What's the price down to? Maybe you should negotiate with me, not her."

  "Maybe we will, later," Michaela said. "She almost paid when we put you in the box."

  "She did?"

  "If she could have afforded the price, she might have paid during one of your earlier spankings as well."

  I grew still. Even though I couldn't see, I looked down. Michaela placed her forehead against mine and held my cheeks with her hands. "I could hear Lara in the background telling her you deserved this chance."

  "This is really a screwed up tradition."

  "Not to wolves," Monique said from beside me. "This is important to us. It's hard with a human, though. It's hard with someone I am driven to protect."

  "You didn't seem to have any trouble dropping ice cubes into my box."

  Michaela shifted her position then whispered into my ear, the one away from Monique. "She is compartmentalizing." Then she kissed my cheek.

  She squirmed around on my lap, then she said, "If you say one word while I am on the phone, Zoe, I am obligated to give you a real wolf punishment. Please don't make me do that."

  "I'll behave," I said.

  There was a pause, then she said, "Hello, Portia. Your mate had a nice nap, but if you do not pay the ransom, the next thing you will hear is her cries."

  She didn't pay. For some reason, I was proud of that, and I would have been disappointed if she had.

  * * * *

  We had breakfast, and then another punishment, easier than the spanking. We played a new game, and then another punishment. They kept me blindfolded for a while, but then Michaela said, "Get the table. And remove the blindfold."

  Someone moved into my lap, and a few moments later, as the blindfold came off, I saw it was Cassie. I smiled weakly at her.

  I was pretty worn out and so tired.

  "May I have a hug?"

  She nodded and hugged me tightly, ducking down so my chin rested on her shoulder. She held me that way for a minute, then there was a clatter, and she climbed off. I looked over. Angel and Scarlett were bringing in a large, metal table, and it was fitted with straps and clamps. I stared.

  I knew I was going onto the table.

  They set the table down, then wriggled it around until the legs found balance and it sat solidly on the floor.

  "What are you going to do?" I asked in little more than a whisper.

  "Did you want to beg Portia?"

  "No."

  "Put the prisoner onto the table," Michaela ordered.

  It took four of them, although I didn't struggle. The set me down then rolled me onto my stomach, adjusting me into place. The metal was cold, and I shivered. I lay there as
they added the straps and clamps, locking me firmly in place.

  "Her undies are in the way," Scarlett said.

  "Cut them away," Michaela said immediately. There was a pause, and I only sighed as cold scissors slipped between the material and my buns. Snip, snip, and then they pulled the material away, struggling for a moment to pull it from between my clenched thighs.

  "Show her, Scarlett."

  Angel set a chair on the floor at the end of the table. Scarlett sat down, and she was holding a sketchpad. She turned it towards me. It was a drawing of a wolf.

  "A tattoo," I said. "Where?"

  Iris slapped my ass. "Right here."

  I looked at the drawing and realized it looked like Portia. I smiled. "That's really good, Scarlett. Is that actual size?"

  "Yes. It will take some time, and the ears will poke out above your jeans."

  "What price am I charged if I want something else?"

  She frowned. "You don't like the wolf?"

  "I love the wolf, and I want it," I said. "I want more."

  "More?" asked Michaela. "What?"

  "I want wolf tracks like some of you have," I said, "from my ankle up to Scarlett's wolf. Weaved through them I want human tracks, and here and there, as respect for my alpha, a set of fox tracks." I thought about it. "And I want a second set of wolf tracks, too, although smaller than the first set. They should be weaved in as well."

  "For Ember," Michaela said softly. "And weave them all together for your shared lives."

  There was a collective, "Awww..."

  Scarlett glanced up at Michaela, then frowned. "Zoe, I'm sorry." She gestured at the drawing she held. "This is going to take me several hours."

  "We're going to do it in stages," Michaela said. "With breaks for games in between."

  "What you're asking for is hours more, and even if you didn't need breaks, I would. I'm sorry."

  But then she looked up at Michaela. "I could simplify and shrink this-"

  "No," said Michaela. "Unless Portia ransoms her, she's getting that tattoo the way you've drawn it." But she grabbed another chair and sat down next to Scarlett. She looked into my eyes. "Your life with Portia is really just at a beginning. What about one pair of the tracks? Then every year, you can have them extended, as your lives go on."

  "They..." I paused. "There would be a gap. It would be separate tattoos. I want one long one."

  "We can do them backwards," Scarlett said. She stood up and turned around, showing me her jeans-clad ass. "Wolf here." She gestured. "Tracks here." She dragged her fingers from where the wolf's feet would be, sliding down her leg. "They would work their way to your ankle over time."

  "It would be backwards," Michaela said. "The wolf walking backwards, so to speak. Maybe you don't care for that symbolism."

  "But it would be really cool," said Cassie. "Scarlett, can you do Ember's tracks, too?"

  Scarlett turned around and sat back down again. She flipped to a new page in the pad then began patting her pockets. Angel held a set of pencils out to her, and the two smiled at each other. Scarlett took one of the pencils and began drawing. It took her a few minutes, then she turned it to me.

  "I can do this," she said. "It's very simple." The tracks were, as she said, simple, with only a few lines. "Michaela, could you show her your ankle."

  It took her a moment. She was wearing a skirt, and she pulled it up, but she had to remove an ankle sheath with a knife in it. Michaela's tracks were more detailed. I liked them better.

  "I want those," I said.

  "Just to start those is perhaps two hours, Zoe," Scarlett said. "If you want four for Portia, four for Ember, and two of yours. And that's if I size them for the wolf. They would be smaller than Michaela's."

  "Scarlett, if you had all the time in the world, what would you do?"

  "I wouldn't try to do it all at once," she said. "In the end, I'd have the wolf as discussed, and then a set of small tracks immediately behind her, but then I would let them grow to the same size as Michaela's."

  "That's what I want," I said. "What if I agree to additional sessions?" I paused. "Oh. I'm asking for a lot of time from you-"

  "Don't worry about that," Scarlett said right away. She frowned and looked at her sketches. "I'll do the wolf, and I'll do a hint where these other tracks will be," she said. "A few lines. You'll be able to see what they're forming into, but they won't be done. I may have to leave some of the details of the wolf for later."

  "That's what I want," I said. "You're the artist. Do it how you'll be proud when everyone sees it."

  I laid my head back down onto the cold tabletop. "May I have a thin pillow?"

  Michaela pulled out her phone. "Portia, your mate will be exceedingly upset with you if you pay her ransom between now and dawn." A moment later she put her phone away. "She declined to pay. She didn't even wait to hear the price."

  Everyone chuckled.

  "Get her a thin pillow," Michaela added. "Zoe, you may ask for breaks. We may give them to you. Don't be afraid to cry out. It's going to hurt. We'll be filming you if you cry, and we fully expect you to."

  * * * *

  It did hurt, and I must admit: I am a wimp about pain. Scarlett worked for a half hour before I asked for a break. Then I asked Michaela if I could speak to her privately. She sent everyone upstairs and turned off the cameras before sitting down.

  "Are you all right?" Then she looked into my eyes. "You're crying."

  "I know." I blinked the tears away. "Will you untape one of my hands?"

  "Oh Zoe, no."

  "Please. I want to hold someone's hand."

  She studied me. "One hand, but not your arm."

  "Thank you."

  "It gets taped again when we're done, and there's a price."

  "What price?"

  "You'll ask for a favor later, and then when the girls present the price, you'll accept without negotiating."

  "They could ask for anything."

  "I won't tell them about our agreement. They'll only ask a little more than they think you're willing to pay and expect you to negotiate."

  "What if they throw out something outrageous as a joke, or something entirely unreasonable?"

  "Then I'll intercede, but unless I think it's unreasonable, you'll pay it."

  "All right. Thank you."

  "You're welcome." I got a kiss on the forehead, and then she stood up and retrieved the scissors. "I'll do your left hand," she said. "The opposite side from where Scarlett is working." It took her a few minutes, and it hurt while she pulled the tape off, but she freed my hand all the way to the wrist and took the stress ball from me. I flexed my hand for a while, the fingers not moving very well at first.

  Then she called the girls back.

  They rotated through whose hand I held, and some of the girls whispered nice things into my ear besides. We played games even while Scarlett worked, although I was sufficiently distracted I played poorly. She took short breaks, and that was when they gave me things to eat or drink.

  Michaela mopped my brow. "How are you doing?"

  "Fine," I said. I wasn't, but this was the one thing I wanted them to do, and I wasn't going to complain.

  "Most humans wouldn't sit this long for a tattoo of this size," Scarlett said. "You're doing very well, Zoe."

  She was doing the hard work.

  Finally, hours later, Scarlett said, "That's all for today. Zoe, you'll need at least two more sessions. They'll be shorter than this."

  "How does it look?" I asked.

  "It looks fabulous," Iris declared. Everyone wandered past, examining my ass and making comments. I was beyond blushing at this point. Hadley was last, and she leaned down to whisper into my ear.

  "Now Michaela starts a new game, the time to make Zoe beg game. Do you understand?" I nodded. "There is no shame in giving her an easy win, Zoe. She has dropped the ransom to the realm of reasonable for an enforcer to expect to pay."

  "Not the house," I said. "Is she still asking for the house?"


  "Dropping the house from her demands is how she will signal to your mate when it is time to pay for you. We would not take the house; the alphas want you to foster one or two more children."

  She squeezed my shoulder and straightened up.

  I was glad she was there. I wondered if that had been Michaela's plan all along, from back in January when she began thrusting us together.

  Scarlett put a bandage over the new tattoo then told me how to take care of it. After that, they began to unstrap me.

  "I want to ask a favor," I said.

  "Oh?" said Michaela. "What favor?"

  "Could we cuddle for a while?" I asked. "All of us?"

  "There will be a price, of course."

  "What price?"

  "Girls?" Michaela asked.

  It was Lindsey who explained. "Francesca is making all of us sign up for speech this fall."

  "I know. Ember told me." Ember had been both excited and nervous about the idea. "You'll be competing against other schools. Finally, an activity they'll let you compete against humans."

  "The thing is," Lindsey said. "We need a head coach."

  Michaela began coughing. I looked over my shoulder at her, wondering if she was going to interfere. Instead, she moved closer and said, "Zoe is a good public speaker and will make a great head coach." Then she leaned and whispered into my ear, "It's a paid position, but we haven't found anyone we trust who has time."

  "Agreed," I said.

  "Really?" Lindsey asked.

  "Really," I said. "If you're really sure you want me and weren't just trying to negotiate."

  "Oh no," she said. "We want you." She began to squeal. "I was dreading it, but if Zoe is our coach, it'll be great!"

  "I'll make you work!" I said.

  "You better," she replied. "I want to win."

  The girls bounced around for a while. I couldn't tell if it was real pleasure, or was for my benefit, but it felt good at the same time. Then they finished unstrapping me.

  There wasn't enough room on the sofa for all of us, so they made a nest on the floor. I found myself across a bunch of laps, with more of them wedged in with me. My head was in Michele's lap, with a pillow for comfort, and she stroked my hair. Michaela made a storytelling game, and I zoned out.