Fox Opponent (The Fox Shorts Book 3) Read online

  Fox Opponent

  A Fox Short

  Robin Roseau

  Fox Opponent

  "I want a wager," Michaela said.

  "Oh?" asked Lara.

  "It's about the game tonight. I swear neither Scarlett nor Angel has said a thing about the game within my hearing, or at least nothing that I could directly attribute to the game."

  Three sets of eyes swiveled towards her.

  "All right," I said. "Let's hear it."

  "I wager that they will demand both alphas play, that there will be a handicap system, that the handicap will be difficult enough Lara and I have very little chance of winning, and that mine will be worse than Lara's."

  "That is specific and vague at the same time," I said. "With whom are you wagering?"

  "Whoever wants in on the action," she replied. "If I'm wrong, then I'll stop picking on your phones for a month."

  Michaela had stopped ditching her security detail after having a dispute with any of us, but she had found other ways to express her displeasure. This afternoon, she had helped Serena, Lara and me destroy our own cell phones. Again.

  "A year," Lara said immediately.

  "Three months," Michaela said.

  Lara, Serena and I exchanged glances. "Three months," I said. "Agreed. I suppose if you win, you want us to stop ganging up on you."

  She laughed. "Naw. It's all in fun, and I think I hold my own." She looked pointedly at the sack the phones had been in.

  "So," Michaela said. "If I win."

  She was being coy, still sitting on the floor with her back against the sofa.

  "What do you want, Little Fox?" Lara asked her.

  "There's, well, a little conference I want to attend. It's next spring and is for high school science teachers."

  "Oh?" Lara asked. "Where?"

  "Boston."

  "How long?" Lara asked her.

  "Four days. Arrive the night before. We might need to stay one more and fly home in the morning."

  Lara and I looked at each other.

  "It would require permission by the Boston alpha," Lara said.

  Michaela grinned. "Did you know Boston has a new alpha?"

  "Yes," she said. "I know everything."

  "Do you know the alpha's name?" Michaela asked.

  "Gwendolyn," Lara said.

  "She's very sweet. She told me she would only give me permission if I agreed to have dinner with her while we were there. She personally assured me of my safety."

  "You aren't going alone!" Lara said.

  "Of course not. She gave me permission to bring up to eight enforcers. She had very good things to say about her high school science teacher and was excited to hear about the program here. She was wondering if they could copy it."

  "So if you win," Lara said.

  "I get to go to the conference." She turned to me. "I'll agree to any reasonable security requirements you have, as long as it doesn't interfere with attending the conference programs."

  "You would wear a tracker?" I asked her.

  She looked pained. "Yes."

  "You would be handcuffed to me," Serena said.

  She turned to look at Serena. "Wouldn't that be a little obvious?"

  "Do you think I care about obvious?" Serena asked.

  Michaela smiled. "None of us can fight properly if we're handcuffed together."

  "True," Serena said. "But at least I would know you can't slip away." She paused. "Fine. You would be handcuffed to Angel. That way I can still fight."

  Michaela laughed. "I don't believe you're serious, but yes, if that's what you want."

  "You must really want to attend, Little Fox," said Lara. "What did Greg Freund tell you?"

  She turned cold. "If anyone wants to know what Mr. Freund thinks, she can call him herself," she said. Michaela had long forgiven the rest of us for the events surrounding her trial, and she claimed to have forgiven Greg and Wendy, but I didn't believe she really had. She also had expressed absolutely no interested in having anything to do with the Boulder wolves, who had been friends prior to the trial.

  "If Elisabeth and Serena agree," Lara said, "and if I am coming as well, then I'll agree to your wager, Little Fox."

  Serena and I consulted with our eyes. She nodded to me, leaving it to my judgment. "Alpha," I said. "I will tentatively agree to this, but I will perform my own investigation on your safety. Furthermore, if wolves will be in attendance from any packs I deem dangerous, you will not go."

  "You're afraid of a few science teachers?" she asked.

  "No, I am afraid of their eight enforcers."

  "I do not believe you will have that information by the time the game starts tonight. We sort of need to agree to something right now."

  "Fine," I told her. "Come up with a consolation prize."

  "No ganging up on me during pack play nights for a year," she said immediately. "Unless the game is to catch me."

  "Our phones are only safe for three months," I pointed out.

  "I think you'd happily make any excuse to keep me home if you could, even if it means I get to kick your butts for a year. But I think Lara would be upset with you if it weren't a real excuse." She paused.

  Lara burst out laughing.

  Michaela added, "Three months of no ganging up if I agree with your excuse."

  "All right," I said. "Agreed."

  "Thank you," she said. She climbed gracefully to her feet and pulled an envelop from her back pocket. She handed it to me along with fifty dollars. "My wager for tonight. You will open the envelope only if I tell you. Otherwise you will return it to me. It is the rules for tonight. I vow neither Scarlett nor Angel have given me so much as a hint, but when I asked, they took great glee in pointing out each and every time I didn't tell them something I knew."

  "Why won't you let me open it now?" I asked her.

  "Because if those aren't the rules tonight, they will be the next time it's my turn to pick the game, more or less."

  * * * *

  It was a good turnout for pack night. After dinner, we gathered outside the alpha's house. Angel and Scarlett stood on the porch, waiting for everyone to gather closely together.

  "Tonight," Angel said. "We have a new twist on a relatively new game."

  Michaela immediately began smiling. I swore quietly to Lara.

  "What?" she asked me.

  "Look at your mate."

  "We're going to play the tennis ball game," Scarlett said. "But we're not using tennis balls."

  "We have a handicap system," Angel said. "We've kept careful track of the times the pack has played this game."

  "At least the times either of us have been present."

  "And we've determined a handicap system based on who has won in the past."

  Michaela started doing a little dance.

  "What are you so happy about?" Angel asked her. "You are going down tonight!"

  "With any luck," she said, glancing at Lara. "But I'm going to Boston in the spring!" She stepped up onto the porch and pulled Scarlett into a little dance.

  "Stop that," Scarlett said. "You haven't heard the rules yet."

  "Those who almost never have won get to hide these little tokens." Angel held up a little piece of plastic about the size of a poker chip. "We have your names on them. We didn't know what guests would be here, but we have extras."

  "Those who win sometimes, but perhaps less than their share, get to hide these golf balls," Scarlett said, holding up a dark green golf ball. "As you can see, they should blend into the forest."

  "Anyone who typically wins about their share gets to hide a tennis ball," Angel said, holding up a green tennis ball.

  Scarlett continued. "Th
ose who win more than half the time, but not egregiously more get to hide a half nerf stick." She held up one in example. "We have more, and we know who you are."

  "Finally, Elisabeth and Lara, you present an interesting problem. You typically go head to head with the fox, and you nearly always lose. But when you play smart-"

  "And by that she means don't target me," Michaela inserted, earning laughter.

  "You win quite consistently. So we have something special for each of you to hide." Angel pulled something out of her bag of tricks and began blowing into it. As soon as people recognized the large inflatable beach ball, they began laughing. "You are not required to carry it inflated," Scarlett said. "But when hidden it must be fully, firmly inflated, and you must return with it still inflated."

  "What if someone else pops it?" Lara asked.

  "We trust you, Alpha," Angel said. "You wouldn't lie about something like that. If you tell us it was inflated when you left it, and it's flat when you go to retrieve it, we'll believe you."

  Lara nodded. There was no way either of us was going to hide that beach ball.

  "Now, we have the special case," Scarlett said. "Michaela."

  Everyone grew quiet, wondering what they were going to make Michaela hide. Angel pulled another piece of plastic from her bag of tricks as well as a battery-operated charger. She began inflating the world's largest beach ball. As people realized how big it was, the laughter turned raucous, with some people offering cat calls to the fox. Angel finished inflating the ball, and it was six feet in diameter

  She handed Michaela the ball after showing off her name drawn on it.

  "Thank you, Angel," Michaela said. "Do I get the inflator?"

  "No. If you decide to deflate it, well, it might take a while for you to reinflate."

  "How am I supposed to carry this?" she asked.

  "You can roll it," Scarlett suggested.

  "We're playing for minor favors only," Michaela said.

  "Major," said Scarlett and Angel together.

  Lara laughed. "What are the teams?"

  "The alphas are team leaders," Scarlett said. She looked fondly at Angel. "And if you pick someone who is mated, then that person's mate is automatically on the other team. So if Michaela picks Angel, I am on Lara's team."

  "Medium personal favors," Michaela suggested.

  "Major personal favors," Angel replied.

  Michaela stepped over and whispered to Scarlett and Angel quietly. Then she stepped away.

  "Major personal favors from the alphas and the head enforcer; medium personal favors from anyone else," Michaela said. "We're playing twice, I presume." She turned to Lara. "If I can agree to it, you can."

  Lara and I both studied the fox carefully. I leaned to Lara. "She has more up her sleeve."

  "I know," Lara said. "But I don't know what."

  Michaela smiled sweetly at both of us.

  "All right," Lara said. "Major personal favors. Steep terms. Elisabeth, was there wagering on the game we would be playing?"

  "First," Michaela said. "I would like Elisabeth, Lara and Serena to confirm that I won our side wager from earlier."

  Lara laughed. "You won."

  "Thank you." She turned to Angel. "Thank you, Scarlett and Angel. I'm going to Boston in the spring!"

  "Damned fox," I muttered. "How did you know?"

  "I heard that!" she said. "You may open my envelope, Elisabeth."

  "Damn it!" I said. I pulled the envelope out of my pocket, opened it, and read the short note. She had nailed the rules down almost perfectly. "You knew!"

  I showed the note to Lara. Others had guessed a variety of games, but only two others had said it would be the tennis ball game with a handicap system, and Michaela's note gave examples of possible handicaps, but not being specific until she mentioned the beach balls.

  "Angel and Scarlett, did you in any way hint to me what the game was?" Michaela asked.

  "No," they both said.

  "Can you think of any way I could have guessed?"

  "Randomly?" Scarlett said. "But not the details, no."

  "She has the size of her beach ball written down," I complained.

  "We didn't tell her," Angel said.

  I looked at Michaela. She smiled. "They didn't utter a single word or in any other way communicate to me what the game was."

  I muttered, but credited those who guessed the game with "a handicap" with a half point, those who guessed the game but didn't mention a handicap with a quarter point, and Michaela with one point. "I'll pay out later," I told everyone.

  Michaela turned to Lara. "You may have first pick of teammates or decide if you are hiding or finding first."

  Angel slipped up and whispered to Lara. Scarlett whispered to Michaela. Lara said, "Thomas!" Thomas was one of the younger pups.

  "Kaylee," picked Michaela.

  They divided the younger kids between them, then the middle teens. Angel and Scarlett whispered again, and Lara paused.

  When picking teams for this game, you want to balance. Optimally, you want someone on the other team whose favor you would like while keeping everyone on your team likely to ask for a favor from you that you wouldn't want to give. The people who are most likely to be picked last are the ones whose favors are most coveted. If Lara and I had been captains, we both would have wanted Michaela on the other team, but then again, Michaela was most likely to beat one of us, also.

  But she was never greedy when asking for her favors to be paid.

  "Janice," Lara said.

  "Scarlett," Michaela said. "You get Angel."

  "Lara," Angel said. "You may pick from another mated pair or it is Michaela's turn again."

  Lara looked around. "Emanuel." That gave Serena to Michaela.

  Michaela stepped up to my side and asked me quietly, "Did you want to team up against me?"

  I smiled at her. "Lara won't need help finding your beach ball."

  "I'll take Elisabeth," she said.

  The rest of the teams were divided out.

  "All right," Michaela said. "Lara left me with the choice of hiding first or finding first. We will find first."

  "Scarlett and I will record who wins from whom," Angel said. "Those who haven't already, start shifting."

  Seconds later, everyone but the instant shifters were in the grass, beginning their shifts, if they hadn't already shifted.

  "Lara," Michaela said. "Care for a side wager?"

  She smiled. "Is the wager whether I am able to hide my beach ball?"

  "No. The wager is that mine will not be returned in time."

  Lara began laughing. "What are you offering to give me?" Michaela talked to her mate for a moment, and Lara said, "Agreed."

  Michaela smiled.

  Everyone finished shifting. Scarlett told everyone to get ready. Lara had slipped out of her clothes. "Michaela, will you hold this for me?" she asked. Michaela held the beach ball. Lara shifted into a wolf then delicately grabbed the ball by the stem. As soon as everyone was ready, Angel howled and picked up her nerf stick, running for the woods.

  Lara headed south.

  I watched Michaela. She was listening carefully. I thought about talking to her. Instead, I organized a quick game for everyone to play while we were waiting.

  Scarlett howled the times off, and everyone returned to the compound on time, a few barely making it.

  Michaela was smiling.

  "Do you know where Lara's beach ball is?" I asked her.

  "Of course, but I'll leave it for someone else. I can get favors from her whenever I ask. No, I'm after someone else's token tonight."

  "Token?" I asked.

  "Yep. And if I can't find it, I know where a tennis ball is waiting for me."

  I sighed. "I suppose I should leave the beach ball alone, too." I glanced around, wondering from whom I wanted a favor. My eyes settled on Aunt Francesca.

  Michaela's team shifted to fur, and then Michaela yipped three times to start us. She dashed into the woods. I ignore
d her after that.

  I chased Aunt Francesca's trail. She had been learning from the fox, but she wasn't as good as Michaela, and following the trail was easy. Finding what she had hidden was not. I hadn't paid attention to what I was looking for. I followed Aunt Francesca's trail four times out into the woods and back to the compound, and none of those times did I find anywhere it seemed like she had stopped to hide something. When the fifteen minutes were up, I returned to the compound with nothing to show for it.

  Michaela was talking to Lara and smiling. I decided to ask her what she had found later.

  Only about a third of the hidden objects were discovered. Scarlett had found Lara's beach ball, and several of the adults remained behind when Lara sent her team out to retrieve their objects. The kids came prancing back in, and ultimately I owed little Thomas a favor.

  Michaela corralled her beach ball. I deflated mine and watched while she deflated hers.

  "Is that wise?" Angel asked her. "You need to hide it fully inflated or you owe two favors."

  "No worries," Michaela said. "I'm a blow hard, I won't have a problem."

  Michaela started our timer. I noticed as she dashed to her car and grabbed a backpack from it, but then, in fur, I was running towards the pond. I got to the pond and shifted to human before slipping into the water. I swam to the fallen log, now largely rotted, blew up my beach ball, and shoved it under the log, hidden entirely by the water. I returned to my entry point, shifted back to fur, then ran across the corner of the pond and into the woods on the north side. I did a big loop, twice shifting to human to climb trees, leaving my scent on each tree when I did so. With luck, whoever tried following me would think I had hidden my ball in a tree.

  I arrived back in camp. Michaela was seconds from being late, running into camp from the south on her little fox feet. She arrived, panting, just as the timer went off.

  "Close one, Michaela," Angel said.

  Michaela shifted to human and wrapped herself in a blanket. I did the same.

  "Close, yes," she said. "But I made it."

  "We have one more surprise," Angel said. She pulled a little plastic box from her bag of tricks. "Do you know what this is, Michaela?"

  "Yes," she said. "It's the remote control for the light in the ball. Is there a siren, too?"