Fox Run Read online

  Lara was sitting alone on my back steps, looking out into the woods. I didn't see or hear any sign of the males, but I was sure they were about somewhere.

  I crept closer, and Lara's eyes turned to face me. But still she sat, and in her human form, I was much faster than she was. But if she directed furry male wolves towards me, they would catch me if I weren't very careful.

  "There is no trap," she said, loudly enough for me to hear.

  I crept closer.

  "I sent them into town, Michaela," she said. "It is just you and I here."

  I stepped onto my lawn, looking all around me, then stepped closely towards Lara, ready to flee if given half a reason.

  "Please," she said quietly.

  I crossed the remaining distance and sat down about five feet from her, my muscles tensed and ready to flee if she made the slightest move towards me.

  "I am being challenged," she said calmly.

  I turned towards the west, towards Duluth.

  "I don't think so," she said. "At least not directly. Please, may we go inside and talk?"

  I crept marginally closer.

  "I give my word," she said. "I am not here to hurt you. You are way too fine a fox for that."

  Flattery will get her everywhere. Without taking my eyes from her, I walked up the steps where she sat, her hands in her lap. As I passed her, she reached out and stroked my fur. I almost ran at that, jumping away from her, then turning around to look at her. She hadn't moved beyond reaching to touch me. I eyed her, then walked back up the steps, brushing my body along hers as I passed.

  I stopped like that, and she stroked my fur, once, twice.

  "Does your neck still hurt?"

  I bumped her with a shoulder. It's not like I could talk.

  She moved her hand to my scruff, and I tensed, but it was too late. If she meant to pick me up that way again, she had me. Instead, her fingers worked through my thick fur to the muscles underneath. It felt nice. I let her massage my neck for a moment, but then she was too firm, and I yelped.

  "I'm sorry," she said. "You are so delicate, Michaela." Her touch lightened, and that felt nice.

  She massaged for several minutes, and it helped. When I felt I had enough, I moved the rest of the way up the steps and stood with my nose facing the door.

  Lara climbed to her feet gracefully and opened the back kitchen door for me. I slipped inside.

  "Go shift," she said, closing the door behind herself. "Your clothes are upstairs on your bed. I'll wait."

  I checked the room quickly first. No other wolves. None in the living room either, and none upstairs. I went to my bedroom, nudged the door closed, and shifted back into a woman. I dressed quickly, then stepped into the bathroom and tamed my hair.

  When I got downstairs, Lara was sitting in the kitchen with two fresh cups of tea.

  "It still smells like wolf in here," I told her.

  "I'm sorry."

  "Whoever is challenging you is coming through Duluth," I told her.

  "Are you sure?"

  "No." I sat down and took my tea. "You understand, I run from wolves." She nodded. "I haven't seen any."

  "But you've seen signs."

  "Yes."

  "How long?"

  "Late winter," I said. "Lara, they're big. Very big."

  "Big I can handle," she said. "Can you show me where?"

  I nodded. "I'll get a map."

  I use the second bedroom upstairs as an office most of the time, clearing my things out only when I expect guests, which was basically never. I retrieved several maps and a set of colored pencils and brought them back, spreading them out on the table and facing them towards Lara. I sat down and began pointing. "Here, in March," I said. "Then here and here in April." I paused, then drew an outline on the map from Bayfield around the shore to 20 miles east of Superior, then down to just east of Hayward, then a curved line to just west of Madison. From there up to Ashland and Bayfield. "This is where I've been in the last six months," I said. "Not everywhere, of course, but the range.

  She nodded. "That's larger than your assigned area for Fish and Wildlife."

  "Yes. I like to run."

  She smiled. So did wolves.

  "I'm the only fox in this range," I told her.

  "I know. You're the only fox in my territory, male or female."

  "Greedy wolves," I said under my breath.

  "Can we save that conversation for another day?"

  I shrugged.

  Then I used my pencils to mark where I had seen tracks using different colors based upon when I had seen the signs. When I was done, I was holding the red pencil, but I hadn't used it yet.

  "They're getting closer to Madison," she said. "We noticed them in early June."

  "I was south last Thursday," I said. Lara eyed the red pencil still in my hand. Then I made more marks a set of tracks aimed directly at Madison. I marked the tracks as crossing through the range I had visited, still heading towards Madison.

  "Shit," she said. "Twenty miles?"

  "I wasn't willing to follow them any closer, Lara. I didn't think you would care for me skulking about."

  She laughed nervously.

  "On my way home, I found where these tracks headed back west." I marked the map. "But then they turned northeast." I marked the map further until they had again disappeared off the edge where I was willing to go. "I didn't see them again."

  Lara was staring, then she let out a very loud, "Fuck!"

  I jumped up from the table and backed towards the door, her rage frightening me. She glanced at me.

  "Oh, Michaela!" she said. "No, I'm not mad at you. Please don't run."

  I had the door open and stood there, watching her warily. She took several deep breaths, calming herself. "Please, Michaela. I won't hurt you."

  I closed the door, but I kept my distance.

  "Michaela, I have a new compound. I don't like being in the city."

  "Where?"

  She pointed on the map. I crept closer and stared. The last tracks I marked were heading straight towards her new compound. I looked at her. "Should a strange wolf, or for that matter, a skulking fox, be able to get within ten miles of your compound and you didn't know it?"

  "No. Maybe the fox. Not the wolf."

  Lara stared at the map a while longer before looking at me. "Do you have anything else for me?"

  I shook my head.

  "Michaela," she told me. "You are under my protection. Everyone in my pack knows that. You are safe from all of my wolves, here or anywhere in my territory, including Madison. No one will bother you."

  I nodded. "Thank you."

  "Will you call me if you learn more?"

  "Yes."

  She stood up then reached out and brushed an errant lock of hair from my face. I stood very still.

  "Thank you," she said. "I really am very sorry we frightened you. And I'm sorry your home smells like wolf."

  "I can fumigate," I said. Her lips quivered.

  "Eric fixed your door. David and Rory restocked your kitchen. Then I had them go around your house and garage and fix a few other things that needed mending."

  I nodded. "Thank them for me."

  She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, hit a speed dial, and said simply, "I'm ready."

  I walked her to the front door. She turned to face me one last time, her stunningly beautiful eyes staring into mine. She caressed my cheek once. "You truly are lovely, little fox. May we be friends?"

  "Said the spider to the fly?"

  She laughed. "Said one alpha to another."

  I stood up straight. I had never been offered that much respect from any other were before, and certainly never from a wolf. "I'd like that."

  Date Night

  After the wolves left, I slumped against the door. I hate wolves. Then I trudged upstairs, shedding my clothes, and stepped into the shower.

  I was amazingly late for work.

  I let the hot water cascade over me, easing the aches fro
m being carried around by my neck. A mother fox might carry a kit that way, but I was far too big and heavy to be handled that way. The ease with which Lara had handled me was frightening. Not once did she appear to grow weary from holding a thirty-pound squirming animal at arm's length.

  I knew wolves were strong, but I had never imagined they were that strong.

  I dressed and drove to Ashland, making up an excuse about checking on a wolf problem in case anyone asked me why I was so late.

  I had never paid much attention to wolf politics in the past. Frankly, they didn't affect me. Still, Lara had been right. Excepting this morning, her wolves had left me alone, and I realized now that this was probably her doing. Another alpha may not have tolerated a lone were in his territory.

  I realized something else. The wolves that came to Bayfield had been calm and courteous, not just to me, but to the shopkeepers and everyone else. I couldn't recall a single instance of a wolf causing trouble here. And wolves are known for causing trouble; it's what they do.

  Was that Lara's doing?

  Lara, with her frighteningly beautiful eyes and silky tongue, calling me an alpha.

  Her silky tongue? Oh, I definitely needed to get laid if I was thinking about her tongue.

  I arrived at work and put the beautiful alpha and her cadre of enforcers out of my mind.

  * * * *

  Everything went back to normal, discounting the strange odor in my house. It took three days of airing out before the smell fully dissipated.

  I went about my job, avoiding Madison like I always did. Most of my work was related to Lake Superior, but I also visited the other lakes in the region, taking water tests, checking fish levels, and the like, which gave me the excuse to be all over the region. It also kept me out of the office, which was a bonus.

  August came, and my life was normal, or as normal as it ever was when one is a single were fox living in northern Wisconsin. And it remained normal until the text message arrived.

  "How is my little fox?" I didn't recognize the number. "I think you have the wrong number," I wrote back.

  "Said the fly to the spider?" came the response. "How is your neck?"

  Very, very few people knew I was a fox. To the best of my knowledge, none of them had my private number. Clearly I was wrong; someone had given my number to the alpha, and it hadn't been me.

  While I was staring at my phone, wondering what she wanted, and what I was going to do about it, the phone rang. It was the same number. I grimaced and answered.

  "I'm working, Alpha," I told her when I answered.

  She laughed lightly. "Too busy for me?" Her tone was light and playful, very different from the serious tone I'd heard a few weeks previously.

  I was in the field, taking water samples of the rivers that flowed into Lake Superior, and it was blind luck that I was in cell reception. I hadn't decided if it was blind bad luck or blind good luck, but I would have bet on bad.

  "I can spare a minute or two," I told her. "But I don't have any information your own wolves don't already have." Their activity throughout my range had increased since I'd talked to Lara, and I'd even seen signs there were occasional patrols around Bayfield. "I presume those are yours skulking around my home."

  "My wolves don't skulk," she said. "But that's not why I called. I was wondering if I could entice you to Madison."

  "I don't find much draw of the big city," I replied lightly. What was she up to?

  "I was wondering if I might change that," she replied, and there was something in her voice that set my senses alert. My ears twitched, searching for danger. I pulled the phone away and stared at it for a minute as if that would help me find answers.

  I put the phone back to my ear. "How did you intend to do that?" I asked her.

  I think she was taken aback. "By inviting you to dinner," she said. "And perhaps a run afterwards."

  "With you?" I asked, incredulous.

  "Of course with me," she replied. "Who else?"

  "Alpha," I said. "Are you flirting with me?"

  She laughed. "I would have expected a fox to be clever enough to figure that out without having to ask."

  My brain went into overdrive. What game was she playing? This couldn't have been what it seemed like on the surface. Wolves do not date foxes. Pick us up by our scruffs and shake us about, yes. Date, no.

  "I wouldn't have thought I was your type, Alpha."

  "Please, Michaela, can you call me Lara? And you're exactly my type."

  "Small and weak? Are you that insecure you would date down?"

  "Beautiful and clever, brave, feisty, and willing to stand up to me," she said softly. "Even when terrified of me."

  "Madison is a long way to go for a date, Lara," I told her.

  "I'll send a plane."

  "You'll send a plane," I said. "Just like that."

  "Yes," she said. "Just like that. Shall we say Friday? The plane can pick you up at five. Would you prefer Madeline Island or Ashland?"

  "I haven't said yes."

  "Pack an overnight bag," she said. "Dinner dress is upscale casual. Running dress is fur."

  "Lara," I said. "What are you doing?"

  "Michaela," she replied. "You are the cunning fox with hidden agendas. I'm just a wolf. What you see is what you get. I am inviting a beautiful, intriguing woman to dinner. Please say yes."

  I wanted to say no. She was dangerous, and whatever she was doing had to be a game. A little fox doesn't survive long playing with the big bad wolves. But the little fox had a flaw.

  The little fox was curious.

  "Where would you take me?"

  I could hear the smile. "Do you like sushi?"

  Of course I did. I usually caught my own. "Madeline Island, five PM on Friday," I agreed. "I've never flown before."

  "Then this will be a new experience," Lara said. "Thank you, Michaela. I haven't stopped thinking about you."

  We said our goodbyes, and I stared at the phone afterwards. What was she up to?

  * * * *

  Friday came far too soon, but not soon enough. It had been a very long time since I had gone out with any woman. And Lara wasn't just any woman. She wasn't even just any dominant wolf. She was an alpha. And while she may have called me alpha, I was an alpha of one. She ruled dozens, perhaps hundreds of wolves.

  And I was about to walk, or shall we say fly, willingly into her den.

  I took the ferry to the island, a small duffle bag thrown over my shoulder, then walked the mile to the airport. I wore tennis shoes but I had a pair of pumps in my bag. It was a warm afternoon, and I put on a shine during the walk. The Madeline Island airport isn't much: a single runway, a small collection of hangars, and a small building with a weather station and a bathroom. I used the bathroom to freshen up then waited outside for my ride.

  I hadn't been there long before I heard the sounds of an airplane. I looked overhead and saw a plane pass directly over the airport. Several minutes later, I watched as it landed on the runway then taxied to the parking area and shut down. It was a very small airplane, and I turned away. Lara couldn't possibly have sent something that small for me.

  Suddenly, my senses went on high alert. I smelled wolf.

  I turned back, and Eric was watching me from twenty yards away. I glanced around warily.

  "Your chariot awaits, m'lady," he said.

  I frowned at him. "You expect me to get into that?" I pointed at the airplane.

  He laughed. "It's perfectly safe."

  "It's a sardine can."

  "You're small," he said. "You'll fit."

  "Are you the pilot?" I asked.

  "No. But the alpha thought you would appreciate a friendly face."

  I cocked my head. "So I'm not a bitch you tried to kill while I was helpless, dangling from the alpha's hands?" I backed slowly away from him.

  "You bit me," he said.

  "And for a fox, that's a death sentence?"

  "I wouldn't have killed you, Ms. Redfur. We apologized for scar
ing you. You fed us. Everything was fine."

  "If that blow had landed, you would have killed me," I told him. "And we both know it."

  He had the grace to look sheepish. "I'm sorry," he said. "I wouldn't have wanted to kill you. Just cuff you like-"

  "Like an errant pup?"

  He looked down at the ground. "You're the size of one," he said. "I really am sorry. Please, will you get in the plane? The alpha will chew my ass if you don't come back with us."

  "Fine," I said. "I call shotgun."

  He laughed.

  I stepped past him on the way to the waiting airplane, and he fell into step next to me. I moved away from him a little. His size was intimidating.

  "Little fox," he said gently. "You are safe with us. No one would hurt you."

  "As long as I behave," I said.

  "As long as you are the alpha's friend," he corrected.

  I glanced over at him. "Is that a euphemism, Eric?"

  "What?" He looked at me sharply. "No. If I'd meant lover, I'd have said lover. She said you were friends. Aren't you?"

  "I don't know yet," I admitted. "She is playing games, and one little fox is too inconsequential to be anything except a minor pawn."

  "Ms. Redfur," Eric said. "Have you ever known a wolf to be anything but direct?"

  "First time for everything, Eric," I said.

  We arrived at the side of the plane. "Is there anything in your bag you need during the flight?" he asked me.

  I shook my head. "But I have a change of shoes."

  "The alpha thought you may wish to freshen up once we arrive," he told me. "I'll stow your bag for you." I let him take it from me. He opened a small door on the side of the airplane and gently set the bag inside. Then he turned to me.

  "I'll need to get in first, as you have asked for shotgun." He showed me how to climb into the little flying sardine can. I looked at him dubiously then watched him climb into the back seat. I suppressed my laughter. To me it felt like a sardine can. Watching him fold himself into the airplane tickled me to no end.

  I stepped onto the wing then slid into the tiny airplane, taking the right seat. I looked to my left and saw a woman, another wolf, occupying the other front seat. She reached out her hand.