Friendships

Lunch was, as we’d been warned, casual, although it was served in the dining room. It didn’t look like there would be enough room for everyone to sit at once, but after helping to serve us, the teenagers collected their own plates and disappeared elsewhere, leaving room for the two pups and the adults.

As this was a wolf pack, there was ample food. Given the nature of the pack, the variety of food was wider than I expected. We gathered, and then Francesca explained what was available.

“Today is finger food,” she said. “We have fixings for sandwiches and a few side dishes. But we have two types of hot soup. I’m sorry, Zoe, neither of them is vegan, but the bread is.”

“I’ll be fine,” Zoe said. “Thank you for warning me.”

I found myself seated beside Lara with Karen beside me. As food was passed around, Karen leaned to me, “Normally today would be a picnic, but we didn’t think you would enjoy being outside.”

“A picnic? In late November?”

“That can’t seem that odd to you.”

“Well, not fifteen hundred miles further south,” I agreed. “But here? Really?”

“So the food is what we would have had outside,” Karen said. “But eaten here instead. Tonight will be a hot meal, and of course, tomorrow is Thanksgiving.”

“I don’t imagine I’m going to starve,” I said with a smile.

It didn’t take long before everyone was eating. Lara was focused on the conversation with Michaela, Carissa, and Elisabeth, so I turned back to Karen. “We barely met at Halloween.”

“I suppose that’s true,” she said. “On duty, I tend to be the strong, silent type.”

“Are you on duty now?”

“Not officially. We’re always vigilant, but I can relax enough for conversation. What do you think of Wisconsin?”

“I’ve never been,” I said. “And I think my expectations were colored by the entertainment industry.”

“A careful answer. You came at a poor time. We’re between seasons. We’re past the time most people might consider autumn, but until the snow arrives, it’s hard to consider it winter, either.”

We made small talk for a while. I decided that Karen was a fairly typical female enforcer. She seemed somewhat reserved with me, which I thought was understandable. But werewolf enforcers tend to fall into certain patterns.

I’d never met a small enforcer, and Karen certainly wasn’t small. It was a little surprising to learn Scarlett was an enforcer, because while she wasn’t small, she might have been the smallest I’d ever met. But she was a part time enforcer, and I gathered there were good reasons for that.

So one pattern enforcers universally followed: they were powerful.

Intelligence varied. I’d met some that were dumber than doorknobs, and I’d met others that were quite intelligent. And so I couldn’t say there was a pattern there.

But swagger was a pattern, one that was lacking in this pack. Instead, what I saw instead was confidence. Sometimes that would be taken to extremes, but I didn’t see that here.

I’d also seen my share of enforcers who thought they were god’s gift to females. Eric and Rory both could have gone there, and when I’d seen Eric in New Orleans, I was sure that was the case. But seeing them now, I thought perhaps I was mistaken. So I wasn’t sure what to believe.

Karen I couldn’t read. She seemed calmly professional, and I wondered if she ever let her hair down.

But there was another pattern: ex-military. And Karen was clearly ex-military. Looking around, I couldn’t be sure about the others. I would have pegged Portia as military as well, but watching her with her family, I wasn’t sure. None of the ex-military wolves I’d ever met would have allowed for these roller coaster rides that Zoe accepted from the teenagers. I didn’t know what to make of that. Perhaps she was simply better at hiding her gritted teeth.

But looking at Karen, I decided a few things. She must have been exceedingly good. She acted like she had nothing to prove, which probably meant she didn’t. I decided I liked that.

“Where did you serve?”

“It shows?” Karen asked. “Army ranger.”

“Did I offend you?”

“Of course not. I’m proud of my service. Now, I’m prouder of my service to the pack. But I’m proud of my life BM.”

“BM?”

“Before Madison,” she said. “BM I held the sort of jobs I can’t much talk about. And I imagine you know what life as a pack enforcer is like. So, what do you do?”

“Business,” I replied.

“Well, that’s awfully open ended,” she replied.

“Ah, I suppose it is. I’m a sort of consultant.”

“A sort of consultant,” she echoed. “What does that mean?”

“It’s boring,” I replied.

It turned out, that was the wrong response. Karen turned her focus back on her meal, and I was left to my own thoughts. But then I looked around, and Michaela was watching me. As soon as she was sure she had my attention, she pointedly frowned. But then she shifted her gaze and lifted her voice.

“Scarlett,” she called out.

Scarlett and Angel were clear at the other end of the table, talking quietly with Joanna and Anika. Scarlett lifted her head and turned to face Michaela. Conversation along the rest of the table stilled, and just like that, Michaela had the attention of everyone in the room.

“The other day you told me about a recent client. The difficult one.”

“That’s my boss’s client,” she said. “Well, they’re all difficult. But I know which one you mean.”

“Why don’t you tell us about it?” Michaela prompted.

“It’s no big deal. We’re designing a new house. The wife wants radiant floor heating. The husband doesn’t.”

“Why don’t you tell us about the advantages and then explain why the husband is resistant?”

Scarlett looked down for a moment, then lifted her eyes and looked around the table pointedly. “We could talk about it later, Michaela,” she said, although it didn’t sound like she believed her alpha was going to let her off the hook that easily.

“I’m sure everyone here will find it fascinating,” Michaela said earnestly.

Angel snorted, and Scarlett looked uncomfortable. “Do I have to?” she asked, and right for that moment, she sounded like a teenage girl, even though she must have been well into her twenties by now.

“Surely you aren’t suggesting I wouldn’t understand,” Michaela said.

“Of course not,” Scarlett said. And for the third time, she looked around the room. “But most people find it kind of boring.”

Karen hadn’t been paying that close of attention, but at that she snapped her attention to Scarlett.

But when I looked, Michaela was watching Karen and me. Oh, she wasn’t as subtle as she thought, I decided.

“So it’s not that you don’t think I’ll have difficulty understanding,” Michaela said. “After all, I taught you the basic science involved, although you’ve certainly surpassed me by now.”

“Michaela,” Scarlett whined.

“It’s that you don’t think anyone else here could understand.”

“Alpha,” Scarlett said clearly. “I never said that.” She huffed. “Fine.” And then she began to explain what radiant floor heating was, and then the advantages. She’d been talking for a minute or two before she broke off. “Michaela, I can see their eyes glazing over from here. If one in five people here cares, I’d be surprised.”

I was surprised, but not by the people who didn’t care, but that Scarlett would actually argue with her alpha. But Michaela nodded.

“Maybe you’re right, Scarlett,” she said gently. “Maybe we can talk later.”

“Of course, Alpha,” Scarlett said. Then she watched the fox until Michaela turned her gaze back to Carissa. I watched as she turned to her mate, and the two talked quietly. Angel shrugged, and it appeared their conversation continued in another direction.

I wasn’t the only one watching Scarlett. Beside me, Karen stared at her for at least as long as I did, then she turned her head to look at Michaela. Finally she turned to me. “Michaela just schooled me.” She inclined her head for a moment. “I thought you were calling me stupid.”

I stared at her for a few heartbeats then turned to look down the table at Michaela. The fox was watching me and offered a small smile before turning back to Carissa again.

I turned back to Karen. “I’m accustomed to the reaction Scarlett was anticipating,” I said. “Although it could be worse. I could be an engineer.”

Karen offered a brief smile. “I’m not sure I’m ready for a lot of details, but I wouldn’t mind hearing more than ‘sort of a consultant’.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have cut off your questions so quickly. It started when I was in college. I’m the first from my extended family to attend a school more challenging than the local community college or trade school. One of my aunts and one of my cousins have degrees in bookkeeping. Do you see?”

“Sure.”

“So I didn’t just go to college. I went to Harvard.”

“An entirely different world.”

“Right. At first, everyone told me all the worst things, about how it was ridiculous, what did I need a degree for, why was I going so far. You can imagine.”

“I suppose.”

“But then, oh, sometime well before I finished my undergraduate, the tone began to change, a little at a time. At first, people asked what I was learning. And then, slowly, they began asking me about it. They were really basic questions. What is the difference between being a stockholder and being a shareholder, for instance.”

“There’s a difference?”

“No. Well, not when talking about ownership of a company.”

“It never would have occurred to me to ask, although I don’t really pay much attention to these things.”

“Tell me. Do you have a retirement account?”

“Yes.”

“Do you mind if I ask about it?”

“Are you going to ask how much I have?”

“No. Just the nature of your investments.”

“Oh. I’ve always used the retirement plan my employer set up, and I roll things forward from one to the next as I change jobs.”

“So the pack has a 401k for you?”

“Technically I work for Burns Protection Services,” she replied. “But yes. It’s a 401k.”

“And you know what that is?’

“Yes.”

“Well, my family didn’t. They were putting their money in the bank or at times, investing in companies that sounded good.”

Karen frowned. “That’s not sound investing.”

“No, it’s not. So I began to receive questions about things like that, but really basic questions, like what’s the difference between a retirement account and a savings account.”

“Oh, my,” she said.

“Over winter break one year, one of my uncles asked me about a particular company. I didn’t know much about them, but he was all gung ho to invest. I asked for a day to look into it.”

“And?”

“I advised him not to invest.”

“And?”

“And he ignored me.”

“And?”

“And he wishes he hadn’t.”

Karen laughed.

“The thing is, everyone in the family knew all about it. My uncle was embarrassed, but they began asking me harder questions and actually asking for advice.”

“So you’re a personal consultant to your family?”

“Well, sure, but I do that for free. Family.”

“Right.”

“But when they began asking for basic business advice, my uncle-“

“The same uncle?”

“Yep. He told me it’s one thing to help family on personal matters, but when it’s business, to treat it like business.”

“Ah.”

“For a few years, I lived by helping out that way while also filling in on the swamp tours and such.”

“After your Harvard business degree.”

“I was figuring out what I wanted to do. And then Carissa asked my advice one day.”

“Ah ha.”

“So. I’m a consultant. Carissa has me float between her businesses so I see what they’re doing, and she asks me to watch for opportunities for her. I do that for a few other people in New Orleans, and I do my own investing. And I’ve set up and manage retirement plans for my extended family. That doesn’t take much attention, as they use one of Carissa’s businesses for the bookkeeping, and I have them invest in several mutual funds, the same ones I use for myself. Technically it’s Carissa’s firm that is overseeing it, but I still watch over it.”

“Got it. I think I understand now.”

“It’s a lot of problem solving,” I continued. “And a lot of it is pretty boring, even to me, but that’s the cost of business.”

“I’ve never really paid that much attention,” Karen said. “Michaela says I can’t help but learn through osmosis, but so far, what I overhear at one of Lara’s meetings is in one ear and out the other, unless it’s about pack security.” She paused. “I shouldn’t have been offended when you told me it would be boring.”

“See? Bored already.”

“I’m not,” she said. “But I bet you and Elisabeth could have much longer conversations. She and Lara both attended Harvard, too.”

At that, I set a hand on her arm. “We can always talk about other things.”

I couldn’t tell if she noticed my hand or not, or the implied overture. Wolves are awfully casual about touch. I’d noticed that in the past. Cats weren’t so casual, except with those closest to us. If I’d touched a cat I barely knew the way I was touching Karen, she would have understood the offer in an instant.

If Karen noticed, I don’t know.

“What would you like to talk about? I can tell you about Bayfield, if you like.”

* * * *

Monique stepped up to my side a half hour later. I was standing at the windows, watching the goings on, as people negotiated the afternoon activities.

“Ah. You’re back on duty,” I observed.

She nodded and then turned sideways to me so we were both facing into the room. Then we stood quietly for a minute or two before she said, “Ms. Delacroix, could I ask you something?”

“Possibly,” I said. “Will you answer a few of my questions first?”

“Of course.”

“You and Ember appear to be of similar ages.”

“I’m a year older. I’m a sophomore and Ember is a freshman.”

“So you don’t know each other very well.”

“That’s not true. We’re dating. And Cassie. We kind of alternate.”

“Oh,” I said. “So you know her quite well, and that means you know her parents.”

“Zoe and Portia. Yeah. Portia is really cool, and Zoe is amazing.”

“So you call them Zoe and Portia, not Ms. This or Ms. That.”

“Fleming,” Monique replied. Then she shifted so she was facing me more fully, although I continued to look into the room. I wondered if she’d ask, but she said nothing further.

“I was asking,” I said, my tone lower, “because I didn’t know how things were here. But if I ask you to call me Anna, I do not believe I am breaking pack protocol, am I?”

“No,” she said slowly. “But I’m on duty.”

“You’re not on guard duty, though. You’re on guide duty. Right?’

“I suppose.”

“And if you weren’t on duty?”

“Then if you want me to call you Anna, I can.”

“And if you’re on guide duty, can you call me Anna?”

“I suppose,” she said carefully. “Sure. Anna.”

I turned to smile at her. “What did you want to ask me, Monique?”

“Is this all strange to you?” she asked me. “I mean. Um.”

“Being surrounded by werewolves?”

“Yeah.” She looked me up and down. “When Zoe first came here, she was terrified of us.”

“She’s human.”

“Yeah, but...”

“Right,” I said. “Thirty or so dominant wolves. One vampire and one cat. But I know something that Zoe didn’t know.”

“What’s that?”

“That I’m safe here.”

“It could still seem strange, even if you’re not afraid.”

“I suppose. This isn’t my first experience with werewolves, though.” I smiled. “I like making friends.”

“I like making friends, too,” Monique said. “I’m not very good at it.”

“I find that declaration surprising.”

“It’s true,” she said. “Has anyone ever told you that you have the most amazing voice?”

I laughed. “Once or twice.”

“I suppose in New Orleans, everyone sounds like you do. Well, Carissa doesn’t, but Anika and Joanna do. Well, not just like you.” She began to blush. “I’m babbling.”

“Carissa is not originally from New Orleans, although she is quite able to sound like it, when she wants. But you’re right. In New Orleans, most people carry this accent, although not necessarily in this timbre. And when I said I’d had my voice complimented once or twice, I was perhaps understating the frequency. I lived in Boston for several years, after all.”

“Oh, I’ve heard a Boston accent,” she said. She made a face.

I smiled. This girl was such an open book, but I found her endearing at the same time. I was beginning to understand why Elisabeth put such trust in her.

Then I gestured. “Are they offering rides?” I saw the teenagers clustered around Anika and Joanna, and then Zoe stepped over, joining the conversation.

“It looks like it,” Monique said. “Do you think they’ll accept?”

“I wouldn’t try to guess. But if they go, I wouldn’t mind running along, if I wouldn’t make anyone nervous.”

“Because you’re a jaguar? Naw. It’s cool. Oh, it looks like Anika got scared off.” Anika had stepped away from the group and was heading back towards the bedrooms.

“Or she’s running to get coats,” I pointed out. “Let’s move closer.” I got us moving, and we edged around the room. By the time we arrived, it was clear I’d been right, as Anika returned to the room with both her coat and Joanna’s. She arrived just as Monique and I did, and the circle widened to include us.

“Does anyone mind if I run along, if you’re giving the humans a ride?”

“Watching over them?” Zoe asked.

“No. I’m only curious.”

“Sure,” said one of the older girls. I didn’t remember her name. She turned back to Joanna and Anika. “You’re both going?”

They nodded, and several of the girls clapped in joy. Then the first girl turned to Zoe. “Did you want another ride? Elisabeth said we may only do a one, but we could make it a long ride, if Joanna and Anika don’t get too cold.”

“I’d love another ride,” Zoe said with a smile. “I never turn down rides.” She turned to me. “They go so fast, even when it’s just a run, it still feels like flying, and it’s the closest I think I can get to actually feeling like a wolf on a run, even though they’re so much faster in fur.”

“And you can’t smell anything,” Ember said.

“And that,” Zoe added. “But who is taking Joanna and who is taking Anika?”

“They can pick,” the first girl said. Then she reached over and grabbed the hand of another girl. “Iris and I will do one of them.”

Ember grabbed another hand. “Cassie and I can do one, if it’s just a one.” She turned to me. “We’re not big enough to do the real rides.”

“That leaves Monique and...” the older girl looked around. “Oh hell, Line isn’t here.” She settled her gaze on me. “Did you want to help, Ms. Delacroix.”

“You know,” I said. “I would, except I don’t know how.”

“It’s easy,” the girl said. “Which of you wants Iris and me?”

“They’re the best at this,” Cassie said. “But if it’s just a one, it won’t matter much.”

Anika and Joanna consulted for a moment, but then Joanna raised her hand. So Iris and the other girl stepped to Joanna’s sides and they each grabbed an arm. “We just help her run fast,” the girl explained. “We each just pull along, and maybe we lift her if there’s a log or something. But we’ve run everywhere, and there’s nothing we have to jump over.”

“But you run together,” I said. “At the same pace. I notice you and Iris are about the same size, and Ember and Cassie are the same size. I bet you run with the same pace.”

“You’re not worried about being able to keep up, are you?” I swear: she had a glint in her eye. “We’ll start slowly.”

“Funny,” I said. “I’m not worried about keeping up, but I’m worried that a jaguar, even in human form, runs with a different pace than a wolf, especially when the jaguar is my size.”

“We could try it,” Monique said. “We can build up to it. Would that be okay, Zoe?”

“Maybe Anna isn’t comfortable with this,” Zoe said carefully.

I turned to her and said, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I don’t think you will,” she said. “But you’re a guest here. You aren’t a source of my entertainment.”

“You’re dying for me to offer, aren’t you?”

The human grinned. “I sure am.”

“We can try it,” I said. And so I stepped to her side, and Monique to the other. “But do you need a coat?”

“No,” Zoe said. “Unless we’re going to be out a long time. Girls, our guests are from a very warm climate. Ten minutes and we need to get them inside. Once they’ve been here a day or two, and they might be able to handle longer.”

“Yes, Zoe,” the girls all said together.

At that, the one girl -- whose name I still couldn’t remember -- gestured, and we all filed outside. Then we all paired up, and I realize there were two young wolves without a human to pull. They looked to be perhaps twelve years old, and I said, “What about them?”

“That’s Kaylee and Thomas,” Zoe said. “They can keep up for this run, but not if they have to help.”

“We practice on Kaylee,” Monique said. “She still weighs about the same as Zoe, but she’s a lot harder to hurt.”

“Oh,” I said. “Monique, maybe you and I should practice before we risk the human.”

“You know,” Monique replied. “I think that’s not a bad idea. Lindsey, give us a minute. Kaylee, could we borrow you?”

With that, we stepped over to the younger wolf. She held out her hands, straight away from her sides. Monique and I each grabbed an arm.

“Let’s practice lifting her first,” Monique said. “Just a few inches first. On three.”

“Wait,” I said. “Do we lift on three? So it’s one, two, lift. Or is it one, two, three, lift?”

“We call it one, two, three,” Monique said, “but we begin lifting as we begin saying three.”

“Got it,” I said. “Ready.”

“One, two, three,” Monique counted. And together we lifted Kaylee just a few inches into the air, then set her back down.

“Let’s go higher now,” Monique said. “We have to keep her even, and I can’t quite lift as high as you can.”

“Got it,” I said. “You count it out.”

“One, two, three.” Again we began lifting, and while it wasn’t necessarily smooth, I didn’t feel like we were pulling Kaylee’s arms from her sockets, either. Then we set her back down.

“Okay. Let’s just run her around the yard. We’ll start in a walk and then speed up until we’re running, but not full out. I don’t think I can match your pace.”

Walking wasn’t hard, and I kept an eye on Monique. Soon we ran around the cars a few times. Kaylee didn’t really run with us so much as sort of hopped from foot to foot as we ran. I thought that was odd but realized the human wouldn’t really be able to run, either. The end result was that we weren’t really lifting her as we ran but instead pulling her as she hopped up and down.

It seemed slow to me, but Kaylee said, “That wasn’t bad. I wouldn’t do anything fancy though.”

“Right,” said Monique. “I don’t know how many times we just ran with Zoe before we began doing more than that, and we practiced for hours and hours on Kaylee first.”

I turned to Zoe, who had been watching us. “Frightened?” I asked.

“You know, this started because I asked them to help me run faster when we were playing some pack games. I didn’t think about how much effort they put in behind the scenes. Girls, I’m touched.”

“It’s nothing, Zoe,” said Iris. She grinned. “We love doing it. You know that.”

“You love to make me scream.”

“We sure do, but just running is fun, too. You’re part of the pack, and we like running with our pack members.”

I moved to Zoe’s side again. She leaned towards me and pulled my head down so she could whisper in my ear. “Don’t run any faster than you’re confident. They’ve done this a lot, and you don’t have to keep up.”

I leaned towards her ear. “It’s not the speed, it’s the coordination.”

“I know. I get the smoothest rides from Iris and Lindsey, as they’re the best match. Portia and Ember take me sometimes, but they have to slow down to stay together.”

I nodded understanding. And then each pair of us grabbed the arms of our humans. “Ember and Cassie,” said Lindsey, the girl whose name I’d forgotten. “You two go first. If you keep a comfortable pace for you, that’ll be fine.”

“Great. Are you ready, Anika?”

“I think so,” said the woman.

They began much as Monique and I had, a few steps of a walk, then moving into a slow run. Lindsey and Iris, Joanna between them, followed after, and then Monique and I with Zoe.

It took about two minutes before I was hopelessly lost. I’d tried to keep track of where we were, but I had to focus heavily on what I was doing, and so I lost complete track and found myself trusting the wolves to know where we were going.

But it was beautiful as we traveled along trails that meandered through the thick woods. There were no leaves, discounting the brown variety on the ground, but there were ample pine trees, and I could smell their rich scent as we ran among them.

I had to wonder what it was like for the wolves. It must be a heady experience.

It took about twenty seconds before Zoe was giggling, and we weren’t even running that fast. She didn’t run like Kaylee had. Instead, she did the human version of a run, but I could feel she was casual about it. Monique and I were doing most of the work.

We ran for most of the ten minutes Zoe had prescribed when we came to a stop at an overlook. Miles away I could see what I now realized was Lake Superior, and it was unbroken forest from here to the lake. We all came to a stop in a long line, all of us panting heavily, although Zoe was giggling and laughing while panting.

“God, I love that,” she said. “What did you two think?”

Anika and Joanna both turned to look at me first, but they were grinning. “I think we understand why you like it,” Anika said. “But you let them throw you?”

“I’m not sure I say I let them throw me. I don’t think I could prevent it if I wanted to. But yes. They scared the crap out of me the first time, but I get such a rush.”

Anika turned to her two wolves. “I love the run, but I don’t think I’m ready for you to throw me.”

“We wouldn’t without permission,” Ember said. “Elisabeth said a one. We don’t even get to jump with you until it’s a three, and we can’t jump over anything until it’s a four, except downed trees.”

“What else would you jump over?”

“They jumped over the cars earlier,” I pointed out.

“Yeah,” Ember said. “We jumped over Michaela once, but we got heck for it.”

“Michaela can be very fierce,” I said sagely.

“She can,” Ember said. “But it was Monique that yelled at us.”

“Ah,” I said, not really understanding.

“She’s an enforcer,” Cassie pointed out.

“Only a student,” Monique pointed out.

“The alphas told us to treat you like an enforcer,” Cassie said.

“So, no jumping over people,” I said. “Got it.”

“No jumping over Michaela,” Monique clarified. “At least not like that.”

“Was she angry?”

“No,” Monique said. “But she didn’t stop me when I yelled, either.” She paused, and then she sounded contrite. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled.”

“You didn’t yell,” Cassie said. “You chastised. And you were right.”

“Has everyone caught her breath?” Lindsey asked. “We should get the humans back inside.”

* * * *

Zoe gave me a quick hug when we came to a stop outside the lodge. “Thank you, Anna,” she said with a grin and a few more giggles. “Could I speak with you for a few minutes? Inside, though. I’m getting chilly.”

“Sure.”

All of us stepped inside, and from the looks, I thought Anika and Joanna had enjoyed their rides nearly as much as Zoe had. I’d never really paid that much attention to human shortcomings. They were just a given, after all. And so I really hadn’t given much thought to what it might be like to help them overcome those shortcomings, even in such as simple way.

But I realized again just how different this pack was from any other pack I’d seen. There were no humans in the New Orleans pack, or at least one I had met. There had been humans from time to time amongst the jaguars in my family, but there were none living. I knew of humans in other packs, but they were never treated the way Zoe was being treated, or the way the wolves were attending to Anika and Joanna.

I was really growing to like them. I had liked the ones I met in New Orleans, but now I was seeing their influence on the pack, and I really liked what I saw.

And I wondered if this was going to be a long-term problem for them; wolves were not known for being accepting of change, and this was a change from how most packs operated.

And that on top of the alpha pair being two females besides, and one not even a wolf.

Zoe led me into the kitchen, Monique following, but then Monique leaned against the wall near the door, and Zoe led me to the windows overlooking a deck in the back of the lodge.

“This is nice,” I said with a gesture.

“This is where I first met most of them,” Zoe said quietly. “I didn’t know what to make of Michaela.”

“She’s something else.”

“She is,” Zoe said. “I didn’t know what she was though.”

“But you knew they were werewolves.”

“Yeah. Long story. Anyway.” She paused and then shifted back and forth on her feet.

“Did you have a question?”

“Sort of. You should know: I’ve only been in the pack a short while.  Six months.”

“So you’re quite new,” I said.

“Yeah. It’s all still pretty amazing to me. I mean, they’re werewolves.”

I laughed. “You seem to have grown comfortable.”

“That’s a long story, too,” she said. “But the first time I saw them in their fur. Just. Oh. My. God. I’m. Well. I’m an environmental activist.”

“And vegan.”

“Yeah. Don’t think I don’t get shit about that,” she said. Then she grew still.

“You want to know if you can see me in my fur.”

“Sort of. I want to know if...”

“If you can pet me or something.”

“Yeah. I mean. You’re not a pet. Or an animal. It’s just-“ she broke off.

“You know, Zoe. I can’t say I completely understand being in your shoes. None of this is brand new to me. But there’s a part of me that understands. I’m not saying I’d submit to a medical exam, or anything that felt like one. But you’re free to look all you want.”

“And touch?”

“As long as your mate won’t grow jealous,” I said.

Still, she looked unsure.

“Zoe, it’s fine,” I said. “What is it?”

“I wasn’t dating Portia when I first met any of them. I asked Elisabeth out. We were dating. But the first time I saw wolves in person, in fur, it was Portia and Karen. Portia let me hug her.”

I smiled and rumbled a gentle laugh. “If you want to hug me, you may hug me. Zoe, I’m pretty easy going. But please talk to your mate first, and don’t do anything that might make her jealous.”

“Portia’s okay with this.”

“Portia is okay if you hug the members of her pack. But she may feel very differently about you hugging me. Please be sure. That’s all I’m asking.”

“I’ll talk to her first,” Zoe promised. She grinned. “Werewolves. Were foxes. And now a were jaguar.” She shook her head. “And a vampire besides. And you’re friends.”

“It seems unlikely, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. It never occurred to me to wonder if there were jaguars even existed. I mean, once I realized werewolves existed, then it was obvious to wonder about vampires. But then I saw Michaela in fur, so I knew it was a much bigger, more mysterious world than even I could envision.” She grinned again. “You’re from New Orleans. Are there zombies?”

“Of course.”

“Really?” she asked, her eyes growing wide. “And can they infect others? Do they eat brains?”

“Cheetohs,” I said.

“What?”

“Isn’t that the traditional junk food in front of bad television?”

She put on an expression, and then it turned into one of annoyance. “Not funny,” she said. “I was serious.”

I grinned.

“I didn’t mean that kind of zombie.”

“I know you didn’t,” I said. “Voodoo queens are a type of witch. Raising the dead is necromancy. They aren’t really zombies, and they don’t eat brains. They’re walking corpses, and they don’t remain animated very long. The original zombies that birthed the myths now prevalent in movies are actually drugged but living victims of a voodoo queen.”

“Always a queen?”

“Yes,” I said. “I do not traffic with voodoo queens myself, when I can avoid it.”

“Because they’re evil?”

It was my turn to frown. “I wouldn’t put it that way.”

“But they turn people into zombies. That sounds pretty darned evil to me.”

“Ah, but that isn’t necessarily as cut and dried as it seems. First, not all voodoo queens keep zombie slaves. And even the ones who do don’t always do it in an evil fashion.”

“What other fashion is there?”

“Tell me. What would the wolves do if someone broke into their home and tried to steal the alpha’s children?”

She looked away. “A human you mean?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think I want to talk about that,” she said coldly.

“Zoe?” I asked. “Did I say something wrong?”

“You wouldn’t know. But make your point.”

“Well, if you try to cheat a voodoo queen, you can expect retribution. If you try to hurt her, maybe she’ll kill you. Maybe she’ll kill your entire family. Or maybe she’ll simply take your daughter and make her into a zombie. You get her back when she feels you have sufficiently compensated her.”

“It’s not permanent?”

“It doesn’t have to be,” I said. “From time to time you find one queen has taken another this way. Or you find an apprentice is now a zombie, and you can imagine she did something to displease the queen.”

“Taking a daughter is evil,” Zoe said. “The daughter wasn’t the cheat.”

“I agree with you. As I said, it’s not necessarily cut and dried. Some examples I judge as evil. Others, I don’t. Voodoo queens aren’t necessarily popular. They need to carry a fierce reputation out of self preservation.”

“I suppose,” Zoe said. She shuddered. “I think it was a mistake to ask.”

I reached out and turned her chin towards me, making her look up into my eyes. “I do not know if it is a good idea to ask your mate to compare herself against me, but perhaps Elisabeth is sufficiently confident.”

Zoe looked into my eyes, and then she began to grin. “You’re way bigger than her, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am,” I said. “I’m only a little taller, but in my fur, I am twice as heavy. You are an environmentalist. Do you know about natural jaguars?”

“I do,” she said. She paused. “Do you kill your prey the same way?”

“Yes. You’re vegan. Does that bother you?”

“I don’t want to watch, and if you’re bloody, I don’t want to see the remnants. But I cannot fault you for your nature.”

“That’s fair,” I said. I smiled. “Feeling better again?”

“Yes. Thank you.” She grinned. “Twice as big as Elisabeth. Yes, I definitely want to see that. We should get back. They are probably waiting for us. I don’t know what we’re going to do, and it might not be human friendly.”

* * * *

What we did was actually pretty simple. We went to Bayfield and wandered the streets. Many of the shops were closed, as we were between seasons. But enough was open to be interesting, and we wandered the waterfront as well.

My company changed periodically. I found myself with the teenagers for a while, and then Zoe again. I walked with Michaela on my arm for fifteen minutes, and then she was replaced by Monique, and Elisabeth for a while, although I didn’t have either of them exactly on my arm.

“You seem to be fitting in quite well,” Michaela observed as we walked along the docks.

“I like your pack, Michaela,” I said.

“I do, too,” she replied. “Even if they’re all one big pain in the butt after another. What did Zoe want?”

“Oh, so there are limits to your hearing? Or did you hear every word, and that was a transition.”

“I’ll never tell.”

“She wants what every human wants when she meets me.”

“She’s mated.”

I immediately began blushing. I don’t know when I last blushed, but I did at that. Michaela gave it a moment and then began to chuckle.

“I’m teasing, Anna,” she said. “She wants to see you in fur. Did she ask if it’s okay to hug you?”

“She did,” I admitted.

“And?”

I relayed the rest of the conversation, the parts I didn’t think were private. She snorted when I suggested Zoe get Elisabeth to compare sizes with me.

“Oh, won’t that do my sister-in-law’s ego some good? I heartily approve. Are you cold?”

“No.”

“Let’s sit here,” she said, gesturing to a bench at the end of this particular dock.  She tugged my arm, and we sat, ignoring the others, even the enforcers hovering nearby. “In the summer these slips are filled with boats.”

“I imagine it’s beautiful.” I gestured. “It seems so stark today.”

“Late November,” she said, as if that explained everything.

We sat quietly for several minutes, Michaela leaning lightly against my arm. That surprised me. I wondered if she were cold, but if she were, we weren’t far from a warm shop.

Finally she said, “I suppose you wonder why we’re sitting here.”

“It’s a good place to sit,” I said carefully.

She looked around briefly then relaxed again. “I like to sit here. But if I come alone, the wolves get upset.”

“Why?”

“Well, because it means I ditched my security guards.”

I laughed.

“If I come here with someone else, but then don’t talk, they wonder if I’m moping.”

“Ah. So I’m your beard.”

“Right,” she said. “And I like your company.”

“I enjoy yours as well, and I’m happy to sit as long as you like.”

“Lara and Elisabeth are wondering what we’re talking about,” she said. Then she looked up at me and grinned. “Carissa is offering the most amusing suggestions.”

“To them?”

“No. To me.”

I looked over my shoulder. Carissa was standing with the alpha and her enforcer.

“And they can’t hear her?”

“No. But the wind is in this direction today, and I have to work for it.” She paused. “I wish the enforcers would relax once in a while.”

“They’re very watchful,” I said.

“Karen, Elisabeth, and Rory could all use a social life away from other enforcers,” she continued. “Everyone else is either in a committed relationship or far too young for you.”

I turned my head and stared at her. “Alpha, did you just pimp out your enforcers to me?”

“No,” she said. “I pimped you out to them.”

I stared at her for a good thirty seconds before I began laughing. Michaela waited before adding, “I have no idea what it would take to lure Karen to a bed. Rory wouldn’t be a challenge. And Elisabeth?” She shrugged.

“I can’t believe you just told me all that,” I said.

“Are you offended?”

“No. Shocked, but not offended.”

“I’ve grown accustomed to the wolves. They prefer direct. If you’d been another fox, I wouldn’t have said more than the part about fitting in. But I could tell you hadn’t gotten the hint.”

“That was a hint?”

She grinned then turned. “That’s Madeline Island. There’s another airport there. That’s the one we usually use, but your jet wanted a longer runway.”

“Um. It’s an island. How would we get back here?”

“There’s a ferry,” she explained. “It’ll head back this way in another half hour or so. We just missed it leaving when we got down here.” She paused. “We should get going. I think everyone wants a game this afternoon before dinner.” She stood then took my arm. We began walking back towards the shore.

“You’re fitting in quite nicely, Annabelle Delacroix.”

“I believe I heard your first hint, Alpha,” I said with a grin.

“And maybe this time you recognize a second hint,” she said. “Or maybe you don’t.”

We got another dozen steps before I sighed.

“You’re welcome with or without Carissa,” she explained.

“Thank you, Alpha,” I said. “I may take you up on that.”

“Come summer?”

I laughed. “I think I might like kayaking.”

“I think you might,” she agreed. “And the lake trout are tasty.”

“I imagine they are.”

* * * *

Ten minutes later, Elisabeth edged me from the crowd. Inwardly I smiled. I’d never been pulled aside by so many different people so often as I found myself today. Elisabeth actually pulled me into one of the shops, making sure the door was closed, then led me to the back. “If you keep your voice down, we might get some privacy.”

“Will we?” I asked. “What can I do for you, Elisabeth?”

“What did Michaela want?”

“I believe, Head Enforcer, that you should ask your alpha that question.”

“I’m asking you.”

“Head Enforcer, please do not pull me into the middle of your pack politics.”

She froze for a moment, even to the point of holding her breath. Then she let it out all at once. “Fuck. You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Why did you ask me instead of her?”

“Because she would find it amusing to refuse to tell me.”

“She is your pack alpha. Surely that is her choice.”

“That woman is driving me to an early grave,” Elisabeth complained.

“Because she had a quiet conversation at the end of the dock?”

“No.” She offered a huff. “I wouldn’t suppose you could forget we had this conversation?”

I smiled and said nothing. Once we exited the shop, Elisabeth stepped away, and a minute later, Michaela freed herself from Carissa and took my arm again.

“Seriously?” I asked her.

She smiled up at me. “Did you answer her questions?”

“You couldn’t hear?”

“Maybe I could and this is misdirection. Did you?”

“Are you using me in a game with your head enforcer, Alpha?”

“Not intentionally,” she said. She huffed, just like the wolves did when expressing displeasure. “They assume that because I am Fox, everything I do is part of some complicated game. And when I think about that, it can be difficult to not drive them a little crazy, trying to outguess me. So sometimes I am left questioning my own motives. I wanted to sit on that bench, and I thought sitting beside you would be pleasant. Was I aware it would drive Elisabeth nuts? Of course I was. But should I allow that to decide for me? Because it might be seen as a game, I shouldn’t do it?” She shook her head. “If that’s the worse issue I face, I think I’m doing darned well, don’t you?”

“I suppose so.”

“Did you answer her?”

“No.”

“You could have.”

“And then if ever there is a time I cannot, she will know we discussed something important.”

“But you answered me.”

“True, but you already know what she asked, and you are the alpha.”

She hugged my arm a little, and then we walked in silence for another minute, working our way back to the cars. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said finally.