Fox Play (34 page)

Well, I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to think about it, much less talk about it. I didn't want to look at her smug expression.

"It's the former, then," I said. "Not the latter."

She sat there for a moment, not moving. "I am going to believe that you are back to telling the truth to me and that you wouldn't have said that if I shouldn't take you at face value. When you are ready to talk about it, I am ready to listen."

"Thank you," I said sullenly.

She sat there for a moment, then she lay down on the bed, cuddling behind me, her on top of the covers, me below them. "May I tell you something?" she asked. I nodded. "I love you, Michaela. Your happiness is paramount to me. Do you believe that?"

"I guess." I felt like a sullen teenager. I was certainly acting like one. But I couldn't help it. My own behavior was pissing me off, but I couldn't get my emotions under control.

I rolled over and told her all of that.

Lara reached out and caressed my cheek. "Vivian taught me something once. I've found it to be remarkably true. It seems obvious when I look back, but it wasn't obvious to me at the time." She stared off into space for a moment, then said, "There's a concept called resiliency. When we are at our most resilient, then it is easiest to take everything in stride. Little things don't bother us and we cope well with the big things. When our resiliency crumbles, than even tiny things, inconsequential things, can seem devastating."

She gave me time to think about it, and it made sense.

"The pressures of life chip away at our resiliency," she said. "Moving, changing jobs, starting therapy, and finding out someone wants to kill you, these things can do serious damage to your resiliency."

I started to cry from it all. I shrugged off the covers and reached for her, pulling myself to her and clutching.

"I'm tired of crying all the time," I told her while crying.

"I am sorry you are hurting, Michaela." She held me, caressing the back of my head. "I promise all the big things will get better. That will make the little things much more manageable. And I will tell you this as well. I don't like to see you cry. I don't like to know you hurt. But I can't tell you how much it means to me that you turn to me for comfort." She rocked me a little and slowly I calmed down again. "Would you like to go to Bayfield for a long weekend? We can leave Thursday evening."

I started crying again but nodded.

"This is probably the last weekend we can do this until after we finish dealing with the current crisis," she said. "But I would really like to go kayaking, honey. I have a little business on Friday to handle, but after that, I am all yours. We'll need to return early on Sunday."

I clutched at her and said, "Angel and Scarlett will be upset if we don't invite them."

"We'll invite everyone."

"Do you think Vivian would like to come?"

"I think she might."

She held me until I pushed her away and looked into her eyes. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I love it up there, too."

"We should reserve kayaks," I said.

"You find out who wants to come and then call Benny," she said. "If we go sailing Saturday afternoon, are you going to push me into the lake again?"

I laughed. "No. I promise."

She kissed me then said, "Michaela, today you are safe. I promise. Tomorrow you are also safe. I promise. With me, you will always be safe."

I started crying again, but I we feeling better. She kissed me once more then put on a playful expression.

"You realize you need a shower." She pulled me into her arms and picked me up. I tossed my arms around her neck, shrieking.

"Put me down! No! Lara!"

My squirms and struggles meant nothing to her. She carried me into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and I renewed my screams. "No!"

She was dressed already in a light shirt and jeans, and I was sure she was going to toss me into the shower. I was also sure it was cold water that was running. But then she stepped into the shower with me, and the temperature was perfect. She set me on my feet, but I kept my arms around her neck, plastering our bodies together.

I'd gone to bed in just my undies. I didn't remember stripping out of my clothes from our date, but I must have at some point. Lara kissed me, then I helped her out of her wet clothes and she stripped my undies from me. All the clothes landed in a heap in the bathtub with a soggy splat, and then I couldn't take my hands off her hard, amazing body.

She washed me. I knew she was late, but she took her time, and everywhere she touched me, she kissed me as well.

"How can it take you so long to wash such a small body?" I asked her.

"Good things should be savored," she replied. "Unless you would prefer I hurry."

"No," I said. "I do not prefer you hurry."

Soon I was clean, but she smirked at me and pressed me against the side of the shower before lowering herself to her knees in front of me. She traced a line of kisses down my body, then nudged my legs wide and placed her mouth over my vulva.

"Lara!" I screamed immediately.

She pulled one of my legs up over her shoulder so I was partly sitting on her, partly standing on one foot, and her lips parted me, her tongue immediately finding my clit. She flicked at it twice, then ran her tongue up and down my slit, slowly. I felt myself grow wet with need.

"Oh Lara," I said. I clutched at her head, not directing her, just wanted to hold her, and it was all I could reach.

She brought my passions to the fore slowly, her tongue teasing me as the water ran over both of us. Finally she reached up with one hand and slipped two fingers inside me, and I screamed her name.

I could tell she smirked, but her tongue continued it's insistent dance against my clit, and then she pulled me into her mouth, sucking at me.

The orgasm arrived, hot and hard, and I pounded a hand against the wall screaming, "Oh god! Lara!" And I rode her mouth, her amazing mouth, as she gave me waves of delicious pleasure.

She pulled the last few shudders out of me with her fingers, then pulled away and looked up my body. I looked down at her. "You're amazing," I told her. "You make me feel so good."

And then I slumped, my leg sliding off her shoulder, and I would have fallen if she hadn't caught me. She held me up until I could stand, then washed briefly under the water. "I'm going to taste you for hours," she said.

* * * *

I had a great day, and it was poker night that night. I needed to win but was sure Janice wouldn't make that easy on me. My own scent would give me away every time I had a good hand.

Lara sat next to me and slightly behind me. We'd agreed she would trace circles on my leg with a finger when I was giving off my scent. The way we sat, Janice would see it, but the others wouldn't. Vivien had other commitments, but the table was filled out to six with four more members of the council. Violet was there again, and with her were Dominick, Dennis and Taylor. Dominick was relatively young to be on the council, but Dennis and Taylor were older wolves. They were businessmen, and I got the impression they were very good at what they did.

Everyone at the table was at the very least a decent poker player. I let my scent tell do whatever it wanted while getting used to the new arrivals. Of them, I already knew Janice and Violet, so I focused on the three men. I offered a new set of false tells and slowly lost money for a while.

Of the males, Taylor was the easiest to read. When he tried to bluff me out of a pot, I happily took his money. Suddenly I was even again.

After that, Janice and I took turns taking money from the three men. They picked up on my false tells fairly quickly, and I used it against each of them. In the meantime, I avoided going head to head with Janice, and she used that to her advantage, taking small pots she probably shouldn't have won, but I folded out. I tried to control my scent.

Janice and I delivered a one-two punch to Taylor, cleaning him out. Janice bluffed him, and I just had that good a hand. He was gracious about it and asked if we'd invite him back in the future.

Then I was dealt a good hand, and I decided to see if I could keep Lara from twirling her finger on my leg. I imagined I had a poor hand, and Lara's hand was quiet. I stayed in the bidding one round longer than I should have for the cards I wanted them to think I had, then I folded, which meant I didn't have to show them I would have won the pot.

A few hands later, I had a poor hand and could tell Dennis thought his was good. I imagined a moderately good hand, and a minute later, Lara began twirling her finger slowly on my leg. I played it like I had a good hand, but then looked at Dennis, sighed, and folded. He looked disappointed by the size of the pot he won.

After that, I folded down two more hands I should have played, and Lara never twirled. Then I had a good hand, and I both thought of it and played it that way, and I took a sizeable pot from Dominick. Lara's finger was twirling on my leg the entire time.

I let my scent play straight after that, in spite of how excited I felt inside. I imagined my cards exactly like they were, and Lara twirled her finger exactly as I grew to expect. She seemed subdued. I wasn't showing her my cards, and she didn't know I'd been playing it.

Janice finished out Dominick and several hands later, I cleaned out Dennis. It was down to the two of us, and Janice declared a break while Lara walked the council members out.

When Lara got back, Janice suggested, "You've done well tonight, but you're still showing your tell. Maybe we should call it a night. You know I won't go easy on you."

"Let's go for another hour," I said. "And see how it goes."

"It's your money," she said. "For now."

We shifted our seats at the table so we were sitting across from each other, and Janice dealt.

I played it straight, and we traded small pots back and forth, Janice folding out every time I decided I had a good hand.

Then I dealt myself a pair of aces and imagined a two of clubs and nine of diamonds. In other words, the worst hand imaginable. The first three up cards included another ace. I bet like I had a winner hand, but Lara didn't twirl her finger on my leg. Janice pointedly sniffed the air then called my raises.

By the time the five up cards were dealt, there were two sevens showing. I had a full house, aces over sevens, and the cards on the table were such a mismatch the best hand Janice could possibly have was another full house, sevens over jacks. It was my pot.

I bet like I would if I were trying to bluff her. She raised, I raised, she raised, and then she seemed emotionally invested. I frowned, glancing at my cards, and imagined a two and a nine. I sighed and shoved all my chips into the center. "All in," I said. "May as well get this over with."

Janice immediately called my wager, and I started thinking about what cards I was really holding.

"Let's see 'em," Janice said. "I want to know what you were bluffing on."

I concentrated on my aces, I concentrated on them really hard, and then both wolves were pointedly sniffing the air.

"You. Little. Fox!" Janice said. "Let's see."

I flipped over my aces.

Janice stared at my cards and showed her seven and jack, a smaller full house. Then she began grinning, and I'd never seen anyone loose several thousand dollars and be more pleased about it. "You did it!" They both high-fived me, then I raked in my chips.

"Was that a fluke?" Lara asked once we had calmed down.

"I don't want to think about the good hands I folded down tonight while trying to convince both of you I had crap."

"How did you do it?" Janice asked?

"I imagined my cards to be what I wanted you to believe they were rather than what they really were. This hand, for instance, was a two-nine. I don't think I can turn off the scent, but I can use redirection. It's not that much different than setting false tells. Do you think I need to do it with Durian?"

"I doubt it," Lara said. "You don't smell like a wolf or a human. It's a subtle scent, and I just don't think they'll pick up on it."

"Well, if they do, I know what to do about it," I said. "Janice, thank you for the lovely money."

Over the next several weeks, I played cautiously, but I had my buy in before our scheduled game.

* * * *

We drove up to Bayfield on Thursday as planned. We took all the teenagers with us, a significant presence of enforcers, and Vivian. Lara, Vivian and I, along with the female teenagers, slept in the house, Vivian taking Angel's room. The teenager girls camped out downstairs, and all the males and the enforcers stayed in tents set up in my yard. I made them move the tents every day to avoid killing the grass.

Once we were alone in my room, I folded into Lara. "I want you," I told her quietly. "Do you think we can do this quietly?"

"I think we can try," she said.

We started pulling clothes off each other, kissing passionately, then I pushed her onto the bed and said, "I want to thank you."

She let me.

As she lay gasping in bed, I crawled up next to her, tasting of her, cuddling into her while she caught her breath. Then she looked over at me and said, "You are so beautiful, little fox. I could eat you right up."

I didn't even struggle.

She used her weight to pin me to the bed, and then she brought me to a peak using her hands and mouth. I buried my face in the pillow, trying to hold the sounds back. Lara took the pillow away, throwing it across the room.

"I want to hear you, little fox," she said.

"Everyone is-" I gasped. "Going to hear me."

She back off what she was doing.

"Hey!" I said.

"You may come," she said, "as soon as the pack knows what a healthy sex life we have."

After that, she was merciless. She brought me closer and closer to the edge, but try as I might, I couldn't squeeze an orgasm out of her. I began begging quietly.

"You know what it's going to take, little fox."

It took her another ten minutes, but I was begging loud enough for Vivien and the girls downstairs to hear. She continued to tease, and before I came, not only did everyone in the house hear me, but I was sure the wolves out in the yard did and probably some of my closer neighbors.