Wolf Ways (The Madison Wolves Book 9) (43 page)

“Way to go, Monique!” Iris said, turning around and high-fiving her. I smiled. While they were competitive, they were also very supportive of each other. It was heartwarming.

Portia got two more for falsehoods we hadn’t caught.

“That was good,” Lindsey said. “How about two from Zoe and one from Portia?”

“That’s a good mix,” Monique said.

So that’s what we did.

We came to another rest stop just as we were wrapping up this game. I desperately needed to use the bathroom, and we bought more water.

“I hate these bottles,” I said to Portia, once we were back on the road.

“We keep them and reuse them.”

“Yeah, but I still hate them. I planned poorly. I have a ton of GreEN water bottles, but I didn’t bring them. I sell them at events.”

“Talk to Michaela. She hates the water bottles, too, but wolves can be rough on your type of bottles. That’s why she allows us to continue to use these.”

“All right, it’s time for Portia’s game,” Iris declared.

“All right,” she said. “We’re each going to tell a story. You get two minutes. Iris you’ll have to time us.”

“Actually,” said Lindsey, “I’m the timer again.”

We laughed.

“Give people a fifteen second warning,” Portia went on, “and cut them off exactly at two minutes.”

“Got it,” she said.

“Each story will be based on a theme, so the first person to go picks the theme. We’ll each tell our story. The story must be true and it must be from your own life. After we have each gone, we each vote on the best story. You can’t vote for yourself. You get a point for every vote.”

“What makes it a best story?” Monique asked.

“Whatever you want, but it should be based on the theme. Are we ready? I can go first.”

“Hang on,” I said with a glance in the side mirror.

“Someone coming up fast behind us,” Monique said. “Portia!”

Portia spun her head around. She immediately grabbed the radio. “Fast driver behind, looks like two cars together, doing twenty over the limit or more.”

“What do I do?”

“Stay calm and drive safely. You watch ahead, ignore that car.”

It was hard to ignore as the lead car came zooming up until it was right on our ass.

“Monique?” Portia asked.

“Single guy, human, twenty years old. He looks like an asshole. Um. It’s a Nissan GT-R with an asshole paint job to match the driver.”

“What’s behind him?”

“Can’t tell yet. There he goes!”

“Iris, watch that car!” Portia said. “Zoe, watch the road and maintain distance.” Then she was on the radio. “Everyone slow down, let them pass, maintain distance.”

“Mustang,” Monique said. “Underbody lights. Driver is low twenties, scruffy. Passing! Passengers!”

“Slow to fifty,” Portia said. “Be ready for aggressive driving. Iris!”

“I’m watching…”

“Monique?”

“No one else,” she reported.

The two cars weaved in and out of our line a little as we came around curves, but after another minute, they were all gone.

I was gripping the wheel as if death himself had just passed us.

“Non-event,” Portia said. “Like most of them.”

“But we are forever vigilant,” Monique said.

“Good job,” Portia said more quietly. Then, “Are you all right?”

I looked over at her and nodded, then snapped my eyes to the road again. Immediately, she leaned over and set a hand on my arm. “We’re fine. Just a couple of fast drivers. You were perfect, Zoe. Iris, our driver needs some touch.”

A moment later, I felt Iris lean forward and set her hands on my shoulders. Portia kept hers on my arm. Slowly, I calmed down.

“I couldn’t live like that,” I said. “How do you do it?”

“It becomes old hat,” she said. “It was nothing.”

“But it might have been something. Portia…”

“And if it were, you would have done the right thing,” she said. “And then fall to pieces afterwards.” She got on the radio. “Karen, find a safe place to pull over.”

“Got it. Next town is five minutes.”

“That’s fine,” Portia replied. “Monique, report.”

“They were just humans and they didn’t pay us any particular attention. A couple of asshole drivers who think with their gas pedals.”

I had to laugh at that assessment, and I decided Monique was going to be an excellent enforcer. She already had good judgment.

“Describe the Mustang’s passengers,” Portia said.

“Man in front, a girl in back, and there might have been a second one in back, but I couldn’t see. Everyone I saw was low twenties. The guy was wearing a black tee-shirt; I couldn’t see what was on it, but it was some pattern, probably for redneck beer.”

“Stick to facts,” Portia said.

“It was for Breakdown,” Iris said.

“What is that?”

“A head banger band,” she said. “Crappy music.”

“Keep going, Monique.”

“The girl had short, brown hair in a cheap cut and a ratty sweatshirt.”

“Color of sweatshirt?”

“Dark, either black or navy blue.”

“Dark blue,” said Iris.

“How could you see that?” Monique asked.

“It was from Yale. Yale’s color is dark blue.”

“No way was she a Yale student,” Monique said. “No way.”

“Hand-me-down maybe. It was from Yale,” Iris said.

“All right. Monique, if you were driving, and both cars had pulled in front of us then begun to slow down, what would you do?”

“Slow down, keep distance, and get on the radio.”

“Radio is broken.”

“If they are slowing down more than following distance, I would pass them again.”

“Do you think you can pass the Mustang?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know about the Nissan. However, if he played games with me, we’re a lot bigger than he is.”

“You’d hit him?” I screeched.

“If he’s playing games with us, damned right I’ll hit him,” Monique said. “Angel will see it in the rearview mirror, and suddenly we’ll have 28 wolves dealing with them on the side of the road. We can have the entire thing cleaned up in a minute and a half.”

“That’s not your first choice,” Portia said.

“Well, if they won’t let me pull in behind Angel, then I can pass her and pull in front.”

“What if they drive side-by-side?”

“Then it’s intentional, and we run them off the road.”

“What if they’re SUVs, too?”

“The advantage is to the car in back. Anyone who watches race car accidents knows that. But Angel would see it. They wouldn’t be able to split us up.”

Portia continued to quiz Monique while keeping a hand on my arm. Iris’s hands never left my shoulders. And I held it together until we pulled into a gas station in the next town.

I put the car in park.

“You did fine,” Portia said. “It was a non-event.”

“I know.” I looked at her. “I need to speak with Elisabeth.”

“All right.”

“Is everything all right?” Elisabeth asked over the radio.

“My driver wants to speak to you,” Portia answered.

“I’ll come get her.”

A moment later, Elisabeth was at the side of my door. She opened it and helped me out.

“Over there,” I said.

“Are you all right?”

“No.”

She took my arm and pulled me a little way from the cars, then we turned to each other. “Zoe?”

I threw myself into her arms and held her tightly. “I’m sorry.”

She slowly wrapped her arms around me. “For what?”

“Every bad thought I had about your job,” I said. I held her for a minute, then slowly released her. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied. “Better?”

“Yeah. Do I stink?”

“A little stress, but don’t worry about it.”

“What about my passengers.”

“Don’t worry about it, Zoe.”

“Elisabeth, why am I driving? Shouldn’t Portia be driving? Lara made a big deal about it, so I bet all of you decided this as a group.”

“I wanted Karen in front and Portia in back, and I want Portia free to watch behind. You’re not trained for this, but you’re still a better driver than Monique. Would you have held it together if you needed to?”

“Yeah, and fall apart after.”

“That’s all I can ask. It was just a couple of idiot drivers.”

“I know.”

“Are you going to be okay? I can move Scarlett back here to drive.”

“I’ll be fine, but I hope there’s beer tonight.”

She laughed. “We’ll find one for you.”

“Take me to Portia now, please. I want a hug from her, too.”

“Thank you for the apology. I knew you were frustrated in Key West. Is that what you meant?”

“Yeah.”

“Do I get my conversation this weekend?”

“Whenever you want.”

“You let me know when you’re calm. I think tonight is a little stressy for each of us.”

“Tomorrow then, if I’m not too tired.”

“Good.” We turned around, and Portia was standing next to the car, watching us. Elisabeth led me right to her then walked away.

I stared at Portia. “Was that a make-up hug?”

“No,” I said. I moved closer, and she took the hint, wrapping me in a hug. I clung to her for a minute. “I’m a rabbit.”

“No. You’re a human learning to walk amongst the wolves. What did you tell Elisabeth?”

“I apologized for thinking bad thoughts about her job.”

Portia held me a while longer until I said, “Everyone is waiting, and I bet they’re all staring at me.”

“Actually, no one is staring at you,” she replied. “And I for one am happy to hold you.”

“You’re not what I expected,” I said. “I thought you would be cold and aloof.”

“I’m slow to warm up to people, but I open up once I do,” she said.

Finally I relaxed.

“Are you okay to drive?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” She led me to my door. A minute later, we were back on the highway.

* * * *

We each had time to tell our stories. Some of them were light-hearted and some of them were deeply, deeply personal. We laughed a lot.

It became time to count up the score. Iris won the grand prize, although she had competition for it. Then they began discussing the quality of the games.

“I liked Zoe’s game,” Monique said. “But Portia’s game was really good, too.”

Iris and Lindsey both agreed, and then the three of them went back and forth about it. But then Iris said, “Portia’s game was a better
activity
, but Zoe’s was a better
game
.”

“Yeah!” said Lindsey. “Sorry, Portia.”

“Three for Zoe then.”

Portia reached over and clasped my arm.

“I know I won a foot massage, but could I get brushed instead?” Iris asked.

“Sure,” I declared immediately.

“Cool! Who is going to brush me?”

“If someone teaches me, could I?” I asked. “Um. Unless I’d do it wrong, anyway?”

“Iris?” Portia asked.

“Sure,” Iris said. “I kind of like the idea of the adoring human brushing me.”

We laughed at that.

“Zoe and I will do it together,” Portia declared.

“I’ve never been brushed like that,” Monique said. “My mom has brushed me out when I got into bad stuff, but I don’t think that’s what you mean.”

“No,” said Iris. “This is different.”

“Will you show me, too?” Monique asked.

“Sure,” Iris said. “I can show on you what I like, and then I can shift and they can do me.”

“I want to know how,” Monique said.

“You don’t want to be brushed?”

“I want both.”

Iris laughed. “All right. We’ll figure it out.”

* * * *

We arrived at the land near Bayfield without any further incident. Michaela assigned housing, with the kids staying in the bunkhouses and the adults in the lodge. I got my own room right next to Portia’s with Bertram and Gretchen in the room across the hall.

“Everyone take a few minutes to settle in and use the bathroom. It’s late, so we’ll have a short run to shake out the fur, then we’ll unwind with a snack before light’s out.”

Ten minutes later, we all met in the large atrium of the lodge. Iris moved to stand next to me. “Are you running?”

“No. If there’s to be a fire, I can tend it. Otherwise I’ll relax here.”

“You know, if they show you how, I would be happy just to be brushed.”

“You don’t want to run?”