Fox Fate by Robin Roseau

slowly.
    "Do you wish I always dressed like this? Answer honestly, Lara."
    "I don't know," she replied. "Well, certainly not literally all the time, because it's not always appropriate."
    "You know what I mean though."
    "Yes, I know what you mean. Michaela, I don't know." She looked away, out to the dancers. "Yes, probably." Then she looked back. "But you shouldn't."
    "Why not?"
    "Because when you need your knives, they need to be more accessible than your purse. You can't dress like this for pack play nights or for council meetings. You need your knives. And you damned well better have a place for them under your costume tomorrow night."
    I hadn't let her see my costume. I wouldn't have even considered a costume that left me defenseless.
    But she had never, not once, encouraged me to be self-sufficient the way she just had. It felt... I didn't know how it felt.
    "Lara," I told her, offering my hand. "I love you so much. Will you dance with me?"
    "Oh, Little Fox," she said. "Of course."
    She took my hand, nodded once to Elisabeth, then led me through the other wolves and onto the dance floor. Then she turned to me, and I stepped into her arms, pressing myself against her. She wrapped her arms around me, I closed my eyes, and we began to dance.
    * * * *
    I lost track of how many songs I danced with Lara. She did, indeed, find opportunity to caress and kiss my bare shoulders, and I found myself melting more completely against her.
    Neither of us was that good a dancer, but I didn't care. I was in my mate's strong arms, moving together with her, and that was where I wanted to be.
    Eventually she pulled me from the dance floor and back to our haven, surrounded by enforcers. We kissed briefly, and then she handed me to Elisabeth with a smile.
    Elisabeth was prepared to stand two feet away from me and, well, whatever you want to call that wiggling thing people do on the dance floor, but I pulled her arms around me and laid my head against her shoulder. She held me stiffly for a moment, but we began to dance.
    The music was loud, but not so loud we couldn't talk into each other's ears.
    "I'm sorry," she said, but I reached up with a hand and pressed fingers against her lips and shook my head.
    "But-"
    I shook my head again. Then I said, "Head enforcer, I need your help."
    "What is it, Alpha?" she asked.
    "My knives," I said. "I won't complain, but I want my knives."
    "They would be a little obvious," Elisabeth replied. "And you don't need them tonight."
    "There are unfriendly wolves in New Orleans," I replied.
    "Carissa made the French Quarter off limits to everyone else tonight," Elisabeth replied.
    "I can't imagine that went over very well."
    "That's not our problem," she pointed out.
    "Find a way," I said. "They need to be just as accessible as they are normally. I will accept a rare compromise when you are able to convince me there is zero chance I will need them."
    "You could let me worry about security, Alpha," she replied. "You could trust me to do my job."
    "Tell me, Enforcer ," I said, stressing the word. "When did you tell Lara that we had The Quarter to ourselves tonight?"
    "Three weeks ago."
    "Tell me, Enforcer ," I repeated, "When was the last time you suggested Lara dress in a fashion that made her helpless?"
    She didn't answer that.
    "All right," I said. "If Lara had asked you to find a way I could dress like this but still carry my knives, would you have bitched about intrusion on your job?"
    It took her a while to answer that. "No."
    " Enforcer , you have been calling me 'Alpha' for five years. I think it's time you either begin treating me like you mean it or otherwise stop calling me that. Your choice. I've said my piece, and this conversation is now over. If you're not too angry, I would like another nice song or two with my sister-in-law."
    She didn't say anything for the rest of the song, but she kept me into the next one.
    "Maybe a body harness," she said slowly. "And slits in the sides of the dresses." She