Underdogs: The First Stories

- Title Page

- Chapter One, Lie Down with Dogs

- Chapter Two, Three Dog Night

- Chapter Three, Junkyard Dogs

Underdogs

The First Stories

By Geonn Cannon

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Published by Supposed Crimes LLC at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Geonn Cannon

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Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Strays

She was naked again. Of course.

Ari straightened, groaning as her bones shifted and her muscles popped. She felt like she'd run a marathon, her body soaked with sweat as she opened her eyes and scanned her surroundings. It was night, and the air was cold enough for her to see her breath. She was on a dead-end street with buildings on either side. The closest building had a security light that shone like a miniature sun so she could see that she was alone on the road. The street ended about a dozen yards ahead of her in an explosion of brush and a collapsed chain link fence. It took her a moment to get her bearings and realize where she was, and another few seconds to work out where she needed to go.

She ran to the end of the street and slipped through an opening in the fence. The ground on the other side was an overgrown baseball field. She crossed the neglected diamond and went to the concrete dugout on the far side of the sandlot. She dropped down into the bunker-like space, kicking aside dry, dead leaves and various debris left behind by high-schoolers.

Under the bench was an olive drab army duffel, but her hopes were crushed as soon as she saw the condition it was in. The material was soaked, the seams ripped out and claw marks revealing that her stash hadn't gone undisturbed by the local wildlife. She sighed and unzipped it anyway, hoping something might be salvageable within the depths.

The two T-shirts and her jeans were all ruined, ripped and soaked with urine of some damn canine looking to mark his territory. Fortunately she stocked each of her stashes with two changes of clothing, for occasions just like this. She dug deeper and withdrew the second pair of pants. At the very bottom of the pile, she found that her army jacket had miraculously survived completely unscathed.

She pulled on the jeans and her jacket, reaching into the pocket to find the cell phone. The battery was almost dead, but she prayed there was enough of a charge left to make one call. She dialed a familiar number and swept her hair out of her face as she looked back out across the baseball field. She wondered how late it was; there were hardly any cars on the road, and the entire world felt empty.

Her call was answered on the sixth ring with a muffled sound that might have been a greeting from the woman on the other end.

Ari said, "Dale. It's me. I need a pick up."

"Wh'r."

"The baseball field stash."

There was another muffled groan and then a sigh of acceptance. "A'right. It'll be a while. Thirty minutes, mebbe. Got clothes?"

"Barely," Ari said.

"I'll hurry," Dale said, already sounding more awake.

Ari hung up the phone and looked at the clock before sticking it into her pocket. Only a little past four in the morning. She decided to stay in the dugout a while longer before she went out to wait for Dale, and she took the opportunity to take stock of her injuries. Other than the typical lingering soreness after a transformation, she could feel three stinging lines running down her back. Scrapes, not very deep, probably just needed to be washed and bandaged. Her shoulder felt a little more tender than usual, and she rolled it slowly to check the range of motion. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the events of the night like a regular person would try to remember a dream.

She remembered running down the center of a street, loping easily along the pavement. A tall security fence. Crawling underneath it... that would be where the scrapes on her back came from. And... ah, yes. Twal. That was what the Doberman guard dog called himself in her mind, the mocking noise that overwhelmed her thinking as he strutted around the corner of the building and found her in his territory. Twal, twal, twal.

Ari had been told by several people that she was gorgeous in her canidae form. She retained her chestnut-colored hair and blue eyes. She didn't think it was fair that she had to deal with leering males of two different species.

Twal had been torn between his training and his animalistic instincts. Wanting to run her off while but also aroused by her mere presence. Ari let him get close enough to strike, and he had yelped as she pounced on him. After that, training took precedence. Protect the home. The scuffle was where her injured shoulder came from. She squeezed it with her hand as a pair of headlights swept across the dugout.

Ari climbed out into the night, assuming Dale had taken advantage of the empty streets to speed to her rescue. When she realized the new arrival was a police car, she was already exposed and it was far too late for her to run. She muttered a curse under her breath and held her hands out, palm-up, as she cautiously approached the cruiser.

The driver's side door opened and the cop stepped out. The door mounted spotlight rendered whoever it was into a vague silhouette against the slightly brighter night sky and Ari squinted into the light. "I can explain?"

The cop sighed. "Ariadne."

Ari closed her eyes and dropped her hands. "Officer Rios. You're back on the night shift."

The cop shut off the spotlight and Ari blinked away her sudden blindness. Diana Rios stepped forward and said, "It had been just long enough that I got the call and didn't immediately think you were involved. It never even crossed my mind when I heard a security alarm had been tripped and someone was seen fleeing into this field that my old friend might be sneaking around causing trouble again."

"Old friend?" Ari said. "Come on, we're more than that, right?"

Diana ignored her. "You didn't happen to be over by Bird Maintenance about an hour ago, were you?" She nodded toward the dead-end road nearby.

"You know, I was walking down that way not long ago. I saw a couple of dogs roughing each other up. They're probably what caused the alarm to go off."

Diana nodded slowly. "Sure, Ari." She turned on her flashlight and ran it down Ari's baggy army jacket and the ratty jeans. "Interesting outfit."

"You know me. Cutting edge of fashion."

"Interesting time for a walk, too."

Ari sighed. "What do you want me to say, Diana?"

"I want you to reassure me that you're not getting into trouble. But I also don't want you to tell me anymore lies, so I guess I don't want anything." She hesitated and then nodded toward the car. "You need a ride?"

Ari started to answer, but Dale chose that moment to pull into the gravel parking lot of the baseball field. Ari pointed at the car and said, "My chariot awaits."

"It's no use telling you to stay out of trouble, so I'll just ask that you try to keep out of it when I'm on duty."

"I'll do my best, Diana."

"Officer Rios," she corrected. "You gave up first-name privileges when you spent the night under false pretenses."

"My pretenses were good," Ari said. "I just took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone."

"Yeah, the other bird being that you hacked into my computer and looked at sensitive information. I could have gotten fired for that."

Ari smiled. "Good thing the first bird made you really, really like me."

Even in the darkness, Ari knew that Diana was rolling her eyes and trying not to blush at the same time. "Go. Get in your friend's car. Drive away. Let me forget I ever saw you tonight."

"Thanks, Officer Rios."

Diana got back into her car, and Ari jogged across the field to where Dale had parked. Dale was wearing her horn-rimmed glasses instead of contacts, her red hair tucked under a baseball cap. She was still in her pink pajamas. Her face looked puffy with sleep as she unlocked the door so Ari could climb into the passenger seat.

Ari waited until Diana's car had turned around and left the lot before she spoke. "All right. Tell me what I did tonight." She could feel Dale's spidey-sense tingling, so she said, "I'll remember it all eventually, I just need a little help right now, okay? I'm fine. No more blackouts."

Dale said, "You're sure?"

"Positive," Ari said. The blackouts were the worst part of going canidae. Long stretches where the animal part of her brain completely took over and she wasn't aware of what she was doing or who she really was. They were rare, but troubling.

Dale finally said, "You dropped off a listening device in the offices of Bird Maintenance, the owner and operator being Mr. Anthony Bird." She glanced at Ari's blank expression and elaborated. "Anthony Bird, who fired our client Jessica French for unspecified reasons two weeks ago. We're going to listen in on his search for a replacement and determine whether or not--"

"He fired her because she was pregnant. Right, I remember now." She rubbed her shoulder. "Wish I'd known he had a guard dog."

Dale said, "Did you have a tussle?"

"He was more horny than vicious. A couple of good tackles and he decided I was too much woman for him."

Dale smirked. "A lesson we've all learned in our time."

Ari chuckled and sank down in her seat. "Wake me when we get back to the office."

#

The fogged glass of their office door had the word BITCHES written in large black letters that arched over the smaller word 'investigations.' Dale turned on the light behind the reception desk and Ari went into her office. She unbuttoned her army jacket and took a spare blouse out of the wardrobe in the far corner. Dale followed her into the office and said, "Need a rubdown?"

"Ah, I'm fine."

"I saw you wincing in the car. Go on, sit on the floor."

Ari sighed and gave in. She dropped the shirt and followed Dale to the couch. She sat cross-legged on the floor, and Dale sat behind her. Ari closed her eyes as Dale began to massage the tight muscles of her shoulders. "You got a trio of nasty scrapes back here."

"Sliding under the fence," Ari said. "It's mainly the usual aches and pains."

Dale worked the muscles with her thumbs and Ari sagged forward. Transforming was a torturous procedure; it was like having her entire skeletal system placed in a vice and squeezed into a different arrangement. Her shoulder blades expanded out and then inward, her ribs contracted, her hips twisted, and every bone in her feet twisted into a longer and thinner arrangement. Her muscles followed the new arrangement like rubber bands tied to chopsticks, pulled right up to the breaking point before they relaxed. The sides of her jaw would break and constrict around her tongue, expanding her lower skull into a snout.

Changing back into a human was the same pain, only in reverse. Her body accepted the new arrangement and almost seemed to resent being forced back to the way it had been born. So every switch left her feeling like she'd gone twenty rounds with a heavyweight boxer. Having a licensed masseuse as her receptionist helped immensely.

"Was Lisa mad?" Ari asked without opening her eyes.

"I don't know," Dale said. "It's a few hours later in Chicago, so she might be up. You could call and ask her."

"Ah, shit," Ari said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It actually wasn't your fault."

Ari scoffed. "Sure. The four AM wake-up calls were a big hit with her. She was convinced we were sleeping together."

Dale said, "She would know the signs."

"Hm?"

"She was fucking her boss."

Ari winced. "You're kidding."

"When I kid, I make myself look better. If I was kidding, I would have said that I kicked her out because I realized we weren't going anywhere." She worked the muscles of Ari's back and then reached for the end table and applied a dollop of oil. Ari groaned as the oil warmed against her skin, and then Dale's palm worked it into her tired muscles. "I didn't even figure it out myself. I work with a private eye, and I had to be told my girl was sleeping around."

"Pretty pathetic."

Dale said, "No, that's not the pathetic thing. I told her it wasn't a big deal. I offered to share."

Ari laughed. "You did not."

"I really liked her."

The sadness in Dale's voice hit Ari hard. "I'm sorry, D."

"It's all right. Thanks to you, I know there's always one woman who'll need me in the middle of the night."

"You deserve better than that."

"If we all got what we deserved, we'd all be movie stars." She patted Dale's back and said, "You're all done, unless you want me to bandage up those scrapes."

Ari grunted as she pushed herself up. "No, thanks." She picked up her shirt and pulled it on, buttoning it before she turned to face Dale. "I think I'll just crash on the couch. You go on home."

Dale shook her head. "I'm already up for the day. I'll just leave early this afternoon." She hooked her finger toward her desk. "I'll keep an ear on the listening device to see if Mr. Bird incriminates himself before breakfast."

"Thanks, Dale. And hey, don't worry about Lisa. You deserve someone who'll be happy with you and no one else."

"Thanks. Sleep well, boss."

Dale shut off the light as she left the office, and Ari dropped onto the couch and crossed her arm over her face. She was asleep before Dale got her computer booted up for the day.

#

"Bitches Investigations," Dale said. "No, I'm sorry, she's not in. Could I take a message?"

Ari was on her side, curled in the fetal position. Her dreams had been disjointed memories, flashes of her rampages as a canidae. Sometimes she worried that she kicked and twitched in her sleep like dogs, but so far no one who shared her bed had complained. She rolled onto her back and stretched. The large clock on the wall behind her desk said that it was nearly eleven in the morning, and she forced herself to sit up and leave the comfort of the couch.

Dale hung up and looked over her shoulder as Ari came out of the office. "Fresh coffee?"

"Godsend."

Dale pointed at the break table. Ari crossed the room and poured a cup for herself, drinking half of it before she attempted speech again. "Anything on Bird?"

"He has four male employees. I think I've heard enough male bonding to confirm I'm only interested in women."

Ari smiled. "Let me know if anything changes. Who was on the phone?"

"Potential client." Dale held up the memo slip. "Feeling up to it?"

"What else am I going to do this morning? Sleep?" She took the memo and went into her office. "Can you run down to the dry-cleaners and pick up my things? I'll schedule a meeting for after lunch."

"Will do. Want me to get some lunch for us while I'm out?"

"Get whatever you like. Use my credit card."

Dale pressed a button on the phones and said, "Calls will go straight to your desk."

"Thank you, D."

She sat down and put her feet up on the desk, massaging the bridge of her nose as she tried to arrange her thoughts. She figured she had spent almost five hours as a canidae the night before. She hated those marathon transformations for many reasons, not the least of which she wasn't entirely sure what she'd spent all that time doing. Her mind wasn't always reliable when it came to remembering her activities in the other form. It was better than her first change when she was thirteen, when she'd returned to human form convinced that she'd lost her mind, but fortunately her mother had been there to help her through it.

After that, her world was split between a normal, real life and training with her mother. They roamed the streets at night, the elder wolf teaching the younger how to avoid detection. She taught Ari how to stash clothes in convenient places, in case the transformation ended before she was ready. All that garbage about full moons was just from the movies. A true canidae could transform at will. Changing back to human took a bit more effort and concentration. Usually it was easier to just let it happen naturally.

She opened her eyes and saw that she'd been dozing for nearly fifteen minutes. She dropped her feet from the desk and picked up the phone to call the potential client Dale had spoken to earlier to set up a meeting.

#

By the time their client arrived, Ari had changed into what she called her respectable businesswoman outfit. A white blouse under a gray vest and a knee-length black skirt. Dale greeted Roberta Sampson, and Ari came out of her office and offered a smile. "Thank you for coming down to see us, Mrs. Sampson. I'm Ariadne Willow, and this is my partner Dale Frye."

Mrs. Sampson smiled and nodded a greeting to Dale. "I'm a bit nervous. I feel ridiculous coming to you like this. I wasn't even going to call anyone, I was just looking in the phone book to see if there was actually a service or if it was just something from the movies. I saw your name, and I thought..." She blinked back tears. "I thought it was something my daughter would get a kick out of."

"Your daughter?" Ari said.

"Rebecca. She turned twenty last month, so I suppose she's entitled to make her own decisions. But I just... I can't help being worried."

Dale gestured for Mrs. Sampson to go into Ari's office and said, "Why don't you just start from the beginning, Mrs. Sampson?"

Mrs. Sampson sat on the couch and withdrew a well-worried handkerchief from her purse. "Rebecca lived at home until she was eighteen, and then she moved into a small apartment so she could work her way through college. Independence, that sort of thing. We were so proud of her, my husband and I. She would come back home to do laundry, and she stayed in touch until... about a year ago. She stopped calling and stopped coming by. Finally I went to her apartment and discovered she had moved out.

"I was panicked until one day, out of the blue, she just showed up at home with another load of laundry. I was livid, as you can imagine. I demanded to know where she had moved, and she refused to tell me. The girl who told me everything growing up wouldn't even tell me where she was sleeping at night. So we argued. Eventually, she told me. She was living with a woman. They were lovers."

She dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief and took a trembling breath. "I don't have a problem with... that sort of relationship. If Rebecca is happy, then I'm happy for her. She's made her own decisions and she can deal with the fallout. If there is fallout, I mean. I just... I don't want her to be hurt. I want to make sure that she's okay. I want to know if this woman is taking advantage of her."

Ari said, "I'm sorry, but... what exactly do you want us to do?"

"Watch them. Observe how they are in public. I know that if I tried to see what they were like, they'd just put on a performance. I want a third party opinion. If you don't find anything, I can relax. I can start to mend my relationship with my daughter and we can get past this. But if she is being hurt..."

"I think we can handle that," Ari said. "Dale will explain our expenses and rates. It shouldn't take us very long to make a determination, once we start observing them."

"I want three days, minimum," Mrs. Sampson said. "Just to be sure."

Ari said, "That's doable. Dale?"

"Step out into the main office and we'll make the proper arrangements." She escorted Mrs. Sampson to the door and turned to Ari. Ari nodded, and Dale closed her door behind her. Ari went to the window and crossed her arms over her chest. She was still lost in thought when Dale came back into the office. "Get everything settled?"

"She gave us a check for five days," Dale said. "She'll write another to cover our expenses. When do you want to start?"

Ari turned around. "Did she tell you where to find Rebecca and this mystery lover?"

Dale held up a notepad, along with a few photographs for visual identification.

"Then let's go for an afternoon walk."

#

There was an al fresco café a few blocks from the address Mrs. Sampson gave them. They both ordered coffee and took a seat close enough to the sidewalk so they could watch the passersby. Dale had her laptop out, and Ari contented herself with people watching. After a few minutes of silence, Dale said, "I noticed you were pretty caught up in the mother's story."

"She just wants to make sure her daughter is safe," Ari said. "I can respect that."

"Is that all it is?"

Ari sighed and straightened in her seat. "Okay, the story struck a nerve. How much detail do you want?"

"As much as you're willing to give. You know me, little miss nosy."

Ari grinned. "Okay. When I first left home, I lived on the street for a few years. I was nineteen when I met this woman named Evangeline. She saw me in a diner, one of the few times I actually had money for food, and told me that she knew what I was, and she could offer me a place to stay until I found a job and got back on my feet. She looked rich... smelled rich, too. I knew there were strings attached, but I didn't really have a lot of options. I agreed, and she took me home. Big mansion. I had a little guest house out back all to myself."

"And it must have worked out wonderfully, because you're still there now?" Dale said. "I assume you found out what the strings were pretty fast. Sex?"

"I was actually hoping for sex. Evangeline was a beautiful woman, and I figured if the worst thing I had to do was make love to a beautiful woman, then I was on easy street. But it wasn't quiet that simple. You know, I've never actually told anyone this whole story before."

Dale said, "We can leave it there if you want."

"No, it's fine." She shifted in her seat and looked down into her coffee. "Like I said, Evangeline knew what I was. She could smell it or something. She was from the old country and had some sort of sense when it came to this." She cleared her throat. "She wanted me to be the wolf. She would take me for walks, pet me, have me curl up on the couch with her when she watched TV... I was basically her pet. I wore a leash and everything. The only time she wanted me human in her presence was when we were having sex."

Dale grimaced. "Oh, God. Did you..." She touched her throat.

"Yeah, I wore the leash and collar when we were having sex. That was part of the kink, I guess."

"Wait, if that's true, then you must have been in wolf form for..."

"About nineteen, twenty hours a day."

Dale's eyes widened. "Holy shit. How did you not go completely insane?"

Ari shrugged. "I did. A little bit. I started to be less than human even when I wasn't the wolf. I didn't particularly like myself at that time, so I was fine with being... nothing. But eventually I realized how sick it was, and I finally got up the courage and told Evangeline I had to go away. She was fine with it. I think she'd been expecting it. So she gave me some money and wished me well. I used the money to get a PI license, trained with Glory, and rented our office with what was leftover."

Dale whistled and shook her head. "Did you ever see Evangeline again?"

"Once. She was out walking her dog. Well, a dog."

Dale shuddered. "That is some messed up shit."

Ari shrugged again. "I don't judge. Evangeline was a nice enough woman. She treated me very well, gave me a warm place to sleep. And when I had enough, she let me go. There are a lot worse things out there than some bizarre fetishes."

"That's why you agreed to find Rebecca Sampson. You really just want to make sure she's being treated well."

"Yeah." She watched Dale and said, "What?"

"Nothing. Just remembering why I work for you, that's all."

Ari smiled and looked down the street. A blonde girl had just stepped out of the building they were watching. She pulled a pair of sunglasses from the collar of her shirt and slipped them on before she stepped from the entryway and started walking.

"That's our girl, right?" Ari said.

"Rebecca Sampson, in the flesh."

Ari took off her sunglasses and sat them on the table. "All right. You follow her on foot. I'll check out the apartment. Did you get the signs?"

Dale tapped the stack of paper next to her laptop and said, "Ready to go. Are you sure you'll be all right?"

Ari gave her a thumbs-up and dropped a few bills on the table as they stood to leave. She went into the alley while Dale went down the street to fall in behind the departing Rebecca Sampson. All the apartment buildings on the street had fire escapes, and it didn't take Ari long to reach the one for Rebecca's building. She pulled down the ladder and scaled the three flights to the apartment number Mrs. Sampson had given them.

She looked inside to make sure Rebecca's lover wasn't home before she jimmied the latch and stepped inside. The area under the window was a library, and Ari took a moment to examine the books lining the walls all around her. A nice mix of fiction and biographies, and quite a few law books. There was a photo on the table of Rebecca Sampson and an older blonde woman, cheeks pressed together. They were on the pier, the water stretching out behind them. They looked happy, but photos could be misleading.

There was a bedroom, but it was full of clothing. Ari could hardly believe the amount of clothes piled on the floor and stuffed into the open closet, and wondered if there was another half dozen residents in the apartment that she didn't know about. The foldout couch in the living room was still in bed-mode, the sheets and blankets tangled together on the mattress. Ari ignored the sex paraphernalia on the floor next to the bed as she continued her search. She wasn't exactly sure what she hoped to find. Even if there were shackles on the wall and a leather dominatrix mask, the items themselves didn't mean the sex wasn't consensual. Maybe Rebecca really liked being tied up and she just didn't bother mentioning that to her mother.

She just wanted to see if there were big, glaring signs of trouble before she took the next, drastic step. The apartment looked like a place where any nineteen year old would call home. The lover looked to be a bit older, but if she was dating a teenager, all bets could be off when it came to maturity.

Ari gave the apartment another once-over before she went back to the window. She took a shopping bag from the floor beside Rebecca's desk and carried it with her as she left. She scaled the fire escape down to the alley and looked around to make sure she was alone. She moved between two dumpsters and began to undress. She folded her clothes neatly and placed them in the shopping bag. When she was naked, she slid the bag behind a drain pipe, hopefully where it would go unnoticed until Dale came and retrieved it for her.

She rolled her shoulders, closed her eyes, and focused. She had tried to explain the process dozens of times, to Dale and to her mother and to partners... it was very hard to compare to any normal situation. The closest comparison she could make was that it was like forcing yourself to fall asleep. Eyes closed, mind quiet, focusing on relaxation. Only in this case, it was more like seeking a signal. That other part of her that she kept hidden so much of the time.

Much like falling asleep, it was hard to tell when the process began. One minute she was standing between the dumpsters, and the next she was curled in pain. God, how she had hoped it would stop hurting with time. When she was a teenager, going through her first transformations, she'd survived by telling herself that eventually her body would get used to it. No such luck. Her bones had to break and reset with every switch, and that never got less painful.

Her back broke. Her shoulders shifted. The bones of her hands spread and expanded. She arched her back as her flesh rippled and was replaced by a thick hide. Hair burst from her, covering her with a flowing pelt of fur that matched her normal hair color. She dropped to her hands as her knees snapped and turned backward. Her feet became paws. Her teeth retracted and fangs took their place.

Her mind worked different when she was the wolf. She knew her job, however, and it was easier to keep focused during the day. She shook her entire body, stretched, and looked around to make sure no one had wandered into the alley during her transformation. Satisfied she had been unseen, she left the alley and trotted down the sidewalk toward the entrance of Rebecca's building.

She found a shady spot behind a potted plant, curled up with her head on her paws, and looked down the street in the direction Rebecca had gone. Now all she could do was wait and hope Dale followed through on her part of the plan.

A few people stopped as they came out of the building to coo at her, rubbing her head and scratching between her shoulder blades. She didn't mind. Being petted was similar to the massages Dale gave her after a rough transformation, and she welcomed it.

It was almost two hours before she saw Rebecca walking toward her. The blonde from the photo was with her, an arm looped around Rebecca's elbow. The girlfriend was leaning in, looking at the iPhone or iPad or i-whatever the newest thing was that Rebecca had in her hands, smiling at something on the screen. She laughed, and Rebecca tucked the phone into her pocket as they approached the building.

Ari emerged from behind the plant with a timid whimper, lowering her ears against her skull and trying for puppy-dog eyes. She could never pull them off as a person, but maybe actually being a dog would help. Rebecca glanced down and then her eyes widened slightly. "Oh, God, Alicia, look. It's that lady's doggie."

Way to go, Dale.

Rebecca crouched in front of her and rubbed Ari's head. "Hello, Princess. Your mommy is looking all over for you. She's very, very worried."

Alicia was looking back the way they had come, her own cell phone in her hand. "Do you remember the number on her poster?"

"Yeah, I put it on my phone." Rebecca pulled her phone out and handed it over her head to Alicia. Alicia dialed and reached down to pet Ari as well, scratching her ear.

"Hello, Ms. Frye? We just met about an hour ago down on Houston? Yeah, the blondes." Rebecca smiled at the reference and kept petting Ari. "We just got home, and your dog is here. Yeah, she seems just fine. We're on Seventh Street, in a building called the Commodore. If-- Oh, no. Damn..."

Rebecca looked up. "What is it?"

"She just got into a cab heading uptown. She has class in fifteen minutes, and it's going to go late. Um... look, we'd have to take the dog upstairs anyway, so why don't we just keep an eye on her for you tonight. You can come pick her up in the morning. No, it's no problem at all. Well, great."

Rebecca was nuzzling Ari's face now, the one thing Ari hated about people/dog relations. What on earth possessed people to put their mouths next to a dog's? "Hear that, girl? You're gonna stay with us tonight. That'll be fun, huh? Yeah, I think you'll like it."

Alicia finished talking to Dale and handed Rebecca's phone back. "You can go ahead and take her upstairs. I'm going to run down to the store and get some food for the poor thing. She's probably starved to death."

Probably not much chance you're going to get me a Big Mac, I bet.

"I'll see you upstairs," Alicia said.

They kissed each other briefly before they parted. Rebecca guided Ari to the door and into the lobby. Ari's nails clicked on the tile, and she obediently followed Rebecca to the stairs.

"Wow, you're a really good puppy, aren't you? Huh?" She chuckled and continued to lead the way.

When they got to the apartment, Rebecca unlocked the door and guided Ari inside. She paused at the threshold and looked around, brow furrowed as she tried to place what was wrong. Ari watched her, but Rebecca shook off whatever inkling she felt and closed the door. "Sorry about the mess, Princess."

So. Dale told them my name was Princess. I'm definitely firing her.

Ari walked across the apartment while Rebecca tidied up as best she could. She gathered the sex toys off the bed and dumped them into a drawer, then tugged the blankets up over the mattress. Ari wandered through the front room, trying to find a comfortable spot where she could observe without being too obvious about it. She climbed onto an armchair between the living room and the kitchen and sat down while Rebecca went into the kitchen and searched the fridge.

"Looks like Alicia got her wish, Princess," Rebecca said. "She's been going on and on about dogs being substitutes for babies and how we have to take care of a dog to see if we can really adopt a little baby." She walked back into the room and sat on the arm of the chair. She petted Ari and said, "Dogs and babies are completely different. But you know that, huh?"

Ari made a noise in her throat and Rebecca chuckled.

"Yeah." She bent down and kissed Ari's head. "Still, it could be nice. Me and her being mommies. We'll just take care of you tonight, and Alicia will see that we can do it."

Ari put her head down on her paws. Probably not what you'd call definitive evidence, but planning for a baby was enough to make Ari worry she had just wasted her entire night.

#

Ari looked up with dread when Alicia came back. She'd eaten some hideous things in her canidae form, but fortunately she didn't remember most of them. She only knew that the animal side of her brain had succumbed to hunger by a particularly queasy stomach the following day, and she always tried to avoid looking in the toilet after she threw up. Some things were better left unknown. So she eyed the bag in Alicia's hand and wondered if it was too late to pretend she was already full from eating out of a trash can.

"Hey, babe," Rebecca said. She was sitting on the foldout with her laptop, working on something for school.

"Hey." Alicia bent down and kissed her hello. "I got Chinese for dinner."

Ari's stomach growled. Maybe they'd let the dog have some leftovers.

"And for our lovely houseguest... I thought I'd spoil her a little bit. She's had a rough day, getting lost and spending the night with strangers." She took a package of premium dog food from the sack and held it out for Ari to investigate. Ari had never tried it, but it looked good enough. She was willing to give it a try.

Rebecca said, "Hon, her name is Princess. I think she's used to being spoiled."

"Well, it's a good thing I didn't get the dry dog food, then." She carried the food into the kitchen, making plates for herself and Rebecca before she served up Ari's meal. She sat it on the floor and carried the two bowls of Chinese to the bed. "How's the report?"

Rebecca sighed heavily and took off her glasses.

"That well?" Alicia said. She picked up the laptop and set it aside. "Dinner first. What do you want to watch, 30 Rock or Project Runway?"

"We have an entire season of Project Runway. That's daunting. Cue up Tina Fey."

They settled in and Ari watched as Alicia aimed the remote control at the TV. She scrolled down a menu, and an episode of the sitcom began. She'd heard of that device, thought it was kind of like a VCR, and decided she had to see about getting one. She was still stuck in the first season of Mad Men. She looked down at her dinner, sniffed it warily, and decided that she paid to eat food that smelled worse, so she would be a snob to turn down a free meal.

The three of them ate, Ari keeping on eye on the women. So far they seemed like a normal couple; loving and happy, considerate of each other. They shared their meal and, when Rebecca had a coughing fit, Alicia went into the kitchen and retrieved a bottle of water for her.

They made it through two episodes of the sitcom before Rebecca declared herself full. Alicia carried their cartons into the kitchen and looked down at Ari's plate as she passed. "Do you think we have to take her for a walk or something?"

Ari took that as her cue. She walked to the window and stood on her back legs, pawing at the glass. Rebecca stared at her and said, "What is she doing?"

Alicia went over and pushed the window open. Ari crawled out onto the fire escape.

"Keep an eye on her! If she falls to her death, that girl will kill us both."

Alicia crawled out after her and Ari moved to the stairs. She moved quickly down to the ladder that led to the alley floor. She eased herself onto the rungs, her weight dragging the ladder all the way down to where she could drop easily to the pavement.

"Becca, you gotta come and see this," Alicia said.

Ari moved behind a dumpster and pretended to go about her business. If the girls thought she could take care of herself, hopefully they would leave the window open so she could roam freely once they went to bed. Maybe find a Big Mac to get the taste of dog food out of her mouth. It may have been expensive and fancy, but kibble was kibble. She returned to the ladder, jumped, and scaled the rungs with relative ease.

Rebecca and Alicia were both at the window when she returned. They applauded her, scratched her neck and expressed their amazement at her ability to climb a ladder, and then guided her back into the apartment. "Looks like you're quite the little acrobat. No wonder you got away from your mommy."

Ari let herself be led back to the armchair she'd claimed as her own. Rebecca went back to her laptop, and Alicia busied herself in the kitchen with the dishes from dinner. The whole situation was heartwarmingly domestic. She pretended to sleep while Alicia finished with the dishes and went to take a shower.

In the morning, she would be handed over to Dale. Then they would surreptitiously follow Rebecca and Alicia just to make sure everything was on the up and up. But she doubted they would find anything nefarious to report. Rebecca seemed happy with Alicia. Alicia seemed to truly love Rebecca. Not only would the case be easy, she had the bonus of getting to tell Mrs. Sampson that her daughter really was happy.

Ari didn't realize she had fallen asleep until she realized the apartment had suddenly gotten dark. She lifted her head and looked around, finding the only source of light was coming from the bathroom. Alicia and Rebecca were both in bed, moving underneath the blankets and giggling quietly.

"Not in front of the dog."

"You think we'll traumatize the pup?"

Rebecca laughed. "It's a stranger's dog! It feels weird."

Alicia shifted and pulled the blankets up over their heads. "I just hope she doesn't start howling along with you. We get enough complaints from the neighbors as it is."

More giggling, and then Rebecca began to moan.

Exit, stage right, Ari thought. She looked over her shoulder and saw the window was open just enough for her to slip out. Ari left the chair and crossed the kitchen, climbing outside just as Rebecca started to get very vocal.

Ari climbed down the fire escape to the alley and crouched behind the dumpster. She stifled a cry of pain as she transformed back to her normal state, clutching a drain pipe as she panted and tried to catch her breath. She was dripping with sweat and her eyes refused to focus. She'd pushed it. Hours as a canidae took their toll. She closed her eyes and recited poems in her head, slowly forcing her mental tracks back into human. She liked Emily Dickinson and Percy Bysshe Shelley.

She checked for the bag of her clothes and saw Dale hadn't retrieved it yet. She took it down and put on her blouse and pants, not bothering with underwear. She carried the bag out of the alley and headed to an all-night diner down the street. She spotted Dale's car outside and quickened her pace, nearly running when she got to the door.

Dale was sitting in the booth farthest from the door, sipping coffee and reading a novel. Ari motioned at the woman behind the counter for a cup of coffee and slipped into the booth across from her assistant.

"I figured you might find a way to sneak out, so I left the clothes."

"Thank you," Ari said. She reached across the table and Dale took her hand. She squeezed and suppressed a shudder, but she still grunted.

Dale said, "I knew it." She rubbed the back of Ari's hand. "You pushed it too far. What are the symptoms?"

"Fine, I'm fine," Ari said. The waitress dropped off Ari's coffee. "Could I also get a burger, medium rare, and fries? Thank you." She waited until the woman shuffled off before she turned back to Dale. "I'm fine. It's just been a while since I had one of these marathons."

Dale was always concerned there was a tipping point, a time when Ari would spend too much time as a canidae and be unable to get back. Ari always ridiculed her concerns, unwilling to admit that she feared the exact same thing. She stroked the back of Dale's hand and closed her eyes. The knowledge that she was human, that she was observed and acknowledged as human, calmed her nerves and she soon stopped trembling.

"Have you found anything for Mrs. Sampson?"

"They're boring," Ari said. "They're a boring, in-love couple. Alicia, the girlfriend, wants to get a dog as a test to get a baby."

"That's a good idea," Dale said.

Ari frowned. "No, it's not. A dog isn't a baby."

"Well, the responsibility..."

"Is totally different."

Dale said, "Regardless. So your first blush?"

"I don't think Mrs. Sampson has anything to worry about." She sipped her coffee. "Tomorrow after they give me back to you, we'll split up and follow them. I'll go with Alicia to see how she spends her day. You keep an eye on Rebecca."

"All right. Are you sure you can manage this? I can call the girls and tell them you left their apartment and showed up at my place."

Ari shook her head. "I can manage. I just need an hour or so as myself, a good meal, and I'll be ready to head back."

"If you say so," Dale said.

"And you," Ari added. "You'll stay with me, right?"

Dale smiled. "Yeah, as long as you need me here."

#

Ari hated sleeping in the wolf form. She was always unsure exactly who she was when she woke up, confused about where she was. She stretched and looked around the apartment, her mind wavering between human and canidae before settling on the correct side. She yawned loudly and clambered off the armchair, moving toward the foldout couch. Rebecca and Alicia were spooning and Ari realized that Rebecca was awake and watching Alicia sleep. Ari started to back away, but Rebecca clicked her tongue and motioned her up onto the mattress.

Ugh, just a normal thing dog owners do, she said. It would only be weird if you were human.

She climbed onto the bed and Rebecca scratched her head. "Hey. Look at my beautiful girlfriend. Isn't she lovely?"

Ari chuffed her response and Rebecca chuckled.

"What do you know, pup? Come here."

Ari reluctantly lay down across Alicia's lower body, resting her paws on the older woman's hip. It's not kinky, she reminded herself. Not kinky at all.

"Hey," Alicia muttered as she woke up. "I said I wasn't into threesomes."

If she could have, Ari would have rolled her eyes.

"That's okay. I don't think she's too impressed with you."

Alicia rolled onto her back and scratched Ari's side. "Snob."

Rebecca looked at the clock. "Babe, I have to get to class. Can you set up the meeting with Dale?"

"Sure. I kind of hate to give the girl up."

Rebecca pushed herself up against the headboard and chewed her bottom lip as she looked at Ari. "You know, I was thinking about it last night. Your idea that we should get a puppy or something. I think... it would be a good thing."

Alicia turned to her. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Rebecca said. "I know you thought that my hesitation was because I didn't want to be tied down to you, or whatever. The whole age difference. But I just really wanted to be sure we were both ready. And I think we are."

Alicia pulled Rebecca to her for a kiss.

"We'll go check out shelters after you get off work." Rebecca said. "Say five?"

"Yeah. Then we can get dinner while we're out, too."

Rebecca nodded. "Okay. I have to go shower before class." She kissed Alicia again before she slipped out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom.

Alicia waited until she heard the water start before she wrapped her arms around Ari's neck and hugged her in an almost violent manner. Ari resisted the urge to yelp and squirm away, willing to submit to the woman's happiness. Alicia chuckled and kissed the side of Ari's head. "Looks like you're my lucky charm, Princess. Thank you."

#

Ari was grateful that Alicia didn't have a leash, and she obediently followed her down the street to the same diner where she'd met with Dale the night before. Dale was waiting outside and smiled brightly when she spotted Alicia coming toward her. "Hi! Oh, my God, you're such a life safer. I was so worried about her."

"I don't know why," Alicia said. "She is an amazing dog. Quiet and no trouble whatsoever."

Dale crouched in front of Ari and petted her. "Hey, girl. Did you miss me?"

Ari licked Dale's face, and Dale narrowed her eyes at her.

"You have to let me reimburse you," Dale said. "You must have bought food, or taken the time to walk her or... let me give you something."

"No, please. It was a pleasure. And she kind of helped me win a stand-off with my girlfriend or something. I feel like I should pay you for letting me borrow her for the night." She reached down and stroked Ari's back. "Thanks for coming to see us for a little while, Princess. You're a good pup."

"She's definitely one in a million. Thank you again."

Alicia finally let Ari go, possibly only because she was due at work, and Ari followed Dale away from the diner. They went down an alley and Dale waited until the foot traffic died down before she nodded for Ari to go ahead and change. Thirty seconds later, Ari was slumped against the brick wall and Dale had a jacket wrapped around her shoulders.

"It's all right. Just breathe."

"Phew... God."

Dale pushed Ari's hair out of her face and watched her eyes. "You really spent twenty hours at a time as a canidae when you were with Evangeline?"

"Yeah," Ari said. "I was much younger then."

Dale smirked. "Not that much younger. What was that lick about?"

"Princess?"

"Sorry," Dale said. "I couldn't help myself. It was either Princess or Miss Snuggles."

When Ari could stand on her own, Dale opened her backpack and handed out the clean clothes she'd gathered from Ari's apartment. Ari dressed quickly and pushed her hair out of her face. She led Dale out of the alley and looked in the direction Alicia had gone. "Mrs. Sampson paid us for three days, but I really don't think it'll be necessary to follow them that whole time. There's a miniscule chance I caught them on the most loving day of their lives, but... I really don't think you can fake that."

"What do you want to do instead?"

Ari sighed. "Let's try the truth."

#

The dogs paraded to the front of their cages and peered up at Ari, trying to figure out her scent. She bared her teeth at a few of them, but they were too cute for her to get too angry. She was crouched in front of one cage, letting a Maltese sniff her fingers, when Alicia and Rebecca showed up. They were holding hands, whispering to each other as they scanned the dogs in the cages. Ari stood up and brushed her hands on her jeans as she casually moved toward them.

"...none of the breeds really look like Princess did, though. She was such an unusual dog. Maybe a mixed breed." Rebecca realized Ari was standing nearby and offered a friendly smile. "Hello."

"Hi. My problem is not just taking them all home."

"Tell me about it. I'm Rebecca Sampson, and this is my partner. Alicia."

Alicia and Ari shook hands, and Alicia furrowed her brow. "You look so familiar."

"I just have one of those faces," Ari said. She turned to face the row of cages, a few feet to Rebecca's right. They scanned the puppies for a moment in silence before Ari said, "Rebecca, your mother hired me."

Both women froze before Rebecca slowly turned to face her. "What did you say?"

"My name is Ariadne Willow. I'm a private investigator. Your mother hired me to observe how you and Alicia acted in public because she was concerned about you. She was worried that you hadn't told her anything about your new relationship, and she was afraid you might be in trouble. I only watched you for a day before I decided it wasn't really necessary to prolong the surveillance. It's obvious that the two of you are in love."

Alicia put her hand on Rebecca's shoulder, a move of support rather than control. Rebecca covered Alicia's hand with her own and ducked her chin.

"You're obviously in a consensual relationship... and to be honest, I wish I had someone who cared for me as much as Alicia seems to care for you. I'm going to tell your mother that you're happy, and you're safe. But that will only go so far."

Rebecca shook her head. "Mom... doesn't like the idea that I'm with a woman. Let alone a woman fifteen years older than me."

"Then change Alicia from 'the older woman' to a real person. You can only do that by introducing her. Let your mom get used to the idea of you being in love with Alicia by showing her that it's not just some fling."

Rebecca swallowed and looked over her shoulder at Alicia. Alicia shrugged. "I've been telling you that I really want to meet your mother. Maybe it's time, Bec."

"Yeah, I guess so." She wiped her eyes and looked at Ari again. "Thank you for telling me."

Ari smiled. "I don't like padding my bill. Good luck picking a dog." She stepped past them, but she stopped at the door and turned around. "Could you just do me one favor? Whichever one you pick, don't name it Princess."

Rebecca and Alicia frowned at each other as Ari left the shelter.

#

"How'd she take it?" Ari asked.

"Pissed at first," Dale said. "But she understood why you did it. Rebecca called her and they're planning a big night out next weekend so she can get to know Alicia. The important thing, for us anyway, is that she agreed to pay us the original amount. All three days of surveillance."

Ari clapped her hands from where she lay on the waiting room couch. "Yay. Almost makes it worth eating dog food."

Dale wrinkled her nose. "The things you do for a paycheck."

"That's nothing. This was actually an easy case. Speaking of slimy things, did you get a chance to listen to any of the stuff we got from Bird Maintenance?"

"I listened to it yesterday. Interesting stuff. He wants to set up interviews, but he told his office manager to be sure they didn't get someone who might 'pull the same shit.'"

"Meaning?"

"No one who will get pregnant. He actually showed a preference for, his words and not mine, uggos and fatties."

Ari rolled her eyes. "I'm going to enjoy nailing this asshole."

"Some things are better than getting a paycheck. We can focus on that tomorrow. You've had a long day. How's..." She tapped her forehead.

"Settled for the most part. I'm completely me again. For better or for worse."

Dale smiled and turned back to her computer. She typed a few more words and then leaned back in her chair. She looked at the frosted glass of their office door and said, "Can I ask you a personal question? About the thing you told me, about Evangeline?"

"You may ask, I might not answer."

"Fair enough." She hesitated, debating how to phrase her question. "You were a canidae most of the time. How could it have been a fully consensual relationship if you were barely in your right mind?"

"I made the agreement when I was myself. Evangeline probably did take advantage of me, but we both benefited from the arrangement. You could say that I was taking advantage of her by staying in her house and eating her food. And when I was done, I just walked away with a pocketful of her money. If anyone got used in that relationship, I'd say it was her." She pushed herself up and rested her arms on her knees. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Might not answer."

Ari dipped her chin to acknowledge it. "Why were you in a diner in the middle of the night waiting for me to show up? There was a chance I wouldn't be able to get out of the apartment until morning."

"But there was a chance you would. And it's a good thing I was waiting."

"Okay. Why did you stay in the office with me the night before last? I could have locked up. I didn't need you babysitting me."

Dale shrugged. "I was already up. It seemed silly to go all the way home just to come back in an hour."

Ari pursed her lips and said, "And how long has Lisa been gone?"

Dale's fingers froze over the keyboard and she shrugged. "I don't know. Not long."

"How empty does your apartment feel?"

Dale leaned back in her chair and looked down at the floor.

Ari pushed herself up and walked to Dale's desk. "You deserve someone better than that. Someone who will treat you better. We both do." She bent down and kissed Dale's forehead. "You're a good person, Dale. You deserve to be loved."

Dale ducked her chin lower and wiped at her cheeks. "Look who's talking." She squeezed Ari's hand and leaned back in her chair. "Go home. You deserve to sleep in your own bed tonight."

Ari took Dale's hand and pulled her up. "Only if you go, too. Come on, we've both had a lot of long nights. Time to take one night off."

Dale sighed and let herself be pulled up. She put her computer to sleep and took her jacket off the back of her chair. "Since you're dragging me out into the real world, how about we get some dinner?"

"I'm dying for some Chinese."

"Will you buy?"

Ari rolled her eyes and let Dale lead the way out of the office. "Why do I always have to pay just because I'm the boss?"

"Because you sign my paychecks. When I pay for dinner, it's like I'm just reimbursing you."

"Semantics."

"Lead the way, Dale."

Ari shut off the office light and locked the door. She followed Dale outside and breathed deep. Dale was right; it would be nice to sleep in her own bed for a change. But first, she had to settle the craving Alicia and Rebecca had given her; she could almost taste the egg drop soup. She zipped up her coat and hurried to catch up with Dale.

End

Down Girl

Ari's dreams were full of half-naked and fully-naked women, glistening body parts, and a dance. Her clothes were torn from her by eager hands, and her body was covered by soft, wet kisses that sent shivers up and down her spine. A loud buzzing jerked her back into the real world, and she woke facedown in bed, straddling a pillow with her panties rolled down to her thighs. She was dripping with sweat, aching for orgasm. She bit her lip and gripped the pillow with both hands, grinding against it until she came with a sigh of release. Then she finally reached over and shut off the alarm clock that had so rudely interrupted her.

She flopped onto her back and pushed her hair out of her face. "Shit. Not again."

Ari kicked her blankets the rest of the way off the bed, tugged her underwear back into place, and put her feet on the floor. Her cell phone was on the nightstand and she flipped it open, accessing the date book function. It was Monday the fourteenth, and she mentally blocked off the next seven days as completely lost to her.

Ari stood up and dialed Dale's number. She was standing in front of the bathroom sink when the ringing stopped. "Bitches Investigations."

"It's me. I can't come in today. I need to take some time off." She opened the medicine cabinet. She sighed; she was well-stocked to deal with her time of the month, but all the pads in the world couldn't help her now. Her period had been the first warning sign, but it had been so long... She still kicked herself for not taking the hint and put herself into a coma. A good hard knock on the head could have saved herself a lot of the grief she was sure awaited her in the next few days.

Dale was still considering the request. "Normally I wouldn't say anything and hope you felt better, but... um, how long do you think you'll need?"

"A week."

Dale laughed. "That's not going to work, Ari."

"Sure it will. It's been slow. We can shut down for a week and pick up again when we're feeling better. We don't have any outstanding cases."

"Right, it's been slow. But the bills keep coming in. We haven't had a paying client in almost a month. The coffers are running low--"

Ari went back into the bedroom. "Do we have actual coffers?"

"We have a coffee can, Ari. And when I shake it, I can hear the pennies rattling. And it's for that very reason I don't want to put off the potential client who called yesterday."

"Right. Damn, I forgot about that." Ari remembered how excited Dale had been, and relieved. Now she knew why. "Dale, I'm sorry. I didn't realize how stressed the business side of business has been for you lately. I'll come in."

Dale sighed. "No, you know, if you're really not feeling well--"

"I'm coming in. If we tell the client we have to put her off for a week, she'll just go to one of the other agencies. We need the cash. If it'll take a burden off of you, then I'm willing to suffer a little bit."

"How little are we talking about? If doing this just makes your problem worse, puts you out of commission for longer, then maybe we should err on the side of caution."

"It's fine. I'll explain when I get into the office." She sat on the edge of her bed. "Thanks for reminding me about the client meeting, Dale. I'd be lost without you."

Dale chuckled. "See you soon, Ari."

She hung up and dropped the phone on the bed. Hopefully whatever the client wanted her to do would be possible without bringing the wolf into the equation. If she just kept human form, it wouldn't be so bad. She stripped out of her nightclothes as she went back into the bathroom and pushed the shower curtain out of the way. The sweat had dried on her skin and she felt filthy. She turned on the water as cold as she could stand it and shivered as she ducked her head under the spray. It was going to be a long, long week.

#

Ari wore in a white T-shirt under a black vest and a pair of pinstripe suit pants. She liked dressing up for the clients, since she so often ended up in torn jeans and old faded T-shirts when she was working. She'd even gone to the trouble of doing her hair and putting on a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. The reflection in the bathroom mirror had been more of 'sexy librarian' than 'professional businesswoman,' but she figured the look worked for her.

Dale whistled as Ari came into the office. "Very nice, Ms. Willow. I do love when you dress up for a client."

"Yeah, yeah. What time am I supposed to meet with this person? I don't even remember her name."

Dale held out a memo slip. "Piper Robinson. She'll be waiting for you at the Pluto Bar and Grill at noon."

"Her name is Piper?"

"What's your point, Ariadne?"

Ari shrugged and stuck the note into the pocket of her slacks. Dale was examining her, a line of worry appearing between her eyebrows.

"Are you sure you're okay? You do look a little peaked."

Ari cleared her throat. "I'm fine, for the most part." She considered lying, but Dale knew everything else about her life. Why should this be different? "There is something I need to tell you, though. It's kind of personal."

Dale scoffed. "I've seen you buck-naked countless times, Ari. I think we're past that." She pushed back her chair and followed Ari into the inner office. She took a seat on the couch, obviously bracing herself for bad news. "So there is something wrong."

Ari closed the door and took off her glasses. "Not necessarily. I just can't transform for the next few days. And it would be better for everyone if I just spent this week at my apartment." Ari leaned against her desk and crossed her arms. "I haven't brought this up before because it's not exactly on a set schedule. It's been almost eight years since it happened the last time, so I was just hoping it wouldn't be an issue." She cleared her throat. "Sometimes, after my period, my canidae side goes through something similar. I go into heat."

Dale's eyes widened and she tried to hide her smile. "Really."

"It's not funny, Dale." She rolled her eyes and threw her hands up. "Okay, I guess it's not the worst thing in the world. But if I become the wolf and black out, there's no telling what I might do. The last time I wolfed out while I was in heat, I came to in a shelter with about eleven male dogs trying to knock down the fences trying to get to me. So I'm just going to stay bipedal, stay indoors, and prevent any possible mishaps."

"Wow. I've had a few regrettable evenings, but that would be a new one."

Ari managed a smile. "I can't tell you how many nightmares I've had about waking up pregnant with a litter of puppies."

Dale laughed. "So everything is okay otherwise? I mean, you're not ill or--"

"I don't know. It's basically like I'm having a two-week period."

Dale's humor faded. "Oh, God. I feel for you, hon."

Ari smiled. "Thanks. It shouldn't be too big a deal. I've gone a week without transforming before, it's just the fact that I can't change that makes it seem like an ordeal."

"Have you really gone a week without changing before?"

"Yeah." Ari was suddenly unsure. "I'm certain I have. I'll go and speak with the client and convince her that we're the agency for her. I won't need the wolf for that. Hopefully it's something we can manage as regular, mundane people. We don't advertise the wolf, so it's not like she'll be expecting it. We'll be fine."

"Famous last words. But if you're willing to work, then I'll be here for you."

"What else is new?" Ari pushed away from the desk and hugged Dale. "Thanks for always being here for me."

"Any time, Ari. You know that."

Dale was wearing a thin blouse and a black skirt, and Ari was suddenly very aware of her friend's curves. The fullness of her breasts, the way her cheek felt against Ari's neck. Ari's lips parted and she breathed in, almost tasting the sweet perfume of Dale's scent. She turned her head and kissed Dale's neck, sliding her lips up to Dale's earlobe and gently biting down on it.

"Uh, Ari..."

Ari's hands slid down to the curve of Dale's ass, squeezing it and thrusting her hips forward as she groaned.

Dale squirmed away from her and gently eased Ari's hands away from her. "Easy. I have to file any sexual harassment complaints with you, and that would just be awkward."

"Sorry." Ari retreated, putting the desk between her and Dale. "I don't know what came over me."

"Maybe a little bleed-through from the wolf going into heat?"

Ari shook her head. "No, that's doesn't happen." Usually. She remembered the unusually vivid dreams that had plagued her all night. God, like anything could actually make this experience worse. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"You don't have to go that far. Just give a girl some warning next time." She winked and went back out to her desk, leaving Ari's office door open behind her.

Ari dropped into her seat and exhaled. She rested her hands on her thighs and spun the chair to look out the window. She and Dale had been friends for a long time and, despite recently dipping their toes in the water of becoming something more, Ari wasn't sure she wanted to dive off that cliff. Girlfriends came and went, literally in some cases, but Dale was a constant in her life. If they tried something and had to break up, it would throw her entire life into a tailspin. It would be worse than starting over.

Of course, there was a chance that it could work out. But it was hardly worth calculating.

Ari realized that she was cupping her crotch with one hand, idly masturbating through her pants while her mind wandered. "Shit." She jerked her hands away and turned back toward the desk, resting both hands on the blotter. She closed her eyes and straightened her back, rolled her shoulders, and took a series of long, slow breaths. She wasn't going to let this damn biological glitch get in the way of living her life and doing her job. Maybe fresh air would help.

She stood up and put her glasses back on. She picked up her blazer as she headed out the door. "I'm going to walk to Pluto's. Hopefully the fresh air will do me good."

"Okay. Call if you need a ride."

Mm, I'll give you a ride, baby. Ari shook the thought from her head before it was fully formed. "Will-do." She waved over her shoulder as she hastily retreated.

#

A cozy restaurant made up the front half of Pluto Bar and Grill, with white walls and stark black accents. The tables were set up for lunch, but they did more business with the dinner crowd and only a handful of the tables were taken. All the booths were empty, and Ari walked past them to the dim bar that ran along the back of the building. She had left her name with the hostess and told her she was waiting for someone. The bartender smiled as she took a seat, making his way over to her before she was even settled on the stool.

"What can I get for you?"

"Just a fizzy water, please."

He nodded and filled a glass, placing it in front of her with a napkin. She sipped the drink as he returned to what he'd been doing on the other side of the bar.

She was a little early for the meeting, but she'd grown sick of walking. It was a warm day, so the sheer amount of flesh revealed by short shorts, skirts, tank tops and sundresses had been almost torturous to her. She was starting to wonder about her conviction over whether or not the wolf going into heat had some bleed-through. Maybe she was suffering from the effects even without transforming. Whatever was happening, there was no way she'd risk a blackout while in her canidae form. Too many chances for something to go terribly wrong. Maybe getting laid by a human would sate the need enough that she could function.

"Ariadne Willow?"

She turned toward the woman who had spoken, her voice tentative and unsure. Ari's eyes widened behind her glasses. The woman wore a cream-colored skirt and a blouse that almost matched the color exactly. The two items of clothing were separated by a thick leather belt. She had a purse slung over one shoulder, clutched tightly against her side like it was a security blanket. Her red hair was loose around her plain but attractive face, her green eyes wide and hopeful. Her mouth was open, just a little, in anticipation of speaking again.

Ari spread her legs unconsciously as she turned to face her fully. "That's me. Ari."

The woman smiled in relief. "Hello. I'm Piper Robinson. Uh, Piper." She held out her hand.

Ari hesitated at the flesh-on-flesh contact, but she covered it with a smile and took Piper's hand. The skin was warm and slightly clammy from the heat outside, but Ari didn't mind. She slipped off the stool, bringing her into Piper's personal space for a far too brief a moment. "Let's have a seat over here."

She guided Piper to one of the bar's tables, which stood next to a pass-through so they could see into the restaurant. Ari gently rested a hand on Piper's elbow, an innocent gesture that almost made her squirm. Piper sat with her back to the door, and Ari took the seat opposite her with a comforting smile.

"What can I help you with, Piper?"

She shifted uncomfortably and looked over her shoulder. The bartender lifted his head in a silent question, and Ari made a motion for two fizzy waters. He nodded and filled the glasses before bringing them over. "Let me know if I can get you ladies anything else."

"Thank you." Piper took a long drink and situated her glass on the napkin. "Have you ever kept something a secret for so long that it seems almost impossible to say it out loud?"

Ari smiled. "Yes, definitely. You don't have to worry about confidentiality, Mrs. Robinson. Whatever you tell me, I'll keep in the strictest confidence."

"Well, you'll still know. And even one other person knowing--"

"Might help take the burden off of your shoulders."

Piper nodded slowly, staring at the bubbles in her drink. "My husband is cheating on me."

"Is he blind?" The words slipped out before Ari could stop them. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I apologize. That was unprofessional of me."

"It's all right." She was smiling a little, at least, but it faded as she went back to her problem. "It's hardly the first time. The first time I caught him, he told me it was just a fling and didn't mean anything. It was strange. I remember thinking that it would have been better if it did mean something. But he risked what we had for... what, a quick roll in the hay?" She pressed her lips together. "He promised it wouldn't happen again. But I found the receipts for a local hotel when he was supposed to be out of town, and I've seen the text messages from anonymous numbers. After a while I guess I just decided as long as he came back home to me, it didn't matter what he did elsewhere. "

"What changed your mind?"

"He wants to leave me for someone else. I'm not a vindictive woman, Ms. Willow, but my husband has never allowed me to work. If he files for divorce, I'll be left with nothing. I'll have to leave our house and live in some little apartment..." Her voice cracked. "But if I can file first, with proof that he strayed outside the marriage, then I'll have grounds to make a few demands before I let him go. Alimony and support, that sort of thing."

"The text messages and receipts aren't enough?"

"He stopped leaving those things around once he decided to cut me loose. I need proof, Ms. Willow. However you would go about doing that..." She opened her purse and withdrew a much-worried manila envelope. The corners had been wrinkled and folded so many times that they resembled the edges of a pie crust. She placed the packet on the table between them. "That's a list of places he goes, about what time you can find him there." She brushed at her cheek with the back of one hand. "There are some pictures of him, too, so you'll know what he looks like."

Ari picked up the packet and moved it closer, a tacit sign of accepting the case.

"I didn't know how much to expect to pay..."

"We can work that out later. Is there a deadline for this?"

"I'm not sure. As soon as possible. He's been spending more and more time with his mistress, and I think he's contacting lawyers. I called someone about representing me, and he was very careful about suggesting it would be a conflict of interests."

Ari winced. "That's a bad sign. I'll get on this immediately." She figured a simply sneak-and-peek wouldn't be too terrible. She could plant a few of her listening toys and sit safely out in her car while the machinery did all the hard work. They stood up together and Ari offered her hand to Piper. They shook again, and Piper's hand seemed to have cooled since her arrival.

"If there's anything I can do in the meantime," Ari said. Like take you back to my apartment, rip off your clothes, and show you how a woman ought to be treated. She cleared her throat.

"Just agreeing to take the case has been a load off my mind. And for listening. You're right. It really did help me a lot."

"I'm glad. I'll be in touch when I have something to report."

Piper thanked her again, and Ari went to the bar to pay for their drinks. The bartender's hand brushed her palm as he handed back her change. "Everything okay? It looked pretty intense over there."

"Everything's fine." She noticed the way his uniform shirt hung, the tightness of the material across his shoulders. If he shaved and maybe let his hair grow out a little... She realized what she was doing and pushed away from the bar with a start. If she was ogling a man, then something was definitely wrong. "Uh, yeah. Fine. Thank you."

She hurried out of the bar like her tail was on fire.

#

Ari had once joked that, without Dale, she would never charge anyone for her services. It wasn't far from the truth. She hated discussing finances, laying down a monetary amount for what she did. It didn't matter that no one seemed willing to use her services for free. The first thing out of the client's mouth was usually a question about daily rates or expenses, but Ari could never find the ability to cross that line. Fortunately Dale didn't have the same qualms and was more than happy to deal with the payments.

When she got back to the office, Ari laid out the facts of the case and handed over Piper's envelope. She took the pictures and familiarized herself with Kent Robinson's appearance. He was a handsome man, with brown hair worn just a little too long and combed so that it fell across his forehead. In the photos provided he was always posing with Piper, in front of buildings and water and various landmarks. They made a handsome couple, but Piper deserved better than a jerk who didn't appreciate her.

She took the pictures into her office and shut the door, chewing on her bottom lip before she took her phone from her pocket. She scrolled through the numbers until she reached the bottom of the list, women with a "Z" in front of their names like an anchor to drop them below all her other contacts. Deanna, Gina, first Mary, other Mary, Mindy, Betty and Veronica... She smiled as she remembered how those two had gotten into her phone book and continued scrolling.

Ari finally dialed Trudy's number and turned to look out the window as it buzzed in her ear. There was a click, and then Trudy answered in a professional tone. "Gertrude Hanson, how may I help you?"

"Gertrude? I thought you hated your full name."

A pause of almost ten whole seconds. "Ariadne."

"Right. Don't you have Caller ID on that phone?"

Trudy's voice dropped to little more than a whisper. "I programmed your name out of my phone a long time ago, Ari. I thought you would have done the same."

"So I'm nostalgic. Sue me. I thought maybe we could get together and talk about things. Catch up."

Trudy laughed. Ari heard a door close and assumed her ex was in a storage room or something equally private. "Tell me you're not calling me up after all this time for a booty call."

Ari felt suddenly humiliated. "We always were good together, Trudy. Sex wasn't the problem, everything else was." She toyed with the hem of her vest, feeling like a teenager playing dress-up.

"Yeah. Everything else." Trudy's voice was wistful. She sighed. "I'm seeing somebody, Ari. Even if I wasn't, you would be such a terrible, terrible idea that I--"

"I get it. Sorry I bothered you."

"Ari." She brought the phone back to her ear, hoping for an apology for being so blunt. But Trudy just twisted the knife. "Delete my number from your phone, please. I don't want any more calls like this."

"Right. You got it, Gertrude." She jabbed the button to disconnect the call and dropped the phone onto her desk. Was there anyone on her list who would have a better reaction? She didn't even know why she kept the numbers in her phone. Gina had basically told her to drop dead. First Mary had spent an hour after their break-up listing all the ways Ari was the worst woman to ever soil the planet with her presence. She burned bridges when she ended her relationships. She did it selfishly. The only people who were likely to enjoy hearing from her would be Betty and Veronica, but she hadn't really spoken to them after that Halloween night.

Ari was putting on her jacket when Dale knocked and came into her office. "I typed up and printed out Kent Robinson's schedule for you. Going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm going to take another little walk."

Dale read between the lines. "How bad is it?"

"Not bad. I swear." She flipped her ponytail over the collar of her jacket and took the schedule from Dale. "Do we still have those little bug things? The listening devices?"

"Mm-hmm. I'll get them ready for you. I'll have 'em here before Robinson gets off from work."

"Thanks, Dale." She wanted to kiss her cheek as thanks as she usually did, but she didn't want to risk another awkward grind. "I'll be back soon."

"Take care of yourself, Ari."

She smiled. "I always do. Maybe that's the problem."

#

Ari went home to change, and went to a nearby lesbian bar in her plain white T-shirt and a pair of jeans. She traded her belt for suspenders, finding them easier to deal with in certain situations. Plus she just flat loved how she looked in suspenders. She nursed her drink for almost forty-five minutes before a prospect arrived. She had long red hair, and she was dressed in a business suit but no tie. She had traded her high heels for a pair of sneakers, setting her purse on the bar as she waited to be served. She glanced toward Ari, laugh lines appearing by her eyes as she offered a polite smile before turning away.

Ari moved down the bar and settled on the stool next to the business woman. She turned and pressed her lips against the curtain of red hair close enough that her lips almost touched the shell of the stranger's ear as she whispered.

"I don't want to know your name. I don't want to take you home. I just want to kiss you, and touch you, and hear you moan."

When she finished making her pitch, the woman wet her lips with a quick sip of her beer and turned to look at her. She seemed surprised by Ari's beauty, and one corner of her lips curled up as she leaned in and said, "Where?"

Ari led the way into the bar's bathroom. She'd been there enough to know it was relatively clean, so she wasn't overly worried. The bathroom had three stalls, the furthest of which had a small space between it and the wall. Ari stepped into the recess and pulled the stranger to her, sharing their first kiss as she hooked her thumbs under her suspenders and tugged them off her shoulders. The other woman's tongue swirled inside Ari's mouth, quickly matching Ari's desperate passion.

The woman pressed Ari against the side of the stall and kissed down her body. The dull roar that had distracted Ari all day rose to a deafening cheer as her breasts were teased through her T-shirt, and she arched her back and bared her teeth. She ran her fingers through the thick red hair of her partner, urging her lower. A hand slid up the inside of Ari's thigh, cupped her, and then worked the button of her jeans. They were baggy enough that they dropped as soon as the button was undone, pushed the rest of the way by her friend's eager hands.

"Oh, God, you're wet..."

"Been a long day," Ari gasped. "Go on."

"Poor baby, walking around like this all day." She kissed Ari's hips just above the elastic of her panties. She peeled the underwear down, letting them drop before easing Ari's knees apart.

Ari closed her eyes and resisted the urge to cry out at the touch of the other woman's tongue. It was like a cool breeze on a sunny day, like slipping into bed after being on her feet for far too long. One gentle hand moved up the inside of her thigh, massaging the tense muscle before two fingers spread her open. She came quicker than she would have liked, but it felt wonderful. She moved her hips eagerly against the stranger, forcing her tongue deeper until she was able to fall limp against the stall again.

The redhead stayed on her knees, kissing Ari's hips and stomach while stroking her thighs. Ari eventually realized she was being selfish and tugged on the woman's blouse. "C'mon. Get up here. Stand up." The woman pressed her body against Ari's, and Ari offered two fingers to her. The woman sucked them, wetting them with her tongue as she pressed her hips against Ari's. Ari pulled her fingers free and kissed her partner, sliding her hand over her body. Full breasts, flat stomach, the perfect dream girl.

Ari managed to unbutton the other woman's pants and pushed her hand inside. Their tongues dueled, and Ari swallowed the redhead's moans as she twisted her wrist to get a better reach. She extended her wet fingers, curled them in a 'come hither' gesture, and the woman in her arms shuddered and sagged against her. Ari kept stroking, the stranger's red hair caught on her lips and eyelashes as the woman rested her head on Ari's shoulder.

"C'mon. Come for me, Dale. Good girl..."

The woman had her arms around Ari's waist, fingers gripping Ari's ass while she rocked her hips forward. She came quickly, gasping a name that wasn't Ari's, and lifted her head for a lazy, post-orgasm kiss.

"I knew something good would happen if I kept coming to this bar."

Ari grinned. "Thanks. You're a lifesaver."

"Yeah, you seemed right on the edge there."

She cleared her throat and backed up a step, both of them feeling the awkwardness settle over them like a blanket. The woman tucked her hair behind her ears and pulled her pants back up, buttoning them and then smoothing the material down. Ari tugged her pants and underwear up and shrugged back into her suspenders.

"Let me buy you a drink."

Ari shook her head. "No, that's not necessary. You went above and beyond, trust me." She kissed the redhead one more time before she walked to the sink. They washed their hands together, already going back to strangers who happened to be sharing a space. The other woman dried her hands and went to the door. She paused before going outside and walked back to Ari.

"I'm here a lot. In case you ever decide to... well, I don't have to spell it out. Just in case."

"Thanks. Hope to see you around."

She smiled and walked out of the bathroom. Ari watched her go, staring at her hair and wondering if she had noticed that it was the same color as Dale's. An accident? Or my subconscious acting up? One thing was certain; saying Dale's name during sex wasn't expected. She wet her hands under the tap, ran her palms over her hair, and wiped her hands with a paper towel before she left.

The redhead was already back at the bar with a friend, also in a business suit. A girlfriend? Did I just become the Other Woman? As ironic as that would be, considering the case she had just taken, the idea made her feel sick to her stomach. She eyed their body language and decided they were just friends or coworkers.

Whatever helps you sleep at night, sweetheart.

She put down some money for her drink and stood up. As she passed the redhead, she saw movement in the mirror behind the bar. The redhead had her hand tight against her chest, one finger extended to point at Ari as she walked by. She leaned closer to her friend and mouthed, 'That's her.' The woman turned and her eyes widened. "Damn, Renee." She immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, trying to capture the words as soon as they were out.

Ari couldn't help but smile as she reached the door. She turned, pushed it open with her hip and said, "Renee, huh? Nice to meet you. I'm Ariadne." She saluted and stepped out into the sunshine. For the first time all day, she felt normal. She dialed the office number to see if Dale had the listening devices ready for her.

She was ready to go to work.

#

Dale sat behind the wheel, as Ari undressed in the backseat. It was twilight, and the kids who had been playing earlier had all been called in for dinner. Dale would shout a warning if someone got close enough to peer into the car and get a free show. Ari folded her clothes carefully and then shrugged into her trenchcoat. "You know, you don't have to stay here all night. It's probably going to be pretty boring."

"Well, it is a sacrifice to give up my thrill-a-minute life, but I'm happy to keep you company. You have everything?"

Ari checked the pockets of her coat. She'd loaded them with the listening devices Dale had provided her with. There was also a small receiver. "Yep. Should be in and out."

"I'll keep watch."

Ari reached over the seat and squeezed Dale's shoulder before she got out of the car. She hurried across the street and, when she was sure no one was looking, slipped through the fence into the Robinson's backyard. Once the gate was latched behind her, she took off her trenchcoat and hid it between some leaves and the fence that ringed the property. The pathway from the fence to the back of the house was littered with dry leaves and debris that had been blown there by the wind, so she felt confident Kent wouldn't wander over and find the coat anytime soon.

She took the listening devices from the coat's pocket, along with the key from Piper's bag of tricks, and moved quickly to the back door. According to the schedule, Piper would be at work until ten. Kent would get home between six-thirty and seven, then spend the early evening entertaining his girlfriend. Ari stepped inside and left the door ajar behind her.

The living room was the center of the house; the kitchen and garage were on one side with the master bedroom and bathroom on the other. A den ran the length of the house at front, and she could see through the living room and out the thin curtains that overlooked the yard and driveway. Hopefully she'd have more than enough time to see someone coming.

Ari paused and examined the space. She only had five bugs, so she had to find the optimum places for them. There was an art deco lamp between the living room and den with metallic shades covering the bulbs. Ari hid one of the bugs underneath the shade, where it would be hidden by the light. Dale told her that the range for each bug was fifteen to twenty feet, so it should cover the majority of the living room and den without getting ambient noise from the television.

She looked around and noticed a pad on the table next to the couch. She walked over and skimmed the list of names. "Dale, I hope you're listening. I think these are the lawyers Robinson has contacted and a list of those he has yet to contact. Listen up. Albert Babbitt & Mitchell. Garetson and Associates. Hutter Lester McGraw. Julia Stone. Tyler & Byers. Those are all check-marked. Timmerson and Tate. Wiseman Phillips & Associates. Let's try and get those last two locked in for Piper, if we can." She dropped the pad and went to place the rest of the bugs.

The tall kitchen trash can was on wheels, and Ari put another bug on the axle in case they wanted to take in a snack. She crossed the living room and went down a dark, narrow hall to the master bedroom. One bug went on the back of the nightstand. She guessed which one belonged to Piper by examining the contents of the drawers. She assumed the side with dildos and other various sex toys wouldn't belong to the man of the house. Although...

She picked up a vibrating egg, rubbing her thumb over the smooth curve. Her face was warm. No. You scratched that itch. Stop it. She dropped the egg back into the drawer, pushed it shut, and went into the bathroom. The fourth bug found a home inside the light fixture. She looked at the shower and pictured Piper there, dripping wet, single for the first time in years. Maybe she'd brought her little egg into the shower with her to get some relief. Or was she the kind of woman who preferred to use her fingers in the shower?

Ari jerked her hand away from her crotch. She was very aware of her nudity, almost trembling from desire. No, no, no. What the hell am I doing? She took her final bug into the extra bedroom and placed it behind the headboard just in case Kent Robinson had any kind of conscience and didn't screw his mistress in his marriage bed. She had just secured the final bug when she heard a distant car horn beep twice. It was Dale's signal that she'd seen Kent's car.

"Shit." Ari stood up, closed her eyes, and focused.

Her body folded in on itself, and she inadvertently cried out in anguish. It was like getting hit in both sides by two baseball bats. She stretched her neck out as her face was reshaped, the bones splitting down the middle to form a muzzle. She hit the ground, her hands becoming paws before they made contact. She shook her body, her medium-length hair spreading out across her body. She got to her feet, stumbling only slightly as she moved toward the open back door. She was halfway across the living room when she heard the front door open behind her.

"Hey! What the hell... goddamn it."

"What, what is it?" A woman's voice, but not Piper.

"My damn wife left the fucking back door open again. Hey! Hey, mutt..."

Ari ducked out onto the porch with Kent Robinson in hot pursuit. She ran around the corner of the house and took a flying leap toward the top of the fence. She jumped to safety on the other side, shook herself, and started toward the rendezvous point she and Dale had prearranged. Behind her, she heard Kent say, "Make sure it didn't shit anywhere. Goddamn mutt..."

Ari sniffed at the idea, and her entire body tensed. Boy dog. There was a boy dog somewhere nearby. Her body quaked as she tried to pinpoint the scent, and she hurried down the street in pursuit. Her rational thought became a jumble of thoughts: Renee's tongue and fingers inside of her, the vibrating egg, the feel of Piper's palm against her own. She was making quiet, anxious sounds of arousal as she hurried through the streets. There! Boy dog was there! She ran in front of a car driving slowly and crossed the street.

The boy dog started barking, obviously smelling her as well. Ari howled back at him. She could hear the dog inside her head. Gm gm. Arlioo. Wuo!

I'm almost there! she shouted at him.

Someone suddenly grabbed her from behind, an arm around her neck and another looping around her midsection. She was lifted off the ground, but her feet twitched wildly as she tried to continue her quest. She yipped and barked, trying to get her head turned around enough to bite whoever had taken her. She didn't want to hurt whoever it was, she just wanted to be let go so she could get the boy!

She was tossed into the backseat of a car, and the door was slammed shut before she could scramble out. She stood on the seat and slapped at the locks with her useless paws. The boy is out there, he wants to fuck me, the boy is out there, let him fuck me! She whimpered and howled as loud as she could. Then she came up with a brilliant escape plan. She could become the lady! The lady could unlock the door. Then she could go find the boy! She stretched out on the seat, closed her eyes, and felt the change in her brain.

A few seconds of excruciating pain later, Ari pushed herself up on shaking arms. She was covered with sweat, and she immediately moved one hand between her legs. "Oh, shit, shit..."

Dale twisted to look over the back of the seat at her. "You okay?"

"Thank you, Dale. That was... too close." She sat up and gathered her clothes, pulling them on with trembling hands. She could still hear the male dog barking through the window. "Did you get the list of attorneys?"

"I left messages for the two that weren't checked. I told them it was regarding Piper Robinson in her divorce, so hopefully we cut Kent off at the pass." She was silent for a moment, deciding if she wanted to breach the subject. Finally she said, "So I thought you said going canidae was safe because you took care of the itch."

"I thought I did. Apparently I was mistaken." She pulled on her T-shirt and climbed into the front seat. "What's the range on this device?"

Dale accepted the subject change and picked up the small receiver. It was hooked up to the car radio, which they had been told would record whatever they heard.

"About six blocks. We should be fine here." They were on the outskirts of the neighborhood parked on a dead-end street. The view through the front windshield was an overgrown vacant lot, and the yards on either side of them were blocked by tall fences. Dale turned on the device and adjusted the volume. She took one earbud and let Ari have the other one.

"--promise. We just have the lay the groundwork to make sure the bitch doesn't have anywhere to turn. Then we'll just pick one off our list, and the bitch'll have to settle for whatever I tell her."

"God, this prick," Dale muttered. "I haven't been listening since he got home, but I've listened to enough to nominate Piper for sainthood. Most people get divorced because they drifted apart, irreconcilable differences, that sort of thing. This guy is just using it as a tool to screw his wife."

I saw a lot of tools to screw his wife. Love to use a couple of them on her myself. "My condolences, Piper. Let me comfort you with this strap-on cock."

"You okay?"

Ari cleared her throat roughly and nodded.

"I just wish I hadn't met her," the mistress said. "It was easy when she was just, you know, a name and some lady in pictures."

Kent said, "Don't think of her as a person, Tammy. Just remember she's a bitch who deserves every damn thing that's coming to her."

"He sure likes that word," Dale muttered.

"Maybe it's why Piper chose us. I think it would be kind of poetic to have Bitches Investigations take him down."

Ari nodded. The talking had stopped and, when Tammy moaned quietly, Ari had a sinking feeling of what was coming next. No pun intended. She shifted awkwardly in her seat and glanced at Dale, who was already blushing.

"We probably don't have to listen to this..."

Ari's voice was low and husky. "We'll have to listen eventually, to tell Piper what's on the tape. Either that or we give it to her without any warning and let her listen to her husband fuck another woman."

Dale dropped her hand away from the controls and made a face. "I hate this job sometimes."

Ari just nodded and forced down the lump in her throat. She told herself that the man was a reprehensible prick, and the woman currently cooing in her ear was a willing conspirator in the breakup of this marriage. Her brain didn't hear any of it. All it heard were the sounds of clothes being removed, whispered affirmations of how beautiful that was, or how big this was. It was like eavesdropping on a porn movie.

"Ari, what I said... I mean, you don't have to listen to this. I can summarize. In your condition--"

"I'm fine." Ari didn't unclench her jaw as she spoke, growling through closed teeth.

"Look at your hand."

Ari looked down. Her hand was clenching her thigh hard enough to hurt, but she hadn't noticed it. She forced herself to let go with a sigh, but that returned her focus to the throb between her legs. She pressed her back against the seat and closed her eyes, trying to think of non-erotic things. Like baseball, women playing baseball, dirty faces wiping the dirt off the asses of their tight white pants, tilting their heads back to pour icy cold water--

"Shit, shit, shit."

"Ari." Dale's voice was steady, calm. "If you insist on listening to this, then just do it. I've seen you naked, I've given you a bath. Just do it. Take the edge off."

Ari shook her head. "I'm not gonna..."

"Jill off?"

Ari couldn't help but smile. "Never heard that one before."

"Just do it. It's obviously killing you. Just, just try to be quick."

Something in Ari's lust-ridden, heat-fueled brain snapped, and she said, "Do it with me."

Dale laughed. "No, I think I'll just sit over here and--"

"Dale. Please."

They stared at each other, the tension rising between them as the moans, groans and grunts filled the car. The windows had started to fog up at some point. Ari licked her lips, and Dale's eyes dipped toward her mouth before darting back up to her eyes.

"You're in heat. You're not thinking clearly."

Ari lifted her shoulder in a non-committal shrug.

Dale stared out the front window, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Ari's breathing was shallow, her eyes locked on Dale like a predator waiting for its prey to make a move. Finally, Dale turned and looked at her again. "You know, the first time I ever saw you, you were naked in my bed." Ari smiled. "This is really the next logical step for our friendship."

Ari unbuttoned her jeans and slumped in the seat. Dale started to mimic her, but then tugged out the earpiece. "But I'll be damned if I do it while listening to this fat load huffing and puffing."

"Right. The only one huffing and puffing should be the big bad wolf."

"Oh, you're bad all right." Dale turned in the driver's seat, her back against the door with her foot up in the seat. She opened her pants and glanced over her shoulder out the window. "Let's hope they don't have a neighborhood watch in this place." Dale licked her fingers, lifted the waistband of her underwear with the thumb of her left hand, and reached between her legs. Ari watched her with eyes half-lidded from desire, her face flush as she stroked herself.

She was reminded of other dead-end streets and fogged windows. The first girl she'd ever seen naked lowering Ari to the seat and whispering, "It's all right. Let me do this." And then kissing, and fingers where only Ari had touched, and everything really was all right. She wondered what Dale was thinking about. Her? Was she a participant in Dale's fantasies?

Ari knew that time was of the essence. They couldn't just sit and masturbate in a car all night. Even if there wasn't a neighborhood watch, they would get caught before too much time passed. And if a cop decided to see what the little recorder between their seats was, it could cause all kinds of problems. But right now, Ari wanted to draw it out as long as possible. She'd thought about Dale before as a potential girlfriend, but it seemed to muddy the waters. This felt safe, like they weren't really crossing the line between friends and being more.

Their breathing was the only sound in the car, save for the tinny voices coming through their discarded earpieces. Dale leaned her head against the drivers' side window and Ari pictured her in a bed, surrounded by wrinkled sheets, her mussed hair spread out over a pillow. She imagined unbuttoning Dale's blouse, bending down to kiss her upper chest as she finished undressing her friend. Her coworker, her partner, her...

Dale started breathing heavier, arching her back so that her shirt pulled tight across her breasts. Her lips were parted just enough that Ari could see her teeth, and Ari moved her hand faster. She lifted her knees, hunched forward, and imprisoned her hand between her thighs as she came with a desperate cry. Dale slumped a moment later, keeping her hand between her legs while she covered the bulge in her jeans with her other hand.

They were silent for a long time, getting their breathing back under control. Dale cracked the window to let some fresh air into the car and twisted so that she was facing forward again.

"That was weird."

"Yeah. But it doesn't have to be awkward."

Dale smiled. "Says you."

"No, it's a fact. We don't act awkward now, and just go about our business. Tomorrow, we act normally and do what we normally do. Eventually, it becomes something that happened with no awkwardness."

"What the hell. I'll give it a shot." She picked up the earpiece and listened for a moment. "Ah, they're down to the pillow talk."

Ari picked up her earpiece as well, and Kent's voice came through mid-sentence. "--ruin her. Just completely leave her by the side of the road. Once we're done with her, she'll have to start turning tricks just to eat." He laughed and Ari heard the sound of flesh slapping flesh. "Just you wait, baby. It'll be a sight to see."

"I should have mauled him."

"Mauling is too good for him."

Ari nodded. They listened to the nauseating pillow talk until Robinson told his mistress she had to leave. "Okay. The receiver in your coat will keep recording for the night. How about we head back to the office and get the tape of what we just heard somewhere safe?"

"Sounds like a plan." She fastened her seatbelt and looked over at Dale. "See? Business as usual. Not awkward at all."

"Your pants are still unbuttoned."

Ari looked down as Dale pulled away from the curb.

#

Three days later, Ari put on her suit again and escorted Piper to the offices of Wiseman Phillips & Associates. Allison Wiseman, one of the partners, agreed to meet with them if they could make their case in fifteen minutes. Ari simply played the recording of Kent Robinson for her, and the lawyer stopped her after only five minutes. "Mrs. Robinson, I will definitely represent you." Piper reluctantly brought up her finances, but Ms. Wiseman held up a hand and stopped her before she could say much. "This asshole's main goal is to ruin you financially so he can move on to his next conquest. Taking him down will be a treat." She opened a ledger. "Our firm takes a certain number of pro bono cases every quarter. I'll make sure your case is one of them. Now, let's talk assets. What can we take from your husband?"

They talked about an acceptable settlement for the next half hour, with Ari excusing herself to get some coffee so they could discuss things privately. When their meeting was done, Piper found Ari in the break room and offered to buy her lunch as a token of her gratitude. Piper was actually smiling as she walked out of the building. She turned her head toward the sun, sighed, and turned to face Ari. "Thank you."

"I didn't do much. I just got the bastard on tape."

"I was backed into a corner. I don't... I couldn't see a way out. And now in just a couple of days, you turned everything around. I might even get to keep the house." She spontaneously hugged Ari, and Ari closed her eyes. The drawer with the sex toys popped into her head, and her body took note of all the lovely curves being pressed against hers. She ignored the maelstrom between her legs and gently extricated herself from the hug. "You're my hero."

"Just a woman with an illegal listening device. Come on, you promised me lunch." She turned and walked beside Piper down the street.

"I do have a little bit of money. If Ms. Wiseman is going to take my divorce pro bono, then I want to give it to you. You've more than earned it. And maybe the next person won't be able to pay you."

Ari nodded. "I appreciate that, Mrs. Robinson. Or... what's your maiden name?"

Piper smiled slowly. "Copeland. I'll be Piper Copeland again."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Copeland."

"I just wish there was more I could do for you."

Ari considered the question and realized there was a bit of information she wanted. "Actually, maybe you could help me."

"Sure. Anything."

#

Tammy Winters moved down the bar and smiled at the customer who had just sat down. "Hey, darlin'. What can I get for you?"

"Something with a lot of alcohol, please. And a tall glass."

Tammy clucked her tongue and made a concerned face like the other bartenders had told her. "Oh, that's too bad. Problems with the boyfriend?"

Ari scoffed. "Yeah, you could say that. But it's my own damn fault for being stupid. And blind." She took a sip of the drink Tammy had poured for her. "I met him when he was married. I figured it wasn't so bad if the marriage was already over, right? I mean, the guy was practically packing his bags with one foot out the door."

"Uh-huh," Tammy said. She was starting to get uncomfortable. "So what happened? He never left the wife after all?"

Ari laughed and shook her head. "Oh, he left her all right. There really was no love left in the marriage. I don't think those two had any like left. So he kicked her to the curb and we were supposed to live happily ever after, right?"

"Right." Tammy looked down the bar to see if anyone else needed her service.

"Right." Ari sighed. "Until he found another me. Version three-point-oh. I didn't marry the guy, but damn. All those fucking years of my life just wasted. You ever been in a situation like that? Just riding along watching him screw over some woman in his life? The whole time ignoring the fact that it could so, so easily happen to you?"

Tammy just smiled.

"God. Look at me. I'm sorry. I've seen way too many movies with people pouring their hearts out to the bartender. You could probably care less."

"It's all right."

Ari slid off the stool. "I'm going to leave you alone anyway. Sorry about unloading on you." She dropped some money on the bar. "Just do me a favor, huh? Learn from my mistake. Seeing how your man ends a relationship is a glimpse into the fucking future. I'll see you later, Tammy."

She blinked. "How'd you know my name?"

"On your nametag, there." Ari pointed. "Anyway. Thanks for the drink."

"Any time. Come again."

Ari waved over her shoulder as she walked out of the bar and into the sunshine. Tammy watched her go and looked down at the money on the table. She could hear Kent's voice as clearly as if he was speaking right next to her. "Don't think of her as a person, Tammy. Just remember she's a bitch who deserves every damn thing that's coming to her."

She rubbed her shoulder just above the collar of her T-shirt and went to refill someone else's drink as her mind raced.

#

Ari took a cold shower, her third that day. She dressed in baggy sweats and went into the kitchen to get something to eat. She hadn't been to the office since her discussion with Tammy Winter. Piper had given her the name of the bar, but Ari had been forced to go three times before Kent Robinson's mistress started her shift. She only hoped that her story had landed. She didn't know Tammy Winter, but no one deserved to be treated the way Piper had been. If she'd saved someone future grief, she considered it a good week.

And now, she was enjoying her splendid isolation locked inside her apartment. No contact with the outside world except for food deliveries. She left the money in an envelope taped to the door and insisted the delivery girl leave the food on the mat. She wasn't going to risk the canidae mind taking over her actions.

She had porn, she had a fine selection of accoutrements, and she would ride out this damn heat cycle until things settled down.

Ari sat on the couch with her feet propped on the edge of the coffee table, watching television. Apparently a lot of cable channels had started showing reruns of old sitcoms, so there were more options than just soap operas and court shows. She was halfway through a marathon of The Office, wondering when the hell Jim and Pam had gotten together, when there was a knock on the door.

"Just leave it on the mat!" She took another bite of her chocolate and the knock came again. "How much do I owe you?"

"I don't have anything to leave on the mat, and I actually owe you a check. From Piper. Open the door, Ariadne."

Ari put down her candy and went to the door. She twisted the locks and opened the door just enough to stick her head out, blocking the gap with her body. "Hey, Dale. What are you doing here?"

"I missed you. It's boring at work." She held up a white plastic bag. "I thought I would keep you company."

"Movies? Are they--"

"PG only. No sex, no romance, no nudity."

Ari stepped back and opened the door wider. "All right, c'mon in. I have... a lot of stuff in the chocolate family. Some leftover Chinese is in the fridge."

"That's okay. I brought Cheetos and other wholly unhealthy snacks. Really, it should be better to eat the bags."

"You're a saint and a goddess, Dale Frye."

They went to the couch and Dale held up two movies for Ari's judgment. She picked one at random and Dale slipped it into the player. She took a bag of chips and tossed them to Ari before she dropped onto the sofa. There was an empty cushion between them, and Ari placed the chips on it so they could share.

"So how much longer are you going to be in heat?"

"A couple of days. I'm over the hump." She snickered. "So to speak. It's almost run its course. It's a lot easier with a friend to watch my back."

Dale smiled. "Next time I'll be better prepared."

"Well, it's been years since it happened last. So it could be another five, six years until it happens again."

"Yeah." Dale looked at her. "I'll be here."

Ari grinned and tapped Dale's shoulder before she focused on the movie.

</lj-cut>

End

Pack Mentality

Chapter One, Lie Down with Dogs

The first time Ari watched Bryn transform, she was captivated by the sight. Bryn's blonde hair seemed to grow and spread until it covered her body, her arms and legs twitching and pulling in on themselves until they were a new shape. They were in the loading dock of an abandoned warehouse, blocked on three sides by the high retaining walls and on the fourth by a long sloping driveway. Ari held Bryn as she became a feline, amazed at how quickly her body compressed into the shape of an animal.

When she was finished, Ari carefully placed Bryn on the platform. She had already undressed down to her underwear, and she quickly shed them to stand completely naked in the moonlight. She smiled at the cat, who she could swear had just started purring louder. "You're kind of a pervert, babe."

Bryn yowled and rested her head on her front paws. Ari closed her eyes and went through the painful process of her own transformation. When it was finished, Bryn jumped down and circled Ari's front legs, rubbing against her to share her scent. Ari felt a surge of revulsion; her canidae mind still rebelled at the idea of spending time with a cat, but Ari was slowly getting over it.

Once they were both in animal form, Bryn hurried off at a run. It should have been easy for Ari to catch up with her, as the wolf had the longer legs, but Bryn was exceptionally fast. She ran low to the ground, her feet a blur as she raced across the empty lot next to the warehouse district. Ari caught up with her and made sure she kept the orange and white blur in her sight at all times.

Usually it was a game of follow the leader that only ended once they got home and became their human selves again. But tonight there was a purpose to their race.

When Bryn reached a fence, she executed a perfect vertical jump that placed her on the top crossbar, giving her just enough room to stand and look over the fence. Ari had to search for a break in the fence where she could scramble through. She lay flat on the dirt and pressed her face to a crack, her snout extending onto the other side of the property.

They were looking at the back of a strip mall. They were separated from it by a wide stretch of dead grass, which had been covered with windblown litter. Ari could smell the sickly sweet, thick, syrup smell of old soda and spoiled fast food and licked her lips, wondering if there were any scraps she could dig through.

Focus. Business.

They had been there for almost ten minutes when Ari spotted movement at the far end of the lot. Two canidae were moving along the back of the building, one slightly behind the other and constantly checking over its shoulder as they advanced. The lead dog had bright red fur with black tips to its tail and ears. The other was a brown boxer, slender for its size and holding its head high. A third dog, mostly white and yellow, was walking along the broken line where concrete met grass. Ari withdrew so that she couldn't be seen as easily.

The two lead dogs went to a fuse box. The red one stood on its hind legs, using its front paws to flip it open. It moved with uncanny intelligence, betraying its nature as it carefully manipulated small buttons with careful movements of its paw. The boxer watched, then turned and trotted back to the back door of one business. It stood up, closed both front paws around the knob, and twisted. The door swung open and the boxer dropped to the ground and slipped inside. The other two joined it a moment later.

Ari whined and looked up at Bryn. She was still sitting on the fence and her head twitched quickly from side to side. Ari pawed at the dirt, eager to do something about what she was watching. The lookout dog returned first, eyeing the street before disappearing back inside. The three dogs came out together, but now all three had bags on their backs. Straps ran around each dog's front legs, holding it in place as they hurried away from the building.

Ari watched them go, frustrated that she couldn't stop them. She heard a quiet thud and turned to see Bryn had jumped off the fence. Ari stood, stretched, and followed her. The high weeds of the field whipped against Ari's legs and body as they ran. Bryn reached the abandoned warehouse first, and she was mid-transformation when Ari arrived.

They transformed together, but Bryn finished first. She put her hand on Ari's back, and Ari could feel her flesh convulsing underneath Bryn's steady hand. Bryn whispered to her, stroked her hair, and Ari collapsed against her once she was completely herself again. Naked and panting, sweaty from their run, Ari eventually pulled away from Bryn and went to the stash of their clothes. She handed Bryn her bag, and they dressed without looking at each other.

"Why'd you stop me? I thought the whole point was stopping them."

"No, the point was showing you what was going on. They cut off the power so there won't be any security cameras or alarms. The locks are all electronic, so once the power goes they can come and go as they please. This is the fifth store they've hit in the past three weeks."

Ari tugged her T-shirt over her head and turned to face Bryn. "How did you know where they would hit tonight?"

"Anonymous tip. Someone on the inside grew a conscience, I guess." Bryn finished buttoning up her blouse and stepped into her jeans. "We don't know how many there are, just that there's more than one group. They're organized. If we take down one group, the others will just get smarter and become harder to catch. We need to take them all down."

Ari smiled. "You need someone on the inside."

"Yeah, ideally." Bryn smiled. "What do you say, pup?"

Ari shrugged. "I'll see what I can dig up. If it looks doable, I'll give it my best shot." She wiped her face with her hand, rubbing her finger under her nose. Sometimes the overactive nose of the canidae remained with her after transforming. It was like having a vacuum in the middle of her face sucking up every stray scent in the vicinity. She snorted and wrinkled her nose as she looked to where she had parked. "So you want to come over? I could use a massage."

"Uh, not tonight. Not to leave you in the lurch or anything, but..."

"No, it's fine." Ari smiled. "Rain check."

"Yeah, definitely." She tucked her shirt into her jeans and put her hands in the middle of her back, twisting at the waist to work out the kinks. "God. Sometimes changing for twenty or thirty minutes just isn't worth the aches. I think I'm going to walk from here."

Ari looked around. "Are you sure? This is a pretty bad neighborhood."

Bryn opened her bag and took out her service revolver. "I may not have the uniform, but I'm still a cop. I'll be fine." She kissed Ari, more on the cheek than the lips, and rested a hand on her hip. "Thanks for looking into this for me, Ari."

"I'm always happy to help the police. Give me a couple of days and I'll have a more definitive answer for you."

"Okay." She hooked the bag around her neck, tucked her revolver into her belt, and walked up the driveway to the street. She waved once more before she started walking.

Ari leaned against the concrete wall and closed her eyes. The scent of the night was starting to fade, an odd sensation. It was like hearing an orchestra and then slowly having the volume turned down until it was only barely audible. She breathed deeply and let it out, and her smelling had returned to normal.

She finally left the loading dock and tossed her bag into the backseat of her Rambler Marlin. She and Bryn had been seeing each other for a few weeks, but she wouldn't call it dating. They had sex, went on runs together in their animal forms, had the occasional meal, but it was far from a relationship. She was starting to wish they had defined it if just so she would know what to call what they were currently going through. Was it a break-up or just a drifting apart?

Whatever it was, she didn't expect to be seeing Bryn Decker much longer. She hated being in the limbo area, where they were still together but both of them knew it wasn't going anywhere. She preferred to be free. But that didn't mean she was comfortable being the one to end things. Bryn most likely felt the same way, which put them in the middle of a standoff. Hopefully doing this favor for her would lead to an amicable separation. "No hard feelings, but maybe it's time we admit this has run its course."

Ari started her car after a few false starts, coaxing the engine into a steady rumble, and then pulled away.

Whatever happened with Bryn, consulting a case with the police could pay very nicely indeed. Dale would be thrilled.

#

Natalie woke Dale with a kiss, sliding her hand underneath Dale's pajama top. Dale smiled as her girlfriend's hand pressed against her stomach, pulling her back until they were spooning. Natalie kissed her neck, and Dale writhed under the assault. "You got away from me," Natalie whispered. "Naughty girl."

"Mm." She shifted and turned her head so they could kiss properly. Natalie stroked Dale's stomach. "I have an early appointment. I need to be in by six-thirty."

Dale looked at the clock. It was still ten minutes to six.

"We could have sex, but we'd have to do it in the shower." She pressed a kiss to Dale's cheek just under her closed eye. "Or we could put a pin in it. Wait until this evening and really take our time."

"I'm a big fan of taking our time."

"Okay." Natalie grinned. She slid her hand down, letting her palm mold to the shape of Dale's hip. "Then you better be well-rested. I'll try not to wake you when I leave."

"Okay." She lifted her head for another kiss, whispered goodbye, and lay back down as Natalie slipped out of her bed. Dale switched her pillow with Natalie's, pressed her face against the pillowcase, and breathed in her girlfriend's scent. She drifted back into sleep with a smile, only vaguely aware of the shower turning on.

She must have drifted into a deeper sleep at some point, because the next thing she was aware of was the phone ringing on her nightstand. She sat up, hair draping her face as she looked toward the clock. She swept it back over her head with one push of her hand, grabbing the phone as she realized it was three minutes past seven. She flipped the phone open and glanced toward the bathroom. The light was off, and Natalie was long gone.

"Hey, this is me."

Ari said, "Hey. Something's weird."

Dale pushed herself up and leaned against the headboard. "Is everything okay? Did you go out last night?"

"Yeah, that's all fine. But I'm at work, and the lights are all off, and the door won't open."

"When was the last time you got to work at seven in the morning?" Dale was smiling despite her tone.

"It's a special circumstance. I managed to get a potential case last night, and I thought I would get a head start on it. But now I'm thinking you're full of it, Dale Frye. You always get in five minutes before I do, you just pretend like you've been there for hours to make me feel lazy."

"How dare you." She kicked away her blankets and one of the toys she and Natalie had used the night before hit the floor with a thud. She kicked it under the bed with her foot. "Give me a couple minutes to shower and dress, and I'll--"

"Don't rush. It can wait until eight o'clock or another reasonable time. I can hang out until then."

"Okay. I won't make you wait too long."

"Dale."

"Mm-hmm."

"Don't you think it's odd that I'm the boss and I don't have a key to my own business?"

"I think it's adorable you think you're in charge."

Ari faked a laugh. "See you soon."

"Yeah, okay." She hung up and took off her pajamas, turning on the shower and hoping the hot water had recovered since Natalie left.

#

Ari spent the time between the call and Dale's arrival gathering visual aids. She bought newspapers with the relevant stories, and went to the internet café at the end of the block to print out the ones she was missing. When she was done, she saw Dale's car parked in front of the office and walked back with the items in hand. The door was unlocked and standing open when she arrived. Dale was at her desk, dressed in a sleeveless pale purple top and drawstring pants. She glanced up from her computer when Ari shut the door.

Dale made a show of looking at the clock. "About time you showed up. I've been waiting here for hours."

"I'll do better next time, boss."

"See that you do. And you have a key, by the way."

Ari frowned. "No, I don't."

"If you don't, it's because you lost it. But I gave you one when we had the locks changed. I watched you put it on your keychain." She closed her laptop and stood up, gesturing to the inner office. "You said something about a case?"

"Yeah. Have a seat and let me spell it out for you." Dale sat on the couch while Ari brought her desk chair closer to the small coffee table. She had already refolded the papers to the pertinent sections. "Five robberies at jewelry and electronic stores, the latest one last night. In every instance, the security cameras and alarms were disabled before the robbery took place. The footage they have before the feeds died is confusing to the regular authorities. But to us..."

Dale had picked up one of the newspapers and was reading. "Dogs. There were stray dogs running around before the feed went out."

Ari nodded. "But the power was cut with such precision, the cops don't believe the dogs could have possibly been trained to do it."

"But we know better."

"Yep. Bryn and I saw them last night."

Dale raised an eyebrow. "They got away?"

"Bryn wanted to let them get away. She thinks they're just part of a bigger organization, and she wants them all. We had to let them go for the greater good." She shrugged. "That was her idea, anyway. Her other idea is letting someone get into the group to get as much information before she brings in the troops."

"Someone, huh?" Dale picked up one of the printouts to read about the first robbery. "That someone happen to be a canidae she's sleeping with?"

"More like one that she used to sleep with," Ari muttered.

Dale's expression softened. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

Ari shrugged. "We're just waiting for the ref to invoke the mercy rule. It's fine. We were never really that serious anyway. This case is kind of like a break-up gift. She gave it to me so she wouldn't feel guilty, I'm going to solve it so I don't feel guilty. Clean break-up."

"Sounds like a good plan. So where do we get started?"

Ari pointed at the map she'd printed out. "These are the locations of the robberies. They all seem to be situated south of downtown. There are a couple of canidae-friendly bars around that area. I'll check them out and see what I can find. I may have to break out some of my seedier outfits so I'll fit in with the criminal element I'm looking for."

Dale looked her over. "What's wrong with what you have on?"

"You're a laugh riot. I'll take care of that tonight. For now, I'll see if the cops will give me any information they didn't put in the papers. Maybe somebody saw something they weren't comfortable putting in an official report."

"Like a dog standing on its hind legs to steal plasma TVs?"

"Something like that. Do you need to leave early for Natalie?"

Dale hesitated. "Well--"

"I'll take that as a yes. Just let me know when you have to go."

"Thanks, Ari."

Ari gathered the newspapers and printouts. "Hey, at least one of us should be getting lucky. I like Natalie. She seems good for you."

Dale grinned. "Yeah. We're having a good time. If you need me for anything, let me know."

Ari saluted and moved her chair back behind her desk while Dale went back into the main office.

#

Ari let Dale go home to Natalie at five, while she went home to change clothes before she started checking out the canidae bars. She let her hair hang loose and put on a low-cut black blouse that accentuated the little cleavage she had and added a leather jacket on top of it. She completed the look with a pair of black motorcycle boots with a y-shaped buckle at the heel. An examination in the mirror revealed that she looked appropriately badass.

The first bar on her list was called the Bull and Terrier, a small basement pub north of the city. There seemed to be a larger population of used cars than people, judging by the amount of dealerships she passed, and she could only speculate about how many of the cars had actually been legally obtained. The bar was advertised with a simple wooden sign that depicted the silhouette of the bar's namesake standing at attention, its snout raised in the air as if catching a scent.

The stairs leading down to the bar were dark, but she could see the fireplug of a man standing casually next to the doorway. His skin was as black as his uniform shirt and jeans, his hands casually stuck into his pockets. He turned his head to watch her as she descended from street level. He had a head shaped like a bullet and Ari guessed English bulldog. As she approached him, she detected a faint smell coming from the wall behind him. There was a small glass enclosure with something inside that was emitting the slightest of scents. As she passed, she flared her nostrils. "Strawberries?"

He dipped his chin and let her pass without harassment. The bar had a heavy wooden door, making her feel like she was slipping into a private basement rather than a business. The bar jutted out from the wall opposite the door in a wide U, surrounded by barstools. Ari saw a few people sitting at tables throughout the room, a few more engaged in conversation at the tables. When she sniffed, she could smell a handful of people in the back room playing pool.

Not everyone in the bar was canidae or even a shifter. The centurion outside was most likely to keep the ratio as dog-friendly as possible.

Ari slid onto a stool and waited patiently until the bartender made his way over. He was slender, but with broad shoulders and a severe underbite. Ari guessed he was an American bulldog from the way he moved. He placed a mug in front of her and raised his eyebrows in question. Ari said, "Red Dog?"

He nodded and placed a bottle on a coaster next to her glass. She thanked him with a two-fingered salute and pushed the glass aside to drink directly from the bottle. She had been hoping to grill him a little about the patrons, but it was clear he wasn't the talkative type. A lot of male canidae were like that, oddly silent when they were in human form. But run into them as dogs, and good luck getting them to stop barking.

She turned around on her stool and scanned the room. Music was playing from the jukebox, but Ari didn't recognize the music or artist. A woman came up to the bar to get another drink and she met Ari's eyes, smiled, and settled on a stool three away from where Ari was sitting. Ari couldn't decide on what she was, so she focused on her human form. Slender shoulders that were shown off by the thin straps of her top, long blonde hair, and tight blue jeans. She had her elbows on the bar, her back bowed so there was a slight gap between her ass and the back of her jeans. Ari took a sip of her beer as the woman glanced over and caught her watching.

"Hi." Ari lifted her bottle in greeting and then nodded toward the door. "Does this place only hire bulldogs?"

The woman laughed. "No, just got lucky, I guess. Waiting for someone?"

Ari smiled. "Am I supposed to say, 'yeah, and you just got here' to that?"

The woman laughed. "Only if you want to see me roll my eyes."

"I'd watch your eyes do any number of things."

"Ooh, that's a new one." She ordered a Rolling Rock when the bartender returned. She subtly moved one stool closer to Ari. "I'm Rebecca."

"Hi, Rebecca. I'm Ari."

"Well. That's certainly a unique name."

Ari shrugged. "I'm a unique lady."

Rebecca laughed, made a noise of consideration, and dragged the side of her index finger down her throat. Ari watched its journey with keen interest, stopping only when it reached the curve of her chest.

"I think you're new here."

"I like to broaden my horizons every now and then."

Rebecca nodded. "Is that why you hang out with cats in empty fields?"

Ari's smile faded and she tried to cover her surprise. "I guess you were the one on point, keeping an eye out?"

"Yeah. Recognize my coat?" She ran her fingers through her blonde hair.

"How'd you recognize me?"

"Your smell, babe. I smelled you out there, but you obviously weren't interested in stopping us. So what were you doing out in that field with a pussy?"

Ari arched an eyebrow. "You know how hard it is for a dog like me to be seen with a cat? I had to go somewhere we wouldn't be seen."

"Was she worth it?"

Ari grinned. "Oh, yeah."

Rebecca laughed and took a swig of her beer.

"If I'm a cop, you just implicated yourself in a robbery."

"Am I gonna have to check you for a wire?"

Ari whistled. "God, I hope so."

"If you were a cop, you wouldn't have just sat there last night. Besides, you're much too relaxed for a cop." Rebecca turned to face her, leaving one elbow on the bar and lacing her fingers together. "So you stumble across us last night and turn up at my bar the next day. Something tells me you want in."

"Money is money." Ari shrugged. "You guys seem to have your shit together. I read the paper today and the cops are completely stumped. If you ever need an extra set of paws, I could always use the cash."

Rebecca shrugged and looked toward the jukebox. The song had ended, and there was a drawn-out silence before the next song began.

"So do I have to beg?" Ari said. "I could really use some extra money."

"Who can't, these days?" Rebecca picked up her bottle and slid off the stool. "Come back in a couple of days. I'll talk to the others and see what they have to say. But you're really hot. That's a bonus. So I'll see you Thursday. And leave the pussy at home. Just us dogs down here, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ari said.

Rebecca walked away, moving her hips in a manner that suggested she knew Ari was watching. Ari appreciated the show, holding her bottle against her bottom lip and waiting until Rebecca was out of sight before she took a drink. She turned back to the bar and smiled. The bartender glanced over and gestured at her bottle. Ari nodded and finished off the beer she had before he brought her a replacement.

She deserved a drink; step one of her job was already done. Now all she had to do was pass the hazing and she'd be in like Flynn. All her jobs should be so easy. She spotted a cigarette machine in the corridor leading to the bathrooms and made her way over. She bought a pack and carried it outside, passing the Hulk at the door and climbing the stairs to the sunshine. She didn't smoke, but it was a reasonable enough excuse to get out of the bar long enough to make a phone call.

Ari leaned against the wall outside of the bouncer's earshot and dialed Dale's number. It rang four times, and Ari winced harder with each buzz. Finally, there was a click that she thought would be the call switching over to voicemail.

"Why, Ari. I should have known that an early day was too good to be true."

"Be honest. How poorly timed is this call?"

Dale sighed. "Well, Natalie hasn't even arrived yet, so it's kind of a grey area. What do you need?"

"Things are moving faster than I thought. I need to follow someone, but she's a canidae. She caught my scent from across a parking lot last night, and today she recognized it in a bar full of others like us. So I think she would pick up on it if I tried to follow her myself. I just need to know where she's going and if she meets up with anyone." Dale didn't answer right away. "I know where I can find her, so it's not crucial that it happen tonight. If you need to say no--"

"No, it's fine. I'll call Natalie and cancel."

"I'm sorry, Dale. I really am."

Dale chuckled. "I know, Ari. That's why I'm doing it. You didn't make it an order, and you feel bad about making me do it. That might be screwed-up logic, but it tipped things in your favor. Just don't play that card too often."

"I'll try to hold it back. Text me when you get here and I'll give you a description of the lady you're trailing. There's no rush; she's still hanging out down in the bar so I think it'll be a while before she leaves."

Dale said, "Right, but the sooner I get there, the less chance she leaves before I can start tailing. I'll be there in half an hour."

"Thank you. Hopefully it won't take all night and you can still salvage your date with Natalie."

"One can hope. I'm at a bar called the Bull and Terrier." She gave directions. "I'll see you soon."

Ari hung up and slipped the phone back into her pocket, casually tapping her unopened pack of cigarettes against her thigh. As she started down the stairs, she realized the bouncer wouldn't be able to smell smoke on her. She held up the package for him to see and smiled. "Fighting the urge. Three days without a cigarette and I'm about to lose my goddamn mind."

He managed a smile. "Longest I've gone is four hours, and I was asleep."

Ari tossed him the pack. "Be my guest. Save me from myself, man."

"Much obliged."

Ari brushed past him and went back into the bar. It was almost a shame that she was there under false pretenses; it seemed like a fun place to hang out. She got the bartender's attention and ordered another drink.

#

Dale was waiting by the door and opened it just after Natalie finished knocking. "Hey..."

"Ah, let me guess. Change of plans?"

She smiled apologetically. "Am I that bad?"

Natalie shrugged. "Your expression kind of gave you away. I take it there's big private investigator business going on and your boss needs you."

"Yeah. It should maybe only take an hour or two. It really depends on how long a certain woman takes in a certain bar."

Natalie stepped back to let Dale out of the apartment, and they started walking to the elevator. "Your boss really needs to get help."

"She has help. Me."

"No, I mean... professional help."

Dale rolled her eyes. "She's not the woman in the bar. And Ari isn't a drunk."

Natalie smiled. "She just calls you in the middle of the night to drive her home, and often forgets where she is or what she's been doing."

"I won't say that our business relationship is normal. But we've been through a lot together. We trust each other." They stepped into the elevator together. When the doors closed, Dale took both of Natalie's hands and turned her so they were facing each other. "Listen, go back upstairs and wait for me in my apartment. If I'm late, go to sleep. I promise I'll be home before midnight to give you a very special awakening." She leaned in and kissed her until Natalie started to respond. "Okay?"

"Can I order in?"

"Menus are on the fridge. I circled my favorites, so you can get me something too. I'll try to be back before dinnertime."

Natalie kissed her again as the doors opened. "You're lucky you're worth the aggravation, Dale Frye."

"Good to know. I'll see you soon."

"You'd better."

Dale reluctantly left the elevator and waved goodbye as the doors closed on her girlfriend. Dale exhaled and blew her bangs out of her face before she turned and walked out of the building. "I really should have been a banker. They have reasonable hours, right? Nights and weekends free. Wonder what that would be like..."

The Bull and Terrier tavern was in Lake City, and Dale managed to use the few existing street signs and an auto club map to figure out exactly where the pub was. She saw the building, which had probably once been classy but long ago fell to seed, and parked down the street from the subterranean entrance. She texted Ari that she had arrived and, a few minutes later, Ari came up and hurried across the street. She slid into the passenger seat and held out a fifty dollar bill.

"What's that?"

"Dinner for you and Natalie. That's also a call blocker. No calls from Ariadne Willow on a night of your choosing."

Dale folded the money and stuck it into her pocket. "You're smooth, Ari."

"I try to make up for my shortcomings however I can." She looked back toward the bar. "The woman you're following is named Rebecca. About my height, long blonde hair, black tank top and blue jeans. I'll try to text you if I see her leaving, but keep your eyes peeled. There might be a back entrance I don't know about. Keep your distance. If you lose her, I can always just see what happens when I come back on Thursday."

"You already have a meeting with the gang?"

Ari held her hands out palm-up. "What can I say, I'm a convincing lowlife."

"You got that right."

Ari slugged Dale in the shoulder. "All right. I'll head back down. If she doesn't show by eight, consider that the end of your obligation. Slide down the brontosaurus tail and head on home to your girl."

"Yabba dabba do."

Dale reached into the backseat after Ari was gone and pulled her laptop case into the front seat. She plugged in her wi-fi connection and searched the internet for any information on the robberies Ari was investigating. The shops that had been robbed were all middle of the road in terms of quality. They weren't the best establishments, but they were cheap and you got quality goods. Dale had earlier made a map of the robberies and kept it minimized on her screen so she could check it against the Bull and Terrier's location.

The robberies were getting farther away from Lake City, spreading toward downtown Seattle. The jobs that got Officer Decker's attention were most likely just rehearsals for a bigger score. If Ari could find out what it was, the police might be very grateful for their assistance. That could lead to all kinds of good things for the agency.

Her phone buzzed and she put her computer aside before she even read the message. It was from Ari, as expected, and it simply said, "Get ready."

Dale started the car and pulled farther away from the bar. As she pulled to a different spot near the corner, she checked the stairs in her rearview. A few seconds later a blonde head appeared, followed by a long and lithe body. Dale scoffed and shook her head. "No, Natalie, no reason to worry. I just need to put off our date so I can stalk a supermodel."

Rebecca walked to a Jeep and climbed behind the wheel. Dale was already driving by the time her target pulled away from the curb. She led Rebecca for three blocks, making a note of where she turned and taking the next turn in the same direction. The Jeep was yellow and easy to spot on side streets, and Dale was able to keep it in sight while staying relatively out of sight. When the Jeep seemingly vanished, Dale crossed over and spotted it in the parking lot of a grocery store.

Dale parked in a lot where she could see the car and sent a text back to Ari. "Eyes on the prize. I'll keep you updated."

A few seconds later she received a reply. "You're a rock star, D."

She tucked the phone under her thigh and used the mirrors to watch the other parking lot. Her phone rang again and she flipped it open, expecting another update from Ari. Instead, the display screen said it was from Natalie. "Please don't tell me you're going home, please don't be angry." She opened the phone and read the text.

"Your sheets feel good against my skin."

Dale whimpered and sent back a reply. "You're killing me."

Forty-five seconds later, Natalie sent. "Wanna get kinky?"

"I wouldn't be able to enjoy it."

Dale kept her eyes on the parking lot between texts, deciding this was an acceptable way to kill time until Rebecca showed up again.

"But I would," Rebecca eventually sent.

"Don't tire yourself out before I get there."

"Just getting everything warmed up."

Dale bit her bottom lip. "Nice mental picture."

"Serious: am I disturbing you from work?"

Dale sighed and shook her head. She might actually fall in love with this woman with very little effort. "I'll let you know when I have to go. What are you wearing?"

"I can't believe I just actually typed that," she said out loud, resting her phone on her thigh as she eagerly waited for a response. She felt like a teenager again, waiting by her telephone for a reply to the note she'd slipped into Nicole Benuzzi's locker. I like you. If you like me too, call, but if you don't, please don't say anything.

She still remembered how much she had been shaking when her phone actually rang, and the tremor in Nicole's voice when she said, "You... like me?"

Dale's phone vibrated and she flipped it open. "Just one of your shirts."

She groaned. "Which one?"

"That you'll have to see for yourself."

Dale hoped it was the pale purple T-shirt that clung to Natalie's body like a second skin. The wait had just become that much longer. Dale was about to send a reply when she saw the reverse lights of the Jeep glowing red. "Sorry, babe. Work beckons. Keep the home fires burning." She put the phone on her console, forcing herself to ignore it as she pulled out of the parking lot. Rebecca passed in front of her and Dale pulled out and followed her down the street. At a stop sign, Rebecca turned right and Dale continued straight.

It wasn't difficult to tail someone from side streets, but it increased the possibility of losing track of her target. Fortunately she was able to track Rebecca fairly easy. She dropped back when she reached a dead end, turning east before resuming her northward journey. Rebecca had turned down another street and Dale risked following directly behind her briefly.

The Jeep finally parked in front of a two story house with a glassed-in sunroom in place of a front porch. The yard was barricaded by a chain-link fence overgrown with decorative ivy. Dale didn't slow as she passed, turning a corner and parking out of sight in front of an empty house. She walked back to the corner on foot and saw Rebecca had already gone through the fence. She opened the sunroom door and disappeared into the house.

Dale made a note of the address and went back to where she had parked. She sent Ari the address in a text. She added a "Now what?" at the end to indicate her willingness to continue the surveillance if necessary. Ari sent back a reply immediately.

"Thank you! GO HOME."

Dale sent back a quick, "Ur the best boss" before she drove away. It was still early. Maybe she could finish what Natalie had started before they had dinner. It was a struggle to obey traffic laws on her way back home.

#

Ari spent the rest of the evening at the Bull and Terrier, nursing drinks starting with her third refill. She wandered into the back room and played a game of pool with a Japanese ringer who completely ran the table. Ari thanked her for the game and paid the twenty bucks she had bet on the game before she went back out into the main bar. Framed photos hung in an alcove near the front door and she pretended to casually scan the faces.

She spotted Rebecca in a handful of pictures. Usually she was alone, but in one she had her arm around a redhead who didn't look happy about being photographed. Rebecca was kissing the reluctant redhead's cheek with her eyes turned so she could look into the lens. Through the window beside the door, she saw that the bouncer was smoking, so she stepped outside. "Hey. You mind if I just stand around and inhale?"

He smiled. "Knock yourself out."

She hated the smell of smoke, but this was the character she had created. Besides, it could lead to more information. She leaned against the wall opposite the door so she wouldn't impede traffic coming in and out of the bar. "So, uh, the tall blonde who was in there a while ago. She seems to be a regular?"

"Beck Collier? Yeah, she's here a lot."

"You know if she's single? Or, you know, interested in women?"

The bouncer laughed. "I think a straight girl would make an exception for someone who looked like you." He took a drag off his cigarette. "But you're in luck, because I've only seen Beck with ladies. I think she's got someone right now, but don't let that get you down. Her relationships never seem to last very long. She likes to play the field."

"Yeah, I know how that is." She pushed away from the wall. "Thanks for letting me get a fix, and for the info on Beck."

"No problem. Hey, you got a name?"

"Ari."

He held out a hand. "I'm Milhous."

Ari laughed and then waved a hand in front of her face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have laughed. It's a good name."

"S'okay. At least these days it makes more people think of that cartoon instead of the President. I can smell a lot of alcohol on you. Planning to drive?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. I'm not impaired if--"

He was already shaking his head. "Can't do it. I can call you a cab, or you can walk. There're changing rooms in the back if you'd like to do it on all fours."

The thought of clearing her head with fresh air and exercise was appealing. "Changing room?"

"I'll show you." He led her inside, through the bar and past the bathrooms. There were men and women's changing rooms, as promised. Wooden partitions painted green created three stalls with the doors standing open. Milhous pushed open one of the stall doors and pointed to a bag hanging on the wall. "We like you to bring the bags back if you carry your clothes home in 'em."

"How do I put it on if I'm--"

"Set it against the wall, squat, and lean back. Slide your legs through the straps. There's a nylon strap here that tightens it so it can sit on your back without too much jostling."

Just like the bags I saw Beck and her friends using last night, Ari thought. Interesting. She hoped the bar wasn't involved in the robberies; she would hate to take Milhous down. "Wow, you guys thought of everything."

"Just trying to keep our clientele safe. Hope to see you around here again sometime. And not just for the cigs."

Ari grinned and he left her alone in the room. Once he was gone, Ari noticed there was a doggy door that would allow her out once she had changed. They really had thought of everything. She went into a stall and undressed, wishing she could say it was the first time she'd been naked in the back of a bar. She folded her clothes and placed them in the bag and then sat on the half-moon bench.

In a pinch, she could transform in under twenty seconds, but the muscle and bone strain resulted in an ache that didn't go away for days. For a far less stressful switch, she stretched it out to ninety seconds at least. She closed her eyes and felt the change starting. Her hands twitched on her thighs and she braced herself. She pressed her back to the wall, feet flat on the floor, nostrils flaring as her skull broke down the middle and she stifled a cry of pain and hunched forward in the fetal position to clutch her stomach.

Two minutes later, Ari was crouched on the floor. She examined the bag and did what Milhous had suggested. She turned her back to the bag, worked her forepaws around so they could slip through the straps, and then leaned forward. She found the nylon strap, bit down on it, and pulled until the bag felt comfortable on her spine.

Ari left the changing room through the doggy door and trotted through the bar. The bartender watched her go without comment, and Milhous was waiting at the door to let her out. He smelled of cigarettes and sweat, but it wasn't a bad smell. He smelled like a good man. He knelt down as she approached and rubbed her head. "I knew you'd be a gorgeous bitch. Stay out of trouble out there, okay?"

Ari barked in response. She knew Milhous was watching her as she went up the stairs to the street. The bag swayed a little on her back, rolling to one side of her spine or the other, but a tug on the strap secured it a little better before she continued on. The sun had gone down and the street was mostly deserted. She figured her apartment was about seven miles away from the bar. Not the longest she had ever walked in a night, but enough to make her feel a little reluctant to begin the journey.

Finally she crossed the street and started home.

#

In the morning, Dale drove Ari back to the Bull and Terrier to retrieve her car. When she got back to town, Ari called Bryn and set up a business lunch at a nearby hotel restaurant. They dealt with the pleasantries first, sharing a lovely meal while Bryn explained the inner politics of the police department. When they had the conversation out of the way, Ari laid out what she and Dale had managed to find out the day before.

Bryn agreed to run down the name Rebecca Collier and the address Dale had found to see what she could find out. She warned Ari to be careful when she met up with Beck again, but that was as personal as the conversation got. When the meal ended and they parted without either of them suggesting they take the meeting upstairs, Ari knew it was over between them. She didn't feel depressed, just a little sad that it had run its course so quickly.

When she got back to the office, she asked Dale what time Natalie got off work and promised to let her go a half hour before that so they could spend the entire evening together to make amends for the night before. Dale promised to put Ari's fifty bucks to good use and named one of the fancier restaurants in the city. Ari wished her a great night and told her she could come in late in the morning, which made Dale blush.

After Dale left, the office felt utterly still and abandoned. Ari spent the rest of the evening on the couch in her office. The seven mile trek home from the Bull and Terrier had been exhausting, and she'd fallen asleep immediately after she hit her bed. She'd woken stiff and sore, and a long hot shower had only partially relieved the various aches and pains. Since Dale started sleeping with Natalie, her post-transformation massages had dropped to none, and she was starting to feel the stress of not getting at least a little relief.

She knew there was a massage parlor not far from the office, but there was no middle ground. A legitimate parlor wouldn't give her everything she needed, and an adult parlor was too much. She didn't want or need to be fingered by a stranger; she just wanted to get a deep tissue massage to ease the pain of becoming the wolf.

Maybe Milhous knew of a place that catered to canidae. She supposed it was worth checking out. She was about to go home without making any significant progress on the case all day when Bryn called her with the bad news.

Another jewelry store had been robbed, bringing the total up to six. When the location was plugged into the map, it was a half mile closer to downtown than the other robberies. Dale's map had been right; they were perfecting their scheme in Lake City in preparation for a much bigger score. Ari just had to hope she had time to gain their trust so she could stop it before it happened.

#

The next day was Thursday, and Ari returned to the Bull and Terrier when it opened at five. Milhous was back on duty and he smiled when he saw her. She held up the bag to show she had returned it. "It's a good way to make sure you get repeat customers."

"Boss thinks it's a better way to get bags stolen. But most people seem to be honest about it. If you're a regular, you can buy a bag of your own for eighteen bucks."

Ari shrugged. "I'll consider it." She sniffed when she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Licorice."

"You don't have to do that when I know you. But you're right." Ari started to pass him, but he touched her elbow to make her stop. "Hey, you know that thing you brought up the other day about Beck Collier? Turns out she is seeing someone. Sorry."

"Eh, can't win 'em all. Thanks, Milhous."

He nodded and let go of her arm. She went into the bar to see the same bartender as the other day was behind the bar. He nodded in greeting and, by the time she had sat down, she had a bottle of Red Dog in front of her. "Thanks." She couldn't take not knowing any longer. "Listen, I'm sorry if this is rude, but do you ever speak?"

"Gus is more canidae than man." Ari turned toward the voice and smiled to see Beck standing behind her. She was wearing a white dress shirt that was slightly too big for her frame and a black skirt. "When he's not here, he's a bulldog ninety percent of the time. He prefers that form." Gus nodded in agreement and went to deal with another customer. She smiled and sat on the stool right next to Ari's. "You came back."

"You told me to. I always follow the orders of beautiful women."

"Mm. Noted." Beck motioned to Gus and he brought over her drink. "So I talked it over with the others. We could always use an extra set of eyes, someone to carry the load. You'll have to pass a bit of a hazing, of course."

Ari shrugged. "I figured. You don't know who I am, so you have to feel comfortable before you take me along. I'm game."

Beck tapped the bar with two fingers. "All right, then. Come on."

"What? Now?"

"No time like the present. The girls are waiting."

Ari paid for both her drink and Beck's before following her outside. As they passed Milhous, he raised an eyebrow. Ari shrugged and flipped up the collar of her jacket. Milhous chuckled quietly and shook his head as the ladies left. "Hope you didn't have any plans tonight."

"Nothing that can't be put off."

"Excellent. You can follow me in your own car."

Ari got into her car while Beck got into the yellow Jeep Dale had described earlier. They drove through the streets of town until they arrived at the address Ari had written on a pad back at the office. She parked behind Beck's Jeep at the curb in front of the house and looked up and down the street, wondering where Dale had parked two days earlier.

Beck led her up the front walk, and Ari took the opportunity to scan the yard for escape routes. It was a habit she'd picked up in her teens, and it hadn't failed her so far. The door to the sunroom was open and Beck went straight in. Potted flowers lined the inside of the glass, and there were even more hanging from the sloped glass ceiling. Beck led her to the inner door where Ari could hear music playing.

"Ladies, I got our new recruit here."

The door led into a very yellow kitchen. She'd heard of houses that smelled like dog, but to a canidae it was a much different comment. Walking into a house with three distinct dog smells was like a normal person walking into a room that smelled like baking cookies or brewing coffee. Ari breathed deeply and wished she was in wolf form so she could fully appreciate the varied odors.

A brunette in a sleeveless top and overalls was standing at the center island making a sandwich. She turned at Beck's greeting, putting down her butter knife as she sized Ari up. The woman's arms were lined with ropey muscles, and her shoulders were broad and thick. Her hair was brown and shoulder-length, tied back into a short braid. Ari assumed she was the boxer she'd seen the other night and made a point to stay on her good side for as long as possible.

"Ariadne, this is Pen Hurst."

Ari extended her hand. "Pen?"

"Short for Penelope. It doesn't really fit me, does it?"

Ari smiled. "Not as well as Pen does, no. Nice to meet you."

A wide arched doorway led into the living room, and movement from there caught Ari's eye. A slender, petite redhead had appeared during the introduction. Despite her small stature, she definitely had a commanding presence in the room. Her hair was cut close to her head and feathered bangs stretched down toward her arched eyebrows. Her eyes were shaded dark, but the irises were bright blue. Her skin was just a touch too pale, but it only served to highlight the color in her hair and eyes. She wore a black tank top tucked into a pair of tight blue jeans. Ari recognized her as the reluctant subject of the photo in the bar.

"Well, when you found a new recruit in the bar, I knew she'd be pretty. Didn't expect gorgeous, though."

Beck seemed awkward for the first time since Ari met her. She stood a little straighter and spoke a little clearer. "Ariadne, this is Sadie Dillon."

"Hi. Is that short for anything?" Ari asked.

"Sadistic."

Ari raised an eyebrow and held out her hand. "Good to know. You can call me Ari."

Sadie ignored her hand. "I don't know if I'm going to be calling you anything right now. You're a wolf, yes?"

"Good eye. I'd guess that you're a fox, but that sounds like a lame pick-up line."

Sadie ignored the joke. "So what do you have to bring to this little game of ours?"

Ari smiled. "The knowledge that I'm a Dixie cup."

Beck and Pen exchanged glances, and Sadie furrowed her brow slightly. "Pardon?"

"You know when you're at a picnic or something, you get one of those little paper or plastic cups for your drink. At the end of the night you just throw it away. That's me. I'm disposable." She shrugged. "You guys have a pretty good thing going on here. There's no reason for you to invite me in unless you want a fall gal. If anything goes wrong, you leave me behind so the cops will focus on me and give you time to disappear into the night.

"I'm willing to play that role for now. Until you guys get to know me and get to know what I can do, I'd be happy to be low man on the totem pole. But once you've seen what I'm capable of, I want an upgrade. I left home really young and lived on the streets. I didn't steal for fun, I stole to survive. I'm good at it because getting caught meant going to a very bad place for a very long time. All I'm asking for is that trial period, during which I'll be your Dixie cup. If you decide I don't fit in, then we'll say our goodbyes and go our separate ways."

Sadie stared at her for a long time and then snorted a laugh. "What do you know, Beck might actually have found a good one this time." She crossed the kitchen and stared up into Ari's eyes. Ari had a good five inches on Sadie, but somehow Ari felt inferior to her under that stare. "All right, Ariadne. We'll give you the trial period. But we've gone this long without the cops getting on to us. If they suddenly show up now, we'll know who talked. And we'll leave the Dixie cup behind like you said, but some people don't just throw away the Dixie cups when they're done. They crunch them up."

Ari refused to show any fear. She met Sadie's gaze without blinking, and Sadie finally let a smile play at the corners of her lips. She held out her hand. "Welcome to the pack, Ariadne."

"Happy to be here." She looked at Beck and Pen, who had been breathlessly watching the confrontation. "When do we get to do some damage?"

"After dinner. Come on, we all lend a hand."

When Sadie turned to walk away Ari saw the butt of a gun tucked into the back of her belt. She suddenly realized just how high the stakes of her 'job interview' had been, and was glad she'd apparently passed the test.

Chapter Two, Three Dog Night

"I wish you'd just tell me where we're going."

Natalie chuckled and slid her arm tighter around Dale's. "If I knew, I would. Don't worry, I'm sure we won't have to go too far."

She didn't sound too sure about herself, but Dale was willing to give her a little leeway. Besides, the mystery was fun. After dinner they had stopped at her car long enough to change out of her heels and put on her emergency sneakers for the walk Natalie insisted they take. Natalie had worn flats, obviously planning ahead, so she was comfortable with however long the journey took. And to be honest, Dale could think of a great many worse ways to spend an evening. Dale was still feeling heavy from their meal so, if anything, the walk would help her burn off some unnecessary calories.

The sun was gone, but the sky was painting the sky in various shades of watercolor. The buildings around them were starting to light up like Christmas, fighting back the darkness and obscuring the stars before they even had a chance to start shining. At every street corner, Natalie would pull away from Dale and look to the north before continuing on.

When they were half a mile from the restaurant, Dale was about ready to call whatever journey Natalie was on a bust and plead to go back to the car. But Natalie suddenly made a victorious sound and pumped her fist. "I knew it wouldn't take too long."

Dale followed her line of sight and spotted the Space Needle in the distance between the buildings. It was lit up for the night, shining like something from a futuristic television program. Natalie guided Dale until her back was against the brick wall of a building, slipped her arms around Dale's waist, and pressed their foreheads together.

"I love those old romantic movies, black and white fantasies that never happen in the real world. And ever since I moved here, I thought about my perfect black and white moment. I decided it would be me and another woman, standing on a street corner in our very beautiful dresses, kissing with the Space Needle all shining and glorious in the background. And she would kiss me, because that would be the first time I ever said I loved her."

Dale's eyes widened slightly.

"I love you, Dale."

Dale kissed her. Natalie slid her hands up Dale's back, past the edge of her dress to touch her bare shoulders. Dale closed her eyes and clung to Natalie, leaning into the kiss. When they finally separated, Dale brushed her cheek against Natalie's. "Definitely worth the walk." She slid her hands up to tease the hair at the back of Natalie's head. "I love you, too."

"Good." She kissed Dale's cheek. "Glad to have that out of the way. I've been biting my lip the past couple of times we've been in bed."

"Why?"

"I don't like saying it at any time it can be... misconstrued. I wanted you to be sure I meant it and it hadn't just slipped out. Can't get more premeditated than this."

Dale laughed and spread her fingers over Natalie's cheek, her thumb resting on Natalie's bottom lip. "Nope. Your place tonight?"

"I'd love to. But I have an early appointment tomorrow, so I'd have to wake up by five at the latest. I need my sleep. You're bad for my sleep."

"I know how you feel. Tomorrow night? Do you work Saturday?"

"I don't. Tomorrow definitely." They kissed again and Dale turned her head to look down the street. There were other people around, but most were ignoring the show they were putting on. "You know the downside is that now we have to walk back."

Natalie laughed. "Yeah. I didn't exactly think this through. Who knew you couldn't see the Space Needle from every street in Seattle? Television has jaded us all."

"Next thing you know, people will find out you can't see the Eiffel Tower from every hotel room in Paris." She took Natalie's hand. "Come on. Walk slow. If I'm not going to spend the night with you, I want every minute with you I can get."

"Deal." She put her hand in the small of Dale's back as they started the trek back to where Dale had parked.

#

Ari ate dinner in the kitchen with the three of them, dining on sandwiches and potato chips. Sadie opted to make a salad for herself, sitting on a stool at the counter while the others sat around the table. Beck offered her a beer and Ari thanked her by raising the bottle in a toast before she took a drink. Once Ari had gotten relaxed, the real interrogation began.

"You said you lived on the streets for a while." Sadie's voice was casual, and she was half-turned from the counter so she could eat and join in the conversation at the same time. "How'd you pull yourself up out of 'em?"

Ari had decided to be as truthful as possible with who she was. "Sugar mama. She saw me in a café and decided she liked what she saw. Let me live in her guesthouse and bought me pretty things in exchange for, ah, the pleasure of my company."

Beck grinned. "Not a bad job, if you can get it."

"So you were a whore," Sadie said, just as casually.

Ari's smile faded. "I like sex. A beautiful woman was offering me that, plus a warm place to sleep at night. You want to label it, sure. Whore is as good a name for it as any other."

Beck was staring at Sadie. "We've all done things we're not proud of in the past."

"Who said I wasn't proud of it?" Ari said. Now was the time to start stretching the truth. "The sex was fantastic and she had a great house. I'd go back in a heartbeat if she'd have me."

"Why did she kick you out?"

Ari shrugged. "Got bored with me, I guess. She's got a younger pup on her leash now."

Pen snorted. "Oh. It was one of those. You were lucky."

A silence fell over the room until Beck cleared her throat. "Pen was with a guy for a while who would, ah, punish her if he saw her in human form."

"He wanted her to be in canidae form--"

"Not for sex," Pen said quickly. Her face had gotten darker in the past few seconds. "He wanted a fighting dog. One that could understand strategy and tactics."

Ari leaned back. She'd heard about bastards like that, but she thought it was just an urban legend or something restricted to the deep south. "Damn. How'd you get out of that?"

Pen met Ari's eyes. "I fought him."

"Did he live?"

"I didn't stop long enough to check." A pause. "But I doubt it."

Ari didn't feel anything about the man's death. If Pen was a killer, then surely the murder had been justified. The man used her as a weapon, set her against defenseless animals for the express purpose of watching them die and earning money. The world would be a little lighter without a person like that in it. She picked up her bottle and held it out to Pen.

"Let's hope it took him a long time to pass."

Pen gave a half smile and tapped the neck of her bottle against Ari's.

Sadie slipped off the stool and gave her lips a dainty tap with a napkin. "Come with me, Ariadne. I want to speak with you in private."

"Sure." Ari took another drink of her beer before she stood up, following Sadie into the living room. In the dim twilight glow coming through the curtained windows, Ari could see the vague outlines of furniture and a tall roll-top desk in next to the stairs. Sadie turned on a lamp and gestured for Ari to sit on the couch.

Sadie walked behind her, out of sight, and Ari resisted the urge to twist to watch her. Instead she faced forward and scanned the room. There was no television, but a handful of framed pictures hung on the wall. One of them showed a much-younger Sadie with long, wavy red hair. Like in the photo at the bar, Sadie wasn't smiling in the older picture. Ari forced her focus past the photographs to see the reflection in the glass of the frame. Sadie was leaning against the wall just behind her, arms crossed, staring at the back of her head.

"We're a tight-knit group here. Just because you're in this house right now doesn't mean you're one of us. Do you know what you smell like to me?"

Ari smirked. "I'd love for you to tell me."

"Domestic. Beck and Pen, they're dogs. They should smell like they've lived in a house, pampered and cared for, but you and I? We're wild dogs. A wolf should never smell like people. How many canidae friends do you have?"

"Ah..."

"Right. I smelled you the other night, too. Hanging out with the felidae in the field. I don't care how cute her person form is, that's simply not done."

Ari's smirk had faded. "Sorry, I didn't get the rulebook."

"Tonight we're going to do a trial run. We're going to see if you have the chops to run with us full-time. You're not going to get a full cut at first even if we do decide to keep you around. Ten percent."

"That's a joke, right?"

"It leaves an even thirty percent for the rest of us. Prove yourself and we'll see about raising it a little. But you're definitely the Dixie cup. If something goes wrong, you're cut. If something doesn't smell right, you're left behind." Sadie began to move, circling the long way around the couch. Ari finally turned her head to watch as Sadie stopped right next to her. "So what do you say, Ariadne? Do you hear the call of the wild?" Her lips curled into a cupid's-bow of a smile, and Ari couldn't help returning it.

"Loud and clear."

Sadie held out a hand to help Ari stand. "Then let's get on with it. We've got a long night ahead of us." She walked into the kitchen with Ari trailing behind her. "Okay, ladies. We're a pack of four tonight. Pen, everything all set?"

Pen wiped her hands on a napkin as she stood. "The bags are waiting for us at Kingston Jewelers. I checked out their security this morning. Should be a piece of cake." She looked at Ari. "I only put three bags, though."

"That's okay." Sadie went into a narrow linen closet and withdrew a bag just like the one from Bull and Terrier. She tossed it to Ari. "You can take one with you. Do you know how to get into it?"

"Yeah, Milhous explained it to me the other night."

Sadie nodded. "Beck, you ready?"

"Yep."

To Ari's surprise, the other three women began to undress. Sadie had peeled off her tank top before Ari knew what was happening, reaching back to unhook her bra before Ari cleared her throat. "Uh, there's no... changing room?"

Beck laughed, and Pen raised an eyebrow. Sadie reached out and touched the side of Ari's head like she was petting her, and Ari pulled away from the patronizing petting.

"She's domesticated. Been around too many people." She unhooked her bra and let it fall. "Changing isn't dirty, Ari. A couple of bars use changing rooms because of the nudity involved, but in private and among friends..." She shrugged and unbuckled her belt. "If you'd rather change in the living room, I'm sure none of us would think any less of you."

Beck and Pen were already down to their underwear, and Ari saw Beck was trying to suppress a smile. She had always thought her taboo about nudity was eliminated by constantly ending up naked in public, but to strip down in a kitchen with three women she'd just met was a little beyond the pale. Still, she didn't want to be the butt of their jokes all night, so she began to undress.

Pen began to transform first, with Sadie and Beck following soon after. Ari draped her blouse over the back of a chair and arched her back as the first tremors passed through her body. Her fingers curled into claws and slipped off the back of the chair, and she dropped to all fours as her hind legs - no, just her legs - stretched out behind her and then contracted. She heard Beck moaning, and Sadie's breathing was heavy enough for Ari to hear each harsh exhale, but Pen was remarkably restrained.

When Ari lifted her lupine head, Sadie was staring at her through small eyes. Her snout was long and narrow, her ears flared out on top of her head. She was definitely a fox in more ways than one, and she dipped her chin to Ari in greeting. Ari nodded back and slipped into the bag the way Milhous had shown her. Pen sneezed and shook her entire body, then turned and went to the door.

Beck was a gorgeous shepherd up close, prettier than she'd seemed in the parking lot. Ari pressed her snout to Beck's head just below her ears and Beck playfully danced away from her.

Pen opened the back door the way Ari had seen her manipulate the back door of the jewelry shop earlier in the week. When they trotted out into the sunroom, Sadie used a leather strap hanging from the door to pull it closed. Beck passed Ari and she caught a flash of mental communication from her.

Just follow us.

Ari ruffed in response and the four of them left the sunroom in a single file line, Ari bringing up the rear. They leapt the chain-link fence and crossed the street. Pen and Beck crossed a neighbor's lawn, staying close to the house where the shadows were deeper. When they reached a house with the porch light shining, they all moved at a quick lope so they weren't exposed. Ari and Sadie were more careful than the others; a shepherd and a boxer might get a call to Animal Control, but a wolf and fox in a residential neighborhood often led to gunfire.

Sadie's house wasn't far from the edge of neighborhood, something Ari was sure had been intentional when the house was purchased. A rickety white fence blocked a dead-end street. Ari and Sadie went over it, while Beck went through a hole and Pen found a way around the far end. Once they hit the wide open field, Ari opened up and began to run. Sadie took a moment to catch up and then kept pace with Ari as they crossed the field.

As much as Ari bristled at being labeled domesticated, she couldn't deny there was a certain amount of unique freedom to the moment. She glanced over and saw Sadie's mouth was hanging open, her tongue lolling in what looked like a huge grin. Ari barked happily and put on an extra burst of speed, goading Sadie into a race. Behind her, she heard Pen or Beck barking at them, but she didn't care. The bag bounced against her back as they moved down an incline and followed the valley to the south.

She smelled thousands of things, a parade of aromas. Smells like peanuts, salt, sugar, grease clung to the litter people had carelessly left behind, and Ari had to fight the urge to stop and inspect each and every one. The field had recently been mowed, and the fresh-cut grass scent was like a drug to her. Leaves of grass sliced in half, releasing chemicals into the air, and dirt had been churned and sent bugs and fragrantly wet earth into the atmosphere. Ari wanted to drop and roll in all of it. But she kept her mind on task, as hard as it was.

Pen broke off at one point, causing Ari to slow and watch her run a diagonal path across the field. She started to pursue, but Sadie barked a quick, quiet "wow wow wow" and Ari caught up with her again. Beck moved out to one side, forming a quarter-circle as she came up on Ari's opposite side. Ari greeted her with a bark and Beck howled back at her.

Sadie barked at them when they reached the edge of the grass. Quiet quiet. There was a long, rectangular parking lot that was currently empty of cars. The three dogs formed a triangle with Sadie at point, trotting quickly across the pavement with their ears pricked up to the sound of any pursuers. Ari jerked her head to the side, responding to the sound before her brain even registered it, but she recognized Pen coming out of the woods to join them. There was something wet on her muzzle, and Ari wondered what she had caught. Her stomach growled.

They rarely encountered people until they reached the business district. It was late enough that there weren't a lot of pedestrians, but there were enough to be a hassle. Ari and Sadie were forced to hang back and hide as best they could to avoid being seen. One girl, a college student who'd had too much to drink, spent five minutes coaxing Beck to come to her. Beck resisted until the student's friend dragged her away to the car.

Kingston Jewelers was a small tan building next to an empty soccer field. There were a few lights burning inside the store, most likely so it wouldn't be an appealing target for criminals. They circled around to the back of the building and Sadie opened the fuse box. Ari and Beck went to the front of the building and kept watch. The front of the building was all glass; if someone happened by, they would notice the lights were off and might investigate. Ari doubted anyone would bother arresting a bunch of dogs, but she could do without being dragged to a kennel. Again.

The lights went off, and the store's parking lot was shrouded in darkness. Beck led the way to the back door, where Pen and Sadie were already waiting. Pen went inside first, turning over a trash can and dragging the bin liner out with her teeth. Three bags had been folded and stuffed into the bottom, and they each took one.

Watch. Learn.

There were three main counters in the main room of the store. Sadie, Pen and Beck each took one. Ari watched as they manipulated the locks with muzzles, teeth and claws. The shouldered open the displays and then used their paw to sweep the contents into their bags. It was a good thing the security cameras were disabled; anyone watching would think they'd wandered into a science fiction movie.

Beck barked quietly. She had been unloading from the biggest display case and her bag was full, so Ari went over to help her. They filled Ari's bag together, Ari's conscience twinging at what she was doing. Hopefully she would be able to keep track of where this stuff went so Bryn could eventually return it to the rightful owners. Ari brushed against Beck's side several times, and Beck turned her head to lick Ari's muzzle.

Thanks for the hand, new girl.

Welcome.

Beck hooked a curved claw in the zipper pull, her other forepaw holding the bag steady as she zipped it up again. Ari struggled into her bag, surprised by how light it was. Pen had finished earlier and was standing at the front of her store, her pack already on as she watched out the window. Ari became aware of a low warning growl coming from the boxer and quickly figured out what caused it.

A white patrol car had just pulled into the parking lot.

Sadie barked quietly and headed for the door. Beck and Ari followed her, and Pen lingered behind to make sure everyone got out safely. They left the door standing open and made their escape across the soccer field. They had reached the forest at the far end of the field before the cop had even gotten inside the building to begin his search.

Sadie led the others through the woods, weaving through the underbrush and ducking below low-hanging branches until they arrived at the train tracks cutting through the woods. The trees formed a canopy that the train would pass through, and it provided enough cover that the moonlight barely reached them. Ari was between Sadie and Beck, with Pen once again taking up the rear. Ari occasionally looked back and saw that she was occasionally leaving the tracks to investigate something in the woods, only to return a few minutes later and rejoin their line.

Ari didn't know if they were going back to Sadie's house or not, but she hoped they would stay out for a while. She felt a buzz of excitement just from being out with other canidae. Communicating with them, sharing the same experiences, knowing they were intelligent... it was a relief to her. Maybe Sadie was right and she'd been too domesticated. Dale was really her only friend. She needed to expand her circle. She needed to embrace both sides of her self, not just the human part. She'd been unfair to the wolf, and she could feel its excitement at what she was doing.

Beck moved faster and Ari moved to one side to let her pass. But once they were side by side, Beck looked at her and yipped quietly.

Sadie looked over her shoulder at them, shook her head, and kept walking.

Home? Ari asked.

Park. Play.

She tried to disguise her excitement, but she could hear a glass-like tittering noise in her head that came from Beck. Ari bumped roughly against Beck's side as Sadie stepped off the tracks. She headed down a slope of white stones and led them into the woods. They squirmed out of their packs on Sadie's cue, burying them under some dried leaves and twigs. Once it was covered, Pen and Sadie dropped and rolled in the debris to mark it with their scents before running out of the woods. Beck and Ari gave chase.

The dog park was magnificent. It was mainly a huge rolling park that looked like a lake had been frozen and draped with Astroturf. There were wooden constructs for them to climb, tall grass to run through, and a wide dirt pit where they could dig. Sadie let Beck and Pen run ahead and moved to stand in front of Ari.

The question was clear, and Ari watch Beck and Pen as she mulled over her answer. She had spent her entire life thinking of herself as a person who could sometimes become a wolf. Even when she was with Eva, spending five-sixths of the day in wolf form, she was always a person in her mind. It was high time she accepted her dual nature. She was a wolf. She barked and bumped Sadie's shoulder as she joined the others in the park. A few seconds later, Sadie joined them all in the dirt pit.

#

Dale showered and changed into her comfy clothes, the baggy pajama pants and faded shirt she had yet to allow Natalie to see her in. Of course, now that she'd gotten an 'I love you,' she could wear whatever she wanted. She smiled at the thought as she padded barefoot into the bedroom. Her bed was beckoning, but she didn't want to call it a night just yet. She had a police scanner that she hardly ever used due to its questionable legality, but she'd turned it on before going into the shower. Now there was a broadcast going out for backup at a jewelry store near Lake City.

Dale listened to the dispatcher and the cops long enough to determine it was definitely the same group Ari had just infiltrated. She didn't subscribe to the trappings of religion, but she often found herself saying quiet prayers for Ari nonetheless. She closed her eyes and said, "Stay safe, Ari. Keep your guard up."

She turned off the scanner and the overhead light, leaving the bedroom curtains open so she could see the sky. Her bed felt lonely without Natalie, and she smoothed her hand over the pillow as she thought about their black-and-white movie moment. She smiled and folded the pillow under her head, closing her eyes to dream about other movie moments they could recreate.

#

Ari and Beck spent most of an hour in the area called The Big Dig, digging and then rolling around in the dirt. At one point Ari pounced on Beck, who rolled them both and pinned Ari to the ground. Ari twisted and bit at Beck's ears, but she stayed well out of her reach. By the time they left the pit, they were both covered with dirt and breathing heavily. Sadie and Pen had spent the time running around the perimeter fence, occasionally stopping to climb or play fight. Then, as if some internal alarm had gone off that Ari didn't hear, it was time for them to leave. They went back to the woods where Pen dug up their bags, they slipped back into them, and returned to the train tracks.

Ari hadn't slept in twenty hours, but the adrenaline rush was keeping her abuzz. She wanted to run some more, see if she could make the trek back home again if only to run back to Lake City. Beck stayed by Ari's side, drawing more backward glances from Sadie as they neared home. Ari could smell Beck on her coat, and it was slightly intoxicating. When they reached the house, they leapt the fence again and Ari reluctantly sensed the night was coming to an end.

They dropped their bags in the kitchen, their clothes still lying in piles as if the people that had been in them simply disappeared into thin air. They transformed, the sounds of muffled groans and cries of pain filling the small, dark space. Ari clung to the side of the chair as she stretched her back, wiggled her fingers and toes, and crouched nude in the middle of the kitchen. She lifted her head and saw Beck sitting with her back to the kitchen island, breathing heavily. Her skin was smeared with dirt and mud, and grass had stained her arms and feet green. Beck saw Ari watching her and smiled.

They were both coated with dirt and mud, and Ari had a few scrapes on her palms. They would heal, as minor wounds always did, within a few hours of transformation.

Pen struggled into her blouse and stepped into her overalls. She left the bib down, hanging from her waist, as she stood and arched her back to work out a few remaining kinks. She picked up the backs and slung them all over her shoulder. "I'll get these to Vicki. I'll have that number for you in the morning."

Sadie had stood up, naked and unashamed in the middle of the kitchen. Her eyes locked onto Pen with laser precision. "Penelope. Discretion."

Pen glanced at Ari. "Right. Sorry. See you in the morning."

Sadie tried to smile casually, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Not to leave you out of the loop, Ariadne, but there are some things you don't need to know."

"That's fine." She picked up her blouse, reluctant to put it on while she was still so filthy.

Sadie inferred her reasoning and hooked a thumb over her shoulder. "There's a shower through there. Other side of the stairs. Feel free to take it. Beck, you can take the one upstairs."

How about we conserve water and just share the downstairs one? Ari thought. Beck looked sharply at her as she stood up, and Ari realized that their mental connection was lingering a bit post-transformation. She smiled, embarrassed, but Beck just winked at her and continued out of the room. Ari gathered her clothes and tucked them under her arm. Sadie stepped between Ari and the door after Beck was gone.

"You did well tonight, wolf. There still has to be a discussion about whether or not we bring you in more permanently, but I think that conversation will be very optimistic."

Ari smiled. "Good to know."

Sadie stepped aside to let her pass. "Towels are in the cabinet outside the door. There's a robe hanging on the back of the door that you can use. If you want."

"Thanks."

Ari crossed the dark living room and found the bathroom without trouble. A glowing digital clock on the counter told her that it was nearly midnight, and she wondered where the time had gone. She didn't feel like she'd been the wolf for more than two hours. Of course, considering the distance they had traveled, it had to have been a lot more than that. She turned on the shower and climbed under the spray without waiting for it to get hot. She could hear water rushing in the pipes for Beck's shower, so she didn't hold out hope on there being much hot water left for her.

She scrubbed until the grass stains faded, the dirt swirling around her feet before seeping down the drain. She sniffed her right forearm, closed her eyes, and tried to detect Beck's scent. She hated having to wash it off, but she wasn't willing to walk around dirty just to preserve it. The soap smelled like Sadie, so Ari exchanged wearing one woman's scent for the other. She didn't bother with the shampoo, instead merely wetting her hair and running her fingers through it to--

She clutched her stomach and closed her eyes. Oh, God, I ate something. She didn't remember anything in particular, but there were stretches of time in the dog park that she couldn't remember. It had been all playing and having fun, so minutes had blurred together. And at some point, she must have found something and eaten it. She knelt in the shower as waves of nausea passed over her, then she pushed back the curtain and voided her stomach into the toilet.

Ari kept her eyes closed as she flushed, refusing to open them again until the water was refilling the bowl. She didn't need to see the remnants of what she'd eaten; she'd seen enough of her late-night snacks to know that it was bad. It was a case of the reality being worse than her imagination, so she didn't linger on it.

She shut off the water when her skin was clean and pink, then stepped out of the tub. She spread some toothpaste on her finger and rubbed it against her teeth to clean her breath. She'd left her clothes on the counter and took the opportunity to check her cell phone to see if Dale had called. No call from Dale, but one from Bryn. The time was not long after they'd left the jewelry store, so Ari could assume what the content of the call had been. She deleted the call in case anyone happened to get their hands on her phone and wondered about it.

She put on her underwear but left the rest of her clothes on the counter. The robe Sadie had told her to borrow was blood-red and short enough to show off a fair amount of Ari's thighs. She cinched the belt at her waist and tugged on the lapels until they covered her cleavage. It seemed odd to cover herself up when they'd already been naked in the same room, but it made her feel more human. After the romp she'd just been through, anything that enhanced her humanity was to be embraced.

When Ari left the bathroom, she left the light on because the rest of the house was dark. She hadn't noticed when they first arrived home; her canidae night vision had lingered along with her sense of smell and the telepathy. The silence of the house, combined with the darkness, alerted her to the fact that the shower had helped settle her more completely in the correct form.

She went into the living room, pausing by the roll-top desk. She turned on a lamp and saw a leather-bound book sitting on top of the blotter. She flipped it open, letting it fall naturally to a page, and she saw that Sadie had been writing while she and Beck were cleaning up. The page was topped with the day's date. She had quickly gone over the details of their heist. A postscript near the bottom of the page said "Wolf worked out well. Pending approval from V."

Ari was about to close it when a fragment caught her eye. Sadie had noted the stats of the robbery, from how long it took inside the store to the amount of time they'd spent frolicking in the dog park. Already it felt more like a dream than something Ari had actually done. At the bottom, she'd written: V's Take and Actual Take. Actual Take was filled in with an estimate of approximately six thousand dollars worth of merchandise.

Assuming V was the Vicki Pen had accidentally mentioned, Ari figured she was in charge of the operation. The only reason her take would be different from the actual take would be if Sadie and the others were skimming. She made a mental note about the book and let it fall closed, turning off the lamp and casting herself back into darkness.

"Sadie? Beck?"

"Up here."

Ari glanced toward the stairs. She hesitated for only a moment before she started up. She would just tell them she'd had a great time, which was the truth, and then head home. There was only one open room on the second floor, and a lamp was burning inside. Ari knocked on the doorframe before she stepped inside. It was a bedroom, with a large queen-sized bed in the center of the space. Beck was facedown and naked on the mattress, chin resting on her crossed arms, and Sadie was straddling her waist to massage her shoulders. Sadie was also naked, her pink nipples standing proudly erect on her small breasts.

Beck opened her eyes and smiled sleepily. "Hey, wolfie."

"I, uh... was going to get going."

"Are you sure?" Sadie didn't interrupt the rubdown, nor did she look up. "We have plenty of space here."

Here in the house, or in that bed in particular? She cleared her throat. "Ah..."

"Rebecca tends to get pretty sore after she's spent a few hours as a dog. So we help each other out. How about you, Ari? How are your muscles?"

Tight, achy, sore, twitchy. She hadn't had a good post-transformation massage since Dale and Natalie started going out. The idea of getting one now made her muscles practically scream with desire.

"Come on, Ari." Beck adjusted her head on the pillow of her hands. "You deserve it. You were great tonight."

"Yes, she was," Sadie said softly. "Come on. I'm almost done with her, and you can be next."

Ari figured she'd have to visit a Sherwin-Williams store to determine just how many shades of wrong this was, but she walked into the room anyway. She didn't hesitate when she dropped the robe. It would have been silly to, considering she'd been naked with the two women for most of the night. She stepped out of her panties before she climbed onto the bed and stretched out beside Beck. Sadie's leg pressed against Ari's hip, the skin warm against the curve of her body.

Sadie lifted herself and knelt between their bodies. She pulled one hand away from Beck and used it on Ari's shoulder, massaging them both at the same time. Ari felt like she'd been injected at the spot where Sadie's hand worked her tired muscles, and a relaxing warmth spread through her entire back. "God, that's good."

Beck chuckled. "She knows what's she's doing. Sadie, I'm good. Focus on Ari. She looks like she really needs it."

Sadie stopped the massage briefly and stretched over Beck's body to get something off the nightstand. She unscrewed the top of a bottle and dripped some lotion into her palm. She rubbed her hands together, spreading and warming the lotion before she threw a leg over Ari's body and settled on her rear end.

The smell of almond oil filled the room, and Sadie closed her fingers around Ari's trapezius, where it curved up toward her neck. She squeezed, and pressed her thumbs into the soft flesh on either side of her spine. Ari felt like her head had just been popped off her shoulders, but she didn't particularly care. Sadie rolled her thumbs in ever-widening circles, and the muscles had no choice but relax and melt. Ari turned her head and pressed her face against the blankets. Only then did she realize that the room smelled strongly of Sadie, Beck, and their sex. The scent wasn't new, but it was pervasive enough that she knew they'd shared this bed many, many times.

Sadie moved down Ari's back, using her fists to work out the harder knots before she smoothed them out with her fingers. "Is that too rough?" she asked.

"No." Ari's voice was weak, barely loud enough to be heard, but she couldn't make herself repeat it louder. A third hand touched her neck and she opened her eyes to see that Beck was still lying next to her and had reached out to assist in the massage. Beck smiled, and Ari smiled back at her. She was unable not to; she felt like she was high. Beck scooted closer and, after a tiny moment where Ari could have told her to stop, she leaned in and kissed her.

Ari opened her mouth and curled her tongue into Beck's mouth, and Beck's hand slid up and down Ari's spine as Sadie continued to work her muscles as if nothing was happening. She moved down so that she was positioned on Ari's knees. She gave a brief massage to Ari's thighs, then pushed her legs apart and touched her sex with two fingers.

Ari breathed in sharply through her nose. Sadie shifted her weight and bent down, kissing Ari's neck through the veil of her hair. Beck's hand slipped between Ari's body and the bed, cupping her breast and teasing one dark nipple as they continued the kiss. Sadie lifted herself off of Ari, who immediately rolled onto her side. Sadie lay down and spooned Ari from behind, while Beck moved closer and pressed her leg between Ari's thighs.

With one arm, Ari reached back and stroked Sadie's hip. Her other arm went around Beck's waist and drew her closer. Sadie reached down and cupped Ari's mound, splitting her fingers on either side of Ari's labia and rubbing with the heel of her hand as Beck bent her knee and pressed her thigh against her center. Ari trembled and growled, biting down on Beck's bottom lip as Sadie bit Ari's earlobe.

An image of them playing in the park suddenly filled Ari's mind, and she realized it had been a form of foreplay. Rolling in the dirt, nipping at each other's necks and faces, had been a prelude to these kisses and the sweep of Sadie's tongue down her neck. Beck pulled away and scooted down the bed, pulling her leg away from Ari as she kissed a path between her breasts. Ari vocalized her pleasure with quiet noises, baring her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut as her nipple was taken into a warm mouth and covered by an eager tongue.

Beck used two fingers on her, assisted by two of Sadie's fingers spreading her open. Beck's thumb found and teased Ari's clit until she was lifting her hips off the bed in response. Sadie threaded her arms under Ari's, pulling her back and cupping her breasts. Ari writhed and turned her head, kissing Sadie hungrily and sucking her tongue as Beck pushed her legs apart and moved her hand to kiss her.

Beck went down on her as Ari and Sadie kissed, Ari's orgasm building with unfortunate speed. She was almost panting, her entire body sensitive to the touch as Sadie's hands roamed over it. Ari closed her thighs around Beck's head and thrust against her, an action Beck responded to by curling her tongue and pushing it deeper into Ari's body.

Ari put her hand on the back of Beck's head, holding her in place as she came. Her face was hot, her lips pulling back to bare her teeth as she thrust her hips forward. Afterward, Beck kissed and licked Ari's thighs before sliding back up her body. She kissed Ari's breasts, then pulled Sadie to her and kissed her hard. Ari sagged, draped across Sadie's bare thighs as she watched them. When Beck pulled away, she smiled at Ari and touched her face. "I wanted to do that as soon as I saw you in the bar. But Sadie has this rule about how she gets to watch." She rolled her eyes. "Perils of being in a relationship."

"Now I get to watch you two?" Ari asked hopefully.

Beck pulled away from her. "Uh-uh. You don't get to come and go. You have to pay us back for what we just did to you. And that massage wasn't free, sweetwolf." She kissed Ari's bottom lip, linked their fingers, and pulled her up. "Lay down, Sadie."

Sadie stretched out and Ari moved down between her legs. She pulled Sadie to her and lowered her head, wetting her lips before she used her tongue to part Sadie's labia. When she opened her eyes, she saw Beck straddling Sadie's face. Sadie put her arms around Beck's legs and pulled her down. Ari reached up and teased Sadie's nipples as her tongue went to work. She ran her eyes over Beck's body, pausing at her breasts before making eye contact with her. Beck smiled, her tongue sticking out between her teeth, and winked at her.

Ari folded the fingers of her right hand and rolled her knuckles against the soft, wet flesh she had just wet with her tongue. Sadie moaned, and Beck jerked. Ari licked her lips and kissed Sadie's bright red pubic hair. She closed her eyes, breathed deep, and her mind flashed on Dale. Dale, with her pale skin and red hair. She shook the image away and focused instead on how Sadie tasted and how Beck sounded.

Beck was the second to climax, followed quickly by Sadie. Ari kissed Sadie's stomach and retreated from between her legs. Beck fell to the side, and she pulled Ari toward the headboard with her. Sadie kissed their feet, licking between the toes before moving up to her ankle. Ari shuddered and rolled her neck, eyes closed as the muscles moved without twinging.

"Nice massage."

Beck laughed. "Yeah, she should patent her process." She lifted her foot and brushed the arch of it down Sadie's cheek. Sadie nuzzled it.

"You two do that a lot?"

"I wouldn't say a lot," Beck said. "Now and again it's nice to spice things up."

"With Pen?"

Sadie shook her head. "Pen is a little too rough for us in bed. She knows it, so she's never made advances. She gets hers elsewhere." She was now kissing the inside of Beck's knee. Beck had one arm around Ari, and she was breathing heavily as Sadie moved higher. Ari watched with dark eyes, licking her lips as she anticipated what she was about to witness. She moved a hand between her legs.

"Listen, uh..." She cleared her throat. "I should probably..."

"You wanna go?" Sadie brushed her cheek against the curve of Beck's hip. "We could have all kinds of fun."

Ari smiled. "Oh, I don't doubt that for one hot second." She bent down and kissed Sadie's lips, then kissed Beck's. "But I haven't gotten a lot of sleep the past couple of days and I've really exhausted my reserves. If I don't sleep in a bed soon, I may take a nap going down the highway."

Sadie was nodding. "I understand. Another time." She kissed Ari again, letting the kiss linger until Ari was rethinking her need for sleep. Then she pulled away and sat up, to Beck's disappointment. "Meet us tomorrow afternoon at the Bull and Terrier. Five o'clock. We'll discuss your payment. You really did well tonight, Ari."

The fact that Sadie didn't call her Ariadne wasn't lost on her. "Thanks, Sadie. And thanks for, uh, including me."

"Any time," Beck promised.

Ari slipped out of bed and left the bedroom without looking back. She knew if she saw them, she would just fall right back in next to them and sleep would be a lost cause. She pushed her hair out of her face and headed downstairs to get her clothes out of the bathroom. When she dressed, she looked in the mirror and caught a flash of Bryn's face in her mind's eye.

We're done. We're just waiting for the funeral to make it official. I didn't cheat on her. She shook her head and closed her eyes. Yeah. You did. Twice, technically. If I needed a trick to make Bryn break up with me first, I just found it.

She dressed and left the house, going through the living room and out through the back door. Her car was waiting at the curb, and she took a moment to gather her thoughts after she got behind the wheel. She looked back at the house. The only light was coming from the bedroom window, and she tried to imagine what Beck and Sadie were doing. She licked her lips and shook her head. No. Home. Rest. Business. You shouldn't have done that, Ari. That was a Bad Thing, and it's only going to be worse when you have to take them down.

She started the engine, her Rambler coming to life with a steady growl.

Maybe the jail they're going to allows conjugal visits.

She pushed the thought out of her head and pulled away from the house.

#

Something soft touched her cheek and Ari swiped at it. Her hand hit someone else's, and she heard Dale yelp. She opened her eyes and blinked up at Dale, who was waving her right hand in the air with exaggerated pain. "Well, try to do something nice. You look terrible."

"Thank you," Ari grumbled. She realized the soft thing touching her cheek was the blanket that normally draped the back of the couch in her office. The couch on which she was currently sleeping. She sat up, taking the blanket with her, and whimpered at the movement. Dale backed away and pulled a chair over. "God. I didn't mean to sleep here all night."

"You didn't. At least I don't think so. What time did you get in?"

She remembered glimpsing the clock when she got out of the car. "Ugh, around... half past two. What time is it now?"

"Seven."

Ari dropped back onto the couch and Dale laughed. "What are you even doing here?"

"I wanted to do some paperwork. Get it down before I went to sleep and forgot everything. For Bryn. I owed it to her."

Dale went behind the desk and looked at the printout. "Wow, Ari."

"Good work, huh?"

"This is almost more indecipherable than your usual babble."

Ari smothered herself with the pillow. She'd spent an hour working on it, trying to keep her head from impacting the keys while her libido kept sending reminders of how stupid she had been to walk away from a warm bed with two warm bodies. Meanwhile her brain was slapping her in the face for jumping into bed with two women before she officially ended things with Bryn. She'd done some bastardly things in relationships, but she'd never been a cheater before.

"I met up with the gang and they let me tag along for one of their jobs."

"So that was you. I heard it on the scanner and I kind of wondered." She had opened a new Document and was transcribing Ari's attempt at notes into something coherent to readers of English. "Is Bryn granting you immunity for that?"

Ari shrugged. "God, I don't know. Hope so. Hopefully when we take them down we'll be able to get the stuff back. No harm, no foul. I hope. I don't think Bryn's going to be in the mood to grant me any favors in the near future."

Dale looked up. "What did you do?"

"Never mind."

"That bad?"

Ari groaned.

"Wow. Okay, uh. Maybe we won't let her know you participated. She'll just be happy to take 'em down, she won't focus on the details."

"Fingers crossed. How did your date with Natalie go last night? Did you make up for all the cancellations?"

"Uh, kind of." She watched the screen for a moment and then paused when she reached the end of a sentence. "She told me she loved me."

Ari sat up straight. "Really?"

"The sun was setting, and we were standing on the street with the Space Needle behind us. And she kissed me and said she loved me for the first time."

"Dale, that's amazing. That's just amazing." She stood up and went around the desk. "Come here." They embraced and Ari tried not to categorize her feelings. She was happy, and that was it. No loss, no sadness. Just happiness for her friend. She kissed Dale's temple and straightened, rubbing her friend's shoulder. "So it's long haul for you guys?"

"Kind of looks that way at the moment. I told her I loved her, too."

"I kind of figured." She looked at the computer. "Thanks for making me sound literate."

Dale chuckled. "Hey, you do the heavy lifting and I make you look pretty. Well, prettier. Anyway, I'll take care of this and take it down to the police station. I take it you want to avoid Bryn as long as possible."

"Yeah."

Dale cleared her throat. "Did you sleep with someone?"

"Not someone."

Dale frowned up at her and then realized what she meant. "Seriously?"

Ari shrugged. "Post-heist rush. What can I say?" She scratched her neck. "I didn't plan it. Bryn and I are on the way out, but I still want to avoid that 'I cheated on you with two other women while I was doing you a favor' conversation as long as possible."

"Okay, I'll do the paperwork and you go home and get some sleep. Do you need me to drive you?"

"No, thanks." She bent down and kissed the top of Dale's head. "I'm proud of you, kiddo. Give my love to Natalie next time you see her."

Ari was at the main door when Dale called to her. She turned and walked back to her office and leaned inside. "Yeah?"

"You and me... we're good, right?" Dale looked uncomfortable. "I mean, Natalie and I are getting pretty serious. I know that you and I have kind of..." She shrugged and rubbed her lips together. "I just want to make sure you're okay."

"Dale. You're amazing. I want you to be happy. Just be happy, and I'll be fine."

Dale nodded. "Thanks, Ariadne."

Ari winked. "Bye, Dale." She thought of adding an 'I love you,' but she felt that it would just add to the awkwardness despite being platonic. She waved and left the office, dragging herself downstairs to where she had parked. She hoped she could make it home before she passed out. She stopped by the diner down the street for a cup of coffee to give her the boost she needed, and it was half-gone before she even got behind the wheel.

She made a mental note to pump up the caffeine the next time she topped off a canidae crime spree with a threesome.

#

Ari set her alarm for noon, but she slept through it. At half past, she woke up enough to stop the buzzing and rolled over. She covered her head with the pillow and drifted off again. Her dreams were disjointed memories of the night before, running through crystalline moonlight with Sadie and Beck. She remembered Beck pouncing on her, rolling together in the mud, and then the scene shifted to lying beside her in bed. In one dream, Bryn had shown up in the jewelry shop and opened fire. Beck and Sadie were both shot and killed, and the explosion of the gunshot meant for her shook her from a deep sleep.

She pushed her pillow and blanket off the bed and looked out the window. It was mid-afternoon. She rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom, where she took a long and scalding shower. She realized with despair that Bryn's sense of smell was enhanced by being a cat. She would be able to smell Beck and Sadie on her for days. Ari scrubbed harder and realized she was doomed. She might as well confess as early as possible and hope she got points for honesty.

After the shower, she dressed in clothes from the back of her closet. She hoped they were thick enough with the smell of age and dust bunnies to hide the truth. She didn't want Bryn to take a deep breath and put all the pieces together before Ari said two words. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail and headed out to meet Bryn.

She was halfway down the stairs when her phone rang. She was surprised to see Sadie's number in the display. "Sadie. I thought we said five."

"We did. Look, it's been a really busy morning. Can you meet us at my place now?"

"Is everything okay?"

Sadie actually sounded more excited than worried. "Yeah. Everything's fine. We just need to regroup before we make any decisions."

"Okay. I was on my ay out anyway, so I'll come on over."

"Great. See you soon."

Ari disconnected the call and dialed Dale's number to let her know where she'd be. The call went to voicemail and she smiled. "Hey, Dale. Don't let me interrupt whatever you're doing with your lover. I just needed to let you know I'm going to be at Sadie Dillon's place. I figure Pen and Beck will both be there, too. Just in case anything goes down. Talk to you soon." She slipped the phone into her pocket as she got into her car.

Two cars were parked in front of Sadie's house when she arrived, so she figured she was right about who would be present. She parked across the street and went through the gate. She knocked on the sunroom door as she went in. She didn't know the etiquette when she'd only known the owner for a day but had slept with her and her girlfriend the night before. She saw Beck in the kitchen.

"Hey. What's going on?"

Pen's blow came out of nowhere, knocking Ari to her hands and knees out of shock as much as surprise. She had been standing next to the door, and her arm shot out like a piston as soon as Ari crossed the threshold. She looked up only to get a second punch where her shoulder met her neck. She dropped hard to the tile and Pen stepped over her. She grabbed Ari in a full nelson and hauled her up onto her knees.

Sadie came around the dining room table. Ari's nose felt stuffed up, and something wet was trickling over her lip. Sadie crouched so she could look into Ari's eyes, resting her arms across her knees as she leaned forward. Her nostrils flared. "You smell like her."

"Who? What the hell is going on here?" Ari looked past Sadie. Beck was standing on the other side of the kitchen island, arms crossed and looking betrayed as hell. "Look, whatever you think..."

Sadie hit Ari in the throat. It wasn't a hard blow, but it was enough to choke her. She gagged and lost the ability to speak.

"A couple of days ago, Beck thought someone was following her home from the bar. So she called Pen to come check it out. She went to a supermarket while Pen drove over and got the car's license plate. She got a good look at the driver, too. This morning one of her buddies looked up the car at the DMV and found out who the car was registered to. Turns out it's a lady named Dale Frye who works for a little firm called Bitches Investigations." She chuckled. "I do like the name, by the way."

Ari pulled forward, but Pen tightened her grip and held her where she was.

"So we went over after lunch and picked her up. We just wanted to let her know we don't appreciate her snooping in our business and politely request that she stop."

Ari's heart was pounding against her ribs.

"So we demonstrated we meant business. You know, just a little bit of roughhousing." Ari bared her teeth, on the verge of barking. "And do you know the first thing she asked us?"

Beck answered. "She asked what we had done with Ari."

Sadie cupped Ari's chin, squeezing her cheeks. "I... am not... good... with... betrayal, Ariadne. There are few things that make me lose control. Betrayal is, is at the top of the list. When were you planning to spring the police on us, mm? We got the little report your secretary was typing up for the cops, so don't you worry about that."

"What do you want?" Ari's voice was barely stronger than a croak.

Sadie smiled. She leaned in and kissed Ari's lips. Ari winced and tried to pull away, but Pen was holding her too tightly. Sadie's tongue slipped into Ari's mouth but retreated before she could even think to bite down on it and cause her some pain. She pulled back and ran her tongue over her lips.

"You're going to help me out. You're going to give us exactly what we want."

"Where's Dale?"

"She's our leverage. You do what we ask or--"

"Or you'll kill her?" She looked at Beck again. "You're not a killer."

Beck shook her head. "You're right. That's not the plan."

Sadie leaned in again and pressed her lips to Ari's ear. "I'll change her."

Ari bucked against Pen, throwing her weight back and getting just a fraction of freedom in her arms. She rolled forward and tackled Sadie, knocking her into the table. They grappled briefly, neither of them able to get a good angle for a solid punch. Ari sat up to give herself more room, but she opened herself up to a blow on the side of the head from Pen's stone fist. Ari sprawled on the tile floor. Sadie jumped on her and pinned her with a straight arm across the back of her neck.

"She'd make a lovely fox, don't you think? That lovely red hair, those eyes... she has such delicate features. Of course... well, that's assuming she survives the first transformation. You know that's why we don't change adults, and we start changing during puberty... young bones knit so much easier. They learn and adapt. So the canidae decides that's the perfect time to train our skeletons how to go back and forth. But Dale is all grown up, isn't she? Why, I bet the first time she transforms, every bone in her body will break. And if she tries to be human again, she'd be crippled for life. If she--"

"Shut the fuck up." She was on the verge of hysteria. "What do you want?"

Sadie laughed. "My dear Ariadne... I thought you'd never ask. Listen closely, wolf. Here's what you're going to do for your new best friends..."

Chapter Three, Junkyard Dogs

Dale was somewhere dark, cold, and dirty. She lifted her head and whimpered at the pain that shot down her neck. When she tried to reach up and massage the ache away, she discovered her hands were bound behind her back. She was curled on her side, knees tucked against her chest. She heard footsteps on wooden stairs behind her and twisted to look. The light at the top of the stairs were mostly blocked by her captor. The woman was tall enough, or the basement was narrow enough, that she had to bend forward slightly to avoid bumping her head on the braces that ran across it.

The sight of the woman reminded Dale of what had happened. She'd gone downstairs from the office for lunch and a woman, this hulk of a woman, had asked her where Morrison's Grill was. Dale turned to point. When she turned back, the woman had closed the distance between them. Dale had just enough time to be frightened before she was hit. Then a choking chemical smell, and nothing. She remembered the other woman asking her questions. Ari was in trouble. Somehow they had figured out who Ari really was.

"What do you want?"

"Right now, your clothes."

Dale tensed. "Go to hell."

"We need them to prove we really have you. Either you can give them to me, or I can take them from you. Your choice."

Dale rested her head on the dirt and closed her eyes. "My hands... I need my hands free."

The woman leaned closer and unlocked Dale's handcuffs. She put a hand on Dale's shoulder and squeezed until she yelped in pain. "Go ahead and try to escape. I don't like to threaten. I prefer to show people what I'll do if they cross me."

"I won't try anything."

Dale unbuttoned her blouse as quickly as possible, then twisted out of her skirt. She was left in her black bra and matching half-slip, feeling ridiculous in the fancy lingerie. She'd planned to meet up with Natalie after work. She tossed the clothes to her captor and then reluctantly presented her wrists to be handcuffed again.

"Ari's going to stop you."

The woman smiled. "Ari isn't in much of a position to stop anything right now. She's a good dog."

Dale watched her go and then dropped her head to the dirt.

#

Ari jerked away as Pen threw the shirt in her face. She didn't need canidae senses to recognize Dale's perfume. Sadie picked up the cloth and pressed it against Ari's face anyway, smothering her with the smell. She had been dragged from the kitchen and into the living room where she was currently tied to a desk chair in front of the couch. Sadie pulled the shirt away and Ari saw it was smeared with blood from her lip. "Recognize that? How's she smell? Good and afraid, I'll bet."

It was true. Ari could smell the stink of Dale's sweat and fear.

"Don't hurt her. What do you want?"

Sadie said, "What we told you in the kitchen. You're going to do in one night what it would take us weeks to do. You see, I'm just the leader of this particular pack. We have someone we answer to. And she has a... hm. Let's just call it an employee of the month program. Whoever makes her happy during the month gets a bonus. And I like my bonuses, Ariadne, but they're so difficult to get. Because there's a certain amount of risk involved. The greater the risk, the greater the reward.

"But now I don't have to worry about the risk. You're going to be taking the risk for me." She smiled. "Beck, Pen and I will reap the benefits. And you'll get your friend back unharmed. So everybody wins." She reached out and casually adjusted Ari's collar. "You're going to get us five hundred thousand dollars."

Ari scoffed.

Sadie raised an eyebrow. "Is your friend's life not worth that? I'm surprised."

"How do you think I'm going to get that much money?"

"That's not my problem. Rob a bank. Steal cars. Rob a mansion. Get creative, because I'd love to know what you would come up with. You're such a clever little wolf." She slapped Ari's cheek. "I want the money tomorrow night. We'll be in touch with the details. In the meantime, Dale Frye will stay here with us. And we promise, we'll be perfectly proper ladies with her. We won't gain her trust through false pretenses and then fuck her." Sadie's nostrils flared, her eyes getting darker with anger.

Ari stared back. "If I do this, and Dale ends up hurt, I'll kill you all."

"Then let the games begin." She grabbed the back of Ari's head and pulled her forward for a particularly brutal kiss. When she pulled back, she gasped and shook her head. "It's a shame. You really were a great lay."

Sadie straightened and motioned for Pen and Beck to untie Ari. "Tomorrow night at nine. Either have the five hundred grand, or we'll let you watch Dale's first transformation live and in person. I wouldn't eat a heavy lunch if I were you, just in case. I promise it won't be pretty."

Pen grabbed the back of Ari's collar and hauled her to her feet. She was half-carried and mostly dragged through the kitchen and sunroom, and Pen hurled her onto the dirt of the backyard. Ari pushed herself up, digging her fingers in the dirt as she contemplated fighting.

"I wouldn't." Pen had anticipated her attack. "I give the signal, Sadie goes down to the basement and bites Dale. You think you can get there fast enough to keep it from happening? Just remember, Ari. You did this. You're the one who wormed your way into our group, you're the one who endangered your partner. None of this would be happening without you."

Ari spit into the dirt under her head, eyes closed.

"Clock's ticking. Get the hell out of here, you mutt."

Ari got to her feet and walked to the fence. She paused before going through, turning to face Pen while standing upright and untied. "If anything happens to her, it'll come back on you. Count on that."

Pen flipped her off.

Ari went out to her car, aches starting to make themselves known as she slipped behind the wheel of her car. Her first thought was what she was going to do, but that was a dumb question. Dale's life was at stake; she was going to do exactly what they told her to do. She rolled her shoulders and pinched the bridge of her nose. Five hundred thousand dollars. She didn't even know where to begin to find that kind of money.

For Dale.

Dale's face rose in her mind's eye, her easy smile and her laugh.

Ari would move heaven and earth for Dale. She started the car and pulled away from the house with renewed determination. If Sadie, Beck and Pen wanted to play games, fine. But Ari was going to play by her own rules.

#

Milhous smiled brightly when she came down the stairs. "Hey, Ari. Got anymore cigs you want me to take off your hands?"

"Yep. Here you go." She tossed the pack and it fell just short of his hand.

"Maybe you need to skip the drinking tonight." Milhous laughed as he bent down to retrieve them. His laughter stopped abruptly when Ari kicked him in the head.

He stumbled back against the brick wall, bringing his hands up to fend off her attack. Ari swept his hands out of the way, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and pulled him forward. As he fell, she kicked the back of his knee he dropped. Ari swung her arm around his neck and grabbed her wrist with the other hand, closing his windpipe.

"You're dead," he managed to gasp.

"Are you in on it?" She kept her lips right next to his ear.

The bar door swung open and Ari spun so that Milhous was blocking her with his body. The bartender took a step toward her, but retreated when he saw the situation.

"Go back inside, bulldog. This doesn't concern you yet."

He looked into her eyes and went back inside. When the door was closed, Ari pulled her arm tighter and Milhous gagged.

"Are you--"

"Am I in... on what?" His voice was little more than a croak, and his head was rolling loosely in the loop of her arm.

Ari bared her teeth. "Sadie Dillon, Rebecca Collier and Pen Hurst. Are you part of what they're doing?"

"I got no clue what you're talking about."

Ari released him and Milhous sagged forward. He rubbed his throat and then swung backward with one fist. He punched Ari in the thigh, then grabbed her knee and tugged. She went down, and he rolled his bulk over on top of her. He put his hand on her chest to hold her down and pulled back one fist. "Tell me why I shouldn't pound your head into the pavement right now."

"They took my friend."

Milhous kept his position for a second longer, and then his face softened. He relaxed his fist but didn't let her up.

"I don't know anything about that. This is a good bar, and we don't condone any type of criminal activity." He stood up and offered her a hand. "That includes beating up the bouncer."

Ari felt like she was hovering as he pulled her to her feet. She brushed herself off, then brushed off Milhous' shirt as a peace offering. "Sorry. I had to be sure, and I didn't want to try you in a fair fight."

"Probably smart." He rubbed his jaw. "What do you mean they took your friend?"

Ari sagged against the brick wall, letting it hold her up to take the weight off her legs. "They kidnapped her. Said if I don't get them what they want, they'll... change her."

Milhous narrowed his eyes. "Change her? But if she's--"

"Yeah."

He leaned against the wall opposite Ari. "Damn. I knew they were wild, but that's off the board crazy."

Ari pushed her hair out of her face and closed her eyes. She was counting on adrenaline and anger to get her through the next twenty-four hours, but thoughts of what was happening to Dale kept overcrowding her mind. She took a deep breath in through her nose and let it out though pursed lips. "I'm sorry if I hurt you."

"Been hurt worse. Usually by a lot bigger dudes..."

"They threatened her. I don't know how well my thinking is." She pushed away from the wall. "I'll leave you alone. Tell, uh, tell the bartender that I'm sorry for the disruption. I won't bother you guys again."

She was almost to the street before Milhous stopped her.

"You need me to do anything?"

Ari paused and considered the question. "Yeah. I do."

#

Beck was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, staring out the window, when Sadie found her. Pen was downstairs with Dale, and the house was almost oppressively silent. Sadie reached out and ran her palm down the back of Beck's head, stroking her hair. She stood behind Beck's stool and guided Beck back until her shoulders were against Sadie's chest. "Are you okay?"

"She lied to us. I actually liked her."

"I know."

Sadie moved her hands to Beck's shoulders for an impromptu massage. "I know you're not too thrilled about what we're doing here."

"No. She lied to us, and she put us in danger. I may not be happy about holding that woman in the basement, but Ariadne Willow should pay. If she gives us the money, I still want to hurt her."

Sadie smiled. "Yeah?"

"We'll let the redhead go, but Ari doesn't walk away in one piece. Promise me, sweetheart."

"I promise." She kissed Beck's ear. "When we get our money, we'll put her down."

Beck turned and kissed Sadie softly. Sadie was about to suggest moving upstairs when there was a loud pounding on the front door. Beck jumped, but Sadie just turned her head toward the sunroom. Her nostrils flared and she narrowed her dark eyes. "Milhous."

"The bouncer? What the hell is he doing here?"

They went to the door together and found Milhous pacing in the backyard. He was almost to the fence when they came outside. He heard the door open and spun around. "What the hell are you crazy bitches up to?"

"Watch your tone on my property, dog." Sadie stepped off the porch while Beck remained in the doorway. "What are you doing here?"

"That new bitch, Ariadne, came by the bar. Gave me this." He pointed at his swollen bottom lip. "She was crazy as hell, said that you guys were up to something shady. She wanted to see if I was part of it. She kicked my damn ass because of whatever you're up to."

Sadie remained calm. "I assume you told her the truth, so why are you here?"

"Because she's crazy, okay? I told her I didn't know anything, but she looked like she didn't care. I thought she was gonna burn the place down just to make sure." He pointed a finger at Sadie. "Whatever you're doing, keep it out of the bar. You hear me?"

"Get your finger out of my face." She didn't break eye contact with him. "The Bull and Terrier has nothing to do with this. I'm sorry that she hurt you, I'm sure that was a big blow to your pride."

"You just make sure you have your bases covered. Before she left she asked me about where she could get some weapons. I got the feeling she was going to come back here and make a statement."

Beck snorted. "She wouldn't be dumb enough to come back here and fight us."

Milhous glared at her. "She fought me."

Beck's smile faded slowly.

"Just watch your backs, ladies, because I didn't see reasonableness in her eyes when she left. Be very careful. And stay out of our bar until we get this all settled, you understand?" He turned and shoved the gate open with one fist, walking through before it rebounded off the fence and swung shut again.

Sadie watched the boulder of a man walk back to his truck with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You think she would be dumb enough--"

"Yes." She turned and brushed past Beck. "If she wants to take Dale back by force, she'll be in for a big surprise. Tell Pen we're moving. We'll take Dale somewhere that Ariadne doesn't even know about." She went upstairs while Beck went down to the basement. Sadie went into the bathroom Ari had used and breathed deeply, picking up the faint scent of her from the night before. She went to the shower, where the smell was strongest, and closed her eyes.

Bring us the fight, little wolf. It's been a long time since the pack had a real hunt. It would be my pleasure to track you down and teach you a true lesson.

She picked up Beck's scent before Beck spoke and announced her presence. "We're ready. What are you doing?"

"Arming myself."

#

Ari plugged her nose and hunched down deeper in the garbage. A wide alley ran behind Sadie's house, and all the houses on the block had set out their trash for pickup. Ari was in the largest pile, blocking her scent as she watched the house. She could see into the living room, and she watched Pen and Dale walk through the living room to the back of the house. It took all her restraint to stay where she was; as long as they were close enough to bite, Ari wasn't going to chance a fight. There were three of them and, even if she could take Pen and Beck at the same time, Sadie would be free to bite Dale.

She just had to watch as Dale was hustled out of the house. Sadie and Beck followed, and moments later Ari heard the doors to Beck's Jeep slamming shut. She waited until the sound of the engine faded before she left the garbage and jumped the fence. She stayed low and out of sight as she got onto the porch and tried the door. Locked, of course. No reason to make things easy for her.

After checking to make sure she was still unobserved, she went around the side of the house to the sunroom. Her scent was going to tell them she'd been there no matter how sneaky she was, so she might as well make her presence known. She picked up a rock and shattered the glass door with it. She thought about breaking as much glass as possible, but she didn't want to harm the plants.

She let herself into the house and grabbed a garbage bag from the kitchen as she passed through. The living room looked basically the way she had envisioned it in the dark, and she made her way to the roll-top desk. The mail had accumulated in a neat pile on one corner, with the personal correspondence taking up a special place in a cubbyhole. She went through it and deemed none of it worth her time to read in full.

Ari opened the bag and shoved things into it without pausing to examine them. She emptied the drawers, grabbed a handful of ledgers, added a few pens just to be thorough. She twisted the neck of the bag and headed downstairs to the basement. She could smell Dale's fear thickly in the narrow space, stoking her anger. She searched for Dale's clothes but didn't find them. She knelt next to the spot where Dale's scent was strongest and touched the dirt.

Dale had been thrown in the dirt, half-naked, threatened... all because of her. Ari choked on her anger and guilt before she carried her bag upstairs. She took some of Sadie and Beck's perfumes in case she needed to disguise her scent later and added some of their clothes to her bag. Every little bit helped.

When she decided she had enough, she headed back downstairs. She saw the dining room chair they'd tied her to and used the legs of it to break the living room window. She wanted them to know they were dealing with a mad dog, wanted them to worry more about what they would do to her than what they planned to do with Dale. She crawled through the window and hurried across the lawn, jumping the fence and racing down the alley to where she had parked her car.

#

They had given back her clothes, which had been nice, but the handcuffs didn't make sitting in a car very comfortable. She was wearing a blindfold under a pair of wraparound sunglasses so it wouldn't look suspicious, other than the fact she was wearing sunglasses at dusk. She was in the cramped backseat of the Jeep pinned between the scary muscular woman and the smaller blonde. The blonde had a hand on the back of Dale's neck like a lover would, but the tension in her fingers was anything but affectionate.

The Jeep came to a stop and Dale was hauled out of the car like a bag of laundry. Her feet tripped over unfamiliar terrain, but the beefy woman kept her from falling over. She smelled a thick, unpleasant smell that she couldn't place and wondered how three canidae were able to stand it with their stronger senses.

She heard a lock being released and then chains fell to the ground. "In here," the redheaded leader said. She tried to place them from Ari's report she had typed up that morning. The leader was obviously Sadie. The blonde was Beck, she was pretty sure, and the other woman had to be Pen. Dale was shoved forward and the ambient light seeping around her glasses and blindfold disappeared entirely as she was taken inside.

"Can I ask a question?"

"Why not." Sadie's voice was flat.

"Which of you did Ari fuck? Pen doesn't really seem her type, so I'm thinking it was you and--"

Someone punched her in the stomach and Dale went down. She wasn't proud of the sound she made, or the face that she immediately started to cry. She was unaccustomed to pain, and to be hurt by someone who truly meant to do you harm was worse than she could have imagined. She wondered how Ari had dealt with it earlier as she sobbed and tried to hold her stomach.

"I can't believe you two," Pen grumbled, keeping her voice low.

"Mind your business, Penelope," Sadie said. She knelt down and slipped something around Dale's neck. She heard it click, and felt two metal prongs against her throat. "Say your name."

"Dale Fr--" Dale's entire body convulsed as an electric charge pulsed through her body. She dropped from a kneeling position to lie prone on the floor, twitching as the last remnants of the current passed through her. She gasped, reaching up to touch what she now knew was a shock collar. Her fingers trembled as she felt the latch.

"Go ahead," Sadie said. "Call for help as much as you want. Someone's bound to hear you if you yell loud enough."

Dale's hands were chained to something sturdy and she was left on the floor again. The trio left the room and Dale heard the locks being fastened again. She pressed her face against her upper arm, too frightened to even cry for fear of setting off the shock collar again.

Hurry, Ari. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

#

It was night before Ari got back to the office. She dumped everything she'd gotten from Sadie's house onto the couch so she could go through it later. She was feeling ragged, rushed. She dropped behind her desk and turned on the computer. While it booted up, she began sorting through her treasure trove of Sadie's possessions. She was thumbing through a ledger when there was a quiet knock on the door. She realized she'd left the main door of the office standing open and cursed herself as she spun to face the intruder.

Natalie's eyes widened when she saw the state Ari was in. "Whoa. Big case?"

"What are you doing here?" She went to her laptop.

"I was looking for Dale. She's not answering her phone." She stepped into the office. "Is everything okay? You look kind of frantic."

Ari laughed without humor and rubbed her knuckle against one eye. "Yeah. That's as good a word as any. Dale is, uh... Dale is..." She drummed her fingers against the desk, wavering between lies and the truth. She remembered what Dale had told her about their last date. "Dale's in trouble, Natalie. And I'm doing everything in my power to get her safe."

"What kind of trouble? What's... I mean, is it something to do with the... uh..."

Ari looked at her and waited for the words to form.

"Don't be angry at her. Dale didn't betray you. But it's kind of obvious if you know what to look for. My father was an alcoholic."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

Natalie said, "It's okay. I know what you're going through."

Ari straightened. "You really don't. I'm not an alcoholic, and I don't have any drug problems. Dale is in very serious danger, so if you don't mind..."

Natalie stared at her for a moment and then said, "Tell me what happened."

"I couldn't begin to explain it all to you. Please, just trust me, okay? I'm not going to let anything happen to Dale."

"How can I trust you? Whatever happened, Dale is in trouble because she works here. How could you let someone--"

"Let someone?" Ari's voice was almost a growl. "You've known her for two months? How dare you talk to me like I'm some bad influence? How dare you act like you care about her more than I do? I loved Dale a long time before you came along. Don't stand there and glare at me like you're going to hurt me if something happens to her, because if it comes to that, I'll fall on my own sword long before you get a chance to do anything. Dale is my best friend. She's the only family I have in this world. So you can be damn sure I'm going to pull out all the stops getting her back. Or die trying."

Natalie backed away. "I'm calling the police."

"Do that and she dies for sure. Just let me do what I have to do. I'll get her back."

"How?"

Ari started to admit she had no idea, but then she took in Natalie's outfit. Under her leather jacket, she was wearing pale blue scrubs. "You have nitrous."

"I have what?"

"In your office. You have nitrous oxide."

Natalie started to back away. "You're insane."

"It's for Dale. I just need one tank to even the odds a little bit. Please. I'm going in there with nothing to beg for the life of my best friend. I need this. Don't do it for me, do it for Dale. Let her see what you're willing to do to keep her safe."

"That's not fair."

"Nothing about this is fair," Ari said, her voice breaking. "I realize what I'm asking you to do, but I'm asking anyway. I'm begging."

They stared at each other until Ari's phone started to ring. She didn't break eye contact as she answered. "What?"

"I'd watch my tone if I were you, Ariadne." Sadie's voice was trembling with anger. "I see you dropped by. If I'd known you would be here, I would have stuck around to greet you properly."

"Let me talk to Dale." Natalie stepped closer to the desk.

"No snide comeback? Please, Ariadne, that's the thing I liked most about you. That quick wit and your devil may care attitude. Have you given any thought to how you're going to get my money? You have less than twenty-four hours now. Even taking the easy route of stealing you're going to have to hustle to get that much money."

"I'm getting your money now. I won't need the full twenty-four hours."

"Really."

"I'm not going to let you hold Dale for an entire day, damn it. I'm getting the money together now and I want to end this as soon as possible. Let me talk to Dale."

"That's not possible. We moved her to a safer location. Looks like we did it just in time, too. You'd better not be playing games, Ariadne. I am deadly serious about what I'll do to her if you cross us again. You won't find any of us in a very forgiving mood."

Ari was staring at Natalie across her desk. "Cut the scare tactics and tell me where to meet you."

"You want to end this tonight, fine. Do you know where the NEST Landfill is?"

Ari typed it onto her laptop. "I'll find it."

"Be there at two tomorrow morning. That should give you enough time to accrue the rest of your money. We'll make the exchange there. Come alone, come unarmed."

Ari looked at the clock. She had six hours. "That shouldn't be too difficult. I want proof of life before I hand over any money."

"Of course. This is just business, after all."

"Right." Ari hung up and resisted the urge to hurl the phone at the wall.

Natalie finally found her voice. "Tell me what's going on."

"They have Dale. They want half a million dollars for her. I'm willing to hand it over." She did a search and found the landfill in Northeast Seattle. Then she did a second search, looking for a name. When she found it, she copied down the information and folded the paper. She slipped it into her pocket and looked at Natalie. "The nitrous. If you want to just turn your back, I can break in and take it myself."

"No. How much..." She shook her head. "I only have a couple thousand in saving. A few hundred more in my checking account. Let me try to--"

"I'm not paying them," Ari said.

Natalie blinked at her. "They'll kill Dale."

"That's not what they threatened..."

"What, then? Maim? Torture? Rape? If they want money, then let's go get it..."

"We're meeting them at two in the morning. You know any banks that have really lax security? No? Then they're not getting their half mil."

Natalie blocked Ari when she tried to leave. She grabbed Ari's arm and squeezed. "You're toying with her life."

"Never. If I walk into that landfill with five hundred grand, I'm not leaving in one piece. I'll wind up in the trunk of some car, and Dale's body will be buried right next to mine. I'm not the one playing games. They want me running around thinking about this money. I'd be an idiot to take them at their word. Right now, Dale has until the deadline. I plan to use every second coming up with a strategy to get the upper hand."

"And you just cut your planning time in half."

"I cut down the time Dale will have to spend in whatever hellhole they've shoved her into. Get your hand off of me."

Natalie let her go.

"Look at me, Dr. Regan. Do you honestly thing I'll walk out of there without Dale? Either we both survive tonight, or I die along with her. And I would really, really like a tank of nitrous oxide to help level the playing field a little bit."

Natalie reached into the pocket of her sweater and pressed a key into Ari's palm. "In the back supply room. The big blue tanks. Be careful. It's heavy."

"Thank you." Ari turned and began gathering the things she'd taken from Sadie's house.

"If she gets hurt, I'm going to come find you to make you pay."

Ari sighed. "If she gets hurt, you won't have the chance."

#

Ari got the nitrous from Natalie's office and carefully loaded them into the backseat of her car. She found an all-night ATM and took out two hundred dollars, then repeated the withdrawal at different machines. When she had a few thousand dollars, she started hitting bars. She exchanged twenties for singles whenever she could, taking the occasional five or ten. When she was finished, she had a Hefty bag full of small bills that hung like it was full of a lot more. She stuffed that into the backseat and drove back to Lake City.

The NEST Landfill was on the west side of the neighborhood. Ari drove the perimeter a few times until she spotted Beck's yellow Jeep in the parking lot. She parked well away from the Jeep and grabbed her things from the backseat. She had changed into a baggy white T-shirt, vest and torn jeans. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes and keep her peripheral vision clear.

She had a large duffel bag that concealed the nitrous tank, and she had it strapped to her back so she could carry the bag of money and keep one hand free. The section of the landfill she was in was home to a multitude of discarded appliances, cars in varying states of decay. Ari scanned her surroundings as she walked, not eager for a sneak attack from Pen. She reached a clearing with a small wooden shack at the far end of it. Portable lights had been set up and Ari knew she'd reached her destination.

Ari dropped the bag of money and slipped the duffel bag straps off her shoulders. She gauged the wind and opened the tank. Then she pushed the bag over, letting the wind carry the fumes away from her. "All right, I'm here." She turned in a slow circle and searched the now imposing towers of refuse all around her. "I'm a little early, but hopefully you won't hold that against me."

"Not at all." Ari turned and saw Sadie coming out of the shack. She had a gun held down by her side, but Ari knew she would be able to draw it in the blink of an eye. "I like promptness. You really would have made an excellent addition to our pack."

Ari heard footsteps on the gravel behind her, but she didn't turn. "Pen, go join Sadie over there. I don't want you behind me."

"Yeah. I bet you don't." Pen hesitated but, after a slight nod from Sadie, circled her and walked toward the other side of the clearing. She lifted her head and looked back at Ari as she walked. "What's that smell?"

"You're standing in the middle of a landfill. You really have to ask?"

"Enough games. Did you bring what I asked for?"

Ari shook her head. "No."

Sadie brought the gun up. "My mistake. I thought you liked Dale."

"Oh, I love Dale. I didn't bring what you wanted. I brought what you needed." She opened the bag with her money and took out a leather-bound ledger. She held it up so they could see it in the light. "Recognize this? Really stupid to leave one of these ledgers lying out when you have a guest in the house." Sadie's eyes widened in recognition. "I knew that you would take Dale with you if I forced you out of the house this afternoon. But I wasn't after her. I wanted these ledgers." She opened it and flipped pages. "Nice details. What did you say your boss was called? Vicki? Think she would be upset if she found out you guys had skimmed, ah..." She flipped to the back. "A hundred grand, judging from this book. I think she might be a little annoyed at all of you. Be a shame if someone told her."

"You don't know--"

"I'm talking. I said it would be a shame if someone were to drop by Victoria Fennick's home and drop off a few of these ledgers. Or put them in a package addressed to her home in Mount Baker, or her offices in Beacon Hill. Packages that are set to go out unless I call them before eight tomorrow morning and stop them."

Pen laughed and Sadie twisted to look at her. She turned back to Ari and glared. "You just killed your friend."

"No. You asked me if Dale's life was worth half a million dollars to me. She is worth so much more. She is worth your life, and Pen's, and Beck's. I will destroy all three of you if Dale is even scratched. I'll bury you all. Now put down the damn gun and go get my friend."

"I think you need to stop making demands, wolf." Ari and Sadie both turned toward Beck's voice. She came in from a second entrance, the barrel of her gun pressed against the soft flesh under Natalie's chin. Beck smiled. "Who is this lovely young thing? Your backup? Was she supposed to cover you with that peashooter she had in her car?" She sniffed Natalie's neck and said, "She smells like the redhead. Maybe Sadie and I weren't the only threesome you've had recently. Hand over the ledger, Ariadne."

Ari tossed the ledger she had been holding into the center of the clearing. She was inwardly cursing herself for saying the name of the landfill out loud while Natalie was in the room. "You shouldn't have followed me, Natalie."

Sadie moved forward and picked up the ledger. "Where are the others?"

"Give me Dale."

"You're negotiating for two now," Beck said. "Unless you want to take Dale home and let us take care of this little inconvenience for you. What do you say? You and Dale, mourning together? Falling madly in bed." Beck's lips split in an insane grin. "It might be kind of sweet, actually."

"Oh, my God." Pen was almost in hysterics. Tears were streaming down her face as she pointed at Natalie. "She's a dentist."

Sadie said, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Laughing gas," Beck and Pen said at the same time.

Over the next few seconds, all hell broke loose.

Sadie and Beck both aimed their guns at Ari.

Natalie, freed from gunpoint, balled both hands into fists and twisted at the waist to bury her elbow in Beck's stomach.

Beck went down, firing blindly at some point between Ari and Natalie.

Natalie nearly fell but scrambled to the relative safety of one passageway between towers of trash.

Ari dropped to all fours and began to transform, while Sadie and Pen did the same.

Transforming while clothed was like trying to run inside a sleeping bag. While the cotton tried to retain the form of a typical human, the body within it was shifting, shrinking and rearranging in a violent progression. Ari kicked her jeans away with canine legs, shaking her fur in a futile attempt to get the T-shirt off. Fortunately it was big enough that it didn't impede her movement.

Pen, in full boxer form two full seconds before Ari's transformation was done, raced across the clearing. Ari twisted to face her and ducked at the last second. She scooted under the bulk of Pen's body and bucked upward, knocking Pen off her trajectory. She landed in a heap behind Ari, who was already racing across the space toward Sadie. They collided in an explosion of brown and red fur, Ari raising on her hind legs as she swiped at Sadie's face with her forepaws.

Beck came from the right and viciously bit Ari's back leg. Ari yelped and felt blood on her fur, but she just dropped her hips and kicked with both back legs. She caught Beck on the chin and knocked her aside, a part of her brain realizing that the three of them were mimicking the position they had taken the night before.

Ari's back foot had cut open part of Beck's snout, and blood darkened her muzzle as she went in for another attack. Ari closed her teeth around Sadie's throat but didn't bite down. It was just a warning, a threat of what she could do if she wanted to. Call them off.

We'll tear you and your friend both to pieces.

Ari tightened her jaw and felt the points of her teeth sinking into soft flesh.

Get back, Sadie thought loud enough that it was like a spike in Ari's brain. Pen and Beck growled as they backed away. Ari saw her blood on Beck's muzzle, mingled with her own blood from the cut next to her nose.

Dale. Dale. Dale. It was all Ari could think, and she knew the message was getting through because Sadie began to back away.

Ari stayed with her, growling as she kept her jaw closed around Sadie's throat. It forced them to move awkwardly, Ari occasionally tripping over her hind legs as she backed toward the small shack. She turned her head as much as she could and saw Beck following at a safe distance. Pen was lagging behind, her head down as she brushed her snout with her front paws and sneezed as the gas continued to affect her functions.

The gas was starting to diffuse in the open air, but Ari could still smell it. They reached the shack and Sadie bumped the door open with the top of her head. It swung open and Ari looked inside. Dale was sitting on the floor, her hands cuffed to a wooden support beam. She was wearing a collar, and she sat up straighter when she saw who was at the door.

Ari let go of Sadie's throat to bark a greeting, unable to restrain her happiness as seeing Dale relatively uninjured.

"Ar--" It was all Dale could get out before she cried out in pain. Her body bowed and her hands fought the cuffs in an attempt to grab at the collar and pull it away from her skin. The reason for Dale's warning was Pen, who closed her jaws around Ari's tail and dragged her back out of the cabin. Ari yelped and twisted onto her back to see droplets of blood fall from Pen's mouth. Beck pounced on Ari, knocking the wind from her.

Sadie got to her feet and raced into the cabin, baring her teeth as she ran straight for Dale.

Ari panicked. Her transformation was half over before she realized it had started, and she rolled onto her hands and knees and ran for the fox. Sadie opened her mouth wide, saliva glistening on her fangs as she lunged for Dale's exposed foot.

Ari clubbed Sadie on the head, and the fox went down heavy and hard. Beck slammed into Ari from behind and the three of them fell, rolling with Sadie wrapped in her arms and Beck clinging to her back. Ari slammed Beck against the wall, her hands closed around Sadie's muzzle as she fought to get free.

Pen stalked toward Dale. Dale had pushed herself back up into a sitting position, recovered from her electrocution if a little foggy. She kicked with one foot and caught Pen on the muzzle, but Pen just shook it off. She closed her jaw around Dale's ankle.

The room became extremely still. Ari felt Beck's teeth digging into her skin, felt the blood drip. So far Pen hadn't bitten hard enough to draw blood, hadn't started the procedure. Ari licked her lips and released Sadie. Sadie slid away from Ari, shook her fur, and moved across the floor to where Dale was sitting.

The weight of Beck sitting on her was becoming uncomfortable. Sadie transformed back into her human form, rolling her neck. She was naked save for her tattered underwear and blouse. She looked between Dale and Ari. "Well. It was an admirable attempt, but look where we are. Right back where we started. Tell us how to stop the ledgers from going out, and I'll tell Beck to kill you slowly."

Beck growled; she obviously wasn't keen on that deal.

"Let Dale go now. Right now. And we'll discuss it."

Ari was shaking her head.

Sadie nodded to Pen, who released Dale's foot and backed slowly away. Once she was a safe distance from Dale, too far to lunge and bite her again, Ari reached back and grabbed a handful of Beck's pelt. She flung herself forward like she was going to do a somersault and tossed Beck over her. Beck's nails tore Ari's skin and blood flowed freely down her back, but she didn't stop to focus on the pain. As Beck tumbled through the air, Ari staggered forward and tackled Sadie. They hit the ground as Beck landed on Pen, and the two canidae yelped and twisted as they tried to get away from each other.

The door to the shack opened and Natalie stepped inside. "What the... God in..."

"Get Dale," Ari said. "Get the collar off of her and don't let anyone bite her."

Natalie stepped around Pen and Beck, whose canidae minds had taken over and caused them to start grappling. Ari only had seconds before they came back to their senses. She grabbed a handful of Sadie's short red hair and held her still before headbutting her. The impact left them both dazed, but Sadie was worse off. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp. Ari looked up as Natalie got Dale's hands free and the two of them started for the door.

Beck twisted and snapped at Dale's leg as she walked past.

Dale kicked her in the head.

"Dale! What--" Natalie twisted toward Ari in time to see her transformation begin. She screamed as she watched Ari's skin ripple and tear, becoming thicker and haired as she crouched on top of Sadie's limp body. Dale pushed Natalie out into the fresh air. She shut the door behind her, the latch clicking with a sense of finality.

Ari, fully wolf now, looked at the two dogs scowling at her from the door. Just us bitches now.

Beck and Pen got to their feet and Ari climbed off Sadie's body and backed into the corner. She bared her teeth in a snarl as she thought about what they had planned to do to Dale. Behind them, she saw Sadie roll over onto her stomach and touch her forehead. It would only be a matter of seconds before she was recovered enough to transform into the fox again. Ari had that long to end the fight with the shepherd and boxer before the odds got even worse.

Bring it on.

The dogs howled as they pounced on her.

#

Natalie's fingers were tender, soft and cold against her neck. Dale kept her eyes closed and focused on her pulse throbbing against the collar. If she was capable of speech, it would have consisted of three words urgently repeated. "Get it off." Natalie pinched Dale's skin and whispered an apology, her voice trembling on the verge of insanity. Finally, the latch came free and the collar fell away. Dale cried out with relief and grabbed Natalie, hugging her tightly. She was sitting on the back of a junked car, with Natalie between her legs, and Dale never wanted to leave that spot although she knew she would have to.

"Thank you."

Natalie just nodded. They held each other, Dale's grip too strong to be broken by any conventional means. She breathed deep, replacing the stink of the past day with Natalie's freshly scrubbed odor. Dale wished she had an idea what Natalie was thinking, what was in her mind. She was too afraid to ask and confirm her fears, so she just stayed silent. The adrenaline that had gotten her through the past thirteen hours was fading, leaving her exhausted and terrified. She wanted a bath. She wanted a long, long sleep. She wanted... Ari.

She lifted her head and looked back the way they'd come. "We have to help her."

"I... the gas..."

"It will have dissipated by now." She eased out of the embrace with obvious reluctance.

"No." Natalie was shaking her head vehemently. "You don't want to see what I saw. It was..." She swallowed a lump in her throat. "It was the worst hallucination you could imagine, Dale. I don't want you to see that."

Hallucination. Thank God. Dale touched Natalie's cheek. "She came for me. I have to go help her."

Natalie pressed her forehead against Dale's. She was crying when she pulled away and walked a few feet down the path. When she returned, she had a shotgun in her hand.

"Take this."

"Thank you. Call the police. Ask for Officer Bryn Decker, make sure she's here."

Natalie nodded. Dale slipped off the back of the car and almost fell. She righted herself against the trunk, waited until her head stopped swimming, and then set off down the path. Though Natalie had brought her down the trail only a few minutes before, she felt like she was walking somewhere she had once seen in a dream. Her mind was hazy and uncertain, and the moonlight seemed far too bright to be real. She felt nauseated when she reached the shack and put it off to remnants of the gas in the clearing. She took shallow breaths and pushed the door open with the barrel of her gun.

Three women and a dog were inside the room. All of them were covered with blood and none were moving. The gun shook in Dale's hand as she moved into the room, identifying Ari by her hair. She knelt and touched her shoulder and softly, almost too softly to be heard, she said, "Ariadne?"

Natalie appeared in the door again. "Oh, no. Dale." She looked away from the carnage. "I-I called the police. They're on the way."

"Call an ambulance, too." Dale's eyes were wet with tears. "And the coroner."

#

The nurse was a vixen. She was wearing green scrubs under a heavy jacket with the caduceus on the chest. Her red hair and bright blue eyes gave her away first, and Ari realized she couldn't smell. She couldn't move. She was strapped to a gurney that was being moved across rough ground, and it was the jarring that had brought her around. The fox looked down at her and smiled, lightly touching Ari's wrist. Ari looked down and saw she still had all ten fingers. Ha. I won that round, Beck. She dropped her head back to the pillow, exhausted from the strain of even lifting her head a few inches.

"Sorry about the rough ride," the nurse whispered. "We're almost there."

Ari shook her head. "Happy to be around to be bounced around."

The nurse stroked Ari's hair. "Help me get her up."

They lifted the gurney into the back of an ambulance and Ari squinted at the bright lights overhead. The doors closed with a slam and the nurse moved up toward the front of the truck. "We're going to Basin Medical Center."

"Harborview is closer."

"My name is Monica Seward, and this is a special situation. We're taking her to Basin."

The driver looked back at Ari, shrugged, and the ambulance came to life around her. Monica knelt near Ari's head and took her hand.

"How are we feeling?"

"Where's Dale?"

"She's the one who told me about you. She said you were special."

Ari closed her eyes. "The others..."

"Dr. Regan is fine, but she's being treated for exposure to nitrous oxide." She glanced toward the front of the cab. "You killed one of the women you were fighting. She had a record. Penelope Hurst."

Ari remembered exactly the moment Pen had died. It was going to haunt her for quite a while. But Sadie and Beck... they'd survived. The thought struck fear in her. "What about the others?"

"They're receiving treatment at the scene from some of our people. They'll be held and questioned by the police."

Ari wet her lips with her tongue. "I think I won."

Monica squeezed Ari's hand. "I think you did, too."

Ari relaxed and let herself drift off. She trusted Monica to take care of things while she took a little nap. Just long enough to clear her head and maybe forget about some of what she had done in the shack.

#

Bryn stayed away until Ari's third night in the hospital. It was a special hospital with a designated wing for "special patients." Ari's roommate on her second night was an elderly Great Dane with a bacterial infection. He was moved by the second day and she'd been alone since then.

Bryn was there when Ari woke up, hunched in the visitor's chair and looking forlorn and guilty. She glanced up when Ari moved, happiness and wariness vying for dominance on her face. Finally she stood and moved closer to the bed. She put her hand on Ari's arm, and Ari thought, Cat. Her sense of smell was back. Her brain was still foggy; the doctors said that was a side effect of exposure to the gas.

"Hey."

Ari nodded a greeting.

"I wasn't sure if you'd... if I was welcome. So I kind of stayed away as long as I could. The department cut you a check for your work. It won't cover everything you went through, but hopefully it'll... it'll make things a little more bearable."

"We should break up."

Bryn looked surprised, but only at how blunt the words had been. She nodded. "Yeah. I was kind of thinking the same thing. I didn't want... and after this..."

"Long time coming."

"Yeah," Bryn said again.

"Did you get 'em?"

The silence was so long that Ari started to get scared. If they'd gotten away, if Dale was still in trouble while she was lying here defenseless...

"We got them. Sadie Dillon and Rebecca Collier are in custody. Penelope Hurst is dead."

Somehow Ari doubted that was the full extent of the story, but she was too tired to push. As long as they were in jail, she could rest her eyes.

#

It was night, and raining, when Ari woke again. Dale was asleep in the empty bed next to her. Ari stared at her and fell asleep waiting for Dale to wake.

#

Ari was released from the hospital five days later. Dale had brought her clean clothes and she changed into them before signing the waiver that said she was leaving against medical advice. The doctor warned her not to transform for at least another week, and Ari had no problem making the promise. She wondered if she would ever willingly transform again. She took the bus home, no longer sure where her car was, and crashed in her own bed.

The next morning, she woke up early and dressed. She was careful of her bandaged wounds, moving gingerly to avoid aggravating the wounds on her calves. Beck had caused those injuries. Ari had thought she was trying to tear her apart piece by piece. Maybe she was. She ached at the memory and pushed it aside as she left her apartment.

The blood transfusion she'd gotten at the hospital had been very carefully selected. A canidae blood donor was matched on type, species, and breed. Blood from a normal person would interact badly with her canidae blood, and a transfusion from a different breed of canidae would have caused a volatile mix that would cause intense pain the next time she transformed. Smarter canidae banked their own blood, but Ari had never bothered. She nearly died of blood loss because of her oversight, and she made a vow that she would start as soon as possible.

The office was a welcome sight. It felt like home. She made a quick circuit of the space, touching the little tchotchkes and mementos she had put up but never really looked at anymore. Each one had a memory, and she realized that Sadie had been dead wrong.

She wasn't a wild animal. She wasn't a wolf. She was a person with an amazing ability. She picked up a packet of ketchup and smiled. Her first meal with Dale, a Big Mac torn apart and devoured off the street. Dale Frye, facing down three punks and then rescuing a dog that could have been wild and feral. That was the kind of person Dale was.

"You look good in here."

Ari smiled and turned around. Dale was leaning against the door frame, her hair hanging loose. She wore a lilac-colored top and a long purple skirt. There were no physical marks on her from her ordeal and, in fact, she looked like a vision.

"I was just thinking about you."

"Only good things, I hope."

"Always." She put down the ketchup and walked to her desk. "How's Natalie handling things?"

Dale sighed as she sat across from Ari. "She still insists she hallucinated most of what she saw in the landfill. All that matters is that I'm safe. And that I stay safe."

Ari had been afraid of that, and looked down at her hands. "Ah."

"Don't 'ah' me, Ariadne Willow. Don't go making my decisions for me."

Ari frowned. "But... if she wants you to leave..."

"Then maybe she doesn't love me as much as she thought she did." Her voice cracked a little. "If we can't work this out, then it's a deal-breaker."

"What if I fire you?"

"Then I'll hate you and resent her."

They were silent for a long time.

"Did you hear about Sadie?"

Ari shook her head. Bryn had tried to tell her a few times, but Ari never wanted to hear it. She could tell from Bryn's expression that whatever she was going to say was just going to make her mad.

"She made a deal."

"Motherfucker." She slapped her hand down on the desk and stood up. She faced the window and rested her forehead against the glass with her eyes closed.

Dale sighed. "She gave evidence against Victoria Fennick. They shut down her entire organization. Eighteen thieves throughout Seattle, the majority of them canidae or felidae. It was a huge thing, Ari. Bryn is getting a commendation, and we are getting the biggest check I have ever seen."

"Not worth it."

"No. We won't forget what happened any time soon, but the money will be a good start."

"What's going to happen to Sadie now?"

Dale leaned back. "Witness protection."

She'll be out there somewhere. Looking for vengeance.

Ari sat down and looked across the desk at Dale. They had both been badly beaten. Ari's relationship with Bryn had been completely destroyed. Dale's relationship with Natalie was on life support. A sadistic bitch was out there in the world somewhere with nothing but time to plot and plan and figure out how to get back at the women who had destroyed her whole life. Ari shook her head and tried not to be despondent, but it was difficult.

"We went through all of that, for what? Some money in the bank? What do we have to show for it?"

Dale shrugged. "We have each other. We went through all that, and we're still here."

Ari wanted to scoff, wanted to shake her head in refusal and claim that it only meant they were right back where they started. But it was the truth. They had gone through hell, and they'd both come out the other side. Not unscathed. But together.

That would be enough. At least for the moment.

End

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