Dogs of War

by Geonn Cannon

  Ari turned her head and brushed her lips against Dale's forehead. Dale murmured, and the sound was echoed from across the room. Ari watched Gwen until her eyelids fluttered open. She eased away from Dale, who woke long enough to understand what was happening. She scooted to one side of the chair so Ari could get up and kneel next to her mother's bed.

  "Hey. Are you awake?"

  Gwen stared at her. "I don't know. Everything's..." Her eyes rolled back. "I think I'm high."

  Ari smiled. "Well, Dr. Frost pumped you up with a lot of stuff before the operation."

  "I operated?"

  "No..."

  "I'm not a doctor. Don't let me operate on anyone."

  "I'll do my best."

  Gwen focused on Ari again. "Hum. This is awkward. I death-bedded you. Said a lot of things."

  Ari nodded. "Yes, you did. It was very nice to hear them, but I won't hold them against you." She took her mother's hand. "Keighley is in prison, Mom."

  "Mm. Good, sweetheart." She smiled and squeezed Ari's hand. "Oh, boy. I think I'm going back to sleep now."

  "Okay. I'll be here when you wake up."

  "No, no, no." Gwen shook her head. "Go home. Don't watch me sleep. Take Dale home."

  Ari considered arguing, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. She leaned in and kissed Gwen's cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mom. I love you."

  "Ah... so I didn't dream that."

  "No. I'll say it again when you're not dying or drugged."

  Gwen smiled, and the expression slipped as she passed out again. She kissed her mother's cheek again, letting her lips linger as she remembered all the years she'd hated the woman she was currently crying over, all the hurt feelings and rage that had fallen away like a veil. Now she could only remember the woman who had taught her what it was to be a wolf, how to survive in the streets when all she had was her wits. The strong woman who had taken it upon herself to fight a war to protect her daughter. She sat up and freed her hand from Gwen's, smoothed down her hair, and then went to where Dale had fallen back to sleep. She kissed Dale's lips to wake her.

  "Mm. What? What's wrong?"

  "Nothing's wrong." She held out her hands and Dale took them. "Come on. We're going home."

  Chapter Eighteen

  January 17

  The note said that he didn't have any family, and that he found a certain irony in hiring her for the job. He paid her usual rates, hiring her for two days in order to follow his instructions properly. Ari told Dale to donate the check to a charity for the families of fallen police officers and picked up the package from the mortuary. She drove north to a cabin in the foothills of the Cascades where Kyle Lorne and his father had bonded over hunting techniques. She hiked into the wilderness behind the cabin until she came to a clearing and looked out over the Salish Sea.

  "Well, Kyle, you were right. Breathtaking." She looked at the box of ashes. "I can see why you'd want it to be here."

  He'd gotten progressively worse during the days after the war's end. He decided he was done waiting and finished the job Gwen's bite had started. Ari tapped her thumbs on the side of the box and looked over the water again. It sucked that there was no one to give him a proper funeral, but the note he left behind said that the hunters were his only family, and "recent events" had soured him on the entire group. So there was only her, and she was at a loss.

  "You were a good man, Kyle. You did some shitty things, but in the end you overcame your upbringing and did what was right. I just wish it could have ended differently. I'm going to miss you, Detective."

  She let the ashes loose and watched until the wind spread the cloud too fine to see. She tucked the box under her arm and took in the scenery for a long time before she finally walked back to her car. She drove back to Seattle thinking about the wolfsbane outbreak. Tarun had used his position in Orarian Group, combined with the newfound support of Vaughn Wakefield, to destroy the components being used to create the drug. Every hunter in town was ordered to surrender whatever supplies they had on-hand or face the consequences. No one elaborated about what the consequences would be; no one needed it to be clarified.

  Diana Macallan and Dale oversaw the destruction of the wolfsbane Gwen had stolen. Owen managed to get them into a construction site afterhours and they spent a good portion of the night mixing the wolfsbane in with unmixed concrete that was due to be turned into a basement floor within the next few days. They made sure there were no wolves on the crew just to be safe, and Milo watched from across the street as the blended concoction was poured and left to set. In a few weeks the poison would be harmless even to wolves, but until then it was buried so deep no one would be at risk.

  Ari got home in time for the farewell party being held at the Bull and Terrier. Hannah and Gwen were both back on their feet, albeit shakily, and the Brits were preparing for a triumphant return to England. Their pack leader had flown out as soon as he heard about Hannah's injury, and Milo introduced Ari to Anton Clarke. He was older and amicably gruff, with thick blonde curls and a shaggy beard. He shook Ari's hand, then eyed Dale.

  "This is the human?"

  Dale resisted the urge to gulp. "Yes, sir."

  He narrowed his eyes, looked her up and down, and then huffed. "Could've fooled me. You act like a wolf, from what I hear."

  Dale smiled with relief. "Thank you for the compliment, sir."

  He raised an eyebrow and then smacked her on the arm. "Thanks for saving Hannah. Shame to think she wasted all that ink on her tattoos just to lose them all now."

  Dale laughed. "Yes, sir, that was my main concern, too."

  They drank, they laughed, and they celebrated the early end of wolf manoth with free bottomless pitchers provided by the owner of the bar. Milhous made certain that everyone through the door knew that Ari and the Brits had single-handedly saved every wolf in Seattle, and they were inundated by offers to buy appetizers and drinks were stacked on top of drinks. Dale's presence was accepted by all; she had more than earned her spot in the back booth, but she tried to be unobtrusive.

  Ari went to the bar for a refill and Milo joined her. "Hey."

  "Big night."

  Milo nodded. "It's not every night a war ends. Looks like this time it might actually keep. Well done, wolfy." She bumped Ari's arm with hers. "We were thinking of going for a run after we leave here. The others haven't had a chance to really roam in America. It smells different here. It's a good smell."

  "Good enough to stay this time?"

  Milo shook her head. "My family is in England."

  "I understand. I'll miss you."

  "I'll miss you, too. You and Dale." She looked over her shoulder at Dale, who was matching Owen shot-for-shot. "There's a good pack. Two-woman pack... who needs more?"

  "Not me," Ari said.

  Milo's eye was caught by movement near the dartboard. "Looks like someone told Ant that your mother took over as Alpha in his absence."

  Ari looked and saw Gwen and Anton standing together against the wall. They were talking animatedly, but it didn't look angry to her. She was about to say so when Gwen laughed, and Anton reached up to brush his hand over hers on the pretense of taking her glass. Ari's eyes widened just as Milo reached the same conclusion and said, "Oh, bloody hell!"

  "Your Alpha is hitting on my Mommy."

  "Doesn't exactly look one-sided there, pup!"

  Ari laughed and covered her eyes. "Oh, God."

  "Good on ‘em, though."

  "Yeah," Ari said. She took the glass that had just been left in front of her and toasted in the general direction of her mother without looking. "Cheers."

  They both drank and Milo chuckled at the thought. "You want to come on the run with us, you're more'n welcome to. Be happy to have you."

  Ari shook her head. "If I'm going to get naked and work up a sweat..."

  "Dale's gonna be there."

  "Damn skippy," Ari said. Milo held up her glass and Ari tapped hers against the side of it. "I've stopped getting nauseated every half-hour
, so I think the wolfsbane Keighley infected me with is completely out of my system."

  Milo said, "So you're not gonna have her tie you up tonight?"

  "I didn't say that." She winked at Milo and then smiled. "When do you head home?"

  "Tomorrow morning."

  Ari held out her hand. "In case I don't see you before that, thanks for showing up. You saved the day as much as I did."

  "To us," Milo said. "We may have been a temporary pack, but we were damn good."

  "Hell yeah, we were."

  Milo finished her drink with that toast, then tapped her knuckles on the bar. "We're out. Go. Take that girl of yours home. Try not to think about what your Mama is doing with Ant."

  Ari groaned and threw a handful of pretzels at Milo's head as she retreated. Ari retrieved Dale, who had to extricate herself from the booth amid the groans of everyone she'd been entertaining. She kissed the top of Owen's head, gave both Hannah and Mia kisses on the cheek, and then finally allowed herself to be dragged out into the cool night air. Dale sighed and sagged against Ari as if she'd left her energy behind and the tether was snapped when the door closed.

  "I like your family."

  "Our family," she corrected, kissing Dale's hair. "Come on. You're drunk."

  "I am. Very very."

  They leaned against each other as they walked up the street. Dale glanced at an alley and said, "That's where I kissed Milo."

  "More info."

  "She was naked."

  Ari said, "More information?"

  Dale chuckled. "I thought she was you. I mean, a wolf swoops in and saves the day? It was an honest mistake. Besides, you kissed her, too."

  "That was different. And she kissed me. This is the second time you've kissed her. It's starting to become a habit."

  Dale sighed. "Good thing she's going back to England tomorrow."

  "I'll just have to find a way to make you forget her."

  "Tall order."

  Ari slipped her hand into the back pocket of Dale's jeans and squeezed, holding on tight as Dale squealed and tried to twist away from her.

  "I think I'm up to it."

  Dale nuzzled Ari's neck. "Everyone thought I was a hood. We could play that tonight."

  "You want me to change while we're--"

  "No! But I have a scarf I could put on over my hair... and I could come into the bedroom." She added a breathy note to her voice. "Gran'ma! What a big, lovely mouth you have..."

  Ari refused to play along with the tease, but she smiled and pulled Dale close as they let the cold night air take the edge off their drunkenness enough so they could drive home. She didn't know how drunk Dale was or how long it would take before one of them was confident enough to get behind the wheel of a car, but she didn't care. At the moment, despite the weather and the lingering ache in her left side from where she'd been thrown around by Keighley, she felt as if she could walk until dawn as long as Dale was by her side.

  Epilogue

  January 20

  The celebrations had ended and Dale declared it was way past time to get back to business as usual. She went through the backlog of calls, contacting clients and arranging meetings for those who hadn't moved on to other agencies. She sorted the cases by order of importance based on their time-sensitivity and made the appointments for the following day. When she left for lunch, she took a check Ari had signed the night before and drove to Dr. Frost's office. He had just sat down for his own break, but he agreed to see her. His politeness turned into genuine happiness when he saw she'd brought him money.

  "This is unnecessary, Miss Frye. We were at war. I considered myself a medic, like... Hawkeye. I loved that show."

  "Yes, but even those doctors got paid. It's the least we can do. Hannah and Gwen were both... well. Let's not dwell on that." She smiled. "You saved my girlfriend's mother. We want to make sure you're compensated for that."

  Dr. Frost nodded. "Thank you. It's very much appreciated."

  "You're very welcome."

  She stood, but Frost stopped her with an upraised hand. "You could have mailed this. Avoided the whole attempt where I try to give it back. Was there a particular reason you wanted to drop it off in person?"

  Dale shook her head. "No... not really. I mean." She twisted her lips, fought her desire to just smile and walk out, and took her seat again. "Have you heard of canidae half-shifting? They turn a paw into a hand, for instance, just for a few seconds?"

  "I've heard of it. Most don't attempt it because it takes a lot of energy for not a lot of reward. Has Ariadne been doing that?"

  "Milo... you remember her? She taught Ari how to do it a few weeks ago. She hasn't done it much, to my knowledge, but during this whole wolf manoth thing she did it twice. The second time she couldn't unclench her hand for a few minutes afterward. It was like a full-arm cramp. Is that normal?"

  Frost considered the question as he chewed a bite of his sandwich. "Well. You have to understand, of course, that very little is ‘normal' when it comes to Ariadne. She was turned into a canidae through a very unique procedure. All canidae feel pain when they change, but none feel it to the extent she experiences. I've been monitoring her since she started coming to see me, and her pain is only going to worsen as she gets older. By the time she's forty, if not before, she may be walking with a cane. But if..." He wiped a crumb from his lip and shook his head as he stared at a spot on the table. "If she experienced even mild paralysis after a change, it could be a worrying indication of how her condition is progressing."

  Dale swallowed the lump in her throat so she could speak. "You mean Ari could be paralyzed."

  "Not any time soon. Changing only one limb causes extreme reactions, but yes. It could be indicative that sometime down the road, Ariadne could find herself permanently paralyzed in one form or the other."

  Dale was certain she was polite, that she thanked Frost for his time and left without simply walking out of the room, but she couldn't remember details later on. She stopped at a trail and walked until the heat left her face, until she could breathe normally. She wiped her hands over her face and went back to her car and continued composing herself on the drive to Ari's favorite deli. It would be Ari's first non-home-cooked meal in months, so Dale wanted to get her favorite sandwich. What was the point of breaking a fast if she didn't do it right?

  She drove back to the office and presented Ari with the sandwich. "Oh, bless you. Oh, my God." She opened the wrapper and inhaled, leaning back in her chair with a near-orgasmic moan. "God, I've missed that smell. Thank you so much."

  "My pleasure."

  "Where were you?"

  "I, uh, stopped by Dr. Frost's office to give him a check for helping Gwen and Hannah."

  Ari nodded and took a bite of her sandwich. It ballooned out her cheek but she spoke around it. "What did he have to say?"

  "Nothing much," Dale lied. "He tried to refuse it, but... you know. I insisted."

  "Good girl."

  Dale smiled. "Did you want me to do the background check on that nanny?"

  "Would you mind?"

  "Not at all." She stopped at the door and said Ari's name. Ari looked up and Dale smiled. "It's good to be back at work."

  Ari smiled and wiped her little finger across her lip to clear it of sauce. "It's really good."

  Dale winked and went to her desk. Frost had said the paralysis was only a potential problem, and even then it wasn't necessarily fated. She would keep an eye on Ari's condition, and she knew Dr. Frost would keep on top of it as well, and she would keep track of any tightness she felt during a massage in case any of them became chronic. Ari didn't need another thing to worry about, not so quickly after putting the lid on wolf manoth.

  For the time being, Dale was happy to do the worrying so Ari could focus on living day to day. There would be time enough for worry down the road.

  For now they had work to do.

  About the Author

  Geonn Cannon is the author of 20 novels (and counting). He was born in
Oklahoma and spends his free time thinking up cool and exciting things to do. Then he creates fictional characters and has them to all the cool and exciting things for him, since it's much easier than actually going outside himself. Geonn is currently working on a tie-in novel to the television series Stargate SG-1, and a script for a webseries version of Riley Parra.Contrary to popular belief, he does sleep. Usually every day.

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