Beware of Wolf

by Geonn Cannon

  The officer stopped at the door to look back at Ari. "I'm sure they want to meet you, too."

  "Not right now, they don't." She smiled. "They have more important things to do right now."

  Lucy slid out of the booth first and came around to hug Ari. "Thank you for saving us."

  Ari returned the hug, fighting the emotional response. "My pleasure."

  Melody paused at the edge of the booth. "There was another girl. Before. Jenna. She went away."

  "She's at home. She's safe."

  "Oh. Okay." She breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief, behavior so obviously copied from her parents that it made both women smile, and slid out of the booth. "Okay. Thank you, Diana."

  Ari blinked in confusion and watched as the girls were escorted out. Dale twisted around to look at Ari once they were gone.

  "Diana?"

  "I have no clue."

  Dale slid her hand into the small of Ari's back. "Are you okay? Sore?"

  "I'll need an epic massage tonight."

  "I think that can be arranged." She pecked the corner of Ari's mouth, and Ari turned her head to make it a full-fledged kiss. "It's the least I can do after everything you did today."

  "Thanks."

  Dale nodded toward the window and Ari turned to see Brenda Scott on her knees clutching her daughter and sobbing uncontrollably. A few feet behind her Paul and Lisa Chabot were cradling Lucy between them, both looking to shell-shocked and relieved to cry. Ari knew the tears would come later and closed her eyes as Dale kissed her neck just behind her ear.

  "You're a hero, Ariadne. Nice work."

  Eventually Ari's pain had lessened enough that she could stand. She draped an arm across Dale's shoulders and let her lead the way out of the ice cream shop.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  "Puppy... wake up." Dale stroked Ari's arm to wake her. After an hour-long full body massage, a leisurely hot bubble bath, and making out in bed, Ari was sufficiently exhausted but there was something she didn't want to miss. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she leaned against the headboard. Dale sat back as well, their shoulders touching as Dale turned up the volume on the late news.

  A reporter was standing in front of Luke Becker's house, and Ari could see people in CSU jumpsuits moving in and out of the building like ants. The pretty brunette wore a bright blue parka with her station's insignia on the right breast, clutching the microphone up just below her bottom lip as she held her wind-whipped hair out of her face with the other hand.

  "Have they said anything interesting?"

  Dale nodded. "The kidnapper was Brenda Scott's brother. They think he'd been obsessed with her since they were kids, but he'd always held it in check. Then Melody comes along like a little carbon copy, and he has a second chance to have his little sister back."

  "Ick," Ari muttered.

  "Well... I mean, the way they talked about it, I don't think it was a sexual thing. It was more like his sister was a doll that got broken when she grew up and became a woman. Melody was a replacement for it. Kind of like how Jenna and Lucy were supposed to be replacements for Melody. The guy has something wrong with his head. Other people just aren't... people. They're things to him. And things can be replaced."

  The reporter on TV was finishing her report. "...just why Becker took the other girls - Jenna Morris and Lucy Chabot - is unknown at this time, but investigators believe he planned to use them as part of his plan to escape with Melody."

  The lead anchor, a sculpted plasticine talking head safe and warm back in the studio, said, "Savannah, there's a bit of an unusual twist as to how these girls were rescued, isn't there?"

  Savannah smiled. "Yes, a bit of much-needed levity to the proceedings. If you ask Melody Scott who is responsible for her rescue, she has a very definitive answer for you."

  The scene abruptly cut to Melody sitting in the back of a police car with her mother. "It was Diana. Jenna's friend."

  They cut back to the field reporter. "Her mother enlightened us that Diana was Jenna Morris' invisible friend. When Jenna was rescued last week, she claimed she would send Diana back to save the other girls."

  "Well," the head anchor chuckled, "it looks like she showed up just when she was needed."

  "It certainly does."

  Dale rubbed Ari's thigh through her sweatpants. "Invisible friend, huh?"

  "I can live with that." She lifted Dale's hand, linking their fingers. "Some stuff came up the past few weeks that we haven't exactly had the time to deal with."

  "The stuff with your mom and Milo?"

  "Not specifically, but in that area. I'm worried Milo may have put the idea in your head that I belong with another wolf instead of a human."

  Dale looked away. "Oh. Well, the thought had crossed my mind in a vague..." She pressed her lips together. "Don't you feel the urge sometimes? Somebody who can run with you and prowl, and you who can help you do werewolf yoga?"

  "Those are the same benefits I'd get running with a pack. Support, understanding, comfort when I'm hurt... someone who will come running when I need them. I'm not going to break up with you in order to join a pack. You're my pack."

  "Even without changing into a wolf?" Dale whispered, smiling as she leaned in for a kiss.

  "A wolf wouldn't be able to handle you, baby." She brushed her lips across Dale's. "So don't worry about me running off with Milo or worrying that I'm missing something by being with you. I'd trade a dozen Milos for one of you."

  Dale smiled and kissed Ari properly. "I know you're tired and hurt, but I really want to have sex with the woman who saved three little girls before she gets too famous to give me the time of day."

  Ari smiled and glanced at the clock as she slid down until she was lying flat on the mattress. "It's 10:15." She hooked her hand under Dale's arm and pulled her close. "Now give me my reward."

  #

  Ari was more than happy to let the media cling to the "Invisible Friend, Guardian Angel" story. The families and the police knew the truth, of course, and Detective Lorne ensured that Bitches Investigations received the Missing Melody reward money. Brenda Scott came by the offices to drop off the check personally so she could thank her for what she'd done. Ari awkwardly accepted the check and the gratitude, quickly turning the conversation back to Melody.

  It had been a week since the ordeal ended, but Melody seemed to be adjusting well. She and Lucy had only been kept in the same room for a day, but they seemed to have taken the time to form an extremely strong bond. Melody wouldn't rest until she was shown living proof that Jenna had made it out okay, and a play date had been arranged.

  The three victims of Luke Becker were reunited in Oxbow Park, where a shared imprisonment with Melody was enough to unite Jenna and Lucy. Ari was invited to attend and, at Dale's urging, she showed up. Melody saw her walking across the parking lot and ran to greet her, motioning for her to bend down so she could whisper in her ear.

  "I know you're not really Diana."

  Ari was surprised to hear that. "Oh?"

  Melody nodded and whispered again. "She just had to use you as her hands."

  Ari smiled. "She did. It's okay, though. I don't mind."

  "Good." Melody kissed Ari's cheek and ran back to where her mother was waiting.

  Jenna was so thrilled to see her friend that she cried, clinging to the little blond girl's burgundy coat. The words had poured out of her almost too fast to be heard, but Ari eventually learned that Becker had threatened to come back and grab her again if she ever told anybody about Melody. She was so relieved to have the secret out and to see her friend again that Madeline eventually stopped trying to keep her still for more than a few seconds. When she finally left the park, Jenna was teaching her new friends a secret handshake-slash-dance move, and Ari realized that the only thing Luke Becker had successfully done was creating a group of friends who would now be impossible to break up.

  When she got back to the office, she knew almost immediately that they had a visitor. By the
time she reached the office door she knew who it was.

  Milo was standing up as Ari opened the door. She wore a white tank top under an unbuttoned white blouse with the sleeves rolled up past her elbows. Her hair was bundled into a thick ponytail and topped by an olive green military cap that shaded her eyes. She smirked. "There she is. I smelled you coming from a block away."

  "I don't have to be a wolf to smell you. All that British crap you eat..."

  "Girls," Dale chided. "Play nice."

  Milo grinned. "Just wanted to drop by and say farewell."

  Ari's smile faded. "You're leaving?"

  "Yeah. Wolf manoth's only a few weeks away. When things get bad, I want to be with my mates in England."

  "Right." Ari glanced at Dale and then down at her feet. "I wish the plan had worked out better."

  Milo snorted and rolled her eyes. "No, you don't. Liar. But I understand. I wouldn't let her go either." She looked back at Dale and winked. "Truth is, you were right. Ceremony worked before, but it won't work again. Hunters don't want fixes, they don't want peace. They're sick of the peace and want to fight us. I say we give 'em what they want."

  "How does my mother feel about that?"

  "She helped set up the summit and arranged the treaty. She won't be happy about it fallin' apart, but there's nothing she can do about it. Ceremony or not, wolves would have started dying when wolf manoth started. At least this way we'll be prepared."

  Ari nodded. "I'm glad you understand."

  "Yeah." She stooped and picked up her rucksack, slinging the strap over one shoulder. She held out her hand. "I'm sorry for the way we met, but I'm not sorry I met you."

  "Same here." Ari shook her hand. "Give them hell in England."

  "Thanks. And while I'm gone, the stashes I planted are yours. Dale knows where they are. And speaking of the lovely lady who brought me all this way..." Milo turned to look at Dale. "Miss Frye. It was more than a pleasure getting to know you. Makes it easy to see why Ariadne is willing to go to the mat for you. I'd've not minded being married to you."

  Dale blushed. "In another life, maybe."

  "Yeah." She reached up and pinched the brim of her hat between her thumb and forefinger, pulled it off, and flipped it around. She leaned over the desk and placed the hat on top of Dale's head. "Something to remember me by. Looks better on you anyway."

  Dale settled it better on her head and stood up. "Thank you, Milo."

  Milo smoothed down her hair and nodded. "Well... you two take care of each other, all right?" Her voice cracked a little and she took a deep breath to steady herself. "All right. Got a plane to catch and all that. Hope to see you both again under better circumstances. So long."

  Ari shook her hand again before holding the door for her.

  Dale looked at her new hat in the reflection off the window, then looked at Ari. "She wasn't so bad after all, huh?"

  "She was okay," Ari said with a smile. "And you got a hat out of it. Bonus."

  Dale chuckled. "Do you agree with her? Does it look better on me?"

  Ari scoffed and winked as she went into her office. "Sure. But what doesn't?"

  Dale chuckled and took the hat off and sat it on one corner of her desk as she went back to typing.

  Epilogue

  Slowly but surely, evidence of the blizzard melted away and Seattle got back to business as usual. To Ari the end of the year loomed, the beginning of wolf manoth becoming a threatening glow on the horizon. She hadn't seen her mother since her unexpected arrival at the office and she wasn't going to go out of her way to have a conversation with her unless it was vitally necessary. In the meantime, she was quickly inundated with new cases. The police department agreed to sign them on as freelance consultants on a case-by-case basis due to their performance on the trial run. Word of mouth had spread and they were soon overwhelmed with requests for cases.

  Ari was sitting in the client's chair in front of Dale's desk going through the memos, separating them into piles. One was for referrals, potential clients she would send to agencies she trusted. The middle was for cases she was willing to take herself, basically anything that didn't have to do with little kids. Just because Jenna and Lucy had gotten home safely, Ari wasn't going to press her luck. The third pile was cases she planned to hand over to the police so they could get full investigations.

  Someone knocked and Ari twisted in her seat to see Detective Lorne as he came in. "Detective. What can we do for you?"

  "I brought by the check for your help on the Lucy Chabot case."

  "Another check? How many times are we going to get paid for this case?"

  He grinned. "Hey, the families are grateful and so is the Seattle Police Department. This could have been a mess of epic proportions."

  Dale said, "You said 'help.' By that, do you mean the fact we solved it for you?" Ari smiled at Dale, her head down so that Lorne couldn't see the expression.

  "Semantics." Lorne smiled. "And there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about, Willow, if you have a second."

  "Sure." She put the rest of the memos down on Dale's desk. "I'll finish these later. Step into my office."

  Lorne followed her in and shut the door. Ari leaned against the desk as he crossed to the map of Seattle hanging on her wall and perused the pins that indicated where her stashes were buried. He turned away from it after a few seconds.

  "So, Ariadne Willow."

  "Yes, Don't-remember-your-first-name Lorne?"

  "There's something that's been bugging me since the first time we worked together. And I thought now that we've got a few more cases under our belts and maybe trusted each other a little bit more, you might give me an honest answer if I just asked the question." Ari shrugged and gestured for him to continue. "Last year when you went into Katherine Gavin's house, you wore a wire. She called you a werewolf."

  He smiled and Ari returned the expression as best she could manage. She tried to keep her posture casual, arms crossed over her chest as she listened.

  "Afterward you told me that you have to use unusual methods in your investigations, and that it's too difficult to explain but that they produce results. I was willing to go with it last year and after what just happened it's impossible to deny you're definitely doing something right. But now I just have to ask... I've been feeling something when I'm around you, and I have to know if it's completely off-base."

  For a moment Ari thought he was asking her out on a date, but then she realized what he meant. "Wait. You've been feeling something around me? You mean like we're alike?"

  His eyes widened slightly. "You feel it, too?"

  She took a deep breath, subtly trying to smell if he was a wolf. She didn't pick up anything, but he may have just been better at hiding it than Milo was. He certainly wore too much cologne but it shouldn't have been enough to obliterate his scent.

  "Vaguely," she lied. "I can't believe this."

  Lorne chuckled. "Wow. Explains a lot, I guess."

  Ari smiled and relaxed. "It'll make it a lot easier on me whenever I show up at one of your crime scenes."

  "Well, sure. Now that we know we're on the same side." He put his hands on his hips and chuckled. "You know, I've never met anyone who was like us. I mean, outside of my family."

  "Really? I've run into a few here and there. I could introduce you."

  "That would be great. But I don't want you to think I'm going to be a third wheel, invading your group of friends. Pretty soon there will be enough of us in town that it'll be a damn country club." He crossed the office to examine the map again on the wall.

  Ari furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

  "You know, for wolf manoth," he said without looking back at her. "Hunters are coming in from all over the world. We've had fucking wolves coming out of the woodwork up here for decades. It's about time we did a little exterminating."

  Ari's breath was caught in her throat. He hadn't sensed the wolf part of her, he had felt the part of her that came from the rapist. She felt nau
seated but forced herself to hide it as Lorne looked at her again.

  "Did you hear the wolves were trying to renew the treaty?"

  "I didn't. What stopped them?"

  "Who the hell knows? Maybe they got distracted sniffing each other's butts. Real shame, too. That ceremony would have been hunter heaven. A dozen of the mutts with their guards down? It would be like sending engraved invitations to a slaughter."

  Ari had visions of picking up her paperweight and smashing it into his skull. If she had caved, if she had let the ceremony occur, then the hunters would have killed everyone there. Her mouth was dry.

  "So. When Katherine Gavin called me a werewolf, you didn't--"

  "No! The ultimate insult to a hunter, and it just slipped by me. And when you talked about having 'alternative methods of investigations'... I never even dreamed you meant hunter skills." He laughed. "Some detective I am, huh?"

  Ari forced a smile. "I guess we both deserve to feel a little humiliated."

  "I finally put it together when you managed to track down all three of the missing girls in no time flat. I mean, instincts like that, gotta be a hunter."

  She smiled vaguely. "Yeah. Well, as amazing as it is to know we have this in common, maybe we can catch up later. Dale and I have a lot of work--"

  "Oh! Yes. Of course. I just couldn't hold back any more. I finally put the pieces together and I wanted to... you know. Let you know I knew."

  "I appreciate it."

  He glanced at the door. "Does she know...?"

  "No. Dale is, uh, out of it."

  He nodded and mimed zipping his lips as Ari led him out. Dale looked up and smiled. "Good to see you again, Detective."

  "And you, Miss Frye." He looked at Ari and smiled. "I'll see you around, Ariadne."

  She could only nod dumbly, watching the door long after it had closed behind him. Dale stood up after he was gone, watching Ari and then coming around her desk to touch Ari's elbow. "Sweetie? Is everything okay?"