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The sun was beating down mercilessly from a cloudless blue sky as Chance drove. She and Agent Gibbons were driving towards the Arizona border, on a tip of kidnapping and perhaps exploitation of a minor. She had opted to skip breakfast. The small town of Wolves Run was just about as brutal and backwater as you could get. She had been there once on a missing persons case, and she had felt like she had stepped back in time, and the time she had stepped back into wasn’t a pleasant one. A couple of hours later, they pulled into the tent village of Wolves Run. Dirty, filthy people stared at them, some sniffing the air as they stepped out of the jeep. Other’s openly growled. She wouldn’t debase her animal brethren by comparing them to animals. Animals were cleaner than this. This was the worst of animals and humans reflected in this place. “Holy shit,” Gibbons muttered out, staring around them in disgust. “Agent Gibbons, might I remind you of your training. Please don’t make eye-contact, any one of them could take it as a challenge.” The young agent’s eyes immediately went to the tires of the jeep, becoming fascinated with the wear of the tread. Chance slowly reached to her belt and unclipped her badge and held it up. “I’m Agent Pavel. Somebody reported a kidnapping?” Silence and hostile stares were their only answers. “Can I please speak to the town Alpha?” Genetics was a cruel mistress, and these Shapeshifters tied to the middle of nowhere were proof of it. Years of breeding with very little outside genetic material and the simple fact that Shapeshifters of different species could not generally produce children. A werecat and werewolf could have as much sex as they wanted, although pack laws frowned on such a thing, and never produce offspring 99% of the time, but that 1% would get you; and horrible monstrously mutated children were the outcome. It was the same with Shapeshifters and humans, but they were more closely related in the genetic code so 20% of the time the pairing would produce offspring, she was proof of that. Then only 5% of those births would the child be born with the ability to shift skins. Much like Ligers or Mules, all such cross species children were sterile. There was a parting and a huge bear-like man lumbered forward, and Chance was pretty certain he was the Alpha and a were-bear. Chance was a good 5’10” and Gibbons topped 6”, but the Alpha topped them both and towered over them. “I’m Urs, leader of Wolves Run. Why does meat demand to speak to me?” Gibbons mouth pinched into a thin line. “Urs, I’m a federal agent, not meat. You’d be wise to remember that, or I’ll crown a new Alpha here.” She met his gaze unflinching. He growled for a second then his great square jaw twisted into a grin. “You got balls. I’ll give you that, girl.” “Agent Pavel,” she corrected and watched him stiffen. “You related to Zoya.” “None of your business, the fact that I’m a Federal Agent investigating a kidnapping should be enough.” Urs continued to frown and rubbed his jaw. Chance wondered if it helped jumpstart his brain. “You listen here, meat, there’s been no kidnapping. It’s harsh out here, regulated to the middle of nowhere. You’re sister’s pack has lush hunting ground compared to this, we make do however we can.” These villages, in the harshest places, she knew were made up of the dredges of pack society, grandchildren of those kicked out of packs for horrible crimes. “I want to speak to whoever called this in and then I can be on my way.” Urs laughed and looked out over his people. “Okay, whoever called the pretty meat step up?” Chance rolled her eyes and pointed to the telephone wire that went into one of the few buildings. Gibbons nodded and followed her. “Where are you going?” Urs bellowed. “Investigating,” Chance muttered. “Um, Agent Pavel, not to be overly concerned here, but he’s gaining on us,” Gibbons said nervously. “Urs, please don’t make me shoot you. We are issued silver bullets.” “Thanks, Ma’am, he’s slowed down to just trailing us.” “I think he doesn’t want us to investigate, what do you think, Gibbons?” “I’d have to agree, Ma’am.” They opened the rickety door, and Chance caught the musk of violence and the smell of blood. A woman cowered in a corner. “Watch the door, Gibbons.” “On it…” She heard the quite snap as Gibbons undid the strap around his sidearm. “Miss, Miss, are you alright?” The woman’s face looked like ground-up hamburger, and her eyes were swollen shut. “Please, please, don’t hurt me,” she gurgled out. Chance kneeled next to her. “Shh, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” She made soothing noises and gently stroked the woman’s shoulder and back, letting her know she was here. With the woman’s senses being so cut off with her swollen shut eyes and broken nose, Chance had to do what she could to prove she wasn’t the one who attacked her. “Did you call in a kidnapping?” “Yes…” The woman dissolved into sobs. “My baby, he sold my baby.” “You lying bitch,” Urs howled from outside and rammed the door so suddenly Gibbons was taken off guard and thrown into the opposite wall. Chance whirled up quickly, drawing her weapon and firing it into a clawed hand gripping the door jam. Chance marched over to the howling man whose features kept radically shifting between human and animal. Her right eye ticked with suppressed rage and she shoved her service weapon into the man’s screeching maw. “The he in the statement ‘he sold my baby’ I assume that’s you? No, don’t try speaking, just shake your head.” There was a moment where the hulking man just stared at her murderously. Chance just grinned, meeting his gaze, and then slowly stepped on his bleeding hand. “Did you sell a little girl?” She put more and more force until he howled out again in pain, and frantically nodded. “Who did you sell her too?” She slowly removed the gun. “The cub was mine. I had every right to do with it what I wanted. Besides, the bitch needed a lesson, I come first, not some whelp.” Chance gritted her teeth to the point she thought her teeth might crack, and gouged her thumb into his eye. “Focus, Urs. Who…” jab, “Did…” jab, “you sell the girl to?” “The preacher, he comes up the road from the west once a year and I sell a cub or two to him.” It was casual attitude that burrowed down under her skin and turned her vision red. “You fucking piece of shit…that was a child not a commodity!” she howled out and began to savagely kick the Alpha of Wolves Run into submission. “Chance, Chance!” Gibbons shouted. “Stop it! Stop it! You’re going to kill him – I think.” There was blood on her pants and boots, and the large man was curled up in a ball, whining and crying. All she could do was stare at him in disgust. She said nothing until they got in the car. “I’m sorry,” she said, finally. Gibbons shrugged, “For what? He attacked two federal officers. The way I see it, you were protecting us.” Chance just shook her head and rested her hands on the steering wheel. “Where’s the woman?” “She won’t leave him, or her home. She wants us to save her baby and bring her back here.” Chance bit her lip as she stared out into the depressed town, caught up in its own circle of savagery and tribal laws, with disgust. This is what humans thought they were like, and this was why they needed to be destroyed. “Yeah,” Gibbons just agreed. She started the car and turned it down the road leading west. “Lead?” “Yeah, Urs, told me he sold the girl to a preacher man. He comes once a year and buys a kid or two.” Gibbons shivered and made a face. “Preacher, yeah right, I’m thinking kiddie porn.” Tiredly, Chance had to agree. It was late afternoon, and they had just crossed out of Reservation land when they spotted a small, white, gleaming adobe church. “Preacher?” “Probably,” Gibbons agreed, wiping his tired eyes. The tires crunched along the gravel road as they pulled to a stop next to a sickly looking tree. They stepped out into the blistering hot day. Their boots crunched softly against the gravel as they walked towards the church. “The shit we do to each other, it always amazes me,” Gibbons said quietly. “Yeah,” was all Chance said, but it didn’t anymore, and maybe it was time to rethink her life. There was no door on the church, and they walked into the bleak coolness. There were simple wooden pews, all facing an ornate altar and pulpit. “Seems pretty much straight forward…” Chance pointed out the stain glass windows depicting Satan in various guises fooling humans into temptation. “That’s weird. Not one image of Christ on his Cross.” “Guess it’s not one of those churches.” And both agents wondered what kind of church it was. A noise startled them and both drew their service weapons, pointing them at the noise. A small child was bent over scrubbing the floors. Chance frowned and motioned Gibbons to cover her. She moved forward. When her shadow loomed over the boy, he frowned and looked up. And Chance fought bile down. The boy’s eyes had been burned out. She watched his nose sniff the air. “Hello?” he rasped out. “Hi there,” Chance forced a cheery tone. The boy stiffened. “I’m sorry. I’m not supposed to speak to strangers.” “It’s okay,” she eased out, but didn’t get closer to him. “You don’t need to speak to me. Is there an adult around who I can speak to?” The boy paused, looking fearful. “It’s okay, I’m just lost, and need directions,” she lied. “Two seconds and I’ll be gone.” “I’m sorry, Father Francis is doing a cleansing and can’t be disturbed.” “A cleansing?” She didn’t like the sound of that. “Yes, God points the way to souls that can be saved.” “Saved? Saved from what?” “From the beast…” “Did you need to be cleansed?” The boy started to get agitated. “I’m pure now, pure. The beast has been driven from me. It used to look out from my eyes, so the Father had to take them so the beast couldn’t use them.” “Shhh, I’m sorry. I’m glad the Father was able to help you.” “Yes, the Father saved me.” The boy curled up and began to rock back and forth. Chance got up and walked back towards Gibbons. “You hear that?” she whispered. “Yeah, real fatherly type we got here.” “Thoughts?” “He has to be nearby. There’s no way he’d leave the boy unattended. The boy is probably safe to be left alone, because he can’t see to escape.” “Gibbons, that boy doesn’t want to escape.” “Point… I’m thinking there’s a basement. Cleansing, I’m thinking, aren’t clean and polite things, so underground somewhere, where we can’t hear the screams.” They searched the main room. And then beyond that room was a smaller room that was an office. There, they found a trapdoor hidden under a rug with a trunk on top of it. They opened the wide, wooden door and found stone steps leading down. With each step down, Chance’s brain became icy and cold. She didn’t want to be here. She didn’t want to see where this ended. It was an almost physically real feeling of fear rising up inside of her. When they reached the bottom, there was a string of naked bulbs lining the stooped rocky ceiling. The stagnant air currents smelled of fear, rage, blood, piss, sex, and rotting flesh. Some of it was decades old. Chance choked and Gibbons stared at her funny. “What is it?” “Don’t you hear them?” “Who?” She drew her weapon and started forward. As they walked down a ways, rusted iron doors began to appear, and Gibbons nearly gagged as he caught a whiff of what was coming from one room. Chance walked over and slid back a small window in the door, gazing inside. The rotting corpse of a young cougar kit laid decomposing in a corner of the room, attached to the wall by a chain. “In the name of God, I drive the beast from you. Repent in his name and let this unholy taint from the union of beast and man be lifted from you.” Chance felt herself fade, choking in old memories. “My sister didn’t die giving birth to a freak.” Crack of the bat against her knee, and she jerked and cried out in pain. “You’re a human, and you’ll act like it.” The thump and cry wrenched from her lips as the bat was swung and connected between her ribs and hips on her unprotected kidneys. “I don’t want to hear about you growling and attacking some boy at school. My sister gave birth to a perfectly normal, human girl. You understand me?” He picked her up and rattled her until she begged and pleaded for him to stop. Then he just threw her back to the floor. “So come on. The moon’s full, so you go right ahead and slip your skin. I’m waiting for you to shame my sister’s name by proving what kind of freak you are.” Chance lay all night burning with the need to answer the call of the moon, but too afraid of her Uncle Paul and what he would do to her if she did. She fought the call with every fiber of her being, sobbing and crying into the floor of her bedroom. Shaky and pale, she grasped the cool stonewall next to her. Gibbons was standing next her, but he sounded like he was forever away. “Pavel? Pavel, are you okay?” There came the slap of a fist on flesh and the cry of a little girl. Chance ripped her arm out of Gibbons’ hand and charged down the hallway. She threw her body at the door and it easily popped off its hinges. She didn’t even see them really. There was the smell of blood and fear. A small, dirty, brown-haired girl crouched at a man’s feet. The man was naked and shaved of all body hair, his eyes had the wide fevered look of a zealot, and an erection to prove either his love of small girls, violence, or both. She had her gun out, and had him off the girl and pinned to the wall. “She was just a little girl. She hadn’t hurt anybody. Why?” she growled out, choking the man as her arm pinned his throat. “Agent Pavel, Jesus stop!” Gibbons shouted at her. “Beast’s eyes… Beast’s eyes…” the preacher gibbered as Chance stared at the man in front of her. “I’ll show you a fucking beast,” she snarled out, her teeth long and cruel, suddenly able to rend meat from bone. “Pavel! What the fuck! Put him down.” The other agent crossed over to the enraged woman, never having seen her act like this. She was always cool and professional. Sensing Gibbons behind her, she turned and knocked him away. “What? Why the fuck should he get away with hurting a little girl whose only crime in life is to be born fucking different?” “Pavel? I’m not sure what’s wrong with you. But he’s not going to get away with it, we caught him.” Chance sighed, “Nobody caught him. He got away with it my whole life. Nobody fucking cared.” “Pavel, what the hell are you talking about?” Chance shut her eyes, feeling overwhelmed and tired. The naked preacher cowering next the wall suddenly stood up and shrieked, “I must take away the devil’s eyes!” and lunged away from the wall. In quick, precise moves, Gibbons and Pavel raised their services weapons and shot him in the chest and the head. #################### The sun was low in the sky, turning the blue horizon into purples and orange. The old church was a circus of law enforcement. Chance just sat in the driver’s seat of her jeep, her legs dangling out the open car door to rest on the ground, staring at nothing. “Chance?” She looked up, to the pinched, unhappy face of her supervisor. “Quite a little freak show we found inside there. Twenty years of fucked up shit went on in those caves under that church. The little girl is going to be fine.” “But…” she said, sensing a ‘but’. “Somebody worked that dead guy over before you and agent shot him. Gibbons says he was protecting you, and if that’s true, I’m going to have to take his badge.” “Sir, stop fucking fishing…I lost it. I worked that lunatic over. And you know what? I don’t feel remotely bad about it.” “Agent Pavel, I recommend you keep your voice down.” She blinked in surprise. “This is what’s going to happen. You are going on vacation. Effective as of now, you will keep your head down, and your ass out of the line of fire, until this investigation winds down. I don’t want to hear from you for at least a month. You got me?” “Sir?” “Get your shit together, Agent Pavel,” was all he said as he walked away. She stared at the chaos going on around them, and then slowly pulled her feet into the jeep and shut the door. She started it up and pulled off down the gravel road. She was aware of the blood caked on her clothes, and the shit churning in her head. She should go see Zoya, she would know what to do, how to help the disquiet inside. She pulled up in front of Zoya’s house, and jumped out of the jeep without even shutting the car door behind her. She marched up the steps and banged on the door of the two-story house. It was getting dark rapidly, the sun now gone from the sky. Her senses felt like they were on overload. Everything she had fought so hard to ignore, or to shove under the blanket of a mixed-breed heritage, was slowly unraveling and she with it. Terry opened the door, the older woman dressed for bed. Her confused look disappeared into a happy smile, “Chance, nice to see you again.” “Terry, I need to see Zoya.” “She’s…well, now is not a good time.” “I don’t care that she’s with one of her whores. I need to see her.” “I’ll see if she’s free.” “No need, Terry,” came the slightly accented coated words of Duncan, the big man appearing from somewhere. He stopped moving, his bulk blocking the stairs. “Go home and come back in the morning. Your sister has needed you for years, but you turned your back on her and the meaning of pack and family. So now that she’s secure in a new family, a new pack, you suddenly want to be a part of that. No fucking way. Come back in the morning.” “Now, Duncan…” the older woman broke in, her tone admonishing. “Fuck you, Duncan. It’s important. Now get out of my way.” The big man laughed and widened his stance. “Move me, Bitch.” Chance growled and he just growled back, his form flickering for a moment and dark hair started to cover his body, and his nose seemed to stretch out. “Fuck this,” Chance muttered and pulled her gun. “Get out of my way or I’ll fill your kneecaps full of silver.” The big, hairy werewolf in her way just grinned and seemed to dare her. She decided, at the last minute, to have pity on him, and shot him in the thigh, the nice beefy part, so all it hit was muscle, a clean through and through. Sure, it would hurt like a bitch, now, but he’d get up from it. The Were crumpled to the ground howling in pain. Chance strode forward and smacked him once, a full swing, the butt of her gun hitting his temple, and then she started up the stairs. She knocked on Zoya’s door. “Thirty seconds to stop what you’re doing and then I’m coming in,” she shouted. “One, two, three, four, five…28, 29, 30…” She put her hand on the door and found a rather rumpled and pissed-off Zoya staring at her, and a small supermodel-thin blonde thing getting dressed. She pursed her lips and said, “Is it just my imagination or do they get younger and younger?” Zoya rolled her eyes, “She’s well over eighteen. Weres are just youthful looking, unlike the humans that you love to hang out with.” “And what is it with you and blondes?” “I don’t know, Chance, what is it with you and humans?” the white-blonde woman snapped. Humans had murdered their parents, yet Chance repeatedly chose them over her. Humans could be fun for a good time, on occasion, but that was it. Chance gritted her teeth and conceded that point, not even wondering how her sister knew so much about what had been going on in her life. As soon as the bimbo had gone, Chance shut the door, but found herself unsure where to start. “The beginning is normally a good place,” Zoya stated, starting to get concerned. “And put your gun away.” Chance blinked and realized she still had her gun drawn. She put it back in its holster then sat down. “I’m a Were.” Zoya’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Yes, and?” “I’m a Were.” “Still not following you, Chance…” “Until a couple of hours ago, I thought I was human…well, a mixed-breed, but no animal changing for me.” “Ha, ho, wow.” Zoya got up and threw on a robe, her face a concert of mixed emotions. “I thought all this time you were just being an asshole. How could you just forget something like that?” “I don’t…Paul…” “I knew that asshole was doing something to you.” “He…he…he would come in my room on full moon nights and, and if I showed any sign of changing, he’d beat me.” Chance was detached from it still. Really…it seemed like it had happened to someone else. Zoya was stunned. She had always just thought Chance chose to not change and run with them, that her sister had turned her back on her pack. “Do you not remember running with us as a child with father and your pack mother?” “No,” was Chance’s quite response. In truth, Zoya realized that Chance did not remember her pack and pack ties at all. “I’ll fucking kill that piece of filth.” She’d track him down and gut him. He’d managed, in the twelve years he’d had Chance, to take away who she was. Chance’s mind slid away from Uncle Paul and all the full moon nights hidden in her room praying he wouldn’t come. “I don’t want to talk about Paul. I want to understand how I’m going to change.” Zoya, laughed, “You’re not going to change. You’re going to be the same old stubborn, pig-headed person you were before.” “Jesus! I’m not the person I was when I woke this morning, and you’re laughing.” “Whoa,” Zoya said, feeling Chances distress, and for the first time noticed the blood on her sister’s clothes. “Why don’t you sleep here and we’ll talk some more in the morning, when you’re calmer?” Chance started pacing. “I don’t want to talk in the morning. I want to talk about it now. In one week I’m going to get furry, I don’t know anything about that.” “Of course you do, stop being so phobic about your heritage. You’re a Were, and if you’re a control freak Alpha now, you’re still going to be one next week,” the white-haired woman snapped “I don’t want to be!” she shouted. The words ripped into the space between them, creating a void of silence. Zoya looked like she had been slapped, and Chance felt bad, but it was the truth. To be a Were would take away everything in life she had worked for: her job, her ability to help people from within the system, to show that the government wasn’t blind to the horrors going on here. As a Were, she could not hold any sort of government job. And if this got out, there would be an outcry of Weres hiding in human society ready to do all sorts of horrible things. She could just see the slippery slope of logic there. “How dare you!” Zoya shouted, and strode forward. Her hands grabbed the material of Chance’s shirt and shook her sister. “So now the truth about how you feel about us comes out.” “No. Jesus…no…” “You are so lucky to have such a heritage, yet you piss on it. We are not good enough for you, because your life is going so well, Chance?” “It’s my life,” she spat back, “one I made without you or Uncle Paul. I did all this on my own, and I’m damn proud of the job I have. I make a difference. I help people, I help your people, and if I’m a Were, it’s all gone. Why can’t you see that?” Zoya’s eyes flashed sliver and she growled, “I see a rogue wolf, who’s been spoiled. You don’t help my people, you help your people.” She let go and shoved Chance, and the dark-haired woman stumbled and fell through the open bedroom door. Chance sneered, “No, what you see is someone who isn’t charmed by you, and won’t be used by you.” The blow to her face took her by surprise, the anger and hurt behind it driving her back to the stair railing. Her eyes widened in shock as she lost her balance and her arms wind-milled for a second. Zoya’s went from narrowed slits to surprise as well, and lunged to grab an arm, anything, but was too late. Chance crashed to the floor and was still for a moment. The white-haired woman raced to the prone body of her sister, “Chance?” Stormy blue eyes opened. “Don’t touch me!” she hissed out, getting to her feet. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” But Chance was ignoring her, storming past Terry and out the front door. #################### Chance didn’t know why she had come here, to Khepri’s sliver bullet little trailer in the middle of nowhere. She had thought she hated the woman, her acts of near insanity and her disturbing questions. But she had come, and Kehpri had let her in without a word, shown her the bathroom with the tiny toilet and sink and handed her a hand towel. She had emerged somewhat physically clean, but her mind still full of the dirt of her day. Kehpri had plucked the towel from her hands and kissed her hard, and Chance had kissed her back. Kehpri had shoved the toy into her hands, and she hadn’t blinked, just strapped it to her hips. Somehow, and the details were blurry, they had ended up outside, fucking on the clean swept stone warmed all day from the sun, fucking in the pseudo backyard that Kehpri had created out of fake white picket fencing, with her plastic pink flamingos and other such oddities. With the new knowledge of what she was, Chance was feeling more her animal side and had maneuvered Kehpri on to her hands and knees and set a rapid pace, plunging in and out. They still hadn’t said a word to each other; just the raw wanting noises of sex had passed through their lips. Chance didn’t really care. The near full moon was boiling in her blood, and her eyes were more a slivery blue with its the call than blue. She wanted to keep fucking Kehpri forever, she wanted to dominate, and somehow felt Khepri’s need to be controlled, to give penance in some way. She felt Kehpri tighten around her then shudder, calling out her cumming into the night. Chance had a sense of mind to go slow and to be gentle for a moment, letting the other woman’s body rest. But then the moment was gone, and she went back, forcing Khepri’s body back up that slippery slope to another orgasm. Sweat dripped down their bodies, and part of Chance realized she needed to stop, because Kehpri was only human, and if she didn’t, she would be no better than all those things she fought against. She leaned her body over Kehpri, placing herself deeper inside the woman, shallowing out her thrusts. Kehpri moaned at the change in angle. Chance’s breasts rubbed against the taut back, and her nose burrowed into the sweaty hair clinging to the back of the woman’s neck. Each slick strand smelled of Kehpri, and she inhaled it all until she found flesh. Her tongue snaked out, licking the salty flesh. Then she bit. She bit to show her absolute dominance, she did it so, somehow, every Were who met Kehpri would know that she was Chance’s, and leave her alone. Blood bubbled up from the shallow marks her blunt human teeth had made, and oozed down her throat. Her desire rose up, washing over her, and she released her teeth, her hips snapping frantically, and she came, howling into Khepri’s back. When her own release was done, she gently kissed the moon-washed back under her lips, and kept rolling her hips, but in a more gentle manner. One hand reached underneath, where their bodies were joined, searching. She found Khepri’s clitoris, heavy and swollen, and with a few strokes, she teased a second orgasm from the woman then eased out of her. For a moment she stared at the passed out form on the ground, wondering what to do. How the fuck had she, Chance Pavel, gotten here, to this point? She pushed it away and gently picked Kehpri up and took her inside her gulf stream and placed her on the small bed. She unstrapped the strap-on and tossed it into the bathroom in the tiny sink, not sure what to do with it. She felt the night call something part of her had refused her to enjoy, but the call would just get worse as the full moon got closer. Why she had never noticed it before, she didn’t know. She swallowed nervously, tasting Khepri’s blood, wondering if she should leave. But knew she couldn’t. She had started this, and had to ride it out until the aftermath of morning. Naked, she crawled into the small bed, spooning around the lanky body. "I can't believe you bit me," the grumble came from where Kehpri's head was nestled against bare skin. "Actually, I can't believe I let you bite me." She nibbled on the tantalizing skin. Chance’s eyes cracked open, not certain what to say. She settled for, “I’m sorry.” "And I swear to God if you decide to freak out and dash out of here after an amazing night of sex, I will track you down and find some way to hurt you." She didn't sound particularly threatening, especially since every few words were punctuated by a kiss. "Thank God, I thought you might freak out on me," Chance said, waking up even more. "You’re the one that ran off after a kiss." "That was different." Kehpri shifted upwards, tossing what was left of the blankets on the floor since she was still overheated. Chance chuckled and shifted, pulling Kehpri over on top of her, trailing her fingers over the warm skin of the woman's back and hip, "A good different or a bad different?" "That was a freak out. Freaking out is not allowed after the wild sex we just had." Settling into her new spot, which she decided was now her favorite spot, she yawned. The brunette listened to the steady thrumming of the other woman's heart. "What happened?" she asked, finally. Unconsciously, Chance’s fingers stopped wandering and gripped the flesh under them, as she bit her lip, "Work, memories...last night. How did you know what I needed last night?" Kehpri raised her head enough to meet Chance's eyes and raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding, right? It was pretty much written all over your face. It was, either let you have your way with me or you were going to explode." "I'm sorry." Chance felt bad. Kehpri laughed. "Sorry? Why? That was amazing. Don't you dare start going all wounded noble on me. If you say something like that was a mistake, I’m going to have to hate you." "No, no, no. No sorries..." She grinned rather smugly. "Amazing, huh?" "I think you've officially ruined me for anyone else." Kehpri didn't sound upset about that, in fact, rather the opposite. As she lay her head back down, she added, "Especially since you marked me. I should probably bandage that," she mumbled. "Yeah…" Chance was still rather into her own perceived sexual prowess. That would require getting up and finding her trauma kit, so instead, Kehpri stayed where she was and closed her eyes. Chance rained a few rather sloppy kisses on all the skin she could get too. "You should have left me dozing." One eye cracked open and Kehpri groaned as she realized where this was going. "You aren't going to let me sleep, are you?" #################### "Ow, ow, ow…Ow!" Chance gave up and followed the direction the hands were pulling on her hair. "Okay, hint taken. You're tired and want to stop." She kissed the trembling thigh next to her cheek. "I think you're trying to kill me," the mumbled reply came from above. "I should have tried to stop you two hours ago." She was pretty certain she wasn't going to be able to walk straight tomorrow, today, considering that sunrise couldn't be that far off. Chance kissed her way up Kehpri's body until she got to the woman's lips then gave them a gentle kiss that only ghosted over their overripe redness. She brushed hair out of brown eyes, studying them. In their depths she saw how tired Kehpri was, and she saw sorrow, and sadness, but the bone weary depression seemed to be lifting. "You probably should have," Chance agreed, "but I think we both needed this." It was far too late now for Kehpri to even try to pretend she didn't know what the other woman was talking about. Instead, she smiled faintly, and shoved aside all the worries about what this would mean for a later time. Settling in on the small bed, a tangle of naked limbs and skin, she smiled, as she smelled their scent in the air. The bed was going to reek of them if she didn't get the sheets cleaned somehow. "Probably," she admitted, finally, then laughed as her stomach growled. "Well, my appetite seems to have returned…all of them, actually." "Hmmm, well, lucky you I’ve been suspended, so I'm not going to work in three hours. Soooo…I could probably make breakfast." She probably should quit, since she was now a Were. And that made no sense. How had she gotten through every government testing? But Uncle Paul had conditioned her well, to ignore that part of her, to push it down deep and wear a mask of humanity that wasn't hers. She was a lie, everything she thought she was, she wasn't. And now, almost thirty, she'd have to figure out who she was. "You've been suspended?" That was enough to get Kehpri to shove away sleep for at least a little bit longer. "Are you all right?" "I think so. It’s probably overdue. I've been here two years without a break or a vacation. I've been near burnout for a while. I just lost it dealing with this pervert today, roughed him up then I shot him. Well...my partner and I both shot him." She rolled off of Kehpri onto her back, staring at the ceiling. Her left foot came off the bed and she planted it on the floor. Kehpri moved with her, readjusting so that she could use the tall agent as a pillow. "So you shot someone and then got suspended?" She hesitated a moment, wondering if she should push. "What else happened?" The agent sighed and rubbed her face. "We had a call about a kidnapping charge, so we went to some Podunk town in the middle of nowhere. Ever heard of Wolves Run? If you haven't, I'm not surprised. The harsher the town or tent village, in this case, on the Reservation, more than likely it was created by outcast Weres a long time ago. They are scary inbred places." Kehpri hadn't heard of it, that was true, but then again, she hadn't heard of a lot of places on the Reservation. "Was that where you shot the guy?" She shook her head. "Things that exist in nightmares breed there. All those genetic anomalies you probably read about and studied in biology class, well, you can see them for yourself live and in person." She chewed on her lower lip for a moment. "Sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway, my partner and I went and checked it out. Found this woman, her face looks like a pot roast, and some psycho Alpha who's been selling kids to some guy once a year. My breakdown, I guess, started there. I beat on the Alpha a bit, but he did charge us." She took a breath. "So we followed the road he told us the guy took and came to this old church. It was quiet, no wind, and no noise…just the sun baking down on us. We just knew this was the place. But it didn't really prepare us. You think you know what you'll find when you go into some situations, but this was a whole ‘nother freak show." Kehpri could feel the woman's body start to tighten beneath her, and she started to gently rub her hand over her stomach, doing her best to try to provide wordless support. Chance shivered a bit, remembering the kid with no eyes. "This guy fancied himself a priest of some god. He would take Were kids and try to cure them of the demonic forces inside them." "Stupid," Kehpri mumbled, stroking the bare skin of Chance's stomach. Chance nodded. "We caught him with the girl...I'll spare you the details..." She swallowed roughly, her Uncle Paul rearing up in her head for a moment. "I lost it, just lost it, thought he was my Uncle Paul for a moment. I charged him." She was unaware of the slip. "I hit him a couple of times, and he kept screaming about the beast’s eyes." The slip didn't go unnoticed by Kehpri, and she raised her head, propping herself up on an elbow. She switched her stroking to the agitated woman's face and neck. "Why did you yell about your Uncle Paul?" she whispered Chance blinked. "My Uncle Paul, he was an asshole. I went to live with him when my parents died." It was hard to miss the way Chance's heart rate sped up when she talked about him. "What did he do?" she asked, carefully. Chance went still, and contemplated her options. "He made sure I'd never belong anywhere." It was a weak answer, but Zoya was pissed at her, and she was scared of losing Kehpri. But apparently she wanted to talk to somebody, and she'd brought it up. "Chance, look at me." She waited until she could see the agent's eyes and gently brushed hair out of her face. "I won't push, but if you want to tell me, I'll listen." That was something along the lines of what they'd told her to say during her psychology rotation in med school…more or less. Of course, she really doubted her teachers had pictured her naked on top of another woman when she said it. Chance slowly met Kehpri's eyes. "Thanks. It’s hard. Literally, I feel like I woke up as one person yesterday and now I'm somebody new. I, ah, I'm not going back to the FBI, I'm going to give notice." She took a shaky breath. "Are you sure? That's a big change. I thought you liked being in the FBI? Maybe you should just see how things look after your suspension is over?" "Weres can't hold government jobs," she said quietly, dropping her gaze from Kehpri's. Kephri was very careful not to move away or give any sign that she wasn't comfortable. "You think you're a Were now?" This would explain her confusion with the genetic test. "Yeah, well, not suddenly now. I've always been one – I guess. My Uncle Paul made sure there would never be a moment of doubt about his sister, my birth mom's genes. He conditioned me not to change with the full moon." A million thoughts raced through Kehpri's mind at that. That would explain how she got through the FBI tests. That also confirmed Kehpri's genetic tests, and made her wonder how many others were out there, hiding. "They don't know though, you wouldn't have to tell them if you didn't want to." Chance blinked and looked at the woman naked in bed with her, and laughed and laughed, until tears leaked out her eyes. Smiling, Kehpri shook her head. "What?" Not sure what was so funny. "I was afraid you'd be freaked out about me being a Were, or about full moon beatings by Uncle Paul. Instead, you're concerned about my job." "Oh." Kehpri blinked. "Yeah, I guess a normal person would have been freaked out about that," she shrugged, laying her head back down and yawning. "Good thing I'm not normal. Besides, there isn't enough room for two jobless people in this trailer." Chance laughed and started to relax again. "Well, now I know. You know, I wondered when I would have that nightmare about my parents’ death. I was running on all fours behind them. I thought it was a kid thing." She shook her head to get her thoughts back on track. "Full moon's in a week; and now that I know that I can change, we'll see what happens." Kehpri tossed a leg over the other woman's legs and closed her eyes, "Enough world shattering talk. Sleep time." Chance grinned. "I love it when you're so adaptable, it’s sexy." She nuzzled her nose into Kehpri's hair, smelling blood. "Shit, your neck. Let me get something to clean it and some ointment." Having almost slipped off into sleep, Kehpri growled, "If you get up I’m going to have to hurt you." "Okay, morning then." Chance wasn't tired, but was content to lay there wrapped around Kehpri. #################### Some time after dawn, Chance had unwound herself from Kehpri's body. She had left a note and gone back to her place for some stuff and food. When she got back, as she expected, Kehpri still slept, so she crumpled up her note and tossed it in the garbage. Then grabbing a beer and her two clubs for golf, she went out through Kephri's backyard, patting the flamingos on the head, and then outside the little vinyl fence with the view that looked into the great outdoors. She gathered some rocks and started working on her drive. Hell, she had nowhere to be. "I have some golf balls you can use," Kehpri called from the door of the trailer, yawning and running a hand through her hair. Chance's t-shirt that she was wearing rode up high on her thighs. Chance turned, smiling, "Morning." "Ugh," was Kehpri's answer to that, yawning and squinting into the bright sunlight. "You didn't bring any coffee with you last night, did you?" she asked hopefully. "Yep…" She bent over, grabbing her beer, and then made her way back to the trailer. "Hope you don't mind, but I went home and grabbed some stuff and clothes…since I'm on vacation and all." "I need a bigger trailer," was the muffled response. "Did you sleep at all last night?" Kehpri followed her inside, glad to be out of the bright sun. "A bit…" She leaned her two clubs against the side of the trailer. "Let me make coffee and I’ll clean that, um, love bite." She paused in front of Kehpri. "May I kiss you?" To tell the truth, Kehpri had forgotten about the bite until Chance mentioned it. "Oh." She smiled and moved closer. "I'd be upset if you didn't." "Good. I was worried that we might have an awkward morning after." She leaned over, slightly kissing her. "We will if that's the best you can do for a kiss." Chance chuckled against Kehpri's lips then leaned in more, so their bodies were flush against each other, and kissed Kehpri again, while her fingertips inched up the t-shirt at Kehpri's thighs. Kehpri laughed and stepped away after the kiss, "Oh no you don't…I need coffee." She gave her a push towards the small corner kitchen. "Fine," she pouted, but stepped inside and started the coffee. Once it was brewing, she went looking for the med kit. "Where's the huge medical box of yours?" "Closet, in the bedroom," Kehpri called from the small closet of a bathroom where she was using the facilities. "‘Kay." Her ego puffed up a little, the bedroom still smelled of sex. "Not bad for being out of practice for over a year," she muttered to herself. She opened the closet and saw it right away. But being in law enforcement, she couldn't help but nose around. There was a folder under some clothes with some pages coming out, and she picked it up then felt bad and went to put it back. A small, white square fell out. She quickly picked it up and found it to be a photo. The photo had a laughing Kephri and some redhead. She frowned, feeling jealous, and felt silly as soon as the jealousy eased. "Guess we know why you’re here. Bad break up. Guess that makes me the rebound girl," she said to herself putting it back. "Makes you what?" Kehpri called from the living room, toweling herself off from the sponge bath. "Uh, slow," she said, quickly turning around with the red medical box. "You ready?" She held up the box, shaking it slightly. "You sure you know what to do with that?" Kehpri sat down on the kitchen stool and tilted her neck to expose the bite mark. It was crusty from dried blood. Chance rolled her eyes. "I'm just going to clean it. It’s not like I'm a vamp, it’s not deep." "Good thing for me. Vampirism, unlike being a Were, is transmitted through the saliva." She obediently held still for the cleaning. Chance whistled a bit and got a wet washcloth then gently started cleaning the crusty blood away. "I merely nipped the skin, it’s healing already." She was flushed slightly, as certain images popped into her head that were the reason for the bite being there. Kehpri slowly started to smile. Trailing a finger up the length of the agent's chest, she smiled even wider as the other woman shivered. "Maybe you should make it up to me." "Uh huh…" She sucked in a breath. "And how would you like me to do that? Make it up to you, that is." Still gentle, she rubbed some ointment on the bites. "All good, and I promise I don't have any diseases." Distracted by the very naughty images running through her head, Kehpri whispered, "I know" without thinking as she leaned closer for a kiss. From somewhere, her cell phone rang, a muffled, desperate noise, which she ignored for the gratification of a kiss. Kehpri had big plans to get Chance back into the bedroom, but those plans died with that kiss. Instead, she pushed the taller woman to the floor in the living room and started trying to get her clothes off there without breaking the kiss. Her phone rang again, and Chance sighed. "Can…" kiss, "you..." kiss "hold..." kiss "that thought." She pulled back a bit, looking very sorry. "They'll just keep calling." To prove her point, the now silent phone started ringing again. The brunette got a wicked look in her eye. "Bet I can keep you distracted longer than they can keep calling." Her fingers found their way into a loose article of clothing. Chance squirmed as fingers hit a ticklish bit of skin and giggled. "Okay, let’s see what you're capable off, crazy lady." "Oooh…a challenge…" Kehpri pushed the agent back to the ground and slid those fingers further downwards. "I like challenges." "You may like them, but are you any good at them…" she trailed off, and bit her lip, distantly aware of her phone ringing again. "Chance, shut up…" Kehpri trailed kisses down the agent's body, pulling and pushing aside clothes as she went. The advantages of shutting up were really rather obvious. So she shut up and went with the moment, ignoring her phone. #################### A rather long time later, Kehpri lay with her head on Chance's stomach, smiling as she lazily trailed fingertips up and down the other woman's thighs. "Your phone stopped ringing," she said, pressing a kiss to sweaty skin. "Yes, yes it did." She smiled up at the ceiling dreamily. "This is the best vacation I've ever had." Far below the house, a sedan turned onto the rough dirt road that led up to where Kehpri's trailer was parked. It spun its wheels for a minute, but then managed to get traction and haul itself up towards the trailer. Chance cocked her head to the side. "Are you expecting anybody?" "I don't know anybody else but you here, why?" Kehpri lifted her head. "There's a car coming." She sat up, placing lingering kisses on Kehpri's shoulders and neck, and crawled over to the window to peek out. "A car..?" She climbed up off the floor with her to see, frowning uneasily. "Someone you know?" she hoped, judging how far it was to the pickup as she scooped up her clothes. "Yeah… Damn it," she huffed out. "What is that idiot doing out here?" She got up, frowning at Kehpri's tense posture. "It’s my partner, relax." "Oh, well, that’s good." She felt dizzy with sudden relief. "Good thing we have coffee." "You okay?" "Yeah, just wasn't expecting a visit, you know?" She knew it sounded lame. Chance started looking for her clothes, not sure if she should push. "You know, I'm a good listener. I know it must not seem like it, but I am. If you ever...uh, you know, want to get something off your chest." Stopping Chance for a moment, Kehpri gave her a sweet kiss to the lips. "Thank you. That means a lot." Not that she could ever take her up on the offer, but it was sweet. Chance forced a smile. "No problem." As she slid on her pants, it just kind of confirmed she was the rebound woman. Pulling a shirt over her head, she made her way to the door and opened it. "Gibbons, what the fuck are you doing out here?" The young crew cut man jumped a little at the greeting. "You weren't answering your phone." "Maybe there was a reason for that. How did you find me?" Curious to see this partner who hadn't shown up at the hospital when his partner had been shot in the gut, Kehpri moved over to the door to peer around Chance. "All our phones have GPS. I just tracked you out here." He shut the car door and blinked a little, really seeing the place. "Are those fake flamingos?" "No, they're real," Kehpri yelled out the door past Chance. Gibbons turned his head, looking at the woman next to Chance. "Sorry, ma'am, I didn't see you. Well, if they're real, they are about the best behaved ones I’ve seen." Gibbons walked over to the trailer door and held out his hand, "Nice to meet you." Chance rolled her eyes. "Kehpri, meet my partner Gibbons. Careful, I've only had him a couple of weeks, don't break him." "So you're the partner who didn't show up at the hospital where you're partner was after being shot." Kehpri’s smile wasn't that pleasant. Gibbons looked confused for a moment. "Oh, no, ma'am, I was assigned to her as her partner after that." "Oh." Kehpri winced. "Sorry about that little snitty thing then. Want to come in?" "Um, sure, I'd like that. It’s already getting warm out here." It was getting warm inside the trailer too. "Excuse me." Kehpri shoved past both agents. "I have to start up the generator," she yelled, leaving the two standing there as she scampered past a pink flamingo around the trailer. Gibbons looked at Kehpri's retreating back for a moment before looking back at Chance, his face one big question. "Shut up," Chance said and stepped back into the trailer. She wandered over to the couch, and snagged her beer bottle, sitting down. "So why are you looking for me?" "Uh...so you and she are..." The portable generator wheezed then rumbled into life, which powered up the window-mounted air conditioner, and started cooling the room. "Gibbons, if you go there, I'll call your wife and tell her you told me about all about your sex life the first day we worked together." "Right… Okay. Well, I'm looking for you because you just disappeared, and you need to do a statement about what happened, and you need to have a psyche eval." "Did I miss anything fun yet?" Kehpri bounced off the door to the trailer and into the living room, slightly out of breath. Chance snorted, "No, you haven't missed anything fun." "Psych eval?" Kehpri raised an eyebrow, leaning against a wall. "That sounds fun." "Oh, and Dr. Miller keeps calling for you, all the guys are jealous, something about a very out of date physical." "Uh huh," was all Chance said, taking a swallow of beer. "Why didn't you just leave me a message?" "Tell Miller to go to hell. She's a quack and dangerous," Kehpri sneered, her smile dropping in an instant. Both Gibbons and Chance looked over at Kehpri with their eyebrows raised. Kehpri crossed her arms over her chest. "She is! Stay away from her." "Um..." Gibbons said, looking back at Chance. "I did, but you didn't call me back." "Jesus, Gibbons, it’s been like thirty minutes." "Try more like two hours." "Oh. You were the one who kept trying to call her." Kehpri leaned back against the wall, trying to avoid smiling. "Really? Huh...I was busy." She took another sip of beer. "Very busy," Kehpri echoed. "I bet," Gibbons muttered. "Look, I'm your partner, what’s going on." That was an interesting question, and Kehpri raised an eyebrow looking towards Chance, wondering how exactly she was going to answer that. Chance sipped on her beer for a moment. "Gibbons, you’re a good kid, but Jesus, it’s been like a day. Can you let me enjoy some time off for just a little bit before you waltz in shoving work crap down my throat? I have serious burnout, something you wouldn't know about ‘cause you're still wet behind the ears." That was a bit harsher an answer than Kehpri had expected, and she winced in sympathy. Gibbons stiffened, but said nothing. "Look, just go. I'll call you in a couple of days. But please let me enjoy the illusion of being on vacation. Okay?" He frowned, but nodded, "Fine." As the door slammed shut, Chance took a drink and said, "Sorry about that." Kehpri opened the door to call out, "Nice to meet you!" then closed the door behind her, raising an eyebrow at the agent who was still inside, "You always that nice to people?" Chance shrugged, "You seem to like my people skills well enough." Hard to argue that, so Kehpri shrugged then smiled. "You owe me breakfast still." "Okay, but if I make it, you have to stick around and eat it this time," Chance quipped, getting up. "Sorry about that. I had a little freak out." "Uh huh… So what do you want for food?" The brunette trailed along behind her, hopefully. She was suddenly starving after their activities all night, and morning. "What did you bring?" "Eggs, bread, bacon, butter, milk... You're fridge was kind of empty." Chance made the few steps to the kitchen. "That’s because I don't have electricity often." Watching expectantly, she watched the preparations. "Eggs and bacon sounds great." "Okay dokey, what kind of eggs?" she said, getting out a skillet and opened a cooler, grabbing out food. The other woman perked up. "You can make multiple kinds?" She hadn't even thought there was a possibility other than scrambled. "Can you do sunny-side up?" “Sure. We have bread?” "Kind of…" Kehpri squeezed past the other woman, taking the opportunity to pat a firm rear as she did, and grabbed the bread. The foldaway stovetop was natural gas, so she turned one burner on so she could toast the bread over the flame. It was an odd domestic moment. "I know I should have asked, and I'm not going all U-haul moment on you, but I didn't really want to go back and forth. And people would just be bugging me all the time at my place." "So you want to stay here?" Kehpri’s smile was blinding. "That sounds like a great idea." She didn't want this to end. The prospect of going back to being alone was scary. "Good." Chance beamed and cracked a shell and let the egg plop into the hot skillet. "It'll be like going camping." The ancient Gulf Stream was fairly good sized for one person, but for two, it was going to get interesting. Chance snorted, "You're toast is on fire." She started opening cabinets, looking for plates. "Shit!" Opening a window, she tossed the flaming toast outside. Chance chuckled and pulled out two plates. "Stupid toast," Kehpri grumbled, pulling out two more pieces of bread and trying again. "If you fail at first, try, try again…then order out," Chance quipped as she set the plates down and checked the eggs. "Ha, ha…" Kehpri put the more burnt of the two pieces of toast next to Chance's plate for that one. She then started the bacon, and her stomach growled as the meat started to smoke. "So, how long you going to hide out here, on the Reservation?" She was curious, how long they might have together, if there was even a together that they were currently having. She really didn't know that much about Kehpri, and the woman really wasn't sharing. Of course, she could always go run her fingerprints through the database. Hoping up onto one of the stools, Kehpri watched the goings on over the small stove with interest, shrugging, "As long as it takes. I don't really have any other place to be, and this is where I need to be for now." She shifted to grab her piece of toast and tore a corner off to butter and munch on while she waited. "How long is your suspension, I mean, vacation?" "Probably thirty days. I'll call in, in a couple of days, and check in with my Supervisor. I'll probably have to go fill out some reports, boring stuff." Judging the eggs to be ready, she slid them off onto the plates. "Thirty days." That sounded like a lifetime to Kehpri, and she nodded. "Thirty days, good." The instant the last of the eggs was on her plate, she attacked them, using the bread to sop up the liquid and groaning in pleasure as she ate a piece. "Thirty days of good cooking." "Um..." Chance watched Kehpri devour her food, which was almost like watching a train wreck. Unable to tear her eyes away, she asked, "You want some bacon?" If it was possible, Kehpri's eyes lit up even more at that. "Oh yes." She eagerly held out her plate for some of the bacon, licking her lips. "I need my strength, after all," she waggled her eyebrows, grinning. Chance actually blushed a bit, and slid some bacon on to the other woman's plate, before dishing up a plate for herself. Shoulders shaking with silent laughter, Kehpri took back her plate and made short work of the bacon as well. "What do you feel like doing today?" There wasn't that much of the day actually left, but she figured she would ask. She had been planning on raiding the hospital, but that could wait. Chance blushed again, and went out into the tiny living room three feet from the kitchen and sat down in a chair. This time Kehpri couldn't contain her laughter and ended up bent over the small kitchen area, laughing until her eyes teared up. Chance scowled and refused to look at the other woman, finding her food fascinating. "I don't mind if you want to ravish me all day, but maybe we could do something else as well?" Kehpri had a shit-eating grin on her face as she managed to control her laughing. Chance mumbled something and took a bite of her burnt toast. Leaving the empty plate where it was, Kehpri moved over to the other woman. Picking up Chance's plate, she slid onto the woman's lap, and helpfully, she thought, held the plate for her. "What was that? I couldn't hear you over there." "I said, it’s been awhile, and I'm a little over enthusiastic." It was still mumbled out, but allowed Kehpri to slide onto her lap. "Good thing I'm a fan of enthusiastic then, isn't it?" Judging that the other woman had enjoyed enough of her breakfast, she started to kiss her way down the agent’s neck. Who was she kidding, she didn't want to go anywhere today anyway. "Later," was the only thing that Kehpri mumbled, continuing to explore the exposed skin. Chance's blue eyes got wide for a moment then almost closed. She moaned, nearly dropping Kehpri. She stumbled through the bedroom door. "You need a bigger bed," she groaned, placing the woman in her arms onto the rumpled bed. "No place for one," Kehpri grunted, dropping onto the bed and trying, urgently, to get as many clothes out of the way as possible in as short a period of time as she could manage. As she watched Kehpri, her eyes darkened until it looked like lightening might crash in her eyes. She licked her lips and easily smelled the woman's want and desire. "You are so beautiful," she said quietly. Then crouching over the bed, leaned over, kissing the woman's stomach. Tangling her hands in the taller woman's hair, Kehpri arched up off the bed into the touch, so suddenly aroused it was painful. "You're the beautiful one, I’m just skinny," she laughed, which turned into a moan as those lips did wonderful things. Chance smiled and licked upwards from the navel, murmuring into the skin, "Nothing a few cheeseburgers won’t fix." She stopped speaking to focus on Kehpri's breasts. Her sister might be a pig in female clothing, but she was right, Kehpri did have a nice rack. Fortunately, Chance was smart enough to keep that thought to herself. The look in Chance's eyes caused wonderful things to happen in Kehpri's stomach. With a growl of her own, she grabbed ahold of her head, pulling her down for a hard kiss that left them both a little breathless. "Mmm…" Chance said, a little dreamily. "With a kiss like that, I might just have to keep you." That caused a chill to go down Kehpri's back. She didn't have any illusions about how this was probably going to end, and it wasn't going to be a fairytale ending. She decided to change the subject, quickly, and kissed her again, thoroughly. #################### Chance slowly drove the road back into town. She was tired, a good tired, but tired none the less. Her week had flown by in a vague sexual haze, which wasn't a bad thing. She was doing things she probably should have done as a teenager, but hadn't, although, if she had done them then, she would know better than to be doing it now, because it would be out of her system. Last night they had gone to a movie, a normal date-like activity. They'd even had dinner. Then on the way back, they'd had sex in the car, not the pull the car over and go at it, although Kehpri had let her pull over later, so they could do that too. It had been fun, and as a federal officer, she knew better. But seriously, she was feeling more alive than she had in - forever. Also, the full moon was coming, and the week was almost up, but she wasn't really feeling all that different, just her usual Chance-like self. She and Kehpri should probably talk…make a plan, in case she got out of furry control. Instead of thinking about the full moon tonight, she had gone into work. Work always helped her ignore things. She pulled into work, her mind off in a dirty little corner wondering if she was good, that maybe Kehpri would let her use the toy again. Locking the car door she strode into the bureau office and was met by Halstead’s whine of, "And my week was going so well." "Fuck you too, asshole," she muttered back. With some odd sort of homing beacon, her Supervisor opened his door and looked at her. "You’re late," was all he said before turning around and going back to his desk. But the door was left open for her follow. "Something you needed, sir?" He looked at her over his steepled fingers. "I need your report on the shooting, and then you'll need to see a psychologist." "Sir?" "I can probably get you back on in sooner than thirty days, but I'll need a psyc eval to do it. As it is, I'm damn pissed about you doing this so close to a full moon, to be down a man on such a night will really suck." "Uh, yes, sir…" She really wasn't sure what to say. He stared at her. "Well, get to work, and when you're done with that report, go see Dr Miller. She keeps bugging me, something about being overdue for a physical." "Yes, sir," she said, getting up and heading to her desk. Gibbons was there, hunched over his desk pretending not to notice her, but he knew she was there, she could tell by the stiff set of his shoulders. She focused on the stack of crap on her desk, wondering why she was here and not back at the trailer. She could be getting drunk and working on her golf swing in the expansive piece of desert that was Kehpri's backyard. She found the form she needed in the stack and pushed her chair over to the typewriter. "So how’s the wife?" she asked pleasantly. "Fine…" was the blunt answer. Blue eyes rolled in annoyance, and started typing. After about five minutes, she finally thought of something else to ask. "Sex life still good?" That got a response, as Gibbons’ crew cut head shot up and he turned, glaring at her, "Dandy." "Mine too," Chance said happily, smiling like a maniac. Gibbons raised an eyebrow then asked, "How are the flamingos?" "They're plastic, how the hell do you think they are?" It was such an odd turn in the conversation they busted up laughing. Stopping when heads shot up in the office, glaring at them, which just reduced them to holding their breath and giving way to snorts and snickers. Chance went back to typing. "Ah, I'm sorry about being a dick. You know, when you stopped by." Gibbons nodded. "I'm your partner and I was worried, but I hadn't realized you’d been out here so long without leave. I guess I'm sorry too." Chance snorted, "No you're not, you're just gloating ‘cause I admitted I was wrong." "Well, yeah." An hour later, Chance finished the report and headed out, promising to meet with Gibbons and his wife for dinner next week. She smiled and even did a happy little skip on her way to the car. She really should have taken a vacation earlier, she felt great. "Chance, you're a hard woman to pin down." The words were low and husky, filled with innuendo. "Uh..." Her head whipped around. "Ah…Dr. Miller, how are you?" "Better. A girl could think she was being ignored, the way you haven't returned my phone calls." "Ah...uh...you see..." "I see that you're free now, so why don't we just go on down to my clinic and I'll do that physical and all." "I have to..." Dr. Miller stalked right up to her, pinning her to the side of her car. The woman's perky boobs were planted firmly against Chance's side. "...home," she squeaked out. "This won't take any time at all. If you're good, I'll give you a lollipop." "Um..." That statement was just dripping in sexual connotation. "...home," she tried again. Only to find herself, minutes later, being dragged through the front doors to Miller's clinic. #################### |