Underdogs The First Stories

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

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

He smiled. "Knock yourself out."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Ari."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally she crossed the street and started home.





#





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

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

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

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

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

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

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





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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What? Now?"

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

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

"Nothing that can't be put off."

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

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

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

"Ladies, I got our new recruit here."

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

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

"Ariadne, this is Pen Hurst."

Ari extended her hand. "Pen?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Sadistic."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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





Chapter Two, Three Dog Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dale's eyes widened slightly.

"I love you, Dale."

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

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

"Why?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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





#





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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Why did she kick you out?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Did he live?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Ah..."

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

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

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

"That's a joke, right?"

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

"Loud and clear."

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

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

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

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

Sadie nodded. "Beck, you ready?"

"Yep."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just follow us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch. Learn.

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

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

Thanks for the hand, new girl.

Welcome.

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

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

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

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

Ari didn't know if they were going back to Sadie's house or not, but she hoped they would stay out for a while. She felt a buzz of excitement just from being out with other canidae. Communicating with them, sharing the same experiences, knowing they were intelligent... it was a relief to her. Maybe Sadie was right and she'd been too domesticated. Dale was really her only friend. She needed to expand her circle. She needed to embrace both sides of her self, not just the human part. She'd been unfair to the wolf, and she could feel its excitement at what she was doing.

Beck moved faster and Ari moved to one side to let her pass. But once they were side by side, Beck looked at her and yipped quietly.

Sadie looked over her shoulder at them, shook her head, and kept walking.

Home? Ari asked.

Park. Play.

She tried to disguise her excitement, but she could hear a glass-like tittering noise in her head that came from Beck. Ari bumped roughly against Beck's side as Sadie stepped off the tracks. She headed down a slope of white stones and led them into the woods. They squirmed out of their packs on Sadie's cue, burying them under some dried leaves and twigs. Once it was covered, Pen and Sadie dropped and rolled in the debris to mark it with their scents before running out of the woods. Beck and Ari gave chase.

The dog park was magnificent. It was mainly a huge rolling park that looked like a lake had been frozen and draped with Astroturf. There were wooden constructs for them to climb, tall grass to run through, and a wide dirt pit where they could dig. Sadie let Beck and Pen run ahead and moved to stand in front of Ari.

The question was clear, and Ari watch Beck and Pen as she mulled over her answer. She had spent her entire life thinking of herself as a person who could sometimes become a wolf. Even when she was with Eva, spending five-sixths of the day in wolf form, she was always a person in her mind. It was high time she accepted her dual nature. She was a wolf. She barked and bumped Sadie's shoulder as she joined the others in the park. A few seconds later, Sadie joined them all in the dirt pit.