FSE

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A/N -I am not doing good at the get shit out on a regular basis thing, am I. Sorry.

All characters & locations fictional.

Chapter 7 - Lycan Roulette

"Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." - Confucious

Miami, FL

August 9, 2012

Our two car train slipped through the two cordons of police cruisers ringing the five story, three building apartment complex. As our car pulled to a stop, I slipped my badge from my pocket and onto my hip, hoping that having it there would draw less attention than flashing it or having it hanging from my jacket...although the big black government car was a bit of a giveaway. But regardless I figured it made sense to keep this as low key as possible until I knew what we were dealing with.

"Morse," I started "It's my lead. Keep your badge down. I don't know what's really going on, so let's keep the bureau's involvement quiet. If it is a mytho we really need to keep it quiet. Can't have people asking why the FBI is involved in a local case. It's a tough sell if it gets out." A few of my cases over the past few months came to mind - a possession in Detroit during an arson investigation, a liche that worked in the San Antonio morgue, and a werewolf rapist from Cheyenne. Not a one was fun to explain, and the last one...well...I still had a few cops in Cheyenne afraid of me...or rather the wolven me. But all of them had stayed out of the papers other than lauding the local cops and some of them noting technical assistance from the bureau.

"Yes sir." The younger former cop nodded as he slipped the badge across his belt before he pulled himself out of the Charger, my own body mirroring his on the opposite side of the car as I saw the captain and Witters coming up toward Morse. I quickly headed over to the opposite side of the car, hoping for a good 'this is what we got' explanation as to why we were here.

"We have a hostage situation here. A teenager called and said he had information on the Morrison case." He referred to the suspected vampire slaying that had fallen...or rather been thrust into my lap. That was good. That meant we had a good reason to be here, so would make life easier. "But he also said that the person that made it happen would pay. The arriving officers found him holding another teenage boy hostage. They also said he looked kinda strange. Couldn't really explain it well. Just scared them. He called for backup and it escalated to a SWAT callout. I figured you should be here when we bring them out."

A strange teenager holding someone hostage? All over the slayings that had brought me here? This couldn't go well.

"Let me try to talk to him. Did he tell the officer anything?"

"Not really. Just rambling, really. Not making much sense. Kept saying he should have smelled a rat."

"What room?" I move toward the back of the car, starting to chip a plan in the back of my mind. If he has information about the murder and I can prove to him that I am investigating the crime, maybe I can get him to tell me this information. We've already taken control of the case, so keeping our involvement out of the press's eyes was moot...at least as much as dealing with the press in this job ever was. Hopefully the kid's not a copycat that just wanted his fifteen minutes of fame.

"Wait here, Agent. We can take care of our own messes out here. We don't need you."

I squared off against Witters and his captain, my legs splayed and arms crossing subconsciously as I started to wonder what they meant. I always hated when the departments started getting into these bullshit pissing contests. They always did nothing but slow us down and make life hell.

"Captain, what are you doing?" I asked, trying, and almost succeeding at keeping my disdain for the turn of events quiet.

"Team one at the door."

"You have tactical inside? Before you have a line of communication? You're gonna kill both of them!"

"He refuses to talk to me. He says he wants to talk to someone that understands him. Keeps giving us the name of some guy that he says is the only person he will talk to, but we cannot find him."

"What's his name? Let me try and see what we have on him." It's a reach, probably a longshot but I'm gonna grab at every straw to stop them from starting a shooting match.

One of the nearby officers leafs through his notepad, the importance of that name to me belying the slow, steady pace he was taking. 'Come on, kid' I thought at the beat cop, probably just barely out of school.

"Kessler." He finally stated. "David Kessler."

'Aw crap.' I knew that name. It was the main character in An American Werewolf in London. Some packs used it as a code word; a stupid move since you needed to be well read into what it all meant, but still one that some of them took.

"Fuck."

"You know him?" Came the querying reply from the captain, an ounce of anger underlying his voice, a whole lot of it leaking out of his body, assaulting my more sensitive senses.

"He's a movie character but I think it means something...I need to get up there. I... Gimme a second. I'll be right back." I fished my phone from my pocket as I stepped out of the room, leaving the door open a crack, running thru the speed dial and selecting one quickly.

"Sheriff Hart."

"I thought I told you to rest."

"Oh, quiet, Mike. I'm tired of resting. I heal fast and Thomas is with your mother. She refused not to take him for a while so I could get out of the house."

"I think she meant go for a run or go to the mall...not go to work. But..." I stop. I knew I was gonna lose this fight regardless and I just didn't have time. "I'll berate you more later. I need some help."

"Sure you will, Mike." She chuckled over the phone. "What did you get yourself into now?"

"I need to get in touch with a Mr. Kessler down here in Miami. I've got a hostage situation down here, a one kid holding another hostage. He's asking for a Mr. Kessler. I don't think the locals are up to speed with the lingo. You got a number or anyone I can call?"

"Yeah, hang on. I have a cross list with some of the large cities...I think Miami's one of them." I grinned as I heard her rapid typing as she growled softly under her breath. She let her beast show from time to time under the radar. "Yeah, I got the name and number. I'll text it to you."

"Thanks, Amy. I'll need to get a copy of that list. Would be nice to have. Love ya."

I turned back toward the room as I cut the connection, feeling the phone vibrate in my hand with her text, opening the door with the tip of my foot as I headed toward the cluster of men around the captain, pulling a pad out of my pocket as I opened that text, quickly scribbling it down along with this Mr. Kessler's real name, Robert Breckenridge. "I've got the number-"

"Making entry." Crackled out of the captain's radio. I was out of time. "Jesus Christ! What is that thing."

"Pull them ou-" I start, shoving the pad into the captain's hand before a chilling sound cuts me off.

The shots ring out, a string of two followed by two more pops echoing through the poorly constructed stucco buildings, bouncing off the surrounding as my gut churns, worry filling me, but even more disturbingly, anger. Anger at needless loss. I toss my vest over my chest, strapping it quickly as I headed toward the door, my sidearm out and low as I headed toward the entryway, a...tactically acquired portable radio strapped to my belt..

"Shots fired! Who fired?"

I missed the rest of the chatter as I headed toward the fifth floor where the suspect had been cornered just moments before, coming up behind the tactical team stacking up behind a door

"Command, Suspect is barricaded in room 515. Suspect...suspect..." The officer trailed off, doubtlessly lost as to how to explain what had happened, something common when dealing with mythos, something that was starting seem more and more likely the more pieces of the puzzle fell together. "What the hell was that thing?" Swore the officer as I came up before muttering softly. "Werewolves don't exist"

"What'd it look like?" I had my suspicions as to the identity of our suspect, but I had to be careful. These officers weren't read into any of the existence of mythos, at least for now. If this was a Lycan that I was dealing with they may need to be read in sooner rather than later.

"What? Who?" I just nodded my head down at the big FBI emblazoned across my chest, kinda shocked how he could have missed it, even in the heat of the moment. "I can see that dumbass. Why are you here?" He snarled before he caught my eyes and locked them with his as he tried to stare me down. A quiet growl echoed through my mind, thankfully not escaping my throat where it sat waiting to be released.

"Special Agent Michael Hart, Special crime task force." I holstered my sidearm as I moved toward the door the tac team's call had identified as the location of the barricaded subject. "I'm handling the Morrison case now. Let me talk to him before you go in heavy. I think I can get through to him."

"Command to tactical three." The officer's eyes broke from mine, his hand darting toward his radio as he clicked it to transmit.

"Go to tac three."

"I just got the call. Bureau has a location and contact with the party our subject is asking for. Let them through." I cracked a relieved smile as I reached for the radio on my own belt.

"This is Hart. Send the other agent up for me." I slipped the radio back onto my belt as I turned back toward the tactical officer in front of me. "Are there any other exits from this floor other than that stairway back there?"

"We've got a fire escape outside and another door at the far end of the hallway. I've got high ground support covering the escape as well as some uniforms at the bottom of the escape. Have a few uniforms at the other door as well."

"Have the uniforms move up to the fire escape the next floor down. I want part of your team at the entrance to the hallway here and the rest at the far end of the hall. Have your men clear out the nearby apartments and make sure the residents lock them. Then cover these doors from the stairwells. I want the hallway cleared of all personnel except myself and my partner."

"I don't know what your experience is agent. Our standard procedure is to have a tactical team member bring you to the door if you want to make contact. Leaving you alone breaks all procedure."

"I know your procedures, Lieutenant. I spent five years on a field team in Boston. Hell, they didn't want me to leave. We helped write the procedure. The problem is that the procedures will not work with a subject like the one we have. We've got a scared kid it sounds like. The more we try and intimidate him, the more he tries to puff himself up. Let me see if I can talk some sense into him." I was partially bluffing. If this was a Lycan as I expected, he would respond to a show of force as just what it really was, a challenge and try to assert his dominance over the team or panic and get shut down. These guys had no idea how to read a Lycan. I figured I could get his trust and hopefully walk him down. In the worst case scenario, if I had to, I had my secret weapon.

I may not be a pack alpha, but Lycans were typically deferential to their elders...plus I had a lot more training in hand to hand than the kid would have. If I had to, I could go claw to claw and put him in his place as long as he didn't have a weapon.

"File whatever protest you need. This is his show."

"Ah, Lt. Witters, thank you for bringing Agent Morse up for me. You have the number for our friend here?" I turned to face our new arrivals, my hand out, a slip of paper placed into it as I did so.

"The captain already called him. Said that he would be here soon; he had already had a heads up. He said you could probably bond with the kid, though. Said you went through some similar stuff a year or so as the kid is creating now. Something about a rogue..."

Great. It was a Lycan that was causing this whole conflagration, and that meant that not only did I have a half cocked Lycan I needed to deal with, but I also had Morse's prejudices in the way as well. The guy was justified in that he had never met an normal Lycan, just read about the troublemakers but I needed to beat into him just what was the actual mindset of the bloodsuckers. It's not even really comparable. At some point I could introduce him...but not yet.

"Alright." I spoke as Morse came up behind me, his hand sitting on the Glock still sitting thankfully in his holster, turning my body so that I could catch his eye with mine. "I need one of your pick guns to get through these doors, and then you, Morse. Once we find the subject, I need you to back me up. I hope we can get out of this without any further bloodshed." My words hopefully sounded more positive than I was actually feeling about this callup as I turned back to the tactical officer, taking the offered pick gun. "We have a name for our subject?"

"None that he gave us. He's been real flighty about the whole thing."

I sighed softly, just wondering why they had ignored so many rules of negotiation already, driving us down this dangerous path. Shaking my head, I move toward the door with the lock guns from the tactical team, I felt my stomach churning deep within me, hoping that I could defuse this situation.

"Just stay behind me and cover me, Morse. Let me do the talking." I took a deep breath before I quickly popped the lock on the door, pulling the deadbolt back from the frame and slowly opening the door, my sidearm leading the way in, held close to my body as I quickly moved into the hallway, eyes and muzzle moving together as I crossed the threshold, nothing visible other than the rows of doors on either side. "You take that side, Morse," I pointed to the left pair of the four doors, hearing muffled voices coming out of one of the right ones as I moved toward the door, feeling something strange playing through his ear as the sounds of the hallway grew louder as I stepped closer to the right wall, a muffled voice apparently on the second door as I rapped softly on the first door.

I could hear nothing from that door, so I looked over to Morse who was on his second door as I headed toward the door with the voices behind it.

"Why'd you do it, Nick? You killed them you bastard"

"Morse, over here" I sharply whispered as I turned toward the door, my side pressed against the wall near the door hinge as I motioned to Morse to hit the other edge of the door as I reached out and tried the door, finding it open. Cautiously I motioned Morse to stay where he was as I holstered my pistol, hoping I had enough experience to talk this guy down.

"This is Agent Hart of the FBI. We've gotten a hold of Mr. Kessler, and he's on his way in. Who am I speaking to?" I swallowed softly, almost as if I was swallowing the heart that was currently pounding in my throat, a slight musk peeking out from under the door. The kid was definitely a Lycan. I could smell it on the air, and it was priming my own body to prove itself, forcing me to not only need to worry about the kid and about Morse, but also about myself. Not a great position for a negotiator to be sitting in, having to negotiate against himself as well as the suspect.

"Just bring him here."

I sighed as I heard quiet whimpering inside. "I need to know who you are, pup."

"Pup?" Questioned Morse's quiet voice before my sharp glance quieted him down again.

"Shut up! All you need to do is bring Mr. Kessler to me." I broke a small grin as I saw that the pup in the room was not arguing that point with me. Could be a plus or it could mean that he wasn't planning on looking someone in the eye and explaining why he had already revealed himself as a Lycan to the tactical team.

"Pup, I gotta know your name. That way Mr. Kessler knows who you are when he gets here. My name's Michael Hart. What's yours? That way we can have a worthwhile conversation. I'm the guy who can make the decisions here."

I rub my forehead, scratching gently as I exhale a soft sigh, hoping I can break through to this kid. I have no clue how long it's gonna take to get this Kessler guy here, nor what he actually knows about this pup. It's not like I really had a plan, although something within me was driving me, telling me that I needed to push this kid. He was on the edge and if I could push him back I could get him to talk to me.

If only...if only...if only.

"I already told you. Get! Lost! And get me Mr. Kessler. That's your only job, cop"

I bit back a soft growl, something rising in me to try and make the pup listen to me and talk with me as opposed to at me. Quickly motioning for Morse to head to the side of the door and stay there, I stood beside the closed door, gingerly testing the handle with my weak hand and seeing it open. With an open palm, I told Morse to stay at the door, keeping an eye on me so we didn't overwhelm the kid.

"Pup, I'm going to come in. You said you had information about the murder of the Morrison family. I'm the investigating agent. Let's start there. We'll talk while we wait for Mr. Breckenridge." I took a chance. That could tell him that I knew what he wanted and likely what he was.

"I asked for Mr. Kessler...how did...Who are you?" I smiled at his shouted response. Apparently Amy had gotten it right. That was damned lucky, but I shouldn't be relying on luck. I was gonna need to get a better way for these damned code words to be used if packs were going to teach their pups to use them.

"Special Agent Hart of the FBI. I'm the case agent for the Morrison murder case. You know, the case we were called here about. I'm guessing that was you, pup."

Why do you keep calling me pup? What do you mean by that?" I could tell by the quiver in his voice that he was bluffing. I guessed he was trying to figure out whether I was being probing or if I knew what he was. I was only starting to figure out that that second guessing was a fact of life for any Lycan, and it was a tough feeling.

I did worry sometimes...

I turned to Morse, my left hand already on the door handle. "My call, Morse. Not before. Keep it low and don't threaten him. It's a scared kid, not a hardened criminal." My handgun held down from my line of sight, I twisted that doorknob. As it turned I called to the pup inside.

"Kid, I'm gonna come in there. My partner, Agent Morse is going to stay at the door and watch us, keeping me safe."

Before the pup could say anything, I had the door fully open and walked slowly toward the center of the room, my eyes scanning across it watchfully with each step. It was a pretty generic apartment, a little disheveled but better than many of the houses I had seen. I saw a backpack on the sofa as I walked past it, and an Xbox 360 under the TV with a pair of controllers tossed on the floor, before the pup's voice caught my attention.

"Get out of my house....I...I...I"

"Pup. Let's just talk. Face to face." I sigh softly as I turn toward a hallway where I saw the pup duck into one of the side rooms. I was definitely right. The flash of grey fur and tail disappearing through the door, as well as the scent of Lycan musk that I could smell guaranteed it. I could smell one female and one male, probably the pup and his mother. Waving for Morse, I move toward the hallway, standing just at the end of it as I sighed.

This wasn't a good situation. You don't want to corner an animal, and you don't want to corner them in their den. Here I had both, and while there was a human mind inside that animal, he wasn't thinking all that humanly right now. I had to draw that humanity back out of him or else this could get ugly.

"Kid, let's talk out here. Was that you that called 911? That wanted to help get justice for the Morrisons?" I thought I knew the answer to that one but...I could be wrong.

But I wasn't.

"Yes, it was me." Came the soft growl as I saw a shadow moving in the far room.

"Then let him go and let's talk. Right now you are holding a hostage and all that does is get the police outside riled up. Right now, I'm the closest thing to an ally you got." I took my time, moving slowly toward the door down the hall, Morse standing at the end of the hall as I stood next to the door, knocking softly before pushing it open gently. The kid wasn't armed...at least not with something I could not counter, and I had to take the chance that he would cooperate with me.

"No." Came the kid's growling reply. "It's his fault. He made it happen."

"Then let me come in and explain it to me, pup. I promise I'll hear you out. All I want is every one of us to walk away."

"Then let me walk away. I'll finish what I need to and be out of your hair. Just let me punish him."

"No! pup. You do that, you die. Think about it, you have a metric shit ton of cops covering every exit. You've already startled some of them enough to start shooting. On the other side you have the two of us here ready to talk to you. Let's talk, pup." My annoyance was not too well hidden anymore, a quiet snarl underlying my words as I stepped into the room, arms wide and my neck bared but my eyes locked on the pup. My green gaze meeting and locking on the grey furred wolf before me.

"Well you're in here. Talk, mister agent." He sneered and bared his teeth at me. I simply smiled. It wasn't the ones that postured that scared me. And this kid was posturing hard.

"Take it easy, pup. What's your name? As I told you, I'm Agent Hart. I'm the agent in charge of the Morrison investigation. You said you had information. Let's get it all out in the open." I pushed the kid, his face gaining a sense of shock as he realized that I not only was aware of his...our kind but also that I was not afraid of him.

"You know."

I smirked. "I have had a crash course over the last year. Now what happened?"

"It's his fault. He told that strange dude about that family."

"Alright. What was this strange dude like and what did he want to know?" Now we were getting somewhere. I moved a little closer, the kid tightening his grip on the other boy as I locked eyes with him. "Take it easy. Let's just talk." I stood back, trying to make sure the kid knew I was not here to fight him. That I was here to work with him and was not his enemy, even if my wolven side was still trying to assert its dominance over him.

"He...He..."

"Shut up!"

"Let him talk, pup. We all want the same thing today. For all three of us to walk out of here under our own power" From the scent of fear filling the room, the raised hackles on the wolf and the soft snarl that underlaid every word I could tell that the pup was pissed and wanted what he wanted and that was revenge. I had to walk him back from that to understand that vengeance in this case would be against the bastard that had done this, not an accomplice. Especially if my hunch was right.

"He said he was a cop. He grabbed me off the street one day. I was...I... He told me he'd pay me for any information...he...he was real persuasive, saying they were drug mules or something." He trailed off.

"What did you tell him?" I pushed gently. "Right now, we are here because your friend here thinks you are an accessory to a double homicide. I want to hear your side because I think there is more to it." Right now I was just trying to see what this kid had to say. My gut was telling me that this kid had been manipulated and simply provided information. We had a victim, not a perpetrator.

"He wanted to know what I saw. I had grown up near there. I knew there were some trees that you could use to get over the fence and that the dog was in and out of the house. I told him that they were pretty quiet, usually early risers and early sleepers. That's all, I swear."

"Thanks, kid." I sighed before my eyes fell back on the pup. "And how did you know about this, pup? From what he says it seems he was just honest, nothing untoward." An inkling was sneaking into my mind, but I had to hear it from him.

"It just seemed wrong." His grip tightened on the boy in his grasp as a soft snarl escaped his maw.

"Take it easy, pup. Just tell me what happened. You hurt him and this will get real ugly real fast. Talk to me and we all walk out of here under our own power." I knew Morse had to be tense as hell back there; thankfully he was being professional and letting me talk.

"He just seemed wrong and this ass seemed enraptured by him. It...I don't know. This...this may sound strange."

"Kid, I'm here talking to you. Think about what it looks like. Believe me, I can take strange."

"He...he just smelled empty. And for a while so did Tim. It wasn't right. They didn't listen to me when I told him to let us go. The guy looked strange, too. His eyes just were...empty. I don't know. I could just tell he was...wrong I guess." He sighed as his ears dropped.

"I don't think either of you did anything wrong, pup. Your friend couldn't catch what you were catching, plus I think he was actually being affected by the person you were speaking with. Let him go. I think I know exactly what happened. Both of you will need to come with us, though."

"I...I...But...but if we hadn't..."

"You gave him nothing he could not have gotten himself. And you could not have known what would happen. This is going to sound harsher than I mean it but stupidity is not a crime. Tim may not have listened to you, but he didn't change the outcome. And to be honest, pup, I don't think he could have listened to you. I'm not sure anyone could have. Let him go."

I could see the indecision flashing thru his eyes as his ears flicked, scowls and growls escaping his maw as he wrestled with his conscience before his arm released, Tim falling to the floor in a heap.

"Good decision, pup. Now back away from him so I can take a quick look at him" Keying my mike, I called back down. "Send me an escort up here. Hostage released."

"Received. Also, Mr. Kessler has arrived. We're just getting a vest on him so it'll be a minute. We'll send him up with another escort."

"Don't bother. Hold him downstairs." I grinned as I saw Tim standing, rubbing his neck and walking toward me. "Tim, take a stand by the wall there. I would like to just pat you down quickly. We're going to need the both of you to come down to the station and give your statements. It's just standard procedure before we transport someone in a cruiser. Got anything that may cut me or stick me?"

"No." That was his only reply, his breathing still fast and fear still evident. I patted him down quickly. "That's all." I walked him back toward the hallway that led outside toward Morse and the officer standing by him. "Go with that officer. Rescue will check you out downstairs." He simply nodded, still somewhat in shock.

Turning back toward the pup, I looked him straight in the eyes. "As I bet you heard, Mr. Kessler is here too. Now I'll be honest with you, you're in a heap of trouble. I'm gonna need you to shift back and I'll need to place you in custody. I'll bet you have clothing here."

"Yes, Sir."

"Alright. Show me where. Slowly and keep your hands visible at all times." I breathed a short sigh of relief as he moved his paws away from his body as he moved toward me. I took a step back so I had some distance but as he passed me, he turned toward me, sniffing the air.

"Stop!" Came Morse's quavering voice from the end of the hallway as the pup's maw opened in a canine smile as he moved closer.

"You..."

"Pup-St-" Before I could finish, two shots rang out, piercing the silence as he moved toward me, his body crumpling forward as my arm hooked under his shoulder "Hold Fire! Dammit! Hold Fire!"

"On the ground!" Morse called as he charged up behind me as I dumped the kid on the ground, seeing thick, red blood covering the fur on his left side. Shit.

"Holster it, Morse."

"What's happ-?"

I keyed the mike once, walking on them and keyed it again. "Get me medics up here. Priority. Subject down."

"Put pressure on the wound, Morse."

"But..."

"Do it!"I almost snarled at him before he grabbed a blanket and pressed it against the kid's side as I moved next to the pup's face, those amber eyes full of shock and fear. My hand gripped hard into his arm as I screamed at him. "Shift back! Shift back!"

He moaned in pain and snarled as Morse pressed on him, his left arm probably broken and probably more. But he did not change.

"Shift back, pup. That's our best shot." I growled as I grew closer to him, locking eyes on him before I felt my vision sharpening and changing, his eyes going wide as my voice grew somewhat deeper and more bestial. "Do it!"

To my relief, I saw the pup's fur quickly receding into his skin, his muzzle pulling back into his skin and body growing smaller by the second. With each haggard breath I saw his bleeding slowing. His wounds were knitting and going back to his human form. It wouldn't fix him, but it would stop the bleeding. As his eyes faded back to a muddled blue I saw them close shut in exhaustion as his head hit the floor, my hand reaching his neck and grabbing a carotid pulse, thankfully still pulsing under my fingers as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"We got him." I felt my shoulder being pulled back as the medics lay a board next to him, ready to get him out of there. I stepped back to let them do their work as I took a deep breath, amger flaring deep inside me. The kid had been no threat, but Morse had shot. Without my call.

He better have a damn good story. I motioned toward the Captain who had come up to see what the hell had happened.

"Secure Morse and his firearm. Call the local office and get him out for an interview. I am going in with the kid due to the special circumstances. Get me an officer to the hospital to take charge of his clothing and anything that can be removed in surgery." I shifted my angry glare over to Morse. "You, stay quiet about this until I get back. I should be an hour or so." I sighed. "We got fucking lucky."

That was as true as anything I could say that day. The kid stayed out the entire trip, the medic tending to him efficiently. Apparently Breckenridge had threaded this needle before, so regardless of what he thought of me was set aside as he called ahead to the hospital, starting one of the multitudinous emergency plans that the pack had. Meanwhile I sent a quick text to Jerry. We had to have some read in agents out here but I knew none of them yet. I was gonna need some help.

Thankfully our luck held at the hospital. The doc on duty was a Ruamano. Not a surprising choice of career for him since they were known to be healers, but still lucky since mythos were not all too common as doctors. It meant that we could tell him the full truth. Plus Breckenridge had managed to get the hospital to call in the team that was assigned to treating various mythos for the needed surgery. Barely had the medics handed over our patient before one of the Miami officers showed up, nodding and greeting Breckenridge as if he knew him and introducing himself to me quickly and professionally. It was only a few moments before I was taking his cruiser back to the precinct as they wheeled the boy up to surgery. Apparently this was not everyone's first rodeo.

I managed to get back to the precinct in less than 45 minutes, pulling the cruiser into the parking area before I headed inside, Witters meeting me at the door.

"What the hell happened?"

"Just take me to Morse. I want to know the same thing." Witters led me toward one of the interrogation rooms.

"Local agent just got here. Morse said he wanted to talk to you first. Off the record were his words. No one's interviewed him yet."

I sigh at that. "Cannot do that, but put in new tapes. No copies. I'll be taking the hard copies with me when we leave. I'll explain everything to you, later." He just sighed and nodded as I headed inside, seeing Morse just pacing back and forth along the side of the room.

"What the hell, Hart?" He shouted as I entered and shut the door. "You left me here for an hour. You-"

"Shut it, Morse. Sit." I snarled as I held my wolf back, just barely. "I'm gonna make one suggestion. This all has to be on the record. This is being recorded. You should wait for a lawyer."

He glared at me as he simply moved toward me, standing and glaring at me. "I did nothing wrong. I don't need to get some suit to tell me how to tell you the truth. I saw that monster coming at you. I saw him about to attack you and I fired."

"I told you not to fire unless I gave you clearance. I had him under control."

"He turned and came at you. He was a threat and I shot."

"He just turned toward me. He wasn't lunging or doing anything that would directly harm me. You jumped the gun."

"He's one of those damned monsters. What else was I supposed to do? He moved toward you. He had claws and teeth. We should have taken the shot as soon as we opened the door. You fucking hesitated, and why I cannot guess. It's just an animal. Not like you or me."

At that moment, I just saw red. I swung, my fist slamming into Morse's chin, taking him by surprise as I knocked him to the ground, my eyes amber as I just barely avoided shifting fully as my rage flew through my blood at that slight.

5/23/14 - Edited the pack alpha's name. He is not related to the captain.