“And then?” Derrick demanded, slapping one hand down on the table in front of him in his frustration. He wasn’t mad, just jittery and terrified. “What happened then?”

“Mr. Keene,” Officer Melody said. Her tears had long since dried up, and now she only sounded very, very tired. She also looked like hell, lacking even her usual thin layer of makeup. Her hair was frizzed up around her head, puffing out in random curls at the back. She had been sleeping when the call came, summoning her to the station.

When Derrick got his own call, he had been on his way back from the play. He had comforted himself with the presence of the kids, losing himself in their cheer and enthusiasm as they finished out the rest of their performance. They managed to get through the entire finale without so much as a hitch, which was the first time that had ever happened since he came back to teaching. All the parents stood to give their applause, and so had a great deal of the rest of the audience.

The kids came back out for an encore, which was entirely unrehearsed. They made a mess of it and not a single person in attendance minded at all.

Derrick wished Rowan had been there to see it. How anyone could look at these kids, beaming, faces flushed, so new to the world and still excited about it, and not want one of their own…He didn’t understand.

He stuck around for a while, assisting the kids out of their costumes and talking to parents, accepting congratulations and well-wishes from those who had enjoyed the performance. There were also a handful of people who told him they had seen him with his boyfriend, that they looked like such a lovely couple. One informed him that he was going to hell but they said it sadly, as if they would hate to see it happen, and he didn’t really mind.

As the minutes passed and the gym emptied, and all the kids went home, Derrick locked up the music room and resolved to come in over the weekend to clean up the makeshift stage. He’d bring Rowan with him and they could do it together. After having a long and necessary talk tonight, of course.

Then he got the phone call, from an unknown number, and he answered it without really thinking about what he was doing. He just…answered it, even though he had never answered a strange number in his entire life. Something told him to do it, some niggling bit of instinct.

The speaker was a heavy-sounding man who introduced himself as the Chief of Police. Derrick would never forget what he had said.

“Rowan has been involved in an altercation. We need you to come to the station.”

Derrick changed course and drove there as fast as he could, paying no attention to how fast he went or how many red lights he ran. What would anyone do if they pulled him over? Bring him to the police station?

He arrived and was met by the Police Chief, who introduced himself as Archibald. The man wore a confused, pondering expression that was edged by a thousand other emotions, all wrapped up in a veil of exhaustion. He wouldn’t answer any of Derrick’s questions, just led him back to his office where Rowan was already waiting.

Rowan was covered in scrapes and he had a deep gash on his head that had been patched up by someone with medical training, though blood had already seeped through the expertly-applied bandage. The wound would probably scar despite the healing prowess of the wolf.

“Rowan?”

“Hey,” Rowan said by way of greeting, but his voice was dull, and he didn’t turn around. If Derrick had been expecting a warm reunion, he was to be sorely disappointed.

Derrick turned back to the Chief, holding his arms out as if this impatient gesture would help him get information. “What’s going on?” he demanded.

“There was an altercation,” the Chief explained. “Things have happened. We can’t tell you everything just yet. We’re waiting on someone else to arrive before we begin.”

That other person was Officer Melody, whose demeanor startled and confused Derrick. There was something about the police, and others in charge, that made regular civilians forget that they were just people, too. They seemed to be more than just themselves, becoming an idealized figurehead version of the label they carried. So, to see the cop in tears, it really made this whole situation seem that much more dire.

Chief Archibald locked the door and then, when everyone was settled, he asked Rowan to start telling everyone what happened.

He did so, all the way up to the point where his boss threw the knife, and that was when Derrick interrupted him.

The admonishment from the cop made Derrick slump back in his seat. He folded his arms across his chest, trying to use his own grasp to hold himself together. His hands felt empty but Rowan was too caught up in retelling his story to be able to offer comfort right now, and Derrick wasn’t going to force him to do so.

However, Rowan hadn’t started telling the story again yet. He glanced over at Chief Archibald, eyebrows raised a little. “You saw the footage on the monitors.”

“Yes. You are free to tell your story as it happened.”

“And what about her?” He nodded in Melody’s direction.

Melody flashed a very tired smile. “I’m already aware of your condition.”

After all that had happened, Derrick shouldn’t have felt surprised by anything else. This managed to startle him anyway and he had to do the mental equivalent of a double take. “You…you are?”

“Some of us have to be, or everyone else would be. Does that make any sense? I don’t know. This coffee isn’t strong enough.” Melody stared into the bottom of her Styrofoam cup, searching for answers within. Derrick had done the same thing on many occasions with a variety of glassware, and he could have spared her the agony by informing her she wouldn’t find anything in there.

He did understand, and Rowan was also nodding. The Chief of Police also looked thoughtful, contemplating the meaning of this.

It was difficult to be a shapeshifter in a world designed by humans, for humans. Things had to be held in secret or else risk discovery. Sometimes, that just wasn’t possible. In that case, it was up to humans to keep the secret from their peers. If word ever got out about shapeshifters, pretty much all of society would collapse because the ordinances that humans had put in place wouldn’t be able to account for them. Select humans in the know—politicians, police officers, trustworthy friends—worked together to cover up these incidents that couldn’t otherwise be kept under wraps. Corners had to be cut, excuses written down, witnesses bribed into silence or convinced that they had seen nothing, and so on.

Melody was apparently one of those people in the know.

“I don’t get any of this,” Derrick said.

“Maybe you should let me finish the story, Derry.”

He should have been annoyed, but the fact that Rowan was trying to annoy him only somehow made him feel better. His heart warmed just the slightest, and some of the tension deep in his muscles relaxed. Things weren’t ruined between them if Rowan was willing to try to make jokes even at a time like this.

Derrick mimed zipping his lips. No one laughed or even smiled, but he saw a glimmer in his alpha’s eyes that told him he’d done the right thing. Rowan went on with his tale.

“The boss basically told me everything. I think he was mostly pleased with himself at what he’d done, because he sure as hell didn’t want me to live so that I could tell you this.

“He followed me. Brought help. He was pretty damn sure that I was trying to spy on him, although I think he figured that out in the wrong way. I never did anything to tip him off. He’s just been suspicious of me ever since you guys arrested me at the store that second time. He saw that I was cooperating with Terry, and he knew that we’d both betrayed him.

“He threw the knife at me. I didn’t move because I could tell it was going to miss. It stuck in the wall.”

“Then he started telling me all this while Gavin went around to where Terry was…hurt, and pulled the knife out of his neck.”

Derrick winced. He could only imagine what it must have looked and sounded like, to witness someone die in such a horrific manner. To hear the blood pumping out at high pressure, spraying on the ground while Terry struggled and writhed, choking on his own life’s fluid.

“And then I just…snapped. It’s all on the monitors, because that’s how you saw it.” Rowan glanced at Chief Archibald.

“Correct. But since we’re recording this, we’re going to need you to give a statement of your version of the events. Purely for our records, since none of this will probably ever make it into the public eye, but still necessary.” The Chief gave an apologetic shrug.

Rowan clenched one hand in his lap, a gesture hidden from everyone else in the room but for Derrick. His heart ached for his boyfriend, and he wished more than ever that they were holding hands at a time like that.

“All right. I shifted. I don’t think the boss was expecting it. I don’t know if he’s aware of us…us shapeshifters…but even if he is, he didn’t seem to know that I was one. I attacked Gavin. I bit him. I don’t know what else I did. I lost it. Went crazy. They killed a man in front of me. I’m at least sure I left him alive.” Rowan glanced at Chief Archibald again, who gave no response.

Not a good sign.

“While I was on Gavin, the boss threw his knife at me. It hit my head.” Rowan touched the wound that had been patched up. “But I was moving too fast, I think, and it just glanced off me. I attacked him, he fought back, and then he got away. I don’t know how. Maybe the blood was in my eyes. Maybe the security footage will show what happened.

“He stared to run and I was going to follow him, but Terry was dying and I shifted back, tried to help. Then the cops on duty here started to come outside, they arrested me, and then you came…” Rowan trailed away. He seemed to have shrunk throughout the telling of the story, only half his usual size. “And the rest is history.”

“I see.” Chief Archibald sighed, then leaned back and steepled his fingers together over his considerable stomach. “This is a goddamn tough situation. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to just sit around shooting the shit about it. We need to take action. It will be faster if we get any questions you have out of the way.”

“Terry is confirmed dead?” Rowan asked.

“Your efforts to keep him from bleeding out gave him a fighting chance, don’t doubt that. But yes. Unfortunately, he was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital.” Chief Archibald let out another sigh, and Officer Melody reached for another tissue. “It’s a shame. He was a good cop. A little unorthodox, but I understand now why he was that way from what he told you.”

“He mentioned at one point he was transferred over here from Norfolk.”

“Right,” Chief Archibald said. “I’m not really at liberty to discuss the details of that.”

Which means it probably had to do with something borderline illegal. He gave someone a break that he shouldn’t have, to further his ultimate cause. Except instead of booting him off the force, they shuttled him off to a different city.

That maybe wasn’t the most orthodox thing a law enforcement agency had ever done, but certainly not the worst.

“Okay,” Derrick said, butting into the conversation. “So tell me how Rowan’s boss is a champion knife-thrower.”

Rowan rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, I can answer that one. It’s a hobby of his. A skill. Some people can juggle. Others like to go fishing. Mr. Storm threw knives. He told me once that it’s more about the knife than anything. They’re balanced so they spin a certain way, hit a certain way. As long as you throw it correctly, it’s going to be a dead hit.” He winced at his own choice of words.

“Helpful, if we want to get intel on him. There can only be so many places that sell throwing knives in this city. Unless he buys them online. In which case, we’re back to square one. Any other questions?”

Rowan shook his head and so did Derrick. He just wanted all of this to be over, though he had a feeling that all of this was only just beginning.

“Then, we should get down to business. Daniel Storm is out there. You are very much in danger from him, Rowan. And you, Derrick, are in danger by correlation. The two of you need to decide where you are going to stay, and stay there. We will send a team of officers with you to your location and have them guard you until Storm is in custody. There are no other options. You have to agree, or we’ll be keeping you in the holding cell.”

“What goes around, comes around,” Derrick muttered.

Rowan chuckled, though the sound was hoarse and half-hearted. “I think we’d be better off going to my trailer. Easier to protect than an entire series of apartment buildings.”

“Then, it’s settled.”

Officer Melody spoke up. “I volunteer to watch their location. If that fucking bastard Storm shows, I’m going to…”

“No,” Chief Archibald interrupted. “You’re going to stay here and hold down the fort. You’re too close to this to be able to think clearly.”

Derrick knew that no one in their right mind would risk attacking a police station twice. Daniel Storm might have been a murdering bastard, but he was clearly too smart for his own good if he’d been in operation this long without being caught. Melody would encounter no real difficulties here except for the ones that came from within, when the grief over her loss was still fresh. No matter how disagreeable her partner had been, the two of them had apparently still been very close.

Melody said nothing in response, clearly knowing that her protests would do no good.

“I need to go make some calls,” Chief Archibald said. “Rowan, Derrick, stay here. Melody, come with me. I’ll be back shortly to see to it that you are safely on your way home.”

The Chief heaved himself up out of his chair and worked his way around the desk to the office door. He held it open for Melody, then slid through himself.

For a moment, the office was completely silent. Derrick didn’t speak and neither did Rowan, both of them looking in every other direction except at each other.

Finally, Derrick said, “I’m sorry.”

And Rowan said, “I really fucked up,” at the same time.

Their eyes met and locked together, hazel and blue melding between them. Tentatively, Derrick reached out to the other wolf with his thoughts and could have collapsed with relief when he felt a response.

And then there was a blur of dark hair and pale skin, and he was being enveloped fiercely in a pair of muscular arms. Soft, warm lips pressed all over his face before settling against his mouth, their tongues meeting between them.

Derrick sank into the kiss, placing his hands on Rowan’s chest before sliding them up and locking them together behind his boyfriend’s neck. “We both fucked up,” he whispered when they both drew back for breath, though they stayed so close their noses were touching. He looked up into Rowan’s eyes, more captivated than ever by the layered striations of color within.

“I fucked up more,” Rowan growled softly. He clutched Derrick closer to him, holding the back of his head in his hand, stroking his hair. “I’m not going to let you disagree with me on that.”

“Well, I forgive you.” Nuzzling his head closer to the other wolf, Derrick lay his cheek in the curved hollow between Rowan’s shoulder and neck. “I shouldn’t have sprung the whole pregnancy thing on you. You already had way too much to worry about without me adding to it.”

“”You were worried, too. You had a right to be.” Rowan guided him over to one of the chairs, where they curled up close together despite the fact that the poor piece of furniture groaned precariously underneath their combined weight. Relaxing suddenly seemed quite a lot easier, and Derrick cuddled closer to the wolf who held him on his lap. “And everything turned out…Not great, but as good as it ever could, given the circumstances. I gave my camera to them for evidence, along with the cocaine I was ferrying. They’ll be able to use all that in court. It might not be enough to put Storm in jail for good, but it’s enough to start with. I think.”

“You’re just talking out of your ass.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Do you even think they’ll be able to catch him? And what if they don’t?”

Rowan held him tighter. Derrick drew up his legs, tucking himself into a ball and allowing himself to be comforted. “They’ll get him. The end of the line is almost here for him. All we have to do is wait it out.”

The door to the office opened and Chief Archibald stepped through, followed by a pair of ragged-looking cops in plain clothes. The pair looked more shell-shocked than weary, clearly taking the news about Terry just as hard as everyone else. However, they hadn’t been partnered to him like Melody was. Their eyes glinted hard like diamonds, burning with indignant rage.

“These two will take you home,” the Chief said. “Let’s get it moving.”

Derrick stood up, regretting the loss of Rowan’s warmth, but then immediately felt better when his boyfriend wrapped his arm around his waist.

“We’re ready,” Rowan said, speaking for both of them. There were times when that alpha tendency to speak first, to be heard and listened to, could really put a strain on personal interactions. Right now, Derrick was glad for it. He regretted that he couldn’t do anything right now to help Rowan, leaving his boyfriend to shoulder the burden of moving them forward all on his own.

That was just the way things were. Derrick’s role as an omega would come eventually, offering quiet support and wordless comfort. He knew that they would be okay when all of this was over.

He hoped.

If it wasn’t for the whole issue of his pregnancy, he might be more certain.

Derrick followed Rowan out of the office, falling in step with him. Together, they headed outside and in the direction of the police cruiser pointed out to them by the pair of hard-eyed cops.

Before, the night had been refreshing. Now the darkness only seemed ominous.