Chapter Text
In the days since the pack’s impromptu orgy, things had been less than ideal between everyone involved. Owen wasn’t answering his phone despite multiple attempts to get in touch with him. Ant said the poor guy probably felt emasculated by discovering his girlfriend was cheating on him with another woman and suggested they give him a few days for his emotions to settle down. Meanwhile, Paige and Milo were bunking together since Paige had effectively moved in with Owen after they became engaged and she had nowhere else to go.
Things had stabilized between Eileen and Ryan as well, their breakup going much smoother than anyone would have expected. Tensions evaporated, and soon they were able to share a booth with the others and have breakfast without any awkward silences. Ryan was still obviously smitten with his professor, but he’d accepted the fact they weren’t going to end up together. Eileen, for her part, realized she could have been more tactful with her refusal and dismissal, so she tried to make retroactive amends by being especially kind to him. The result was a relaxed feeling from both sides.
The pack had just come back from a run on a rainy morning, most of them looking like half-drowned rats when they trudged into the mud room to transform. Milo emerged first having spent the least amount of time drying herself off and dressing. She slid into the booth wearing a tight V-neck shirt and a pair of baggy cargo shorts, immediately grabbing the ketchup and pouring a healthy amount onto her eggs.
“You got a call while you were out,” Ant said.
Milo blinked in an over-dramatic way, leaning back as the bar’s owner dropped a piece of paper next to her plate. “Ben Moss? Who the hell is Ben Moss?”
Ant held his hands out helplessly. “Everything I know, I put in the message. Sounded like he thought you should know.”
Milo shrugged and put the note into her pocket. The others began filtering out of the changing room in various states of undress, bringing to mind a hostel that offered free breakfast if you made it downstairs by a certain time. Owen was conspicuously absent, since no one could get in touch with him about their arranged meeting times. According to Ant and Tarun, Owen hadn’t even been in the pub since That Night. Mia and Hannah came out together, of course, with Mia fully-dressed in a red blouse and charcoal-gray slacks. Hannah was less composed, wearing a tank top that hung open to reveal her bra, as well as most of the tattoos that had spread from her arms and into the center of her back.
“Got to go to work early?” Ryan asked.
Mia nodded. “Yeah. I want to go over the witness statements again. Exhausting, but I know the answer is there. I just gotta sniff it out.”
Hannah put an arm around her partner and kissed her neck. “I have faith in you. Putting the bad guys away. My hero.”
Mia smiled and snuggled against her partner. Milo was still surprised to see how well they fit together. Mia was by the book, never with a hair out of place, rarely with a smile (except, of course, when Hannah was nearby). She was always well-dressed and perfectly coiffed, her idea of casual dress was to leave the tie at home and undo the top button of her blouse. She was a homicide detective and she tended to take herself extremely seriously. Or she did, until the day she walked into a tattoo parlor with Owen. He wanted a wolf paw print just under his navel and he found the shop through canidae word of mouth. Hannah Milsap was the proprietor and showed him a few designs before she started work. Mia lingered by the door and watched the heavily-tatted artist do her work. Eventually she had looked up and raised an eyebrow.
“How about you, Easter Island?”
Mia frowned. “Me?”
“Yeah. You got the strong jaw and... never mind. You gonna get ink?”
Owen had laughed and said, “Detective Cohen, getting a tattoo. That’ll be the day.”
“Shame,” Hannah had said. Her eyes lingered on Mia for a long moment before she went back to work on Owen. The position of his tattoo meant that her wrist was resting just over the bulge of his jeans, which he’d undone and pushed down slightly to give her more room to work. About halfway through her work the constant pressure of her forearm and the buzzing of the needle had caused a physical reaction.
“Sorry about that.”
“Happens all the time,” Hannah said. “Don’t even notice it anymore.”
Owen, acting the lothario since he had yet to get together with Paige, said, “Yeah, well, it’s kind of hard to miss.”
Hannah cracked a sardonic smile. “Trust me, Mr. Kiernan, doesn’t matter how big it is, it would be like a dog chasing a car. Even if I caught it, I wouldn’t have the slightest idea what to do with it.” Mia chuckled at that, and Hannah’s head snapped up to look at her. “Hey, I got a smile! Not so Easter Island anymore, eh? Look at that. Lovely.”
When they left, Hannah suggested they take a card if either of them needed another tattoo. Mia took it then, after a moment, turned it over and wrote her number on the back. She handed the card back to Hannah and said, “Better keep this. I already know how to find you so...”
Hannah took the card and flicked it with her finger, smiling as Mia turned and followed Owen out of the shop. He immediately put his arm around her neck and leaned against her.
“Little Mia gonna get laid?”
“Sod off,” she said, twisting away from him. “She’s interesting. Not my usual type. Might be good for a laugh.”
The laugh turned into dinner, which became a series of dates that culminated with Mia letting her hair down in Hannah’s slovenly loft apartment and leaving her clothes wherever they happened to fall. She learned to relax about things like her shoes lining up perfectly next to the bedroom door or whether or not her shirts were ironed before she hung them up in the closet. Hannah made an effort as well, cleaning up her apartment whenever she knew Mia would be coming by.
Somehow they not only made it work, they thrived. They complimented each other’s strengths and weaknesses just by being themselves. Mia brought order to Hannah’s chaos, and Hannah relaxed the rigidity of Mia’s strict way of life. She still dressed the part and she acted as severely as ever when the time called for her to be serious, but she was also able to let her hair down and just relax.
Milo finished her breakfast and wiped her mouth on a napkin. “Thanks for the brekky, Ant. Gotta get going myself.”
Mia said, “I’ll walk you out.” She kissed Hannah goodbye and freed herself from the booth. They walked outside into the drizzle and Mia flipped up the hood of her anorak, the faux-fur ringing her face as she looked into the sky to see if the clouds were clearing out.
“Everything all right?”
Mia nodded. “Yeah. But listen... I want your opinion on something.” They walked to where Milo had parked her bike and Mia nudged her. “Ant will let you leave that here. I’ll give you a ride.”
“Thanks.” They got into her car and Milo ran her fingers through her hair. It had almost gotten dry during breakfast only to be drenched again by the walk to the parking lot. “So, you want my opinion on... what, your case? Whenever it happened, I got an alibi.”
Mia chuckled without smiling and looked down at her hands. “Do you think Hannah would cheat on me?”
Milo was thrown by the question. “What, I’m suddenly the pack expert in infidelity? Shouldn’t it be Paige, since she was the one--”
“No, I just wanted an outside opinion. And you seemed like the only one of the lot who would give me a straight answer even if it hurt. So what do you think?”
Milo rubbed her hands on her thighs. “No. I slept with Paige knowing she had a boyfriend, but I could tell that wasn’t a dealbreaker. Sometimes you can just tell. It’s in a woman’s demeanor or the way she expresses herself to you. I’d never have gone after you or Hannah because I can tell that’s a brick wall. I look at you two... and I see...” She rubbed her lips together and watched the rain spattering the windshield. “I see what I want when I look at you. You two are meant to be together, and you’re smart enough to realize it. Hannah wouldn’t cheat on you any more than you’d cheat on her.”
Mia sighed. “I made some silly joke the other night about how we were an old married couple. She got real quiet. Later on she said that she didn’t plan on getting hitched and if I had a problem with that then we needed to talk.”
“So? Marriage doesn’t have to be the endgame.”
“But then what’s the point?”
“The point is to find someone you’re crazy about and spend the rest of your lives together. You see yourself ever leaving Hannah?”
Mia thought and then shook her head. “Never saw myself with her in the first place. All those tatts.” She laughed and rubbed her face. “I used to reject women at the pub because they had a Chinese character on their arm or a tramp stamp. Now I’m talking about spending my life with a woman who has two sleeves of the damn things up and down her arms. How’d I get here?”
“You fell in love. Happens to better people than us.” She leaned across the console and kissed Mia’s cheek. “Don’t worry about marriage. Just make sure that every day you make yourself worthy of her. And make sure she’s doing the same for you.”
“Thanks, Milo.”
She nodded. “Any time. Now, you gonna take me home like you promised, or do I have to get out.”
Mia grinned and started the engine, producing a burst of warm air from the dashboard vents. “I’ll even stop somewhere to buy you a cup of coffee for your help. And your silence.”
“My silence is worth a lot more than a cup of coffee. I’ll let you know how much you owe me when the time comes. The day may come when I ask you for a favor.”
“Just make sure it’s not illegal. Nothing more embarrassing than having to arrest myself.” She pulled away from the curb and made a U-turn so she could take Milo home. “So how about you and Paige? Things progressing on that score?”
That was a question Milo had been hoping no one would ask. “We’re still going.”
“Aha.” Mia smiled. “You lost the thrill of sneaking around and now--”
“Nah, it’s not that.” She was afraid people would jump to that conclusion. “It wasn’t the thrill of the chase. It was that now we’re together, she and Owen are on hiatus, so the pressure is on us to make it work. Like if we don’t end up married or if we even have a stupid fight, then she ended the engagement for nothing. So we end up having a lot of stupid fights even when we’re trying to be on our best behavior.”
“The pressure to make it worth the effort you took to get together. Yeah, I’ve known that pain. Look, don’t worry about what the pack thinks. Just focus on the things that made you want her in the first place. It’ll all work out.”
Milo nodded slowly and looked out the window. When they pulled up outside her apartment, Mia said, “Look, either it works out with Paige or it doesn’t. The relationship doesn’t change just because of how it started. Don’t make yourselves miserable just because you feel like you owe it to Owen. If you want to end things, do it early when there’s still a chance she and Owen might work things out.”
“Right. Thanks, Mia.”
“Hey, I owed you one.”
They embraced awkwardly over the console. “I got an umbrella in the backseat if you want to borrow it.”
“Nah, I’ll just change when I get upstairs anyway. Have fun at work. Catch a murderer.”
Mia saluted, and Milo ducked out into the rain. Mia watched her go and then took out her cell phone. She dialed Hannah’s number and closed her eyes as it rang.
“I’m about to leave right now.”
Mia smiled. “I’m not calling to check up on you.” Even though she was about to be late opening her shop, she confirmed with a quick glance at the clock. “I just wanted to say... I...” She wet her lips. “I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone. And if I ever have to fight to keep you, I will. I’m yours even without a ring, Hannah. I don’t need to get married as long as I know you know that I am crazy about you.”
She heard the squeak of the back door of the Bulldog, then Hannah’s quiet exhale. “You bitch. You nearly made me cry in front of Ryan and Ant. I’d have never forgiven you. I love you, too. I swore I’d never get married. Don’t care to. But if anyone could talk me into it, you’d be the one. You wouldn’t even have to make that good an argument. If you wanted to marry me, I’d be a fool to say no. I love you, babe.”
Mia laughed and squeezed her eyes shut. “I’ll take that over an ‘I do’ any day. Listen, if I can get out early, let’s go out to dinner. I’ll treat you right and proper.”
“You’d better. I love you, Mia.”
“Love you, too.”
Mia hung up and stared at the blank screen of her phone for a long minute before slipping it back into her pocket. If she wasn’t already at her desk pouring over witness statements by the time her partner showed up, he would spend the whole day mocking her for sleeping in.
#
Owen hadn’t been to work in four days, and hadn’t shaved in six. He spent the time in his apartment with the blinds closed, stalking from room to room in the nude. He shifted from human to wolf and back again without consciously being aware of the shift. His mind was too occupied with other thoughts. Thoughts like the fact his fiance and one of his best friends had been fucking behind his back for... how long? He didn’t even want to know. All the times he’d gotten home to find Paige fresh from the shower, driving himself crazy with the smell of her soap and bodywash. How many times had she only been so freshly-scrubbed because she didn’t want him to smell Milo on her? Now their engagement was on hold. Or at least he assumed it was... why would she stick around after he went AWOL?
As if that wasn’t enough to occupy his mind, he also had to deal with the fact that he’d fucked Ryan during the orgy. He hadn’t been thinking clearly, his only instinct being to find a warm and willing body to rut against. For some reason, even with Eileen right there, he had stepped behind a man and pushed inside of him. It had been shocking enough to snap him out of the wolf-think mentality, but it hadn’t been enough to stop him. Because, fuck it all, it felt amazing. It felt right. So he had sex with Ryan and he enjoyed the hell out of it.
So what did that make him, bisexual? If he really did want to be with a guy, maybe Milo had done him a favor by distracting Paige.
No. He still loved Paige, he wanted Paige. He loved her apple-cheeks, the way her eyebrows arched when she was trying to hide her amusement. He loved her tits, her big and beautiful tits that he could spend a whole afternoon kissing, licking, playing with. He loved her arms, which were lean and tight with muscles, the way they looked in her firefighter T-shirt, how her stomach and ass looked when she was in the navy blue uniform...
Her hair tucked under her helmet, her macho swagger. He thought of how many times he had flipped her over and pushed into her from behind, squeezing her ass with both hands. He remembered the whispered conversations where he asked if he could put it in another way, holding his breath and then hiding his disappointment when she said no.
Gay. Bisexual. The differences were vast, in his mind. He couldn’t imagine himself as one, and if he chose the other... well, wasn’t a bisexual married to a woman the same thing as being straight? If he stayed monogamous it would amount to the same difference. But fucking Ryan had felt fantastic. It was like losing his virginity all over again, that eye-opening and stunning moment of “So this is what everyone is talking about” combined with “Oh, so this is what everyone is talking about...?”
He walked into the living room and glanced at the TV. Football, but nothing he cared to watch. He turned it off and picked up his cell phone, dismissing the messages about how many calls he’d missed and went straight to his phone book. He considered calling Milo; she deserved to know he wasn’t planning to kill her. He definitely owed Paige a call. But instead he scrolled further down and dialed Ryan’s number.
“Hey! You’re alive. We, uh. We were all starting to worry.”
“Yeah,” Owen said softly. He sat down on the edge of the sofa and massaged the bridge of his nose. “Listen, mate... I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened the other night. There’s--”
“Hold up. Hold on just a second. Let me get out of the way.” Owen hung his head and rubbed his thumb against the side of his nose. It seemed ironic that he’d finally gotten up the courage to call only to essentially get put on hold. He heard the squeak of the back door and knew Ryan was going out into the alley. “Oka-- shit. Sorry, Hannah.”
“Hannah?”
“She was out there crying.” Ryan had lowered his voice to a whisper despite the squeak’s echo revealed he’d gone back inside.
“Crying? Everything okay?”
“Yeah, she was smiling so I guess... happy tears or whatever.” He heard another door shut. “Okay, I’m in the loo. Listen, lots of shit happened that night. Just because we... I mean, I was with Eileen and she was with Tarun and we...” He took a deep breath and then said, “It was just the wolves getting up to no good with our bodies. We don’t have to talk about it.”
“I think we do.”
“Why?”
“Because I liked it.”
Ryan was quiet for a long time. “And, what, you think it’s ‘cause you’re in love with me or something?”
“No! I just think... fuck. I don’t know, all right? I’ve never buggered a guy before. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it that much, and now I’m wondering if it was just the wolf or...” He rubbed his face. “I think I want to do it again. And it’s not like I’m going to run down to a club and find a guy to start rubbing against so you’re the best candidate. If you want to, I mean, it’s... it’s up to you.”
Ryan was quiet for so long that Owen thought he’d hung up. But then finally: “I guess I’m not seeing anyone.”
Owen chuckled. “Right. And if my fiance gets to fuck Milo when I’m not around, well hell...”
Ryan laughed. “Um. All right. I only have a couple of classes today so I guess...” He paused as he thought. “I could blow off the afternoon class, come over then.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be here.”
“All right. I’ll call when I’m on the way.”
“Right. See ya.”
He hung up and stared at the phone and then dropped it onto the cushion next to him. He pressed the heels of both hands against his eyes. “What in the actual hell are you doing, man? This is absolutely mad.” He took a deep breath and leaned back, looking at the apartment before he dropped his eyes down to himself. He saw that his cock had responded to the conversation and was standing at half-mast. He moved his hand toward it but decided to hold off. He didn’t want to get in the middle of it just to go limp because he’d taken care of himself beforehand.
He got up and went to take a shower and get dressed. There was no reason he couldn’t be presentable for his first date with a man.