Ranger finally got the schedule figured out. He saved the schedule and sent a copy to the men. The schedule was bare and on the 26th Ranger had Hal and Junior working the morning shift from 5am to 4pm. The two remaining humans were working the mid-afternoon and night shift. Binkie and Ramon were scheduled to be in the control room at 2 to cover for the others.
The Tuesday before the full moon a client called asking for an install in his pool house. Ranger usually had no problems with installing a system that links to the main house but the client wanted to be there and the only day he was at the house was Saturday the 26th. The client is one of Rangers oldest and loyal clients, Ranger couldn't say no. Ranger hung up with Mr. Smythe dropped his head to the desk and said 'fffffuuuuucccckkkk.'
The rest of the week went by uneventful Bobby left Friday for the cabin. Ranger tried to convince Lester to come in on Saturday but he decided against it. It's not a good idea to have two alpha felines in the same enclosed space. So Lester took off Friday afternoon. Ranger didn't have anyone else to cover for the weres so he called Stephanie. Steph agreed to work the afternoon shift from 10 to 9.
Everything was going ok. Saturday morning came and went. Ramon and Hal went to the client's house around 11. Stephanie got to the control room at 930 Ranger had to pick her up; her CRV died a horrible death by train. Ranger put her in the control room; Hal trained her for an hour before he left. Ranger was running back ground checks and security risk assessments for many new clients. He was tried but restless all the same. Normally he would have no problem working a full moon but this one was messing with his shift. Ranger has already clawed two long sleeve shirts trying to roll up the sleeves. He was hot but running around shirtless was unprofessional and it would look weird if the guys saw him.
Stephanie had bugged him for a while but he told her to go back to the control room because if she stayed any longer he would jump her. She smelled like female heat and the panther in his head was constantly yelling at him to mount and breed her. He gave into those craving once before and now he had a daughter in Florida. Thank god her mother was human and she took after her. He loved his daughter but with his life in the military he would have a hard time teaching her to control her shift.
Ranger kept to him shelf for most of the day but at 130 Hal called saying they needed Junior to come to the install site they had a problem. Binkie was still new and he got lost last install and he had a GPS, so for time sakes they wanted Junior. Binkie was in the control room with Stephanie they were talking about how Stephanie can be with Lula constantly. Not many things scare Binkie but hauling Lula out of a grave at night while it's raining scared him. Ranger was growing restless throughout the day but around 4 he decided to go get food maybe that would calm him down, (snort yeah right).
Ranger was growling while making a sandwich, Ella tends to leave whole chucks of meat around the full moon but she didn't make any sandwiches. Binkie was about to walk into the lunch room but he spotted Ranger opening the chicken with a claw and growling at the mustard so he decided he wasn't hungry and fled.
The boys kept their distance, Stephanie was taking a nap on level 7 and Ramon went home after Ranger told him too. Ramon fell off the ladder and cracked his femur also he was on some many pain killers he was giggling ay everything. He giggles for 5 straight minutes when he saw Binkie, Binkie's not sure why bit it was disturbing
When Stephanie woke up it was already 7 pm and the moon was up and calling. She sighed and stretched then shifted. She stretched her limbs and shook then wondered down stairs. Surprisingly Ranger had an automatic door for when he shifted attached to the apartment door and the stairs. Stephanie wondered around the 5th floor stopping to sniff the carpet ever few feet. She wondered into the control room and spotted Binkie. He was watching the monitors while on the computer filling out paper work. She leaped up into his lap scarring him. Binkie felt something jump on him and he flipped out. Stephanie ended up being flung off his lap, hit floor and sled under the desk. Binkie flipped the chair backwards so now he was on top of a broken chair on the floor. Slowly getting up Binkie looked for the offending object he spotted a gray and black long haired cat. 'Aw I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you. Come here" when she didn't move, Binkie got on his knees crawling under the desk to her. Steph must have got over her shock because she pounced on him, well on his face.
Binkie got Stephanie and put her on the desk told her to stay while he cleaned up the broken chair. After he cleaned up he sat in a new chair with Steph in his lap. Binkie doesn't know that the cat is Steph or where she came from. He was petting her while she purred in his lap. Binkie was almost dosed off when he was pounced on again, his back hit the floor just before he blacked out he saw black fur and heard growling.
10 minutes earlier in Rangers office.
Ranger has been testy he already clawed his desk, all he wanted was to shift that would solve most of his problem. The problem was that he had one man here and Binkie is not use to weres.
Last month Ranger made the mistake of hosting a sparring session with the other guys. Earlier that week Lester dared Ranger to take on Tank to see who would win. Neither male had some place where they could fight without the cops being called. Morelli already doesn't like Ranger if he found out that he was a were it wouldn't be good.
Ranger wasn't going to fight Tank but he was curious to see who would win and the guys have been bugging him about it for some time so he gave in. Everything was fine the guys were having fun but that didn't last long. It was Ranger and Tank in the ring, Tank got a few punches before it happened. Lester said something to Ranger, which distracted him so he didn't pull his next punch. Ranger landed a right hook just as Tank moved and ended up catching him in the upper chest. Having the air knocked out of him Tank stumbled back and involuntarily shifted (it was close to a full moon so his 'bear' was closer to the surface then normal). Ranger was talking to Lester one minute and the next he was being thrown into the wall by a bear. The guys jumped back hoping to be small enough that bear Tank wouldn't notice them. They watched in horror as Tank went after Ranger. Ranger was on his toes ready to strike if he needed but Tank has at least 300 pounds and about a foot on him he was also three times wider then Ranger. It didn't look like Tank was going to slow down in this run towards Ranger. Ranger didn't have the speed ti get away so he did the next best thing he jumped. Just as he thought he was in the clear Tank caught his ankle and flung Ranger across the room. He would have crashed into Binkie who just walked into the room but instead Ranger shifted midair and landed a foot in front of Binkie on 4 paws and growled. The other guys jumped then turned when he heard a thud. Lester and Cal started laughing while Bobby ran over to Binkie who fainted.
Ranger couldn't stand it anymore, he tried to type up the installation report but he kept hitting the wrong buttons, his claws kept popping out. Ranger was glaring at the computer for 5 minutes until he smelt something. An aroma slid across his noise which had Ranger's head popping up and sniffing the air. The smell was female and feline in nature but it smelled wrong. Ranger is used to weres roaming around the office. Sure they are usually in human form but the smells of leopard and polar bear are lingering. This smell was unfamiliar and it was irritating. Ranger sighed and tried to calm down, the sound of squealing and a crash was the last straw he shifted. Ranger pushed the door of his office open with his nose. He padded around the cubicles and into the hallway when he caught the scent. Ranger smashed his nose to the ground and inhaled, and then he sneezes. Shaking his head, Ranger followed the scent. He was expecting the see a cat or something lounging next to the A/C or under the desk of the control room where it was dark and warm, what he wasn't expecting is to find Binkie in a chair petting a purring black and gray Persian cat in his lap. Seeing the sight in front of him something in Ranger snapped and he pounced on an unsuspecting Binkie.
Binkie came back to the land of the living and the sight in front of him was disturbing. There was growling panther on top of him, but that wasn't the disturbing part. Stephanie was huddled in the corner fully human, naked, and yelling. 'The fuck do you think you are to pounce on a person I mean really..." she would have kept going but the loud growl that Binkie could feel deep in his bones stopped her. Bobby was under the panther and he didn't dare move, but that didn't stop him from yelling in his head. Oh my god there is a huge cat on me, breathe, breathe, ok mama always told me no sudden movements when dealing with animals, but that was a dog not a man eating panther, even if it is Ranger. Yeah yeah it's Ranger my boss, but um is it still Ranger. Ranger must have been reading Binkie's emotional smells or reading his mind who knows but all of a sudden he stopped growling at Stephanie and shifted his focus to Binkie. Ranger move off of Binkie, but Binkie didn't move, he still smelled scared so Ranger lied down hoping to seem less threating. Stephanie ran over to Binkie, kneeled down and started talking, "omg are you ok, I mean that was not right for him to do that," she glared at Ranger, Ranger just huffed. He probably would have rolled his eyes if he could. Binkie must have noticed that he could move because one minute he was on the floor in front of Stephanie then he was gone, (for a human he was surprisingly fast). Both Stephanie and Ranger noticed that he was gone and went searching. Stephanie went in the direction of the Rangeman studio apartments and Ranger followed his nose.
Ranger found Binkie in the custodian closet, he didn't smell scared anymore but he was stilling shaking. He must not have heard Ranger so he jumped when he turned around. Putting a hand on his chest, he glared, "Jesus Ranger, dude I'm so going to get you bells." Ranger snorted. Binkie walked out of the closet with a broom and dust pan, to clean up the broken chair for the second time. Ranger padded behind him back to the control room. Binkie must have gotten use to the idea of a panther following him because he was talking again. "So what the hell earlier, I mean I know that I am pounceable but really, two cats in one night is a little much for me. Also did I imagine Steph here and she was naked, no one ever told me about the tattoo she had on her breasts." Binkie kept rambling on as he was picking up pieces of the chair. Truthfully Ranger didn't know why he pounced on Binkie but something inside of him snapped when he saw him petting the other cat. Ranger is man enough to admit at least to himself, that he was jealous, he wanted those hand on him. Shaking his head, he would think about those massive muscular arms and hands on him later, you know in the comfort of his bedroom alone.
Ranger shook those thoughts out of his head as Stephanie stepped back into the control room thankfully dressed in Ranger's opinion. Don't get him wrong he loved the way she looked but he didn't desire her anymore except around the full moon. At least her being a were explained why he wanted to mount her earlier when he wasn't really attracted to her anymore. Binkie noticed that she walked back into the room he asked, "Hey when did you get down here, I thought you were still napping?" Shaking her head she picked up a broken arm piece and answered, "no I have been her the whole time" when he looked confused she grinned, "you know the cat," she pointed to herself then at the still shifted Ranger.
Realization dawned on Binkie, "oh so that explains the nakedness, but wait I was petting the cat, so I was petting you?" Smiling she said yes. Ranger was lying down near the door watching the two interact, trying to keep the growl from escaping. For some reason he doesn't like the way Stephanie is flirting with Binkie. He seriously needed to figure that out.
The rest of the night was uneventful; Stephanie went home around 9 pm. She borrowed a car because hers was still dead. Bobby was still in the control room watching the monitors and filling out an incident report for the broken chairs. He would get teased about them when he gave them to Lester but protocol was protocol. Ranger was stayed near Binkie the entire night, even when he went to the bathroom. The first time he closed the door in Ranger's face but the constant whining and scratching at the door stopped him from shutting him out the second and third time. Ranger of course will be embarrassed by this tomorrow when he returns human but for now he was content. Ranger fell asleep to Binkie singing Cat Scratch Fever under his breath.
