Cole listened intently to Ola for two hours and then took a walk. He debated all that he had discovered over the next few hours, mulling over the facts in his mind and weighing the dangers against the possibilities of finding his beloved Piper and her sisters. At last, he slid into the Los Angeles hospital and began to walk the floors until he found the man he was seeking. He watched as he discussed a matter with a nurse before continuing on down the hallway with the file of a new patient clutched in his hand.
Cole fell in behind him. He took a deep breath of air and wondered why he had never noticed the smell of wolf around the man before. Had he been so lost in his own problems that he had overlooked the obvious, or did Ola have a cloaking spell on the lad that helped to protect him from those who did not know his secret or, at least, those who would use his powers for evil that she had lifted for him? The younger man had certainly seen more than enough evil in his lifetime, Cole reflected and shook his head sadly.
Just before the doctor could step into another room, Cole spoke. "Brendan." His voice was soft but demanded his attention nonetheless.
Brendan swiftly whirled around, panic touching his wide, brown eyes. Cole could hear the rapid beating of his heart even from the several feet that still separated them. "Cole!" The Demon watched emotions warring in the Werewolf's eyes as he fought to maintain calm. Brendan forced a wavering smile upon his lips. "What brings you here?"
Cole cut right to the point. "The girls are in trouble."
Brendan cocked his head slightly to one side as he searched his eyes. "What kind of trouble?"
Cole let the truth shine in his dark eyes. "The kind that most people don't know about but you and I know too much about."
Fear, panic, and pain shot through Brendan's deep, brown eyes before they darkened underneath his mask. "I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about."
Cole backed the good doctor against the door and pinned him there with both of his arms surrounding him and his hands planted firmly beside the sides of his head. "Yes, you do," he growled softly. Fire flickered in his eyes before they turned black. "You know exactly what I'm talking about," he continued, his voice dropping to a hiss low enough that only the two of them would be able to hear him, "Werewolf."
Brendan blanched. He gulped and trembled, and Cole could tell he was aching to run. He tried to laugh the accusation off, but one meaningful glare from Cole's darkened eyes transformed Brendan's meek chuckle into a whimper. "I'm not that kind of wolf! I don't want to hurt Prue!"
Cole sighed and took a step back. "I know you don't," he told him, "no more than I want to hurt the woman I love."
"Then why come to me?" Brendan asked him. "You know I can't help."
"I know you can," Cole returned. "In fact, quite possibly, Brendan, you're the only one who can. As I said, Prue, Piper, and Phoebe are missing. I can't find them," he explained, shaking his head, "even with all of my resources. Neither can their White Lighter. We fear they've fallen under a spell or . . . worse yet . . . "
"Prue?" Brendan whimpered in alarm.
Cole nodded gravely. "It's a possibility we don't want to look at, but it's too damn possible right now."
"It can't be!" he whined.
Cole grabbed the other man's arm and led him into the next room that his senses told him was unoccupied. "You've got to pull yourself together," he warned, keeping his voice low. They had already been receiving too many curious glances. "My heart's torn apart right now, too, but I know you've had to have worked hard to convince this hospital and its staff that you're nothing but a good, hard-working doctor. You don't want to blow that now."
Brendan nodded slowly as he struggled to fight down his emotions. Prue couldn't be dead! He had forced himself to stay away from her when all he yearned to do was to be with her with such a fierce need that it tore his heart and soul asunder and was even a physical ache inside of him at times! He'd never known any one as beautiful, sweet, kind, or wonderful as his beloved Prue! Yet he'd forced himself to stay away from her to keep her safe from his nasty, heartless evilness, and now she might have met harm or even worse, death!, at some one else's hands.
He whimpered again as he fought down a howl. His hands began to itch. He felt the beast howling to life within him. "Prue!" he gasped out, his strangled, emotional voice caught somewhere between a whimper and a howl. "She can't be dead!"
Cole sighed. "I don't want to think it," he truthfully replied, "but we have to look at all the possibilities."
"No!"
"Some one could have taken them."
"No!" Coarse, brown hair began to sprout over the backs of Brendan's hands. He knew he should be fighting his wolf, but all he could think about was how his marvelous, sweet, remarkable, darling, beloved Prue might be laying dead somewhere!
"Some one could have hurt them badly . . . "
"No!"
" . . . torn them apart . . . "
"NO!"
" . . . cut their throats . . . "
"NO!" Brendan's voice was no longer a whimper or a cry. It was now a full-out roar as his body began to contort, his muscles growing, his bones shifting, and his skin rapidly being covered with fur . . .
" . . . spilled their blood . . . "
"NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!" Brendan howled, dropping to his knees and tearing at his own head as the wolf continued to gain control.
" . . . killed her! They could all be laying dead somewhere! Phoebe, my Piper, your Prue!" Aw, Hell, he hadn't meant to call Piper his out loud! Cole pushed the thought from his mind. He had to focus on the task at hand. He needed this Werewolf. He needed him to find the girls' scents so that he could rip apart whatever evil was trying to steal them out of their lives. He wondered fleetingly how furious Prue would be if she ever found out what he was doing to her man.
As the transformation completed, Cole pulled Prue's shirt out of his jacket. He'd stopped by the Manor and retrieved it from the laundry before coming on out to the hospital. Howling, the Werewolf struck out and slapped both Cole and the shirt against the wall. The blow took Cole by surprise, and he wondered if he had made the right decision as he pulled himself back to his feet.
The Werewolf glowered at the man, and Cole could still see Brendan's heartache clearly shining within the beast's yellow eyes. He had to trust him. He had found no other choice for neither Leo nor he had been able to turn up any other possibility of discovering the girls' whereabouts. The Elders had mentioned that one of Cole's ex-partners, the dreaded Giselle, was in town but had not told them anything else about what had happened with the sisters. Leo was currently checking with all the other White Lighters, but Cole had already scoured the darkest pits of Hell in search of the sisters. No, there was no other choice but trusting the heaving, feral animal in front of him.
And yet was he himself really much more than a beast? He was worse, he realized, for the Demon within him was one of the most powerful and evil beings that had ever existed. Still he loved Piper, and it didn't matter whether it was his human side or his Demon side in control of his body. Nothing lessened his love for his soul mate. If Brendan truly loved Prue, and from everything that Ola had told him, there could be no doubt that he did, it would be the same for him. Both his man and his Werewolf forms would love her endlessly, and they would stop at nothing to protect her.
"!" the Werewolf howled, throwing back his head, and Cole smiled. He had made the right choice. He leaped forward the moment the Werewolf turned his shaggy back on him, caught him, and shimmered them to the back alley of P3. They had barely arrived before the Werewolf sent Cole flying again.
This time Cole's head hit a wall. He sank down to the muddy ground and grimaced. When had it started raining? He'd been so lost in trying to find his love and her sisters that he'd not even noticed the shift in the weather until now. Thunder boomed, and lightning cut through the night sky. Winds howled, and Cole had to try not to laugh at the way they fluffed out the Werewolf's thick, brown fur. He looked like a walking, lethal furball!
Cole chuckled, but the Werewolf wasn't listening. He had one thing, one woman, on his mind, and he had no need of a shirt to follow his mate's scent. Prue Halliwell was his destined mate. Her delicious scent was embedded on his mind. It, and she, were a part of his heart and soul. No matter what came of their union, she would always be a part of him. With a long, miserable howl, he took off running into the city.
"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?"
Cole grimaced as he looked up at Leo. "Don't shout so loud!" he shot back at him. "My head hurts!" He touched the back of his head, felt something sticky, and brought his fingers around. One look at his hand confirmed what his senses had already told him. He was bleeding from the impact against the brick wall.
That didn't matter, he thought getting to his feet a second time in less than five minutes, nor did the angry White Lighter whose mere look alone could have fried him if he had been any lesser a Demon. Nothing mattered now except for finding Piper, holding her close to his heart, and making sure that she was all right. Well, that, and finding her sisters, Cole slightly amended his frame of thought, simply because his sweet Piper would never get over losing her sisters. "I did," he said as thunder rattled the buildings around them, "what I had to do, Leo. He'll get the job done."
"If he doesn't eat them himself first!"
Cole glowered at Leo. "He'll no more eat them than I would!" he snarled, his eyes flashing. He had grown tired of Leo's attitude a long time ago and only tolerated him so that he could stay with the family and, by so doing, his beloved Piper.
"Sometimes I wonder," Leo groused, "especially with the way you look at my wife . . . "
Cole just glared at him. Then he shimmered out, following the howls of the enamored Werewolf.
To Be Continued . . .
