Chapter Six

The undercover NCIS agent was running in the direction he'd heard Jeanne's scream from when he became aware of a figure sprinting alongside him. He hissed, "Ziva, what are you doing here?"

"Helping you!" she shot back, skidding to a halt as she neared the alley. Carefully, she poked her head around the corner. Tony copied her, hardly believing what he saw. They quickly withdrew.

Ziva whispered, "I don't suppose you have any weapons?"

"No, I'm undercover. Do you?"

She shook her head.

"Great. So what's the plan?"

"Simple. We shift, kill everyone except Jeanne, and leave."

"Thank you, General Eisenhower."

"Unless you have a better idea."

He didn't. Within a minute, both of them had shifted into their wolf forms. Snarling, they slunk into the alley, their brown pelts merging into the building. Ziva's dark brown eyes made her almost invisible, while Tony's green eyes shone in the amber streetlight. His lighter pelt would make it easier for the muggers to see him, he realized. There was nothing he could do about it now.

Ziva ordered, You go for the fat one. I'll take out the other two.

Since when are you in charge? I'm the senior field agent!

Instead of answering him, the Mossad liaison growled menacingly and leaped. Sighing, DiNozzo lunged for the fat man. His needle-sharp teeth sank into the guy's shoulder. Yelling in pain, the dude stepped away from the cowering doctor and tried to hit Tony—which was impossible since the big wolf was on his back.

Tony leaped clear and slowly advanced, lip curled to show his teeth and hackles bristling. Terrified, the mugger turned and ran without need for a second warning.

DiNozzo let out a small huff of satisfaction before asking, Hey, Ziva, you need some help?

Yes! His partner let out a yelp as one of the guys she was attacking kicked her off his partner-in-crime. Immediately Tony hurried to his partner's side. Already her wounds were healing. Even in the heat of battle, only a serious wound was a problem, because they continued healing, providing Shifters a sort of living armor.

One of them, a skinny guy with dark hair and blue eyes, gasped in horror, "Loup-garou!"

Oh, great, thought Tony, he's French.

Thank you for the observation, Ziva snapped. Now, a little help, please?

The senior field agent knew he had to go for the throat if the opportunity presented itself. Soon, both offenders were no longer moving.

Well done, Tony, thought Ziva. I told you if anyone gave you trouble to take those beautiful teeth of yours, sink them into their neck, and not let go until the body stops shaking.

Nice Alpha and Omega reference.

Thanks.

A horrified gasp reminded the two wolves that they weren't alone. Tony swung his head over to Jeanne, who he'd risked revealing his kind's existence to save. The woman shrank back as the senior field agent padded over, fear in her eyes. Wanting to reassure her, Tony licked her hand.

Tony, we have to go, Ziva reminded him.

Oh, right.

The two of them turned their backs on the doc and trotted away. As soon as the coast was clear and they gathered their clothes, Tony and Ziva shifted back into their human forms. Then, while the Mossad liaison watched from nearby, DiNozzo walked over to Jeanne. As always, it amazed him that Shifters could move so quietly.

Jeanne's head snapped up to face him when he put a hand on her shoulder. "Get away from me!" she cried.

"What's wrong, Jeanne? Were you attacked?"

"You know very well what happened!" she hissed. "You rescued me, after all."

Tony decided to continue playing dumb. "How could I have? I was blocks behind you."

"Oh, maybe not as a human. As a wolf."

"I think you must have—"

She slapped his hand away from where it was probing her wounds. "How come you never told me that you can go all furry, Tony?"

"Jeanne—" He tried to help her up, but she shoved him away. "Stay away from me, werewolf!" the enraged woman spat. She pushed herself to her feet and limped rapidly away. Glaring back, Jeanne snapped bitterly, "I wish I'd never met you." She vanished into the night without another word.

When the brunette doctor was gone, Ziva walked over to Tony, carefully picking her way among the bodies. The Mossad liaison said, "Go after her! Let her know that—"

"Did you not see the way she looked at me, Ziva? All we did was horrify her, and we had to shift to save her life!" His voice rose until he was almost yelling. "I'll be lucky if she ever wants to see me again! If the Director found out about this—"

"Whoa, wait," interrupted Ziva. "What does Director Sheppard have to do with this?"

"I told you I was undercover. She's my assignment." DiNozzo paused to let his words sink in before he smiled weakly. "Since my date is a wash-out, you wanna hang out?"

Was it his imagination, or did she look excited at the prospect? Before he could react, Ziva leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. He found himself wanting so much more. What Tony felt for his partner scared him so much that he'd pushed it away and focused on Jeanne. But now that La Grenuioulle's daughter was out of the picture . . .

Ziva smiled. "What kind of person would I be if I didn't take you up on that offer, Tony?"

"Wait, which one?"

"Spending the night with you. I don't know what other offer you were talking about."

So she hadn't been reading his thoughts. Tony almost sighed with relief. Smiling, he replied, "Great. There's this club nearby . . ."

...

Ziva followed Tony into the club and was immediately bombarded by sights and sounds. If she was human it would have been bad enough, but with her heightened senses it was almost too much to take in. To make matters worse, a familiar song was beginning to play.

"The same song twice in one day," Ziva groaned. "You've got to be kidding."

"Aw, come on, Ziva! Sing along!" Tony pleaded, twirling her around underneath his raised arm.

An idea came to the Israeli, and she grinned. Sashaying her hips, she ran her hands up the sides of her body and lifted her hair off her neck, testing her power over her fellow Shifter. She started singing:

"A domesticated girl, that's all you ask of me
Darling it is no joke, this is lycanthropy
The moon's awake now with eyes wide open
My body's craving, so feed the hungry"

Now she had his attention. Shivering with some emotion she couldn't make out, Ziva noticed Tony was looking at her with more intensity than he was that afternoon. Meeting his gaze, Ziva found she couldn't look away, and her body reacted with a jerk of awareness. Honestly, she didn't know why she wanted to kiss him so badly. Or maybe she did: the call of the wild. His heated eyes rested on her lips as if maybe he was thinking along the same lines.

To distract themselves, Ziva started singing along again, only this time she began twining herself around her partner.

"Sitting at a bar, staring right at her prey
It's going well so far, she's gonna get her way
Nocturnal creatures are not so prudent
The moon's my teacher and I'm her student"

She felt a teasing grin easing across her face as she tormented him. Then her gaze fell on a familiar face in the sea of dancing bodies. "What's Chris Nixon doing here?" she hissed in Tony's ear.

DiNozzo whirled around, eyes bulging out as he saw Nixon staring right at them. "Maybe he's following us around," the senior field agent suggested, only half-joking.

"Why would he do that?"

"Halloween is next week. Let's just head out, okay, Zee-vah?"

"Sounds great to me."

...

Chris Nixon watched the two NCIS agents leave from where he was standing a few feet away. He'd been so close this time . . . Next time, there wouldn't be any mistakes. Besides, if these two were what he suspected they were, they wouldn't let him live. Nixon would just have to be more careful.

He followed the two of them and paused when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. In the dark alley, he made out the forms of two bodies. Warily, Chris moved forward to inspect the corpses. Even with his untrained eye, he could tell they hadn't been dead long. Then he saw the bitemarks on both men's throats. A smile of satisfaction crawled over his face.

"Soon," he murmured, "soon . . ."


Hmmm, I wonder what our little friend has planned. I'm actually having a lot of fun writing this. Besides, it helps keep the plot bunnies safe. Oh, and thanks to Davorah13 for giving me the idea of Tony and Ziva at the club . . . while "She-Wolf" is on . . . :D

Also thanks to Something Generic for coming up with the series' name.

To clear up any confusion on the mind-reading thing, Shifters in animal form can read other Shifters' thoughts even when the other Shifters might not be in animal form. True mates can read each other's thoughts at any time, but can turn it off when the other wants privacy.