CHAPTER 6

Who are you?

Hardison paired up the mini keyboard and started back into the programs he'd been accessing. He'd bugged the elevator camera that recorded the faces of anyone accessing the 'tombs' in San Lorenzo. The faces were then compared to staff and others who were regulars. If a face didn't match it was flagged. Most of the faces that were flagged were visitors for other inmates or new staff. It had been a while since Hardison had checked the flagged file. Hardison was surprised that Parker had known how to get into his flagged file but he smiled with pride at how clever his girl was.

"Did Flores approve the visitor?" Eliot pulled a chair from the little table around so that he could see what Hardison was working on.

"There isn't an official record of a visitor, so I'm thinking not." Hardison moved through screens quickly but was more careful with the keyboard and that slowed him down more than he liked. "Parker how'd you find this guy?"

"He was the only one flagged as an unknown in your system that didn't appear in the visitor log." Parker shrugged.

"Do you recognize this guy?" Hardison showed the image to Eliot.

"No…" Eliot looked at the slightly blurry image. "There's something about him… but no. I'm sure I don't know this guy."

"I'll see what Flores can find out for us but that might take a little while." Hardison set the image up to run through his facial recognition programs and then set the tablet onto the side table.

Eliot checked the time. "There should still be enough time to make it into Kalama before the stores close." Eliot headed for the door and paused when he reached for his coat. "Come on."

"What?" Hardison deliberately leaned back on the couch. "I gotta wait for the results on the facial recognition. Could ping at any minute." Hardison interlaced his fingers behind his head and closed his eyes.

"Hardison." Eliot growled. "You know it's not gonna happen that fast. Besides it's just a trip to the store. The trip there and back'll take longer than the shopping is likely to take."

"You know I really gotta stay on top of this stuff." Hardison gestured at his tablet and the cabin in general. "Besides I think finding out who's out to get you is so much more important than the chance to socialize with the local yokels." He scooted farther back into the couch cushions.

Parker could feel how nervous Hardison was and she wasn't sure why Eliot hadn't noticed it. She could tell how determined Eliot was that Hardison should go with him though. Maybe if someone would just get in the van things wouldn't feel so tense. Maybe Eliot wanted Hardison to keep him company since they were both wolves now but even though she wasn't a wolf she wasn't going to be left behind.

Eliot felt the urge to make it an order and fought it down. "Dammit Hardison."

"It's okay. I'll go." Parker grabbed her coat and hurried out the door past Eliot.

Hardison sat forward. "Did I do something?"

"She's Parker." Eliot shrugged. "I'm sure it'll be fine." Eliot closed the door and then called through it. "Bar the door."

Parker was waiting in the passenger seat of the van when Eliot got in. Eliot gave her a look but didn't say anything. They'd driven for at least twenty minutes in silence. Eliot didn't mind, it gave him time to think. Parker seemed just as relaxed and Eliot wasn't picking up anything from the bonds that made it clear she was upset. "What made you decide to come with me?"

Parker shrugged. "Hardison."

"Mad at him?" It didn't feel like that in the bonds but sometimes Parker surprised him.

"I think he's scared to be around people." Parker frowned a little.

Eliot thought about it. He'd been fighting to keep from giving Hardison an order that he'd have no choice but to follow, so he hadn't noticed what Hardison was dealing with. "Don't worry we'll get him past that." He winked at Parker, and she gave him a purse-lipped smile and nodded.

There weren't many places to shop in Kalama so Eliot took them to the same grocery store he always stopped at. Parker hopped out and looked around at what few security measures the store had.

"Parker stop casing the place. It's a grocery store not a bank vault." Eliot growled under his breath.

"Didn't you tell them about their busted camera the last time we were here?" Parker pointed and Eliot grabbed that hand and held it.

"Don't worry about it." He started walking, towing Parker along with him.

"But they still haven't fixed it."

"Parker." The growl of frustration was almost as much a plea.

"Fine Sparky, but you're buying me chocolate." Parker slipped her hand out of Eliot's and walked ahead of him into the store.

An hour later Eliot and Parker each pushed a cart back to Lucille. "I know you paid, but it feels kinda like we robbed the place." Parker smiled as they started loading things into the van.

Eliot raised an eyebrow at her.

"We sorta cleaned them out. Can you believe they only had three boxes of Fruti O's? And the look on the store guys face when you asked if they had anymore meat in the back." Parker chuckled.

Eliot couldn't help the half smile on his face. "Small towns. Got a little of everything but not much of anything." Eliot understood small towns, but bigger places were easier for a lot of reasons, for him and his pack. Parker and Hardison didn't mind visiting small towns or staying at his cabin but the city was where those two really thrived.

They were on their way back up the narrow two lane road that wound its way through the hills towards Eliot's cabin, and it seemed like this would be another quiet drive at first. Parker started drumming her fingers on the door where she was resting her arm. "Why is Hardison scared of people?"

"I'm sure he's worried that someone will notice that he's different. And he really doesn't have the control it takes to pass for human and not slip up yet." Eliot remembered some of his slip ups in that first month before he met Nati. He didn't want Hardison to run into the same things but he felt pretty confident that as long as he kept Hardison close and kept him practicing his shift most of it could be avoided.

"So why did you want him to come instead of me?" Parker's fingers stopped drumming.

Eliot could feel how closely Parker was listening, and he thought about the key part of her question. "First of all it wasn't 'instead of.' Second I wasn't asking him to come along because he's a wolf now and you aren't." Eliot turned yellow eyes on Parker. "I asked him to come because his control isn't great yet, and you and him…" Eliot's words trailed off.

"Oh sex. You thought we'd have sex as soon as you left." Parker smiled as she looked out the window.

Eliot could feel himself blush but couldn't seem to stop it. Parker never had been the least bit uncomfortable talking about sex. It was one of those social queues that just seemed to fly right past her. And unfortunately for all of them, after Sophie tried to explain to Parker that most people aren't comfortable talking about that topic, Parker used it to push their buttons.

"Right." Eliot kept his eyes carefully on the road. "That's something that isn't safe for the two of you yet."

"Don't worry Sparky. I'll make sure nothing happens for now." Parker smiled at him and gave him a wink.

Eliot was glad to be back at the cabin when he parked Lucille near the door. "Parker get the door wouldja?" Eliot went to the back of the van to grab up bags of groceries.

"The door's still barred." Parker rattled the handle in demonstration. She knocked but Hardison didn't come right away. "Eliot? Hardison's not answering the door." She threw a worried look at Eliot.

"It's okay Parker. He's just sleeping." Eliot patted his chest where he felt the pack bonds.

Parker took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. "You're right." She let out her breath in a little sigh. "Why isn't he waking up though?" Parker knocked harder on the door.

"New wolves often sleep really deeply. I'm sure nothing's wrong. See if you can get in through a window." Eliot continued to gather bags. If it came to it he could just kick the door in but he was quite sure that wouldn't be necessary.

Parker, just as silent as always, managed to slip inside the cabin and unbar the door by the time he got there. "Are there still bags left?"

"A few. I'll get the cooler. It's heavy." Eliot set bags on the table and then the floor while Parker went out for the last few bags.

Parker brought in the last few and saw Eliot looking at Hardison with a bemused smirk. She had noticed Hardison asleep on the couch when she'd slid under the window but she hadn't stopped to really look at him. Standing next to Eliot she could see what he did.

Hardison had fallen asleep with a blanket over his legs and his head propped up on the arm of the couch. At some point the fire had gone out and with the back window open a crack the cabin had cooled off. Hardison must have gotten cold in his sleep but instead of pulling the blanket up to keep warm, Hardison's wolf had found a different solution. Hardison's arms, chest, and neck were covered in the sleek hair of his wolf.

"Should we wake him?" Parker asked

"Nah, he's sleeping so deeply it would be a chore to wake him and he needs all the sleep he can get." Eliot knelt next to the fireplace and got a new fire started.

Parker sat on the couch next to Hardison and ran her hand over his fur covered arm. She stroked his smooth cheeks with the back of her fingers and smiled. She thought he was just as beautiful as any artwork she'd ever stolen.

Eliot smiled on his way out to the van to get the cooler. He was so happy for Hardison. As far as Eliot was concerned being a werewolf had only made him more of a monster than he had been before but his family was doing a good job of helping him change for the better. For Hardison though there was a good chance that he would never see himself as a monster because he had Parker to tell him that he wasn't, regardless of the shape he wore, because she loved him.

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

Before Eliot was done fixing dinner some piece of Hardison's equipment dinged and startled Hardison right off of the couch. Parker snorted a laugh from her perch on a kitchen chair and Hardison frowned at her. Eliot chuckled and flipped the steak in his frying pan. "When did you two get back?"

"'Bout an hour ago." Eliot stirred something in a small Dutch oven in the corner of the fireplace. "You should check on your computer. I think you just got the search results on your facial recognition program."

Hardison got his feet under him and slid back up onto the couch. He grabbed his tablet and pulled up the program he'd been waiting on. Blinking next to the face he'd been searching for was the name David Hawthorn. Hardison tapped on the blinking name and waited to see what else his spiders had found.

"David Hawthorn, 54, head of Hawthorn Security. Looks like he stepped in to fill the void when we took down Castleman. Making a healthy chunk of change every year for himself and it looks like his investors are pretty happy." Hardison's monologue turned to muttering before long.

Eliot looked over Hardison's shoulder at the professional photo of David Hawthorn. Again he felt the niggling sense of something familiar but he was sure he'd never met Hawthorn before. While he was thinking, a scent drifted past him and he hurried back to the fireplace. Parker's steak had burnt. Eliot scraped it to the side and went to the cooler to get another one. With his mind now focused on the task of finishing dinner he pushed the puzzle of David Hawthorn to the side.

Hardison started his programs running on everything they knew about Hawthorn in hopes of finding more. Eliot called him for dinner but he held a finger up to indicate he'd be there in a minute. He checked his email one more time. There was a message waiting for him from Flores. Hardison read over it quickly, shut his computer, and hurried for the table.

Unfortunately in the attempt to hurry he tripped over his own feet and fell headlong toward the table. Eliot saw the fall and picked the entire table up just in time. "Dammit Hardison! You gotta be more careful."

Hardison half crawled and half slid out of the way so that Eliot could set the table down. He started to say something back but he bit his tongue painfully. He reached for his mouth to see if his tongue was bleeding but a claw tip scratched his lip. Holding his hands out in front of him he could see fur across the backs of his hands and claws in place of fingernails. He tried to get his hands to go back to normal but he couldn't and when he tried to ask Eliot for help the words came out as a strangled sound. His breathing picked up and so did his heart rate.

When Eliot set the table down he could see that Hardison was on the edge of a shift and panicking. "Hardison! Hardison!" Eliot knelt in front of Hardison and grabbed his hands. "Look at me." Eliot put authority into his voice and Hardison's eyes went yellow as they locked on Eliot's yellow eyes. "Breathe. Relax. Remember what your hands normally look…"

Hardison started to pull against Eliot's grip in his need to communicate.

Parker had slid from her chair to the floor next to them. Eliot thought she was entirely too close but Hardison hadn't seemed to have noticed her yet. "Don't think in terms of normal." Parker's tone was encouraging. "Your wolfy thinks paws are normal, and you think hands are normal. So you're both right."

Eliot smiled as Parker's off beat logic made the situation perfectly clear. "She's right. Think of the shape you want to be. If it's easier to go wolf that's okay but I want you to try to be man shape if you can." Eliot made sure that he didn't order Hardison through the pack bonds. He wanted him to find control on his own.

Hardison looked at him for a long moment and nodded. Taking two deep breaths and slowly exhaling each one Hardison closed his eyes and decided to be his human shape. Slowly the hair retracted and the nails reshaped and his teeth fit back together with a click.

"Alright. You got this." Eliot was proud of Hardison finding control and he let that emotion zing through the pack bonds.

The rest of the meal was uneventful and no more mention was made of Hardison's loss of control.

"Parker, we're going out on another run but I plan on us coming back as wolves this time so let us in and don't play games okay." Eliot set the last plate back in the cupboard.

"Sure thing Sparky." Parker grabbed one of Eliot's books off the side table and flopped back on the bed.

"Eliot, man, can we do the wolf thing a little later?" Hardison settled into the couch. "I think I'm making some real progress here."

"You're gonna be making some real progress as a wolf so get outside." Eliot growled.

"But…"

"Dammit Hardison! Just get out here." Eliot stood at the open door.

"But…"

"Don't. Just don't. I been fighting all day not to give you orders and I really need you to just do this." Eliot closed his eyes and took a deliberate breath.

"Please babe, you're letting all the warm air out." Parker pouted at Hardison with a face that Sophie had taught her to perfection.

Hardison didn't want to shift again, especially after his loss of control right before dinner, but he knew that Eliot would stand in the open door until hell froze over, or they did. Reluctantly he followed Eliot out into the cold.

"It's too cold out here to go wandering around." Hardison hugged his elbows. "Besides we already went for a run earlier today."

They made it to the back door of Lucille when Eliot stopped. "Hardison, I know you're scared, especially after you lost control right before dinner, but it's going to be fine." Eliot opened the back door of Lucille and tossed his coat in. "I expect you to lose control a bunch more in the future. You need to focus on the fact that you regained control on your own." Eliot stripped off shirts and shoes.

"I don't see how freezing myself to death is going to change anything." Hardison groused but followed Eliot's lead and started stripping off.

"We're going to keep changing at least a couple times a day until you've got solid control. You need to spend time in both forms. We'll spend tonight in our wolf shapes and change back in the morning."

Hardison shivered as the cold wind blew snow off the roof of the cabin across his naked back. "Don't tell me this don't bother you!" Hardison gasped at the sensation.

"Feel the cold air and let your wolf come forward. Wolves run warmer than humans so it will make the cold a lot more comfortable." Eliot closed his eyes and sighed as he relaxed.

Hardison shivered and rolled his eyes. "You talk about the wolf as though it were a separate creature from you."

"It is and it isn't. It isn't separate enough to exist on its own but there are instincts and traits that come with this life that certainly aren't human. Think of it as another facet of your own personality or as a separate thing, completely distinct from you. It doesn't matter which one. You find the one that makes you feel safe and in control. Control is the key." Eliot took a deep breath and let his eyes go yellow. "Come on, let's get this done. Try to start your shift on your own." Eliot waited.

Hardison tried but nothing seemed to happen. "Uhm. Maybe it's the weather but I think my system is frozen."

Eliot closed his eyes and tried to suppress a growl. "I told you before, you won't freeze."

"No. I mean like a database that's bluescreened. You know? Like when you try all the shortcuts on your keyboard but it's still not happening?"

Eliot rolled his eyes heavenward before pinching the bridge of his nose in a bid for patience. "Geek speek." He muttered before looking at Hardison. "I don't know what any of that means. Are you saying that you tried but you can't?"

Hardison nodded.

"Look at me." Eliot's voice took on the power of the Alpha and he waited until Hardison's eyes were locked on his. "Change."

The word wasn't said forcefully but the power in it hit Hardison in the chest. He felt an ache start in his joints and an itching sensation crawl across his skin. He relaxed his hands that he'd held in fists and felt the odd sensation of his fingers shortening and his claws extending. Just when the ache tipped over into pain, he found himself panting but completely in his wolf shape, and the pain stopped.

Eliot in the shape of his great tan wolf yipped at him and trotted towards the woods.

Hours later Eliot led the way back to the cabin. Hardison couldn't believe how brilliant the night sky was as the stars winked at him between the treetops. The snow crunched under their paws and a cool refreshing breeze ruffled his fur. He knew they were getting closer to the cabin since the smell of wood smoke had been getting stronger for a while. Soon he could smell the scent trail they'd left earlier. And as they got closer to the front of the cabin, he began to pick up Parker's scent. He followed Eliot all the way to the door and waited for Parker to let them in. Eliot yipped at the door and before long Hardison could hear the bar being lifted from its cradle and being set to the side.

"I'm glad you guys are back. I was getting sleepy." Parker held the door and waited until they were all inside. She set the bar across the door again and turned to get her first good look at Hardison in his wolf shape.

They all could feel Parker's excitement and delight as she walked up to Hardison where she could see him clearly by the light of the fire. They all could also feel Hardison's nerves. "Shh." Parker ran her fingers through the fur along the sides of Hardison's muzzle and on into the thick fur on his neck. "You are amazing." She put her hands back on his face and kissed the end of his nose.

Hardison was so relieved that he nuzzled into her, knocking her back into the couch. She fell with a squeal of excitement. Hardison paused but when no chastisement came from Parker or Eliot he crouched down next to the couch and lay his head in her lap.