CHAPTER 10

Couldn't Do It Without You

Hardison's programs had picked up enough information that he had a pretty good idea of where Hawthorn was staying. And that wasn't good news. "El, I think I found Hawthorn." He turned his screen so that Eliot could see the map. There were pins in all the locations where a credit card had been used and anywhere that Hardison's facial recognition programs had found him on a camera.

"Well damn." Eliot's voice was quiet as he looked at the map with all it's little red dots. Minus a few outliers the pins were located in one area; in a circle around Eliot's houseboat.

"Should we go back to Portland?" Parker had sat up on the bed with one of the blankets around her shoulders.

"No. We can't." Eliot frowned. "It's after dark now and would be very late by the time that we made it back to the pub. And I'm sure they're watching the pub. Tomorrow night's full moon, and this is the best place for us to deal with that. So no, going back right now isn't an option."

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

The fire had died sometime in the night and Parker had wedged her way in between the two big wolves again. After discovering that Hawthorn was probably staying on or near Eliot's houseboat Eliot had determined that the best thing to do was go on with what they were already doing. Parker hadn't agreed but didn't have a better plan, so she'd helped Hardison set up the programs he'd need to further monitor Hawthorn while Eliot fixed dinner. The boys had shifted after dinner and run as wolves again before returning late with their fur coats frosted in tiny ice crystals.

She'd been a bit restless and had woken early enjoying the predawn quiet. Tonight was the full moon and the boys would spend from just after seven tonight until sunrise tomorrow in their wolf shapes. She was sure they would spend most of the time running in the woods and howling at the moon and whatever else wolves did for fun and she would be stuck in the cabin by herself. At least before, she had Hardison to talk to and spend time with, while Eliot did his wolf thing. If it had been summer, then maybe she could have at least spent some of the night outside with them but it was just too cold after dark to be outside if you didn't have to be. With a deep sigh she flopped to her side. She ran her fingers gently through Hardison's fur. "I'm really glad you're a wolfy and not dead, but I'm really mad at you and Eliot." The big wolf, still asleep, pressed into her touch and she obligingly scratched behind his ears. "I don't want to be mad at you…but I am."

Sunrise peeked through the treetops and slid through the small cabin windows. Eventually a stripe of bright sunlight crawled up Eliot's nose and rested directly across his eyes. With a squint and a shudder, the big wolf stretched and got to his feet.

"Morning Sparky." Parker said through a yawn. "Ewwwe!" Her exclamation was on account of the slurp of a good morning wolf kiss across one cheek. Rubbing her face on her pajama sleeve she glared at Hardison for a moment but couldn't keep up her annoyance at the sight of the goofy grin on his wolfy face.

Parker felt something roll through the pack bonds. She didn't completely understand it, but had started thinking of it as Eliot talking to Hardison. It wasn't really an emotion, but it seemed to communicate …something. It was new and staticy like bad radio in her pack bonds and that was another thing that she wasn't sure how she felt about it.

Soon Eliot was most of the way through his change and Hardison was still in the early stages of his shift. Parker guessed that the urge to change was what had been communicated but it was only a guess. Eliot finished his change and went to his bag to grab a pair of pants. Parker was amused over Eliot's odd sense of modesty. He didn't seem to mind being naked around her when he was injured; but if he wasn't bleeding, he always wore clothes, usually several layers. She figured that bodies were bodies, and she didn't understand modesty on the whole, so Eliot's circumstantial modesty amused her.

Hardison made a whining sound and Parker was afraid he might have gotten stuck again. When she looked the last of the fur was disappearing under his warm dark skin. She took a moment to appreciate him as he shook off the last of the change. "That really stings!" He complained as he clenched and unclenched his hands.

Parker gathered up clothes for Hardison and put them into his hands with a kiss to one cheek and a lick to the other.

"Yick." Hardison started to glare at Parker but at her raised eyebrow he realized that was in repayment for earlier and he shrugged with a sheepish smile.

"So what will you boys be doing today?" Parker asked Eliot as she put the cushions back on the couch.

"Hardison's going to cook breakfast and you, and I are going for a run." Eliot smiled as he pulled his boots on.

"Hardison's going to what?" Hardison paused halfway through putting his socks on.

"It's not that hard." Eliot scowled.

"Since when do I cook? If we wasn't out in the sticks I could get food delivered but if it's not delivery it's not gonna happen!"

"Dammit Hardison! It's just oatmeal. All you have to do is add hot water. The directions are on the box!"

Parker quickly pulled on the layers she knew she would want for a run in the winter and was waiting by the door. "If you get stuck just remember 'age of the geek' and google it." She smiled as she headed out the door with Eliot behind her. She knew that Hardison actually wasn't too bad at cooking as long as the recipes were simple, but it was fun to tease him.

Parker stretched a little and started off on a lazy jog down the hill to the road. When they got to where the driveway met the road, she turned to head farther up the same path the boys had taken the day before. She picked up her speed and was soon at a good run. She couldn't hold this speed for very long, but it felt good, and she enjoyed the feel of the cold air whipping her hair out behind her. Just when she started to feel a stitch in her side starting to take hold, she slowed to a speed that she could keep up a lot longer. Eliot kept pace right next to her, and she was glad to see the rush of blood in his face that showed his heart rate was up. She could feel steady contentment with a little worry and a little anticipation sprinkled throughout. It was about as casually happy as Eliot got and she was glad he was enjoying their run. Their run… Why had Eliot decided to leave Hardison behind? After all, now that he was a wolf, he would be able to keep up just fine. What if Eliot wanted to talk with her about their pack and he didn't want Hardison there to argue? What if Eliot didn't need her to be a part of the pack?

As Parker's speculations started to spin out of control her speed slowed, and the emotions triggered by her wild theories started to bombard the pack bonds.

Eliot put a hand on Parker's arm to get her attention and signal her to stop. When they slowed to a stop Eliot could see the panicked look on her face. "Whoa Parker, what's going on?"

"You brought me out here so that you could talk to me. Didn't you?"

"Yah, but…" Eliot didn't get to finish.

"But I thought all of us were your pack when we were all just human? How come it's different now? How come I…" Parker couldn't finish so she turned to start walking down the road so that she wouldn't cramp up after stopping so abruptly.

Eliot paused for a moment to process what he was getting from Parker in the pack bonds. "I did want to talk to you…"

"How do you plan on running Leverage without me? What do you…" Parker's words were cut off as Eliot pulled her into a quick hug.

He held her away from him just a little. "There's somethin' wrong with you." With a snort of frustration, he could feel her winding up to yell at him again. "Would you just shut up a minute?" The quirk of a smile at the corner of his mouth softened the words.

Parker pinched her lips together and crossed her arms. She turned and started walking slowly down the road with Eliot keeping pace at her side.

"I wanted to thank you for how you've been handling everything. Up until a second ago I thought you really had it together. I couldn't have done this without you." His tone was just a little teasing, and he bumped his shoulder against hers as they walked. "I know how to show Hardison how to be a wolf. How to get control, and how to take advantage of his new abilities. What I don't know, is how to make him not feel like a monster. I don't know how to help him keep the important parts of being human. I…" Eliot took a deep breath a let it out slowly. "I lost a lot of that before I ever became a wolf. You guys have helped me find those pieces again." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He could see she was thinking through what he'd said so far. "I hope all that stuff you were just yellin' at me wasn't leading up to you leaving? 'Cause Hardison has enough going on right now just trying to get control of his wolf. I really can't imagine how badly things would go if he had to deal with losing his mate right now too." He bumped her shoulder again. "I really couldn't handle it either if you tried to leave our pack. I …I hope that's not what you were leading up to cause I really don't think I could take it."

"Mate?"

Eliot smiled a little. He'd thought that might get her attention. "Yes. Yesterday when Hardison's wolf was in control…" Eliot waited for her nod "he didn't attack you. Instead, he settled down and let you pet him like a dog. Hardison would never hurt you, but an uncontrolled wolf is extremely violent and unpredictable. Yesterday some things became clear in the pack bonds. Things that I don't think were there before. Hardison's wolf views you as his mate."

"How's that different than what we were before he became a wolfy?"

"I know that your relationship was solid, but this is one of those weird wolf things. There isn't exactly a non-wolf equivalent. Mates are for life. A wolf that is mated has a bond that's not easily broken. His wolf won't ever change its mind and want someone else. He'll never hurt you even if it means harm to him."

Parker put a hand over the spot where her tattoo was and walked in silence for a little longer.

"You've got more access to the bonds than anyone else in our pack. I bet if you tried, you'd find that new connection between you and Hardison's wolf."

"I already knew about it. He gave it to me as a present." She shrugged one shoulder. "I just didn't know that there was a name for it. Or that you knew."

Eliot wasn't sure if the 'He' in Parker's sentence was for Hardison or his wolf, but he decided that it wasn't his business. "Parker, you're my second in this pack. That means that if something were to happen to me, I'm relying on you to take care of them all. I can't …I know that you're worried that since Hardison is a wolf, that I might put him ahead of the rest of you but it's not true. He needs more time and attention now and probably for quite a while yet. I can't do this without you, and neither can he."

"Stupid wolfy." Parker muttered. "Why didn't you just say that?"

"I Just…you…we…" Eliot clenched his fists and growled at her.

She growled back. It was very human and a little thin but still a good growl.

Eliot snorted a laugh. "There's somethin' wrong with you. Come on, before you freeze." He hurried their pace into a jog and waited until she took the lead.

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

Hardison got the oatmeal going and was about to start on the package of sausages he'd found when he'd felt a barrage of emotions from Parker. "Mine." He turned with clenched fists toward the door. He knew he could find her. His wolf knew where Parker was with more certainty than if he'd programed her location in on his GPS. The emotions swelled to a crescendo and finally started to ebb. Hardison found himself standing in the open area in front of the cabin. He took a deep breath of the cold morning air. She was okay now. He could feel most of what Eliot was feeling too but it was more like a background process in one of his programs. Parker's emotions had hit him like one of his security alarms, loud, insistent, and no idea about what had set it off. He was pretty sure that Eliot was figuring out what was wrong from the give and take that seemed to be running back and forth between Eliot and Parker. It made him think of the flow of data through the CPU and memory to output devices, and formatting or transformation of output.

As he turned to head back into the cabin, he realized he'd brought the package of sausage with him. Looking down at it in his hand he could see that he'd mangled it pretty badly without meaning to. He could see through the clear plastic wrapper that the middles were crushed but the ends still looked okay. He supposed it wouldn't matter as far as flavor went.

In the tiny kitchen area, he looked around for scissors or a knife to open the plastic packaging on the sausage. "Eliot might not believe in using guns, but the man definitely believes in using knives." Hardison muttered as he looked through all the places he could think of that might have something sharp. No scissors, or knives. How was he supposed to get the package open?

Looking at the thick plastic he remembered Eliot changing one of his fingernails to a claw and using it to slice open the end of a letter. Maybe the same thing would work here. He closed his eyes and worked on the techniques Eliot had been teaching him. Opening his eyes, he smiled as he saw the tips of his fingers start to transform. It felt odd somewhere between and ache and a sting but nothing unbearable. The transformation started to flow farther up his fingers and across the back of his hands where thick fur sprang up. "Oh, oh no." He closed his eyes and concentrated. "Okay. End program. Stop, stopstopstop." He started to breathe too fast, so he took a deliberate breath and got control of his breathing and that seemed to help. Opening his eyes, he could see fur along his arms, and he could feel the itchy sensation of it under his shirt. But other than the fur and claws he was pretty sure he'd stopped the change. He smiled and something about that felt odd. Running his tongue across his teeth he found them to be too pointy and the canines too long to be human. "Damn." The word came out a little slurred and he bit his tongue painfully.

He grabbed up the plastic package and ran a claw between the mangled sausages down the middle of the pack. The plastic split with such ease he couldn't really feel it as it tore. He set the split package on the table and closed his eyes in concentration again. The aching feeling started on his shoulders and slithered down his arms and across his chest. "That's so freaky. Don't focus on it. Think of Parker. Think of my hands on her skin." Since he was alone in the cabin, he said the words out loud, and it seemed to help. Opening his eyes, he looked at his arms and hands and ran his tongue across his teeth. With a smile he grabbed the sausage off the table and took them over to the waiting pan in the hearth.

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

Parker was glad that things felt settled between her and Eliot. They walked up the long driveway to the cabin. Most of the walk had been silent but Eliot's eyes had stayed yellow, and he kept walking close enough to her that their arms often brushed. "Will we go back to Portland tomorrow?" She leaned against him, and he draped an arm over her shoulders.

Eliot sighed. "Yah. I wanted to stay here a while to give Hardison more time, but I think we need to get this wrapped up."

"What are you planning on doing with Hawthorn?" Anger burned through her when she thought about the man that was responsible for stabbing Hardison.

Eliot felt her anger flash through the bonds like sheet lightning. "Yah, me too darlin'." A few more thoughtful steps. "That's probably what he feels like about me. Except stronger I imagine, since Griff is dead." He kissed the top of her head and let his arm fall away as they got closer to the cabin.

"Smells like sausage." Parker smiled and pushed open the door. She stopped and put a hand over her mouth to cover the smile that burst across her face. She turned and enjoyed the look on Eliot's face when he noticed it too.

"What? It's not like this is the first time I ever cooked somethin'." Hardison pointed at them with a wooden spoon.

Parker couldn't help the giggle-snort that bubbled out of her as she looked at Hardison.

"What?"

Eliot rubbed behind one of his ears. "Uhm, I think you forgot something."

Hardison frowned in confusion.

Parker went to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "My, what big ears you have." She whispered.

Hardison reached up with his free hand and felt the furry wolf ear on the side of his head. "Dammit."