AN: Maidin Mhaith is Irish for Good Morning.

A bhuachaill bhocht is Irish for Oh our poor boy.

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CHAPTER 7

Calculated Risk

Hardison continued to monitor the emergency systems but things had suddenly calmed down. He would have liked to take Parker back to the hotel so that she could get at least a few hours sleep in a proper bed, but he wanted to be close by if anything else happened with Eliot, and he didn't want to let Ewen anywhere near that gun. So instead he watched Parker doze in the front seat with her feet up on the dash. The murmuring coming from the back of the van finally pulled his attention away from Parker and his tablet.

"Everything okay?" Hardison tried to get a look at them in the rearview but it was too dark in the back of the van to see anything.

"Abby's math isn't adding and I think she should call Nati." Ewen sounded annoyed.

"Math? What math?" Hardison pulled up a calculator on his closest tablet.

"Not math, math. Druid 'math'." Abby blew at a strand of hair that had fallen into her face. "There are ways to figure out what ritual you need and I think maybe I'm onto something but I don't know yet."

"So call Nati." Ewen encouraged.

"Not yet." Abby looked annoyed.

"We're not talking like bird entrails or something are we?" Hardison had read something about dead bird guts when he'd looked up druid practices and had decided that being a druid was not for him.

"No that's a different ritual all by itself and I don't think we'll need to go there just yet." Abby smirked at the queasy tone of Hardison's question.

Hardison checked the time and pulled out his cell phone. After tapping a few things he waited until he heard the first ring before he handed it back to Abby.

"Maidin Mhaith." A slightly distracted sounding Natali answered the phone.

"I guess it is technically morning over here too." Abby grumped when she heard who answered the phone.

"Something has gone wrong hasn't it?" Nati turned her full attention to the call.

Abby related the nights events to Nati and at the end she realized just how tired she really was. She leaned back against Ewen and waited for Nati to finish mulling things over.

"A bhuachaill bhocht…" Nati murmured. Abby didn't seem to hear it but Ewen did.

"Nati, it's no time for pity. We just need to know what to do next." Ewen pulled Abby a little closer and kissed the top of her head. "While yer thinkin' on it I've got a question myself. How come I wasn't cursed like Eliot? Granted I'm fair thrilled I wasn't, I just don't see how I missed it."

"Was Eliot bitten or scratched?" Ewen could hear Nati writing something.

"It was a hellava fight in the rain Nati girl. I have no idea… But the odds are good he was. I heard him cry out there at the end." Ewen yawned.

"I didn't see what happened but he was holding his arm. He was certain that the rogue did something too him during the fight." Abby threw in what she knew.

"Ewen were you scratched or bitten?" Nati sounded thoughtfull.

"Now and you mention it. Aye." Ewen absentmindedly touched his right forearm, left shin, and left ribs.

"But you're feelin' yourself? Nothin' unusual?" Nati wanted confirmation.

"He's been himself. And he's healing fine." Abby rolled back Ewen's sleeve to get a look at his arm in the dim light coming through the windsheild. "Cut on his arm should be gone in forty-eight hours maybe faster if we get him fed and rested."

"So… Eliot is an alpha but you are both out of your home territories. You are older. Eliot's faster. You are both wolves..." Nati seemed to be listing things more to herself than to Ewen or Abby.

"We're both wolves, but Eliot took on the rogue while he was still man shaped." Ewen commented.

"Súile Dé! That's it!" Nati had obviously found her 'eureka' moment. There followed a short conversation between Nati and Abby in Irish which Hardison understood none of, but it all sounded rather excited.

Ewen had obviously been following the conversation when he broke in at the end. "But Nati how do you propose we capture the wee loon? If I can't be around him in man shape and no one else here is werewolf-strong then how are we supposed to catch him and hold him down so Abby can lift the curse?"

"We already used three darts of hellebore and it didn't seem to slow him down." Hardison hadn't been able to follow the earlier part of the conversation but he was back on track with them.

"Shoot him." Nati sounded firm.

"What?!" Hardison was damn tired of everyone, including Eliot, planning on shooting Eliot. "No. That is not a plan!"

"Not to kill him. Just make sure he can't run off." Nati tried to make her explanation as soothing as possible.

"No! Uh-uh! Not gonna happen." Hardison crossed his arms and glared at the phone even though he knew that Natali couldn't see him.

Parker shifted from her seat and stretched for a moment. "So what did I miss?" Parker had actually been listening for a while but had decided that now was a good time to be officially awake.

Hardison put an arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek. "Feelin' better mama?"

"Too bad a kiss couldn't fix things for Eliot." Parker whispered in Hardison's ear.

"Actually true loves kiss fixes a remarkable number of things." Nati commented. "That minds me of an old story…hmm…" Nati paused trying to remember the details "So the story goes… If someone who truly loves the werewolf were to reach out to him with total trust, and no fear, calling him by name that he would turn back into a man."

"I thought they had to throw the wolf's clothes at him?" Ewen had heard that tale before and knew he'd get a rise out of Abby at the very least.

Abby obliged by throwing an elbow into Ewen's ribs. "You are such a romantic. Amazing you never became a famous poet."

"But that's just a story right?" Hardison was ready to bring everyone back on task. Suddenly his tablet let out a 'ping' and an alarm went off. Hardison dove for his tablet. "Well I'll be damned!" Hardison started furiously taping on his tablet. Ewen quickly hung up with Nati and waited to see what was happening.

"What? What is it?" Parker leaned over his shoulder.

"Well it might be something but it might be nothing." Hardison's focus was entirely on his tablet.

"Explain please." Parker rolled her eyes.

"Something must have eaten the meat that Eliot put out for bait." Hardison was still mostly ignoring the people around him as he started plugging information into his programs.

"How do you know?" Ewen took a quick peek over Hardison's shoulder but had no idea what Hardison was even looking at let alone what any of it did.

"Because I dumped a bunch of tracker pellets into the meat. Same as the ones we were using in the pellet gun. And the nano-bots just went hot." Hardison moved up to the passenger seat.

"So Eliot ate your nano-bots?" Parker looked dubious. "That won't hurt him will it?"

"Babe we don't know if it was Eliot that ate them. I just know that something dissolved the pellets and whatever it is, it's on the move."

"How can we find out who ate your robot things?" Parker moved to the driver seat.

"Nano-bots, and I don't…" Hardison trailed off. His attention still completely focused on his tablet.

"If I can get a good whiff near where we left the bait I should be able to tell you who or what made off with it." Ewen offered.

Parker started driving back to the farm that Hardison had rented. There was a shuffling sound coming from the back but it was too dark inside the van for Parker to make anything out in the rearview. "Everything okay back there?"

"Ewen is working through his change. This one is likely to take a while. It's his third shift in just a few hours and he hasn't had any proper food or rest." Abby sounded pretty tired herself.

Parker checked the time it was fast approaching four a.m. "After we figure out who ate Hardison's bot thingys we'll all catch a rest." The silenced stretched for a moment. "Why does Ewen need to change to wolf? Eliot smells stuff all the time in his people shape."

"Nati is pretty certain about what curse we're dealing with now and Ewen can't get scratched or bitten in his human form or he'll end up cursed too. Besides he'll be better protection in his wolf form." Abby could see that Ewen was almost done with his shift and she gathered up all of his clothes into the small bag she'd brought.

Before long they had made it to the small farm house with its crumbling stucco and overgrown yard. "Hardison how long will you be able to track the bots?" Parker stepped from the front seat and over Ewen who was laying across the floor. Parker shifted several things that had gotten jumbled, until she found her paintball gun. She hooked it to a sling, grabbed a small duffle bag, and hopped out of the back doors.

Hardison's voice came across the earbuds. "The signal will get weaker the longer we wait until eventually it just dies but I got no way of knowing for sure how long the bots will last out here. The more water they're exposed to or general wear and tear and eventually they just stop transmitting."

"Well we'll just have to hope they last a while." Parker leaned against Hardison for just a second before she started walking toward the tree line.

Ewen rubbed against Abby much like an overgrown cat. "Be seeing you soon." Abby kissed her fingers and let them ghost through his fur as he took off after Parker.

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Parker headed in the general direction that she had seen Eliot and Ewen head toward when they first left last night. In no time she could hear the crunch of paws on pine needles. "You lead." Parker didn't slow down but fell instep behind Ewen when he passed her. In no time they made it to the place that Eliot had chosen to bait his trap earlier.

Parker could see why he had chosen it. There was a slight draw where Eliot and Ewen could have taken a higher position above where the meat had been left. Parker walked along the rise of the hill and Ewen took the path into the bottom of the draw. Ewen kept his nose down and tried to see if he could find a scent besides his and Eliot's. The rain earlier had washed through here pretty thoroughly and so far Ewen hadn't been able to find anything, not even the meat. The two of them continued to work their way down the draw. Ewen finally picked up on a scent and whined to get Parker's attention.

Parker slipped and hopped until she made it to the bottom. "What have you got?" Parker noticed the very large paw prints that lead up the other side of the draw. "Eliot?" Ewen bobbed his head up and down a couple of times. "Hardison where are your nano-bots now?"

"'Bout a mile east and a half-ish mile north. Why? Parker you aren't thinking of going after Eliot or whatever are you?" Hardison sat up straight and was thinking of what to do if Parker decided to go after whatever had eaten his nano-bots.

"Now that Ewen knows who ate your bots we'll head back." Parker resettled the duffle bag across her shoulder and started making her way up the hill. Parker slipped on the muddy hillside a few times but Ewen steadied her until they made it out of the draw. They retraced their steps and headed back toward Lucille.

It was a short hike and when they were finally within sight of the van Parker paused. "I gotta use the girl's room or um…tree." Parker looked around and then back at Ewen. "I'll be there in a minute." She made a shooing gesture and turned toward a large pine with low sheltering branches. Ewen whined and shook himself before he turned and trotted to Lucille. Parker peered between the branches and watched until Ewen was almost all the way back to the van. Parker turned and waited until she heard Hardison and Abby speaking to each other and to Ewen. When they sounded distracted she slipped the earbud out and set it on a large flat rock near the trunk of the tree. As quickly and quietly as possible Parker slipped between the trees and back toward Hardison's last known location of his nano-bots.

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The wolf was beginning to feel somnolent. He noticed the slight brightening of the sky from a star studded black to an inky indigo. The hunger and the need to lash out seemed to be fading with the growing light, but with the light seemed to come an unease bordering on fear. The meat had helped to fill his belly and now might be a goodtime to get some rest. Maybe after a little rest he wouldn't feel so unsettled. The wolf dug at a spot that had already been partially scooped away under the middle of a downed tree. After turning widdershins three times he settled with a sigh.

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Parker started to make a little better time as the sky began to lighten. The trees had kept a watchful silence at her passing and now she was moving across a long stretch of open field. Parker wanted to jog or even run to make the best time possible in getting to Eliot but she was afraid to move too quickly over the rough terrain. Parker had spent a little time with Eliot around his cabin in the woods and he had taught her a few things about survival and navigation in the wilderness and she was putting as much of that to use now as she could.

"Don't be in a hurry that'll get you killed. If you break a leg or get some other kind of serious injury in the wilderness you risk, shock, infection, and all kinda other things. Take your time." Parker remembered some of Eliot's advice and she tried to balance her speed somewhere in between how slow Eliot would have told her to go and how fast she really wanted to go. She wasn't really in the wilderness but it seemed like the lessons might apply anyway. She had to get there before the others could stop her and before Eliot moved any farther but it would all be for nothing if she fell and broke her ankle.

Just as the thought occurred to her she slipped, her foot sliding off of the row she'd been following and into the furrow. A sharp pain shot through her ankle but it didn't hurt as bad as the cut on her left palm where a rock had bit deep into the flesh. Parker turned and sat on the row for a moment. Gently massaging her ankle, she was pretty sure it was only a very mild strain. She looked at her palm and noticed that it was bleeding pretty freely. Parker got back up and minding her step a little more closely she continued following the row across the field.

The next thicket ahead should be where Eliot was. She hoped he hadn't moved on. Parker hopped over the narrow irrigation ditch at the edge of the field. Her ankle twinged when she landed and that sudden spark of pain seemed to echo in the throbbing of her palm. Taking a deep breath Parker resettled the paintball gun and the duffel bag before she headed up the gentle rise into the thicket.

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Blood, blood, prey. The wolf woke to the smell of wounded prey. The hunger of last night was almost completely gone but the wolf wouldn't turn up its nose at an easy meal. Blood, Parker. For a moment the fog thinned and Eliot recognized Parker's scent. No! She shouldn't be here it's not safe! The fog rolled over in a heavy blanket and the wolf rose and shook itself.

The crunch and snap of twigs and leaves being walked over gave the wolf a better location than the scent of blood alone. Stalking silently into the trees the wolf started his hunt. After a minute, a thin, female, human, came into view. She was limping just slightly on her right and blood was dripping from her left hand. The wolf slunk to the next tree keeping his eyes on her.

"Eliot? Eliot are you here?" Parker called. She didn't raise her voice much above normal because she knew how good Eliot's hearing was especially when he was a wolf. Parker thought she heard something shuffle behind her and she spun around. Nothing there, no deer, no rabbit, no birds. No birds! "Birds will tell you if there is something in the woods besides you. Once they've seen you and they're used to your presence, listen to them. Birds either go silent or make a hell of a racket if a new predator is around." Eliot had told her about birds in the forest. The birds around here were the kind that went quiet, and it was really quiet now.

Parker had called him. Eliot wanted to go to her but it wasn't safe. The wolf twitched its ears and crouched lower, its belly almost touching the ground. The uneasy feeling was back, but now it was more than just unease. The wolf glanced behind him. It felt like he was being watched. Like he was being hunted instead of being the hunter.

"Eliot? Please come out. I really need you. We all really need you." Parker turned in a slow circle but still didn't see anything. Suddenly she was cold, and tired, and her ankle hurt, and her hand throbbed. "Please Eliot."

Parker. Parker is hurt. Eliot wanted to help her but he couldn't seem to get out of this fog and he felt like something was following him. The kind of something that made most people run. He felt a cold chill of dread and nameless terror slide down his spine. The wolf looked over its shoulder again.

Parker pulled the duffle bag from her shoulder and unzipped it. She reached in and pulled out a handful of cloth. Eliot's spare beany and shirt. She held it up to her face and breathed in the scent. Laundry detergent, musty bag, and just a hint of Eliot's cologne.

The silly human hid her face in a bunch of cloth instead of keeping an eye on her surroundings. There would never be a better opportunity. The wolf broke cover and charged the last few yards between him and his prey.

Parker heard the sudden slap of branches and the scrabble of claws as the wolf charged her. Parker saw the huge tan wolf running at her and knew she only had a few seconds left. She was scared. Not scared of Eliot but scared that this wouldn't work and he wouldn't change back. Parker balled up the shirt and beany and threw them as hard as she could. They didn't go far, but far enough. The shirt flopped open across the wolf's face and the beany snagged on the wolf's front toes causing the wolf to stumble. "Eliot Spencer. We need you to change back. We need you to be you again." Parker held her ground as the wolf stumbled and regained its balance lurching to a stop against her legs, almost bowling her over. Parker ran her hands through his fur. "Thanks for coming when I called." The wolf shook its head throwing off the t-shirt and looked up at her with familiar yellow eyes.