“You’re kidding, right?” Dawn said as she stared through the front door.
Connor looked at her hand, still on the doorknob. “Going to slam it in my face?”
Dawn stepped away for the door. “Come in, I guess.”
Willow skipped down the stairs. “Oh, Connor, great! This is Dawn. Dawn, this is-”
“We know each other.” Dawn turned and morosely walked to the kitchen.
“What did he do?” Willow called after Dawn. She turned to Connor. “What did you do?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Hey Buffy,” Dawn called from the kitchen. “You know the guy I had a crush on and then wound up having sex with my roommate? Well it’s Connor.”
“Maybe not too complicated,” Connor said nervously.
“You jerk!” Willow said.
“Who’s a jerk?” Kennedy asked as she came down the stairs, still buttoning her shirt.
“Connor,” Willow said.
Connor looked down, embarrassedly. “I . . . I didn’t know she liked me. I didn’t know they were roommates.”
“Oh,” Kennedy said. “That guy. What’re the chances?”
“I didn’t know anything,” Connor finished.
“Clearly,” Willow snapped. “I should have expected as much from . . . never mind.”
“No,” Connor said. “What?”
“From . . . from . . . from a jerk!” Willow yelled again.
“Okay, guys,” Buffy said from the kitchen doorway. “That’s enough. Connor, are you hungry?”
Connor shook his head. “Not really. But thanks.”
“Well, you’re hunting a werewolf tonight,” Buffy said. “You’ll need your strength. Come have some food.”
“Buffy,” Willow said in disbelief. “He’s the guy who-”
“I understand the situation,” Buffy interrupted. “Connor, come eat.”
**
The room was silent as they ate.
Connor looked up nervously. He was really only picking at his lasagna. He looked at Willow, who was glaring at him. “So, um, this is your house?”
“Despite the fact I can’t throw jerky people out of it, yeah. It’s my house.”
“It’s nice.”
“Go to hell.”
Kennedy suppressed a laugh. Seeing Willow snap at Connor was slightly funny, but she didn’t want to further inflame her lover.
“And you two are slayers?” Connor said. “Pretty convenient to have a nice place like this to crash at when you visit.”
Kennedy leaned over and put her arm around Willow. “Oh, I’m not visiting.”
“Oh,” Connor said simply. Then he got the gist. “Oh.”
“Pig,” Willow said.
“What’d I say?”
“You didn’t say anything,” Willow snapped. “But I could tell what you were thinking.”
“I was thinking ‘Damn, this is good lasagna. Where’d she get this recipe?’ That’s what I was thinking.”
“No you weren’t!” Willow shouted. “You were thinking Oooh. Lesbians. I wonder if I can get them both together to have sex with me.”
“I was not!” Connor yelled.
“You were too!” Willow yelled back.
“Can you guys cut it out?” Buffy said.
“I’m not doing anything!” Connor insisted.
Buffy gave him a condescending look. “You started all this by . . . talking.”
“And sleeping with my roommate,” Dawn pitched in cheerfully.
Connor rolled his eyes and sat back.
“Don’t roll your eyes at her!” Willow yelled.
“Maybe I should wait outside,” Connor said.
“Maybe that’s a good idea!” Willow shot back.
“That’s enough,” Buffy said. “Seriously. Look, we’re obviously done eating. Let’s get down to business.”
“Fine with me,’ Connor said.
“Oh, who cares what’s fine for you,” Kennedy said, trying to contain her grin. “Sorry. I didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t get to pick on you.”
“Fair enough,” Connor shrugged.
“First things first,” Buffy started. “I found a torn piece of a jacket last night. I matched it up with jackets like it at the bookstore. It’s an extra large. So, we can figure that during the days, our werewolf is probably . . . well, tall.”
“Or fat,” Dawn offered.
“Or a small girl or guy that likes a baggy jacket,” Willow said.
“Can I see that?” Connor asked. Buffy handed him he scrap. He shook his head. “Plus,” Connor said. “This is like the cheapest, and therefore most common, Stanford jacket. I mean, I have one.”
Buffy cocked an eye, remembering her suspicion that Connor was a werewolf who’d somehow mastered the change like Oz. “Do you still have it?”
Connor smiled, handing the scrap back. “Yeah. I still have two, actually. Every summer during training, the coaches give one of these to everyone on the track team.”
“But that’s not really helpful tonight,” Kennedy said. “I mean, the idea is we catch it, right?”
“I have more news in the not-helpful-tonight category,” Buffy went on. “Cain is here.”
“Cain?” Kennedy asked.
“Werewolf hunter,” Willow said.
“So shouldn’t that help us?” Connor asked.
Buffy could see Willow about to yell and held up a hand to cut her off. “Hunter,” Buffy said. “As in silver bullet, skin the hide, sell the fur in Singapore.”
Willow glared at Connor. “Maybe you don’t think of a werewolf as a person, but-”
“Hey,” Connor said, already angry at learning that people like Cain existed. “It so happens my father dates a werewolf.”
“What?!” Willow slammed her fists on the table. She looked personally offended. “That . . . that . . . jerk. Jerk must be genetic in your family.”
“Why? Because he dates a werewolf?”
“Well . . . Yeah!” Willow yelled back.
“You dated a werewolf,” Buffy said, staring at Willow in confusion.
“Well . . . yeah, but-”
“Wait a sec,” Kennedy said. “I just realized something. Is that why you always want to have sex on full moon days? Because Oz put you in that routine?”
Willow sat back, knowing she was outnumbered and that she couldn’t press on with the reasons for her anger. She sat and grumbled. “I can’t believe him.”
“We have walkie talkies,” Dawn said, putting a bag from Wal-Mart on the table.
“Two teams,” Buffy said. “From the mood at the dinner table, I’m guessing it’s going to be me with Connor and Dawn with Willow and Kennedy.”
“Try not to sleep with him,” Dawn quipped.
“I think I’ll manage,” Buffy deadpanned. “It’s getting dark. We better split up.”
Connor gave a slight laugh. “Sorry. That’s my favorite line from a Friday the 13th movie.”
***
“You get me out here alone so we could have a little chat?” Connor asked as he walked back into the dry bed of the Lagunita.
Buffy looked at him oddly. “About?”
“Me upsetting Dawn.”
Buffy gave a slight laugh. “I had a friend in high school, real good friend. Real good guy. He liked me in a non-friend way. He said, in the end, you either feel something for a person or you don’t. And I didn’t. I’d be pretty hypocritical if I was angry at a guy for not feeling something for my sister.”
Connor smiled. “Thanks.”
“She’ll get over it. Just try not to rub it in her face.”
“Right. Em and I already talked about not doing that.”
“Picking up any scents?”
“Yeah. Actually, smells like a crowd of people. Well, not a crowd, but-”
“Six large football players?” Buffy interrupted, doing her best to hide the tranq rifle.
“Yeah. “How’d you . . . oh.”
To be fair, it was five large football players and a quarterback with a broken nose.
“What the hell?” Craig said. “You get pissed at me for hooking up with Alyson, bang my sister an hour later, and now you’re out here with another chippie?”
“Chippie?” Buffy said angrily.
Connor swallowed. Usually this crowd wouldn’t bother him at all, especially when a slayer had his back. “Can this wait until tomorrow? There’s kind of an issue of timing here?”
“Yeah,” a 280-pound offensive lineman said. “He needs time to get laid one more time before we beat his ass.”
“Or before I break Craig’s nose again,” Connor said.
“Connor,” Buffy said in a warning voice. “This is not the way to go about this. Be diplomatic”
“Look,” Craig smiled. “We got Henry Kissinger, over here.”
“Henry who?” the lineman asked. “He another track runner?”
Craig turned and looked at the lineman in disbelief. “Aren’t you a History major?”
Buffy looked at the players. “Guys, we kind of have a mountain lion to catch-”
“Sure, bitch,” the lineman said again.
“Watch it, no neck!” Buffy barked angrily.
“You’re telling me about diplomacy?” Connor quipped.
“Buffy,” Dawn’s voice squawked over the walkie talkie. “North side of campus. Near the hospital. Must be zeroing on the smell of blood.”
“Alright, guys,” Buffy said. “We gotta go.”
“You go,” Craig said, putting a hand on Connor’s shoulder. “Connor and I are going to have a chat.” Craig pulled his fist to punch Connor. Connor threw his elbow up, nailing Craig in the jaw and knocking him to the ground.
Buffy would’ve loved to put these players in their place, but she was in a hurry and didn’t want to hurt them permanently. She quickly raised the rifle and fired a tranq into the 280-pound lineman. He hit the ground with a thud.
Of the four remaining players, two charged Buffy and two charged Connor. Connor threw a single roundhouse punch that caught the first, then second assailants in their jaw. Both fell to the ground unconscious with one swing.
Buffy slammed a wide receiver in the eye with the butt of her rifle, putting him down. The last guy stopped short and stared at his friends. He looked from Buffy to Connor and back. Their diminutive sizes told him they’d be no problem. Five football players lying on the ground told him something else.
“Forget it, Phillips,” Craig said, getting to his feet. “I . . . I never should have done this.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t break your god damn arm,” Connor said angrily. “At least with a busted nose, you can still play.”
Craig glared at Connor angrily. His features softened again. “For what it’s worth,” Craig said. “We weren’t really going to hurt you. Just scare you.”
Connor shrugged. “Looks like you didn’t hurt me anyway.”
“Looks like it’s heading north into Menlo Park,” Dawn called over the radio again.
Connor turned and looked at Buffy. “Ask her if she sees it.”
Buffy grabbed the walkie talkie and called back. “Dawn, do you have a visual?”
“What?”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Can you see it? Right now?”
“Yeah.”
Buffy lowered the walkie talkie. “She sees it.”
“Then there’s two,” Connor said. He pointed behind her.
Buffy turned to see the large animal bounding toward them. “All the testosterone in the air must’ve attracted it,” she said as she grabbed a dart and started reloading the rifle. She chuckled at the football players who’d accidentally played bait for the lycan. “Nice work, boys.”
“What the hell is that?” Craig said.
“Mountain lion,” Connor said. “Get your guys out of-”
A shot rung out. The werewolf moved to the side and started bounding away. Buffy and Connor turned to see a man with a rifle on the banks of the lagoon above them.
“You get the shooter, I’ll get the wolf.” With greater speed and olfactory senses, Connor could track it better. With greater strength, Buffy could beat the crap out of the poacher easier.
Buffy tossed Connor the tranq gun and ran up the hill toward Cain. He had reloaded and was taking aim. Buffy didn’t think she could make it. She lowered the right side of her body as she ran and scooped up a clump of dirt. Keeping the momentum of her body and arm going, she flung the dirt up into Cain’s face. In the cloud of dust, Cain lost track of the wolf and fired into the ground several yards away from his target.
“Figured you‘d be here,” Cain laughed.
“Did you?” Buffy said, assuming a fighting stance.
“Yeah,” Cain said, as he pulled out a pistol and took aim at the slayer. “I did.”
****
Connor stared at the ground as he walked. The wolf had taken a zig-zagging course and the scent was all over. He was trying to discern the tracks, as if that would somehow be easier than working out the scent.
Suddenly, a flashlight illuminated the ground before him and he noticed something metallic reflecting light. “Didn’t realize you brought a flashlight, Buffy,” Connor said as he scooped the metal from the ground.
“I didn’t,” Buffy answered.
Connor turned to face her. Cain was walking a couple feet behind her with a gun trained on her.
“Figured you’d be able to track the wolf better than me,” Cain smiled. “All I’d have to do is track you.”
“Smart. Now all we need is for the wolf to track you, and we have a perfect circle.” Connor glanced at the metal in his hand and his face went pale. “Oh god.”
“What is it?” Cain asked.
Connor closed his hand on the metal. “Nothing.” His eyes began to tear up.
“Give it to me,” Cain said taking aim at Buffy’s head.
Connor frowned and flipped the piece of metal to Cain. He caught it and glanced down at it. It was a broken piece of metal with “nd E” written on it.
Cain shook his head. “What the-” Before he could finish his thought, Connor was on top of him. Connor knocked the gun to the side and shoved Cain back. Still wondering how Connor had covered so much space in less than a heartbeat, Cain lunged for the gun. Buffy stepped toward it and kicked it away.
The slayer turned, preparing to help Connor, when she heard the fast approaching footsteps behind her. Buffy turned just in time to duck the werewolf’s claws. She grabbed the beast’s waist and flung it away. Buffy returned to her feet and tried to regain her balance.
Cain had pulled his rifle from his shoulder and was now fighting to get his aim while Connor tried to pull the rifle away. Cain slammed the rifle into Connor’s face three times, but still Connor would not let go.
Connor finally ripped the rifle from Cain’s hands. Cain quickly retaliated by kneeing Connor in the groin. Connor managed to toss the rifle away, but not nearly as far as he would have liked.
The wolf took another charge at Buffy. She jumped into the air and spin kicked it, knocking it away.
Cain scooped the rifle up just as Connor got back to his feet. The werewolf slammed into the ground two feet behind him as Cain took aim. Cain had a clear shot and squeezed the trigger as Connor threw himself between the poacher and the wolf. The bullet ripped into Connor’s shoulder, spinning him and driving him to the ground.
Cain clenched his teeth. “You stupid bastard!” he yelled as the wolf charged toward Connor’s fallen body.
Buffy charged Cain, punching him in the side of the head and knocking him out. She turned and watched almost helplessly as the wolf came up to Connor’s body and prepared to maul him.
The tranq gun was too far away for her to get. Buffy picked up Cain’s rifle. She hated the idea of doing this, but it had come down to Connor or the wolf. One of them had to die and Buffy had made her decision. Why did that idiot take a bullet? Buffy thought tearfully as she prepared to fire. She hoped she could hit a leg, but knew she may be taking someone’s life in less than a heartbeat.
Suddenly, the beast stopped and sniffed Connor. Buffy froze, wondering why it didn’t just maul him. The werewolf looked up to the sky and bellowed loudly. It was a scream of pain. Of anguish. Buffy stared intensely, wondering if Connor had managed to injure the beast somehow, but his body was still motionless. Then the horrifying thought struck. What if the beast was lamenting the loss of a fresh kill? What is Connor were already dead? Buffy had to get to him.
The werewolf stalked toward Buffy, growling ferociously. Buffy wanted to fire, but felt like the beast could get to her before she could pull the trigger. Was she imagining it? Its eyes were less focused on Buffy than Cain.
Can I trade Cain for Connor? Buffy thought, keeping the weapon trained on the wolf. I guess I could live with that trade.
Buffy tried to pass the wolf and get to Connor, but it suddenly turned, growling and blocking Buffy’s access to Connor.
“I need to get to my friend,” Buffy said desperately, as if the animal understood language.
The wolf quickly back traced and stood over Connor, whimpering again as if it had been shot itself. This thing wanted Cain, but not Buffy. And strangest of all, it wanted to protect Connor. What the hell was going on in this thing’s head?
Mate.
As the beast lowered itself over Connor’s prone body, it was aware of few facts and even fewer concepts. But from the moment it took in Connor’s scent, it knew at least one thing.
I know his scent. This is my mate.
The wolf whimpered again as it finally came to rest, sitting on Connor.
My mate is injured. My mate bleeds. He was hurt by that one, on the ground. He was hurt protecting me. My mate is injured.
Again, the wolf bellowed at the moon. It stood. It paced. It tried to push Connor with its snout.
Buffy slowly moved backward to the tranq gun. Her eyes stayed locked on the wolf as it protected Connor. Partially, Buffy watched because she wanted to see if the wolf would notice her going to the gun. But mostly, Buffy was transfixed by the sight of this wolf mothering Connor. She’d never seen a werewolf behave like this. Even when Oz was a wolf, he never recognized Willow.
The realization hit Buffy as soon as she touched the tranq gun. “Emily,” Buffy said to the wolf. “I need to get Connor to a hospital. Hospital.”
The wolf growled at Buffy, irritated by her noise. Buffy pulled the tranq gun into her hands as quickly as she could. Emily-wolf charged as soon as Buffy gripped the barrel.
Please be loaded, Buffy thought. Please be loaded.
The wolf leapt for Buffy. Claws connected with Buffy’s shoulder just as she squeezed the trigger. She sighed as she heard the sound of the dart flying through the air. Buffy arched backward both from the force of the wolf and intentionally to avoid being bitten. Her feet left the ground and she tumbled back, the wolf on top of her.
Buffy hit the ground and closed her eyes. There was nothing to be done now but hope the wolf was unconscious.
*****
Emily stepped nervously into the hospital room, freezing when everyone turned and looked at her. Her sole comfort came from the fact that Connor smiled widely when he saw her enter.
“It’s okay,” Dawn said, entering behind Emily. “They all know and none of them hate you for it.”
“Oh,” Emily said, feeling only slightly less nervous.
Willow smiled. “I used to date a werewolf.”
“Oh,” Emily said, perking up slightly more.
“How’re you doing?” Connor asked.
“I should be asking you that, right?” Emily asked.
“I’m great,” he said, holding up handheld button on a chord. “Morphine. Love it.”
Emily shrunk back sadly. This was all because of her. “So, um . . . what happened last night?” Dawn had given her the broad strokes when she woke up chained to a wall in Willow’s basement. She was a werewolf. She was hunted by a poacher. Connor took a silver bullet in the shoulder for her. She’d need to be locked up during full moons. At first, she thought Dawn was crazy. But slowly, a single realization came to her. Connor was hurt. She knew Connor had been hurt. After that, bits and pieces of the change came back to her.
Buffy explained the events of the night as calmly as she could. She knew part of what she had to do now was help Emily cope with this new burden. Emily needed to not feel guilty about what had happened. It wasn’t her fault.
“So Kennedy and Willow dragged you back to their place while I called an ambulance and the cops,” Buffy finished. “Cain claimed he was out hunting the supposed mountain lion and Connor got in the way.”
“Still looks like he’s going to get a little time in the pokey to sit and think about what he did,” Willow smiled.
“We’ve got some books and things,” Buffy said. “They can maybe teach you how to cope with this.”
Emily started to cry quietly.
“What?” Kennedy said, putting an arm on her for support. “This isn’t your fault.”
“It is. And . . . and . . .”
“It’s okay,” Buffy said.
Emily looked at Buffy. “Thank you. You could have just let that man kill me. The campus would have been just as safe in the end. Safer probably. I can’t . . .” Emily started to sob louder. “I can’t believe all of you,” she sniffled to try to stop the tears, “did all of this for me.”
“No worries,” Willow said casually. “This is what we do.”
“Come on,” Dawn said. “I think maybe we should leave Emily and her injured boyfriend alone for a while.”
“Yeah,” Willow said. “Before that nasty nurse comes by and yells at us for having too many people in the room again.”
“We have another werewolf to find anyway,” Buffy said as she lead Willow, Kennedy, and Dawn out of the room. Emily walked to the bed. She stroked Connor’s head, leaning down and kissing him.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be,” Connor said, smiling at her. “Do you remember anything?”
“I don’t know. I think I maybe remember being bitten a couple nights ago. The night before we . . . you know.”
Connor smiled shyly.
“But sometimes I think it’s just my imagination,” Emily went on. “My mind making up something I know must have happened. The only thing I really remember from last night is . . . is smelling you.”
Connor chuckled.
Emily looked down sadly. Now that he knew, would he still like her? He’d probably write off her attraction to him as her being horny from the change. Even if he didn’t, who’d want to date Emily the dog girl? A tear ran down her cheek again as she realized it was probably over between Connor and her. “I can’t believe you took a bullet for a werewolf. For a stranger.”
“I didn’t. I took a bullet for you.”
“But you didn’t know it was me.”
“Yeah I did. I found a piece of the bracelet I bought you. Must’ve busted when you changed.”
Emily looked at Connor, feeling even more acutely how special he was and how hard it would be if she lost him. “You took a bullet for me?”
“Had to,” Connor said, wiping away the tear from her cheek. “You’re my girl. Right?”
“Absolutely,” Emily sighed as Connor touched her. “I’m absolutely your girl.” She looked at the door, then back to her injured boyfriend. “You know . . . I’m still kind of feeling it.”
“Feeling what?”
“The Full Moon Fever.”
Connor looked confused until she started running her hand up his thigh. “We’re in a hospital!”
“You have your own room,” Emily whispered as she pulled his covers aside. “More private than the Nitery.”
Emily started to climb onto Connor’s hospital bed, but he gently pushed her back. “Maybe we can just kiss.”
Emily looked down sadly. He didn’t think she was sexy anymore. How could he?
“Hey,” he said, putting his hand under her chin and lifting it. He looked her in the eye. “It’s not what you’re thinking. I just want to take things slow. Like we wanted.”
“Fine,” Emily said as she pulled the sheets over him again. “But I’m still laying on you.” She climbed onto the bed. She lay on the covers, resting her head on Connor’s uninjured shoulder.
******
“You ready?” Kennedy asked as Dawn stared through the window into Connor’s room.
Dawn wiped away her tears before looking at Kennedy. “Not really. But maybe someday soon I will be.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” Dawn laughed sadly. “Let’s go.”
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