Uncompromising

Title: Uncompromising
Series: Competency
Series Order: 2
Fandom: NCIS, Olympus Has Fallen, Criminal Minds, Scarecrow & Mrs. King etc.
Pairings: Tony DiNozzo/Mike Banning, canon pairings
Genre: Alternate Universe, Paranormal, Shifters
Warnings: Canon Typical for all shows
Content: M
Wordcount: 30,255

Prologue

 

Tony walked around the conference room table and dropped file folders containing all the evidence they had gathered on their serial killer at each place. Every single thing they had was printed out, collated, and divided by victim. Abby had come through, and they had names for all their victims.

Ten victims, ten sets of evidence, and ten different ways that the women were killed. Each of the women had been dating a man when they were killed, and every single name was unique. The earliest of their victims didn’t have a picture of their boyfriend, and none of their friends could remember much about them. The killer hadn’t shown up on film until the sixth victim, and even then, he’d managed to hide from the camera almost 100% of the time.

The major thing tying all the women together was the fact that they had all been a part of the Navy. None of them had been assigned to the same ship, none of them had been the same rank, and none of them were the same race. If they hadn’t found them all buried together, he doubted they would have ever tied their murders together.

“If you frown at those folders any harder, they might catch fire from the heat you’re putting out,” Gibbs joked.

“Hah,” Tony muttered. “I really hope Aaron and his team see more than I have in this mess.”

“But you’re not going to say anything since you want them to come up with a possible profile without any prompting from you,” Gibbs said, cocking his head to the side as he looked at the folders on the table. “Should we give notepads and pens?”

Tony hummed softly as he contemplated the table. “I hope they’d bring their own, but sure,” he said before opening the supply closet. It took him only moments to snag the notepads and pens and set them out. He checked his watch and nodded. “Right. So, I’m going to get the coffee and pastries I ordered from the café, and by the time I get them up here, BAU should be on their way up.”

“I’ve already called the café to request they bring them up,” Viv said as she walked in. “They agreed and are happy that we’re not trying to poke our noses into their lane.”

“Oh.” Tony stopped and turned to look at Viv. “Thank you.”

“You’re being weird,” Viv said. She moved around the room to close the supply closet door on her way to her seat. “Stop it.”

“Eh,” Tony huffed softly before he dropped down into a chair two down from Viv. “This is going to be a long meeting.”

“There’s a lot of evidence to go over. Do you think that the profilers will be able to come up with a profile while they’re here?” Gibbs asked as he took the seat between his two subordinates.

“Uncertain, but I don’t think they will. We might get some clues, but they’re going to need to do an in-depth review of everything before we get one,” Tony said after several seconds of thought. There was a brief knock on the door, and it opened to show a café worker pushing a cart. “Hey, Jared. Thanks for this.”

“You’re welcome, Tony. Do you want to set everything up?” Jared asked as he waved a hand at the cart. “I brought everything I could think of with this.”

“Sure, I think that would be best,” Tony said. He stood up and took the cart from Jared. “Thanks. We’ll call if we need a refill on anything.”

“Sounds good, Tony. I’ll knock in about four hours if I don’t hear anything,” Jared called as he walked out the door.

Tony hummed softly as he quickly set up the sideboard with the refreshments. Jared had come through for them, and they had enough variety that he was sure everyone would be satisfied. Cocking his head to the side, he let his hearing spread out. The door to the conference room was propped open, and they hadn’t engaged any privacy protocols, so he could hear what was going on in the whole building.

He kept his attention centered on the lobby and smiled when he heard Aaron and his fellow profilers arrive. “They’re here. I give it ten minutes for all of them to clear security and come up.”

“Good,” Gibbs said shortly. He jerked his chin at the sideboard. “All done?”

“Yes,” Tony confirmed. He pushed the cart out of the conference room and into a spare cube. He made sure to grab the last carafe of coffee he’d kept off the sideboard and walked back in to deposit it in front of Gibbs. “Here. All yours.”

“Thanks, Tony,” Gibbs said before topping up his mug.

Coffee delivery complete, Tony moved to lean against the table and waited patiently as security escorted the profilers up. He expected that the whole day was going to be interesting, and he had no idea how many shades of meaning there would be on that word before the end of it. But something told him it wouldn’t be just one.

“We just entered the pumpkin, Tony. What in the hell?” Aaron murmured.

The snort of laughter was small, and Tony did his best to suppress it. He couldn’t suppress his emotional response, though, so Aaron would be able to smell his mood when he came in, but he didn’t mind. He hated the color scheme of the bullpen, too.

“Hey Tony, I have your guests,” Castellon said as he walked into the conference room.

“Thanks, Castellon. We should be here for the next few hours at least, and I doubt they’ll be wandering around,” Tony said cheerfully. He waited a beat while Castellon nodded and left, then turned his attention back to the knot of profilers. “Good morning. My name is Anthony DiNozzo. I’m the senior agent on the NCIS Major Case Response Team. To my right is Senior Supervisory Agent Jethro Gibbs, and to my left is Agent Vivian Blackadder. We’ve got refreshments and snacks on the sideboard for you to indulge in as needed, and all the evidence for the case is laid out in the folders on the table. The internal divisions are by victims only.”

“Thank you,” the man in the lead stated. “I’m going to leave the introductions to Hotch since he’s informed me that you two know each other.”

“Yes, sir, we do,” Tony confirmed. He turned to look at Aaron and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Right.” Aaron took a step forward and waved a hand at himself. “I’m Aaron Hotchner, and I’ve recently become the second in command for this unit. The lead for our unit is SSA Andre Sherman,” Aaron said, turning slightly to motion to his boss. He turned further and motioned at the last two members of their unit. “And the last two members are Agents Jason Gideon and Derek Morgan.”

“Welcome, gentlemen,” Tony said. He was aware of who each of them was because Aaron talked about his coworkers, and he paid attention. As the BAU agents took their chairs, Tony closed the door to the room and turned on the privacy filters. From the sharp look Aaron gave him, he was aware of the change in the room status.

“Thank you, Agent DiNozzo,” Sherman said softly. He tapped the folder in front of him. “Do you mind if we review this?”

“Go ahead,” Gibbs encouraged. “We’re all aware that you need to get a good handle on the evidence. Tony and Viv will be staying to answer any questions, and I’ll be checking in regularly.”

That was news to Tony, but he honestly hadn’t expected Gibbs to hang around for hours while the BAU agents worked things through. That Viv was staying was helpful. She’d done a lot in making sure that his bias as a male hadn’t led to him discounting potential clues the victims had left for them. No matter how small, every single observation the ten women had left on their mystery boyfriend had been included, and not dismissed just because they were female.

It had been a sobering lesson in gender politics to learn, and Tony was determined that he’d only have to learn it once. He wasn’t going to forget it either. The lesson was going to be folded into the rest of his mental ‘tool kit’ to be used in future cases.

“Thank you, Agent Gibbs. We’ll do our best to get you an answer on a timely basis,” Sherman said. He tapped the folder in front of him and nodded. “We’ll get started on this now.”

“Great,” Gibbs agreed. He picked up his coffee cup and the carafe and headed for the door. “Tony, you know how to reach me if I’m needed.”

“Gotcha, Boss,” Tony murmured. He dropped down into his chair and leaned back to watch as the profilers settled into their chairs and opened their folders. “We’ll stand by while you read.”

“Thank you, Agent DiNozzo,” Aaron said before he flipped open the folder and started reading.

 

“I’m going to stretch my legs for a few minutes,” Viv said. She got up and moved out of the room quietly.

Tony watched her go and shared a speaking look with his pack second. Blackadder had spent the morning answering questions with him, and he was aware that she had hit her limit. The subject matter was horrible, and she’s been having issues with it even before the BAU had started their inquiry.

“I think you’re right, Agent DiNozzo. You do have a serial killer on your hands, killing female service members,” Sherman said after Viv closed the conference room door.

“I got that part, sir. But now I need any hints you can give me so I can catch this asshole,” Tony said bluntly.

“We can give you that,” Gideon said. He looked like he was smelling something foul, and Tony took a discreet sniff in his direction. Irritation, anger, and something that he’d learned to identify as smugness were radiating off the older man, and Tony had to wonder how Aaron could work with him. “From everything I can see, you’re right, the killer is the same man.”

“Okay,” Tony said. He pulled a legal pad closer to him and started writing down his observations on the BAU’s points. “Like I said, any hints are good. We’re not expecting a profile now.”

“He’s not young,” Sherman said softly. He flipped the folder in front of him to the first victim and tapped her picture. “His victims are all in their early to mid-20s and have been from the start.”

“He’s dating more than one woman at a time, too,” Derek said. He waved a hand at the spread of faces in front of him. “I don’t think these women know that he’s doing that, but the timelines don’t work unless he’s dating multiple women at the same time. I highly doubt he dates for anything more than to pick a victim.”

“He enjoys the hunt. And he considers the dating part of the hunt,” Aaron said softly. “He’s well aware of modern technology, and he’s adept at avoiding it, so no one can get a good look at him.”

“Until his last victim and her ability to get pictures on the sly,” Tony said. He was proud of Anna Littlefield for her moxie. “And the witnesses who saw something hinky and called it in.”

“It’s good they did. It helps and lets us get some idea of what he looks like physically,” Aaron observed. “Tall, broad-shouldered, looked like he was in shape, and dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt, and running shoes. Normal stuff for hiking.”

“Very normal,” Tony confirmed. “And we did manage to get a shoe print cast, but it was a generic Nike running shoe and there was nothing special about it.”

“Smart,” Gideon said softly. “He’s very smart. And Andre, I’d say he’s either in, or edging towards his late 30s to early 40s. He’s been doing this for a while. The first recorded victim was killed in a very sure and confident manner. There were no hesitation marks that your Medical Examiner could see.”

“Are you thinking that this guy’s got earlier victims?” Tony asked. He glanced at Gideon and cocked his head in inquiry.

“He’s too practiced,” Gideon muttered as he paged through the pictures of the first victim. Ducky’s camera had been unflinching as it recorded what had been done to her and every other woman they had found. “He’s done something before. It’s one reason why I don’t think he’s young.”

Tony nodded at that. “Okay, I get that. What about our question on if he’s a shifter or not?”

“I think he is,” Aaron agreed. “And I don’t think he’s part of a pack.”

“Why?”

“You tell me, Tony. You’re an alpha werewolf who has a pack. Do you think you would be able to tell if one of your packmates had done something like this?” Aaron asked bluntly.

Tony leaned back in his chair and thought about his bonds to his pack. On a day-to-day basis, if he examined his bonds with them, he could get a general idea of how his pack was doing and where they were. Even when Aaron flew across the country due to a case, he still had a sense of his mood, no matter how far away he was. And there was no way to muffle the bond to cut off the flow of information. “Okay, I get what you mean. That’s not great.”

“Aaron is the only shifter on our team,” Sherman cut in. “And he’s not an Alpha. Could you tell us what our unsub being a lone shifter could mean?”

“There are very few shifter species that deal well with being alone,” Tony started. “From what I’ve been taught, our humanity is one of the things that pushes us to form packs and accept pack bonds, no matter what animal they turn into. It keeps us stable, both as a human and as a shifter. There are very few actual lone wolves out there.”

“Okay, and this means what?” Morgan asked. “Is he unstable?”

“He’s not showing overt signs of it at this time,” Aaron allowed. “I don’t know how long a lone shifter could last without a pack bond without going feral.”

“Neither do I, but I do know someone who would know that answer,” Tony said. He made a note to talk to Lee about that item. He was sure the older Alpha had the answer somewhere.

“From the hints his victims give us, he’s successful, well off, and willing to indulge them while they are dating,” Morgan said. “So, whatever impact his possible status in a pack has, it’s not impacting his ability to function on that level.”

“Unless he’s wealthy in his own right and using the cover of a ‘job’ to allow him to date more than one woman,” Gideon threw in.

“I’m going to say not likely on that one,” Tony murmured. “Since his victims were all active-duty service members, they worked hours we were able to trace. Some of them overlapped.”

“Don’t disregard the idea entirely,” Sherman cautioned. “I do think he’s successful enough that he can ‘hunt’ with very little notice being paid to him. And since he’s been operating as long as he has, it’s going to impact his ability to hunt his preferred ‘prey’ soon.”

“Given the average age of the women he hunts, he doesn’t want to stand out. But since he’s getting older, it’s going to get creepy if a man in his 50s is dating a 20-something,” Morgan said with a frown. “That could cause him to shift victims.”

“Shifters age more slowly than humans,” Aaron reminded. “He’s going to look to be in his prime for decades.”

“Fantastic. Okay, to sum this up, we’ve got a guy we think is in his late 30s to early 40s, and it’s highly likely that he doesn’t look his age at all. He’s likely got a fair amount of money at his disposal, either through inheritance or because he’s actively earning it. High probability that he’s a lone shifter, with no pack bonds. He’s smart, savvy, and capable of long-term planning, as evidenced by his hunting more than one woman at a time, and keeping them from knowing what he’s doing,” Sherman summed up.

“That sounds like a good start,” Tony said. He had some ideas on what to ask the friends and families of the victims to see if anything tickled free. It was more than he’d had at the start of the day, and he was going to run with it.

“We’ll write up a report on everything and send it over so you can add it to the case files,” Sherman promised. He tapped the file in front of him in question. “Can we take these to allow us to refer back to them?”

Tony nodded. He’d already gotten the okay for BAU to take the files. “You can. We do want them back when you are finished with the profile, if possible.”

“We’ll get that started,” Sherman said. He stood up and started helping Morgan reassemble his folder. “You know he’s going to strike again, right?”

“Yes,” Tony said with a sigh. “We’ve got some plans in place to check out the more remote areas of that park in case he changes his dump location. I don’t know how tied to that location he is, but we’ll be ready.”

“I hope so,” Gideon said as he flipped the pages of his folder to look at each of the victims. “And I hope you’ve warned various bases around here as well.”

“First thing we did when we started speculating on this guy being a serial killer. We also set up a hotline in case anyone wants to call in a clue or two,” Tony said with a grim smile. “And the warnings are going out weekly, so no one forgets.”

“Good.”

 

 

Chapter One

 

“I’m not going to miss this place,” Viv said as she shut down her computer for the last time.

“Why? Is it the orange? Or something else?” Tony asked. He leaned back in his chair and watched as Viv packed up the last of her belongings. She had never had much out but had apparently stored more supplies in the drawers of her desk than on top of it. He appreciated her discretion on that.

“The orange is definitely one of the things I’m not going to miss,” Vic confirmed. “Midnight callouts to go to a ship at sea are another.”

“You do get queasy when we’re out to sea,” Tony said. He was lucky to have a cast-iron stomach when it came to the motion of the ocean, and he’d yet to get sick on any of the ships they’d had to board. “And hell, I’d love it if we could paint over the orange. Who in the hell thinks this color is restful?”

“Not me,” Viv said. She zipped up her duffel bag and set it on the blotter on her desk. “Right. I’m packed. Walk me out?”

“Are you sure?” Tony asked. It had taken time, but Vivian had learned her lesson in regard to his species. While she was never going to be a fan of his, she was no longer an overt bigot and had even apologized for her comments. He’d taken the kinda-sorta win and accepted it. It had made the last few months of their time working together a decent experience.

“Yes,” Viv confirmed. She picked up her purse and the duffel and stood tall. “When you get that serial killer, let me know. Because I know you’re going to get him.”

“We will. We’ve got your notes and you’re on the reports, so when we get him, you may get called to testify,” Tony warned. He followed behind her as she took the elevator for the last time.

“I know. I’ve let my boss know,” Viv said. She pulled her badge off her belt and handed it over to him. “I’ve already checked my gun back in. This was the last thing.”

Tony nodded as he took her shield and slipped it into his pocket. “Good luck, Viv.”

“You too, Tony,” Viv agreed. As soon as the doors opened to the lobby, she headed for the doors. And she didn’t look back.

The snort of amusement was reluctant, and Tony shook his head. He had no idea what he had expected her to do, but the semi-professional, drama-less exit she’d just done hadn’t been it. Good on her.

 

“Hey, kid. How’s things?”

“Doing well. But I need some advice and general information,” Tony admitted. He eyed the three lasagnas on his counter critically. With the salad Eileen was making, the loaves of garlic bread, and the tiramisu, there should be enough food for his pack. He wanted to make a good impression, and that was weird.

“Sure. Now?” Lee asked, amused. “Aren’t you cooking now?”

“Everything’s about to go in the oven, so not really,” Tony said. He slid the lasagnas into the wall oven and set the timer. “Okay, I’ve got an hour.”

“Will we need an hour? Because Amanda will not be amused if I miss dinner,” Lee said.

“No, I don’t think it will,” Tony said. He pointed at the oven and then the timer as he passed Eileen and smiled when she nodded. Message passed; he headed for his office. “I’m headed for my office because I’ve got a white noise generator.”

“Oh, this is going to be interesting,” Lee mused.

Tony glanced at his phone in surprise as he closed the door to his office and flipped the white noise generator on before moving to his desk. “I’m very worried about what you consider interesting.”

The laugh Lee let out sounded genuinely amused. “Maybe I’ll tell you one of these days. I can hear the generator, so what questions can I answer for you?”

“Okay, I have a case where we’ve got a serial killer,” Tony started.

“Tony, I have no idea what to do with a serial killer,” Lee interrupted. “Other than kill them.”

“Oh, that’s not the issue. We’ve got a lock on what we’re going to do with this guy when we catch him. And the goal is that we’re catching him,” Tony assured. “Our profile says this guy’s a shifter. We think he’s a lone shifter. No pack bonds at all because from everything I’ve been taught, an Alpha would be able to tell if one of their Betas went off the rails.”

Lee hummed softly. “And that’s what you wanted to ask me, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never had a serial killer in my personal pack, so I don’t have direct experience on this, but I do know someone who did have one,” Lee said slowly. “From what he said, he knew that there was something wrong, but it took a while to figure out what it was. Apparently, the pack member who was the serial killer got a deep thrill out of what they were doing. It disturbed my friend enough that they followed them and saw them kidnap their next victim.”

“I’m going to guess that the serial killer didn’t have a victim for long,” Tony said quietly. Packs didn’t play when it came to members breaking the law. Shifters were too strong and too wild to be allowed to run around without rules.

“No, they did not,” Lee confirmed. “After everything, when my friend excised the serial killer from his pack, he said it was like a cancer had been removed. But it did hurt. Because removing a packmate from your pack always does, even under good conditions. It also took a long time for his pack to recover from it.”

“Okay, I get that. But what type of shifter could live successfully without a pack?” Tony asked.

“Hmm, that’s a good question,” Lee said. “Okay, so a lot of the animals shifters turn into are, in nature, pretty solitary. See bears, cats, and some birds. Those of us who skew canine are very social by nature. As best as can be studied, that personality quirk informs how we change when we shift for the first time.

“However, there are some constants. Most of the time, if a pack is made up of wolves, the children of the pack will be wolves as well. Or at least, some kind of canine. Felines are about the same. When you get mixed packs, things get more interesting on where the kids end up,” Lee explained, and Tony could hear him typing away. “I’ll be sending you the research on this. Even if you don’t use it for your case, it’s relevant for your pack.

“Anyway. For the lone shifter and what they might be? Humans being human, we like to gather and be social. We like to have our groups that we belong to. True, solitary antisocial people are rare because humans go a bit nutty if they don’t people every once in a while. A shifter who doesn’t have a pack would almost certainly have to be one of the species that does well on its own.”

“And you said that’s normally bears, cats, or some birds,” Tony said. He frowned as he thought about what he’d learned. “So, chances are, whoever our killer is, he’s a loner in more than one way. If he has any family, he’s not close to them. No pack either.”

“Sounds about right,” Lee agreed. “There was a point in time where some of the alphabets thought guys like that made better agents. What they found was that those guys tended to go rogue more often because they didn’t have anything keeping them grounded. It’s a rare loner who exists in any of the agencies anymore.”

“Good to know,” Tony said. He made some notes so he could remind himself of everything he’d learned and then put his pen down. “Okay, that’s the official stuff I needed to talk to you about. And if you remember anything else about this subject, please let me know. But I do need some advice.”

Lee laughed softly. “Okay, we’re getting to the advice portion of the call now. What can I do for you on that?”

“Aaron is bringing Haley over tonight, and I want to make sure that I don’t fuck this up. She’ll be the first possible mate to join my pack, the first human after Andrew, and she’s Aaron’s,” Tony said in a rush. He was mostly, over his crush on Aaron and his incredibly competent self, but there was still a lingering affection that had nothing to do with the fact that the man was his second.

“Okay, you’ve known that this was coming for a while,” Lee said. He still sounded amused, and Tony had to suppress the urge to blow a raspberry at him. “What’s the issue with the meeting?”

“Is there anything special I need to do? Is there some tradition I need to follow?” Tony asked. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I want to make sure everything goes well for Aaron. He loves her, and introducing her to his pack is a big step, I know. And since I’m his alpha, I want to make sure that I don’t put any more stress on him than I have to.”

The phone was silent for several seconds before Lee cleared his throat. “You’re a good man, Anthony DiNozzo. There’s nothing special that needs to be done to welcome the romantic partner of one of your betas into your pack. You just need to be as open and honest as you are when you strive to make a friend. It’ll all work out.”

Tony let Lee’s words wash over him and tried to believe them. He knew how to work a room. He could handle meeting Haley. “Thanks, Lee. I think I was building the whole thing up in my head until it was a mountain.”

“And it was a legit molehill, but perception is a bitch,” Lee concluded. “I get it. But that does bring up something. I know you got lessons on how to be an alpha from the Center in Baltimore, but I think I want to do a refresher course with you.”

“Not that I’m upset at learning more about this whole shifter thing I’ve been thrown into, but what brought this on?” Tony asked. He tapped a finger against the blotter on his desk in an idle pattern as he tried to figure out what Lee was up to.

“Your pack is growing,” Lee said. He paused and blew out a slow breath of air. “And by that, I mean in more than actual packmates. If all goes well tonight, Haley will be joining your pack, and you’ll be that much stronger. You also make friends easily, you’ve made connections all over the alphabets and with the DC Police, to mention only a few. You may not realize it, but you’re building a little powerbase, and eventually, your current betas will go on to build packs of their own, while you add new ones to your pack.”

“Is this how you got started?” Tony asked. He was going to ignore the comment about his ability to network. Unintended uses of the skills he’d learned from his father were to be pushed away until he could get some quiet time to think about it. “With your pack, with friends, and then over time, you rose to be the Alpha of the city?”

“No, no, it isn’t. But that’s something I’ll discuss with you when we meet up for training. I also want to introduce you to a new alpha who’s moved to the city,” Lee said. He sounded… subdued to Tony’s ear, and that did not bode well for whatever the explanation was going to be.

“Sounds like a plan. Text me when you want to meet up, and I’ll make the time. Now, you’d better go before Amanda makes you pay for being late,” Tony suggested.

Lee laughed lightly. “Sounds good.”

Call ended, Tony sat back in his chair and thought about what he’d learned. Things were getting interesting with the case. But. Not what he needed to be concentrating on right then. Checking his watch, Tony nodded once. He had a dinner to get through.

By the time he made it back to his living room, everyone but Aaron was sitting around on the various couches. “Eileen, I take it the salad is ready?”

“It’s in the fridge and we’ve got all the different dressings everyone likes,” Eileen confirmed. She waved a hand at the chair he normally liked to sit in. “Your wine is by your chair.”

“Thanks,” Tony said. He pulled his phone out again and glanced at it. “Got a text from Aaron. He says they’re five minutes away.”

Martin looked up from his book and smiled. “The table is set, the garlic bread is ready to be put in the oven, and there’s fifteen minutes left on the timer for the lasagnas.”

“Relax, Tony,” Andrew advised. He looked up from the puzzle he was assembling on the coffee table. “This’ll go well.”

“Well, unless you’ve been hiding something, this is the first partner we’re all going to be introduced to,” Tony reminded. “And I’m pretty sure that Aaron wants this to go well.”

“Relax, Tones. You’re approaching twitterpated levels of twitchiness,” Andrew teased. He was adding different pieces to the puzzle without seeming to hesitate a moment, and Tony eyed the whole thing warily.

“Did you actually say twitterpated?” Tony asked as he realized what his friend had said. “I’m not twitterpated!”

“Yes, I did, and yes, you are,” Andrew confirmed. “One of the alternate meanings is ‘In a state of nervous excitement’ and you are utterly fulfilling this. Are you sure you’re not a kitty like these two? Because your tail would be flopping all over the place if you were in your fur.”

“Why? Why are you like this?” Tony asked. He leaned back in his chair and stared at his friend.

“Hey, you decided that I was both your friend and part of your pack. You’re stuck with me for life,” Andrew said with a smug smile aimed his way. “I’m going to tell you like it is, no matter what, for the rest of my life.”

“What a lovely thing I have to look forward to,” Tony muttered. He picked up his wine and took a sip. He lifted it in a salute to Andrew. “This is delicious, Andrew.”

“Thank you,” Andrew said.

Everyone settled into their places, and the silence was comfortable, and Tony quietly basked in the warmth of his pack. No matter how different they were, they all got along and enjoyed each other’s company. He could only hope that Haley fit in.

The muted ding of the elevator reached his ears, and he set his wine down. “The elevator is here.”

“The lasagna should be done. I’ll take them out and let them settle. The garlic bread can go in to warm up while we get the rest ready,” Martin said as he rolled to his feet. “I don’t want to crowd her.”

“She’s going to have to get used to our insanity; better to do it here, where we’re on our good behavior,” Eileen shot back as she followed him into the kitchen. “I’ve got the salad, Tony!”

“Do you have something that you urgently need to do?” Tony asked Andrew as he headed for the door.

“Nope, I’m good. I can sit here and watch,” Andrew said with a smile.

“You are such an asshole,” Tony muttered as he reached the entryway.

“Who’s being an asshole now?” Aaron asked as he opened the door. He carefully ushered Haley in to stand beside him. “Never mind, everyone is here, so I’m going to say that the answer is all of them.”

Tony laughed softly as the rest of his pack tried to protest the label. “You know they’re going to make you pay for that, right?”

“Oh, I know,” Aaron said with a smile. He looked down at Haley and smiled at her. “Tony, this is Haley Brooks. Haley, this is Tony DiNozzo, my alpha.”

“It’s great to meet you, Haley,” Tony said sincerely. He held out a hand to her and smiled as she placed hers in his. “Aaron has spoken about you a lot.”

“I hope it’s all been good, Alpha DiNozzo,” Haley said with a broad smile that she shared between him and Aaron.

“Call me Tony. And yes, he’s been very complimentary,” he said. He drew her forward and tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow. “Now, Aaron says that you’ve known each other since high school, right?”

“We have, yes,” Haley said, eyes bright with mischief. “What can I do for you, Tony?”

“Stories. We all want stories,” Tony requested with a wink. He ignored the huff from Aaron. Like he was going to miss the chance to get information on his second? Hell no.

Haley laughed and nodded. “I have lots.”

“Right. You’re all assholes,” Aaron muttered. “Why did I think this was a good idea?”

“Too late now!” Eileen and Martin crowed from the kitchen.

Tony laughed softly as he listened to the bickering. Yeah, this was going to work.

 

“Thanks for meeting me, Tony,” Lee said as he waved him into the house. It was a very nice, utterly suburban house that would look at home in almost any town or city in the US, and Tony’s brain really wanted to break down at the thought of a former spy living in it.

“You’re welcome, Lee. You mentioned that you wanted to teach me something?” Tony asked as he toed his shoes off and let them join the rest of the pile by the front door.

“I did. And I have that person I wanted to introduce you to,” Lee said. “We’re in the kitchen since Amanda doesn’t want me to take over the living room, and my other guest was more comfortable where the coffee was.”

“Be real, old man, I’m not interested in pissing your wife off by leaving crumbs where she can find them,” a rough baritone called out from the back of the house.

“I don’t know your wife, and I’m going to say, same,” Tony said. He was curious about who the voice belonged to. It had a burr buried within it and sounded gruff, but interesting.

From the sigh Lee let out, he was obviously putting up with the combined teasing. Good. “Amanda won’t take it out on you two; you’re both guests. Me? All bets are off.”

“Then we’re being considerate of your hide,” the baritone said firmly. “Since he hasn’t introduced me, I’m Mike Banner, and I’ve recently joined the Secret Service. Like you, I’m an alpha werewolf, but I don’t have a pack since my last one dissolved due to my alpha being a bona fide dick. I didn’t want any of those assholes as my pack.”

Tony walked into the kitchen and smirked at the irritated vibe the other man was putting off. “Lemme guess, before the Secret Service, you were some flavor of law enforcement, and your alpha was someone higher up the chain of command who was not thrilled that you developed the whole red eye thing.”

“Bingo!” Banning said with a grin. “He tried to ‘cull’ me on a full moon run, and no one was happy when I introduced him to the dirt. I did not, however, kill him. Since he was down and defeated, the pack bonds moved to me, and I dissolved them. The whole department was gutted since most of us left.”

“For fucks sake,” Tony growled before he closed his eyes and tried to get his temper under control. “I hate cops of any stripe who do that shit.” He took several deep breaths as he worked to calm down. “Right. I’m Anthony DiNozzo, and I’m the second in command of the DC MCRT.”

“Sounds like a blast,” Banning said with a grin.

“Gods, I hope not,” Tony said with a shudder. “I do not want to deal with Gibbs and explosions. That would not be great.”

“Explosions are fun, but only when you’re an observer and not a participant,” Lee said wryly. “I am sadly able to say that from experience.”

Tony shared a horrified look with Banning before turning to look at Lee. “Are you able to tell us why you were in the explosion?”

“Uhm,” Lee hummed before he stared at the ceiling and tapped one finger against his lips. “No. It hasn’t been declassified, and likely won’t be for another decade, at least.”

“Right. Former spy,” Tony murmured. “You mentioned in our phone call that you would tell me how you became the alpha of the DC area. I figure Banning needs to know as much as I do.”

“Yeah, he does,” Lee confirmed. He waved a hand at the coffee pot. “Grab a cup.”

“Is the coffee cake available?” Tony asked. It smelled awesome, and he made a mental note to ask for the recipe if it was homemade. Baking wasn’t his thing, but he was sure he could do it if he put his mind to it.

Lee nodded once before he picked up an insulated coffee mug and cradled it between his hands. “It is.”

“Thanks,” Tony said. He snagged his slice and a cup of coffee on his way to sit at the kitchen table beside Banning. “Okay, lay it on us.”

“You both know I was a spy for years. I was active through the late 70s, the 80s, and on into the early part of the 90s. Lots of years. I’ve been a wolf since birth, and I was one of the wolves that could handle being on my own for months and years on end. Which was a good thing for a spy. But I had a loose pack based on my coworkers, and we touched base frequently. Nothing really formal, but it worked for us,” Lee explained. He took a deep drink from his coffee cup and moved to sit across from them. “I met Amanda due to my job in the mid-80s, and we eventually got married. When we did, she officially folded me into her family pack.”

“So, you were no longer a lone wolf, even in the loosest definition of the term,” Tony murmured.

Lee snorted. “Right. And my pack of coworkers were just coworkers. We didn’t have an alpha, but we did okay with the regional alpha. When I married Amanda and joined her pack, I gained the red eyes of an alpha, and the loose pack of coworkers consolidated under me as my pack. Amanda was very amused.

“The one who wasn’t amused was the regional alpha. He started getting very angry and aggressive on the monthly runs. Rushing me, rushing Amanda, rushing our kids,” Lee hissed. He paused and took a deep breath. “That was the last straw for me and Amanda. Word of advice, gentlemen: Never, ever threaten a child in front of a dedicated shifter mom.”

Tony thought of the damage he could do and then thought of what an enraged mother could do in defense of her child. He winced as he thought of the damage such a person could deal out. Yeah, no.

“I will take that under all due advisement,” Banner said with a wince.

“I’m going to guess you challenged the regional Alpha?” Tony asked. At Lee’s nod, he smirked. “Well, he was dumb for that.”

“He thought he was better than me since he’d been a Marine before he left the service and went into the FBI,” Lee said with a shrug. “He wasn’t. And he didn’t surrender when I demanded it.”

“Oh, damn,” Banner said. He sounded vaguely shocked before he controlled his response to Lee’s revelation.

“I was censured,” Lee said bluntly. “And there was an investigation which was fun for absolutely no one. Plus, the reputational hit wasn’t small. But I was also the regional Alpha at that point, and no one wanted to replace me. So, the powers that be were stuck with me. I’ve had challengers over the years, but no one’s won, and I haven’t killed anyone for their moxie.”

“I’m going to guess that they got the snot beaten out of them, though,” Tony said dryly. At Lee’s wild grin, he nodded. “I’m good with where I am, and I have no interest in challenging you for your position.”

When Lee looked at Banning, the other man shook his head. “Nope. I’ve just started my new job, and the only things I want are to get integrated with the shifter community out here, find a good bar, figure out how to navigate this hellhole of a city, and slowly start working on a pack. I’m not in a hurry for the last, but the other three? Got any hints?”

Tony threw back his head and laughed at the man’s cheek. Something was telling him that Banning was going to become a good friend.

 

 

Chapter Two

 

“Why are you like this?”

“What?” Tony asked as he pulled his attention away from the report he was reading.

“You are sitting there, working. And yet, when I met you, you were acting like a frat boy on vacation!” Kate said hotly.

Tony sighed as he minimized the report he was reading and turned his attention to the team’s new probie. He had told Gibbs that she was going to be a handful, and the older man had just shrugged and smiled at him. Bastard. And now this.

“One: I’m working because I’m at work, and that’s what you do when you’re at work,” Tony said calmly. “Two: When we met, I was working as well. While there was some goofing around, I was working to get the information needed to find out what killed the victim. And you know it. Finally, three: while I did join a fraternity while in college, I did not pull the ‘fratboy’ stuff you’re alluding to. I was a little too busy getting my degrees and playing sports.”

From the snort Kate let out, she didn’t believe him. Tony decided to throw caution to the wind. He wasn’t going to “What is your problem with me?”

“You laugh, joke, play tricks on people, and snoop. How in the hell are you an agent?” Kate asked.

She sounded frustrated to Tony’s ear, and he took a careful sniff of the air. She smelled frustrated as well. But the same scent he got when Viv was indulging in her bigotry was missing.

“And what is wrong with that? Other than the snooping?” Tony asked.

“We’re federal agents, adults. We do a serious job, we’re not here to joke around!” Kate said. She waved her hands to emphasize her points, and Tony cocked his head to the side as he watched her.

“So, we should be solemn at all times? Never joke, never laugh, always serious?” Tony asked.

Kate nodded once. “Yes! This job isn’t for joking! We’re trying to take care of people who are victims of crimes, not do comedy!”

“I’ve been a cop, of some form, since I was 23. I’m 32 now,” Tony said, voice soft and even. “And in the nine years I’ve been in law enforcement, I’ve learned a thing or two. Those who try to always be what you want, burn out the fastest. They never learn how to relax, how to manage their stress, and how to reset after each case. The laughs, the jokes, the tricks? All of that is designed to give you the mental break you need so you don’t break.

“As for the snooping? Kate, we work with criminals. If you have personal items on your damn desk where people can find them, so can criminals. And that could mean that we eventually work your crime scene. Stop being a twit and start thinking about this job as something that’s actually hazardous,” Tony snapped. “Now, I have reports to finish and so do you.”

“You can’t tell me what to do!” Kate snapped.

“Kate, I’m the second in command for the DC MCRT. That means that yes, I can tell you what to do, and I will. Get back to work,” Tony growled. They had been having some version of this argument since she’d joined the team, and he was utterly done. It took him only moments to pull up the form he needed and only a few more to fill everything out. Gibbs could be as pissed as he wanted; he was done dealing with her shit.

“What in the hell is going on?” Gibbs snapped as he walked in with his latest cup of coffee.

“That clown is trying to tell me what to do,” Kate said, voice sweet and calm.

Tony snorted once and leaned back, watching as she spun a lovely little fairy tale for their boss. Too bad he had access to the cameras in the bullpen. Oh, well.

“Got anything to add, Tony?” Gibbs asked when Kate finally wound down.

“Check your email,” Tony said. He grinned; teeth slightly shifted as his emotions bled through his control. “I’ll wait while you see what happened.”

Gibbs flicked a glance up at the ceiling. “Security cameras?”

“Yup,” Tony confirmed. His grin got a bit wider and filled with more fangs as he stared at Kate. “I’m done with this. She needs to go back to FLETC to learn what the actual rules are, not whatever is churning through her brain right now.”

“I know the rules!” Kate protested. “And I’ve got more time in, that means that I should be senior to you.”

Tony slanted a speaking glance at Gibbs at that pronouncement and snorted at the flabbergasted look the man was wearing. “I told you.”

“You did,” Gibbs agreed. He sat down at his desk and signed in. “Sit down, Kate. I’ll be reviewing the footage, and then we’ll be dealing with this. Because this stops now.”

From the way she huffed off back to her desk, Tony wasn’t sure she was taking the directive seriously. Too bad for her that they were. Do you want me to reach out to my friend in the SS to see if he’s got any insight into why she’s pushing this? Tony wrote in an email to Gibbs.

It took only seconds for the email to get through, and Tony kept an eye on Gibbs as he read something on his screen. He couldn’t see what the older man was doing, but his email dinged and popped up a new message. Yes. Because I’m not dealing with this level of drama again. We’re not in a damn soap opera.

Tony snorted once in laughter before he sent back an acknowledgement. Pulling out his phone, he thumbed through his contact list to find the message chain he had going with Banning. The last message was them discussing the possibility of a date, and he wasn’t thrilled to derail them with this. But…

Hey, got five?

Yup. What’s up? Aren’t you working?

Yeah, I am. But I have a question about our new hire.

Is this about Todd?

Yup. She’s been pushing and prodding us, trying to say that she’s more qualified than I am to be the senior agent here at MCRT. Add in her cries of discrimination every time we try to get her to do any of the dirty jobs that are required for an NCIS Agent, and we’re all sick of this.

She’s always been very by the book and in love with the rules, and she tried to make her coworkers follow them to the absolute letter. That’s why it was such a shock that she was involved with someone. From what her records show over here, she’s got the basic training to be one of our agents, and some of the classes to recognize when there’s an issue with someone in a crowd. Nothing special and nothing that stands out.

So, no specialty classes, no evidence gathering, no leadership courses? What about an advanced degree beyond the basics?

Nope.

Well, isn’t that just ducky. Thanks.

Not a problem. Let me know if she pushes again. Because her shit could splash back on us, and I for one, don’t want a former Secret Service Agent smearing our agency. We deal with enough shit due to our jobs.

Oh, I get that. Thanks. This is going to help. Cases willing, want to catch dinner?

Yes. But we’re not doing anything fancy.

I’m not eating dive food, Banning. Or shitty bar food. But I won’t take you anywhere that requires a suit.

Good. I’m off at 5

Same. I’ll text if anything comes up. Stay safe.

You too

Tony quickly summarized what he’d learned about Todd and leaned back in his chair to think about what he’d learned. While a complete rule follower could survive in law enforcement, they rarely thrived. And Kate was currently not making any friends with her attitude. NCIS didn’t need someone to be rigid; they needed someone who could look at a situation, figure out how to manage it, and stay legal. Currently, he wasn’t sure Todd was capable of that.

“Todd, with me,” Gibbs growled out as he stalked towards the elevator.

Tony winced slightly as he pulled his hearing back in. He didn’t need to hear Gibbs dealing with Kate and her attitude. If she made it through that, he needed to figure out how to get her to bend enough to survive their jobs and not shatter.

 

“Boss, I’m heading out. I’ll see you Monday,” Tony called as he shut his computer down. It had been a slow day, with no new cases, and they weren’t on call for the weekend. He would take the favor the gods had given him and run.

“Have a good weekend,” Gibbs said as he leaned back in his chair. “Full moon is next weekend, right?”

“Yes, it is. And since we’re on the rotation in two weeks, I’ll be doing the run with my pack,” Tony said. He zipped his backpack up and slung it over his shoulder. His badge and gun were already in place, and the place he was planning on taking Banner to didn’t mind them being armed, so he was clear on that issue.

“Do you always go with your pack on full moons?” Kate asked. She’d been quiet all afternoon, and Tony had been grateful. Showed what he knew.

“Every chance I get. That’s part of what it means to be the alpha of a pack,” Tony confirmed. He patted his right front pants pocket to confirm his keys were there and turned for the elevator. “See you Monday, Kate.”

From the huff she let out, she wasn’t happy with his answer, but he didn’t care. His life was not an open book for her to read. Tony made a conscious decision to dump his irritation and anger at all the stupid shit from the day on his way to the restaurant he’d chosen.

The drive to the restaurant was just long enough to relax him and turn his attention to what was coming up. Banner hadn’t commented on his choice, but Tony figured that the other man was saving his commentary for when they had their meal.

Parking was parking in DC, and Tony managed to get a space within a quarter mile of his destination and called it a win. Banning was standing outside the place he’d picked, eyeing him closely. “Like what you see?” Tony asked as he walked closer.

“You know you’re pretty,” Banning murmured. “But if I’m going to stroke something, it’s not going to be your ego.”

Tony snorted once in laughter and stopped in front of the other man. “I can get behind that. And I feel much the same.”

“Good,” Banning said. He tilted his head to the side as he looked him over. “I see you still wore a suit, even though you promised me I didn’t need one for this place.”

“You don’t need one. And I came straight from work,” Tony said. He ran his hand down his waistcoat and shrugged. He’d left the jacket in the car because the evening was nice, the venue was normally kept at a comfortable temperature, and he liked seeing Banning’s brain derail.

“Good thing I had a change of clothes in my locker,” Banning growled. He was in a set of jeans that hugged his legs and went up to cup his ass. He had styled it with an emerald green Henley and a black waistcoat. He looked delicious.

Tony took a deep breath and ignored the whiff of lust that rose off Banning. “I’m not going to feed your ego either. Let’s go in.”

“Oh, very definitely, after you,” Banning said with a sweep of one hand.

The laugh that moved through Tony was rich and a little dirty, and he could tell from the change in Banning’s breathing that he appreciated the view. Tony would need to return the favor as soon as he could. In the meantime, they had a lovely meal to look forward to.

As soon as they walked through the door, the scent of well-roasted meat hit his nose, and he could feel the saliva pooling in his mouth. Hot, rare, well-seasoned steak was amazing, and Alva’s did it to perfection.

“This is very promising,” Banning said softly as Tony let the hostess know they were there.

“It’s amazing. Shifter-sized portions, everything that they can is fresh and organic, and done perfectly,” Tony promised. He followed the hostess to their table and nodded once in satisfaction. It was just private enough that they would be able to talk without everyone hearing what was said, but still able to see into the open kitchen to watch the show as their food was cooked.

“Thank you for the testimonial, sir,” their hostess chirped in a sunny voice as she handed over the menus once they were seated. “Your server will be here shortly.”

Banning hummed softly as he opened the menu and started reading. “They have game meat as well as domestic?” he asked after several seconds of reading.

“They do,” Tony said. He had already chosen his meal and had been looking forward to it since he’d suggested the date. One of the things he’d learned to appreciate about being a shifter was the change in his appetite. And the small fact that nothing he ate seemed to settle in his gut as fat.

“Okay, I’ve made my choice,” Banning said a little bit later. He closed his menu and set it aside as he stared at Tony. “I’m going to be blunt because I don’t know how to be any other way: I want you. What do you want from me?”

“How so?” Tony asked.

“Do you want to date with the goal of building a relationship? Friends with benefits? One time fuck and get it out of our systems? What are you looking for?” Banning asked. He leaned back in his chair and let one hand rest on the table, fingers subtly flexing as if he was trying not to let his claws out.

Tony did him the courtesy of thinking over what he’d been asked and nodded once. “I want to see if we can build an actual relationship. I like what I know of you, and I want to know more. You’re funny, you’re sarcastic as hell, you’re honorable, and I know there are more things to discover, the longer we know each other. It also doesn’t hurt that you’re hot like burning.”

Banning froze briefly before he threw his head back and laughed. From the dip in the ambient noise of the room at large, everyone noticed the sound, and Tony smirked. “That was not what I was expecting, but I should have. Lee did say that you have moxie. Right. I agree with all of that, and I want to add that I like what I’ve learned about your pack as well, and look forward to meeting them.”

“Sounds good,” Tony said. Decision made, he relaxed slightly and let his body language soften slightly as he settled into his seat. From the glance Mike gave him, he was very appreciative of the change. “So, I know what Lee told me about you. I know what was mentioned in our meetings with him. But I want to learn about you. So…”

“So, we get to talk and get to know each other more,” Mike said. “Well, let’s get this started then. I’m 35, and have been with the Secret Service for eight years. I joined right after I finished my last tour as a Marine, where I did things that are still classified. You know where I work now, and I am not on the Treasury side of the Secret Service divide.”

“I do know where you work and I understand why you don’t want to wear a suit when you go out,” Tony said with a grin. “Even if you have to look hot in one. I’m 32, I worked as a cop for just under nine years, in three different precincts, and then I went federal due to being bitten by an alpha werewolf in an attempt to kill me. The last precinct I was in, stuffed as much of that under the carpet as they could since the alpha was on their payroll as a cop.”

“Are they dead?” Mike asked with a pleasant smile. A smile with a lot of teeth hiding just out of sight, and Tony returned it with a smile just as dangerous.

“Yes, they are,” Tony confirmed. “There was still a scandal that broke not long after I left, but I wasn’t mentioned, and I can live with that.”

“Sounds good,” Mike said. He paused as their waiter arrived and let Tony order them a bottle of wine and his dinner. When the waiter turned to him, he opened the menu and glanced down at it to confirm his order. “Number five, rare, with a baked potato, all the fixings, and the green beans as the veg.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll bring out the wine, some rolls with a cheese plate, and would you like some water as well?”

Tony nodded once when Mike glanced at him. “Yes. All that sounds good. Thank you.”

“I like that you treat everyone with respect,” Mike said after their waiter had left. “That’s better than some of the people I work with and for, do.”

“Some of the people you work for would be very hard for me to respect,” Tony allowed. He had had a very jaundiced view of politicians and had since he was a child. His father had hobnobbed with a number of them, and Tony had gotten a front row seat on how many of them were on the take. Growing up hadn’t shaken that view in the slightest. “But giving respect to those doing me a service? Oh, that’s easy. I’ve been a waiter, and it’s not all that much fun. The hours are long, it’s messy, it’s nerve-wracking when everyone is in a rush, and you don’t get paid enough to deal with hungry people.”

“Sounds a lot like law enforcement as well,” Mike said with a smirk. “Add in all the time on your feet, the running after people who do stupid stuff, and seeing people in every single weird moment of their lives?”

The laugh that slipped out was as rueful as Tony thought about what Mike was saying. “I agree. Any job where you’re supplying a service of some type is full to the brim with no fun at times. But satisfaction? Oh, I get that. When I catch a perp, when I find that last clue I need to confirm what happened to the victim so I can catch the person who hurt them? So much satisfaction. It gets even better when I can see them go to jail.”

“That does sound better than it could be. Me? I’m happy when I can tuck the First Family into the Residence for the night and know that they are, for the moment, safe and sound,” Mike said. He knocked on the wooden table gently, in an obvious attempt to ward off any bad vibes.

“I think your job is more stressful than mine with that,” Tony said after contemplating what Mike had said. “Okay, let’s go with something less stressful. Favorite sports. Mine are football and basketball.”

“Gee, I wonder why?” Mike asked with a playful edge to his tone. “I’m not sure that I want to play a sport against you. Might get my ass handed to me.”

“Only if you ask,” Tony said just as playfully. “And maybe if there’s an inter-service game or something. After all, I have to defend my agency in something like that.”

“Fair. But I think you qualify as a ringer,” Mike said with a grin. “Okay. I like baseball, soccer, and thanks to my mother, rugby.”

“Why rugby?” Tony asked. It was one of the sports that he didn’t play, but did watch when it came on. He blamed his interest in rugby and cricket on his Paddington relatives if asked.

“Mum’s Scottish and a fan of Heriot’s. She’s been watching their matches for as long as I can remember, and passed the love of them onto me. I made her decade a while back when I took her back to Scotland and got tickets to a game there,” Mike said. He shrugged at the eyebrow Tony raised at that. “She’s my mother. Spoiling her with trips like that, and paying for her cable bill so she can watch the matches whenever she wants, isn’t all that hard to do.”

“You softy,” Tony breathed. He was going to tease Mike a bit more, but their waiter came back with the first part of their order, and he held his peace as they fussed over the whole production. When they left, Tony snagged a piece of bread and spread it generously with some of the soft cheese that had been included and took a bite. “Okay, that’s good.”

From the hum Mike let out as he chewed his own bite, he agreed. “It is. Listen, I’m not a mama’s boy, but I do love the woman. My dad was an asshole, and she made sure that I didn’t grow up in his image. I appreciated that when I went into the Marines, and I didn’t have to be civilized before I could advance.”

“I got civilized by my frat, so I think I’m envious. I spent years in boarding schools where I got good grades, but learning how to be a decent human being wasn’t high on the list. As long as I obeyed their rules, they didn’t care,” Tony admitted. “My frat brothers? They cared and made sure I knew how to act around people.”

“Are you still in touch with them?” Mike asked. He took a sip from his glass of wine and saluted him with it. “That’s great.”

“And it’ll go well with our meals too,” Tony promised. He took a sip of his wine and enjoyed the complex explosion of fruity flavors. “Yeah, I’m still in touch with most of them. One of them is a packmate, and the rest are good friends. About every other year or so, we get together to go spend spring break together.”

Mike raised an eyebrow at that. “Spring break, huh?”

Tony shrugged at that. “Well, when most of us were single, yes, we went to enjoy it in Florida. The last time? No, we didn’t try to hit up various college-aged lovelies. But we did spend the week unwinding and relaxing. In Aspen.”

“So, you can ski?” Mike asked. “Given how good you are at your chosen sports, I’m going to guess you’re good at that too.”

“I do okay,” Tony allowed. “And you?”

Mike smirked once before he propped his chin on his fist. “I’m from Colorado. I grew up on the slopes, and I learned to ski about the same time I learned how to walk.”

The mental picture that was brought to mind was very cute. Tony had seen a number of tiny tots going down the slopes during their time in Aspen, and the kids had been adorable. “Does your mom have pictures?”

“She does,” Mike confirmed. “What’s your favorite cuisine?”

“I’m Italian, so I’m honor-bound to say that I prefer Italian food. And I do. I just like a lot of the homestyle stuff that’s not popular with everyone,” Tony said with a smile. “But when I look outside of Italy, I like authentic Chinese food, I like food from the Middle East, and I’m getting interested in Indian food.”

“That’s a hell of a spread, there,” Mike said after several seconds. “Count me in for the authentic Chinese food, but I like the spicy stuff out of Yunnan. In that case, it can sometimes seem like the more peppers, the better, but not all of them are blisteringly spicy, just fragrant. And there’s a lot of pickled vegetables in the meals too. I’m also not going to turn down rural Italian food, because the rare times I’ve had it, it was awesome. Mom cooked a lot of stuff from Scotland and England, so that was hit or miss at times, but shepherd’s pie is a great comfort food.”

Tony nodded at Mike’s choices, and they filled the time before their entrée arrived, debating their favorite dishes. It was fun and informative, and Tony learned a lot about what the other man liked. But he was going to be very careful when it came to picking a Chinese food restaurant. He didn’t want to burn off his tongue due to a spice overload.

When their food arrived, they were discussing the pros and cons of Midwestern hot dishes and why they could be both good and deeply, deeply bad, and laughing. It was fun, and Tony was almost tempted to find some recipes. The looks of horror on the faces of his pack would be utterly worth the shit they’d give him, he was sure.

“Thank you,” Tony said as their waiter placed his meal down in front of him. “This looks excellent.” And smelled better, he thought as he surveyed the 20oz porterhouse steak, done rare, with a baked potato, and asparagus.

Mike’s meal followed a few seconds later, and he eyed the large T-bone steak with interest. Like his, it was rare, but instead of an herb butter topper, it had a green sauce. It smelled interesting, and he made a mental note to find out later what went into it.

When their waiter came back to the table for a third time and slid a small platter with various sauces in bowls for ease of serving, he smiled. “Thank you. We’ll call you back when we need you.”

Their waiter nodded once before stepping back. “Yes, sir.”

“Is that because you’re an alpha? Or because you come from money?” Mike asked quietly. “And the green stuff you’re eyeing is chimichurri sauce. It looks like there’s some on the platter there.”

“I think it’s a bit of both,” Tony said after considering things. Their waiter hadn’t pinged his senses as being a shifter, but when he came back, he’d check. Mostly, he seemed like a kid who knew that being discreet and unobtrusive would get him the best tip. “I can’t change either, and I know what my suit is worth. So does that kid.”

“That’s got to get old at times,” Mike muttered before he took a bite of his steak. From the low moan he let out, he approved of it.

Tony took a bite of his steak and had to clamp down on the urge to moan as well. Holy God, that was good. “I need to come here more often.”

“I hope you have a trust fund then, because given the quality of this steak, it’s not going to be cheap,” Mike said before eating another bite. “Mind you, I’m not objecting to this at all. Because, damn.”

“I do, and I figure every six months is a good average for this,” Tony admitted. “But I think I need to up my steak game when it comes to cooking.”

Mike snorted once in laughter before shaking his head and picking up the conversation where it had been left. Tony let himself get drawn back in and let the conversation go where it would. This whole thing was to learn about Mike and see if they were compatible.

By the time they’d eaten dessert and then paid their bills, Tony was determined that he was going to do his level best to date the other man. Mike Banning was witty, well-traveled, adventuresome, and willing to both take the lead and to follow. And that didn’t even count the physical part of what the man had going. In short, he was delicious, and Tony wanted a taste or two before they called it a night.

“You’ve been smelling like lust for a while there. Are you going to do anything about it?” Mike asked.

“I could say the same,” Tony said softly. Apparently, they’d parked in the same area, so their conversation had moved out of the steakhouse and onto the street.

“Well, I’m not going to make a move without confirming that it’s wanted,” Mike said slowly. He turned to face Tony and crowd him against the wall of the building they had been passing. “I’m also not enough of a bastard to get your suit dirty to try to pull a power move.”

Tony laughed softly as he spun them around so he was the one pressing Mike against the wall, and then leaned in. “Last chance to say no before I kiss you.”

“Daft man,” Mike muttered before he pulled him close and kissed him.

The taste of him was filled with the echoes of their meal, and Tony enjoyed those for a moment before pushing them aside. He wanted a taste of the man himself. Hot and spicy, the taste of Mike Banning exploded in his senses, and he moaned at how good it was. When he felt himself getting hard, Tony pulled back before he went too far. “You are so damn dangerous.”

“Me? You make me want to forget we’re in public,” Mike muttered once before he leaned in and pressed a quick kiss against Tony’s lips. “We’re going to stop this here. Remember, we’re both adults and in law enforcement. Then we need to figure out a date where we’re not on call so we can fuck each other blind.”

Tony started laughing before he pressed a quick kiss of his own on Mike and took a step back. “Deal. Next week is the full moon. My team isn’t on rotation for cases this weekend, but we are on the next weekend. Weekend after that?”

“Three weeks. Fuck. Uhm,” Mike stared up at the sky as he hummed softly. “I’ve got stuff for the next two weekends as well, so three weeks it is. Barring the world going to hell.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll text you my address,” Tony promised. When Mike looked like he wanted another kiss, he held his hands up. “Nope. Public indecency is not a good statute for either of us to violate. Now. Separate cars, go home, and try not to do anything dumb on the way.”

“Kill joy,” Mike said with a huff of laughter. He pushed away from the wall and moved towards where they were parked. “Stop looking at my ass and move it, DiNozzo.”

“Fine!” Tony said. He did take the time to get a good look at Mike’s ass. It was fantastic, and he wanted to bite it. For fuck’s sake. “Maybe we can do something sooner than three weeks. Because I don’t think I’m going to last that long.”

Mike snorted once. “Sadly, I have stuff I can’t get out of this weekend, and I’ve already told Lee that I’ll run with his pack next weekend. Three weeks is the next continuous period we’ll have off. But yes, I’ll meet you for beer and wings as soon as we can.”

“You pick the bar then,” Tony suggested. “And I promise I’ll dress down a bit.”

“Sounds good,” Mike said. He turned around as he stopped by a very nice mustang. While it wasn’t a classic, it was very nice, and the car enthusiast in him approved. “Come here, Tony.”

Tony let himself get reeled in and pressed a firm kiss against Mike’s mouth. One followed another before he took a deep breath and stepped back. “You are hell on my control, babe. And we need to stop before someone calls us in.”

Mike blatantly licked his lips before blowing out a breath. “You’re right. Damn it.”

“Now. My car is two down from here. I’m going to get in it, drive home, and take a very nice shower,” Tony announced. He took another step back as Mike straightened. “Nope!”

“Go on then,” Mike said.

“Right,” Tony said. He turned and walked towards his car and tried to ignore how tight his pants were. His dick was his issue to deal with, and he would. Just as soon as he got home.

 

“How was your weekend?” Gibbs asked as he set his gear on his desk.

“Oh, my God. Please don’t do that,” Tony begged. He dropped into his chair and hissed slightly in anticipation before sighing in relief. Shifter healing meant that he had recovered from all the solo sex he’d put himself through that weekend, but his brain was telling him that he should be sore as hell, so he was reacting to nothing, and it was a tell he needed to lose.

“Why not? It’s fun to tease you about you dating, finally,” Gibbs said with an arch look.

“Because it’s weird when you do that,” Tony said. He quickly stored everything he’d brought in their respective places and moved to sign in. “Also, I’m not sure I want Todd to know I’m dating. She seems like the type to get weird about it.”

“Do you think it’s your species? Or something else?” Gibbs asked carefully.

Tony took the time to think about his question as he opened all the programs he needed for the day and settled into the mindset he’d need as an NCIS agent. He ignored the sound of the elevator opening and someone exiting the machine. “I’m not 100% certain. I hope we don’t have another Viv on our hands, but I think we do need to find out if she has any prejudices before they bite us in the ass.”

“Who is biting you in the ass? Is that something shifters do?” Todd asked as she walked towards her desk.

“Not really. It’s something that can happen when we’re shifted, but from what I’ve learned, it’s more common with kids,” Tony said calmly. He glanced at Gibbs and shrugged at the eyebrow he was getting. “So, since I’m not willing to beat around the bush, I’m going to straight up ask. Do you have any issues with LGBTQ+ people? Or shifters? Or any prejudices at all?”

Todd froze in place and then settled into her office chair. “I don’t think I have any issues with shifters. I’ve worked with them before when I was Secret Service, and I did okay there. I do find a lot of comfort in the rules, and knowing what they are reassures me.”

“That’s good to know,” Tony said. Her words matched what Mike had told him, and he was glad that she was being honest on that part. “What about working with the LGBTQ+ folks?”

“That’s lesbian, and gay folks, right?” Todd asked. At his nod, she frowned. “I’m Catholic. The Church is mostly against them, and…”

“I’m Catholic as well, Todd. But the Church isn’t omnipotent, and has been known to be wrong. They occasionally even admit it,” Tony reminded her. “Roughly 7% of the population of the world falls under the label of LGBTQ+, and that’s more than the percentage of redheads in the world. So, you need to figure out what you want your position to be. Because we have both victims and perps who are in that minority, and you can’t let your prejudices rule you.”

Todd took a deep breath as she tried to process his words. Tony left her to her introspection and started to wade through his emails. Nothing too terrible was on deck for them, and he dashed off replies as needed. Morning chores done, Tony pulled up their serial killer case and started reviewing it.

“I read the UCMJ,” Todd said softly. She sounded very hesitant as she spoke, and Tony turned his attention back to her. “I know that the military doesn’t have any issues with gay or lesbian soldiers and sailors, so I know that I can’t either. I don’t know what the B, T, and Q mean in that, but I’m guessing I’ll be learning.”

“They mean Bi, Trans, and Queer. The plus symbol covers all the other sexual subsets that exist, like Asexual, Pan, and Intersex people, plus any other entities that aren’t explicitly named,” Tony explained. At her grimace, he raised an eyebrow at her in question. “You know that prejudices are wrong, and they’re irrational. You can’t afford to let them rule you.”

“Why are you pushing this? Are we expecting to work a case with someone who fits that description?” Todd asked.

“No,” Tony said bluntly. “But it’s something that I need to know since I’m Bi and I need to know if you’re going to act negatively around me. Or around a victim.”

Todd froze in place and took a deep breath. “Oh. Right. I don’t have an issue with shifters. Like I said before. But I’m going to have to think about the other issue because my knee-jerk response wasn’t great.”

“You do that,” Tony directed. He turned his attention back to their serial killer and started reading the file from beginning to end, including the profile Aaron’s team had sent them. It took several hours before he pulled himself out of his research spiral and turned to Gibbs. “I’ve got an idea regarding a case.”

“What’s the idea?” Gibbs asked. “And about what case?”

“It’s about our serial killer. I want to go back and check the dump spot to see if he’s gone back to visit it. And also put up discrete cameras on all the trails to see if we can get a glimpse of him,” Tony explained. “One of the things that the profilers mentioned in their report was that he was likely to go back to check his previous dump site and might reuse it since he’s used it for so long.

“And Abby mentioned she had access to some cameras that are rated to be able to fool a shifter, so I’m thinking that if we can test that out, and they work, I can set up a whole mess of them, make sure they’ll transmit to us, and monitor everything while we work the other angles,” Tony said in conclusion.

“I’m good with this,” Gibbs said after several minutes of thought. “Go for it.”

“Done,” Tony agreed. He dashed off a message to Abby and then headed down to her lab. There was some testing to do and hopefully, a killer to catch.

 

 

Chapter Three

 

The drive to the park was soothing. He hadn’t come in his own car, since he didn’t want to chance being traced, so he’d rented a car from a local business. And since he was renting, he picked a nice modern muscle car. It was surprisingly enjoyable to drive.

When he got to the parking lot, he picked a nice, quiet corner and parked without issue. It took him only a few moments to settle his fully loaded backpack into place, and then he hit the trails. He didn’t care which one he took because he wasn’t going to be staying in his skin for long. As soon as he was out of sight, he flowed from two legs to four between one step and the next. The backpack he had been carrying was now tucked into the weird between place that no one had been able to explain to him. It worked, and that’s all he needed to know.

A wolf of his size should have made noise, but the years of moon runs with his pack were coming in handy. Tony huffed softly as he remembered how loud he’d been when he’d started the runs. It was embarrassing how bad he’d been. Now, after countless hours of practice, he was able to sneak up on Gibbs, and he counted that as an utter win.

His muscles were starting to warm up, and Tony eyed the sign at a trail junction. He was a mile in, and this would be a good spot to set up a trail cam. Switching back to his skin, Tony pulled the backpack off to extract a camera, a set of nails, and a hammer. One shimmy up a tree later, the camera was in place, pointing at the junction, and operating.

The camera would transmit any movement it saw, so there would be video of him, which was a decent test. The switch back to his fur was easy, and Tony changed the angle of his movement so he would eventually end up at the dump site. While he was making his way through the woods, he kept his senses active, trying to get a baseline on what the place was like when there were no humans around.

Ten cameras later, Tony was back at the dump site. He took the time to investigate the whole area thoroughly and sniff over each and every single grave. The scents that were impregnated into the soil spoke to the horrors that Ducky had detailed in his reports, and Tony had to grit his mental teeth to get the chore done.

There was nothing new, though. Everything he was smelling was either utterly natural and part of the park or what he remembered smelling when they’d pulled the bodies up. So far, it seemed that their serial killer hadn’t come back. Switching back to his skin, Tony positioned his remaining cameras to cover the clearing.

The cameras were small, digital, and with very few moving parts. Tilting his head, Tony relaxed his control over his hearing and tried to see if he could hear them. Nothing. He slid into his fur and cocked his head towards one of the cameras. He still couldn’t hear it.

But… Tony turned his attention to the small, fast heartbeat heading his way. It wasn’t native to the area because the squirrels didn’t sound like that, nor did the birds or the bunnies. He didn’t have a lot of experience with shifter kids, but small, fast heartbeats and what sounded like bumbling movements equaled young to him. Tony laid down and settled his head on his paws, ears pointed in the direction of the noise.

Breathing carefully, he drew in a deep breath and tried to figure out what was coming towards him. Maybe it was a bunny? But it wasn’t moving like he’d seen bunnies do in movies, so… Tony stared at the small black fuzzball that stumbled its way out of the bush. He wasn’t expecting to see a kitten out in the woods, and he sure wasn’t expecting to have one approach him. It didn’t look like a puma kitten or a bobcat kitten. It looked like a normal kitten.

Tony sat up slowly, and the kitten marched up to him without a trace of fear and yowled. Tony shifted back into his skin and the kitten back up and hissed at him. “Hey, hey,” he said softly, holding out a hand. “I’m the same person. Wanna come here?”

The kitten hissed at him, but Tony kept his hand out and wriggled his fingers, trying to draw the little thing in. For several minutes, nothing seemed to be changing, and Tony shifted slightly to take the pressure off his knees. The kitten hissed at him before moving forward and sniffing at him. Tony wriggled his fingers again, and the kitten pounced on them, wrapping its little paws around them to hold on, and Tony gently lifted the little menace until he could cradle it against his chest.

From the growling it was doing, it wasn’t happy with his actions, but he couldn’t leave a kitten out in the middle of the woods. It would be somethings dinner, and from how thin it was, it had been out there for a while. “Humans are awful, aren’t they?”

The kitten meowed at him and tried to bite his finger. The little teeth scratched at his skin, but didn’t puncture it, so Tony was counting it as a win. “Since I’ve got you, guess I need to walk out now, huh?” he asked as he rocked up on his feet. The kitten was not thrilled with the change in position, but there wasn’t much Tony could do about it.

Walking out of the park, he talked to the kitten. He had no idea what the kitten was getting out of it, but he couldn’t help but try and connect with it. At the start of the walk, the kitten was hissing and spitting in his hand, and he couldn’t count the number of bites he’d gotten. “It’s a good thing that I heal fast, because you’re a bloodthirsty little thing. I hope you don’t have rabies. I don’t think you do. I mean, I went and took a good sniff of a dog that had been diagnosed with it, and you don’t smell like it, but it would suck if you did. I mean, you kept yourself alive long enough to find me, and oh, my God. I’ve got a cat.”

Tony shifted his new kitten into one hand and pulled his phone out. Thumbing through his contacts, he hesitated over Aaron’s name. His second had gotten married three months before, and he didn’t feel comfortable asking him to do an errand for him and interrupt his time with his wife. Right. Andrew was busy with a trial, Martin was on a case, and Eileen was on a date.

Huffing slightly, Tony dialed the last number he wanted to dial.

“Hey, Tony. Why are you calling at 11 pm?”

“Oh, damn, I didn’t look at the time, I’m sorry,” Tony muttered. He shifted the kitten in his hand and scowled at the forest at large. “I’m sorry for calling you at this time of night, but I need a little help.”

“I take it, this is not for work?” Mike asked. There were sounds in the background, like he was getting up and getting dressed. “What can I do for you, Tony?”

“This is only vaguely work-related, and nothing that I’m asking you will have any impact on work. However, in the course of my work-related stuff, I found a kitten. It’s currently gnawing on my thumb, and I’m attached.”

Bright laughter broke on the other side of the phone, and Tony grinned at the sound of Mike’s amusement. It was very nice to hear the other man’s amusement. “It’s got a firm grip on you, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, my God, yes,” Tony agreed. “But it looks like I’ll be keeping the little fuzzbutt, and that means that I need some things.”

“Kitten food, a litter box, toys, a bed, and a scratching post?” Mike asked.

“Right now, I just need the kitten food and a basic litter box. I want to research the whole litter box thing, because I can’t see there not being a better option than just a pan,” Tony muttered. He stopped as he hit the top of the hill he’d been climbing. “Okay, I’m about to hit a dead zone in my hike, so I’m going to let you go. I’ll see you at my townhouse.”

“I’ll see you soon then. Stay safe and figure out if your new kitten is a boy or a girl,” Mike suggested before he hung up.

Tony snorted as he dropped his phone back in his back pocket. “It’s too dark to check if you’re a boy or a girl, and I’m not going to feel you up to check. I’ll do it when we get back to my car. So, if I’m going to keep you, I need to figure out what I want to call you. Because ‘Fuzzbutt’, while funny, is not a good name.”

The rest of the hike back to his car was silent. The kitten had fallen asleep in his hand, and he carefully started to pet it. The fur was fluffy, soft, and longer than he expected. Thankfully, the kitten didn’t wake up when he placed it on the passenger seat of his car. With no carrier, he had to hope that Fuzzbutt was a good traveler. “Don’t move,” Tony muttered as he reached down into the footwell to grab the last camera he’d stashed.

When he closed the door, he peeked in the window to see what the kitten was doing. Still sleeping. Tony quickly cased the parking lot to find the best angle and then set the camera into place. There were reasons why he’d chosen late night to set everything up. It cut down on the questions.

Final camera set into place, Tony opened the door to the car and found the kitten had woken up and was staring at him. “Hey, Fuzzbutt. We’re done with our official shit, and now it’s time for us to go home and you to learn about the wonders of kitten food and litter boxes.”

From the yawn the kitten gave him, they weren’t impressed.

 

“You are so chatty, Fuzzbutt,” Tony muttered as he walked off the elevator on his floor. He cocked his head to the side as he heard Mike’s heartbeat. “Hey, Mike.”

“You named the kitten ‘Fuzzbutt’? Really?” Mike asked as he pushed off the wall next to his door. “Did you at least figure out if they are a male or a female?”

“No, I have not. There’s a lot of fluff back there, and I didn’t want to do that in a rental car. What if they’d objected and pissed all over it?” Tony asked with a grin. “I’m waiting until I can give them a bath. Because they smell dirty, even though they’ve been cleaning themselves.”

“Well, I didn’t get pet shampoo, but wildlife rehabbers use Dawn soap on birds, so I expect it’ll be safe enough for them,” Mike suggested. He picked up the bags he’d left in front of the door and shook them. “I’ve gotten wet and dry kitten food, and a small litter pan, with litter. And toys because every cat needs toys.”

Tony nodded once as he unlocked the door and left it open as he headed for the kitchen. The kitchen sink would be the best place to wash Fuzzbutt, and if there were any parasites, they would go down the drain with the dirt. “I hope you are okay with water, Fuzz. Because I’m not going to stop cleaning you, even if you scream bloody blue murder.”

From the laugh Mike let out, he thought Tony was being amusing, and Tony shrugged once. He wasn’t trying to amuse anyone; he was just warning the kitten what was coming up.

“Let me start the water,” Mike said as he stepped around Tony and dropped the stopper into the drain. As the water started, he looked around. “Got a… Ah. One dish towel to place in the bottom of the sink so Fuzz has something to grip.”

“Good idea,” Tony said. He lifted the kitten up to eye level and raised the tail. “Well, Fuzz is a boy, it looks like. I’ll need to make sure I get a good vet so this little man gets fixed.”

“Yeah, you’re going to need to,” Mike said. “Intact male cats will spray as they get older, and you want that stopped before it actually happens. Where’s the soap?”

“In the dispenser there,” Tony said, gesturing with his chin. He walked over to the sink and took a deep breath. There was about three inches of water in the bottom of the sink, and he turned off the stream. “I think that’s enough. We can use a cup to rinse him off.”

“Got a plastic one?” Mike asked. He turned towards the cabinets as Tony lowered Fuzz into the water.

Tony froze as the water hit his hands. It was nicely warm, not hot, and the kitten blinked up at him before starting to purr. “You’re purring? You like water?”

“He likes water?” Mike repeated as he set a red solo cup on the side of the sink. “What cats like water?”

“I have no idea, but I think I lucked out,” Tony said. He was carefully moving the water through the kitten’s fur, and the purr continued as Fuzz relaxed in his hands. “You are so weird, Fuzz. Could you pump some soap onto my hands?”

Mike grabbed the soap and pumped out some of the blue liquid onto his hand. “Gotcha.”

Tony massaged the soap into Fuzz’s fur, and he smiled as the kitten started to wriggle. “I don’t think he likes the soap in his fur.”

“No, it doesn’t seem like he does. Don’t get it on his head,” Mike said. He reached out and snagged the solo cup and moved around Tony to fill it up. “How dirty is he?”

“Very,” Tony said. “I can feel the dirt coming out of his fur.”

Mike craned his neck to check out the water. “Ew. Any other wildlife?”

“Not that I can see,” Tony murmured. “We’ll have to check the water out when we get him out of here. Could you pour the water over to rinse him?”

“Yup,” Mike said. He carefully maneuvered the cup over the kitten and started to pour the clean water over Tony’s filled hands. “Got a towel to wrap him up?”

“There’s a linen closet by the bathroom, but I think I have a load of towels in the dryer,” Tony said. He shifted Fuzz slightly so one hand was free and turned the water back on so he could use the stream to get the rest of the soap off. The kitten was still purring, and Tony shook his head. “You are so weird, kitten.”

Mike moved away from him, and Tony kept rinsing the kitten off. “If you had an ‘M’ on your forehead, I’d think you were some kind of Maine Coon. But all you are is fluffy.”

“Got a towel,” Mike said. “You have a very nice laundry room. I’m envious. I especially like that you’ve made it a pantry too.”

“We just started dating, and I’m glad to find out now that you like laundry rooms and pantries,” Tony said with a laugh. “How do you feel about fresh pasta, over-involved packs, and food experiments?”

Mike held out his towel-covered hands and smirked. “I feel favorably towards all of those things. I even feel favorably towards Fuzz here. Who I really think needs another name, even if he is a fuzzy butt.”

Tony deposited the cleaned kitten in Mike’s hands and smirked as he let the sink drain. “I figure I’ll live with him for a little bit before I actually name him. After all, he’s going to have to live with whatever I give him, and I don’t want to give him just any name.”

“You’re calling him ‘Fuzzbutt’ as a placeholder name, Tony. Maybe you shouldn’t name him,” Mike observed. He was carefully massaging the kitten’s fur to work the water out of it. He was looking intently at the little life in his hands, and Tony could feel his metaphorical ovaries squeeze. Damn the man for looking good as he was being tender.

“I’m going to grab my tablet so I can check out cat breeds,” Tony said. “Come out to the living room?”

“Before you do that, break out some of the wet food and a saucer?” Mike suggested. He shifted the towel and smiled. “This little man is being very calm, but I’m sure he’s hungry.”

“Good call,” Tony said. He snagged one of the small pinch bowls he used for spices and filled it with water before taking down a saucer to scoop some wet food into. When he cracked the can of food, he wrinkled his nose. “That’s not a great smell.”

“We’re not going to eat it, Tony. Fuzz is. And he’s very interested,” Mike said as the kitten wriggled insistently in his hands. “I’m going to the living room.”

“Same here,” Tony said. He walked out into the living room to see Mike carefully tip Fuzz onto the floor. Tony set the water and saucer down and smiled as the kitten honed in on the food and started eating the scoops of food with all good speed. “I think he likes it.”

“Me too,” Mike said. When Tony settled down on the couch, Mike dropped down into place beside him. “He’s really fluffy.”

“Yup,” Tony said. He picked up his tablet and started searching cat breeds. “He doesn’t look like a Maine Coon,” Tony muttered. He flicked through the pictures of breeds to see if he could figure out Fuzz’s breed. “He’s not a Persian, or a Bombay. He’s got a tail, so he’s not a Manx, so I’m going to say that leaves the Himalayan cat or a Norwegian Forest Cat.”

Mike leaned over his arm to stare at the pictures on the screen. “I’m going to weigh in on the Norwegian Forest Cat. But you probably won’t know until you get him to the vet. Or wait until he becomes an adult.”

“Fun,” Tony muttered. He set the tablet on the table and stared at the kitten as he finished the food. “He’s got a good appetite at least.”

“Yup,” Mike said. He checked his watch and sighed. “It’s 130AM, Tony. I’m going to call out, because there’s no way I can be functional in the morning.”

Tony reached out to pick up Fuzz and cradled him against his chest. “Yeah, same. Gibbs is going to shit bricks. Oh, well. I’ve got some mats I can pull out so we can sleep in our fur out here if you’re okay with that?”

It was way too early in his relationship with Mike to allow him into the room his pack used as a sleeping den. His pack would not take it well if a stranger slept in their room. And he wasn’t going to suggest they sleep in his bed because that would make it seem like he expected something from him. Sleeping on the mats in the living room seemed like the best compromise.

“That’ll work,” Mike said. He looked down at his clothes and shrugged. “I’m going to take off my shoes, fill up the litter box I bought, and then sleep. You need to set up the mat and then drop Fuzz into the litter box so he knows that it is.”

“Will do,” Tony said with a lazy salute. He wandered towards his bedroom to drop his shoes off and change into some sleeping pants. Fuzz explored the landscape of his bed as he texted NCIS and Gibbs that he was going to be taking the day off. Tony laughed as he picked him up, and he snagged a set of clean sleeping pants and walked out to see Mike sitting on the couch with bare feet. “Here,” Tony said as he tossed the pants at him.

“Thanks,” Mike said. He took Fuzz from Tony as he walked towards the bathroom. “Mats, Tony.”

“Gotcha,” Tony said. He quickly moved the saucer into the sink and then grabbed the sleeping mats to spread them out in the living room. When Mike walked out, Tony took a deep breath at the acres of skin he was seeing. Damn his ethics. “We need to get into our fur. Because you’re damn tempting.”

“So are you,” Mike said softly. He set Fuzz onto the sleeping mats and shifted into his fur. Mike was a large black wolf, and he looked amazing in Tony’s living room.

Tony shifted into his fur and took a deep breath of Mike’s scent. Damn the man for being delicious in this form as well. Lying down, Tony settled his head on his paws and closed his eyes as Fuzz started exploring around him. Sleep. He needed sleep.

Just as he slipped over the edge of sleep, he felt Mike curl up around him, and he relaxed utterly.

 

Tony whistled softly as he walked into the office and smirked as he saw that he’d beaten the rest of his team. Excellent.

He still had most of a cup of coffee left, so he settled that into place as he signed in and started reading the emails from the day before. Nothing insane had happened, and there had been no cases. He assumed that Gibbs and Todd had caught up on all the other work that had been allowed to slide.

When Gibbs walked in, Tony glanced up and smirked. Bossman did not look like he’d had a good evening. A quick sniff showed that there were some byproducts of a night of boozing oozing out of his skin. “Have a good evening, Boss?”

“I thought I told you not to sniff me,” Gibbs groused. “Yesterday was not great. Has she always been that bullheaded?”

“Training her has been very, very frustrating,” Tony said. He leaned back in his chair and looked at Gibbs. “She’s very certain that she knows what is and isn’t right, no matter what the situation. And when she gets corrected, she thinks it’s because of her sex, not because she’s new or untrained.”

“How in the hell are we going to break her of that?” Gibbs asked as he settled down at his desk. “Because that’s not something that we can deal with on the regular.”

“I told you that she needed to go to FLETC to get the training she’s missing. That would have helped the arrogance thing she’s got going,” Tony reminded. From the huff Gibbs let out, he wasn’t happy that the topic was being brought back up. “We’re going to have to come down on her like a ton of bricks to get her back on the straight and narrow when it comes to law enforcement. And she’s going to kick up a hell of a fuss.”

Gibbs ran his hands over his face and growled. “I know. You were right, and I don’t know if it’s too late to send her or not, but she’s got to learn the lessons.”

Tony hummed in agreement. “We can suggest it to her? There’s the short course, and with the training we’ve given her, with the modules she’s taken, she likely qualifies for it.”

“I’m going to check. Because I’m not having another day like yesterday,” Gibbs said decisively. He started his computer up, and Tony left him to his search; he still had stuff to catch up on.

Emails mostly conquered; Tony turned to the thing he’d been wanting to see since he’d gotten in. He pulled up the feeds from the cameras he’d placed and started reviewing the footage. The earliest minutes recorded showed him finding the kitten and then walking out of frame. From there, the video showed an empty clearing, occasionally interrupted by wildlife. He sped the feed up so that time was zipping by. None of the movement on the screen was human, nor did it match an animal large enough to be a shifter.

When he surfaced from his viewing, Todd was at her desk, diligently working on something. Tony moved the live version of the feed to a lower corner of his screen and pulled his email back up. The most interesting new email in it was the one from Gibbs to Morrow, suggesting that Todd be sent to the next short course from FLETC.

Smirking slightly, Tony shot back an email strictly to Gibbs. When is she leaving? And does she know?

She doesn’t know. I’ll be telling her that she’s heading out now that the authorization has come through. I expect she’s going to lose her shit.

Yeah, Tony was not getting involved with that mess. Not it. You’re on your own there, Boss.

You’re all heart there, Tony.

“Have you had a chance to review the camera footage?” Tony asked. He smiled at the face Gibbs made as he changed the topic under discussion.

“I did. What did you pick up? It wasn’t evidence because you didn’t bring anything in, so… What was it?” Gibbs asked with a frown.

“Someone dumped a kitten out there,” Tony said, disgusted. Whoever had done that was a total asshole, and if he found them, he would see if he could sue them into poverty. Because he couldn’t rip their throat out with his teeth. He took a deep breath and pushed his anger aside. He was at work, and he couldn’t indulge. “So, I took him home. He’s currently lording over my second bedroom, eating like a little king, and playing with every toy I got him yesterday.”

“Did you name him?” Todd asked. “And I thought you were a werewolf.”

“Werewolf, I might be, but I like cats,” Tony said. “And currently, his working name is ‘Fuzzbutt’. I figure I’ll wait a bit to give him a name, so I can get to know him first.”

“That’s not a nice name,” Todd said with a disapproving glare. “Why are you being so mean to that kitten?”

“You did hear that I’m using the name as a placeholder, right?” Tony asked. He raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her huff. “Besides, he’s my cat, and I’ll figure out a name for the little menace soon. He’s been to the vet, gotten his first shots, and has an appointment to get neutered, and I’ve also gotten him on pet insurance. He’s going to be a spoiled, pampered housecat who lives in style.”

“Has the rest of your pack met him?” Gibbs asked. He looked deeply amused, and Tony could only guess why.

“No, not yet. I figure Martin and Eileen are going to be thrilled with him, I’m sure. Aaron is going to be neutral, I think. Andrew is going to teach him not to get on his suits, and Haley may want to cuddle him,” Tony said, speculating on how his pack would react. “It’s going to be fun to see how they react to him and how he reacts to them.”

Gibbs hummed softly as he picked up his coffee cup. “How does he react to your wolf?”

“He thinks my fur is awesome, and he likes to knead my back between my shoulder blades. I’m just grateful that his claws aren’t long enough to hit my skin. I dread what’s going to happen when he learns how to mess with me when I’m human,” Tony muttered. He made a note to himself to check into cat behavior and how to train one to not shred everything, including his clothes.

“You could declaw him,” Todd suggested. At his look, she shrugged. “It’d keep him from clawing you and your stuff.”

Tony frowned at her. “To declaw a cat, they clip the first joint of their toes off, Todd. I’m not going to mutilate my kitten so I can keep my stuff unclawed.”

“I did not know that was how they did that,” Todd said softly. “That’s barbaric.”

“It is,” Tony agreed. He eyed her closely and nodded as she grimaced. “Let’s get back to work, okay?”

“Sure,” Todd agreed. She settled back at her desk and decisively clicked a button on her mouse.

Tony eyed Gibbs and smirked as the older man grimaced. He was not going to do the heavy lifting for him and let Todd know that she was going to be heading out for training. He opened the chat program again to prod him. Boss up, Gibbs.

You are not funny, DiNozzo.

I’m a riot.

Asshole.

 

“Hey Tony!”

“Close the door, Aaron!” Tony called as the kitten tumbled off his perch and headed for the front door.

“Who is this?” Aaron asked as he walked into the living room with Fuzzbutt cradled in his arms.

“That would be Fuzzbutt. The name is subject to change, and I found him out in the woods, all alone. Best guess is someone dumped him, and the vet thinks he’s a Norwegian Forest Cat.” Tony reported. He shrugged at the look Aaron was giving him. “I’m an utterly soft touch, and he likes my wolf.”

Aaron laughed as the kitten stared up at him before fearlessly leaping out of his arms to head over to Tony. “Wow.”

“I know,” Tony said. He leaned down to pick the kitten up and settled him into his lap as he set his tablet aside. He’d been researching litterboxes and had settled on the most expensive thing he’d bought yet for his new roommate. But if the damn thing worked like advertised, it would mean that Fuzzbutt would have the cat version of a flushing toilet. “He’s happy enough when I pet him and rub his ears, but he seems happiest when I’m in my fur. It’s so weird.”

“He likes your wolf?” Aaron asked. He settled into the chair he normally used and stared at the small cat. “How big is he going to get?”

“Big. Best guess, his breed can get up to 18 to 20 pounds, and 3 feet long, from nose to tail,” Tony reported. He eyed the kitten in his lap and shrugged. “He’s currently about 5 pounds and is underweight for his age. I’m going to be feeding him for months to get him up to a healthy weight and size.”

“Three feet? And 20 pounds?” Aaron stared at Fuzzbutt and started laughing. “Only you, Tony. Wow.”

“I know. Add in his color, and he’s going to be a little monster,” Tony said. He carefully started petting the kitten and smiled at how he was melting into his lap. “I’m thinking of calling him Loki since Loki is the God of Mischief, and the father of the wolf Fenrir. Makes sense to give a small ball of chaos his name.”

“Naming your cat after the God of Mischief means that he’s going to take on the characteristics of that person,” Aaron warned. He took a deep breath and stilled. “Are you dating?”

“I should have known you’d smell him,” Tony groused. He carefully stroked his hand down Loki’s back. “Yeah, I am. We’re taking it as slow as we can, but he is going to come over to meet everyone next week.”

“Not on the moon run?” Aaron asked. He seemed to relax, and Tony suppressed a wince as he realized why his second had been tense around him.

“No, he’s running with Stetson and his pack. The plan is to come over the week after.” Tony took a deep breath and sat up slightly. “I’m sorry, Aaron. I never meant to make you uncomfortable around me.”

“You didn’t,” Aaron promised. “But I never wanted to make you uncomfortable, and acknowledging your attraction to me, when I didn’t return it, would have been cruel. The fact that you’ve got someone of your own now? That’s great.”

“And that’s one of the reasons why I never said anything,” Tony said with a rueful laugh. “I knew I was attracted, because competence is sexy as hell, and you’re immensely competent. But my feelings were never your responsibility, so I was doing my best to keep them buttoned up.”

“You did, and I never felt like you were pushing them on me. But I’m not one to lead anyone on, and I get the competence thing,” Aaron said softly. “This makes the rest of my news a bit easier to share, though.”

Tony nodded once before he took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m not going to keep beating the dead horse. What’s the news? Is it work?”

“No, it’s not work. It’s personal,” Aaron said. He brushed his hands over his knees and then let them rest on the arms of his chair. “Haley is pregnant. About a month.”

“Congratulations,” Tony said with a grin. He carefully set Loki down on the couch and reached out to Aaron. “I am so very happy for you both.”

“I’m freaked out,” Aaron said bluntly. “And I have no idea what I’m going to do when the baby gets here, but I do know I’m not going to do what my father did. But I am glad that Haley accepted the bite before we got married. It helps my anxiety on the subject of maternal health.”

“Don’t borrow trouble, Aaron. Research, yes, but don’t obsess. Haley will let you know when you step over the line, and you don’t want to do that,” Tony cautioned. “Please let her know that I’m thrilled for you both, and I’m sure that this will go smoothly. Until she murders you for being an overprotective boob.”

Aaron froze as he processed what Tony said and then started laughing. “God. I am going to be an overprotective boob. Shit.”

The laugh that burst out was bright, and Tony rolled with it. They needed the stress break.

 

 

Chapter Four

 

“So, what is this guy like?” Andrew asked as he uncorked the wine he’d chosen to go with dinner. Loki was moving in and around his ankles, purring up a storm like he had every other time he’d come over. Andrew looked down at the kitten and raised an eyebrow at him. “Fuzz, this stuff isn’t for kittens. I might offer you some ale to go with your name, but you won’t like wine.”

“No giving my kitten booze!” Tony called from the kitchen. “He’s already a mooch when it comes to my cereal milk in the morning. He doesn’t need to get interested in my wine or beer.”

“He’s sweet,” Eileen chirped from her spot at the breakfast bar. All the ingredients for the dinner salad were spread out around her, and she was carefully cutting carrots to add to the bowl. “Does he like eggs?”

“He likes food. He’s not fond of vegetables, but if it’s of animal origin, he’s going to eat it. Loki is indiscriminate in his protein choices,” Tony said. He walked over to the arch into the kitchen and leaned on the jam. “He’s tried chicken, steak, shrimp, and egg over the last few weeks. I’ve not let him try pork, and I haven’t had any other fish since I got him.”

“You love ribs. Why hasn’t he had any?” Martin chimed in from the dining room.

“One: The barbecue sauce was heavy on garlic, and that’s not good for cats. Two: The meat was very fatty, and he’s already traumatized me with his litter deposits. I didn’t want to see what would happen if I stressed his system with all that fat,” Tony said. He shrugged when everyone looked at him. “Look. He’s going to be spoiled rotten by all of us, and I know he’s going to eat everything he can con out of us. But I do want to make sure that we don’t make him sick. The shrimp he managed to get because he’s a little thief who snuck up on my plate and swiped it. The chicken, steak, and egg were all the proteins I added a small amount to a plate for him to try.”

Andrew leaned down and carefully stroked down the length of Loki’s spine. “Good job, little man. Keep up the good work.”

“Do not encourage him,” Tony warned. “He already climbs up my leg when he wants my attention. His only saving grace is that he does it when I’m wearing pants.”

“Ow,” Eileen said with a wince. “And he’s got good claws, so he’s hitting skin when he does that, right?”

“Yeah, he’s been doing that. I clip his claws a lot, and he’s getting used to the whole process,” Tony said. He turned back to the kitchen and slapped the timer as it buzzed. “Martin, I’m putting the potatoes on to boil, and it’s going to be twenty minutes until the meat comes out of the oven to rest. Andrew, let Aaron and Haley in, please.”

“I hate it when you do that,” Andrew muttered as he headed for the foyer. He opened the door just as Aaron escorted his wife off the elevator. “Aaron, Haley, come on in.”

“He did it again, didn’t he?” Aaron asked. He had Haley’s hand tucked into the crook of his elbow and had matched his stride to hers.

“He did,” Andrew confirmed. He stepped out of the way to allow them in and stooped down to catch the kitten as he eyed the hallway. “Oh, no, you don’t, Loki.” The kitten chattered at him as he tucked him in close. Andrew snorted once as he closed the door and turned to see Haley shrugging out of her coat and Aaron hanging his coat up before taking hers. “He’s been cooking up a storm all afternoon. Fair warning.”

“I heard that, Andrew!” Tony called from the kitchen. “Mike’s arrived and he’s on his way up the stairs.”

“How do you know that?” Andrew yelled. He held the kitten out to his packmate. “Here, take Loki, Aaron.”

Aaron took the kitten from him and ran his hand down the kitten’s spine. “Well, it looks like he’s gained some weight.”

“He’s up a pound,” Tony called. “Come on, Aaron. Bring your prettier half in here. I’ve got some stuff for her to try.”

“Better go,” Andrew advised. He leaned on the wall against the door and counted to ten before opening the door. The man who was walking down the hallway looked like a one-man war and moved like all the shifters in his pack. “I take it you’re Mike?”

“Yup,” Mike confirmed. He glanced at the floor once before looking him over. “Someone’s got Loki?”

“Yeah,” Andrew said. He stepped back and allowed the man into Tony’s home. As Mike stepped out of his shoes, Andrew observed him. Tall, well-built, with muscles that seemed to be from use and not vanity, the man was damn appealing. “I can see why Tony likes you.”

Mike smirked at him before holding out his hand. “Glad to meet you. I’m going to guess you’re Andrew?”

“Yup,” Andrew confirmed as he firmly shook Mike’s hand. “Come on. Tony’s been cooking for ages.”

“Cool,” Mike said with a smile. “After you.”

 

Tony glanced around the kitchen and nodded once. He’d taken the term mise en place, or having ingredients ready, to heart and arranged everything so there was no stress when he was actually cooking. Beef Bourguignon was incredibly easy to make while also being incredibly rich and sumptuous to eat.

Add in mashed potatoes, garlic green beans, salad, and sourdough French bread, and the meal was going to be great.

“Relax, Tony, we’ve got everything under control,” Martin promised as he passed through the kitchen to snag the baskets of sourdough and bowls of butter. “You can take your frustrations out on the potatoes when you mash them.”

“So, they’re going to be smooth as can be then?” Mike asked as he leaned against the arch into the kitchen. “I do like smooth mashed potatoes.”

“You told me that you like potatoes anyway you can get them,” Tony snarked back. He looked around and saw Mike before he nodded at Aaron and Haley. “Hey, Aaron, Haley. Aaron, you know where the drinks are, so you can get your wife something to drink. Mike? Beer or wine?”

Mike smirked and pushed off the arch. “Beer now, and I’ll have wine with dinner. Because that smells amazing.”

“It had better be amazing. I’ve put a lot of work into the meal,” Tony muttered. “Andrew’s in charge of drinks because he’s certain that we all have shite taste in libations.”

“You drank Coors when we were in college, Tony,” Andrew said in protest. “How can we be sure that you won’t do that again?”

“I was eighteen, Andrew! We all drank that beer and were thankful that we had that,” Tony said with a smile. “Seriously, what college student gets picky on the beer they can drink when they don’t have to pay for the booze?”

“I know of no one who bitches about free booze,” Aaron said. He was leaning against the breakfast bar and filched a carrot off the salad. When Eileen slapped at his hand, he laughed and moved out of the way. “I know I didn’t.”

“I sure didn’t,” Haley said. She had a glass in her hand, and Tony took a discreet sniff in her direction. It was the craft-brewed root beer he’d picked up on a whim. He’d had one bottle and tucked the rest away for future use. “This is good. I’ll have to make sure Aaron gets us some,” she said, lifting her glass in a salute.

“I’ll let him know where I found it,” Tony promised.

“Martin, the salad’s done,” Eileen called. She handed the salad over to him when he appeared at her shoulder. “I’ll get the dressings.”

Tony hummed softly and opened his fridge to grab the bottles of dressing that they had prepared ahead of time. “Here.” He placed the bottles on the bar and pushed them over to her. “I’ve got the salad fixings. You take care of those.”

He pulled the fridge open and started transferring the salad fixings back into the cold. Once those were put away, he pulled the ingredients he needed for the mashed potatoes out. “Is everyone okay with garlic in the mashed potatoes?” From the general sounds of agreement that filled the air, everyone seemed good with the addition, and Tony snagged his small container of roasted garlic.

“What are you going to do with that?” Mike asked. He had pulled one of the kitchen stools out and was sitting on the living room side of the bar, watching Tony closely. He glanced down at his feet and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

Everyone in his pack started to giggle, and Tony cocked his head to the side to listen as he set a small sauté pan on the hob. Milk, cream, butter, sour cream, and roasted garlic were all added to the pan, and he turned the heat on to let the whole mess think about itself. It took a little bit, but Tony finally figured out what he was hearing. Loki was climbing up Mike’s leg.

“He’s determined that he’s going to be in the middle of everything,” Tony said with a grin. He glanced at Mike and grinned as the man pulled Loki up to cradle him against his chest. “I need to stop him from doing that because he’s just going to get bigger, and I don’t want a twenty-pound cat hanging off my hip.”

“I’d scream,” Eileen said with a huff. “He’s going to get up to twenty pounds?”

“That’s what the internet and his vet said,” Tony confirmed. “Best guess is that he’s got a great deal of Norwegian Forest Cat in him. And with all the fluff, I’m going to have to invest in lint rollers for every single place I inhabit.”

“Holy cow,” Eileen said. She glanced at the kitten and shook her head. “Better you than me.”

“You’re my pack, Eileen,” Tony reminded. He stirred the liquid for the mashed potatoes and used a tasting spoon to taste it. Salt and some white pepper, he decided. Adding the spices to his pan, Tony smiled in satisfaction. “Since you’re my pack, he’s going to see you as one of his people. I expect he’ll climb you at one point or another.”

Eileen grimaced before her expression smoothed out. “Oh, boy. Right.”

“Gonna introduce me, Tony?” Mike asked. He was scratching under Loki’s chin, and the kitten seemed to be puddling into a lump of fur in his hand.

“Right,” Tony said. He turned to look at his pack as they gathered around the kitchen bar. He waved his hand at each member of his pack as he named them. “Aaron Hotchner, my second, and his wife, Haley, both of them are werewolves. Andrew Marcus, our legal eagle, and fully human. And finally, Martin Fitzgerald and Eileen McDonald. Martin is a puma shifter, and Eileen is a cheetah shifter. Everyone, this is Mike Banning, werewolf. He works for the Secret Service, he’s an alpha, he doesn’t have a pack at this time, and Lee thinks he’s vastly entertaining.”

“Lee’s idea of entertaining is skewed,” Aaron muttered. He leaned over and stared at Mike. “Shovel talks are stupid, but it needs to be said. Tony is our alpha. If you do anything that causes him to be injured, I don’t care if you’re on the President’s detail, I’ll make sure you regret it.”

Tony tugged on his bond to Aaron and tried to get across his emotional response to his second standing up for him. The flush of respect and determination that came back up the bond felt solid, like Aaron wasn’t going to budge from his position. When Tony shot Aaron a hard look, his second just raised an eyebrow at him.

“Don’t get pissed at him, Tony. I’m not upset that your second is looking out for you,” Mike said, cutting into the glaring contest. “Also, your milk is about to boil.”

“Shit,” Tony muttered as he pulled the pot off the burner. While he was there, he quickly tested the potatoes and nodded. Five more minutes and he would pull them off the heat. That decided, he snagged the pot holders and pulled them on. The largest Dutch oven he had was filled to the brim with beefy goodness, swimming in a rich burgundy wine sauce. Tony grunted softly as he set the Dutch oven on the stovetop. “This has to rest for about twenty minutes.”

“Do you want me to move that out to the table?” Martin asked. He eyed the pot and snorted. “The trivets I’ve got on the table aren’t big enough for that monster. Lemme get another before I move that.”

“Sounds good,” Tony said absently. He grabbed a second tasting spoon and dipped it into the milk mix, and tasted it. He hummed softly in satisfaction. The garlic was well-infused, and the salt and pepper balanced. He was going to test the whole mix after it was mixed into the potatoes, but that was the last item on the list.

As soon as the timer buzzed, Tony started the final push. The mashed potatoes were knocked out easily, and he smirked as he poured the last bit of the milk mix into the mash. He’d judged everything just right and gotten the amount of liquid just right. A third tasting spoon confirmed that the potatoes were perfect, and he plated them up and pushed them onto the kitchen bar. While he’d been doing that, Martin had finished the garlic green beans and plated them up too.

“Dinner!” Tony called. He pulled his apron off and headed for his dining room. Martin had placed Aaron on his right hand and Mike on his left. Tony sighed softly at the machinations of his pack. “Thanks, Martin.”

“Hey, you’re dating him, I just want to make sure that you get every opportunity to make a good impression,” Martin said with a smirk.

Tony turned to look at Mike and cocked his head to the side. “Are you sure you want to get involved with me and this motley crew?”

“They look like good fun, and I’m willing to give it a shot,” Mike said. He eyed the food spread on the table. “Besides, you can cook, and I can’t. I’m not dumb enough to pass up a meal like this.”

Tony laughed softly before he leaned back in his chair and let Aaron and Martin start serving the meal. He’d cooked, and they got the chance to do the rest of the chore. “Just so you’re aware, we talk about just about everything at these dinners, Mike. You won’t get skipped on that.”

“That’s fine,” Mike said. He accepted his plate and set it down in front of him. “Like I said, I’m willing to give this whole thing a shot. Bring on the interrogation.”

“You asked for it,” Aaron said with a smile.

 

“Good morning, Boss,” Tony said cheerfully. The motions to sign in were rote, and he quickly pulled up the monitoring program to review the footage from the night before.

As the footage moved across his screen, Tony sipped at his coffee, determined to enjoy the taste of it, even if the caffeine didn’t do anything for him. It was interesting to see wildlife moving across the screen, because he’d had no idea there was such variety out there. Deer, foxes, raccoons, opossums, and more all moved across the screen, and he enjoyed every second of it.

But that enjoyment stopped as soon as he saw a person walk into the clearing. Whomever they were, their clothing was dark and tight to their body, so nothing caught on the underbrush. They moved to each of the grave sites and inspected the disturbed ground before glancing around.

Tony took a deep breath and backed the frames up so he could get screenshots of the person’s face. Innocent until proven guilty, and there was nothing that said that this person was their Unsub. But they looked like they were the right age and sex. Once he had the screenshots saved, Tony let the footage run until he got a full view of the person’s face. He hit the pause again and studied the man revealed.

At first glance, they looked like they were his age or a bit older. The advanced healing all shifters had helped keep them looking younger than their chronological age, and that could be misleading in the extreme. Judging from where they had to duck tree branches, he was putting their height at around six feet or so, tall. Or not much over. In decent shape from what he could see, and wood-wise enough to move through the undergrowth with ease. He carefully pulled another screenshot and hit play again.

Everything he was seeing in the person on the screen matched what BAU’s profilers had suggested, and he was trying his best not to hyper-focus on that. The facts needed to fit together to confirm that the crime was committed, and not be massaged to fit. Or whatever, Tony thought. He sat up slightly as the man on the screen shifted into a bear and wandered off. He quickly got a screenshot of that and then hit play again. The rest of the night at the dump location passed without another person showing up, and he turned his attention to the rest of the cameras he’d stashed.

For most of them, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Wildlife and shifting vegetation for frame after frame. But. “Gotcha, asshole,” Tony muttered as he hit the camera he’d set up in the parking lot. A man in the same outfit stepped out of a car parked in the same spot he’d used, and the camera got a perfect shot of its license plate. He took note of the number and prepped out the BOLO so he could send it out as soon as he got authorization. Fast-forwarding the footage showed the shifter come back to the car in bear form and change before climbing back into it and taking off. All told, whoever they were, they’d been in the part for just over two hours.

“Boss, we’ve got a lead on our serial killer,” Tony announced. He threw the screenshots up on his computer screen as Gibbs walked over to his desk.

“Did he finally go back and visit the scene?”

“Well, someone did. And given that the time stamp on it says 0300, I don’t think it was a casual night’s stroll that led this person to visit our site. They checked out every grave, and when I placed the cameras, the graves were well on their way to disappearing into the ground. It would take someone knowing that they were there to find them,” Tony reported. “And he shifted into a bear to leave the scene.”

“Not conclusive, even if he fits the profile BAU came up with,” Gibbs cautioned. He glanced at the pictures on Tony’s screen and frowned at them. “He doesn’t look old enough, though.”

“Boss, I look younger than my chronological age,” Tony said softly. “The DC Alpha is over twenty years older than me and looks like he’s 35. Shifters age weirdly, so yeah, he’s likely the correct age.”

“If that’s correct, BAU called it right. He’s using that advantage to hunt for his targets,” Gibbs said. He studied the face on the screen and nodded once. “Get a name and start investigating him down to his shoe size. And then see if we can place him with any of our victims.”

“Will do,” Tony said. He sent the BOLO out and followed it up with the pictures to his contacts at the various police departments in the Metro DC area. He also set up a search through every public database he had access to, to see if he could match the face he had to a name. “Boss, I think we need to reach out to the friends of the various victims to see if they can ID this guy.”

“If you’re going to do that, you’re going to need something more than the picture you’ve pulled off the surveillance still,” Gibbs reminded. “See if you can get a name first. The witnesses are after you confirm if this guy is even in our suspect pool.”

“Right,” Tony agreed. He took a deep breath and pushed his need to hunt down. Patience.

 

“What are you doing?”

Tony looked up to see Todd dropping her backpack at her desk. “Welcome back. I’m reviewing evidence in one of my cold cases.”

“It looks like one I remember you reviewing before I went out for training,” Todd said slowly. She walked over to stare at the papers scattered over his desk, and her fingers twitched like she wanted to pick some of them up. “Can I help?”

“I’ve got it under control for now,” Tony promised. There was a beep from his computer, and he turned back to it. “You might want to start the process of signing in. That’s going to be a chore to get going again.”

“Damn it,” Todd muttered before she walked back to her desk and sat down.

Coworker distracted, Tony opened up the email he’d gotten and read it. The BOLO had come back. The car was registered to a man by the name of Reginald Brown, and he lived in Woodbridge, Virginia. Which put the man hell and gone away from the body dump. It was not nearby at all, and the chances of it being on the man’s drive home were slim.

Name acquired, Tony started looking the man up. Every single bit of information on the man he could get was useful, and he did get confirmation that the man was a bear shifter. While his searches were being run, Tony reached out to the friends and family of the previous victims and set up dates and times to have them come in for follow-up interviews.

Once those chores were out of the way, he pulled up the Littlefield file and opened the pictures she’d taken of her boyfriend. Once he had those open, he started comparing Brown against the boyfriend. To his eye, there were a number of similarities, but he needed more than that.

The comparison software was easy to set up, and he let it run.

“Will you tell me what you are doing?”

“Were you able to sign in?” Tony asked. He leaned back in his chair and watched as the comparison software worked. It was finding a lot of commonalities between Brown and the mystery boyfriend, and Tony hummed softly in satisfaction. He glanced up at Todd when there was no answer. “Well?”

“Yes, I was able to check back in. I’ve got thousands of emails,” Todd said with a scowl. “I was only gone for three weeks. How could I get so many emails?”

“So why aren’t you reading them?” Tony asked bluntly. He didn’t want to micromanage her, and it was irritating as hell that she wasn’t getting the hint to do her work. Why did he have to spell it out for her?

“Because you’re doing something with a case and that’s more interesting than what’s waiting for me,” Todd admitted as he glared at her.

“We’re not doing this,” Tony decided. He stared at her and let his teeth grow slightly, so when he smiled, his canines were more pronounced. From the subtle sway backwards Todd did, the sight of his smile was not reassuring. “Your job, for today, is to catch up on everything that happened while you were away. That is your whole job. It’s not to try and work around me. It’s not to backseat drive on this team. You are currently a probationary agent on the DC MCRT because Gibbs thinks you have what it takes to be an asset to both the agency and the team. Prove it by doing your job.”

“Geez. You don’t have to be so mean about it,” Todd said with a pout. “I was going to offer my help. I’m a profiler and maybe I’ll see something you don’t.”

“You profile crowds, not individual people. That’s what you told me,” Tony reminded her. He’d looked up her qualifications the first time she’d trotted out the fact that she was a profiler, and he hadn’t been impressed. While her skills were useful for finding a shooter in a crowd, they didn’t really translate into profiling a possible serial killer. “I got an actual profile from the BAU on this months ago.”

“Oh.” From the arrested look on Todd’s face, she hadn’t expected him to call her out. “But I can help?”

“Todd, I’ve gotten an actual bona fide, legally acceptable profile for the serial killer I’m investigating. This case does not need any assistance on that front. If I find myself in need of help, I’ll reach out to the appropriate parties. In the meantime, you have work to do,” Tony said. He kept his voice even with an effort. If this was how Todd was going to be on the regular, he was going to have to invest in something to help his temper. Because what the fuck.

“Todd, go clear your emails before IT locks you out again,” Gibbs snapped as he walked back to his desk. “You’ll be informed if you’re needed. Tony, do you think this is the break we need on the Littlefield case?”

“Yeah, Boss, it sure looks like it. The BOLO came back with a name tied to the car. Searches are running, and I’ve set up times for interviews with some of the friends and families of our victims, so we can check to see if they recognize our suspect. You were cc’d on those emails,” Tony reported. He made a noise of satisfaction as the comparison software came back with a positive result. “I was also running the pictures Littlefield took of her boyfriend against our suspect, and there’s a 92% match, due to angles and such. I don’t think we’re going to get any better. I’m going to take the positive outcome.”

“That’s good news. I’ll stand by when the interviews happen so I can sit in on some as needed,” Gibbs directed. “As soon as you have a report written, send it to me. I’ll update Morrow, so he’s aware this might get interesting.”

Tony nodded once. “Better you than me on that. Also, I need to let Abby know the cameras worked like she said they would.”

“She’ll be thrilled. I don’t want to know where she got them, though,” Gibbs said. He raised an eyebrow when Tony glanced at him in question. “NCIS doesn’t have the budget for cameras that spiffy and you know it.”

“Right,” Tony said after several seconds of thought. “But I’m sure whoever she borrowed them from will want to know that they are quiet enough. I saw a lot of wildlife pass right by them without a glance, and their ears are better than any shifter that I know of.”

“Sounds good,” Gibbs said.

“If this is for a serial killer, and he was inspecting his dumping ground, what’s to say he’s not going to put another body in there?” Todd asked.

“Jesus Christ,” Tony cursed as he opened his email and started filling out the addresses for the commanders of bases up and down the East Coast. “I’m sending out another announcement to all the bases to remind everyone to be careful. For fuck’s sake.”

“Tony, what was the timestamp again on when our suspect was at the scene?” Gibbs asked after several minutes. He was staring at him with an intent look on his face.

“Uhm.” Tony minimized his email and brought the surveillance program back up and rewound the tape to double-check the time stamp. “Time stamp is 0300. Do you want me to go out and check to see if I can get a scent off the area?”

“He did shift into a bear,” Gibbs reminded. “And he was there for a bit, so there might be something. Were you able to get a look at his feet?”

“No,” Tony said slowly. He nodded once before he stood up and grabbed his gear. “I’ll head out and see what I can find. You should be able to monitor me on the cameras. Remember, you were cc’d on all the emails I’ve sent out to the friends and families, so they should get in touch with you to set up the meetings. I’ll be back as fast as I can.”

“Stay safe and don’t do anything that might tank our case,” Gibbs warned. “Todd, finish your emails. If I need you for anything, I’ll pull you for it.”

“But!” Todd protested. Tony didn’t hear what else she had to say as he headed for the garage and his car.

Tony spent the drive mentally going over the case. This might just be the break they needed for the case. He wasn’t superstitious, but he sent a wish out into the ether that this could be what they needed to get justice for their victims.

The parking lot for the park was relatively empty, with the spot their suspect had used being vacant. Tony parked close to it and got out to start inspecting the area to see if there were any clues. Nothing. Tony blew out a breath and headed back to his car to grab his backpack.

Shrugging his backpack on, he jumped slightly to make sure it was in place. Once he was comfortable, Tony shifted into his wolf and started up the trail. He took the time to investigate each side of the trail on the way up. The scent of bear filled his nose, and he suppressed a sneeze at the overwhelming musk that dominated the scent. Whoever they were, their humanity wasn’t impacting their shift.

Ahead of him on the trail, Tony saw a footprint. Shifting back, he knelt and inspected his discovery. Spreading his hand over the print, he frowned. Whoever this asshole was, he was big. Tony pulled his camera out with the photo scale stick for perspective and laid it down next to the print before snapping several pictures for the record.

Evidence gathered, Tony tucked his camera and scale away and shifted back into his fur. As he continued down the trail, he followed the scent of their suspect until it moved off the trail and into the woods. Tony paused and carefully inspected the area to see if there were any clues left. The area was full of thorns and brambles, and from the smell of it, their suspect had stayed shifted for his whole walk back up to his car.

Ah. Tony shifted back and pulled his camera out, along with an evidence bag. Fur. He had no idea if it belonged to Brown, but the smell matched, and that was a big clue in his book. Abby would need to do her magic to see what she could get out of the sample. After pictures, careful harvesting of the fur, and inspection of the surroundings to see if he’d missed anything and he was back at it.

As he followed the trail Brown had left, he had to shift back and forth several times to gather evidence. Their suspect, despite his ability to move through the woods without dragging half of them with him, still brushed against branches and left evidence behind. And he was collecting all of it.

Eventually, he reached the dump site. Shifting back to his skin, Tony inspected the ground around his feet and confirmed that there was nothing of interest on it, so he set his backpack down. Then he started to collect evidence. First pictures, from every angle he could get with the scale, and then he started collecting the physical items left behind.

Pulling his phone out, Tony checked his bars and hummed in satisfaction. He had just enough for his call. Thumbing his phone book open, he called Gibbs. “Boss. We’ve got a lot. He didn’t seem to notice how much evidence he shed.”

“Good. Make sure you collect it all and head back here are soon as you can.”

“Roger that,” Tony confirmed. He inspected the site again before he glanced at where the cameras were. The good thing about them was that they were excellent back-up, detailing what he’d done in his collection of evidence. A second glance around confirmed that he hadn’t left anything behind, and he shifted back into his wolf and headed back to the parking lot.

When he got to his car, he carefully belted his backpack in and headed back to NCIS at all good speed. Just. Not at the same rate Gibbs used because he didn’t want to tempt fate.

 

“Abby! I’ve got some stuff for you!” Tony called as he walked into her realm. His collection of evidence had been moved out of his backpack and into a proper container for NCIS and added to the database, so there was one less thing for Abby to do.

“Hey, Tony boy!” Abby said with a smile. She eyed the box he was carrying and made grabby hands at it. “What’ve you got for me?”

“Hopefully, some leads on our serial killer case,” Tony said bluntly. He waved at the box after setting it on the main table in the lab. “Our main suspect is a bear shifter, and I gathered every single bit of fur I found.”

Abby frowned at the box before she started pulling envelopes out of it. “You want a DNA search on that? Are you sure this guy is in the military databases?”

“I don’t know. But he might be affiliated, so better safe than sorry,” Tony said after several seconds of thought. “Did we find any fur with our victims?”

“Uhm,” Abby hummed softly as she continued to unpack the evidence box. “I’ll need to review my files to see if we had any hair on file.”

“Okay, I don’t remember right off the top of my head, but something is niggling me, and I hope that something comes through.”

“I’ll do my best, but you know that if there’s nothing there, I won’t be able to find it,” Abby warned. She quickly moved down the evidence lists and checked everything on the table against it. “Okay, I’ve got it all here.” She quickly signed the evidence checklist and handed it back to him. “Go copy this so you can add it to the file.”

“Thanks.” Tony quickly made the requested copy and handed the page back to her. “Let me know when you’ve finished this?”

“It’s not going to be fast, Tony. Two or three days before I start getting anything like results, and some will be a lot longer as cases come in,” Abby said after surveying the work in front of her. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, I’m aware that this is going to take time,” Tony soothed. “I’ve still got a lot of legwork to do before I start getting impatient. I won’t start asking for anything for at least a week.”

“I don’t think it’s going to take that long to start getting you answers, but I will update you as I get them,” Abby promised. “Now, shoo.”

Tony nodded once and headed out. The elevator ride was thankfully short, and the blink of adjustment at the orange was automatic, and Tony barely noticed it anymore. “Hey, boss! I’ve turned over masses of evidence to Abby for her to do her thing on. I do have a number of pictures as well, so we can review them.”

“Sounds good,” Gibbs said. “Littlefield’s family came up, and they are positive on confirming Brown. Some of her friends have also set up appointments to add their memories to this.”

The surge of satisfaction that moved through him was electric, and Tony growled softly in satisfaction. “That’s damn good news. If we can get the same for the rest of the victims, that would be amazing.”

“It would be,” Gibbs agreed. “Upload the pictures and let’s see what we’ve got.”

Tony headed for his desk with a spring in his step. Today was a damn good day.

 

 

Chapter Five

 

Tony settled down on his couch and smiled as Loki heaved himself up onto a cushion before claiming his lap. “Hey, little man. Is that yours now?” Tony asked as he started to pet the kitten. From the absent grumbling noises Loki was letting out, he was enjoying the attention.

“This is where I wish I had a third hand,” Tony said as he snagged his phone and dialed Mike before switching the phone to speaker and setting it on his chest. Since he was the only person home, he was going for the easiest way to talk, while petting his kitten and drinking wine.

“Hey, Tony,” Mike said cheerfully. Loki looked up from his intense cleaning of his toepads and chittered at the sound of Mike’s voice. “Ah, good to hear you too, Fuzzbutt.”

Tony laughed. “I never should have told you his nickname. It’s a good thing he’s not one of those dignified cats who always seem above the whole world.”

“Your kitten filched a slice of cheese from the cheese plate the last time I was over for dinner. And growled at us when we tried to take it back,” Mike protested. “Also, he’s a long-haired cat. There’s so much fluff there, I’m surprised his name isn’t Chewbacca!”

“If he’d been brown instead of black, maybe,” Tony agreed. “Then I’d need to get him a companion and name them Han.”

Mike made an interested noise. “Does this mean that you’re going to get another and name them Thor?”

“No. Not unless the vet tells me that Loki needs a buddy,” Tony glanced down at Loki as his hand was captured by the kitten and his fingers thoroughly washed. He grimaced, but left him to his self-imposed chore. “Enough about my roommate. How’s your week been?”

“I hate sand,” Mike bitched. “And the last trip we took, there was a lot of it. Even if I didn’t have to go out into it, it still got everywhere. I even found it in my gun when I cleaned it, and I never pulled the damn thing while we were there. How? Sand is the devil.”

Tony started laughing because Mike was so disgusted over the whole thing, and it was funny as hell. “Could have been worse?”

“Since I’m not there, I can ask,” Mike said. “How?”

“Well, do you know what a haboob is?” Tony asked. When Mike let out a negative noise, he smirked. “Have you watched ‘The Mummy’ from 1999?”

“Yeah,” Mike was silent for several seconds. “Are you talking about the sandstorm that crashed Wilson’s plane?”

“Minus the mouth that swallowed them, yes,” Tony confirmed.

“Jesus. No. I don’t want to be in one of those things, thanks,” Mike muttered. “What a nightmare.”

“Agreed. Now. Got any stupid people stories?” Tony asked.

“Ha. Lemme tell you about a set of really dumb staffers who decided to try out for the Mile High Club on Air Force One,” Mike said with a laugh.

“Oh, my God. No,” Tony protested. “How in the hell?”

“Well, the bathrooms on it are damn nice, even for the passengers. Not small at all,” Mike explained.

“Oh, that I know,” Tony agreed. The one and only time he’d been on the airplane that could bear the callsign Air Force One, he’d explored it as much as he’d been able to do. And hitting up the heads had been totally worth the exasperated looks Gibbs had kept flashing him.

“Ah. I read up on that. What a mess. Things have been changed a bit over here so that can’t happen again,” Mike said vaguely.

“Good,” Tony said. That whole case had been an utter mess, and he still wasn’t sure if Todd was worth the headache the whole thing had given him. Even odds most days. “What happened to the couple?”

“Well, after we figured out what they were up to, we had to find someplace to stash them so the reporters on the flight weren’t aware of the couple,” Mike said. The story continued in fits and starts as they both started laughing at times. “The worst part is, the President noticed and spent the whole flight deeply amused by how uncomfortable we all were at the situation.”

Tony smiled as he considered that. “Well, he has a bedroom on there. If he wants to be a part of the Mile High Club, he can easily do it.”

“I do not want to think about the President and sex. Thanks. That’s just a solid ‘no’,” Mike muttered. “Your turn for stupid people stories.”

“How stupid do you want to hear?” Tony asked before he launched into a series of stories about the deeply dumb people he’d arrested while he had worked as a cop. From the laughter Mike was letting out, he was enjoying the insanity.

“Oh, my God, please tell me you are kidding,” Mike begged as he laughed. “He didn’t really write his robbery demand on his birth certificate?”

“He really, really did,” Tony confirmed. That particular felon had not been all that bright, and it had shown in so many different ways. “His lawyer was flabbergasted when we shared that piece of information.”

“I’m flabbergasted, and I’m not even involved. Holy hell,” Mike said breathlessly. “You win for the sheer dumb that you’ve been involved with.”

“Honestly, every single LEO will eventually get their own fair share of stupid criminal stories, and you know it,” Tony said, amused. “The really fun part for me is that a number of the criminals I’ve arrested have taken their inspiration from movies. Do you know how often my movie habit has helped crack a case?”

“Oh, lots, I’m sure.”

Tony was silent for several seconds as he carefully extended his claws and slowly groomed them through Loki’s fur. Mike was quiet as well, and he listened to them breathe. “Where do you want to go from here?”

“Are you asking if I want to get into your bed? Or in a relationship with you?” Mike asked. The laughter had left his voice, and he sounded entirely serious and present. Tony appreciated that about him. “I thought we’d already confirmed that I want you and that you want me. Are you worried about me and what dating me could mean for your pack?”

“Yes. I’ve been worrying about it for a while, and it’s gotten worse since you met my pack,” Tony admitted. “I know we showed our wolves during our training with Lee, but I want more time to get to know you that way.”

“Tony, you’re the stronger alpha. Part of that is because you do have an actual, bonded pack, and part of it is your wolf,” Mike said bluntly. “While I might be a born wolf, I’m an alpha without a pack, and frankly, I don’t want to form one. I like your packmates. They are all incredibly competent people who are also funny, deadly, and very loyal to you. I’m not going to challenge you for them.”

“Lee thinks that Aaron is about ready to develop red eyes of his own and start building a pack out of his BAU team,” Tony murmured as he thought over what Mike had said. “If that’s the case, I’ll keep a very light packbond with him, but he won’t be able to be my second. Do you think we could date with you in that position?”

“What about Martin?” Mike asked instead of answering. “Why don’t you think he’ll step into the role?”

Tony grimaced as he thought of Martin. “Because he’s about to head out to Chicago. He finally got the team he’s been chasing since he joined the FBI, and that means that he won’t be here.”

“Do you think he’ll ever ascend to Alpha status?” Mike pushed.

“No. Not unless he has no other choice. Martin can lead and do it well, but he’d rather have someone front and center, who he can follow. I think the team he’s heading out to will become his primary pack pretty quickly.”

“And Eileen has no interest and said so, loud and clear,” Mike finished. He was silent as he obviously thought things over, and Tony continued to pet Loki as the kitten wallowed in his lap. “Tony, if we date and decide together that my joining your pack is a good idea, I am willing to step into place as your second when Aaron forms his own pack. You would be the Alpha.”

“I know you said that you didn’t want the pack you took over, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted to form your own,” Tony confessed.

Mike cleared his throat before he took a deep breath. “I do not want to form my own pack. I would love to date you and see what we can make on that front. I also would like to join your pack, but I won’t until Aaron has moved on and formed his own, because I’m not going to force him out before he’s ready. I expect it will be after Haley has her baby, since the security of a pack is something she needs right now. But I really want to date you. With all the things that come with that.”

“I want that too. And I figure, we’ve been on a couple of dates that have been pretty casual. I want more,” Tony said. He stared down at Loki and smiled at the way his kitten was sprawled out over his lap. “How do you feel about movies, the theater, baseball, basketball, football, and museums?”

“Movies are fun. But they are even better when I’m at home and can bitch about what they get wrong,” Mike said. To Tony’s ear, it sounded like he was smiling, and he could feel himself smile in response. “I go to the theater due to my job sometimes, and I’ll be honest: opera is fucking boring. Broadway shows? Those can be fun. Sports? Tony, I know you played most of those, and I’m willing to get my ass kicked in them while watching you be awesome. If you want to go to the Smithsonian, I will be right there with you. How about this weekend?”

Tony laughed in relief as Mike spoke. “Do you want to start with Air and Space? Or by the opening date of the sub museum?”

“Air and Space is an utter classic, but I thought that we should do this logically,” Mike suggested.

“Whose logic?” Tony interrupted.

“My logic, you heathen,” Mike said primly. “How about we start on one end of the Mall and work our way around. So, that means we start with the National Museum of the American Indian and move our way down.”

“Sounds like a plan. Barring any cases, I’m not on call and I can meet you there at 0930?” Tony suggested.

“I’ll meet you there, and if we make it through that museum before the day is done, we can move next door to Air and Space,” Mike said.

Tony grinned and nodded. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“So am I, Tony.”

 

“You’re in a good mood,” Todd observed. She slid into her chair and carefully locked her purse in one of the drawers of her desk. Tony approved of her caution and situational awareness.

“I had a good weekend,” Tony said with a shrug. He’d spent hours with Mike exploring two museums and getting distracted by weird and wonderful things. Both of them had a fascination with history, and the museum had allowed both of them to indulge that love.

He turned his attention back to his computer and opened the camera files, and started them running. He had checked the files over the weekend, and both times he’d reviewed them, the only thing he’d seen was animals going about their lives. The files for the night moved across his screen without pause, and he sighed in relief as their suspect didn’t show up.

When he smelled that Gibbs had arrived, Tony glanced over at the older man and raised an eyebrow at the extra-large coffee the man had in his hand. “Bad morning, Boss?” From the growl Gibbs let out, he really wasn’t having a good day. “Well, here’s something that may soothe your temper: Our suspect didn’t show up on the cameras all weekend.”

“That’s some good news at least,” Gibbs said with a small smirk. “Okay. Anything else?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure that Abby will have some news for us soon,” Tony said. He leaned back and looked at his schedule. “I’ve got several interviews scheduled this morning with friends and families. I expect to get some confirmations on our suspect.”

“Good. Because I want to catch this guy,” Gibbs muttered. He settled back into his chair and nudged his computer to wake it up. “What else have we got on him?”

“He’s fifty, a born shifter, owns his own business that does work around the various bases, and has never been married with no children. He’s also not aligned with any packs,” Tony reported. “From a basic review of his business, he’s successful, and it seems like he’s currently stringing several women along as he ‘dates’ them. His business has a website, but that’s the extent of his footprint on the web.”

“He’s doing what he can to stay under the radar, isn’t he?” Gibbs observed. “Prep an email to the various commands out here. I want it to have this guy’s picture and information so they can warn their people. And see if we can get any current information on him.”

“Tony! Tony! Tony!” Abby shouted. She was waving a sheaf of paper like it was a flag as she stomped her way out of the elevator.

Tony flashed Gibbs a grin before turning his attention back to Abby. “What’s up, Abs?”

“I’ve got news for you!” Abby said before she slapped the sheaf of paper on his desk. “We’ve got the bastard!”

“That’s…,” Tony’s voice trailed off as he picked up the papers and started to read. Samples that they had gathered from their victims, which had been identified as from their killer, had been matched to the samples left by Reginald Brown. “Holy shit. Abby, you’ve got this all nailed down?”

“Yes. Totally nailed down and 100% legit,” Abby assured him. She bounced in place and grinned at him. “Well?”

Tony grinned back at her. “Boss, we need to go over this and then apply for a warrant.”

“Really?” Gibbs asked as he made his way over to Tony’s desk. Tony passed him the paperwork and watched as he read the information that would allow them to nail their suspect for the murders of ten women. “Get the warrant written up as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir!” Tony agreed.

“Tony, we’re going to finish the last interviews,” Gibbs called as he escorted Todd and Abby out of the bullpen.

Tony nodded once as he began to organize the case file so he could submit it to the judge to get what they needed so they could arrest Brown. The judge they used was well used to their requests and worked quickly. Tony sent the request off and leaned back to read Abby’s report. Brown had left a lot of evidence behind, and all of it matched the items he’d gathered when he’d found Loki.

He could feel a growl rising in his chest, and he let it rumble through him as he reached the end of the report before he took a deep breath and tried to push his temper away. He could not allow his temper to rule his actions. But… Brown was a bear shifter, and that meant that he wasn’t going to be easy to bring in.

So. Since he didn’t want to have to shoot anyone, that meant either overwhelming force or overwhelming force. “Overwhelming force it is,” Tony muttered. He sent a message to Gibbs to suggest that they put together a task force to assist in the arrest.

“Agent DiNozzo, I got a text from Gibbs that we’re getting a warrant for our serial killer?” Morrow called down from the mezzanine.

Tony glanced up at the next level and nodded at the director. “Yes, sir, we do. Abby has confirmed that our suspect matches the clues left at the dump site. I’ve got the request in to Judge Padilla so we can go arrest him. Since our suspect is a bear shifter, I would suggest that we bring a task force to allow us to arrest him with a minimum of drama.”

Morrow nodded once. “Good idea. I’ll authorize it.”

“Thank you, sir,” Tony called. His email chimed at him, and Tony opened the message he got with alacrity. “We’ve got the warrant, sir. I’m going to get Gibbs back up here.”

“I’ll get the task force organized,” Morrow said before turning back to his office.

“Great,” Tony muttered before he called Gibbs. “Boss, we’ve got our warrant, and Morrow is organizing a task force for us, so we can arrest Brown with as little drama as possible.”

“Sounds good. Reach out to the LEOs in the town Brown in from and make sure that he’s there,” Gibbs directed. “Our interviews are done, and every person interviewed agrees that Brown is the mystery boyfriend.”

“Will do.”

 

“How much experience do you have?”

“In what?” Tony asked as he shrugged out of his NCIS windbreaker.

“In tactical take downs,” Stuart Aimes, the head of NCIS’s tactical task force, asked. He was staring at Tony with a considering look on his face, and Tony stared back. “I know you’re an alpha werewolf, but while that’s useful, I need to know if you can work with us.”

“I took the training in FLETC, and have kept up my qualifications since,” Tony informed him. He nodded at Gibbs and smirked. “And he runs me through training exercises on at least a quarterly basis. It’s good stress relief.”

“Where would you say you work best?” Aimes pressed.

Tony turned to stare at the other man and shrugged. “Given that I’m damn hard to kill, I normally get pretty close to the front.”

“Okay. After this, we’re going to fold you into our training, so you can work with us at later dates. But today, we’re going to want you two in the middle,” Aimes said bluntly. “We’ve got experience in bringing hostile shifters in alive. We don’t have the experience working with you.”

“Fair,” Tony allowed. He took the body armor and camera that Aimes’s second handed him and pulled it on. “I’m not going to try to be a cowboy on this. I’ll follow directions.”

“Good,” Aimes said. He turned to glare at Gibbs. “And you?”

“Same.” Gibbs looked deeply disgruntled as he agreed to follow someone else’s direction. “No cowboy antics.”

“Good. Now, you’ve got the warrant?” Aimes asked. When Tony pulled the warrant out of his back pocket, he snorted. “Lemme see it.”

“Have at. There’s a copy of it in there for you,” Tony said as he handed it over. He started patting himself down to make sure everything was in place before he bounced in place to check for shifting. “I’m going to shift into my fur to make sure that everything stays in place.”

“Fine with me,” Aimes said. He had unfolded the warrant and was reading it over. When Tony shifted, he glanced at him once before returning his attention to the pages in his hands.

Since everything felt normal, Tony shifted back and bounced again on the balls of his feet. Nothing he was wearing had moved, and he nodded once in satisfaction. “All good.”

Aimes grunted in satisfaction before handing the original copy of the warrant back to Tony. “It looks like everything is in place with this. Our contact with the PD states that Brown is still in his home, so we’re good to go for a tactical breach if he doesn’t come out on his own.”

“Ready when you are,” Gibbs said.

Aimes let out a sharp whistle, and his team formed up around them and then headed for the vans they were using to drive down to Brown’s home. Tony slotted himself into the spot Aimes pointed him at and quietly introduced himself to everyone. The ride down to the target location passed in silence.

That silence lasted through them parking, through them surrounding the house, and Aimes walking up to the front door of the house. Tony tilted his head to listen to what was going on. Aimes had a damn good ‘cop knock’ and the sound of it echoed through the house. “Who’s there?”

“NCIS,” Aimes said bluntly. His voice was clear and carried strongly as he demanded that Reginald Brown open the door.

“Do you have a warrant?” the man in the house asked.

“Yes,” Aimes confirmed. He held up his copy of the warrant to the peephole and waved it. “Right here.”

Whoever it was in the house didn’t say anything, and Tony leaned forward slightly as he heard the floor groan. “He’s shifted,” Tony said over the tactical channel. “Be careful.”

Aimes didn’t say anything, but did nod that he had heard Tony’s warning. “Reginald Brown, open the door!”

There was a roar from inside the house, and Aimes stepped back, and the door blew out at him, and a brown bear charged out. Tony took a step forward as Aimes shifted into a polar bear. “I did not see that coming.”

“No one does. He’s pretty quiet about his shift,” one of the task force members said quietly. “He’s got this.”

The two bears slashed at each other until the polar bear’s paw connected with the brown bear’s head hard enough to knock him unconscious. The brown bear slumped to the ground, and Aimes shifted back to stand over him and waited. It took almost thirty seconds before the bear shifted back to human. As soon as he was human, Aimes pulled a set of shifter-proof cuffs out and clasped them over the man’s wrists.

“Okay, let’s clear the house,” Aimes directed.

Tony followed the rest of the task force into the house to find them clearing each room as they entered. Tony let his hearing spread out and tried to figure out what was going on in the house. “There’s a dead spot under us,” Tony announced.

“This is a bungalow,” Aimes said, leaning against the front door.

“There are windows in the foundation of this house. There are screens over them, but they’re there,” Tony said. “There has to be a door into the basement in this place.”

Aimes walked out to check the foundation before coming back in. “He’s right. Fan out and find the basement door,” Aimes directed.

“Check bookcases, wood paneling, wallpapered walls, and closets,” Tony called. “He likely wanted to hide the door, and doing so in ways that minimized its appearance would be expected.”

The men and women of the task force all made assenting noises as they fanned out and started knocking on the various walls of the house. Tony paced around the bottom floor and carefully inspected each room as he walked through them. The house was one of the oldest he’d been in, and had a lot of little nooks that could hold the door they needed, but didn’t.

Tension was starting to rise as Tony made it to the kitchen and inspected the room. Often, basement doors could be found in it, because basements had been used as storage for food for centuries, and the habit tended to carry over, no matter who designed the home. Knocking on the walls, Tony tried to listen for any echoes. It took time, but there was nothing there, and he moved next door into the butler’s pantry.

As he walked into the pantry, he paused. “AIMES!”

Aimes came loping into the kitchen and paused. Tony was knocking on the paneling lining the passage into the pantry. “What are you doing, DiNozzo?”

Tony glanced over at him and tilted his head to the side as he heard the echo he’d been looking for. “Found the door,” he said as he pressed on a small spot hidden in the paneling. The door they’d been looking for popped open. Pulling a pen out of his jacket, Tony used it to gently pry the door open a bit more.

“I don’t hear anyone down there,” Aimes muttered as he pulled his gun out and aimed it down the stairs.

“I don’t either,” Tony agreed. He took a deep sniff of the air coming upstairs, and it was clean. “I’m not smelling any decay. And the place smells like Brown.”

“Agreed. So,” Aimes muttered as he flipped the light switch. The space below lit up, and he sighed. “Looks like we’re going downstairs.”

“Right,” Tony said. He pulled his own gun and glanced down at the camera on his chest. The light on it was still lit, so he moved to stand behind Aimes. “Ready when you are.”

Aimes nodded once and started down the stairs. Tony followed him and kept looking around to take in the full scene. There were display cases lining the walls, and he couldn’t see in any of them. “I’m not seeing anyone else down here.”

“Neither do I,” Aimes agreed. He glanced around the basement and cocked his head to the side. “No doors that I can see.”

“His washing machine and dryer are upstairs, so this has to be something separate,” Tony said. “They’re in the butler’s pantry that I saw.”

“So, whatever is down here should be what we see,” Aimes concluded. “Of course, we’re going to check in every nook and cranny to make sure we don’t miss anything.”

“Gotcha,” Tony said. He walked forward to peer into one of the display cases and hissed. “Yeah, this is him.”

“Oh?”

“Whatcha got, Tony?” Gibbs called as he carefully made his way down the stairs. “Holy shit.”

“Pretty much what I was thinking, Gibbs,” Aimes muttered as he walked over to stand behind Tony.

“I’ve got souvenirs,” Tony said grimly. He moved to the next case and nodded. “The first case there is from the first victim. This is number two. If the pattern follows…”

Gibbs counted the cases and frowned. “There are eleven cases here.”

Tony turned to the last case and relaxed. “The case is empty, Gibbs.”

“So, he hasn’t killed his last victim?” Aimes asked.

“More likely, hasn’t chosen her yet,” Gibbs said as he walked over to stare at the empty case. “Here’s to hoping he’s left us information on who his current batch of ‘girlfriends’ is.”

“Yeah,” Tony muttered. He glanced around the basement and compared it to the house above. “It looks like this covers the same amount of space as the kitchen and pantry above. We should check to see if there’s another basement divided off from this one.”

“You think he would go through that much trouble?” Gibbs asked as he started inspecting the walls by the stairs.

“If his victims ever came here, he’s going to want to have an area that he can use as a ‘public’ space. This was too well hidden for it to be something he shows off,” Tony said absently. He glanced down at the floor and raised an eyebrow at it. “Also, I have a feeling that this is the kill site. We’re going to need to check everywhere in here.”

Aimes glanced over his shoulder with a frown. “Why do you say that?”

Tony knelt and tapped the floor. “This is epoxy. Same stuff that’s used in garages to make an oil-proof floor.”

“Son of a bitch,” Gibbs hissed before he finished the length of wall he was inspecting. “I got nothing here.”

“Aimes, we’ve got a second basement door up here,” Aimes’s second called down. “We’ve cleared it. The place is set up like a media room and an office.”

“Right. We need a whole team of techs to come in here and tear this place apart,” Gibbs decided. He waved at the two of them like he was trying to herd them up the stairs. “I’ll make the call. Head on up so we don’t disturb anything.”

The urge to protest was strong for a moment, and then Tony took a deep breath. They’d caught the bastard. Now they just needed to make sure everything stuck. And NCIS did have some crime scene techs who could come in to assist. There was just too much house for MCRT to take care of it without assistance.

“Okay,” Tony said after a brief look around. They’d done good. “After you, Boss.”