To Oliver’s surprise, they entered a side gate leading to a walled garden.

  “Quickly,” Chitin told him, closing the gate behind them. “We’re clear so far, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

  Oliver hurried. The journey had taken them the better part of two hours, and the first part of it had been through the busy food hall just outside the shuttle port. If anyone was going to acquire him, that was where they’d stood the greatest chance.

  “Relax,” Tallie had told him as she led him across it. “This is where we discover if we’ve fooled the bioscans.”

  They what? Oliver gave her a startled glance, and then remembered his role and snarled at a passing spacer.

  The man slid away from him, fear turning to annoyance when he saw the young woman holding the leash.

  “You should know better,” he snapped.

  “It’s her birthday,” Chitin intervened smoothly, “and I promised her a puppy and an icecream.”

  “That thing is not a puppy!” the spacer told him, and Tallie had knelt down beside Oliver and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “Don’t you listen to the mean man,” she cooed, covering Oliver’s ears. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

  Oliver gave the ‘mean man’ a threatening growl, and the guy backed up a couple of steps, looking at Chitin.

  “Yeah? Well, I hope the icecream turns out better,” he managed, hurrying quickly away.

  “Me, too…” Chitin answered, even though neither he nor Oliver thought the guy would hear him.

  “Mean!” Tallie reproved, but Chitin ignored her, and the spacer kept walking.

  “Chocolate, double-dipped, caramel?” Chitin asked, changing the subject.

  Tallie smiled, releasing Oliver’s neck, and standing.

  “Please,” she replied, making Oliver take a second glance.

  The girl had manners?

  “The girl knows what you’re thinking,” she warned him and he gave her a sulky look.

  By the time they’d finished their ice-creams, they knew the bio-screen was working. A patrol of Justiciars had stopped to look him over and told them to go straight home and not to bring him out in public until he’d been given a thorough scrubbing.

  “Hygiene,” their leader told them, “is important, but given you’ve only just picked him up and it’s the girl’s birthday, we won’t be issuing you a health code violation…this time.”

  Health code violation? It was all Oliver could do not to growl in protest.

  Given the reaction he’d gotten when he’d growled at their approach, he didn’t want them to make sure the ‘dog’ knew his place in the pack. Two bristling hybrids towering over him and rumbling out a warning, while he’d fought his own instinct to snarl back, had been more than enough.

  It was a relief when Chitin and Tallie left the food court and headed for the quieter mixed residential and business district. Oliver padded quietly along beside them, not forgetting to bristle up and snarl at the occasional passer-by, even though most gave them wide berth.

  “You do a very good bad-tempered mongrel impression,” Chitin told him when they’d passed through the arched gate of the hacienda-style wall and into a courtyard crowded by ferns and flowers.

  Oliver breathed a sigh of relief, and looked enquiringly at the were, wondering if he could shift back to human form.

  “Not yet,” Chitin told him, “but soon. I promise.”

  Soon… Oliver drooped. Whatever they’d put in his fur was starting to itch. All he wanted was a nice long shower, and something clean to get into…and to find out how Lewis had fared.

  Thinking of his friend, he looked around the courtyard, snuffing the air.

  Chitin laughed and dropped a hand to his head, and Oliver caught himself in time not to take a snap at the were. He dropped his head lower and hoped Chitin didn’t take offense.

  “Soon,” the man promised, and went to unclip the lead.

  “Hey!” Tallie protested, taking it back. “I wanted Stella to see this.”

  Stella? Oliver cocked his head, and looked around.

  A woman sighed in tones he recognized as belonging to Florey.

  “And I thought you’d learned more operational security than that.”

  “Sorry, Mama Stel.” Tallie blushed as a woman stepped off the porch overlooking the courtyard.

  Oliver sat and waited, observing her as she approached.

  To give her credit, she did not walk right over to him, but stopped a few feet in front of his nose and crouched.

  “I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” she told him. “Usually, our transfers go with a lot less drama.”

  She shot a sidelong glance at Tallie, and then shuffled forward to unclip the lead.

  “And a lot less purple,” she added.

  Tallie gave her an unrepentant grin. “I figured pink would be going too far.”

  Oliver shot her a look of alarm, and Stella chuckled. Rising to her feet, she passed the lead to the girl.

  “Pink would definitely have been a step too far,” she confirmed, “and the bow wasn’t much better.”

  Oliver closed his eyes, hanging his head at the reminder, but Stella hadn’t finished.

  “If you’ll step this way, Mr. Landstrom, I have organized a change of clothes and a shower. Wolf-form, if you please.”

  Wolf-form, huh? Oliver gave a mental shrug. Well, it was her house.

  Stella led them back inside, stepping gracefully onto the porch, and holding the back door for him to pass. Chitin and Tallie followed, and he was sure he heard the rattle of the gate being locked.

  To his relief, Stella did not insist on anyone accompanying him into the bathroom.

  “You’ll find everything you need in there,” she told him, waving him past her. “Just leave everything you have on you in the hamper. We’ll make sure your personal effects join you, but we need to check them first.

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  Oliver cocked his head, and her mouth tightened.

  “I’ve had too many clients compromise themselves. I understand you have some industry experience but I need to make sure the proper checks are done, myself.”

  Oliver wondered what that meant for his implant.

  There was a heartbeat’s delay, then Stella nodded.

  “We’ll discuss that when you’ve washed and dressed.” She pointed at his coat and wound her finger in a tight circle. “Make sure you get it all out before you leave the cubicle.”

  So saying, she closed the door, and left him to his own devices.

  Oliver waited, listening to the sound of their footsteps as they moved away.

  He was reassured to hear Chitin ask, “You think he’ll be okay?”

  Stella snorted. “He’s a big boy, now, dear. I’m sure he knows how to wash himself.”

  “Not that…”

  Oliver heard a door open and close, and did not hear Stella’s reply. He decided it didn’t matter—or not nearly as much as getting the dye and junk out of his fur and off his skin. The shower had two sets of controls. One, he could nudge with his nose.

  He noted the jets set in the sides of the tub and decided the werewolf liked his comforts…or that someone knew their business and he wasn’t the first to require this particular service. His skin shuddered, and he didn’t delay any longer.

  Nudging the center control resulted in three twin jets impacting his fur on either side. At first, nothing changed, and then he felt some of the stiffness wash out. Soon, the water ran in dark swirls of purple, brown, and rust beneath his paws.

  Oliver studied the controls and cautiously nudged the one marked with a flame. To his relief the temperature increased incrementally, and more of the sludge loosened. The drain gurgled in protest, but Oliver sighed with relief.

  He hoped the couple had thought to put a holding tank between their outlet and the public collection system. He could only imagine the questions that would be asked when the analysis came back on these chemicals!

  When his fur was as clean as it was going to get with water pressure, Oliver shifted to his wereform and closed the screen that sealed the combined bath and shower cubicle. As he touched the second set of controls, he was not impressed to notice that his fur had not returned to its normal pale silver.

  Maybe he should have been grateful, since he was one of the few Dust Pack members to have returned to Lunar One. Most of the others had left and stayed away, no matter how much the moon’s soft grays reminded them of home.

  That home was no more, and they’d secured the pack’s future in a new hunting territory, somewhere that resembled their old stamping grounds—an Earth place with pure white sand—although perhaps not a place desert dire wolves had roamed in ancient times.

  It was why Tallie and Chitin had dyed him so dark. His pack had a predominance of lighter fur and pale-colored eyes—features that only made him easier to find. His pack… Oliver’s gut went into freefall, and he leaned against the shower wall, his claws scraping against the tiles and the ceramic coating the tub beneath.

  He’d lost his pack…

  The thought hit him like a blow and he bowed his head against the wall, loss aching through him. A flicker in the lights brought him back to the present, and he picked up the shampoo and conditioner standing on a shelf at one end of the shower. More of the dye ran out, but not enough, not even when he turned the heat up.

  When his fur remained a soft purple rust, and no more color ran down the drain, Oliver sighed again, and shifted to human form. Perhaps the color wouldn’t be so noticeable, now…

  His skin was darker, too, even when he scrubbed himself over with a soap-soaked flannel.

  Lewis was going to have a field day…

  After several long minutes, Oliver admitted defeat and cut the water flow. It didn’t take him long to towel off and get into the simple dark blues of a courier, or ship’s crewman. He wondered which ship, and whose colors, he was wearing…and if the crewman had been stuffed into a pod while he took their place.

  Tallie was waiting when he emerged from the bathroom.

  Oliver glanced back at the color-streaked tub and gave her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry for the mess.”

  She shrugged. “It’s all part of the job,” she told him, sounding more mature than before.

  She cocked her head at the thought. “You have to understand the need for a public face,” she told him, then indicated her features with a swirl of her hand. “This is my private one.”

  Her eyes remained a crazy mix of blue and cat-yellow-green, and Oliver’s wolf still found her fascinating. As if catching the thought, she tilted her head the other way, then shrugged.

  “Sorry, wolf-boy. The effect will wear off. It just takes time.”

  Somehow, Oliver doubted it, but he wasn’t going to say that. There was no need to freak the kid completely out.

  “Takes more than a wolf to do that,” Tallie told him, and turned. “My folks are waiting.”

  Deciding he’d pushed his luck as far as he wanted with this particular psi, Oliver said nothing as he followed. Tallie led him to a comfortably furnished dining room, and a meal. To his relief, they did not expect him to eat alone—and lunch had been a very long way, away.

  “Any news?” he asked, as Tallie showed him to his seat.

  “Your friend is already stacked and prepped for loading with the next shipment,” Stella informed him. “You’ll be joining him, just as soon as I’ve secured your implant.”

  “Joining him?”

  “Unless you wish to travel separately?” she asked.

  Up until she’d suggested it, Oliver hadn’t thought of the possibility. Now that she had, he considered it.

  “No,” he decided, after a moment’s consideration. “Thank you, but…”

  She studied him for a long moment before nodding ,and changing the subject.

  “I downloaded the data he collected, and packaged it for the client. I’m not sure it’ll be enough to get the company off your back, but delivery will close the contract. What the client decides to do next is beyond my control.”

  Oliver nodded, watching as Tallie poured water into thick glass tumblers. Now that he knew what she was, he could see the cat reflected in the way she moved. She gave him a look that told him to leave her alone, so he tried to focus on Stella, instead.

  “What comes next?” he asked.

  “Next?” Stella smiled and indicated their meals. “We eat, and then Chitin will show you to the warehouse.”

  Oliver nodded and focused on the rice and stir-fried chicken. While it wasn’t steak, it was still better than what he and Lewis usually ate, and supplemented by vegetables he guessed were home-grown. It made him wish their work allowed for the kind of care such a garden required.

  And if it had? he wondered. Leaving would be even harder.

  Shaking the thought away, he thought about what lay ahead, what he and Lewis were going to do, now they had to…

  “You can always join a mercenary company,” Chitin told him. “I have a few names.”

  Oliver swallowed the mouthful he’d just taken, his face flushing as he remembered Tallie and her penchant for gathering data that was none of her business.

  Stella smiled.

  “What you plan to do next is very much our business,” she informed him. “We need to know our operations are safe. Those names Chitin has would provide an extra layer of security for us as well as giving you a better chance of staying ahead of the Justiciars and the bounty hunters. Mercs don’t like having their operations interfered with.”

  Oliver breathed again.

  “Thank you,” he managed, and resumed eating.

  This time, no one spoke until their plates were empty. Chitin set his fork aside at the same time as Oliver pushed his plate away. Stella had already finished. Now she rose to open the double door of a glass-fronted display case.

  Chitin rose, too, and Oliver followed, his eyes widening as Stella pulled the entire front of the display case toward herself, opening it like a door to reveal a stairwell behind it.

  “Come on,” Chitin said. “It’s nearly loading time, and I want you in a pod before the courier gets there.”

  “A pod?”

  Chitin paused, his hand on the doorframe. “Sure. We put you aboard sleeping, and Chief Harper will wake you once they hit deep space, so you can supervise the pup.”

  He frowned. “You do know how to, don’t you?”

  Oliver gulped, and nodded. Snippets of memory flitted back, earlier changelings, another life—and one he hadn’t wished to return to.

  “I know,” he confirmed, and heard Talia gasp.

  The snarl that rippled out of him as he turned was real, and the girl scooted back from the table. Oliver growled a second time when Stella laid a hand on his arm, and heard Chitin’s answering rumble.

  “I’m sorry,” Talia said. “I…”

  “You were only doing what you’d been asked,” Stella told her firmly, “and now we know that Mr. Landstrom can do what he says he can.”

  Oliver glanced at her, and her eyes challenged him to deny it. With a sigh, he shook himself, and looked to Chitin.

  “How much time…”

  The were turned abruptly and led the way down the stairs, and Oliver followed. There were no doors in the passage at the bottom of the stairs, which intrigued him, but now was neither the time nor the place to ask.

  Chitin set a brisk pace and he had to hustle to keep up.

  The pair traveled in silence and they soon reached another staircase leading up to small room. Metal rang as they climbed it to emerge into a space with one wall occupied by empty pods, and two more covered in shelves of chemicals.

  “The warehouse proper is out there,” Chitin told him, then indicated one of the pods. “The bottom one’s yours.”

  Oliver bowed his head and took a moment to let his mind adjust to the fact he was climbing into a coffin-like container where he’d be at the mercy of someone he didn’t know. Chitin waited, letting him wrap his head around it, raising the lid when Oliver looked up.

  “We’ve worked with Chief Harper for several years,” the wolf told him. “ever since they put the domed city in place. You’ll like her.”

  Oliver managed a brief nod of acknowledgement and then climbed into the pod. It was hard to stay there as Chitin leaned over him to check the container’s settings, and he closed his eyes.

  “Thank you,” he managed, opening his eyes in time to see Chitin straighten and grasp the top of the pod.

  “No problems,” Chitin replied, and pulled the lid closed.

  Oliver closed his eyes again as it descended, flinching as it sealed above him. The multiple pinpricks of the pod putting him under were almost a relief.