Warning: Chapters marked (R) contain themes of sexual dominance, non-graphic erotic content, and/or implied gore. "Alpha, Beta, Gamma" is rated for discussion of sexual dominance. "Siren Scent" is rated for girl sexuality and two boys making out under the influence, while "Aliens in the Closet" involves two boys making out all on their own. "Hunger" is rated for bloody animal carcasses.

Chapters:

1. Not Evil, Just Mad

Quiet. Disorienting quiet, until he remembered where he was and what had happened. Then it was just quiet again... timeless, and even kind of peaceful.

Peace that was interrupted by a growl from the solid warmth curled up beside him.

"You think that's funny," Hunter muttered, refusing to open his eyes. "But it's not."

The growl twisted at the end, a sharp sound almost like a bark. His eyes opened into darkness illuminated only by a glowing golden gaze. "Shit!" Hunter scrambled out of the way, raising his arms to defend himself even as he flinched back from an attack that didn't come.

Instead the owner of those eyes chuckled, and the light faded abruptly. "Gotcha," a rough voice teased.

Hunter cursed again, slumping against the wall. "If you don't kill me," he grumbled, "it'll be because I kill you first."

And to think... yesterday, his life had been perfectly normal.

He had left work and headed straight for Ninja Ops. It was easy, thoughtless, part of a routine that he had never fully appreciated. After all, he and Blake hadn't exactly led uneventful lives. When he thought about it, which wasn't that often, he figured they were probably a couple of the more unique residents of Blue Bay Harbor.

Sure. A uniqueness that suddenly skyrocketed the moment he descended into the Rangers' darkened command center. He'd been immediately on alert--for all the good it did him. There should have been lights, he knew there should have been, but of all the things their absence could have meant, he hadn't been prepared for the reality of it.

"Guys?" He'd called out warily, trying to figure out what was going down. Just one of Cam's annoying experiments? An unexpected power surge that tripped some master breaker somewhere? Or an infiltration by the enemy, another hostage situation, a trap laid out specifically for him?

"Hunter. Shh." Tori's voice, soft and way too close, made him jump. And her whisper was followed by a menacing growl that really made him nervous.

He wasn't convinced that the voice he heard was the one he knew, but he didn't have any more likely sources of information. "Tor? What's going on?"

"Shh," she insisted, but the caution was drowned out by an angry roar from the other side of the room. Hunter stiffened, raising his guard to fight something he couldn't even see, let alone identify. What the hell was going on here?

"Cameron, no." Sensei's voice, sharper than he had ever heard it. It was the voice of someone who wasn't sure he would be obeyed. And then there was a crash, a yell that sounded like Shane's, and damned if there wasn't something running at him.

Lights flared to life around him before he could do more than brace himself. There was a howl, a flash of brown and grey, and something heavy bowled into him. The world tilted crazily as he tried and failed to keep his balance. There were hands on his arms the second he slammed into the ground, pushing him, pulling him away.

Then Tori was on the other side of him, putting herself between him and whatever had hit him and speaking in what was probably supposed to be a soothing voice. She was usually good at that sort of thing, but this time the words had a note of hysteria to them. Not to mention insanity.

"Cam," she was saying. "Cam, listen to me, Sensei's right. You're not an animal! You're a thinking, feeling... person! You're not Lothor, and you're not what Lothor makes you. Cam, it's okay!"

Propping himself up on his elbows, wary of moving too quickly after disobeying her earlier command to stay quiet, Hunter squinted at Tori. Then his gaze shifted to the shape beyond her, and he raised an eyebrow. Okay, that was a really big dog that had just hit him. And since when the fuck did Cam allow--

The "dog" lifted its head, shoulders rolling as it tried to get its front feet underneath it. Its eyes were half-closed, but the snarl of menace left no doubt about its alertness. And those incisors weren't dog teeth, either.

There was a wolf in Ninja Ops. There was a really pissed-off wolf in Ninja Ops, Hunter amended a moment later. And either Tori was delusional, or that wolf was Cam.

"We're going to turn the lights off again," Tori was telling the wolf. And frankly, Hunter didn't think that was a very good idea: he was thinking muzzle, not darkness.

"Dustin?" Tori said quietly. The only consolation here was that the wolf seemed to be having trouble getting to its feet. "Kill the lights."

The lights went out. The change wasn't as drastic as the transition from sunlight to unlit Ops had been, and this time he could see that there was a little red light on in one corner. Its glow was just bright enough that Hunter could see the outline of the wolf as it struggled into a standing position. Two gold eyes opened all the way, casting an eerie light of their own as their glare found and fixed on him.

"Uh..." He really didn't know who he was supposed to be talking to, here. "Tor?"

The wolf growled what could only be a warning.

"Okay, Cam?" Hunter said quickly. How was he supposed to know how much the wolf understood? "Someone tell me what's going on."

Cam's built in alarm system started to wail. It seemed a little late, to Hunter, until the monitor lit up with the location and status of a badly timed alien attack. Or really good timing, Hunter thought grimly, remembering Tori's remarks about Lothor. Two of their zords were still out of commission from the last battle, and without Cam to back them up this fight had the potential to go very badly.

"You must go," Sensei's voice said from the shadows. "I will stay here with Cameron."

Yeah, great. Cause he'd been really effective last time, right? Hunter frowned, wondering what Cam had meant by charging him like that.

"Is that okay, Cam?" Tori was the only one with the presence of mind to actually ask Cam, but he didn't seem disposed to answer. The wolf was shifting, settling back on its haunches maybe--it was hard to tell in the dim light. And what would constitute an answer, anyway?

All around him, he could hear the quick movements of Rangers falling into position, and he lifted his morpher automatically. "Thunder Storm!" This, at least, he knew what to do with. "Ranger form!"

And before he could finish a fuzzy shape was hurtling at him, a considerable amount of mass slamming into him for the second time as it knocked his morpher loose. He didn't even know how it happened--those things were designed to stay on no matter what--but he was really afraid those had been teeth he felt against his skin. His ears followed the sound as the device clattered away in the darkness, but it wasn't handy by and this was not a good situation.

"Hunter!" Tori was running toward him--

Until the wolf swung around and growled, a low rumble that let her know exactly where to stop when she got too close. Cam was warning her off, Hunter thought. Keeping his lupine shape between Hunter and the rest of the Rangers. After tearing his morpher free and forcibly preventing him from morphing.

For the first time, Hunter felt a twinge of fear.

"Hunter?" Shane's voice asked when Tori stopped.

"I'm fine. Go on and take care of Lothor's latest goon," he told them. "I lost my morpher when he hit me; I'll catch up with you as soon as I find it."

Like he had a choice.

"Dude, are you sure?" Dustin, of course, apparently unaware that he had a very large wolf standing between him and any realistic option of doing anything other than what he already was.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Hunter said. He tried not to sigh in relief when the wolf suddenly got up and loped away, disappearing into the shadows of the room with three long strides. "I'll be right there."

"Okay--call us if you need us," Shane reminded him. Yeah. That would happen.

"Yeah, sure," Hunter said. One good thing about the light: he could roll his eyes and Shane would never know.

From the shadows in the direction Cam had vanished, he heard a soft woofing sound.

Then the other Rangers were gone, and he was pushing himself to his feet. "Sensei?" he called, squinting like it would help in the red-cast room. "Where did you go?"

"I am here, Hunter." His voice, too, came from the direction Cam had gone. "I believe I have located your--"

This time the growl was distorted by something, but no quieter than before. Sensei's words were totally overridden. When Cam finally shut up, he tried again. "Your morpher appears to be in Cameron's keeping."

Great. Just what he needed. Tug of war with a wolf that had it in for him.

"Cam?" he prompted, trying to sound reasonable. "How 'bout giving me that morpher, buddy?"

The door that opened onto the corridors leading to the zord bay slid open. Not to its normal height, but far enough that something on four legs could squeeze underneath. Which it did. And that just pissed Hunter off, because whatever game Cam was playing he didn't have time for it. He rolled under after the wolf and came up in a fighting stance, determined to threaten the guy out of his Thunder morpher.

The door slammed shut behind him, and he narrowed his eyes. Not that it did any good. With the closing of the door, all light from the front room was cut off. "Very funny," he snarled, rapidly losing what was left of his temper. He knew where the controls were for this place... right?

Right. He had almost kind of paid attention when Cam had pointed them out. At least, he thought Cam had pointed them out. He fumbled for the light controls, found the door opening switch instead, and realized almost immediately that it wasn't going to happen. That door was shut and it was going to stay that way, with Sensei and the light on the other side.

And some more light on this side. Well, that was an improvement--the lights worked, anyway, and he tried to shield his eyes from the glare as he scanned the area around him. Or he tried to shield them until he heard the howl that made covering his ears seem like a better idea. What did the guy have against light all of a sudden?!

Hunter turned the lights off again, more to protect his eardrums than anything else, and as before the interruption seemed to have slowed Cam down a little. So much so that Hunter couldn't actually figure out where he'd gone. He would have heard him if he'd slunk away somewhere, right?

"Cam?" he called out uncertainly.

With a roar, the damn wolf plastered itself to the front of his body and they went down in a tangle of fur and leather. This time, Hunter couldn't contain himself. "What the fuck are you doing!" he yelled. "I'm sorry you're a wolf, all right! But I'm not your damned punching bag!"

There was a growl that trailed off into a whimper, and the weight on his chest was suddenly gone. More silence. More darkness. And the sound of labored breathing from somewhere very nearby.

He was almost afraid to ask. "...Cam?"

"Not a wolf." The whisper barely reached his ears, and he stretched out his hand in that direction unthinkingly. His fingers contacted with something that wasn't fur, and the whisper escalated into a cry. "Am a thinking--"

It wasn't even Cam's voice, but it broke suddenly and he heard it sob. "Feeling..." Very softly, it finished, "Person."

Hunter held absolutely still. It was Cam's voice, really, that was the freaky part. He knew intuitively that it was Cam. But that voice--those words, couldn't have sounded any less like the withdrawn computer genius Hunter knew.

"Yeah," he said awkwardly. "You are, y'know. You're--"

His searching hand came in contact with what was definitely an arm, but it immediately jerked out of his grasp. "Get away get away get back!" The words spiraled into a by now familiar growl, and it made Hunter freeze all over again. He really, really wanted to be able to see.

But without light, and short of touching, all he had was his voice. "Still with me?" he asked, flinching at the sudden movement.

An impatient growl was his only answer. Great. So... he hadn't been a wolf there, for a second. Hunter was pretty sure of that. Unless wolves could suddenly talk and no one had told him. He wasn't up on the latest scientific developments, but he felt like that one would have worked its way down to him.

So he was a wolf, and then he wasn't, and now he was again. And he was just as hard to deal with in either state, as far as Hunter could tell. He also had Hunter's morpher, and apparently control of the door that was the fastest way out of here.

First things first. Who knew what Lothor was up to out there? "Cam," he began. "I really need my morpher back."

The only reply was the sound of clicking toenails as the wolf trotted off down the corridor. Hunter gritted his teeth, pushed himself to his feet, and put out a hand to find the wall. He followed as best he could and painfully slowly in the blackness. Since when was there not even emergency lighting in these hallways? Had Cam overridden those too?

The only good part was that, emergency lighting or no, Cam didn't let any of them clutter up the corridors down here. So once he found the wall, he could be reasonably sure of not running into anything. He counted doors as he went, but it wasn't long before he couldn't hear anything except his own breathing, and the darkness started to get oppressive.

It wasn't that he was scared of the dark, he told himself. Just the things in it. Namely, the very large wolf that could be anywhere by now. Not that he didn't trust Cam. Well, most of the time he trusted Cam. But wolf-Cam's control seemed to be tenuous at best, and Hunter made it a point to classify people he knew in terms of their potential threat level if they ever snapped.

Cam, unfortunately, rated extremely high on that list. Second only to Sensei.

Gold eyes appeared on a level with his own not more than two feet in front of him. Hunter jerked to a halt, biting back a curse. "A little warning?" he hissed.

The eyes flattened a little, accompanied by a woofing sound. It took Hunter a minute to get it. Cam was laughing at him.

It wasn't a rational decision. It was born of frustration and anger and maybe a little bit of fear, and if he'd thought about it at all he would have realized what an incredibly bad idea it was. But Hunter lashed out without thinking, taking a swing at the animal and connecting solidly with fur and muscle.

There was a blur of motion and a roar in his ears that could have been real or imagined and he felt an easy slicing pressure tear across his arm. It didn't even hurt at first, but he cradled his arm instinctively and he could feel wetness through his torn uniform. Then there was pain, and shock, and the knowledge that Cam had just bitten him.

"If you just turned me into a wolf," Hunter snarled, the harshness masking the waver in his voice, "you gotta know I'm gonna be bigger and stronger than you are and you're so going down."

There was a snuffling sound, the brush of fur against his fingers. And then, to his utter surprise, he felt something warm and damp rasp against his skin. He yanked his injured arm back before he realized what was happening.

"That's gross!" he exclaimed, glaring into the darkness. "Geez! First you bite me and then you suck my blood! What are you, a vampiric wolf?"

Another whimper, and glowing gold eyes were wide and gazing up at him pitifully. If anything about a giant wolf with a nasty temper could be said to be pitiful. How did his eyes do that thing, anyway? There wasn't any light down here to make them glow.

"I don't care if you're sorry," he informed wolf-Cam testily. "Just don't do it again!"

The eyes swung away, and a moment later the body of the wolf followed. Hunter sighed, loudly, but the animal vanished into the darkness without another sound. Where was his morpher? If the wolf had had it in his mouth before, it obviously wasn't there now. So when had he put it down? And where?

For lack of any better idea, Hunter reached out tentatively and started to feel around the general vicinity. He found the cart the wolf had been standing on--so much for the no clutter rule--but no morpher. No morpher on the floor, either, which meant one of three things: he just couldn't find it, it had been dropped before they got here, or Cam had left it somewhere else deliberately.

The click of returning toenails warned him this time. And that eye thing was weird, because the gold glow was actually casting vague little shadows on the floor as he moved. With something in his mouth, Hunter realized a moment later. That was what the shadows were. Whatever was dangling from his jaw was catching the light of his eyes with every other step.

The head dropped, something skittered across the floor, and then the eyes were staring up at him again. It wasn't his morpher, he could tell that from the sound. But picking up the offering still didn't tell him--

Keys. It took him a moment, but finally he recognized them. "These are your keys, right?" The electronic keys that Cam used to lock some of the workrooms down here. Or maybe everything could be locked, and Cam just left certain rooms open as a courtesy to the other Rangers. Didn't seem likely, though.

He took the sharp woof as an affirmative, but that didn't explain what he was supposed to do with them. "Yeah, nice," he told the wolf. "But it's not my morpher."

The wolf turned and walked a few paces before stopping. He growled quietly, impatiently. Hunter got the message.

"You want me to follow you," he said with a sigh. "Fine. But if anything happens to the others while they're out there fighting evil, I'm holding you personally responsible."

A high-pitched howl, soft and more restrained than any other noise the wolf had made so far, made him flinch. That was not a happy sound. And it was weird, but... in that moment, the wolf seemed very much like Cam.

He followed without another word.

Wolf-Cam led him to a digital laboratory, and it only took him three tries to figure out which key was the right one and how to use it in the dark. Inside, finally, he found another red light that didn't make the wolf cringe, and his eyes were so adjusted to the dark now that the red light might as well have been daylight. He took a look around.

This was from the day Lothor attacked the Wind Academy, Hunter realized slowly. Everything in here had played a part, and now seemed to be in various stages of analysis. He glanced over at the wolf, but it was pacing restlessly in front of one of the video monitors, so Hunter went over to stand by it.

They played hot and cold until he pushed the right button, and somehow he wasn't surprised to see security camera footage from the day in question. He heard a thump behind him. He turned to see the wolf had flopped to the floor, nose buried morosely between its paws as those glowing eyes stared straight ahead.

Or maybe they weren't glowing now, it was hard to tell. The light made everything seem strange. The wolf looked up as soon as Hunter looked down, though, and lifted its upper lip in a silent snarl. Then it sat up again and stared intently at the screen.

Hunter folded his arms and watched along with it.

It was a long tape, probably a compilation of several different cameras. The wolf started growling a couple of minutes in and just kept it up, a low-level rumble like he wasn't even aware he was doing it. Hunter's gaze twitched from wolf to screen and back again, wondering what he could possibly be waiting for.

Suddenly the wolf stiffened. His growl snapped, a harsh retort that was accompanied by a glare directed in Hunter's direction and then directed back at the monitor. The wolf was on his feet, quivering as he nosed the air in the direction of the images now playing.

His dad. His dad in human form, and Lothor. Lothor firing some kind of energy at Sensei, straight out of his hands. Hunter clenched his fists, not aware of the action until after he'd done it. He really hated the dark ninja powers.

Sensei being thrown backwards, disappearing... disappearing? Lothor laughed, Lothor left, and then... something very small moved, in the corner of the screen. Something very small and--furry.

Sensei was a guinea pig.

Hunter looked at the wolf beside him, and found it staring back at him intently. "Tori was right?" he guessed. "Lothor did this--" He gestured vaguely at the wolf shape. "Like he did to your father?"

He was starting to recognize the characteristic hunched posture of a wolf about to spring, but he didn't have time to brace himself before it knocked him back against the nearest hard surface. Which for once wasn't the floor--Hunter found himself pinned to the counter, two large furry paws on his shoulders and a tongue lapping at his face. Cam's tongue.

"Yeah, okay, okay, stop it." He tried to shove the wolf away but couldn't get enough leverage. "Cam, that's weird, cut it out--"

And then it really was Cam, and the breath was sucked right out of him as a leather-clad samurai pressed up against his chest and kissed him full on the mouth. Hunter tried to push him away and kiss him back at the same time and mostly failed at both... His head wouldn't stop spinning, and what the fuck was going on here!

With a strength born of desperation, he managed to throw Cam off of him. "What's wrong with you!" Hunter shouted. "This isn't the damn circus! We've got enough freaks on this team already without us adding to them!"

Us. Shit. He'd meant to say you.

Cam's eyes flared bright gold, and Hunter tensed. It wasn't the light after all, they really had stopped glowing before. But they were glowing now, lit up with a fury that he had never seen on Cam's face before. Cam's upper lip curled, just like it had when he was a wolf, and a sound suspiciously like a growl started somewhere in his chest.

Hunter did the only thing he could. He lifted his fists and landed a solid right hook on Cam's chin. The samurai staggered back a step or two, and the fear gripping Hunter's heart eased a little. Only human, after all.

Then, to his horror, Cam crumpled to the floor. He hadn't hit him that hard. Hunter moved forward without thinking, reaching down to offer him a hand up. "Look, man, I didn't mean to--"

Cam pulled his knees up to his chest and scooted backward so that his back was against the wall. He lifted his clasped hands in front of his face and rested his forehead against them, the very picture of despair. Hunter swallowed nervously. He had no idea what to do with this.

Cam's form blurred, and in its place was a wolf curled into a ridiculously small ball. He hadn't thought something that big could get that small. He clapped his hands over his ears as a high keening sound emerged from the circular shape, then forced himself to drop them back to his sides.

"Cam," he snapped. Then, louder, "Cam!"

There was no response. And that noise was seriously getting on his nerves.

Hunter glanced at his arm, which felt like it was bleeding again--probably from the impact of the punch he'd thrown--and decided he might as well not risk the other one. Crouching down beside the wolf, he hesitated long enough to call his name again. When there was no answer, he reached out his injured arm and stroked the fur over one shoulder gently.

The awful howl stopped like someone had thrown a switch. Encouraged, he patted the nearest shoulder again. The wolf twitched, and a moment later one gold eye emerged from its furry prison. Hunter stopped patting and just looked at it.

The wolf heaved a tremendous sigh, letting his head loll back against the floor as his entire body went slack. Slumping against the wall, Hunter muttered, "You and me both, buddy." He wasn't sure whether he was more relieved that Cam had relaxed, or that he hadn't had his arm taken off.

"Trying..." The whisper startled him, and he opened his eyes to find a human form sprawled on the floor in front of him. "To remember who am..."

Fingers clenched above his head, and Cam was staring at the ceiling so hard that Hunter was tempted to look up and see what was there. "Who I am," Cam finished harshly, not moving.

"Yeah." Hunter hadn't meant to say that out loud, but once he had started he couldn't stop. The hand that had stroked Cam's fur twitched involuntarily as he muttered, "Me too."

Eyes fixed on him, the gold shining oddly in the red light. "Lothor."

"Yeah, I got that," Hunter agreed, eager to move on. "Lothor, the dark ninja powers, bad things happened. What are we supposed to do about it?"

Cam groaned. He rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in his arms, apparently refusing to participate in the conversation any further. Great. That was really helpful. He would probably be a wolf again any second, and communication would be limited to growling and biting. And licking.

Hunter tried not to think about that.

"Is there any way to keep you human?" he asked abruptly. "I mean, Sensei doesn't change. Why do you?"

For a moment, he thought Cam wasn't going to answer. Then, softly, "Sensei..." The word seemed to confuse him, and he stopped.

On a hunch, Hunter supplied, "Dad?"

"Dad," Cam echoed. He was way more out of it than his occasional lucidity suggested, and it made Hunter nervous. Was he just disoriented, or was it part of the spell, the magic that was making him... less than human? Would it get worse? Could it get worse than it was now?

Hunter knew the answer to that. Now, Cam still recognized him. He knew how to unlock doors and he knew how to operate computers and he knew how to speak. He might not do any of those things very coherently, but he could still do them. If whatever dark ninja power Lothor had used on him was degenerative, he might not be even this useful for very long.

"Dad's mind's strong," Cam mumbled, and it took Hunter a second to decipher the words. Mine? Mines? Mind... Mind is. Sensei's mind was stronger and that's why he was stuck as a guinea pig?

Hunter considered that doubtfully. Cam was fighting whatever this was pretty hard. And he could change, even if he wasn't controlling it, and Sensei couldn't. Of course Sensei didn't go around biting people and forgetting who his family was, either.

Not that it would hurt as much if a guinea pig had bitten him, Hunter thought irritably. Unless it was like, rabid or something. He had a sudden mental image of a rabid guinea pig backing wolf-Cam into a corner and threatening him with a very small stick.

"Okay, look." Once he had started, he didn't have any idea where he was going with that. But he had to say something. "This is a problem, right? But whatever's attacking the city is the imminent threat. We have to get out there and stop it."

Not we, he reminded himself. Cam wasn't in any shape to fight. But maybe by saying "we" he could get a little more cooperation in finding his morpher.

The wail sounded so much like a howl that he thought he was dealing with a wolf again. Then Cam's arm lashed out, slamming into a cart that had been resting innocently against the wall. Everything rattled violently and something must have fallen because the sound of glass shattering a moment later made Hunter wince.

Cam didn't move. Hunter could see broken glass not inches from his head, his arms, dangerously close to bare skin and maybe some of it had already hit him on the way down. He opened his mouth, then froze as Cam whispered, "Imminent threat."

"Yeah," Hunter said uncertainly. "Lothor. The city."

"No!" Cam howled, springing to his feet and swinging his arm around again on the hapless cart. This time it lurched away, crashing to a halt against the wall again as more glass shattered and Hunter tried not to flinch. "Me! Not him! Me!"

He could have just been angry, selfish, finally past all reason and operating solely on instinct: the instinct to heal, to fix, to claim all attention for himself until he was better. But that wasn't what Hunter heard. Maybe he just had too much respect for Cam, or maybe he knew too well what it was like to not be able to communicate with the people whose help you needed most. Either way, he thought Cam was trying to tell him something.

"You're the threat," he said softly. "Lothor did this on purpose, right? Messed you up, sent you back here... and then called all of us away."

Cam was standing perfectly still now, his whole body tight as he stared hopefully at Hunter.

"That thing out in the city is just a distraction," Hunter guessed. "You think Lothor wants you left alone." Inside Ninja Ops, he thought, but he didn't say it aloud. With all the keys and the passwords and no real control over what you're doing.

Cam shoved past him and typed something furiously on the keyboard near the monitor they had been watching just a few minutes ago. At first Hunter thought he was trying to show him something, but screens of information flashed by too quickly for him to follow. He drifted closer, trying to see over Cam's shoulder, and suddenly the samurai whirled, hands raised in wild-eyed surrender.

Hunter tensed, lifting his own hands in as non-threatening a way as he could manage, but Cam just stood there looking scared. Cautiously, Hunter glanced back at the screen. There was a single question flashing there, an old style DOS prompt that he had seen Cam favor on a couple of his computers.

Hunter's eyes widened. With a sideways look at Cam, he reached for the "n" key. Cam made no move to stop him, but as soon as the prompt disappeared he grabbed the keyboard again and started typing something else. This time Hunter's heart clenched as he saw the zord symbols start to flash across the screen.

"Uh... Cam," he said quietly.

He trusted Cam. He wasn't sure he trusted Cam like this.

And wasn't that exactly what Cam was trying to tell him?

Cam lifted his hands again, fingers jerking away from the board in front of them like it had shocked him. He pointed at the screen, then at the keyboard, index finger hovering between "y" and "n." If Hunter hadn't fully understood the implications of the first question, this one could mean only one thing.

The zords that were currently the only thing stopping Lothor's goons from wreaking havoc on the city? The zords that could lock their pilots out with a single command from Cam's magic mainframe? He had never thought about what it meant that Cam was able to control the zords when none of the Rangers were inside them. Of course there was an override. There had to be.

Cam was staring at the keyboard now, but he lifted his eerily golden gaze to Hunter's with an agonized expression. "Don't know," he cried. He took his hands away and pressed them together at the wrists, holding them out to Hunter like he was going to be cuffed. "I. Don't. Know!"

"I do," Hunter said firmly, surprising both of them. He pushed "n" and "esc" and waited until the computer screen started looking less threatening before he turned back to Cam. "I do know," he repeated, putting his hands on Cam's shoulders. Cam lowered his own hands slowly, terribly reluctantly.

"You took my morpher for a reason," Hunter reminded him when he looked as resigned as he was going to get. "I'm gonna stay with you until this is over. I'm not gonna let you do anything stupid, okay?"

Cam just stared at him, clearly frustrated. Hunter didn't back down. Cam had picked him. Probably because he was the only one stubborn enough not to give up after being beaten and bitten and generally mauled in the name of communication. But still, Cam had picked him. And he was gonna get what he asked for.

Cam's gaze dropped a couple of inches, and Hunter's mouth went dry. Just like that, it occurred to him that the staring wasn't a battle for dominance after all. Cam was staring at his mouth, and all he could think about was the feel of their lips pressed together in those few confused seconds between wolf and human.

"Including that," Hunter quipped, keeping his voice as light as he could. God, would Cam even remember any of this? Maybe he could just--

Gold eyes snapped back to his, guilt and anger written all over his face. Cam produced an awfully convincing growl, and the sound was enough to get anyone's guard up. Human or not, Hunter was talking to the wolf now.

"If you fucking bite me again," Hunter said quietly, "I will take your head off. Got that?"

A sound from the hallway made Cam spin away, and the air seemed to flicker around him as he flowed into that damned wolf shape again. A line of fur stood on end from his neck all the way to his tail, but it was a long moment before Hunter could identify the noise as a familiar voice. All things considered, that was a really freaky look.

He heard Blake shouting his name, and he raised his voice without thinking. "In here!"

The howl almost drowned him out. It suddenly occurred to him to get between Cam and the door, which he didn't do quite fast enough. Blake was quicker than he was, and he burst into the lab like he expected to find bloody remains.

Unfortunately, the large wolf didn't take kindly to someone racing into his territory like they belonged there. Which they did, by the way, if Cam would bother to check his possessiveness at the door. But he hadn't, and Hunter ended up knocking him out of the way as they both struggled to reach Blake first.

"Back off!" Hunter yelled, when the wolf came at them again. "We're on your side, here!"

"Bro," Blake said urgently. The wolf was subsiding, reluctantly, hackles still raised, but Blake was looking at Hunter. "You all right?"

"Yeah, fine," Hunter answered. He was keeping one eye on Cam. "You get rid of Lothor's latest deal?"

"Yeah, like it wasn't even trying." Which sounded alarmingly like what Cam had been saying before. "Bro, you gotta get that looked at."

"What?" Hunter frowned at him, then followed his gaze to his own arm. "Oh. Right."

"Come on," Blake insisted. "Let's get going."

He had a flashlight, Hunter noted absently, but he was careful to keep it pointed away from their wolf friend. "How'd you find us?" he asked. It wasn't that he was stalling for time so much as it was that he had no idea how Cam was going to react to the idea of leaving the lab and... well, he was stalling for time.

"Sensei told us where you'd gone, and once we busted past that door we split up to look for you." Blake swung his flashlight around to shine it directly on Hunter's arm. "What'd you do, stick you arm in his mouth?"

"Something like that," Hunter muttered.

The wolf growled. Hunter frowned at him. "You got something to say?"

The wolf's upper lip curled in warning and Hunter sneered right back. "Sucks to be you," he taunted. "Too bad you can't talk. Oh, that's right--you can. When you're human."

This was a wolf that probably looked mad when it was asleep, and it did "menacing as hell" like nobody's business. Even Blake was shifting nervously behind him. Hunter just held out his left arm and offered, "What, you gonna bite this one too? Go ahead. Make my day."

At that, the wolf lowered its head and did a credible impression of mad and ashamed at the same time. "Yeah, whatever," Hunter muttered. "I'll bite you next time."

"Bro?" Blake said, after a long pause in which no one moved.

"Yeah, I'm coming." Hunter headed for the door, then stopped when he got there and turned around. "Well?"

Without lifting its head, the wolf gave him a dark glare. But it trotted over to join them willingly enough, and Hunter followed Blake out into the hall without another word. They headed back the way they'd come, toward the treatment room that served the indoor practice areas. Blake called the others on the way, keeping a none too subtle eye on the wolf the whole time.

Everyone but Dustin was waiting for them when they got there. The place looked eerie and hostile by flashlight, but even in the dimness the wolf retreated to the farthest corner and made itself small. Or maybe that was because of the guinea pig glare Sensei was throwing in his direction.

Rabid guinea pig with a very small stick, Hunter thought inconsequentially.

Blake cleaned and wrapped his arm for him, filling him in on the details of the zord fight while he did so. In return, Hunter passed on what little Cam had been able to tell him about Lothor--which also required an explanation of his weird tendency to shapeshift, something apparently none of the others had known about until now. Even Sensei seemed surprised, and not a little disturbed.

"Is Cameron... clear, in human form?" Sensei asked, with obvious hesitation.

"Clear like does he know what's going on?" Hunter shrugged. "Yeah, no question. He's clear like that now. But clear like, can he express himself?" He threw an apologetic look in the wolf's direction. "Not so much."

The wolf didn't so much as lift his head.

At least not until Dustin barreled through the doorway a moment later, checking himself as he entered the room and looking around curiously. Hunter lifted his chin to indicate the prone form under the farthest table from the light, and Dustin followed his direction. He nodded at the wolf, who just lowered his head again and closed his eyes.

"No one's picking up on the secret tipline," Dustin told them, shrugging a little self-consciously. "They might not be able to tell us anything anyway... like, if Lothor did this, it's probably some really advanced thing no one else would know about, right?"

"That may be so, Dustin." Sensei was starting to sound a little more like himself, or maybe he was just falling into his "support and encourage" routine. "But a question unasked will often go unanswered."

"Yeah, I know, Sensei." Like they'd never heard that one before. "I'll keep trying."

"Is Cam--" Tori stopped, and this time the wolf looked up at the sound of his name. "Well, no offense, Cam," she said apologetically. "But you were kind of... hard to talk to, before. Are you... is he in control of himself?" she asked Hunter. Looking back at Cam, she added, "Are you?"

The wolf just looked at her, then swung his head slowly toward Hunter.

"He doesn't think he is," Hunter said quietly.

"Well, neither do I," Blake put in, giving Hunter's arm a significant glance.

The wolf got to its feet, turned deliberately a hundred and eighty degrees, and lay down again--facing the wall. He lowered his head to his paws and sighed, a sharp exhalation that they could all hear. His shoulders slumped as his tail settled over top of one of his hind legs, the tip drooping against the floor.

Pathetic. That was the only word to describe him, and it made Hunter feel weirdly protective. He shoved that feeling away as best he could, reminding himself firmly that this wasn't some random stray. This was still Cam, that super sharp brain still inside somewhere, probably filing away everything they said and did to use against them later.

"He thinks someone should stay with him," Hunter offered, trying to keep his voice neutral. He couldn't let himself sound sympathetic. "To make sure he doesn't do anything to... you know, sabotage Ninja Ops or something."

"What, so he should just be allowed to run around loose as long as someone's with him?" Blake demanded. "Look, no offense here, but I'm thinking muzzle, not babysitter."

There was no reaction from the shape under the table.

"He asked me to watch him," Hunter muttered. "I'm gonna do it. If it takes more than just someone watching, well... I guess we deal with that when it comes up."

"When it comes up?" Blake repeated incredulously. "What do you call that, a bruise from hitting the punching bag too hard? Does he have to tear your arm off or what?"

"I hit him first, okay?" Hunter snapped. "It was my fault. I wasn't kidding when I said I practically stuck my arm in his mouth--he had every right to go for me."

"We need Cam," Shane said, speaking up for the first time. "And we can't just lock him up somewhere; he doesn't deserve that. If Hunter's willing to keep an eye on him, I say we let him do it.

"Dustin," he added. "Keep trying to get in touch with your secret agents, find out if they know anything. Blake, see if you can backtrack to where this happened and turn up anything there. Tori and I will hit the books, try to find anything in the stuff that Sensei showed us when he changed that might help Cam."

"Yeah, okay," Dustin agreed easily.

"Sure thing." Blake didn't sound anywhere near as enthusiastic, but he didn't argue.

"I will assist you and Tori, Shane." Sensei's announcement came as no surprise, in fact Shane had probably been counting on it. He just nodded, then glanced in Hunter's direction.

"We're good," Hunter said, flexing his right wrist to test the give of his new bandage. "Me and Cam will check out the zords, see how the self-repair systems are doing."

It was an easy job, not really a job at all, but no one called him on it. He was the one with the wolf, after all. And he was injured. Hunter smirked to himself. He might get sympathy points out of this yet.

"Let us know if you need us," Shane advised him, and this time he didn't roll his eyes.

"Yeah," he repeated. "Sure." And he meant it.

So he ended up with a wolf tagalong while he did nothing in particular. The others either weren't finding anything or weren't bothering to keep him informed, and wandering around in semi-darkness had a sort of surreal feel that made him wonder what year it was. Even when Cam was Cam, he was unnerving company, but Hunter got the feeling that he didn't want to face the others again just yet. So they continued to wander.

He didn't earn any more scratch marks or bites, but he did learn that wolves liked to sleep whenever they weren't actively engaged in something. So twice he found himself risking life and undamaged limb to rouse Cam from whatever nap he'd slipped into, until finally he just gave in. It could be dinnertime or half past midnight for all he knew.

The next time the wolf curled up under something and went to sleep, Hunter let him. He even sat down on the floor next to him for a little while, but then he decided that those knee cushions in the cupboard had a lot to offer in the way of comfort. He was just going to lie down for a few minutes. The cushions turned out to be better than he expected, though, and he didn't wake up until he felt fur tickling his skin.

The wolf had come over and laid down next to him.

2. Sucks to Be You

Normal. He felt normal when he woke up, and he was almost afraid to move in case the feeling vanished. Because he might feel perfectly normal but then his ear would twitch or his whiskers would prickle against the floor or his arms wouldn't bend in quite the right way and he would have a tail. And then it wouldn't have been a dream.

He couldn't stay still forever. His fingers clenched first, and he had fingers, and that was such a relief that he felt tears sting his eyelids. Which, unfortunately, was disturbing in and of itself, because it meant that his emotional control was still tenuous at best.

Cam drew in a breath, a breath that was meant to be calming but actually had the opposite effect when the movement reminded him of where he was. On the floor--because he had been a wolf when he'd fallen asleep. Next to Hunter... because Hunter hadn't left his side since learning what had happened.

Hunter. He moved when Cam did. He would get up now, he would leave, he would--

No. He couldn't deal with this. Not now. Hunter shouldn't be here. No one should be here, he should be alone, the darkness should be empty save for him. He couldn't stand to have anyone see him like this.

He dared to open his eyes, and every detail of Hunter's appearance leapt out at him. Features still relaxed in sleep, body sprawled across cushions that were little more than a formality on the hard floor. Cam's eyes went to his left wrist--still bare--and then drifted guiltily to the other, swathed in a bandage that wound all the way to his elbow.

Hunter moved again: waking up, he could tell. He heard himself growl in warning. The Crimson Ranger wasn't going anywhere if he could help it.

"You think that's funny, but it's not."

Hunter hadn't opened his eyes, and his voice was still sluggish with sleep. Yet he was awake enough to know who he was talking to... wasn't he? Suddenly Cam needed the reassurance of another human being's acknowledgement. He meant to say, "Hey," but the sound that came out was more of a bark than a greeting.

It got Hunter's attention. His first glimpse of Cam made him jerk away, pulling back like he expected violence. Cam sighed soundlessly. He probably deserved that.

He tried to brush it off, forcing a smirk and praying his voice would cooperate this time. "Gotcha," he murmured. The word came out after all, and he might be surprised but Hunter didn't seem to be.

"If you don't kill me, it'll be because I kill you first," the other Ranger warned. Almost as an afterthought, he added, "And don't think your toothy alter ego will save you."

"Saving him" wasn't his first expectation when it came to his new wolf form. Quite the opposite, in fact. He wasn't sure he could articulate something that complex right now, though, so he went with something simpler.

"Can't kill you," Cam muttered. He was torn between pronouncing the words as carefully as he could and uttering them very softly in case something went wrong. "Can't--you're... need you," he whispered, then repeated more determinedly, "I need you."

What was it about first person pronouns, anyway? Didn't wolves ever think "I"?

"Yeah," Hunter said, after an awkward silence. "Well. About that. You wanna tell me what happened?"

Sure, that was exactly what he wanted to do. Right after his empty stomach stopped radiating dull pain throughout his midsection and he found a bathroom while he was still human. He didn't want to let Hunter out of his sight. But he wasn't about to be walked, either.

"Food?" He had meant it to be a declaration, an assertion of fact: he needed food. He felt his face tingle with warmth when it came out as little more than a whimper. What was wrong with him? Even when he wasn't an animal, he wasn't himself.

"Yeah, right, food, sure." Hunter actually sounded chagrinned, which Cam might have found funny if it didn't make him even more miserable. He preferred normal Hunter, the Hunter who made fun of him endlessly, to this... embarrassment. Because if Hunter was embarrassed, then it must be really bad.

He watched Hunter patting the floor clumsily, not sure what he was doing until the other Ranger's fingers closed on the flashlight. What did he need that for? Cam winced away from the light instinctively, but he didn't realize he'd growled until Hunter glared at him.

"Just because you can suddenly see in the dark doesn't mean the rest of us are so lucky," Hunter informed him. "I gotta know where the walls are, at least."

Cam stared at him. He couldn't see them? He glanced around quickly, but it was perfectly easy to see the outlines of the room--except within the searing cone of light from the flashlight. "You can't... see?" he asked, dismayed. "Without it?"

Hunter sounded disturbingly tentative. "Look, Cam..." He even hesitated, and Cam hated it. "You've obviously got a lot of wolf in you, okay? Even when you're human. Weird wolf. I've never heard of a wolf that doesn't like light."

Weird wolf. "Werewolf," Cam whispered.

Hunter scoffed, and it was the most reassuring thing Cam had heard since he woke up. "That's ridiculous. Lothor did this, just like he did to your father. Your dad's not supernatural.

"At least," he added as an afterthought, "no more than he was before." There was a pause. "Right?"

Cam tried to smile, then gave up when he realized Hunter apparently wouldn't be able to see it anyway. "No," he agreed. Everything his dad did now was no more than any Wind ninja master could do. "He does what he... did before."

"Okay." Hunter seemed to think that proved his point. "You're no different. Maybe Lothor just changed you into some kind of weird nocturnal breed."

A weird nocturnal breed that shapeshifts? Cam wondered, but he didn't say it aloud. He chose to believe that was because he didn't want to, rather than because he couldn't.

"Speaking of," Hunter said, careful to keep the flashlight pointed away while he got to his feet, "that changing thing you do. Not so convinced it's because your mind isn't as strong as your dad's.

"In fact," he continued, heading for the door, "I'm kinda thinking it's the other way around." He paused when he reached the door to glance over his shoulder, and he seemed surprised to find Cam right behind him.

"No," Cam said firmly. He didn't know why he was sometimes human, but he knew he didn't have anything on a trained ninja master when it came to strength of perception. Whatever the explanation was, that wasn't it.

"No?" Hunter regarded him for a moment. When he started down the hallway again he moved slowly, like he was waiting to see if Cam would follow his lead. "Okay. You got any other ideas?"

He didn't like being a wolf anymore than Hunter did. There were a couple of obvious differences between him and his father, though, and he was a little impatient with the Crimson Ranger's obtuseness. "The attack," he said. "Ra--my Ranger powers."

"Your amulet," Hunter agreed. They were heading for the living quarters, Cam realized suddenly. "Yeah, okay, that's a difference. What about the attack?"

"Don't know," Cam snapped. Obviously. If he did, wouldn't he have said so? "Maybe he..." He was beyond frustrated with not being able to find the right words. "Did it differently."

"You think maybe Lothor did it on purpose?" Hunter repeated. "Made it so you would change, or that you wouldn't have any control over it? That actually makes some kinda sense," he added, not waiting for Cam's answer. "You can do more damage as a human, right? At least to the computers. The wolf thing just makes you--"

He gave Cam a quick sideways glance, but the flashlight remained pointing straight ahead. "Irrational."

"No," Cam said irritably. He wasn't just irrational. Even irrational people knew words. "More."

"More... irrational?" He heard the smirk in Hunter's voice, quickly erased from his face. "Or more than just irrational?"

"More," Cam insisted. "Can't... I can't--" How could Hunter not get it? "I can't talk," he burst out. And getting upset didn't seem to help, because that had been dangerously close to a howl.

"Yeah, okay, good point." The humor was definitely gone from Hunter's voice now, and finally he didn't sound placating either. He sounded like he was talking to an equal again, which was good and annoying at the same time, because who did he think he'd been talking to before?

"But you can use the computers," Hunter was saying. "Why is talking a problem if programming isn't?"

Programming. He was glad Hunter had supplied the word for him, even if he was wrong. "Not programming," Cam said emphatically. He supposed it was an indicator of how little experience the other Rangers had with computers that his inability looked the same as skill to them. "Can't. Habit. Like talking."

He could hear Hunter frowning. "But yesterday you were--"

"Not programming," Cam snapped. They didn't know anything. He couldn't even trust himself to answer "yes" or "no" to a simple script prompt. "Habit."

Hunter was quiet for a moment. It was hard to tell whether he understood or not, but Cam couldn't explain it any better. The question that eventually followed was chilling in its precision. Maybe the words were vague, but the concern they expressed was all too familiar.

"So," Hunter said quietly, "you can't do things, but you can still think them... right?"

Cam didn't answer, and it wasn't because he couldn't. Just that he didn't want to.

"Can you tell?" Hunter asked carefully. "Whether you think the same way you did before?"

He breathed out. There must have been something wolfish in the sound, because Hunter looked at him sideways. And there was no avoiding the question that haunted his own thoughts. He could only guess how unreliable his own impressions were right now, and unfortunately that was his answer.

"No," Cam said flatly.

"No, you can't tell?" Hunter pressed. "Or no, you don't... think, the same as before?"

He recognized the door to his own room, and he started to turn away. Hunter's hand fell on his shoulder. It was a pressure that was meant to hold him in place and Cam whirled, a snarl on his face.

Hunter didn't flinch.

Cam glared at him for a long moment, but Hunter didn't move. There was a steadiness in his gaze that said he had been prepared for exactly that reaction. He didn't back down and he didn't look away--and the wolf, damn him, found it terribly appealing.

Cam swallowed, letting his gaze fall. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Answer the question," Hunter said, just as quietly.

He couldn't tell. That's what he wanted to say, he couldn't tell how differently he thought now compared to the way he'd thought before. He felt like he thought normally, the same way he always had. But yesterday...

He had bitten Hunter. That was not the action of a normal, rationally thinking human being. Okay, he had been a wolf at the time, but as far as he could tell the physical distinction was sharper than the mental one. Occasionally he had felt that things made more sense as a wolf than they did as a human, and that couldn't be right.

He tried to keep his voice as even as Hunter's when he answered, but it was almost impossible. "Don't... think right," he admitted, still staring at the floor.

"But you understand more than you can say," Hunter insisted. He could feel those intent eyes on him, and he bristled a little. He wasn't going to play submissive out of some misguided sense of guilt forever.

He lifted his gaze to Hunter's, meeting his eyes deliberately. "Yes."

Hunter's steadiness wavered, and Cam felt his mouth twist into a smirk without any instruction from him. Nice to see Hunter flustered again, even if only for a moment. He used to be able to do that easily, more often, with a single snide remark. Now even his snide remarks sounded basic and broken, when they weren't completely unintelligible.

He hated this.

But he liked Hunter.

It didn't take Hunter long to recover. "Okay," he said, gaze flicking away and back. "Then we'll figure this out. No problem."

Cam kept watching him until he realized why he was doing it. "After," he said abruptly, turning toward his door again.

"Mind if I come in?" Hunter asked from behind him. "Use the bathroom?"

Cam nodded, unlocking his door and then pausing. He wouldn't be able to do that as a wolf--would he? He'd been able to manage the Ninja Ops controls only because they had floor overrides. His room didn't. He would have to leave it unlocked if he wanted to be able to get in when he wasn't... human.

"You be able to do that as a wolf?" Hunter seemed to have read his mind.

"No," Cam muttered. He left the door unlocked as he went in, heading for the bathroom without another word. Hunter didn't have to worry about how long he'd be able to make use of the most basic parts of his environment. He could wait his turn.

It wasn't until Cam was standing at the sink, washing his hands and splashing water on his face, that he actually looked in the mirror. And he froze, water running down his skin and dripping from his jaw as he stared at his eyes. They were... glowing. Glowing yellow and illuminating the shadows around him in a seriously creepy way.

And Hunter had been looking at that... looking him in the eye all this time?

Suddenly Cam forgave Hunter for his reaction when he first woke up.

Somewhat subdued, he didn't meet Hunter's eyes when he left the bathroom. He saw the flashlight flick in his direction, the light not quite touching him before it glanced away. The fleeting assessment must have satisfied Hunter, because he vanished into the bathroom without a word.

Cam changed his clothes by rote, not sure how much good it would do him if--when--he became a wolf again, but thoroughly sick of his training uniform. Any amount of comfort was worth the trouble of finding decent jeans and a shirt. He felt a pang of guilt when he realized that Hunter hadn't been home at all. He wouldn't even have the chance to change as long as he had to keep babysitting Cam.

Maybe Hunter should just go. It wasn't like he couldn't keep himself out of trouble for a little while, at least. And part of him embraced the idea of solitude, the chance to hide from everything that had happened... while another, louder, part rebelled angrily at the thought of losing the only good thing to come from this: Hunter's undivided attention.

The door opened and light spilled into his room from the hallway. Cam howled, flinging his arms across his face and crouching into the corner instinctively. He heard his father's voice, calm words barely penetrating the roaring in his ears as rage flooded his brain.

Light. His father. An intruder. His uncontrollable reaction.

He wheeled, bracing himself to lunge. He was already in the air when someone he didn't want to hurt got in the way. He tried to twist, shoulder slamming into Hunter's gut, yelping in surprise when arms came up to support him before he could crash to the ground. He slid clumsily backward, turning his eyes away from the door while he got his legs under him and buried his nose between his paws.

"Close the door already!" Hunter's voice was impatient and not at all respectful. "Geez, Sensei, what are you doing here? Why'd you turn on the lights? What did you say to him?"

The painfully bright light disappeared momentarily. "I did not realize Cameron was here." The words made his ears twitch, and he felt his hackles rise at the sound of his father's voice.

Then there was a familiar presence at his side and a tentative touch on his shoulder. Hunter. He would know the man by touch alone. "You okay, buddy?"

His breath wuffed out through his mouth, somewhere between a sigh and a whimper, but he struggled gamely to straighten his front legs and push himself into a sitting position. He turned his head, nuzzling Hunter's hand without thinking. Fingers slid through the thick fur at the base of his ear, and he sighed gratefully.

"Sensei, what did you say to him?" Hunter's tone was low and soothing, and if the words were aimed at his father then the voice was for him. It did help, but it wasn't enough to keep him from shifting when Hunter added, "He's been human all morning, and now we're right back where we started."

His voice might be calm, but somehow he could sense Hunter's frustration. It bothered him. He glared at the tiny form of his father, perched almost at eye level on his gliding habitat cart.

It was a shocking thought.

"I only greeted him," his father was saying. "I told him I was glad to see him as he usually is again, and I apologized for the light when it became clear that it bothered him. I assure you, I said nothing out of the ordinary."

"He was human when you came in," Hunter repeated, the tension in his frame communicating itself through the hand that was still buried in his fur. "And now he's not. So it was either you, or the light... or something else."

Yes, thank you Hunter. That narrows things down a lot. The thought sprang into his consciousness fully formed, but he had no way to express it. He could only listen as his father pointed out, "He was exposed to light intermittently yesterday, and there appeared to be little or no lasting physical effect."

"After he was a wolf," Hunter pointed out. "I dunno, maybe it only works one way. Light changes him but darkness doesn't change him back."

It wasn't the light. He would know if it was the light. The light hurt, but it definitely didn't make him turn into a wolf.

"What does cause him to change back?" his father inquired. "So far he has only managed to maintain human form in your presence."

"That's 'cause I'm the only one he's been alone with for very long," Hunter shot back. "Obviously he's not gonna relax when everyone's standing around staring at him."

He straightened. Relax. Now that sounded... right. Familiar. Relax. The wolf shape faded when he was relaxed. It returned with a vengeance when he was angry, surprised, upset. Hunter had figured it out.

"You believe he can control the shift of his form by calming his mind?" His father sounded as close to skeptical as he ever got.

The combination of his father's disapproval and Hunter's obvious distress made him growl. Hunter was right. His father was wrong. And he couldn't even tell them.

"It would seem that Cameron disagrees," his father remarked.

He gave the little furry thing as angry a look as he could manage. It didn't know anything. And no wonder. What kind of brain could fit into something so small?

The thought sent him staggering back, whining. Where was it coming from? Why wouldn't it go away? He was starving. It shouldn't matter. He couldn't--it just wasn't possible--

He bolted, skidding to a halt in front of the door and pawing anxiously at it while it thought about his presence. He heard Hunter speaking to him, but he didn't understand a word of it and that scared him as much as anything. When the door finally deigned to open he was gone, eyes squeezed shut against the bright assault as panic overwhelmed the urge to hide.

He knew the turns and he knew which door was which, even if distance was totally skewed by his lupine form. He found the kitchen without banging into too much. The room was dark but the door didn't close behind him, and it was several long seconds before he could concentrate enough to slit his eyes against the light and force it shut. He was so, so hungry...

And he couldn't get to the food. He snarled in frustration, the sound trailing off into a whimper as he realized exactly how helpless he was here. Just because the doors responded to him didn't mean he could open the refrigerator. And there wasn't much in the cupboards that he would want even if he could reach it.

He wanted out. Out of this body, out of this place, out of all of Ninja Ops and into the mountains and away. But he wanted food more. There was no way he was going to find anything to eat out there; he had no hunting skills and he wasn't sure he could bring himself to kill something even if he did. He had to stay here.

He prowled the little kitchen until he heard footsteps in the hallway--a long stride moving quickly, with no accompanying cart sounds or human company. He knew who he wanted it to be. But he slunk down in the corner just in case.

The door opened, but no light from the hallway came with it. Not even the glow of a flashlight. A tall figure stood there, light hair bright against the shadows as he made a token effort at peering around. The way he swung his head made it clear that he wasn't seeing anything in the darkness.

"Cam?" It was Hunter's voice, cautious but not frightened. "You in here?"

He lifted his head enough for an affirming growl.

"Okay." There was a pause, and then, "I'm going to turn my flashlight back on, okay?"

He grumbled under his breath.

"Yeah, well." Hunter didn't seem to take him seriously. "I'm not gonna be much use without it. And I'm the one with the opposable thumbs, so I'm pretty sure I get to decide."

It might have made him smile, had he been human. As it was, he just crept out of the corner and settled himself closer to Hunter. He needed food. He needed it yesterday. And Hunter wasn't leaving till he got it.

"Your dad's gone off to meditate or something," Hunter remarked, heading for the refrigerator. "He didn't say what he was doing in your room to start with, but I figured that was a family thing so not really any of my business." His tone said he would have liked to make it his business, though, and for some reason that was gratifying.

"I'm guessing you don't want cereal," Hunter added. He set his flashlight down to crack the refrigerator door open, and more light washed across the floor. "There's some, uh... hey, are these the leftovers from the weekend? If I'd known you weren't going to finish 'em I would've eaten them myself!"

Steak. There was steak in the leftovers. Which just went to show how much he knew, because that meant there had been a time when some other food had won out over steak. That time was definitely not now. He lowered his head to nudge Hunter in the back of the knee, silently urging him to hurry up. He was hungry.

"Yeah, I know, I get it." Hunter sounded more amused than annoyed. "Sucks to be you. You want a plate, or what?"

He sat back on his haunches and fixed Hunter with a glare. It wasn't as satisfying as it could have been, mostly because he knew Hunter couldn't see him that well with the light from the refrigerator blinding him. But if his eyes were still doing that glowing thing? Maybe the point would get across.

"Right." Hunter opened one of the cupboards and pulled something out, setting it on the counter before proceeding to unwrap the foil packages and dump their contents onto it. "Plate it is."

Hunter was turning away from the counter when it happened. He was looking right at him, but he didn't so much as blink. He just put the plate back on the counter and opened the silverware drawer. Pulling out a knife and a fork, he held them out handle first and offered the plate again.

Cam took them without a word. He wanted to say, Thanks, but he didn't trust his voice. Nor did he trust Hunter's continued lack of reaction if he tried to say something and it came out as a growl, or worse.

"Were you wearing your amulet under your uniform before?" Hunter's question seemed to come out of nowhere, but it made him look down automatically.

The samurai amulet hung over top of his shirt now. He hadn't bothered to tuck it underneath when he changed his clothes. It was glowing, the light faint but very noticeable in the dimly lit kitchen. Probably even more so to Hunter, who would see the room as totally dark except for the flashlight he'd set on the counter and aimed at the wall.

Cam set his knife down and reached for the amulet. He touched it tentatively, surprised at its warmth, and he hesitated a moment before wrapping his fingers around it. He frowned, wondering at the feeling of calm that came with the gesture. Was that significant, or just psychosomatic?

He lifted his gaze to Hunter's, puzzled. "It's warm," he said simply.

"Yeah?" Hunter was watching him closely. "It usually glow like that?"

He shook his head.

"Your eyes aren't glowing anymore," Hunter observed.

Cam let go of the amulet, but the light had faded from it now.

"You doing okay?" Hunter asked after a moment.

He concentrated on eating, knowing enough to prioritize by now. What time was it, anyway? He glanced around and caught sight of the clock on the microwave. 5:37. He must have fallen asleep awfully early last night.

"Yeah," he muttered, when he realized Hunter was still waiting. He swallowed, then continued, "You're right."

"I'm right?" He could see Hunter raise an eyebrow, even in the shadows. "About what?"

"Before," he clarified. Apparently wolves weren't used to using the past tense, either. "Change when--I change when I'm upset. I don't know why."

"To a wolf, you mean?" Now Hunter was frowning. "You turn into a wolf when you're upset... and you turn back when you're--" He stopped, seemingly unwilling to say what he'd said before to Cam's face.

"When I relax," Cam finished quietly. "I think you're right."

Hunter folded his arms, and it seemed to Cam an unconsciously defensive gesture. "Yeah, well, your dad didn't think so."

He couldn't keep himself from growling, but he did manage to choke it off when Hunter raised an eyebrow at him. "No," he muttered. "He didn't." He turned his attention back to his food, trying to suppress the sudden urge to lash out at something, anything.

His father made him angry, that much was obvious. Why was less so.

"You sound clearer," Hunter said carefully.

The non sequitur caught him by surprise, dissipating his discontent and putting him strangely off-balance. He looked up at Hunter, trying to understand. "What?"

"You're talking..." Hunter trailed off, maybe fishing for words, maybe just expecting him to get it without them. "More normally," he said at last. "Did you notice?"

Cam shook his head, unwilling to jeopardize this new perception by saying anything else. But a half-hearted witticism sprang to mind anyway, and he opened his mouth before he thought. "Maybe it's the food."

He saw Hunter's grin, quickly smothered, like he didn't want to offend Cam by being too amused. His tone was casual, as noncommittal as ever when he offered, "Maybe it's the amulet."

Cam looked down at it for a moment, then back up at him.

"You were clearer when you woke up this morning than you were last night," Hunter pointed out. "And you're better now than you were when you woke up. Maybe the amulet is countering the dark ninja powers somehow."

In that moment, he really, really liked Hunter. He was overwhelmed by the thought of everything the Crimson Ranger had done for him, and he couldn't find the words to say so. He wanted... he wanted to--

He closed his eyes, at least able to recognize the mood swing for what it was, but still utterly unable to deal with it rationally. "Hunter," he whispered. He swallowed, hoping Hunter wouldn't ask, hoping something would happen that would shatter the moment.

"Yeah?" Hunter sounded concerned, sympathetic, way too involved for a teammate who had just happened to get in the way when he'd needed someone to hit. Someone who had taken the abuse and given it right back when he deserved it--he had known this was the only person who would be able to keep him sane.

Now he knew more than that, and he clenched his fists in an effort to ignore it. "Don't be too nice to me," he murmured. Hunter was the only one strong enough to take whatever he could dish out when he lost it, and the wolf in him respected that like nothing else. Wanted that like nothing else.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hunter demanded. All trace of sympathy was gone from his voice. "I've been with you for going on twelve hours now, okay? I haven't been home, I haven't showered, I haven't even eaten, and all I have to show for it is a torn uniform and a bandaged arm! I don't know what else you want from me, Cam!"

Don't you? He opened his eyes, staring hard at Hunter. When he looked, all he found was frustration in the other Ranger's expression. Hunter probably didn't realize that challenging him would only make the situation worse.

"Gonna turn into a wolf now?" Hunter sneered. "Change 'cause I pissed you off? Great. Do it. Maybe I'll have time to eat something while you go find someone else to attack."

Hunter came close enough to snatch the fork away from him, and Cam barely heard him snap, "I'll take this, if you don't want it."

Cam grabbed his hand. In a blur of motion, Hunter went to block with his good arm and Cam knocked it out of the way, moving in too close too fast for Hunter to shove him back. He stopped a breath away from Hunter's face. If Hunter would just look away, if he would drop his head, give in...

Their gazes locked. Hunter was tense. Defiant. Nowhere near backing down.

Proud.

Possessiveness washed over Cam, and he pressed his mouth to Hunter's hungrily. He took it for granted when Hunter tilted his head and opened his mouth, letting him in, his very presence dominating Cam in return. This was how it should be.

He heard a sound from Hunter, a soft, grateful sound that made his skin flush with heat. He felt the hand he had grabbed relax a little, the fingers curling over his, and he let up in surprise. Hunter didn't let him go. His mouth teased Cam's, his reaction tickling his senses, turning his clumsy kiss into something more gentle but no less intent.

There was a knock on the kitchen door.

The fork clattered to the floor when their hands jerked apart.

"Don't--" Hunter began, but it was too late.

He snarled in frustration, and he heard Hunter swear. That must have been enough to alarm the person at the door, because it opened without any further warning and a second flashlight cut a careless swath through the kitchen. He flinched, growling a warning.

"Don't," Hunter repeated. This time there was no appeal in his voice. It was a threat, pure and simple. Don't mess with my bro.

He swung his head around to snap at the Crimson Ranger. He wasn't doing it on purpose.

Unfortunately, the motion only drew the intruder's attention, and that flashlight found and focused on him. He cringed, baring his teeth, trying to glare through eyes that were squeezed shut. Hunter was saying something, but the light wasn't going away and he was this close to just tearing it out of Blake's hand--

He took one stiff-legged step forward and he heard Blake warn, "Don't even think about it." Anger and indignation and shame surged through him, and he could feel the fur on his back standing up. How dare he!

"Give me that," Hunter snapped, yanking the flashlight out of Blake's hand and flipping it off in one smooth motion. "Doesn't anyone around here listen? He doesn't. Like. Light!"

He lunged forward, and Hunter held the flashlight out to one side almost casually. He ripped it free without even touching Hunter's fingers, but he heard Blake shout in surprise. He skidded a little as he slid into the farthest corner, dropping the flashlight with a satisfying crack and shoving it up against the counter before turning around to sit in front of it. One, he thought, was plenty.

"He's not gonna hurt us," Hunter was saying disgustedly. "His eyes are sensitive, okay? It's probably like getting stabbed in the head with needles."

"So, is that better or worse than getting your arm mauled by fangs?" Blake demanded.

"Let it go already." Hunter sounded irritable, and he watched worriedly as they argued for the second time in as many days. Over him. "I can take care of myself, bro."

Blake seemed to realize it too. "Yeah, okay, I know," he agreed, holding up his hands in surrender. "I just came by to drop some stuff off before practice. Your gear bag's in the control room, and I brought you a change of clothes."

Gear. Blake was on his way to practice. Even if Hunter skipped it, he would have to go to work eventually. He would have to leave.

"Thanks, bro." The sincere relief in Hunter's voice shamed him. Hunter shouldn't be here at all. He didn't need anyone to babysit him. Why had he insisted? Why had he let Hunter stay with him for so long? So he was a wolf. So what. He was fine.

"I'm not gonna go to work today," Hunter was saying. "You mind letting Kelly know?"

"Yeah, I'll cover for you." Blake didn't question it, not even bothering to ask what Hunter wanted him to say. "Sensei says to tell you he'll bring you up to speed whenever you want. Said he'd seen you before but Cam wasn't in the mood to talk."

"Breakfast was more important," Hunter said with a straight face. "We'll catch up with him in a while."

"Right," Blake agreed, apparently accepting this without curiosity. "I'm gonna head. Take care of yourself, bro."

"You too." Hunter clasped his hand briefly.

Blake nodded to Cam, then paused. "Hey, can I have my flashlight back?"

He didn't move. At least, not until Hunter walked over and held out his hand wordlessly. Then he sidled reluctantly out of the way, allowing Hunter to retrieve the flashlight and hand it back to Blake. To his credit, the Navy Ranger put his hand over the light before turning it on to make sure it worked.

"Thanks," Blake said, turning it off again and heading for the door. "Later, guys."

The door closed behind him, and Hunter didn't say anything for a long moment. Finally, though, he picked up the plate off the counter and set it down on the floor. Then he turned away, pulling open one cupboard after another as he dug out the aforementioned cereal. He cracked the refrigerator door as little as possible when retrieving the milk, and he left it out on the counter when he was done with it.

When he leaned back against the counter, he seemed surprised to find the plate on the floor clean. "Damn," Hunter said, pausing with his spoon just above the cereal. "Think how fast you could eat a sandwich. Even, like, a foot-long sub."

The words were awkward, attempted levity that sounded almost foreign, but still reassuring in a way that was hard to explain. He found himself suddenly kneeling on the floor, hands braced against his thighs as he glanced down at his amulet. Glowing. And warm again when he reached up to touch it.

Hunter didn't say a word.

Cam picked up his plate and pushed himself to his feet, just catching himself when the floor seemed to shift.

Hunter didn't miss the slight stagger. "You okay?"

"Yeah." He crossed the room and set the plate in the sink carefully. "Balance. My balance changes. It's--weird."

That made Hunter scoff, but his tone was amused. "Could be weirder."

He ran the water in the sink, watching it pool and flood over the edge of the plate. He'd forgotten his silverware. "It is weirder," he said softly.

He heard Hunter moving behind him. A moment later, a knife and fork were dropped into the sink beside his plate. He waited until Hunter had gone back to his cereal before looking up. "You... you don't have to stay." Here, he meant to say. With me, all day.

He didn't want to say it, but he meant to.

There was a long pause. When Hunter's voice replied, it was no more confident than his had been. "I know," he said uncertainly.

Cam pushed the sponge slowly across his plate, watching the bubbles squeeze out and collect on the surface of the water. "You're not," he began, then stopped. "You didn't... hit me, this time."

There was no answer.

What was he doing? He really didn't know. It was starting to come back to him, or maybe his memory was just crystalizing, becoming clearer as it sorted out the differences between human and lupine perception. He remembered the attack, the frantic instinct to get home afterward, his dad, the blur of Rangers coming and going around him...

He remembered landing on top of Hunter and knowing him, responding to him like none of the others. He had responded instinctively to that presence--or rather, the wolf had responded. And as far as he could tell, it hadn't stopped.

He needed Hunter. Not just to open the refrigerator, either. He needed Hunter to keep him from doing something stupid when the emotion surged through him and blotted out all rational thinking processes. He needed Hunter, because Hunter was the only one the wolf would listen to.

"You didn't startle me this time," Hunter said at last. His voice was even now, neutral, impenetrable, revealing nothing.

Cam tipped the plate to one side, letting the suds run off of it as he turned the water back on. He rinsed it, set it in the drainer, and swiped the sponge up and down his silverware before doing the same to it. He dropped the sponge and let the water run over his hands, then turned it off and watched it drip from his fingers.

The dishtowel landed on the counter next to him. He just looked at it for a moment. He could feel Hunter's gaze on him as he reached out to dry his hands. At that moment, the situation seemed maybe more surreal than ever.

Maybe that was what prompted him to ask, "Did you... kiss me?"

The spoon clattered against Hunter's cereal bowl. "Buddy, you kissed me."

Buddy, Cam thought distractedly. That was what Hunter had been calling the wolf. He wasn't sure whether he liked it or not, and he didn't know what it meant that Hunter was using it now.

"Tried to warn you," he muttered.

This time, Hunter's silence seemed surprised. "You--is that what that was? 'Don't be too nice to me'?" He didn't seem to expect an answer. "I thought you were being sarcastic, but you were serious, weren't you. What is that... like the anger? You can't control it?"

He might not be able to control his anger, but that didn't make it any less real.

Did it, he wondered? What was he feeling, really? If he wasn't sure what he was thinking, how could he be sure what he was feeling?

"I don't know," he mumbled at last. "I don't know what it is."

"Okay." Hunter's voice was almost... gentle. "It doesn't matter." There was a clink as he set his cereal bowl down on the counter, and then he asked, "You be okay for a few minutes if I go get my bag and change?"

He just nodded.

"Cam?" Hunter prompted. Whether he couldn't see the movement or it just wasn't enough for him was open to question, but he apparently he wasn't going to leave without a verbal confirmation.

"Fine," Cam managed. "Use my room. If you want."

"Okay." Hunter didn't hesitate. "Thanks."

He took the flashlight with him when he left, even if the lights were still on in the hallway. Cam sighed to himself. Those lights were going to make it harder to move around. As a human he could turn them off himself, but as a wolf it would be difficult.

Before trying to do anything else, he washed Hunter's dishes and put the milk away. He held down the button that kept the refrigerator light off, closing his eyes when he had to let go to close the door. Keeping his eyes shut did seem to help, which he was pretty sure it hadn't yesterday. Maybe that was a good sign.

He lifted his hand to the amulet again, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about it now. Maybe Hunter was right and it really was counteracting the dark ninja powers somehow. Maybe the effects of Lothor's attack were temporary and just happened to be fading all on their own. Or maybe he was just more human in the morning and he would revert to his confused wolf-state as soon as it got dark again.

Maybe he was screwed no matter what, because he was never going to be able to fix the relationships his wolf form was ruining every time he changed.

He felt normal, and that was the only justification he had for leaving the kitchen. After turning the hall lights out it seemed easy enough and safe enough to move through the underground base alone. After all, there shouldn't be anyone here except for him, his father, and Hunter. He wouldn't hurt Hunter, and no matter what he tried he didn't seriously believe he could hurt his father.

He should have stayed put. It had never seemed so clear as it did after Hunter found him in the control room, completing the lockout that would keep CyberCam offline. It was only reasonable, he thought. He had come across the virtual replicant sitting in his chair, running his programs, and taking over every routine he had put in place. They didn't need two of him.

"Cam." Hunter's voice was wary. "What are you doing?"

"Fixing him," Cam replied absently.

He didn't register the brief pause while Hunter tried to work that out, but when he spoke the steely note in the other Ranger's voice brought him up short. "Get away from the computer."

He hesitated.

"Cam. Get away from the computer."

Reluctantly, he turned his chair away from the mainframe. All it took was one look at Hunter's face and the dread settled into his stomach. He had just turned off CyberCam. His own backup, the Rangers' only failsafe should something happen to him, and he had disabled it. And it had seemed perfectly natural--it had seemed right that he do it.

"Where's CyberCam." Hunter said it like he already knew.

He couldn't answer.

"Will we be able to get him back online without you?"

He put his hands on the arms of the chair, clenching his fingers tightly. "No."

It took Hunter a moment to ask the obvious question. "Can you do it?"

His knuckles were white on the chair now. "I don't know." What if he suddenly decided to deactivate the security protocols instead? It would make it easier for him to--

He sprang out of the chair, horrified by the thought. "No!"

It sounded like a howl, even to him, and Hunter was in his face before he had time to blink. "Don't you fucking dare," Hunter hissed. His hands gripped Cam's arms, holding him as tightly as he had held the chair a moment before. "You're human, you got that? You don't get to go and hide just because something goes wrong!"

Cam sneered at him, as offended as ever by Hunter's patronizing attitude. He tried to yank his arms free but Hunter was ready for him and he wasn't letting go. Cam fought harder, angry at the confinement, at the protectiveness, at his own failure, and Hunter still won. He pinned Cam's arms and yanked him back against his chest when Cam tried to twist away.

He stood immobilized, the arm that had been wrenched behind his back trapped between them as Hunter held him in place. His eyes were hot and he bit his lip hard to keep another howl from escaping. He couldn't do this. He wasn't trained enough, skilled enough, strong enough for this.

"You picked me because I'm stronger than you," Hunter breathed in his ear. "Didn't you. You knew I could stop you."

Rage flared inside him and he went up on the balls of his feet to free his arm and slam his other elbow into Hunter's gut. He clawed his way free, the ferocity of the attack obviously taking Hunter by surprise, and he swung even as he turned. Hunter jerked back, stumbling in the face of the assault, and Cam kicked his feet out from under him.

Hunter went down, and Cam was right on top of him. It wasn't until his fingers dug into the lightweight material of Hunter's t-shirt that he realized he hadn't changed. Still human. He stared down at Hunter in shock.

Hunter had the audacity to grin back at him. "Okay," he said unexpectedly. "So it's mutual. Gonna beat me up just to prove you can?"

He closed his mouth, scrambling off of Hunter and shoving himself to his feet. He held out a hand automatically, and Hunter actually took it. When they were both standing again, Hunter gave him a lopsided smile. "I think you hit harder as a wolf."

Cam glared at him, and for some reason that made Hunter laugh. "Yeah, sorry. That's not scary anymore."

Against his will, Cam felt his mouth quirk upward at the corners.

"You realize that you'll never be able to threaten me again," Hunter continued. "Short of physical violence? The glare, the scowl, the 'how stupid are you' look... those just aren't going to cut it after this."

He was trying and failing to suppress his smile. "Did they before?" he muttered under his breath.

"Not usually," Hunter agreed. He seemed just short of... cheerful. "Think we should look for your father now? Blake said he could catch us up on anything the others found."

His father wasn't at the top of his list of people to see, but since there wasn't anyone on that list right now that probably wasn't saying much. He settled for a nod. Hunter stayed within arms' reach as they made their way out of the control room.

Ironic, Cam thought, that he was a calming influence.

3. Crazy Making

His arm hurt like hell. His arm hurt, Cam was a wolf again, and Sensei Watanabe was being even less useful than usual. He was missing work, a full day's pay, and for what? The privilege of trying to keep Cam from sabotaging Ninja Ops? The honor of being a wolf's favorite chew toy?

He wouldn't even be able to train with the gash Cam had put in his forearm. Not on academy grounds or at the track. Sensei had "released" him from the afternoon exercises, which was a polite way of saying he wasn't welcome with an injury like that, and he wasn't stupid enough to try controlling a bike with a bandaged arm.

All things considered, Hunter felt his dark mood was completely justified.

He didn't bother to look up when he heard the awkward sounds of a human being trying to get comfortable where a wolf had just been. He'd insisted that Cam follow him to the treatment room after their conference with Sensei so that he could replace the bandage on his arm, but otherwise, the silence between them was total. Wolf-Cam hadn't been much help in the conference, and Hunter didn't see any reason to make conversation now.

"I can do that for you," Cam said quietly.

It wasn't the sudden sound, or the unexpected offer, or even the fact that the offer was made in a complete sentence that made Hunter lift his head in surprise. It was the fact that Cam was right there--he hadn't even heard him cross the room--and he was practically hovering beside Hunter. It wasn't a token offer; he clearly intended to do this. And Hunter couldn't come up with a coherent protest.

"I'm almost--" He was practically done anyway. And Cam didn't need to be reminded of the damage he could do when he lost control. "You don't--"

Cam took his hand and Hunter couldn't finish. He just watched as Cam pressed gauze down behind his thumb and wound it once around his hand to anchor it, wrapping it over his wrist and up his arm in smooth, easy circles. He was way too good at that to be improvising, Hunter thought.

He stopped just below Hunter's elbow and nodded to indicate the roll of gauze. "Hold this?" He sounded so clear that Hunter obeyed without thinking, relinquishing responsibility for the situation for just a moment.

Only when Cam fumbled with the scissors did Hunter remember to think before doing whatever Cam told him to do. "Here, I'll get that--"

But Cam just gave him a look--a very human look of disgust--and put tension on the gauze with his fingers before clipping it quickly and neatly. "Clips?" he asked, holding the end of the makeshift bandage against Hunter's arm while he set the scissors down.

Hunter handed them over wordlessly. Well, what was he supposed to think? The man could barely use a knife and fork, then he came along and bandaged Hunter's arm like he was teaching an EMT class. Geez. He had no idea what Cam was capable of right now.

The clips were pressed gently into place, and Cam let go of his arm long enough to tear off a couple of strips of adhesive tape. Hunter offered his arm again when Cam went to cover the clips with tape. He couldn't stop watching, even though something told him that the best place for his eyes was somewhere, anywhere on the other side of the room.

"Okay," Cam said at last, nodding to indicate his satisfaction. "It's--" He lifted his gaze to Hunter's, and he paused when their eyes met. "Thanks," he amended softly. He looked uncomfortable for the first time. "It's just... it's fair."

He had never seen Cam look as vulnerable as he had these last couple days. It wasn't an excuse, but it was the only explanation he could come up with for the tenderness that he had been ruthlessly trying to suppress. Even as he reached out, part of him was still desperately trying to stop, screaming at him to keep that affection inside where it couldn't be used against him.

He had never been very good at listening to himself.

Cam flinched when Hunter's fingers touched his chin, but he didn't pull away. Hunter pretended to inspect the area where his fist had connected with Cam's jaw the day before, despite the fact that he couldn't make out much in the way of detail in the now red-lit room.

A little swollen, maybe, but not enough to draw attention... barely noticeable unless you were looking for it. Not quite on the same level as his arm, Hunter decided. He debated mentioning that to Cam.

What the hell.

"Doesn't look quite as bad as my arm," Hunter said, hoping it came out funny instead of mean. Or maybe rueful: he didn't hit as hard as Cam bit, apparently.

"That's not--" Cam swallowed. As quickly as Hunter lifted his gaze, though, Cam looked away, leaving him with only the vaguest sense of why Cam had stopped. "That's not the one I bit you for," he muttered.

It took Hunter a moment to figure that out, but when he did, his mouth twisted into a smile. "Oh?" he drawled. "I didn't connect with your face that time in the hall, huh?"

Cam shook his head. After a moment, he reached around and grabbed the back of his t-shirt, hiking it up over his back and twisting slightly so Hunter could see. Hunter's smile vanished. The back of Cam's shoulder was a knot of mottled purple and ugly yellow around the edges, coloring in the black lines of a tattoo Hunter hadn't known existed.

"Shit," Hunter blurted out. "I didn't hit you that hard!"

"I hit it," Cam muttered. "Again, I mean. This morning, when you... you stopped me from attacking Dad."

Cam had almost knocked the wind out of him, too. Suddenly he remembered the wolf's yelp, and the trouble he'd had sitting up afterward. He'd thought Cam was surprised, maybe upset. But his awkwardness could just have easily been pain.

Guilt gnawed at him from the inside. Damn it. Just because the guy was half wolf didn't mean he could take whatever Hunter threw at him.

"Why didn't you say something?" he growled. He was angry with himself for causing it and more than a little annoyed with Cam for allowing it. He couldn't be himself around someone who didn't fight back. Cam had always been that person--the one who challenged him, the one who couldn't be hurt... the one who was safe.

"Why didn't you?" Cam was glaring back at him, his freaky yellow eyes glowing gold in the dimly lit room. "Don't tell me you don't have bruises from yesterday! Don't tell me you're fine because I was there, Hunter! I knocked you down, I slammed you into the wall, I bit your arm!"

Funny that Cam losing his temper would help him get his own under control. "Yeah," he agreed, relaxing a little. "I haven't forgotten."

"This isn't a joke!" Cam shouted furiously. "I could kill you and you'd still be laughing about it!"

Language skills improving by the minute, Hunter thought. And the amulet was glowing, too. Interesting. He was happy to admit that he preferred Cam like this, clever and capable and angry, rather than the helpless despair of the day before.

"You couldn't kill me," Hunter informed him. "We both know it. So if you tried? Yeah, I probably would be laughing. Doesn't mean I think this is a joke."

Cam's eyes narrowed, and he took a step closer. "I could kill you," he said quietly, dangerously. From almost anyone else, it would have been ridiculous. From Cam, it was a deadly serious reminder that he was that good.

Almost that good, Hunter amended. "Couldn't," he told Cam.

"Could," Cam snapped.

Hunter smirked at him. "Definitely couldn't."

For a long moment, Cam just stared at him. His eyes were freakin' gorgeous, weird glowing thing or not, and Hunter wished he hadn't noticed. Yeah, okay, Cam was hot. Not exactly a news flash. He'd rather not think about it when they were standing this close to each other.

"I can't believe we're arguing about this," Cam said at last.

"Yeah," Hunter agreed. "You're obviously delusional."

"One of us is," Cam gritted. He didn't take his eyes off of Hunter.

He knew he shouldn't do it. He recognized that look, the one that meant the wolf was calling the shots, the one that meant he should just back off and let Cam have the point. But backing off wasn't one of those things he did.

"You think you can take me?" Hunter asked softly. At least he had the presence of mind to make his tone as unthreatening as possible... but he wouldn't look away first.

Cam stared at him. It didn't hurt, Hunter thought absently. It should, a look as harsh as that, but it was just a look. Like whatever Cam was thinking was directed more at himself than at Hunter. Like he wasn't really seeing Hunter at all...

Like he was fighting himself now, instead of Hunter.

Was that good or bad, Hunter wondered?

He didn't know what to say, so he kept his mouth shut and watched. Cam seemed to struggle with himself for a long time. To hit or not to hit, Hunter supposed. To go for him or not. To make him take those words back, to prove himself--

Cam dropped his gaze, turning that intense look to the floor. The rest of him didn't move, still frozen in the same tense stance that had challenged Hunter and lost. His mouth was open slightly, teeth bared, and the expression made Hunter frown. He was still dealing with the wolf.

He had won. He should leave it alone, accept his victory and let it go... wait for Cam to shake it off. He reached out anyway. He acknowledged a vague awareness that--human form or no--he was risking his fingers by touching Cam now.

Cam jerked away. Hunter flinched instinctively, but Cam just glared at him. "Don't do that," he hissed. "Don't touch me. Don't challenge me. And do not underestimate me."

Hunter tried not to smile. "I only ever underestimated you once," he told Cam. "And it's not a mistake I'll make again."

Cam didn't look at all reassured, and finally Hunter got that he wasn't trying to assert himself. He was trying to protect a fellow Ranger. "It could cost you more than your arm if you do," Cam muttered, and now Hunter couldn't help it... he smiled.

"Cam, are you worried about me?" he drawled, making it obvious that he was teasing because he really wasn't. He couldn't decide whether to feel amused or touched, and he felt like an idiot but he was leaning toward touched.

Just a teammate, he reminded himself. Cam was just trying to keep a teammate safe. His sudden ability to keep his hands to himself when challenged was a disappointing but not entirely unexpected development. If he was talking more clearly then it stood to reason that he was thinking more clearly too.

"Yes, I'm worried about you," Cam snapped. "The wolf could tear your throat out, and I don't know whether I'm more or less dangerous to you as a human being! What are you even doing here?"

Hunter raised an eyebrow, but Cam seemed to expect a verbal response. So he gave one. "That's a really stupid question."

"Then answer it," Cam retorted. "A stupid answer should be easy enough, even for you. Why are you here?"

Okay, anger was better than despair but he'd rather it wasn't directed at him. "Because you asked me," Hunter reminded him testily. "And because you need someone to put stuff on those bruises, so shut up and turn around."

Cam didn't move.

Yeah, well, that was a shock. Hunter opened the tube anyway and circled around behind him. He squeezed the liniment onto his fingers before using his other hand to tug Cam's t-shirt up over his shoulder. The only concession Cam made was to shift his left arm slightly so that the shirt rode up easier.

Hunter studied his tattoo while he rubbed the gel into Cam's skin. It gave him something to think about other than the obvious, and he could use a distraction right about now. Something Japanese. A Japanese character or something. He didn't know enough about the language to know whether he was looking at letters or words or just a really cool looking symbol.

"What's your tattoo?" he asked, squeezing a little more out of the tube to cover the edges of Cam's bruise collection. His skin was lighter than Cam's even without the bruising... He tried to stop noticing.

"It's--" Cam stopped to clear his throat, and Hunter's eyes flicked to the back of his head before going back to his shoulder. "It means 'family'. In Japanese."

Hunter's lips twitched. Boy scout, he thought fondly. Even when Cam rebelled, he was still so... wholesome.

He dropped his hand abruptly. That last circle had been dangerously close to a caress, and he'd have a hell of a time explaining himself if he got carried away. "You're good," he muttered, letting go of Cam's shirt. He resisted the urge to straighten it out.

"Thanks." Cam tugged his shirt back into place but he didn't turn around. Instead he started putting away the supplies Hunter had pulled out when he came in.

Hunter watched him for a moment. He had always been that graceful, but the quiet... the silence when he moved was new. It wasn't that he didn't make any noise... Hunter's eyes narrowed as he contemplated Cam's movements. It was more that he seemed aware of what his body was doing, more than he ever had before. He was controlling every part of himself. And as a result, he didn't make any more noise than he had to.

It was Cam's morpher that broke the spell, and Hunter blinked. He was glad of the interruption, if only because it made him realize that he was staring. But he couldn't think of anything good that could come from someone needing to contact Cam right now.

He didn't realize what was happening until Cam lifted his amulet and acknowledged the call. Cam was talking to someone other than him for the first time... well, since this thing started. Apparently it wasn't as traumatic to address someone if they couldn't see you.

"It's good to hear your voice, Cameron," Sensei was saying. "I am sorry to disturb you, but your computer seems to require attention."

Cam's shoulder rose and fell in a soundless sigh, but all he said was, "I'll be right there, Dad."

Hunter frowned at his back when he let the amulet fall. "You sure that's such a good idea? Can't you just ask him what's wrong and tell him how to fix it?"

"First off, no." Cam closed a drawer with what looked like a little more vehemence than necessary. But then, who was Hunter to judge?

"He doesn't have a clue what's wrong." Cam turned around, folding his arms as he did so and then immediately dropping them. His shoulder ached, Hunter figured. Stuff always hurt more after you'd been paying attention to it. "There probably isn't anything wrong at all; the mainframe flashes a diagnostic confirmation every twelve hours or so."

Cam met Hunter's eyes for just a moment before looking away again. "And even if it's not that, Dad isn't exactly a technological guru. I wouldn't trust him to program an alarm clock."

Hunter considered him. He was acting... well, normal. Almost totally normal, barring the occasional weirdness. But why? Why was he suddenly fine, and was it permanent or just a passing kind of stability?

Like he'd be able to hold Cam back either way.

"Okay," he said with a shrug. They really did need him. "Your call."

Cam walked over to him, and Hunter couldn't help thinking of the possibilities. But Cam just plucked the liniment tube out of his hand and said matter-of-factly, "That wasn't a good decision."

Hunter blinked. Presumably... not the liniment. "What, to let you at the computer?"

Cam just tossed the tube on the counter and stood there looking at him. Waiting. For what? What was it with the staring lately, anyway? He got that it was a wolf thing, a way of establishing dominance, but geez. He used to have a monopoly on staring. Now Cam had gotten a clue and was giving it right back.

"Well, the fact that you know that's gotta be a good sign." Hunter shifted uncomfortably. He could handle calm Cam, and he could handle intense Cam. He wasn't sure he could handle both at the same time. "Right?"

Cam's glowing eyes closed. It made Hunter straighten, immediately on alert, but Cam just lifted his hands and pressed his palms against his forehead. Behind his arms his face crumpled in pain, and Hunter heard him whisper, "I have to get out of here."

"Cam?" He tried to pull Cam's hands free without thinking, and--somewhat to his surprise--Cam let him. The grimace on his face relaxed, but his eyes didn't open and Hunter worried. "You okay, buddy?"

Cam lifted his head and looked at him. Gold eyes shone with some inner emotion, and it wasn't anger and it wasn't violence. He knew what was going to happen before either of them moved. And he wanted it. He wanted it so bad he could taste it--

Then he could taste it, and it was... it was so... it was the brush of Cam's lips against his. It wasn't hungry, or hard, or uncontrolled, and it wasn't an act of dominance. It was gentle and restrained and frighteningly knowing. It was Cam. Cam the way he had imagined him, and maybe just this once he was willing to admit that he had imagined Cam like this.

The touch of one mouth on another was gone, and he shouldn't go after it. He shouldn't. God, he shouldn't. His fingers twitched as he tried to prevent himself from clenching his fists, but he stayed where he was and after a moment he remembered to open his eyes.

Cam was staring at him. "You don't hate me for that," he said quietly.

He knew. Hunter could tell just by looking at him that he knew, and maybe it had been inevitable. He hadn't known that kissing Cam was going to be part of wolf-sitting duty, but if he had known he'd have signed up in a heartbeat. He doubted even the knowledge that this secret hung in the balance would have deterred him.

"You don't," Cam repeated. He sounded more certain now.

It had been a question, Hunter thought. He was paralyzed by the answer. By the consequences of the answer. No, he didn't hate Cam. Not for kissing him. Not for turning into a wolf with the self-control of a twelve-year-old. Not even for making Hunter wonder how much of what he did was controlled by the wolf--and how much of the wolf was him.

And what the hell was he supposed to do with that? What did that even mean?

He liked kissing Cam.

Fuck. They really were ready for the freak show.

Cam was close again, a breath away from his face when Hunter caught his arms. It took every bit of willpower he had to stop what he desperately wanted, but he did. He had a lot of experience with denial.

"Don't," he warned Cam. He meant it to be stern, but he couldn't quite catch his breath so he settled for repeating himself. "Do not mess with me."

Cam didn't seem to hate kissing him. But Cam could pull a dammed good poker face when he wanted to, and he was under the influence of some really freaky magic. Right now, Cam knew way more about Hunter than he knew about Cam. And Hunter wasn't going to be some kind of experiment.

"Am I wrong?" Cam demanded. "If you don't... I need to know. I need--I..." He fumbled for words in a very uncharacteristic way. "I might be able to stop," he finished in a whisper.

If he didn't what? Stop? He could stop? He had started? He was doing it on purpose? If he didn't what?

"If I don't what?" he blurted out.

"If you don't go for guys!" Cam shouted. "What do you think! You're not that fucking naive, so what do you think I'm asking!"

Several seconds passed before he remembered to close his mouth.

It was long enough for Cam to turn for the door, ready to run when Hunter grabbed his arm and for a moment he wasn't sure he'd be able to hold onto him. Cam spun, jerking his arm away hard enough to make Hunter stumble. He felt a fist slam into his gut when he didn't let go and he yanked Cam closer, anchoring him against his chest.

The fight went out of Cam immediately. Which was a relief, because no matter what he said the last two days were going to catch up with him. They couldn't keep beating on each other indefinitely.

"Damn," he gasped, relaxing his grip a little. He wished he was panting in Cam's ear for an entirely different reason. "Dating you is gonna be hell."

Cam exhaled sharply, with a sound that could have been anything from a laugh to a sob. "Who said anything about dating," he murmured. He sounded so disgusted that Hunter would have been alarmed if he hadn't just watched Cam explode over his apparent obtuseness.

"You did," he informed Cam without moving. "You said you had to get out of here. And I've got an idea."

"It's a bad one," Cam muttered. He sounded... sulky? Hunter was tempted to let him go just to see his expression, but the smarter part of his brain said he'd damn well better enjoy this while it lasted.

"You haven't even heard it yet," he told Cam, not moving.

"If it involves leaving Ninja Ops, it's bad," Cam insisted. "Daylight is bad. People are worse. It sucks to be me," he added, in a way that would have been pathetic if it wasn't so funny. God, Cam was quoting him. Definitely one of the unwritten signs of the apocalypse.

"You ran here in daylight yesterday," Hunter reminded him. "Close your eyes. You'll live."

"People," Cam repeated. "All it takes is a gun and I won't live."

It wasn't a pretty thought. But his truck was just down the mountain--he could drive, and once they got there it wouldn't matter nearly as much as Cam thought it would. "These people aren't gonna shoot a wolf," he promised. "And they're not gonna shoot you. Trust me."

"Who are you talking about?" Cam demanded. He shifted restlessly, and Hunter released him with some reluctance. Turning to face him, Cam amended, "What are you talking about?"

He hesitated, even if he'd committed himself to an answer the moment he brought it up. He had made a promise to these people... but really, Cam wouldn't violate that promise. Not anymore. Not the way he was now.

"It's a secret," he said at last, and that was the truth. "Guess you'll just have to trust me."

"I--" Cam frowned. He seemed stuck, disconcerted, confused. Hunter might have found it more amusing if he hadn't seen so much of that expression recently. "What are you talking about?"

"I'll show you," Hunter said, watching him carefully. "Okay? After we see what's going down out front."

"Right, Dad," Cam muttered. He seemed willing enough to be distracted, and inexplicably Hunter was disappointed. "I wish he'd learn something about the mainframe."

Hunter grabbed his flashlight and followed him out into the still-dark hallway, wondering when Cam would stop blaming the rest of them for his own inability to share his toys. He figured now probably wasn't the time to ask. Of course, there were a lot of other things he probably shouldn't ask either, but--like Sensei said--a question unasked...

"So," he began, careful to keep the flashlight pointed at the floor behind him as he walked. "Since when do you swear?"

Cam didn't even pause. "Since when are you gay?"

Stung, Hunter couldn't keep the defensiveness out of his voice. "Since when are you?"

"What's the point of asking questions if no one answers?" Cam wanted to know.

"You started it," Hunter retorted. "My question was first."

There was a quiet moment, and then Cam sighed. "I swear. Just not usually at people."

"Yeah, well." Hunter tried to brush it off when Cam didn't seem inclined to continue. "I get that reaction a lot."

Cam wasn't smiling. He could tell by his tone. "You didn't deserve that," he said quietly. "I'm sorry. I was just..." He trailed off, but Hunter could pretty well fill in the blank.

"I get it," Hunter agreed. He was still kind of freaked out himself. "You don't have to apologize."

Cam stopped in front of the door to the control room and turned to look at him. At least, Hunter thought he was looking at him. His eyes had stopped glowing, and in the shadows cast by the flashlight it was hard to tell. "Your turn."

Hunter opened his mouth, then closed it again slowly. Since when was he gay? It wasn't even a fair question. He wasn't gay, he just... he--

He didn't know.

He shrugged uncomfortably, hoping Cam would let it go.

The door slid open beside them, and it took him a second to realize that Cam had triggered it. He stepped into the room behind Cam, but instead of feeling grateful for the reprieve he felt vaguely uneasy. Maybe he didn't know about the question, but shouldn't Cam care about the answer?

The monitor that Cam usually used was flashing, but it didn't seem to worry him. Hunter watched as he sat down in his usual chair and settled his fingers over the keyboard. After that he was pretty much lost; Cam could have been doing anything and he wouldn't know the difference between good and bad. But Cam seemed fine, and Hunter had other things to worry about.

"You okay here?" he asked, a little awkwardly. He didn't want to call Blake in front of Cam.

Cam didn't even look up. "Fine. I'm just reconfiguring the diagnostic. I'll bring CyberCam back online when I'm done."

"Yeah, sure." So, great. Cam was Cam again--or as close to it as a gay shapeshifting wolf could be. Nothing to worry about. "I'm just gonna make a call."

There was no response, which under normal circumstances he would have considered typical. Now, though, he found it a little unnerving. He tried to shake the feeling off as he headed back down the hallway. He dialed Blake's cell and sent a silent wish for his brother to pick up.

The second ring stopped right in the middle and a familiar voice answered, "Yeah."

"You alone?" Blake's phone would have told him who was calling.

"No." There was a pause, and then, "Hang on a second."

He could hear an indistinct shuffling sound, but no voices. Whatever Blake was doing, it didn't involve giving Kelly more excuses. Which was good, because Hunter didn't need any more bad karma right now.

"Okay," Blake said after a minute. "Shoot."

"I'm gonna take Cam to the community center."

There was another pause. "What?"

Hunter just waited.

"You're crazy," Blake said flatly. "They won't want to see him. He's a ninja."

"He's a samurai," Hunter corrected. "And Lothor turned him into a wolf."

"He's Sensei Watanabe's son," Blake reminded him.

That made Hunter stop and consider. "Okay," he admitted. "There's that."

"They won't even let him in," Blake predicted. "How are you going to get him there, anyway? You said he's sensitive to light. Gonna wait till tonight?"

"Don't know," Hunter said gruffly. "Hadn't figured that out yet."

"Really dark glasses." Blake sounded almost like he was enjoying this. "Or a blindfold. Glasses won't work on a wolf."

"That's helpful, bro." Hunter shook his head even though he knew Blake couldn't see it. "Thanks a lot."

"S'what I'm here for," Blake replied. "You told Cam about it yet?"

"Nah." Hunter grimaced in the darkness. "He's suspicious, though."

"Yeah..." There was silence for a moment. "You sure it's a good idea? They really might not let him in, y'know."

"And they might not even recognize him," Hunter pointed out. "Maybe he's just another computer geek who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He doesn't exactly give off the ninja vibe."

"Yeah, he does," Blake said dryly. "To everyone except you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hunter demanded.

"It means no one tries to protect him but you," Blake informed him. "Cause we all know he could kick our butts. You're the only one who doesn't see it."

"I could take him, easy," Hunter scoffed.

"Yeah, whatever." Blake didn't sound convinced. "Just warn him not to mention his dad before you show up on their doorstep, okay? Or the academies. Or the fact that Lothor's his uncle."

"Any other advice?" Hunter inquired. "While you're at it?"

"Yeah. Try to keep your hands away from his mouth."

Hunter froze. Every thought stopped in its tracks, and he couldn't even come up with something to say. He couldn't even finish a question in the privacy of his own mind: How did you...

His arm. Don't get bitten. That was what Blake meant.

"Right," he agreed, his voice not quite as strong as it could have been. "I'll be careful."

Blake heard the uncertainty anyway. "You okay, bro?"

Other than the overpowering memory of kissing Cam and the sudden desire to see his fingers tracing someone else's lips? "Yeah," he muttered. "Fine. I'll catch up with you later."

"Okay." Blake's tone made it clear that he wasn't buying it. "See you."

"Later." Hunter hadn't even hung up before the voices from the control room registered. Both of them were Cam's voice, which was probably a good sign, but he didn't waste any more time getting back there.

CyberCam greeted him effusively, which pissed Cam off. No question about it; he could see it in the narrowing of his eyes and the slight curl of his lip. Cam was mad.

Mad because his clone was paying attention to Hunter? Or was the wolf just generally disgusted with CyberCam's antics? Normally Cam ignored the virtual replicant's demeanor as much as possible, which Hunter had always wondered about--why not just reprogram him?--but now something about it was definitely grating on him.

Cam's morpher beeped before Hunter could put any distance between himself and CyberCam. Cam answered it automatically, but he didn't take his eyes off of his virtual replicant. Even his father's voice didn't seem to distract him.

"I will be joining you momentarily," Sensei was saying, and Hunter thought it was a strange announcement until he remembered that Sensei hadn't really seen his son in human form since yesterday. He must be trying to avoid spooking Cam.

"Okay, Dad." Cam, luckily, wasn't paying much attention. He was still watching CyberCam, and he didn't seem to care when Sensei's rolling habitat cart glided into the control room. More importantly, he didn't seem to be going all wolf on them, and that alone was a huge improvement as far as Hunter was concerned.

"Little furry dude!" CyberCam exclaimed. "It's, like, so good to see you again! What's happening? Eaten any good guinea pig food lately?"

"Cameron?" Sensei, as usual, ignored CyberCam completely. Hunter wasn't sure if he got that attitude from Cam, or if he just didn't know how to react to the virtual replicant. "Are you all right?"

"Sure, Dad, I'm great." Cam's gaze flicked from CyberCam to his father for just a moment. "My uncle turned me into a werewolf. I can't stand to be around light. And I've managed to maul the only person willing to spend time with me. Thanks for asking."

For once, Sensei seemed to be at a loss for words.

Hunter might have felt more sorry for him if something hadn't occurred to him at just that moment. "The computer screen," he said suddenly. "You can look at the computer screen."

Cam gave him a look that said very clearly, So?

"So it's lighted," Hunter said impatiently. "That doesn't hurt your eyes?"

Cam frowned a little. He didn't answer, but he didn't have to. Obviously it didn't, or he wouldn't look at it. He couldn't even stand their flashlights when they were pointed directly at him. But the red lights they'd turned on all over Ninja Ops didn't bother him?

Cam was looking at his flashlight, he realized a moment later. "Turn it on," he said, when he caught Hunter's eye.

Hunter flipped it back on without a word, watching as Cam flinched instinctively... and didn't look away. He stared at the light for a long moment before closing his eyes. "It's getting better," he said softly.

"It doesn't hurt like it did," Hunter guessed, forgetting for a moment that they had an audience.

Cam just shook his head. He still didn't open his eyes.

"You said earlier," Sensei began carefully, "that you do not recall much of your encounter with Lothor. Is it possible that the energy discharge associated with his attack was accompanied by a great flash of light?"

"That I just happened to be looking directly at?" Cam opened his eyes, and they were glowing again. It might have been the first time Sensei had seen them do that, but he didn't say anything. "Yeah. It's possible."

Giving him a temporary light sensitivity instead of a permanent one. Hunter liked that explanation and he wondered if there was anywhere he could go to vote for it. Was there any kind of cosmic karma ballot box where he could tell someone that Cam didn't deserve to be stuck in the shadows forever?

"No one tries to protect him but you," Blake had said. Well, maybe someone should, he told his brother's memory. Cam obviously didn't do a very good job of it himself.

"That's great, bro!" CyberCam was already celebrating. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I like doing your job. But dude, the hours are lousy."

"You aren't doing my job," Cam snapped. "You're just support staff. And the hours are fine."

"Well, yeah," CyberCam scoffed. "If you have no, like, life or anything--"

"Okay, stop," Hunter interrupted. CyberCam really wasn't trying to cause trouble, but it was almost impossible to stop him once he got going. And Cam obviously couldn't take the unintentional needling right now.

CyberCam didn't stop, predictably. "You should enjoy your vacation, dude," he advised. "I mean, life as a wolf... that's gotta be cooler than being stuck at the computer all day!"

Cam stood stiffly, eyes bright, and Hunter got between him and the replicant just as he took a step forward. "CyberCam," he said, not taking his eyes off of Cam. "Go away."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Hunter-man," CyberCam answered cheerfully. "There's a lot of stuff to catch up on around here--"

"Go. Away." Cam ground the words out between gritted teeth. He was still tensed, poised to spring, and Hunter ached to reach out and hold him in place. But he had to trust Cam not to make the first move.

"You're the boss," CyberCam agreed, and the sudden silence was the only other indication that he had followed orders.

"Cameron--" Sensei's voice must have been the last straw.

Hunter lunged for the wolf even as he spun, and that muzzle twisted and snapped so close to his fingers that he let go without thinking. But Cam did stay where he was, so that was something. Sensei had stopped talking almost as fast as he'd started.

"Would you excuse us?" Hunter asked, his eyes locked with the wolf's glowing golden gaze. "Sensei?"

If it was possible for a guinea pig to sigh, he thought he heard a sigh from Sensei just then. But his voice was perfectly calm as he replied, "Of course, Hunter." He stopped abruptly, as though he had been about to add something else and then thought better of it.

Yeah. Sensei annoyed the wolf, no question about it. Hunter figured that was as much Cam's own subconscious reaction as anything. The guy was always trying to prove himself to his father; it was no surprise there was some resentment there.

The wolf didn't turn his head away until Sensei was gone. At first Hunter thought he was looking to make sure they were alone, but his gaze didn't get quite that far and his hearing was probably enough to tell him anyway. Instead he just lowered his muzzle... farther and farther, until it looked like he was drooping. Then he heaved a tremendous sigh and melted the rest of the way to the floor.

"Yeah," Hunter muttered. He was trying not to smile. "I know the feeling."

The wolf looked up at him without moving his head. His muzzle was propped up on one paw, but the other limbs were splayed out in what looked like a random arrangement. It was an interesting thought, Hunter decided, sitting down next to him. That maybe the wolf was spontaneous where Cam was meticulous, emotional where Cam was restrained...

It wasn't so much the opposite of his real nature as it was his real nature without inhibition.

He wanted that to be true. He didn't have any reason to think it was, but he was trying to find one.

A soft whuffing sound made him glance at the wolf again, and he saw those gold eyes fixed on him inquiringly. He gave a half-hearted smile, intending for it to be reassuring. The wolf just rolled his head to one side, sorrowful eyes never leaving Hunter's. The expression only made him look more pathetic, and suddenly it dawned on him that the wolf had exposed his throat.

More than an apology, he thought. A gesture of trust.

Or maybe he was just reading more into it because he wanted to, he thought with a sigh. He reached out and patted the wolf's fur awkwardly, hoping to convey comfort despite his own personal state of mind. He remembered to avoid the left shoulder this time, and he saw glowing eyes close in apparent acceptance.

He knew, in the back of his mind, that he really shouldn't pat Cam. But having started, it was awfully hard to stop. For one thing--mood swings notwithstanding--he had never seen Cam look as relaxed as he did as a wolf. He just didn't... sprawl, as a human. It was kind of cool to be a part of that, in some way.

And in the same way, he had to admit it was nice to be so close to Cam without getting his head bitten off. Figuratively and literally, lately. He also felt like... well, it was more natural to touch a wolf. As weird as that sounded. It was easier to pat the wolf than it was to kiss Cam.

He couldn't seem to keep from doing either one. So he just sat there, stroking soft grey fur and staring into the shadows. Wondering when his life had gotten so weird.

4. Alpha, Beta, Gamma

"Change your shirt."

Cam frowned at the non sequitur. There was nothing wrong with his t-shirt, and they were just going to get something to eat. Hunter wouldn't tell him where, but he had specifically said that it was very casual. "Why?"

"Because I like that one," Hunter said impatiently. Like he was being deliberately obtuse about it. "Geez, could you just trust me for two seconds?"

He was trusting Hunter about a lot more than his wardrobe. He had spent the better part of a day trying to control the shift between wolf and human. Hunter had been incredibly patient, but Cam didn't have any illusions about his ability to remain human in anyone else's company. So he could only trust Hunter when he said that, wherever they were going, no one there would be alarmed if they suddenly found a wolf in their midst.

It helped that he was starving and there was nothing edible in Ninja Ops right now. At least nothing that he currently considered edible. He had tried to choke down a sandwich at lunchtime, but he had only managed a couple of bites before Hunter took pity on him and went out for burgers. On the condition that Cam didn't leave the kitchen until he got back.

At that point, Cam had been willing to agree to almost anything if it got him food that the wolf wouldn't sneer at. The implications were disturbing, to say the least--tofu, soy, and most fruits and vegetables were now completely unappealing to him, and that didn't bode well for his diet if this continued. He was trying very hard not to think long-term, though, and in that at least the wolf was useful. The future tense was apparently as foreign to wolves as the past.

So Cam found a shirt that Hunter didn't like, changed, and braced himself to leave Ninja Ops for the first time in two days.

Hunter stopped him at the bottom of the stairs. "Amulet," he said, glancing at Cam's chest. "Hide it."

He had actually meant to do that before. It was warm to the touch, but not glowing. He tucked it under his shirt anyway.

"Sunglasses," Hunter added, handing over a silver wraparound pair with red reflective lenses. Not exactly Cam's style, but his sunglasses had been forgotten at the library more than a month ago and he hadn't gotten around to replacing them. He put on Hunter's and he didn't miss the quickly suppressed smile he got in response.

"Can you make your eyes do that glowing thing?" Hunter asked, before he could say anything.

Cam shook his head. "I don't even know whether they're doing it or not unless I'm looking in a mirror," he muttered. "I can't do it on command."

"Try," Hunter urged. "I can tell you from experience, it's usually when you're mad. Or--" He broke off, then shrugged apologetically. "Or when you're about to kiss me," he added, obviously uncomfortable.

"Same thing," Cam grumbled under his breath, and that got a brief smirk from Hunter.

On the other hand, he'd seen Hunter wear these glasses before. He could never see his eyes at all. So he stared, feeling more than a little self-conscious as he took in every detail of the face in front of him. Surprisingly concerned expression, hair that went in every direction, blue eyes made deeper by the tint of the lenses...

He could kiss Hunter right now. He knew he could do it and Hunter would just push him off, figure it was the wolf, and tell him to focus. He didn't have total control over his actions, so he'd get a pass. It was disturbingly tempting to take advantage of it.

"Yeah, okay," Hunter said abruptly, and Cam stiffened. "Just so you know, those don't cover up the glowing at all. It won't matter tonight, but... maybe you should practice turning that off too."

Turning it off. Didn't he wish. Cam sighed, glancing toward the door. "Can we please just get some food now?"

"Right, yeah." Hunter led the way up the stairs without another word, glancing at him before he pushed the door open. Cam squinted in anticipation, but it wasn't enough. His eyes squeezed shut on their own when the evening sunshine hit his face.

"Cam?"

Hunter probably couldn't see his eyes through the sunglasses, but he knew Cam wasn't moving. He took an uncertain step forward, forcing his eyes open as he did so. He was not going to be stuck in Ninja Ops.

Determination wasn't enough. Neither were the sunglasses, although he flinched at the thought of losing them. He put his head down and took another step, trying to blink his eyes open just long enough to see where he was putting his feet. His eyes were watering under the assault, and even when they were open he couldn't see that much.

Then he felt Hunter's hand on his elbow. "You want to just close your eyes?" he asked quietly. "The sunglasses were enough inside, they'll be enough when we get there. I can get you to the truck."

"I can't see," Cam hissed. It was either bitch or whine, and he was really sick of whining. "I can't go anywhere with other people if I can't see."

"Blind people do it all the time," Hunter said dryly. "Besides, there aren't any other people between here and the truck. You'll be able to see when we get there, I promise. It's dark."

"Why do we have to drive?" Cam wanted to know. He was not whining. "I think the teleportation system is underused."

"Okay, on the list of things I told you not to mention," Hunter said. "Exactly where do you think any demonstration of Ranger technology falls?"

He was hungry. He was so hungry, he didn't think he could trust himself to stay in one room if Hunter were to get food and bring it back. "I really, really need to eat," Cam whispered.

Hunter's grip on his arm tightened. "Let's go."

Hunter was a decent guide. He didn't have any qualms about steering Cam in the appropriate direction, either, which was annoying in principle but practically speaking, anything that got them where they were going faster was good. The truck was something of a relief, in that all he had to do was sit there and try not to think about food.

It was a long drive. He opened his eyes as much and as often as he dared--it wasn't comfortable, but it distracted him from everything else. His stomach rumbled audibly, and a moment later he felt the truck slowing down.

"We're stopping on the way," Hunter informed him. "Snacks, courtesy of Mickey D's. What do you want?"

Cam really wasn't big on fast food, but ironically the wolf didn't seem to mind it at all. It was with some relief that he inhaled yet another burger, and only when they were back on the road did it occur to him what a risk Hunter had taken. "What if I had turned into a wolf at the drive-through?" he demanded.

"It's not against the law to have a dog in your truck," Hunter pointed out.

"A defense which would sound hollow and pathetic if someone actually saw me change," Cam shot back.

"But better than the defense I'd have to come up with if you tried to eat someone before we got to the community center," Hunter replied, not missing a beat. "Believe me, I weighed the risks and we came out ahead."

"You keep calling it that," Cam complained, choosing to focus on the least frightening part of that explanation. "Doesn't it have a name?"

"No." His answer was immediate and unexpected. "If it had a name, people would talk about it, and then someone somewhere would find out that it exists. That would be bad."

Cam frowned. That was mysterious and, he suspected, overly dramatic. "You know about it," he pointed out. Quite reasonably, he thought.

"Blake found one of them on the side of the road one night," Hunter said. He sounded completely matter of fact. "He thought it was a dog, so he stopped. It wasn't."

Cam's skin prickled. "One of them?" he repeated quietly.

"Human wolves," Hunter answered. "Like you."

Human wolves. What a strange way of putting it. But the most important question was obvious. "There are more?" The idea was disturbing for a lot of reasons.

"Yeah." Hunter paused. He felt the truck slow, and then they were turning, and Cam tried to squint through barely open eyes. Just another road. Not one he recognized, though. Where were they going?

"Most of the recent ones are from that thing with Shimazu," Hunter was saying. "You know when you were reading from that scroll about his Wolf Blades terrorizing local villages? Turns out that didn't just mean threatening people and eating their livestock."

Startled, Cam tried to remember exactly what he'd read. "You mean... the Wolf Blades turned people into wolves? How come we never heard about that? Why didn't everyone go back to normal when they were destroyed?"

"Shimazu was reanimated by Lothor's magic," Hunter said. "His Wolf Blades weren't. They're ancient. And we only destroyed three of them."

"But that's all there were!" Cam protested, a vague sense of dread starting to work its way into his brain. Had they missed something? Was there evil running around loose that the Rangers had completely overlooked?

"Three wolves is a pretty small pack," Hunter observed.

"If there are still Wolf Blades out there, we have to find them," Cam told him.

"No, we don't." Hunter sounded like he had been ready for that remark, which annoyed Cam. "We're ninjas. We fight evil ninjas. Our job is to stop Lothor. Let the wolves take care of the evil wolves."

"What wolves?" Cam demanded. "The ones the Wolf Blades created?"

"And the ones Lothor's been experimenting on. You and your dad aren't the first. Plus there's the real werewolves who've been flushed out by the fighting," Hunter added casually.

Now he knew he was being mocked. "Werewolves," he reminded Hunter, "aren't real."

There was a brief pause. "Did you seriously just say that?" Hunter wanted to know. "This from the guy with glowing eyes and an uncontrollable tendency to shapeshift?"

"This is a result of the dark ninja powers," Cam informed him, with as much dignity as he could manage. "They're not supernatural or occult. They can be rationally explained."

Hunter just snorted. "Yeah. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

By the time the truck finally came to a stop at what he assumed was their destination, Cam was willing to admit to himself that the line between the dark ninja powers and the "supernatural" was a thin one. The line did exist. But it was hard to say exactly where it fell.

"We're here," Hunter announced. He didn't make any move to get out of the truck. "The sun's getting lower. How are you doing with the light?"

Cam cracked his eyes open, then kept them that way when he realized they were in shadow. The truck was parked behind a massive warehouse--and the setting sun was on the other side. "Okay," he said, opening his eyes a little further. "It's not that bad."

"Like, not that bad, it doesn't hurt when you have your eyes shut, or not that bad, you can open them and actually see things?" Hunter pressed.

"I can see," Cam said, turning his head to get a better look at where they were. There was nothing but an open field to one side, power lines running through the middle of it, and forested hills directly behind him. To the other side was a cracked and pitted parking lot, with weeds dotting the ancient asphalt. "What is this, the outskirts of nowhere?"

"Were you expecting a dance club downtown?" Hunter countered. "When you ask me out, you can pick. In the meantime, welcome to the community center."

Cam frowned, deciding to ignore the implied date-ish-ness. "It looks deserted," he said, focusing his attention on the building again. Except for the fact that there were cars scattered across the broken pavement and nowhere else for their drivers to be, he would have said they were completely alone out here.

"Yeah, well, that's kind of the point," Hunter said dryly. "Look, when we go inside, it's gonna be weird at first. You're new. They don't like new people."

"But they like you?" Cam inquired, as politely as he could.

"Not really," Hunter admitted. "I've only been here twice, both times with Blake. Mostly they tried to ignore us. I'm just guessing you're not gonna be so lucky."

He had been willing to go along with this as long as Hunter seemed determined to make it work. And that was kind of strange, now that he thought about it. Was he really only here because Hunter had told him to come?

Whatever the real reason, he didn't like seeing Hunter look uncertain about the whole thing. "I'm not sure this is such a good idea," Cam said, glancing sideways at him. His sudden hesitation made Cam nervous.

As quickly as that, it was gone. "I am," Hunter said firmly. "You need to see this. Let's go."

He felt capable again--probably because he could finally see--and he climbed out of the truck without another word. He followed Hunter across the parking lot, angling toward a door Cam wouldn't have picked as the correct entrance even if he'd been given multiple chances. They hadn't parked anywhere near it. Of course, neither had anyone else. The vehicles were distributed in an apparently random fashion... possibly to give the impression that there were fewer of them than there actually were?

The door was unlocked. It should be, obviously, but it didn't look like the sort of door that someone could just walk up to and pull open. Hunter did, though, and he strode inside without looking back. Cam followed.

They were in a nondescript hallway. A dimly lit, nondescript hallway. He didn't even realize how dark it was until Hunter reached out and plucked his sunglasses off. "Can you see?" he asked quietly.

Cam blinked. "Yes," he said, surprised.

"Good." Hunter handed the sunglasses back. "Then don't wear 'em. Eye contact is kind of important here--don't make it. Don't stare at anyone. If you aren't sure where to look, look at the floor."

He turned left and started down the hallway without waiting for a reply. Cam just stared after him. The other Rangers occasionally joked about Hunter's domineering attitude, but until now, Cam had only heard about it. Generally speaking, Hunter just didn't boss him around. It was novel and somewhat irritating.

Hunter disappeared through another door, and Cam hurried after him. He saw the sign, an unassuming white rectangle posted to the right of the door, only as he was passing by it to enter the room. Visitors, it said. Check in.

The light made him flinch. He slid the sunglasses back on hastily, because no matter what Hunter said he wasn't going to walk around blind. He kept his head down, but he took advantage of the reflective lenses to look around without turning his head.

Hunter was standing in front of a desk, talking to... a teenage boy. At least, Cam guessed he was a teenager. He didn't look any older than Dustin, and that put him easily in the "young" category. He didn't seem surprised to see Hunter, either, but Cam couldn't decide whether that was because he actually knew Hunter somehow or because he was used to "visitors" showing up at the door of a place no one was supposed to know about. Maybe it was just typical teenage apathy.

"You gotta sign this," the kid was saying, tossing a clipboard down in front of Hunter and rooting out a pen for him. "How new?"

"Two days." Hunter scribbled something and left the clipboard where it was. "That it?"

"Yeah. Second car's open, but Iza's in there. Might want to stick to first."

"Thanks." Hunter dropped the pen back on the desk and jerked his head in Cam's direction. "Let's go."

Cam's jaw clenched, but he followed Hunter out of the room before he hissed, "What was that about?"

"Liability," Hunter muttered. He paused outside the doorway and looked at Cam. "Mike keeps it brighter in there than most of them like it. You okay?"

Cam pulled the sunglasses off reluctantly. "I'm fine. Liability what? Waiver?"

Hunter grimaced. "Kind of the opposite, actually."

"What does that mean?" Cam demanded.

"It means if you hurt the wrong person, I take the fall for it," Hunter snapped. "Okay? Are you happy?"

Cam swallowed. "Who's the wrong person?" he wanted to know. He didn't bother to question the "hurting" part.

Hunter's voice softened. "Anyone who doesn't challenge you. Don't worry; you're not the type to bully people. It'll be fine."

He wasn't sure he agreed. It wasn't really his call, though, so he let it go. Hunter was walking again, heading down the hallway, and this time there was someone in his way. A tall, odd-looking person--with glowing eyes. The way he was standing just screamed "bouncer." But who was there to bounce? Cam still hadn't seen anyone but the two of them, the kid at desk, and this guy.

Hunter didn't even look at him until the man stepped in front of him. "Hold it, Ninja." His voice was higher than Cam expected, and rasped in a strange way. "Got a new toy?"

"Fuck off," Hunter snarled. He could look the man in the eye, and that kind of surprised Cam because he didn't usually think about the fact that Hunter had several inches on him.

"Starting to think pretty well of yourself, aren't you?" the man taunted. "You're only here on your brother's goodwill."

Hunter stared at him, and those glowing eyes stared right back. Cam wondered if the "don't look at anyone" rule was only supposed to apply to him. Then he heard Hunter say softly, "Hit me."

Cam didn't even see what happened. The guy must have tried. But Hunter moved and the other guy was the one who fell back, gasping for breath. Hunter gave his right hand a single shake--for effect, Cam thought--and this time when he glared at the other man he looked away.

"Doesn't matter why I'm here," Hunter said quietly. The man kept his gaze averted as he warned, "Don't fuck with us, and it won't matter why you're here either."

Hunter continued down the hall without looking back. "Cam," he snapped over his shoulder.

Cam bristled. He was already following, and he didn't appreciate the summons. Or part of him didn't. Another part was oddly comforted by it. And that bothered him as much as Hunter's attitude.

He didn't have time to say anything before Hunter turned another corner. Cam caught up just as Hunter paused outside doors with glass windows and nodded at them. "This is where we eat," he said simply.

Through the windows, Cam could see an eerily familiar sight. A sports bar, with the central bar area surrounded by tables and TVs and people. It exuded normalcy, the sound of people talking spilling out into the hall and the smell of food and a strange half-light that didn't bother his eyes.

"This is the secret wolf hangout?" he blurted out.

Hunter shot him an amused glance without turning from the doors. "You think they all gather around a fresh kill under the full moon?"

"I don't know," Cam snapped. "It's not like you gave me any idea what to expect."

"Yeah, well. Don't get too comfortable."

With that, Hunter pushed open the nearest door and went in. Cam could feel the awareness of everyone in the room suddenly shift in their direction. Very few gazes swung their way, though. Everyone knew they were there, but only a handful of people actually looked at them.

Don't make eye contact, Hunter had said. His instincts said otherwise. Cam gritted his teeth and ignored them, following Hunter toward a table in the corner.

He saw someone coming, shuffled a little out of the way without thinking about it, and was startled when the guy bumped into him anyway. Intentionally. It wasn't just a lack of balance, a minor jostle, this was a full blown shove to his shoulder and Cam's head swung around indignantly.

"Watch where you're going," he muttered, deliberately loud enough to be overheard.

The guy wheeled around like he had expected that. "What did you just say?"

"I said," Cam repeated, raising his voice. "Watch where you're going."

"Oh yeah?" The guy stared at him in what was clearly supposed to be a menacing way. "You think you can take me, Ninja?"

Only then did it occur to him to look around for Hunter. He was standing behind Cam, arms folded across his chest, several steps away. He just raised an eyebrow at Cam, and the silent question was obvious. Well?

Cam never saw the blow coming. He felt it as it tore the air above his head when he ducked, turned to lunge out of his crouch directly at the man who'd tried to hit him, and he felt the satisfying impact of a fist that had landed on a pressure point. The man yelped in surprise, and Cam didn't wait. A fast uppercut knocked his head back, and the man stumbled away, whining.

Whining. He wasn't... really whining. But that was an awfully wolf-like noise. Cam tried to catch his breath in the wake of the adrenaline coursing through him, and when he was sure the man wasn't coming back he glanced around nervously, wondering what the penalty was for fighting. Surely it would be obvious that he hadn't started it. His reaction had been pure instinct, a response to a punch already thrown.

No one looked upset. In fact, most of the people around him were turning back to their tables or their partners like this kind of thing was nothing out of the ordinary. He caught Hunter's eye, saw the corner of his mouth quirk upward before he turned away. Hunter continued on toward an empty table like nothing had happened. After a moment, Cam followed.

He slid into a chair across from Hunter and muttered, "I wouldn't have hit him if he hadn't gone for me first."

"You're such a dom," Hunter murmured in return. He lifted his gaze to Cam's and just looked at him, a familiar smirk lurking behind those blue eyes. "Can't keep your head down to save your life."

"He challenged me," Cam hissed, stung by the reprimand, no matter how teasingly it was delivered. That guy had to fall into the category of "people he was allowed to hurt." Didn't he?

"Yeah," Hunter agreed soothingly. And that was a whole other realm of strange, the thought that Hunter was actively humoring him. "He did."

Just then a woman appeared at their table, hair pulled back in a neat blonde ponytail and a little pad of paper in her hand. "Boys," she greeted them crisply. "Can I get you something to eat?"

Her tank top was low and short and a little too comfortable looking. She was wearing low-rider jeans that displayed a decorated band of pink underwear all the way around--on purpose, Cam thought. Like the jeans were meant to slide down, except that he was pretty sure they were too tight to go anywhere.

Hunter kicked him under the table, and the glare he gave Cam was definitely a warning. "Beef or venison?" he asked, in a tone that implied he was repeating something the waitress had already asked.

"Beef," Cam said distractedly.

"For both of us," Hunter told the waitress.

"Accessories?" she asked, keeping her eyes on her pad. She didn't look like she was paying the slightest bit of attention to either of them.

"Vegetarian," Hunter said. "For both of us. Thanks."

Cam thought that was an odd thing to say, having just placed an order for beef, but the waitress just nodded. "Back in a few." She lowered her pad and turned away, never once having looked at either of them.

As soon as she was gone, Hunter leaned forward and snapped his fingers in front of Cam's face. Cam stopped watching the waitress and shot him an irritated look. "What?"

"Don't tick off the girls," Hunter warned, keeping his voice low. "It's not pretty."

"You're just jealous," Cam muttered. As soon as he said it he wished he could clap his hands over Hunter's ears to keep him from hearing. Where had that come from?

Hunter actually laughed, a chuckle that was quickly smothered as he looked down and pretended he was clearing his throat. "Yeah, well, regardless. Don't you wonder how they can wear shit like that and get away with it?"

Cam's eyes flicked to his. "Dress code?"

Hunter snorted. "You see her bracelet? Clunky plastic thing on her left wrist?"

He hadn't been looking at her wrists, but he nodded anyway.

"It's only got one button," Hunter told him. "You so much as touch her and she'll push it. I can't hear it, but I'm told the noise is pretty painful. Everyone in the place will instantly have it in for you--you'll be damn lucky if you get a chance to do it twice."

Cam put his hands on the table carefully, one after the other. "Don't touch the girls," he repeated. "Got it."

Hunter's lips quirked, and this time he came awfully close to a genuine smile. Instead, he just nodded toward the bar and asked, "You want a drink?"

Cam glanced in the direction he'd indicated automatically. "Do they even have a permit for that?"

"They're not alcoholic." Hunter sounded amused. "It's just water and juice and soda--anything that comes in a bottle. Plus a few more disgusting things that it's better not to ask about."

"Well, with an endorsement like that," Cam muttered. "Who wouldn't want one?"

"Come with me," Hunter ordered, getting to his feet. "Better to stick together."

He couldn't really argue with that, but he wanted to. Hunter's condescending attitude rankled. He stood up and followed him to the bar without a word, the annoyance simmering just beneath the surface.

They found a couple of empty stools, but Hunter didn't sit down and Cam followed his example. There was another girl behind the bar, her hair twisted into a knot at the back of her head. She was wearing a sleeveless vest over top of a sports bra, and Cam wondered how girls this hot ended up working at a wolf hideout on the edge of town. How did they advertise job openings, anyway? He couldn't quite imagine the classifieds paying off for a place like this.

"Soda," Hunter was saying. "Coke, if you have it. Cam?"

"Water," he told the girl, ignoring Hunter. She caught his eye and smiled at him, and he smiled back. See? There were normal people here.

He saw Hunter glance at him, and the other Ranger whispered, "Careful."

Cam rolled his eyes and turned away. There was a guy at one of the nearby tables staring at him, and Cam frowned. It was a disturbingly assessing look, and it reminded him of the shove he'd gotten on the way in. He glared back, and the guy flicked his gaze up and down him once before shrugging slightly and turning away.

Cam had started toward him before he knew what he was doing. He was met by a flash of metal and he froze in horror as he found a switchblade pressed up against his chin. The shorter man gazed steadily up at him. There was deadly intent in those eyes, and Cam knew with utter certainty that this was no idle threat.

Slowly, he held his hands out to the sides, palm up.

The knife stayed where it was for a long moment. There was utter silence from the surrounding tables, but Cam could hear normal chatter and the clink of glasses and silverware from farther away. The scene wasn't drawing any more than superficial attention.

The man raised his eyebrows, just a little, and for a split second Cam was reminded intensely of Hunter. Then the knife dropped, spinning in a controlled circle before it disappeared altogether. The man stared at him until he turned away. Burning with embarrassment, he made his way back to the bar without looking at anyone.

Hunter was waiting, arms folded, just the way he had been last time. "What was that?" he inquired. He sounded like he cared about as much as if Cam had stopped to pick up something on the sidewalk.

Cam shifted uncomfortably, aware of the childishness of his reply even as he said it. "I didn't like the way he was looking at me," he muttered.

Hunter let out an amused breath. He just shook his head as he turned back to the bar, and for some reason that infuriated Cam. He was being treated like a two-year-old. He narrowed his eyes at Hunter's back, fuming, kept from saying anything only by the return of the girl serving the drinks.

"Here you go," she said, in an oddly perky voice. "One water," she added, setting it down on the bar, "and a coke for the alpha."

Cam's eyes widened. She smiled at Hunter this time, and he winked at her. Cam's fists clenched. "Alpha?" he repeated, very quietly.

She moved off, and Hunter turned away from the bar. "Let's go," he told Cam. It was impossible to tell whether he'd heard or not.

So he said it louder. "Alpha?"

"Shut up," Hunter warned in a low voice. And yeah, he'd definitely heard him the first time. "This isn't a good time for a vote."

"Who said anything about voting," Cam hissed. "You don't get to speak for me."

Hunter grabbed his arm and tried to steer him back toward their table. Cam threw him off, bracing himself right where he was. "Don't touch me," he snarled. "I'm sick of this."

Hunter held very still. Then, carefully, he turned and set his drink back down. "Look," he said quietly. "Cam." He lifted his gaze, blue eyes going straight through him. "I didn't put me in charge. You did."

"I never put you in charge of me," Cam retorted furiously. The wolf wanted to lash out, angry, howling inside of him, and it took everything he had to hold his ground.

"Yeah," Hunter told him. "You did." He leaned back against the bar, elbows propping him up as he studied Cam intently. "But if you think you can take me, you can change your mind any time."

Hunter was trying to provoke him. His easy posture, his offhanded challenge, it was all calculated to draw a specific response, and for the life of him Cam couldn't figure out why. He couldn't fight it, either. The wolf swelled inside him, threatening to erase the last vestiges of his control as he heard himself growl, "I could take you."

"Could you?" Hunter gave every impression of pouncing, despite the fact that he barely moved. He was standing up straighter now, gaze locked with Cam's. "Could you pin me down, tear me apart, press your jaw to my neck with every intention of slicing me open if I didn't submit?

"Could you do that, Cam?" Hunter leaned forward, mocking him, daring him. "Because if you can't, then you're wasting my time."

The blood was pounding in his ears. He couldn't look away. If Hunter was trying to scare him then it wasn't working. The images twisted in his mind, becoming stronger, harder, and a single silent word echoed between them. He knew Hunter heard it too, saw it in his eyes.

Yes.

He could do it. He needed to do it. He wanted to slam Hunter back against the bar, to scrape his teeth across that skin and tear his clothes off while Hunter begged for mercy... for more. For a rush only he could give.

He wanted it with a desperation that could only be rooted in the wolf. He had to have it, had to do it, his breathing was harsh and his hands were shaking so badly that he clenched his fingers to hide their tremors. He yanked his gaze away, staring at the floor like he could somehow put it between him and this thing that he wanted with terrifying intensity.

From a distance, he could hear Hunter's voice saying, "Take your drink and go sit down."

He couldn't move. He felt Hunter's hand on his arm, the cold glass pressed against his fingers, and he accepted it mechanically. It took both his hands to hold it steady. Hunter's hand was on his shoulder now, turning him around, urging him away from the bar and back toward the table in the corner.

The long walk across the room was torture. The wolf in him was screaming for release, for a fight, for sex, for anything at all that would take away this agonizing ache inside. He was overcome with shame for his reaction, for the scene that had played out in full view of everyone in the room. It wasn't Hunter's fault. He had tried to keep it between them--he had tried, but Cam hadn't been able to let it go.

It was with something like relief that he finally sank into his chair. Hunter didn't move, just stood behind him for a long moment with his hand on Cam's shoulder. Finally he murmured, "You want to hit me, or fuck me?"

Cam shuddered involuntarily, fingers white where he gripped the glass.

"Yeah," Hunter said quietly. "That's what I thought." He squeezed Cam's shoulder briefly before letting go, moving away to put the table between them again.

Once he sat down, Cam could feel his eyes on him, watching him. Studying him. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and comforting. "Look, Cam." Cam didn't look up. "We both know you could take me," Hunter told him. "But for whatever reason, you won't."

He would. He'd take Hunter any time, fiercely, gladly, without a single regret. He just wouldn't kill him. Cam stared at his water, trying to think of anything else.

"Half the time," Hunter was saying, "in a fair fight, you'd probably win. But you won't fight me. That's why I'm here in the first place, remember? 'Cause your wolf lets me push him around."

The wolf would let him do a lot more than that if he would just stop talking. Cam gritted his teeth, trying to remember where he was. He was still human. He didn't know why, the turmoil inside him was more than enough to have sent him into wolf form--except that, as a wolf, he wouldn't be able to do half the things his body was telling him to do to Hunter.

"Maybe to the rest of the world," Hunter continued, "that just means I'm your friend." His tone was still calm and soothing, which was doing no good at all. "But here it means I'm the boss. Do you get that?"

Cam couldn't answer. He didn't dare move, not to lift his head, or even to say a single word. He couldn't deal with this. He felt like he was suspended, balanced precariously between human and wolf, and the slightest change would push him over the edge.

"Still with me?" Hunter asked warily. "Cam?"

He managed to look up at Hunter without raising his head. Their eyes met, and he had no idea what Hunter saw. But the other Ranger nodded once and didn't ask again. "Just checking."

Plates appeared in front of them, along with silverware wrapped in paper napkins, and Cam stared at the table while food was set out. "Try eating something," Hunter suggested, setting his own example. "Maybe it'll help."

He seriously doubted it. He must have looked as skeptical as he felt, because Hunter added, "Look, I'm not too thrilled about this either. For one thing, if you hadn't noticed, anyone you piss off is automatically my problem. And no offense, but you're not the easiest person to get along with."

Cam drew in a deep breath, listening, and he wondered how Hunter babbling could possibly relax him. Somehow, all expectation to the contrary, the panic inside him was just slightly less than it had been a few minutes ago. He didn't know what to think about that. Except that no one could stay balanced forever... it was just a question of which side he fell off on.

"Luckily," Hunter was muttering, apparently unfazed that he was talking mostly to himself, "I like you more than I like any of them."

He didn't know he was going to speak until he did it, and his voice rasped as he stared down at the table. "How much more?"

He felt Hunter's sharp look heating up his skin. "Enough to not let you do what you were thinking about back there," Hunter said at last.

He was sure Hunter didn't have a clue what he'd been thinking about until he added gently, "Sex is just another way to dominate someone, Cam. It won't make you feel any better."

He swallowed hard, torn between horror and despair. Horror because Hunter had read his mind, and despair because he was the one calling the shots. If he said no, Cam didn't think he'd be able to change his mind. "Not much of a romantic, are you," he managed hoarsely.

Hunter snorted at that. "Not around here," he agreed. "No."

He was eating. How could he eat? Cam just stared at him, watching him put food in his mouth until Hunter glanced up. The moment their eyes met, Cam looked away. It was natural, it was instinctive--and it made him want to cry. Hunter really was in charge. The wolf knew it, even if he wasn't convinced.

He was only peripherally aware of someone approaching the table, and he didn't look up until they stopped. A young man, maybe a little older than he was, stood there with two girls and an older man at his back. He didn't looking at Cam. He was staring down at Hunter.

"Hey," the guy said. When this prompted no reaction, he added, "You're sitting at my table."

Hunter flipped him off without looking up.

The guy reached out and grabbed Hunter's plate. Cam bristled. Hunter just considered the table for a moment, as though expecting his food to reappear as mysteriously as it had vanished. It didn't. He looked up, slowly, raking his gaze over the guy holding his plate.

"You," the guy repeated, very clearly. "Are sitting at my table."

Hunter just looked at him. Finally, his lip curled the slightest bit. It was the only expression on his face, but it made the other guy stiffen.

"Don't make me laugh," Hunter said softly.

The guy grabbed the front of his shirt and Cam shoved his chair back, hindquarters gathering beneath him as he sprang at the other man without a single thought. He leapt at a man and slammed into a wolf, but the change didn't bother him at all. His snarl of rage would be all the more clear to wolf ears.

He caught the other animal off balance, sinking his teeth into the wolf's neck as they crashed to the ground. The wolf beneath him jerked violently, scrabbling for leverage. He hung on as a black muzzle snapped against the floor, trying to reach him, and he felt his hackles standing on end as he growled around a mouthful of fur and muscle.

The wolf froze. The sudden stillness was followed by a series of pathetic yelps that prompted him to loosen his grip. The black wolf shook him off, struggling frantically to find his feet as he propelled himself away, and when he'd achieved a short distance he flashed back into human form. Covering his neck with one hand, he carefully avoided Cam's gaze.

Cam's head swung around, looking for Hunter. He expected to find him leaning against the table, arms folded, a knowing smile on his face. Instead a snarl erupted from him when he saw Hunter facing off against the older man, and he braced himself to lunge.

Hunter's voice stopped him. "Stay out of it," he snapped, not taking his eyes off of the other guy. Even when the man disappeared, replaced by a mean-looking lupine shape, he didn't revoke his command.

Cam tensed, growling under his breath. He almost launched himself into the fight when the other wolf leapt forward, knowing with utter certainty that no punch Hunter could throw would protect him from the jaws of a wolf that meant it. Heavy paws slammed into Hunter's chest and he staggered, bringing one hand up in a futile effort to block as he fell backward--

Electricity crackled in the air, sizzling, the sound and the smell making his fur stand on end as the other wolf howled. Cam watched in awe as it slid to the ground, twitching uncontrollably. Hunter stood over the wolf-shape, right fist clenched in the midst of snapping sparks that didn't dissipate until the wolf reverted to human form.

The older man stumbled to his feet, giving Hunter's hands a nervous glance as he backed away. He kept his head down, flinching when Hunter hissed, "Keep your pack away from me and mine."

Cam flowed over to his side, certain and for once untroubled that Hunter's "mine" included him. He watched silently as the group drifted away, sticking close to each other and keeping their gazes carefully covert. A recently defeated wolf was an easy target, he guessed.

He heard the change in Hunter's breathing before he registered the smell of blood. He looked up in concern as Hunter made his way back to the table, carefully righting both their chairs before sitting down again, and the way he moved wasn't natural. Cam padded after him, nudging Hunter's knee with his muzzle in mute question.

"You'll be all right," Hunter muttered under his breath. "Just relax."

He growled softly. It wasn't him he was worried about. He put one paw on Hunter's leg, waited a moment, then pushed himself up when Hunter didn't object. He sniffed Hunter's face quickly, reassuring himself, then dropped his head in search of the source of the blood smell.

It wasn't hard to find. Hunter's t-shirt was torn open at the top and ripped all the way down the left side, and he jerked when Cam pressed his nose against the bloody gashes underneath. He couldn't help licking them, the urge to comfort, to clean, to stop the flow of blood was too instinctive to fight.

Hunter inhaled sharply. He was rigid, utterly still as Cam nosed his head up to investigate the claw marks that had bloodied his collarbone. A moment later, though, he felt Hunter shift, and a tentative hand buried itself in the fur behind his ear, rubbing the back of his head gently.

The bleeding wouldn't stop. Cam whined softly, anxious, and Hunter's fingers dug deeper into the back of his neck. It was oddly reassuring.

"I'm fine," Hunter said under his breath. "Just leave it alone."

He backed off reluctantly, putting his front paws back on the floor and resting his head on Hunter's leg. Hunter smoothed the fur on top of his head, fingers lingering at the back of his skull for a long moment. He lowered his ears to encourage the caress, nosing the air a little and then drawing back to bump Hunter's hand with his muzzle when he didn't seem inclined to continue the petting.

He could hear Hunter's smile when he took the hint, stroking the top of his head again and murmuring, "Thanks, buddy."

He sighed, and then his cheek was pressed against Hunter's thigh and Hunter's hand was tangled in his hair. He didn't move at first, but Hunter's fingers lifted from his head and he heard the other Ranger clear his throat. He straightened up, kneeling on the floor as he stared up at Hunter, trying to gauge his expression.

Hunter just looked back at him, and finally Cam looked down and pushed himself to his feet. His wrist twinged where his front leg had hit the floor, and the blood smell from Hunter was still making him nervous, but otherwise he felt all right. He took a seat, shooting another quick glance at Hunter as he did so.

"Why didn't you let me help?" Cam muttered, relieved when the words came out just the way he expected.

Hunter raised an eyebrow at him. He wasn't paying any attention to his dramatically shredded shirt, or the blood that was staining it from the inside out. He was wearing the right color for it, Cam thought, dismayed.

"Same reason I didn't help you before," he answered, as if it should have been obvious. "You didn't need it."

"Even against Knife Man?" Cam demanded. He decided that the only thing he could do was not to look at Hunter's chest at all. How could he just sit there like he didn't even feel it?

Hunter looked vaguely amused by that. "Served you right," he told Cam. "You shouldn't have messed with him. To him, you were that guy that pushed you on the way in."

Cam frowned. He wasn't any more clear on who he was supposed to take on and who he wasn't, but ignoring Hunter's injuries wasn't working for him. "Can we go before you bleed all over that chair?" he asked bluntly.

Hunter actually grinned at that. "Nope," he said with perfect nonchalance. "We came here to get you some real food, and I'm not leaving till you eat something."

Cam looked down, considering the plate in front of him and the disturbingly appealing steak that was still sitting on it. Untouched. And probably cold by now. Why didn't that bother him, he wondered? Shouldn't his wolfish tendencies come and go with the shape?

Obviously not. He didn't understand it, and it was starting to make him curious.

Cam made a show of grudging acceptance as he unwrapped his silverware. "If it will make you happy," he muttered. He wished he hadn't changed back quite so quickly. He would have been able to clear his plate a lot faster as a wolf.

He could hear Hunter's smirk in his voice. "You know," he said conversationally, "you have blood on your face."

Cam fixed his gaze on his food, trying not to look as embarrassed as he felt.

5. Trouble with the Truth

He'd figured they would have to answer to the rest of the team eventually. Yeah, Sensei could now confirm that Hunter wasn't delusional when he said the wolf turned into Cam when no one else was around. And yeah, Cam had gotten his virtual replicant back online, so Ninja Ops was once again being overseen by a geeky tech type who could fix things that no one else knew were broken. And Lothor hadn't even bothered to annoy the hell out of them with a giant rampaging alien since yesterday.

Still, the rest of the team hadn't actually seen Cam since... well, probably since practice Monday afternoon. The day before his uncle had caught him alone and decided that he'd look better in fur. That was a long time for them, and as much as Hunter tried to ignore it, they were all pretty close. So he'd guessed they'd probably gang up on him for real answers at some point.

He just hadn't expected it to be tonight.

It was like an intervention. Or maybe more like parents waiting up for the kids out past curfew for the second night in a row. He surveyed Ninja Ops with a combination of amusement and annoyance, absently noting Cam's stiffness at his side and silently congratulating him for hanging on to his human form. So far so good.

"What the hell happened to you?" Blake blurted out, striding across the room to confront them where they had stopped at the bottom of the stairs. His bro looked well and truly pissed. A quick glance at Cam revealed an almost identical expression on his face--directed at Blake.

Hunter tried to shrug. "Got into a scuffle," he said, as casually as he could. "What's everyone doing here?" he added, frowning around at the rest of the Rangers. Part of him found their presence funny, while another part said that they were the last thing he needed right now. "Isn't it kinda late for a school night?"

"What are we doing here?" Blake repeated incredulously. "We were trying to find you! Did it ever occur to you to leave a note or something? What if Cam ran off and you couldn't make it back here and we didn't even know where to look for you!"

"He told you where we were going," Cam snapped. "You of all people could have found us if you needed to."

"Cam," Hunter said with a sigh. He doubted Blake would have told the others that he knew where they were. And this new tendency to defend him no matter what the circumstance was kind of embarrassing. "It's okay."

"No, it's not," Cam snarled. He sounded just as angry with Hunter as he had with Blake. "Don't you get it? They think I did this."

Hunter just stared at him, not understanding. It had been his idea to leave Ninja Ops in the first place. He had been the one to talk Cam into it, and if Cam hadn't bothered to tell anyone they were going, well, Hunter hadn't exactly tried to spread the word either.

"They think I attacked you," Cam spat, "and it's just your amazing skill that kept you alive. When in reality the only skill you displayed was how to successfully antagonize every person who came within twenty feet of you! Myself included!"

"Hey, whoa," Hunter said, glancing at Blake and then around at the rest of the team. "Cam didn't attack me. That's crazy. Is that really what you thought?"

Arms folded, Blake informed him, "That's what it looks like, bro."

Behind him, Hunter could see Dustin and Tori exchanging glances from opposite sides of the table. Shane was standing at one end, and he shrugged when Hunter caught his eye. "You went out with a wolf, you came back with wolf-inflicted injuries," he pointed out. "What were we supposed to think?

"No offense, Cam," Shane added, apparently as an afterthought.

"You know, I'm getting really tired of hearing that," Cam growled, before Hunter could reply. "Okay, I periodically turn into a wolf. I'm still me, and I'm not going to go around mauling any of you for no reason."

"You bit Hunter," Blake said bluntly.

"Oh, like you've never wanted to do that," Cam retorted. "He's completely obnoxious!"

"Hey!" Hunter protested. Shane laughed outright, and he saw Dustin and Tori smirking at each other before they realized he was watching. Only Blake didn't look appeased.

"If it wasn't Cam," he demanded, "then what happened?"

"It was Cam's girlfriend," Hunter told him. "She was jealous."

"Shut up," Cam snapped. If the response wasn't quite worthy of his usual cleverness, it still made the other Rangers snicker.

Sensei was absent, Hunter realized suddenly. Everyone was here except for Cam's father. He was pretty sure an intervention wasn't complete without family members. "Where's Sensei?"

"He's off in one of the meditation rooms or something," Dustin volunteered. "He said something about, I dunno, Cam not wanting to see him or something?"

Hunter gave Cam a sideways glance, but he just sighed. "Of course I want to see him. He's my father."

"Hey, I have an idea," Hunter said abruptly. "Why don't you talk to your dad and, y'know, tell everyone what's going on, and I'll go... change my shirt." It was the most polite thing he could think of to say, even if he didn't actually have any other shirt to change into.

It didn't work. Blake and Cam gave him twin looks of disgust, like he had just said something so stupid they couldn't believe it. It was Tori who spoke first, though, and she was more tactful than either of them would have been.

"I think you're probably going to need someone to help you with that," she pointed out.

"You volunteering?" Hunter asked quickly.

Tori looked surprised, but she shrugged and pushed herself to her feet. "Sure," she agreed. "But you'll have to give me your version of the story, 'cause I don't want to miss this."

He could feel Cam glaring at him, but he didn't really want Cam touching him right now--especially with everyone watching, which was just what would happen if they both tried to leave. "Done," he told Tori.

"Be right back," she added, though whether to someone in particular or the room at large it was impossible to tell.

He hadn't expected it to be so hard to walk away from Cam. It wasn't like he hadn't done it before, after all. And this time Cam was with other people. That should help, right? He wanted to think so. But maybe that was exactly why he was nervous. He'd seen how Cam acted at the community center, and that kind of thing wasn't going to cut it at Ninja Ops.

On the other hand, Cam seemed way more civil now than he had then. Maybe he'd be fine. Maybe he'd be better if he didn't have to stand there smelling blood the whole time, Hunter thought with a sigh. He knew it was making Cam restless, whether Cam knew why he was so jumpy or not. But he hadn't dared leave too quickly after a fight like that in case someone took it as a sign of weakness.

"Do you even have another shirt here?" Tori asked, interrupting his musing.

He gave her a guilty look. "No," he admitted. "I was thinking I could steal one of Cam's."

"He locks his door," she replied immediately.

Hunter gave her a suspicious look. "How do you know that?"

Tori just smiled. "Academy secret," she told him.

"Right." He waited, but she didn't give, so he added, "Well, it's not locked anymore. He can't unlock it when he's a wolf, so he left it open."

"Maybe you should clean up first," she suggested, eyeing him. "Unless you want to leave bloody fingerprints all over Cam's room."

He thought that would be kind of funny, in the way that Cam would probably be justified in killing him if he actually did it. She was right, though, so he followed her into one of the treatment rooms and almost forgot to turn on the light. The regular light--not a flashlight, or a red light, but the real bright lights that normal people used. It was a little strange.

Tori didn't waste any time beginning her interrogation. She also patched him up better than he could have done himself, so he figured it was a fair trade. With the added bonus that she looked pretty but totally unsexy while she was doing it. He figured he was the only guy on the team, bar one, that would think that in the first place, let alone consider it a plus. But it gave his nerves a rest, and he couldn't even tell her how much he appreciated that.

He did tell her about the community center. He was pretty sure Blake would tell the others, after Cam had given him away like that, and they might as well know. Sensei was the only one he wouldn't be able to intimidate into silence on the subject if he had to, but he didn't think Sensei would be hearing about it tonight. He wasn't the type to sulk: if he said he didn't think his son wanted to see him, then he really thought that, and he wouldn't force the issue no matter what Cam said.

He didn't tell her about the whole dominance thing. He didn't think Cam would be bringing it up either. And he definitely didn't tell her that the injuries she was cleaning up for him had been the result of a lucky coincidence. If Cam hadn't found someone to fight... if he hadn't found someone to fight--

He was trying not to think about it.

Rooting through Cam's clothes really didn't help, but at least Tori waited outside. She seemed to be getting a scary amount of enjoyment out of helping him invade Cam's space. She was full of gleeful predictions about what Cam was going to do to him for it, but she never once raised a serious objection. That made him a little nervous, since Tori was usually pretty protective of Cam, but he figured maybe she just thought they were closer now than they'd been a few days ago.

They were, he thought grimly. Too close. And why did Cam wear jeans that were too big for him, anyway? He rolled up everything he owned: sleeves, pant legs, it was ridiculous. It wasn't like he was getting hand-me-downs from older siblings. He had to be buying them that way on purpose.

Tori grinned when he emerged, empty-handed. Tori had tossed his old t-shirt, and he'd left his jeans in Cam's room. That was going to tick him off even more when he found them, but Hunter wasn't planning to carry clothes around all evening.

"Cam's gonna kill you," Tori said happily. He was really starting to worry about her obvious delight.

"You're awfully excited about it," he grumbled, eyeing her suspiciously.

She didn't stop grinning. "Ongoing academy challenge," she told him. "Who can make Cam crack? There's a pool," she added confidentially. "We've kept it up, you know--for the sake of tradition. Shane thinks it's going to be Sensei. Dustin says it's me." She rolled her eyes, making it clear what she thought of that idea. "I bet on you."

It took him a moment to get past the fact that the Wind Rangers were weirdly in the know about a school they'd almost washed out of. He was also kind of bothered that Cam was apparently the subject of so much of the gossip. Then his brain caught up with her words.

"Me?" he repeated. He glanced sideways at her as they made their way back to the control room. "You think I'm gonna make Cam crack?"

"I think you already have," she said lightly. "He likes you, you know."

Hunter stopped where he was, staring at her as she walked a couple of steps and then turned. "What?" she asked, holding her hands out to the sides. "You're the only one he takes seriously when you ask questions. That's like him admitting that he thinks you're smart, and coming from Cam, there's no greater compliment."

He was pretty sure that wasn't it, actually. Cam didn't have that much respect for his intelligence. But Hunter didn't tease him about being smart, either, which the rest of the Rangers did, and Hunter figured that was why he got special treatment.

It wasn't like he hadn't noticed. Tori was right, Cam answered his questions seriously and without rolling his eyes, and that set him apart from everyone else on the team. It was the only reason he asked questions in the first place, since an eye-roll or two would have shut him up real fast. He didn't appreciate being mocked.

Maybe that was why he didn't tease of Cam. He didn't know, he'd never really thought about it... but he didn't want Cam to make fun of him. So he didn't invite it by doing it to him. As long as the strategy achieved its intended result, he didn't pay much attention to it. Or to anyone who might be wondering about it.

"Cam doesn't think any of us are smart," Hunter said abruptly, realizing Tori was still waiting for his reaction. He caught up with her and they started toward the control room again. "Come on. He's probably written more than I've ever read."

"He likes you," she repeated firmly. "Which is good, because he has to like someone on the team." Giving him an apologetic look, she added, "Especially now."

"He's not gonna hurt anyone," Hunter muttered. Even he knew it wasn't convincing.

"If he hurt you," Tori countered, "he could hurt any of us. He won't mean to do it, but we all know he's dangerous right now. And from what you've said about the people at the community center, he could be like this for a while."

He shook his head. "I don't think so. Cam's different." This he was more sure about. "He's been getting clearer all day, and he's been human most of the afternoon. I think maybe his amulet's counteracting the dark ninja powers somehow."

"You keep saying that," Cam's voice interrupted.

Hunter started. He had seen most of the team gathered on the other side of the control room and had just assumed Cam was with them. But before they even walked through the doors, he stepped out of the corner and folded his arms. "Why do you think the amulet has anything to do with it?"

"Well, for one thing, it keeps glowing," Hunter told him. "And you said it was warm. That's weird, right? It must be doing something."

"Cam's testing it," Shane volunteered, coming around the table to join them by the door. The others drifted in their direction too. "He said the same thing."

Cam glared at him. Hunter was distracted by the fact that Cam wasn't wearing the amulet anymore, which he felt intuitively was a bad thing, but what did he know? If Cam agreed with him, he wouldn't have taken it off in the first place.

He caught Blake giving him an odd look, but he didn't get why until Dustin asked, "Dude, do you keep spare clothes in the training rooms?"

Oh. Right. He shot Cam a guilty look, but he just raised his eyebrows in return.

"Uh, I kind of borrowed some of your clothes," Hunter muttered. "That okay?"

"Traditionally one asks before rather than after," Cam informed him. "It's something to keep in mind."

"Okay, you and Cam are not the same size," Shane said, looking from one of them to the other as if to make sure.

"Yeah, they actually fit you," Blake cracked. Then he caught Cam's eye and sobered quickly. "I mean... sorry."

"Don't you have homes?" Cam wanted to know. "Parents, siblings, people who expect you to periodically put in an appearance? Curfews? Or is that just wishful thinking?"

Blake just folded his arms, but the Wind Rangers started looking at each other worriedly. Hunter watched in amusement as a few pointed questions from Cam sent them scrambling. He was obviously back to normal enough for them, even if Shane did call back that they were going to talk about the city wolf population later.

Hunter glanced at Blake as they left. "Sorry about the community center thing," he said under his breath. "You told Shane and Dustin, huh?"

Blake shrugged, watching them go. "Nah, it's fine. They're not gonna go storm the place or anything. You tell Tori?"

"Yeah." Hunter echoed his shrug. "I figured she should know if they did."

"Yeah, and she questions like no one's business," Blake added with a grin. "Didn't think you'd be able to stand up to her one on one anyway."

"If the community center was supposed to be a secret," Cam interrupted, "someone could have told me before I called Blake on it in front of the Winds."

"The fact that we never told you didn't tip you off?" Blake wanted to know.

"It's fine," Hunter put in. "It's probably not gonna be the last time we're there, anyway."

"Oh?" Blake and Cam spoke at the same time, interrupting the arch looks they were giving him to glare at each other in annoyance.

"So what really happened?" Blake demanded, giving Cam a once-over. "You look fine. How'd you manage to stay out of trouble if Hunter got beaten up?"

"I told you," Cam said. He looked more sullen than impatient, and the look he gave Hunter said he still hadn't forgiven him. "Your brother was determined to take the guy alone."

"I told him to stay out of it," Hunter agreed, ignoring Cam's expression. "It wasn't his fault."

"And you listened to him?" Blake sounded skeptical. "When have you ever stayed out of a fight for anyone less than Sensei? Even before you were a Ranger?"

Cam crossed his arms, unconsciously echoing Blake's posture. "I was busy," he muttered.

"He was fighting another wolf at the time," Hunter added. Yeah. Dominance definitely hadn't come up in Cam's version of the story.

Blake was looking at Cam suspiciously. "And you're fine?" he repeated.

"I do know how to fight," Cam snapped.

"Hey," Hunter protested, hearing the unspoken comparison whether Cam had meant it that way or not. "The teeth and claws gave you an advantage."

"And your electric shock therapy didn't?" Cam retorted. "What happened to not demonstrating our ninja abilities?"

"I told you not to show off," Hunter corrected. "They already knew Blake and I are ninjas. I was hoping you could pass for normal, 'cause in case you didn't notice, they don't exactly like us."

"Really," Cam deadpanned. "I thought they were that friendly and welcoming to everyone."

"It's not a support group," Hunter told him. "It's a freakin' wolf pack. They want to know where we fit in. They must have figured you were guilty of the ninja thing by association."

Blake cleared his throat, and Hunter gave him a look. "You got something to say?"

"Yeah, maybe it's because he looks like a ninja," Blake retorted. "I told you they'd know the second he walked through the door."

"I don't look like a ninja," Cam said impatiently. "Ninjas don't even have a look."

"See?" Hunter smirked at his brother. "Thank you," he added, tossing the words in Cam's direction.

"You didn't say there wasn't a look," Blake retorted. "You just said Cam didn't have it."

Now he was in trouble. He could feel Cam glaring at him without even seeing it. "I didn't say that," he muttered, not looking at Cam. "Not exactly."

Blake snorted, but mercifully he didn't mention the "computer geek" part of the conversation. "So are you coming back to the apartment tonight, or what?"

This probably wasn't going to go over well--with either of them--but it was the truth. "I'm not leaving Cam," he said bluntly. "Maybe he's getting better, but he still does weird stuff. It's safer if I'm here."

Blake frowned. He studied Cam openly, and Hunter took a quick look to see what he was staring at. Cam didn't look particularly happy, but he wasn't protesting either. When he saw Hunter look at him, though, he sighed.

"What do you want me to say? That I don't trust me alone in Ninja Ops either? Fine, I don't. I think it's better if Hunter's here. He'll probably drive me crazy by morning, but at least I'll be so distracted that I won't have time to rewrite the security protocols."

Hunter shrugged when Blake gave him a questioning look. He hadn't been sure that Cam would agree with him, actually. He was acting more like himself every minute, and he had half-thought Cam might argue the idea that he still couldn't be left alone.

"Okay," Blake said, shaking his head. "You want me to bring you anything?"

"Nah, it's fine." His bro had already gone out of his way, and Hunter wasn't gonna ask him to keep running back and forth. "I'll stop by tomorrow before work."

He didn't look at Cam when he said it. Neither did Blake, which he guessed meant that Cam didn't look horrified. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but he needed to get back to work and he was starting to get pretty sick of Ninja Ops. He hoped Cam would be fine tomorrow.

Mostly, he hoped that.

At least Blake didn't look skeptical. "See you tomorrow, then."

He offered his hand, and Hunter clasped it automatically. "'Night, bro."

"'Night," Blake replied. "See ya, Cam."

Cam just nodded in mute acknowledgement.

Blake headed for the stairs without looking back. Hunter didn't move until he was gone, and then he stayed there a few seconds longer. He had no idea what to say to Cam, so maybe he just wouldn't say anything.

Until he heard Cam whisper in his ear, "So you're going to spend the night for my own good, hmm?"

He spun, eyes wide as he stepped back. "Geez, Cam," he snapped. "Could you not sneak up on me like that?" He searched Cam's expression for some hint of humor, for any indication that his words were the joke he knew they had to be.

Instead he met gold eyes that glowed softly in the dimness, coming closer even as he backed away. Stalking him. It was a disturbing thought, and he made himself stop where he was. "Cam," he said sternly. "Back off."

Cam just smiled, and weirdly that made him nervous. He didn't back off--he got in Hunter's face and stayed there. "Make me."

"Cam--"

"You asked if I could hurt you," Cam said softly. The words stopped him faster than Cam's closeness, and yeah, now he was worried. Cam's gaze flickered across his face before catching his eye again. "Now I'm asking you... Can you hurt me?"

"Yeah," he breathed, and then he closed his eyes for a moment. That was supposed to sound a lot more determined. "Yeah," he repeated, louder. "I can."

"Really," Cam murmured. He felt Cam's mouth brush against his, and then, "I don't believe you."

Shit. This was so not good. He really wanted that kiss, wanted it back, wanted it to go on, and he couldn't even make himself open his eyes. Cam's lips found his again. He didn't move, trying to tell himself that this didn't matter. It was too gentle. It didn't compromise his authority. It was just--

Cam. Ignoring him to do whatever he wanted.

Shit.

His eyes opened of their own accord, and he put his hands on Cam's shoulders. Pushing him away was easy, and for a moment he was relieved. Then he saw the hurt look on Cam's face. God, there was no way to win around here.

"Cam..." He tried not to sigh. He felt like such a loser here. "Do you get why I can't do this?"

Cam was staring down at the floor, but he hadn't stepped out of Hunter's grip. "No," he said quietly.

Okay. Well, that was straight up.

"Someone has to be in control of the wolf," Hunter said, watching his expression carefully. "If it's not you, it's gotta be me." Which wasn't fair. In fact, it totally sucked. But he knew, honestly, that if Cam was in control of himself, he probably wouldn't be coming on to Hunter. So the only reason he was doing this was the only reason Hunter couldn't enjoy it.

Life, he thought bitterly, was really unfair.

"So kiss me," Cam whispered.

Hunter stared at him, but he didn't look up. "What?"

"You think someone's going to die if you lose control," Cam said flatly. "Fine. Maybe you're right. But this is the first time I've ever been able to give up control." He lifted his head then, but there was no challenge in the pleading look he gave Hunter. "If I can't kiss you... kiss me."

He shouldn't. For so many reasons, he shouldn't. The least of those reasons was that Cam was still telling him to do it, whether he was the one initiating the kiss or not. The most important of them was that Cam's abruptly different demeanor the moment Blake left meant that he couldn't be trusted--and if Cam was trying to seduce him, it was gonna be a hell of a lot easier once they started kissing then it was right now.

Somewhere in the middle was the fact that Cam probably wouldn't be speaking to him for quite a while once he was back to normal, and anything Hunter did now would only prolong the silent treatment.

"Please," Cam said softly.

Damn. He didn't think Cam had ever said that to him before, and he felt like a sucker but he couldn't just ignore it. Some head of the pack he was.

Hands still on Cam's shoulders, he took a single step forward and lowered his head. Their lips met carefully, gently, and he tried to enjoy it even while every sense was on alert for signs of rebellion. Half of him still thought this was some ploy to get the upper hand. The other half was telling him to shut up and take advantage of the situation already.

Cam didn't move. He stood very still, allowing the kiss like he didn't dare do anything else. His eyes were closed, head tilted, mouth slightly open but not enough that it seemed like he expected anything. He was keeping his end of the bargain perfectly. Being a good wolf.

Hunter didn't buy it--but he couldn't help liking it.

He drew back, telling himself not to push it. He couldn't very well let Cam set the pace if Cam wasn't allowed to kiss him. Cam wasn't complaining, though. He opened his eyes halfway, and the glow didn't even seem weird anymore. He just waited, and Hunter leaned in again before he could change his mind.

Was it really just yesterday that he had been questioning this? Now he wanted it so badly he was willing to risk Cam's future wrath for nothing but the chance to kiss. Damn. There was no way this could end well. And he didn't care.

Cam kissed pretty well for someone who wasn't actually doing anything, he thought distantly. His hand was drifting on Cam's shoulder, brushing against his neck, sliding up to stroke his hair when Cam didn't protest. A nibble on his lower lip made Cam's breath hitch, his mouth opened a little more, and Hunter's tongue slid in and back out faster than he could think about it. Cam was gonna kill him.

But he didn't. He just tilted his head into the hand caressing his hair. Hunter's other hand lost its grip when he leaned a little closer, slipping down over his shoulder and around his back. He pressed his tongue against Cam's lips, taking a slower route into his mouth this time, and Cam made a small, quiet sound that didn't sound like a complaint.

Just like that, it hit him. He was making out with Cam. He was standing here, in the middle of Ninja Ops, making out with the team's tech guy.

It was fun.

It'd be a lot more fun if Cam would kiss him back.

He drew back reluctantly, and this time the sound Cam made was definitely a protest. It made Hunter's lips twitch, smiling a little at the petulant look he got in return. Unable to resist, he stroked Cam's cheek with his thumb, and the tender gesture didn't earn him any points with the guy who had done everything he asked and now wasn't even getting anything out of it.

"You don't really want this," Hunter told him quietly. He didn't like saying it, but there it was and it wasn't going away.

Cam's eyes narrowed. "What part of 'please kiss me' wasn't clear to you?" he demanded. He didn't pull out of the half-embrace, and Hunter was seriously tempted to just forget the whole thing and really kiss him.

"Tomorrow," he said determinedly. "Or whenever. You're gonna finish shaking off the effects of this wolf magic thing, and you and I aren't gonna have anything to say to each other. Like always," he muttered.

"It's not magic," Cam informed him. "The dark ninja powers don't just dissipate on their own." He frowned at Hunter, which had to be tough given how close they were. "You keep saying I'm 'getting better,' but this isn't going to just go away. I'm not going to wake up one morning and suddenly be human again."

"Why not?" Hunter wanted to know. Okay, maybe it sounded kind of dumb when you put it like that, but Cam was more stubborn than he was. He'd never given up on something like this before. "The amulet's gotten you this far," he pointed out. "Why are you testing it if you don't think it can do more?"

Cam just looked at him for a long moment. Finally he said softly, "I didn't take the amulet off because I wanted to test it."

Okay, now Cam was creeping him out again. Hunter let go of him, but he deliberately didn't cross his arms. He wasn't on the defensive here. "What are you talking about?"

"My mind is clearer now," Cam told him. "I can control my moods better. I can separate myself from the wolf faster."

"Yeah," Hunter said, when he paused. "You're 'getting better.'" He put the words in quotes on purpose. "Maybe it's because of the amulet."

Cam nodded slowly. "Maybe it is," he agreed quietly. He didn't say anything else.

"So?" Hunter prompted at last. "If you figure out what the amulet's doing, maybe you can make it happen faster."

Cam was the one who folded his arms. "Maybe I don't want it to."

Hunter stared at him. He wanted to say he didn't get it, but he did. All of a sudden he knew exactly what Cam meant. He just didn't know whether to feel dread, worry, or a secret thrill at the idea.

No, no thrill. He wasn't thrilled. He was seriously worried, because this was bad. It was relatively easy to keep Cam from sabotaging Ninja Ops. It would be damn hard to keep him from sabotaging himself, if the wolf decided it didn't want to give up its hold on him after all.

"Cam," he said carefully.

"It's my decision," Cam interrupted. It was like he already knew what Hunter was going to say. "Don't tell me not to do this, because it's not your choice."

Hunter held up his hands in surrender. "It's your decision," he agreed. He couldn't tell if Cam was asking him to stay out of it because he wouldn't stop even if Hunter told him to... or because he would.

"It's your decision," he repeated after a moment. "Cam's decision," he added, watching him closely. "Not the wolf's."

"I am Cam," Cam said impatiently. "The wolf doesn't have independent decision-making capability anymore."

"Yeah?" Hunter didn't take his eyes off of Cam. "Then why did you take the amulet off? If you don't think it can make you human, then all it's doing is clearing your head. Giving the wolf less control over you. Why'd you take it off?"

"Because I'm fine," Cam told him. "I'm clear enough. I don't need any more control than I have."

"So why am I here?" Hunter prodded. "You said yourself you weren't in control and it'd be better if I stayed with you tonight. Now you're suddenly fine?"

Cam's lips curved in a smile. Hunter couldn't decide whether it was a cute look or a scary one. "Why do you think you're here?" Cam inquired. His tone of voice made it perfectly clear that it was a rhetorical question.

O-kay. He was trying not to find Cam funny, he really was. But he was just--different, now. And... it was kind of funny.

"What?" Cam was different, because that hadn't come out at all challenging or impatient or annoyed. It sounded sort of... quiet. Expectant, maybe. Oddly encouraging.

Sexy. That's what it was.

"Nothing," Hunter said quickly. No way was he gonna try and explain that. "Look, Cam--" He had no idea where he was going with that, which meant that he had to think of something, fast. "Why do you want to stay a wolf?"

Yeah, that was actually a pretty good question. Even if the wolf was influencing his decisions, which Hunter was pretty sure it was--no matter what Cam said, he'd never kissed Hunter before--he hadn't been nearly as happy about it the day before. Even this morning. What was different now?

"You hated it yesterday," Hunter said, when Cam didn't answer right away. "And I thought you were gonna take my head off at the community center tonight. Now you want to be stuck like this forever?"

Cam was staring over at the computer now. "It's not so bad," he said at last.

Hunter could only stare at him. "What happened to 'it sucks to be me'?" he wanted to know. "Seriously, Cam." He was two seconds from reaching out and taking hold of him--to do what, though, he had no idea. "Convince me it's you making this decision and not the wolf."

Cam's eyes met his briefly and then looked away again. "You want me when I'm like this," he said quietly.

Hunter opened his mouth, but it was an automatic reaction. He had been ready to bring the heat, to keep questioning Cam until he got an answer. Actually getting an answer threw him off balance. And on top of that--

And Cam thought that was a good thing?

"I wanted you before you were a wolf," he muttered. God, he should not be saying this. "It's not new. And I really don't think it's gonna go away just because your eyes stop glowing, or whatever."

He hadn't even admitted it to himself, and here he was telling Cam. That was just great. They were gonna be on really good terms when this was all over.

"Kiss me," Cam said softly.

This time Hunter didn't hesitate. He leaned in and pressed his mouth to Cam's, gently at first, then more firmly when he felt hands settle on his waist. He took a step closer, wrapping an arm around Cam's shoulders as they continued to kiss. If this was all he got, then he'd take it.

When he felt Cam's tongue brush against his lips, he didn't pull away. He was rewarded with another lick, then the teasing touch of a tongue that knew what it was doing. He wanted it, wanted the feeling of being kissed, the feeling of being wanted. If Cam could put the wolf in its place whenever he wanted, then he could prove it now, because Hunter wasn't going to stop this.

Words from the doorway stopped it. "Excuse me," Sensei's voice said calmly.

Cam yanked himself free and spun away from him, and Hunter could only stare at him for half a second before shifting his gaze to the habitat cart. Cam was still human. It was a good thing, too, because Hunter was pretty sure his reflexes weren't up for anything right now, let alone a wolf-on-guinea-pig attack.

"Dammit, Dad!" Cam sounded furious, and that just wasn't him. The swearing, too... as oddly endearing as it was, it wasn't something he pictured Cam doing. "Could you not sneak up on us like that!"

That sounded awfully familiar. And he was pretty sure he knew what Sensei's response would be. He was just as happy to let Cam take him on, because anything Sensei might have to say to him right now would be, at best, uncomplimentary.

"My apologies, Cameron," Sensei said after a long pause.

Hunter blinked. That wasn't what he'd expected.

"I was aware that the other Rangers had left," Sensei continued. "I assumed that you would have... retired from the control room by now."

The fight seemed to go out of Cam at that, and he sighed the sigh of the unfairly put-upon. "Dad, I'm not trying to avoid you. You don't have to stay out of my way."

"Perhaps," Sensei allowed. "But recently my presence has seemed to have a negative effect on you. I am only trying to spare you that... unpleasantness."

"It isn't unpleasant being a wolf," Cam said unexpectedly. Hunter gave him a sharp look that Cam either missed or ignored as he continued, "Actually, I kind of like it."

Sensei seemed to be at a loss. "I see," he said at last.

"We should have told you where we were going tonight, Sensei," Hunter said when the silence started to seem awkward, which was awfully fast. "Sorry we didn't let you know before we left."

"And where did you go?" Sensei inquired.

"It's a place for people who..." Hunter gestured vaguely, unable to come up with a plausible end to that sentence.

"Are different," Cam supplied. "Supernatural, weird, I can't even describe it. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself."

Sensei's reply wasn't what he expected. "I have heard of such gatherings," he mused. "Many of the stories we tell do, after all, have their foundation in fact."

Hunter stared at him in surprise.

"Like the secret ninja societies that mete out justice to the deserving?" Cam suggested dryly.

"And the less so," Sensei agreed. He sounded almost as though he was smiling.

There was a quiet moment, and Hunter glanced from one to the other. "Well, I'll just... leave you two to talk," he said uncertainly. He wasn't sure drawing attention to himself was the best idea. He wasn't sure leaving was the best idea, either. But he didn't know what else to do, and he didn't like standing around.

"One moment, Hunter," Sensei said politely. "There is a question which I feel I must ask."

That couldn't be good. Hunter waited, stealing a sideways glance at Cam. He didn't look worried. He looked tolerantly curious. It was a familiar expression for him when Sensei was speaking.

"Based on what I witnessed when I entered the room," Sensei observed, "I assume that you are in some way involved with my son."

"Dad," Cam protested immediately.

"Look, Sensei," Hunter began, but he was interrupted.

"Please, allow me to finish." Sensei paused briefly, maybe to emphasize his apparent calm. "I do not know whether this is an emotional relationship or a purely physical one, and I am not asking you to tell me. However, I would like to know whether it began before or after Cameron's most recent encounter with Lothor."

That was a bad question. Very bad. Hunter could think of any number of embarrassing, discouraging, and otherwise negative conversations that could result from his answer. Some bad for him, some bad for Cam... most bad for both of them, actually.

Cam spoke up before he could decide what to say. "Before," he told his dad. "We've been dating for a couple of weeks, okay? There was just--" He shrugged a little. "Never really a good time to mention it."

Hunter was careful not to look at him, and he even managed to nod when Sensei gave him an inquiring look. "Sorry, Sensei," he mumbled. "We didn't want the whole team to know." Because there wasn't anything to know.

But Sensei was nodding slowly, kind of like he understood. "It is a difficult thing," he said seriously. "To maintain team relations in such close quarters and under such trying circumstances. You have all done a commendable job of it thus far."

Now he couldn't help looking at Cam. What was that supposed to mean? He wasn't sure he even knew what Sensei was talking about, let alone whether it was positive or negative. Probably not positive, he guessed.

"Thanks, Dad." Cam sounded like it was positive. On the other hand, Cam had just demonstrated his ability to lie convincingly for the third time since they got back to Ninja Ops. So who knew what he was thinking.

"It's been kind of a long day," he was saying. "I could really use some sleep."

"Of course," Sensei agreed. "I wish you an untroubled rest."

"You too, Dad." The words were tossed over his shoulder as he headed for the door, moving almost before Hunter realized he was leaving. He went after him, then stopped as Sensei called out to Cam.

"Should you not take your amulet, Cameron?"

Cam turned halfway, like it wasn't really that important. "I'm just running some tests on it, Dad. They won't be done for another hour or so."

Hunter saw Sensei nod in understanding. Then Cam was gone, and he followed quickly, wondering if it was possible that Cam had had this much trouble with the truth before and he just hadn't noticed. They tended to take Cam's word for stuff a lot. But it wasn't like he'd ever given them a reason not to.

He didn't know what to say, so he just followed Cam back to his room and then hesitated in the doorway, surprised that Cam had just walked in. He hadn't said good night. He hadn't closed the door. But he couldn't really expect Hunter to come in, either--could he?

"Come in," Cam called impatiently. "What are you, vampiric all of a sudden?"

"Very funny," Hunter muttered, stepping inside.

"Were there werewolves at the community center?" Cam had flipped on the lowest level light there was, dropped Hunter's sunglasses on the bureau, and turned around to confront him. "Tonight, I mean?"

Hunter just looked at him, trying to catch up. "What?"

Cam gave him a look like he was being deliberately slow. He didn't repeat the question, either, which was weirdly familiar of him. Hunter had heard him perfectly well, he just hadn't processed the words yet. He hadn't expected Cam to know that.

"Maybe," he said at last. The community center. Werewolves. How should he know? "They're not as drawn to it as the others are. They're mostly loners."

"But there could have been," Cam pressed.

"Sure," Hunter said with a shrug. "Can't tell by looking."

"The stories say you become a werewolf if you get bitten by one." Cam was strangely focused on werewolves all of a sudden. "Is that true?"

Hunter raised his eyebrows. "Usually if you get bitten by a werewolf, you die," he pointed out. "They don't go around nicking people for the fun of it."

Cam nodded at him, eyes settling somewhere on Hunter's chest. "Yours did."

"Wasn't a werewolf," Hunter told him. "Changed too fast, no transition. He didn't bite me, anyway."

"You didn't know he wasn't a werewolf when you took him on," Cam said, lifting his eyes to Hunter's and making it sound like a question.

Hunter shook his head slowly. He didn't like the way this conversation was going.

Cam's look said he expected Hunter to understand. "Why would you do that?"

"Seemed like a good idea at the time?" Hunter countered lamely.

Cam looked annoyed by that answer, and Hunter didn't blame him.

"Look," he said, before Cam could say anything. "I wanted you to feel... I don't know, less alone," he mumbled. "Maybe that was stupid. But we were there, either way, and you have to act a certain way to fit in. Just like anywhere else. So I did. So did you."

"But for me..." Cam hesitated, just for a moment. "It was instinct," he said uncomfortably. He frowned at Hunter, and for the first time Hunter realized what he was doing. When Cam doubted himself, he hassled the rest of them. It had never been quite as obvious as it was now.

"It wasn't instinctive for you," Cam was saying, oblivious to his revelation. "You decided to do everything you did. Including letting a guy who could have killed you goad you into a fight."

Hunter tried not to roll his eyes. "They don't go around killing each other," he informed Cam. "It's a small enough population as it is, and they do have lives. The police could slap them in jail just as fast as us."

"Could have fooled me," Cam muttered.

"It's just posturing," Hunter told him. "They're wolves. They don't pretend that everyone's equal, that everyone's the same. They test each other until they know who you are and what you can do."

Cam strode over to him and grabbed the hem of his shirt without warning. He yanked it up to reveal the bandages underneath, and he just looked at them for a long moment. "This," he said finally, "is not just posturing."

"Cam--" Hunter pushed his hands away as gently as he could. The wrap on his wrist was mostly hidden by the long sleeves, for which he was grateful. "It's just what they do. It's not gonna kill me."

"It could have!" Cam burst out, his eyes glowing angrily when he glared at Hunter.

"But it didn't!" Hunter took a deep breath, telling himself that Cam was just worried. He wasn't sure that was true, but it made the irritation marginally easier to deal with. "Okay, you're right. I could have gotten into serious trouble tonight. Same as the last two times I went there. I could have gotten hurt, bitten... turned into a werewolf, whatever.

"That's a chance I was willing to take, okay? We fight evil space ninjas every other day, and it's not safe but it's the right thing to do. So was this. If you didn't like it, we don't have to go back. But I wanted to go, at least this time. Do you get that?"

Cam looked away. "I want to go back," he admitted quietly.

"Why?" Hunter wanted to know. He thought it had been the right thing to do, taking Cam. But damn, he'd really thought he was in for it a couple of times. He was actually kind of surprised that the only injuries he'd left with had come from a stranger.

"I don't know," Cam muttered. "Maybe it's a wolf thing."

"Thought the wolf wasn't making decisions," Hunter said, trying to sound casual about it.

The look Cam gave him told him he hadn't succeeded. "I didn't say it was the wolf's idea," he stressed. "I just meant, maybe I like being around other wolves." There was a pause, and then he asked, "Do you?"

That was a loaded question, which Hunter elected to evade. "I took you, didn't I?"

Cam looked away. "Just so you know," he told the floor. "Being ordered around wasn't my favorite part."

No kidding. And Cam was worried about him taking on the old guy? Geez. That was nothing compared to staring Cam down.

"Yeah," Hunter remarked. "I got that." He did his best to sound totally neutral.

Cam lifted his gaze again. "Can we kiss now?" he wanted to know.

Hunter blinked, wondering how he was going to get out of this without another strike against him. "Yeah," he heard himself say, and that solved that problem. Created a whole bunch of baby problems, though, and he was pretty sure they were going to grow up way faster than he wanted to deal with.

For now, he decided that kissing Cam took enough of his attention.

6. Trust

Yesterday's lack of clarity seemed very clear in retrospect. Enviably clear, even, and he knew--better now than ever--why he had tried to hang onto it. He had been irresponsible, incompetent, incapable of making reasoned decisions. And so his actions had carried few consequences. Far fewer than any he was used to, at least.

Now he was waking up with Hunter in his bed and the all too familiar weight of guilt and responsibility residing in his skull. Distance from the amulet hadn't been enough, it seemed. Or maybe the amulet really didn't have anything to do with it, and he was just... lucky.

Lucky enough to fight the wolf without even trying. Lucky that Lothor hadn't completely ruined his life after all. Lucky that Hunter was still alive, and probably had a better chance of staying that way today than he had at any point yesterday. That on top of all that, Hunter was here instead of on the other side of town--as far away from Cam as he could get and still be in communicator range.

Lucky that Hunter was alone in his bed. Lucky that Cam was waking up on the couch. Lucky that he was first, that he could leave, that maybe they wouldn't have to talk to each other for the rest of the day if Hunter really did go to work.

Cam sat up on the couch, stretching as quietly as he could so that he wouldn't make any more noise than he had to when he started moving around the room. He stood up carefully, twitching to relieve the stiffness, knowing it was nothing compared to what Hunter would feel on waking. He gave the other Ranger a quick look, reassured himself that he still appeared to be mostly intact, then grabbed a clean shirt and slunk out of the room.

He didn't feel lucky. Not even a little bit.

The amulet was waiting for him in the control room. He slipped it on over his head, torn between enjoying and resenting its familiarity. So he was a Ranger. So his mother had trusted him with this. So what. He was still his father's son, and all the expectation that came with that was still his to bear.

He was hungry. He wanted to go work out, to throw some of his memories and humiliation and utter inability to be what anyone else wanted from him at an imaginary opponent instead of letting it eat away at him from the inside. But he was hungry, and he knew better than to ignore that by now. He needed to eat something.

Cam made his way to the kitchen, where he downed a bowl of cereal with grim determination. It tasted like nothing, like eating shredded paper only easier to chew, but at least it didn't make him gag. It didn't leave him feeling at all satisfied, either, but with the edge of hunger gone he found that he couldn't force himself to eat anything else.

He headed for the training rooms. He had a schedule, and he had dragged himself through this routine a hundred, a thousand, maybe a million times before. It wasn't always easy, but it was better than nothing, and a little thing like turning into a wolf for a few days wasn't going to change who he was. Unfortunately.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been there when Hunter showed up. One minute he was alone, and the next there was a rumpled-looking blonde lounging in the doorway. Barefoot, wearing Cam's slept-in clothes, with his hair looking... pretty much like it always did, actually. He had his hands tucked into his pockets, which wasn't Hunter's usual look, but crossing his arms over his chest couldn't be a comfortable position for him this morning.

Cam had barely realized he was staring when Hunter asked abruptly, "Want an opponent?"

He didn't think he was breathing that hard until he tried to talk. "If you're offering," and he had to pause for breath, "you're certifiable." Hunter had been bleeding all over his own truck the night before, and the only reason he looked remotely normal this morning was because his shirt hid most of his injuries.

Hunter raised an eyebrow at him without moving from the door. "You got a point?" he wanted to know.

The point was that Blake was right. His clothes did look better on Hunter. "The point," Cam told the opposite wall, "is that no, I don't want an opponent."

Neither of them said anything else for a long moment. When Cam finally turned away, Hunter's voice came again. "What about breakfast? You want anything?"

"I already ate," Cam muttered.

There was another uncomfortable silence, and then Hunter offered, "I was... uh, thinking about going in to work today."

Cam just nodded. This led to another period of not talking, however, so he told the wall, "I'm fine. There's no reason for you to stay here."

"Yeah." The pause this time was much shorter, and his voice was impossible to read. "That's what I figured."

The silence stretched. When Cam looked around again, Hunter was gone.

He closed his eyes, all desire to train having suddenly disappeared. He hadn't even asked Hunter how he was feeling. Just fine, thanks, he imagined the reply. Nearly got torn apart by one of your wolf buddies, but I'm still standing so feel free to insult or ignore me depending on your mood.

Cam had changed overnight, regaining the rest of his control, his ability to keep his feelings and his impulses and his most private thoughts to himself. He felt like Cam again, and it wasn't necessarily a feeling he liked. But the fact remained that he had changed.

Hunter hadn't. He had stood by Cam this whole time, reassured him, supported him, lent his strength when Cam's wasn't enough. He had shared his own thoughts, maybe even his feelings, some of them more private than he might have liked, because... why?

Because that was the nature of the situation? Because to do otherwise, to maintain boundaries, would have been the last thing Cam needed under the circumstances? Because he didn't expect anything in return and so there was no reason not to share?

He did, though. He did expect something in return, and Cam hadn't forgotten Hunter's pained look the night before. This isn't what you want, Hunter had told him. When you're back to normal, we're not gonna have anything to say to each other. Like always.

Hunter had given up awfully quickly this morning for someone who hadn't left his side for the last two days. Because he had been expecting this... Because he had expected Cam to be angry with him. He had been so sure all along that Cam would eventually get over his inability to reason, that he would go back to being the boring, repressed Cam they all knew. Yet he had let Cam kiss him anyway, had kissed back, had confessed something that Cam didn't dare believe just because he'd thought it might help Cam to hear it.

Cam might be different today, but Hunter wasn't. And he hadn't deserved that brushoff. He might have been expecting it, Cam thought with a grimace. But he didn't deserve it.

He headed back to his room with some thought of catching Hunter before he left. To do what, he wasn't entirely sure. To say what--he had no idea. But he should probably say something.

His father intercepted him just outside his door. Although his cart was rolling casually along the hallway when Cam spotted it, he got the distinct impression that he'd just been ambushed. That, at the very least, his father had been waiting for him, and wasn't about to be put off with the "I'm feeling particularly wolfish right now and don't want to talk to you" excuse.

"Hi Dad." He tried to greet him without sighing and mostly succeeded. He thought. He stopped outside his door but deliberately didn't open it.

"Good morning, Cameron." His father sounded as calm as always, and it was impossible to tell what he wanted. "You appear to be feeling better today."

He probably appeared as though he'd been working out, which might be a flattering look for some people but definitely not for him. And sure, he was wearing his amulet, but no one other than Hunter should have any reason to think he wouldn't be. So if his father was basing his assessment on something besides blind optimism, he didn't know what it was.

"Yeah, I am," he said anyway. Because in the way that his father probably meant, it was true. In the way that he was happier with his life today than he had been yesterday, it wasn't, but since when had his happiness been a priority around here?

Great. From futility to confusion to depression and bitterness, all in the space of an hour or so. Obviously the wolf's mood swings hadn't completely released their grip on him yet. Obviously--because if they had, he didn't want to think about what that said for his emotional stability over the long term.

"Dad, I'm going to shower," he said bluntly, interjecting a definitive statement before his father could beat him to the punch with something equally impossible to ignore. "I'll be up to the control room in a half hour or so."

"Very well." And yeah, his father definitely had something to say to him, because he actually watched Cam walk into his room, like maybe he was just making an excuse and really planned to sneak out of Ninja Ops while he wasn't looking.

He waited for the door to close behind him before looking around. Weirdly, it was the smell that caught his attention before anything he saw. Before he'd gotten turned into a wolf he wouldn't have said Hunter even had a scent--or at least, that's what he would have said if he'd ever thought about it, which he'd gone to some trouble not to. But now it was everywhere, every time he turned around, and he had gotten so used to it that he didn't even notice it until it was gone.

It had been gone for the last hour, except for that fleeting presence at the entrance to the training room. Now it was back, all around him, so strong that he waited for Hunter to appear for several seconds before he realized he was the only one in the room. But Hunter's jeans were gone, and he hadn't had them in the training room, so he must have been here again--

There was a piece of paper on the dresser. Under Hunter's sunglasses, like they were some kind of paperweight. Cam just stared at it for a moment, trying to remember if he had left anything on the dresser the night before. Anything like a torn out piece of notebook paper that really looked like it had writing on it.

Not much writing, Cam saw, going over to pick it up. He slid the sunglasses off, not that he really had to in order to read it. He lifted it up anyway. It wasn't even addressed to him, or signed by Hunter, but of course it didn't have to be.

Call me if you need anything, it said. There was a phone number underneath--one that Cam recognized, one that he already knew perfectly well. It was a phone number he had memorized weeks ago when he overheard Hunter giving it to Dustin.

He'd been kind of annoyed, actually. The same feeling he had now. Rationally, he had known that the chances of Dustin ever making use of Hunter's cell number were greater than his by several orders of magnitude, given that Dustin and Hunter actually shared a hobby, a job, and what seemed to be a disturbing number of in-jokes. Hadn't kept him from being annoyed, any more than the logical certainty that Hunter's short note today was sincere rather than sarcastic.

It just sounded sarcastic. He didn't know why. It was only six words, and they were written on a piece of paper. There shouldn't be anything sarcastic about them.

Cam sighed. Better to be annoyed with himself than with Hunter. He couldn't just be happy that he was okay, that Hunter didn't hate him, that after a few days of awkwardness things might even go back to something like the way they were before. He could at least try, he thought. Try to be glad that even if his life had never been quite normal, at least it was less weird today than it had been yesterday.

He took a shower, then stared at his yellow eyes in the mirror for a while afterward. Just ninja magic, he told himself. He was still Cameron Watanabe.

He got dressed and went to find his father.

Sensei was in the control room, seated in what Cam had come to recognize as the guinea pig version of a meditative position. Perfectly ready to not disturb him, Cam had almost made it to the computer when his father spoke. "May I assume that Hunter has left Ninja Ops?"

"He went to work," Cam said over his shoulder. He sat down in his accustomed chair, certain he wouldn't be getting any of his own work done for some time but willing to go through the motions.

"I see." His father's voice was suddenly closer, though the sound of the cart was absent. "So you feel that your control is such that you can be left alone, now?"

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't." Actually, he might be, but any scenario in which he was involved an injured or oblivious Hunter. "I'm going to fix this, Dad. I won't--" He stopped, then amended, "We won't be stuck as animals forever."

"I have never doubted your abilities or your tenacity," his father told him, and it was hard to tell from his voice whether he was going for reassuring or amused. "You are, however, extremely busy. It stands to reason that some amount of time will pass between now and the moment when we are fully human again."

Cam turned around. His father was standing on the table, watching him. He had something of a height disadvantage even there, but he always managed to convey a sense of loftiness when he spoke. "Is this a prelude to some great ninja wisdom?" Cam wanted to know.

"There is no greater wisdom than patience," his father replied. This time he definitely sounded amused.

"Yeah." Cam rolled his eyes, not making any effort to conceal the gesture. "Thanks, Dad."

"I am curious," his father continued. "Yesterday you made a statement regarding your current predicament... which implied that you did not find it entirely distasteful." There was a brief pause, and then he asked, "Is that still the case today?"

Cam hesitated, surprised by the question and more than a little uncomfortable discussing it. "It's--not all bad," he said at last. "Mostly bad," he added hurriedly. "Just... not the worst thing that ever happened to me, that's all."

Struck by sudden inspiration, he continued, "Not as bad as being turned into a bug, for example. Maybe Lothor's taste is improving."

His dad ignored his sarcasm, as usual. "What is it about your wolf form that you find most tolerable?" he inquired.

The way Hunter looked at him. That was what he found "most tolerable." The way he would stare. The way he touched the wolf: easily, with concern, completely without fear. The way he touched Cam when he was worried, when he didn't have time to think about it. The way he smelled.

Cam turned back to his computer, refusing to look at him. "I don't know," he muttered, staring down at the keyboard.

"Perhaps it is being able to express yourself?" his father suggested carefully.

Cam lifted his head, frowning at the monitor. "What?"

"You are very disciplined, Cameron. Indeed, you have been so all your life. Yet I do not sense that this discipline comes from peace. I wonder if perhaps the form of the wolf offers you a chance to be... other than that which you believe you should be."

"The wolf was dangerous and unpredictable," Cam snapped, turning his chair halfway around. "I don't think those are desirable traits in a ninja. Or a samurai, for that matter."

"We are who we are, Cameron." His father's voice was irritatingly calm. "We will never become more without first accepting that fundamental truth."

Great, he thought. So you think I'm dangerous and unpredictable? He couldn't bring himself to ask, too afraid of what the answer might be. "I was out of control as a wolf," he reminded his father. "That doesn't mean that anything I said or did was the real me."

"You were never out of control," his father said quietly. "It was simply not always your own control that was being exercised."

Cam gaped at him.

"Hunter has been admirably patient that last couple of days," Sensei continued. "I admit that I am somewhat surprised to see him gone."

"Nobody asked him to set up a round the clock vigil," Cam said defensively.

His father gazed back at him without comment.

"Okay, maybe I did say something like that," Cam muttered. "But the wolf wouldn't listen to anyone else."

"Why do you suppose that is?" his father wondered. Of course he wasn't really wondering; it was more of a leading question than anything else. But Cam could rationalize his way out of a hallucination, and he really didn't appreciate being led.

"Because Hunter takes charge," he told his dad. "Obviously the wolf wouldn't respect anyone who wasn't used to giving orders, and Hunter is. He expects people to listen to him. The wolf recognized that."

"If that was the case, you might as well have listened to Shane," his father pointed out. "Or to myself. There is, after all, some history of authority in any parent-child relationship."

"You were afraid of me," Cam said sharply. "Hunter wasn't, so he took control."

"Perhaps," his father allowed. "Or perhaps he did not take control so much as he was given it."

Cam frowned. He didn't like the sound of that, and it took him a second to figure out why. Because this wasn't the first time he'd heard it.

I didn't put me in charge, Hunter had told him. You did.

"There is another word for the kind of control you allow Hunter to have," Sensei was saying. He paused, maybe to make sure Cam was listening. "Trust."

Geez, trust me for two seconds, okay? He heard Hunter again, and he wondered if Hunter had any idea how much everything he said was echoing in Cam's brain right now. And all Cam could say was, There's no reason for you to be here.

His father had actually turned away, almost like he was about to leave. And suddenly Cam knew what he was really saying. "I trust you, Dad," he said abruptly. "I do. It's just--it's probably a wolf thing, that guinea pigs don't get much respect. It's hard to listen to anything that's so far down the food chain."

His father didn't move, but after a moment he said, "It's possible that Lothor anticipated that."

"Maybe," Cam agreed. "I get the feeling that he expected me to do a lot more damage than I did."

His father turned to face him again. "The danger to you is not over," he said seriously. "Having managed to catch you alone once, I can not imagine that Lothor will not try to do it again."

The thought had crossed his mind. "Well, on the plus side," Cam said dryly, "I'm moderately more dangerous than I was before."

His father looked thoughtful--or at least, as thoughtful as a guinea pig could look. "Can you shift your form at will, then?"

He hadn't actually tried to shift this morning. It seemed... self-indulgent, somehow. Which was kind of an odd thought, now that he had it out where he could see it. So he ignored it and concentrated on turning himself into a wolf. On request.

It was easier than it had been yesterday. Yesterday when he'd been trying, anyway, since when he wasn't trying it had happened by accident. But now the hard part was scrambling out of his chair with any kind of dignity, which was difficult for a large four-legged animal that didn't really fit in the chair to begin with.

"Interesting," Sensei remarked.

He shifted back quickly, embarrassed by the display and a little disturbed by the desire to run. "Should have stood up first," he muttered, glancing at his chair. He had wanted to run as a wolf--not to get away, just to go. It was a strange feeling.

"I see that there are some considerations we do not share," his father commented, and it took him a moment to figure that out.

"Yeah," Cam said at last, relaxing a little. "I guess you don't have to worry about how you'll fit into things if you change."

"I find I have grown accustomed to this size," his father agreed. "It is not, perhaps, the most desirable form for many activities, but it is consistent. I have only been required to adapt once."

"Twice," Cam corrected. "You'll have to adapt again when you change back."

His father nodded solemnly. "That is so."

Neither of them said anything for a moment, but the conversation had made a few things very obvious. The first of those being that he couldn't just get on with his life like nothing had happened, because something had. The second was that if his dad could deal with being stuck as a guinea pig for months, the least he could do was take the sometimes-wolf thing with better grace.

"Speaking of adapting," Cam said at last. "I'm going to go out and get some food that I can actually eat, since it turns out that wolves don't really appreciate grain. Or almost anything else that grows on a plant. Can I get you anything at the store?"

"Perhaps some things that grow on plants," his father suggested, with no small amount of humor. "Apples. Carrots. I'm almost out of lettuce," he added.

"Disgusting green things," Cam said, pretending to take note. "Also known as, things I would have eaten a few days ago but now don't recognize as food... Got it. I'll head out in a few minutes."

"You're sure that is wise?" Sensei asked. He sounded like he knew what the answer would be, but he wouldn't be a parent if he didn't ask.

"Pretty sure," Cam told him. "Someone has to shop for us." Heading for the door, he added as an afterthought, "If you see a wolf downtown on the news, call Hunter."

He was kidding. But his dad would probably watch the news anyway.

Oh well, Cam thought. It would give him something to do. He really should be more happy that he could assume human form when he wanted to--which was always, as long as he was surrounded by humans. The wolf was annoying, but ultimately not as life-destroying as Lothor had probably hoped. Not the way the guinea pig had been for his father.

He would figure it out, he told himself, gathering up his wallet and Hunter's sunglasses. He would find a way to change his father back. It was just a matter of time.

The store wasn't crowded early on a Thursday morning, and for that he was extremely grateful. He hadn't realized how nerve-wracking it would be to be out in public, alone, until he was actually there. It had been easy to make jokes in Ninja Ops, but now, surrounded by other people, it didn't seem so funny.

He really could get himself shot if he wasn't careful.

He was careful. He didn't talk to anyone, except for "excuse me" and "paper, thank you." He didn't look at anyone directly, and he was more cautious than usual about bumping into people. He gave everyone a wide berth. And he kept the sunglasses on, because even when they weren't glowing his eyes were definitely not normal looking.

He was glad his eyes seemed to react normally again, in daylight anyway. He could still see eerily well in the dark, although it was hard to judge the extent of the difference since the ability didn't come and go any more than his food cravings did. He knew he'd been able to see Hunter perfectly well in the dark of his room last night, to the point where he'd had to roll over in order to make closings his eyes seem worthwhile. But Hunter had fallen asleep long before he had, and he hadn't had the heart to wake him up just to compare notes.

It was a relief to be able to walk around outside either way. It was liberating to walk out of the brightly lit grocery store and to be able to just keep going. He hadn't forgotten the debilitating deprivation of the night before, when he'd stepped out of Ninja Ops and had to close his eyes. Trust or not, there were only so many things he could let Hunter do for him before he felt utterly dependent.

Even with food, he ended up stopping on the way home to eat. His tolerance for hunger had run out around aisle seven, and he had gotten sandwich meat at the deli. He ate it before paying for it, which got him some odd looks at the checkout. Now he was still hungry, and he drew the line at raw meat, so he hit another fast food place and tried not to think too much about nutritional content.

He was exhausted by the time he got home. Not physically as much as mentally, because he felt ready to climb the walls if people didn't stop looking at him. He tried to tell himself he looked odd, with his sunglasses and his in-store deli snacks and his unwillingness to interact with anyone, and that was probably true. But it didn't explain why his skin crawled out on the street, why he was just as jumpy waiting in line for his fried chicken, or why he felt such intense relief as the mountains closed in around him again.

He was nervous. He was scared, if he admitted it to himself. So many things could have gone wrong. He had been ridiculously arrogant to think that he could just walk out of Ninja Ops in broad daylight and pass for human on the streets of Blue Bay Harbor. But he had, and he did, and he had done it by himself.

His father was nowhere to be found, and he remained conspicuously absent while Cam restocked the kitchen. By design, he was sure, since any parental involvement after their chat this morning would seem like checking up on him. He appreciated the space... but he didn't appreciate the quiet.

Grocery shopping had been oddly exciting. Yes, okay, somewhat terrifying, very humbling, and potentially deadly with the possibility of imprisonment. Not in that order. But it had wound him up, and as relaxing as it was to be out of sight of the general public once more, it was suddenly very boring too.

Cam wrote his dad a note, propped it up in front of the computer, and headed out again.

Dad, the note said. I've gone to Storm Chargers. I left some of your disgusting green things on the counter in the kitchen in case you get back before I do. See you later, Cam.

Never before had he cared so much about just walking down the street. It was like every step was a victory. He knew that sometimes the body manufactured illness to stop the mind from worrying about other things, and bizarrely, that was exactly what the wolf seemed to be doing. By threatening the normalcy of his everyday life, it was keeping his mind off of the thousand other things that typically pushed his stress levels to their limit.

He was feeling almost philosophical about the whole thing by the time he reached Kelly's shop. Weird, but it could be worse. Inconvenient, but not debilitating. And hey, he'd gotten to kiss Hunter--that almost made the whole thing worth it right there.

He barely realized he was smiling until Dustin waved enthusiastically to him from behind the counter. "Dude," Dustin called, dropping something that made a loud noise and bounding out onto the floor to greet him. "Great to see you! Guess you must be feeling better, huh?"

"Well, mostly," Cam said warily, but Dustin was way ahead of him.

"So's Hunter," Dustin told him, "so I guess you'll never prove who had it first. He still says you gave it to him, though. Kelly's got him out back doing desk work today; you want to see him?"

"I guess," Cam began, willing to take the cue. And it was a cue, he was sure, even if he hadn't really thought about what Hunter would tell Kelly concerning his day off and what was probably a sudden inability to lift heavy objects. Dustin might be chatty and a little slow on the uptake, but he didn't tend to say nonsensical things.

"Sure, come on," Dustin declared, as though he had insisted. He waved Cam over to the back room, leaned through the door and called, "Hey, man, visitor!" Then he told Cam, "The bike injury's slowing him down a little. I'm gonna get back to work; I'll see you later."

The bike injury. Okay, this had been an elaborate story. He was going to have to ask about it, just as soon as--

Hunter looked up as he wandered through the door, and every thought in his head just stopped. He wanted to think it was because Hunter looked pretty bad. Tired, bored, pale, and the day was only half over. But something inside him reacted to the look Hunter was giving him, the stare that reminded him he was not in charge of this man.

"Hi," he said awkwardly.

"Hi," Hunter answered after a moment. His gaze flicked over Cam once, assessing him, but his eyes were unreadable when they returned to Cam's face. "Didn't expect to see you here."

That had to be a serious understatement. But was he more surprised to see him walking around town, or to see him seeking out the guy he'd run away from this morning? "Didn't expect to be here," Cam said honestly. It was the truth, even if it probably didn't tell Hunter anything.

"How are you feeling?" he asked then, suddenly remembering the question he'd forgotten this morning. It was hard not to think of it now, seeing Hunter stuck in a chair doing... what, inventory? Instead of entertaining himself out in the shop, in the van, or down at the track.

Hunter actually looked surprised. "I'm fine," he said, leaning back in his chair in a fairly obvious effort to look casual. "You?"

"With the number of bandages you're wearing you don't need a shirt," Cam said bluntly. "You're not fine."

Hunter's eyes narrowed, and Cam had braced himself for an angry retort when Kelly's voice interrupted. "He's right, Hunter. You look worse now than you did when you came in." She was standing in the doorway, arms folded. She didn't look surprised to see Cam at all.

"Take the afternoon as paid sick time, and call me tomorrow to let me know if you're coming in or not," Kelly told him. "There's only so much inventory you can do this time of year."

Hunter tossed his pencil down on the desk and leaned forward to brace his hands on his knees. "Thanks, Kelly," he said reluctantly. "I'll be back tomorrow."

"Call me," she emphasized. "I'm not writing up worker's comp for someone who collapses from injuries sustained outside of work."

"Yeah," Hunter muttered. "Sure."

He waited until she was gone to glare at Cam. "Thanks a lot," he hissed under his breath. "Could you maybe mind your own business next time?"

"You shouldn't have come in," Cam said, keeping his voice just as quiet. "Your job is constant physical activity, and you probably can't even raise your arms over your head."

Hunter grimaced at him, but he didn't try to prove him wrong. "You didn't care this morning," he whispered defiantly.

It was on the tip of his tongue to say it wasn't his job to tell Hunter what to do. But Hunter wasn't asking him to tell him what to do, was he. Hunter was only asking him to care. With a jolt, Cam realized that maybe Hunter hadn't taken control of him after all. Maybe they had traded: control of Hunter for control of Cam.

Not control, he thought with a sigh. Responsibility. Trust. Maybe he was crazy. He didn't have any idea what he was doing here. Why had he even come?

"I was embarrassed and freaked out this morning," he murmured. He didn't think about it before he said it, just opened his mouth and all of a sudden he was trying to explain. "I'm better now. I went grocery shopping," Cam added, as though that was the answer to everything. "I have food and I'm not hungry for the first time in forever."

He was babbling, but Hunter was giving him this really odd look like maybe he wasn't a total loss after all and it made him want to keep talking. Instead he managed to close his mouth, take a deep breath, and ask calmly, "Do you want to go home now?"

Hunter actually hesitated. "Let me talk to Dustin," he said at last, pushing himself to his feet. Cam followed him out into the store, watched while Hunter conferred briefly with Dustin, then caught up when Hunter looked around for him.

"Blake's out," Hunter said in a low voice as they left. "I didn't want him to worry when he gets back."

"You left a message with Dustin?" Cam guessed.

Hunter just nodded.

Cam followed him to his truck, but he didn't get in until Hunter gave him a look and demanded, "What are you waiting for? You didn't come all this way just to get me sent home."

Cam shrugged, but he walked around the front of the truck and climbed in the other side. He hadn't actually had a definable reason for coming at all. He'd just... come. And now he was just waiting. Waiting to see where Hunter would go, what he would do next.

"I'm not going home," Hunter announced abruptly. He was staring at the steering wheel and he hadn't started the truck yet. "And I've seen enough of Ninja Ops to last me the rest of the week."

Strangely, neither declaration bothered Cam. When he caught Hunter giving him a sideways look, he just shrugged. "I'm not the one with the keys."

That earned him a smirk from Hunter and an instant road trip, the former of which annoyed him and the latter of which was kind of relaxing. There was just something about sitting in the passenger seat. At least in Hunter's truck... it was calming.

Which was probably some weird metaphor for his life lately, and he wasn't sure he liked it so he tried not to look at it too closely.

"The light still bothering you?" Hunter asked after a while.

It took him a minute to figure out why he would ask. Then Cam reached up to touch the sunglasses self-consciously. It was easy to forget he was wearing them. "My eyes are okay," he said. "But they don't look quite... normal."

"Yeah?" Hunter took his foot off the accelerator and shot a sideways look at Cam. "The color?"

"The color," Cam said with a sigh. "They're definitely yellow."

"Do wolves even have yellow eyes?" Hunter wanted to know. "And what about the glowing thing; how weird is that? I'm pretty sure wolves' eyes only reflect light. Like cats."

Surprised, Cam found himself smiling, and he looked out the window to hide his expression. Hunter had actually thought about it. Or at least he was doing it now. He hadn't just come up with that off the top of his head. Cam knew, because he'd wondered himself, but no one else had mentioned it.

"Wolves' eyes are brown," he told the passing scenery. "There's a reflective surface at the back of their eyes that helps them see in the dark."

Hunter was quiet for a moment. "You had pretty freaky night vision there for a while," he commented. "Was that temporary?"

He remembered Hunter sprawled uncomfortably across his bed the night before, wearing nothing but boxers and bandages. He remembered bitter disappointment at his injuries, and irrational anger at the wolf who had inflicted them. He hadn't been able to seriously kiss Hunter with him wincing every time he got too close. No matter how reluctant Hunter was to stop him, Cam had finally given up, and he'd spent almost an hour sulking on the couch instead of sleeping.

This morning, he knew it had been a good thing. But last night he'd thought it was terribly unfair that he could see every detail without being able to touch. His vision, unfortunately, was better than his imagination.

"No," Cam said at last. "Not temporary."

The truck came to a halt at a stop sign, and Hunter glanced over at him. "What about the..." He paused. "You said you went grocery shopping," he tried again. "For what?"

Cam grimaced. "Nothing made of soy. I'm still craving meat, if that's what you're asking. And no, I don't know why."

"Well, obviously you're not the only one." Rolling through the intersection, Hunter had his eyes on the road again. "There's a reason they serve the stuff they do at the community center."

"But it doesn't make any sense," Cam muttered. "I'm not a wolf now. Why should I have--" He frowned, then changed what he was going to say. "Vaguely, arguably lupine characteristics, when I'm human?"

Hunter didn't answer right away, and Cam hadn't really meant for him to. He didn't have any answers, why should he expect Hunter to? The whole thing was just bizarre.

"Maybe the same reason you have human characteristics when you're a wolf?" Hunter suggested finally. Cam looked at him in surprise, and Hunter must have seen his expression out of the corner of his eye because he shrugged a little. "I mean, you still think like a human when you're a wolf. Kind of. More than not, anyway.

"And you..." He took his hand off the steering wheel to gesture impatiently. "I don't know, you do human things. You know, opening doors, carrying things around... looking at people when they're talking, that kind of thing."

Cam frowned out at the road. They were leaving downtown Blue Bay Harbor now, heading in a mostly west direction. "There's some overlap," he admitted reluctantly. "Between wolf and human, I mean. Is that typical?"

Hunter snorted. "You're asking me?"

"You know more about it than I do," Cam muttered.

Hunter sounded amused. "Not that it isn't cool to hear you say that," he remarked, "but no I don't, not really. I've learned way more from watching you than I did from helping Blake haul in his latest Good Samaritan case."

"Oh?" Cam was pretty sure he didn't want to know.

Luckily, Hunter didn't seem inclined to share. All he said was, "Yeah."

Cam watched their surroundings flash by, faster now that they were on the back roads. He wondered how long Hunter would keep driving, if they would just stay on the road until one of them got bored, or if he had an actual destination in mind. Cam wasn't too thrilled about the idea of going somewhere--getting out of the truck seemed less appealing the longer they drove.

"So," Hunter said, dropping the word into the quiet with a casualness that didn't sound quite natural. "Why'd you come to Storm Chargers? CyberCam kick you out of Ninja Ops?"

"Just bored," Cam answered, staring out the window. He hoped he sounded a little more convincing than Hunter had. "I guess I wanted to test the whole 'human' thing."

"Right," Hunter agreed immediately. Which was kind of a ridiculous thing to say, when you came right down to it. Because "testing" himself without a safety net like Hunter wasn't that clever to begin with, and doing it in a totally uncontrolled and potentially hostile environment was just stupid.

"And I wanted to see how you were," Cam muttered. He regretted it the moment he said it, but it got Hunter's attention.

"Yeah?"

He sounded so... well, neutral. But the absence of Hunter's usual annoyance regarding other people's belief that he couldn't take care of himself was something all on its own. And the fact that he made it a question, like he wanted Cam to keep going--

"Thank you," Cam said abruptly. The words were out before he could overthink them. "I mean... thanks for sticking with me, these last couple of days." He swallowed, hoping his discomfort wasn't obvious. "I should have said it before."

"Nah." Hunter sounded gentler now, softer. More relaxed, maybe. "I wanted to."

More vulnerable, Cam realized suddenly. That was why he sounded different. Because Hunter was telling him the truth again. "You said some things," Cam told the dashboard, wondering what he was thinking, why he was even trying to go there. "Yesterday."

"I said a lot of things." And now the wariness was back, a guarded amusement that let Cam know he would only be allowed so far before Hunter pushed him away again. He'd better get it right this time, because he was pretty sure he was already on his second chance.

"So did I," Cam pointed out, distinctly uncomfortable. He resettled his seatbelt for no particular reason. "Most of them were true."

"Like?" The truck was turning onto the sea road now, the highway that traced the coast up and down and slowed to a crawl beside the most popular beaches. This stretch was mostly rocky seawall on the right and million dollar cottages on the left.

He had no idea what to say now. Without the wolf pushing him into impulsiveness it was a lot harder to say what he was thinking. He wasn't even totally sure what he was thinking, because if he could put it into words then he would. Or he might. Maybe he wouldn't, actually.

"I'm not gay," he blurted out at last.

That had been the wrong thing to say. Hunter seemed inordinately relieved that the road gave him an excuse not to so much as glance at Cam. "Like I care," he muttered.

Cam gritted his teeth. Hunter had put a lot more than this on the line for him. "I'm not straight, either," he said, as carefully as he could. "Which I'd really appreciate if you didn't mention to the rest of the team."

Hunter didn't answer.

"The wolf--" And he was stuck again, because this was not easy. "The wolf is kind of... attracted to you," he mumbled. Then he smiled, just a little, because it was easier to joke than to confess. "If you hadn't noticed."

There was a soft sound of amusement from Hunter, but his voice was quiet and not at all mocking. "I noticed."

"He probably gets that from me," Cam admitted, staring straight ahead. The road was clear, but they were heading into a sandy stretch that was marked by a line of cars and people walking along the sidewalk, the shore, and the stairs in between.

This time there was a long moment of silence. "Yeah?" Hunter said at last.

Cam shrugged uncomfortably. "There's some overlap," he repeated. He needed some feedback on this. He wasn't going to make a fool of himself for nothing.

"Okay," Hunter said finally. "Well... thanks."

"Thanks?" Cam echoed. He wasn't sure whether to be incredulous or mortified. "I'm attracted to you; well, thanks?"

"Yeah, thanks," Hunter snapped, startling him. "Thanks for your awkward acknowledgement of the fact that you've been throwing yourself at me for two days and maybe you've got an excuse but I don't, okay?"

Cam closed his mouth.

"The whole time you've got an all-access pass to my personal space," Hunter continued, glaring through the windshield in a way that would make any pedestrian think twice, "and I'm trying to be Mr. Nice Guy, which by the way you didn't in any way appreciate, so I try to make up for it the only way I can. Which, maybe it was stupid, but instead of the making out which I would have really enjoyed, I had to go and tell you how I felt about you, and I can't exactly take that back now!"

There was a brief silence, during which Hunter seemed to realize he was shouting. His voice dropped abruptly. "So I'm sorry," he grumbled, in a way that didn't sound sorry at all, "if I can't get all excited about something that was probably supposed to be nice but just sounded really condescending."

"It wasn't meant to be," Cam said quietly. So Hunter felt... something, for him? Really? He wasn't sure what that meant, and now was clearly not a good time to ask.

Hunter sighed, tapping his thumb against the steering wheel before dropping his right hand to the stick shift. "I know," he muttered. "Shouldn't have jumped on you like that."

Cam stared out at the ocean for a moment. "You're right, you know," he said. "I did feel like I had an excuse. And I think, sometimes... I took advantage of it."

Hunter didn't say anything.

Cam didn't dare continue, so they rode in silence for a while longer and he didn't think much about where they were until Hunter started paying closer attention. The beach was narrower here, a thin strip revealed only when the tide was out, as it was now. There were no cars parked along this part of the road; all the beachgoers seemed to have been drawn to the more favorable areas just north of here.

The truck started to slow down, and now Cam realized what Hunter was doing. He wasn't just paying attention. He was looking for a parking space.

"Playing hooky on your sick day?" Cam asked before he could censor himself.

"Since I didn't ask for a sick day," Hunter countered, "I think it's fair."

Stop talking, Cam told himself. He was obviously losing ground.

Hunter finally pulled over and turned the engine off, but he didn't open his door. Cam was wondering if the point was just to look at the beach when Hunter said, "I miss it."

Cam blinked. To say something like that with no context implied that he should know what Hunter was talking about without having to ask. He didn't feel like screwing up any more than he already had, but he didn't have a clue what Hunter meant by that, either.

Until, just like that, it came to him. "The ocean," he said aloud. The Thunder Academy was a coastal school, perched out on cliffs overlooking the sea. It was a far cry from the forested mountain terrain of the Wind Academy.

"Yeah," Hunter said simply. "It's weird, sleeping in an apartment with the sound of cars and people around us all the time. Blake got a white noise generator to block some of it out."

Cam hated that muffling effect. "Doesn't it drive you crazy?" he asked without thinking.

Hunter only shook his head. "Kind of reminds me of the waves," he muttered.

They stayed where they were for a while, staring out at the water from the insulated cab of the truck. Finally Hunter took his seatbelt off and put his window down, and Cam thought there were worse things than sitting here away from the rest of the world. He followed Hunter's example.

"This morning," Cam said after a few minutes. He wasn't totally sure where the words came from, but he knew Hunter was listening. "I was a wolf for a few seconds. On purpose," he added quickly. "To show my dad I could control the shift."

Hunter just nodded, and Cam was a little disappointed. He hadn't been able to control it so easily the day before. But of course he hadn't said it as though it was something to be proud of, so Hunter had let it slide as just another comment. Or that was what he told himself.

"I really wanted to run," he said, staring along the narrow, deserted beach. "I don't know why. It went away when I changed back."

"Run?" Hunter repeated. "Like run away, or just..."

"Just for fun, I guess," Cam admitted.

"Well." Hunter seemed to be considering that. "No reason you can't."

"Not here," Cam said, a little wistfully. It really did look like fun here, with the hard-packed sand and the long stretch of nothing in his way. "Not where people can see me."

"Why not?" Hunter wanted to know. "There's no rule against dogs here. Just don't bite anyone and you'll be fine. Probably no one will even see you."

Cam hesitated, and Hunter added, "Give me back my sunglasses first."

Cam looked at him, startled, and Hunter shrugged. "Well, you won't be using them," he pointed out. "I'm not gonna sit in the truck while you have all the fun."

"People are going to notice a wolf running loose on the beach," Cam protested. "Even if there's no one here, people drive along this road all the time. They'll probably call wildlife control or something."

"People aren't gonna see a wolf unless they're looking for a wolf," Hunter told him. "As long as you're with someone, they're gonna be thinking dog. Trust me."

Cam hesitated. He might say "as long as you're with someone," but he meant "as long as you belong to someone." Did he trust Hunter that much? Once he was a wolf, he wouldn't be able to help explain or defend himself to anyone they might happen to meet. He would be basically helpless while Hunter was his voice, his guardian, and the person held ultimately responsible for everything that he did.

It was more than a question of friendship: he had to trust Hunter to "own" him, or he might as well stay in the truck.

On the other hand, hadn't Hunter already done that? Hadn't he accepted that responsibility already, and refrained from abusing the privileges that came with it? Hadn't he covered for Cam when he was embarrassed or uncertain or outright lying, and backed him up when he needed it whether Cam asked him to or not? What else could Cam ask of him in return for his trust?

Cam pulled off Hunter's sunglasses and handed them over without a word.

7. Today

Watching the wolf launch itself into the waves from a distance, Hunter could only shake his head in wonder. The wolf braced itself in the wake of the water and shook violently, then wheeled and bounded away as another wave rolled in. Water splashed in every direction as the drenched and exuberant figure continued to frolic along the shore.

It made a startling contrast to the dark young man who could sit quietly in front of the mainframe for hours at a time, with only the twitch of his fingers and the flicker of his gaze to prove that he was aware of anything at all.

It was almost as though, Hunter thought idly, all the energy that Cam usually channeled into his computer, the zords, the myriad things he kept running at Ninja Ops and everything he had going on the side no longer had any quiet outlet. It wasn't so much that he was reserved as it was that all his intensity was directed inward, into mental exercises and an electronic reality slightly out of sync with their own. Now that intensity was unfocused, spilling out into whatever fleeting experience caught his attention.

The wolf threw itself down on the wet sand and wriggled around on its back, legs pawing the air as it found a way to make itself even wetter and dirtier than it had already been. It hadn't quite cleared the tide line and another wave was racing in. It faded away to nothing just as it reached the furry body, but the briefest touch of water was enough to send the wolf shooting to its feet and it took off down the beach like it was being chased.

Hunter just watched it go, confident that it would be back. Cam had wanted to run, and he was running. This was the third time the wolf had turned into a streak of flattened ears and churning legs as it raced away, only to send up an impressive spray of sand as it made a wide half-circle at the other end of the beach and came flying back.

Sure enough, the wolf was turning now, arrowing straight for him as it sped along the shore. He stood his ground as the grey-brown shape charged him, veering off at the last second with a graceful ease that seemed somehow out of place. The wolf barely seemed to slow down.

Back to the water. He wasn't kidding about the running.

"He's sure got a lot of energy," a voice called, loud enough to be heard over the waves but far enough a way that Hunter hadn't even noticed someone sneaking up on him.

He turned around, but the beach was empty. The voice came from the direction of the road--a man standing at the top of the seawall, one foot braced against a rock and a hand shading his eyes as he watched the wolf run. "Wish I had half that," he said, nodding to the animal that was flirting with the waves again.

"Yeah," Hunter said, following his gaze. What else could he say? He wished he had all of that, but luckily no one could hear his thoughts. "I know what you mean."

"Had a dog like that once," the man remarked. He sounded like it had been a long time ago. "Malamute, right? Good dogs."

"Yeah," Hunter repeated. He had no idea what a malamute was. Whatever it was, apparently it looked like a wolf. At least at a distance. Grudgingly, and only because the guy didn't look like he was gonna go away on his own, he decided he might as well find out. "You had one?"

"Lost her, oh... almost ten years ago, now." The man didn't lower his hand, still shading his eyes from the sun, but he looked down at Hunter when he spoke. "Never had the heart to get another one."

The words were matter-of-fact, but the chilling implication that went with them was one Hunter hadn't even considered. There's some overlap, Cam said. Both human and wolf shared some characteristics that didn't seem to fade no matter how long he spent as one or the other. What about lifespan?

Wolves didn't live as long as humans. And Hunter hadn't known any of the human wolves at the community center long enough to guess how they aged. He looked back at the ocean and saw the wolf looking back, watching him from all the way down the beach while the waves washed over his paws and his tail curved stiffly over his back.

There was no way he could hear them talking from there. But he could see the stranger, obviously. And he didn't look too happy about it.

Hunter glanced back at the seawall to see the man making his way over the rocks, between them, and down, ignoring the cement stairs just a short way up the beach. Pretty spry for an old guy, Hunter decided, watching him climb. Too bad he had to be demonstrating it on their stretch of beach.

The wolf was trotting over now too, though what he intended to do Hunter had no idea. People were allowed to walk on the beach. Strangers were allowed to chat him up just because they felt like it. Sure, he wasn't thrilled about it either, but the less attention Cam drew to himself, the better.

"Protective, huh?" The man stood just a few feet away now, watching the wolf's approach. "He keeps an eye on you."

"Yeah," Hunter muttered. He was keeping an eye on the wolf in return, because he hadn't forgotten Cam's fury when the pack at the community center challenged Hunter. All it had taken was a hand on his shirt and Cam had been at the guy's throat. "He does that."

"Trained as a guard dog?" the man asked. "He's got the look. Will he come over if I call him?"

Hunter shrugged, watching the wolf warily. "Might."

The wolf had stopped a little way off, ears up, head tilted slightly to one side. The curious look did little to mitigate his wild appearance, but the man didn't seem worried. Maybe malamutes really did look like wolves. He'd have to remember that.

"Here boy," the man called. He patted his leg, then held out his empty hand with his fingers together like he was holding something. "Come on boy. Come on over here."

The wolf's head tilted further, eyes flicking to the man's hand before lifting to study his face again. He looked as though he was trying to memorize this particular person, so that if he ever saw him again he would know to go the other way. After a moment he sat down where he was, making his feelings about being summoned very clear.

"Smart dog," the man said wryly. "Knows perfectly well I don't have anything for him. Haven't carried dog biscuits since I lost my Trudy."

Dog biscuits. Hunter's lips twitched as he tried to imagine the wolf's reaction. That, he suspected, would go over very badly. So badly that it might actually be worth it, if only to piss Cam off.

The crackle of electricity was his only warning before a swarm of kelzaks descended on the beach. That he and Cam were the intended targets was obvious. Less clear was what they were going to do about it, with a civilian onlooker and potential victim standing right beside them.

"What the--" The man was either slow or particularly entitled, Hunter thought grimly, if he thought that voicing some kind of objection would get him somewhere. He snapped into a guard position, and two things were immediately evident.

First, lacerated muscles burned the moment he lifted his arms, sending a sharp ache deep into his chest. Second, there was no glint of metal from his left wrist when he extended it defensively in front of him. Shit. His morpher was still somewhere in Ninja Ops. Where, exactly, only Cam knew.

There was a split second between that realization and the kelzaks' attack, and somehow his gaze found the wolf's. The wolf, who didn't wear an amulet. Hunter had no idea why not--where did Cam's clothes go when he changed?--but in that brief moment he understood just how screwed they were.

Then he was blocking a wild swing from one of Lothor's minions, the man who knew malamutes was shouting, and his world was full of raining blows and a painful dance that should have been so much easier. His arms didn't move quite as quickly as he needed them to, his shoulders didn't turn as far as they had to--he was open. Unguarded.

A kelzak fist slammed into his chest.

No, he thought distantly, mind oddly removed from the blackness in front of his eyes and the shooting pain that tore through his body. He was stumbling, falling, unable to draw in a breath... and all he could think was, no, this was the moment when he understood how screwed they were.

He really couldn't see. It was the strangest thing, but he was just lying there, staring up at the sky as it exploded into little fireworks in front of him, and there was nothing else there. Blackness around the edges, stars in the middle, and a raw searing pain that felt like someone had yanked off his skin.

Growling, teeth snapping, and more shouting penetrated through the roaring in his ears as he tried to convince his body to do something, anything that wasn't lying helplessly on the ground. At least, he thought he was on the ground. He could hear girls' voices, weirdly, and he thought maybe he was hallucinating.

Then he really was hallucinating, because the Power Rangers were there and he was watching them and damn, why hadn't he ever realized how weird they looked? Geez... he lifted a hand to his head, and only then did it occur to him that he was sitting up. Okay. That was good. He was good. He was fine.

He was so not gonna be standing up right away.

The wolf had parked himself in the sand between Hunter and the rest of the fight, which now seemed to consist of kelzacs, Wind Rangers, Blake, and Marah and Kapri. The malamute guy was backing up beside him, ignoring the wolf and being ignored in turn until he crouched down and asked, "You okay there?"

That got the wolf's attention, and in seconds Hunter had an armful of fur and paws and a long muzzle poking his chest in between attempts to lick his face. "Yeah, okay, ow," he wheezed, trying to push the wolf off. "Cut it out!"

The wolf sat back on his haunches, looking contrite. "It's okay," Hunter gasped, feeling guilt already for putting that look on his face--and that wasn't even fair, because what the hell was Cam doing, climbing all over him like that?

"Fine--" He couldn't draw a decent breath, but it occurred to him that he'd better have a good story or he was about five minutes and an ambulance ride away from having to explain the bandages under his shirt. "I'm fine," he managed, shooting a sideways look at malamute guy. "Just got the wind knocked out of me... that's all."

The wolf snorted. Hunter glared at him, because didn't he get it? Any EMT would take one look at his chest, another look at his "dog," and Cam would have animal control after him so fast he wouldn't have time to change.

"Good thing the Power Rangers showed up," the other man was saying. "Can you believe this? I've never seen them in person before."

Yeah, Hunter wanted to say, you probably have.

"No," he lied aloud. "Me neither. What's--" He winced as he tried to change his position and it felt like every muscle in his upper body protested. And on top of that, his shirt was damp from having a wet wolf throw itself at him. Great. "What's going on, anyway?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," the man told him. He seemed perfectly willing to believe that Hunter was all right, and was now watching the fight avidly. "Maybe they thought we were someone else."

Right, Hunter thought. Or maybe they thought me and Cam are exactly who we are, and you just got in the way. But it was as good an explanation as any, and he wasn't going to be the one to make the guy start looking for another one. He took another quick look at the fight--where Marah and Kapri were being their usual unhelpful selves while the Rangers finished off the last of the kelzaks--before glancing back to the wolf.

He was watching Hunter through narrowed eyes, as though he could assess his condition by staring alone. And hey, with eyes like that, maybe he could. It was a disturbingly knowing look, either way.

Hunter flashed him a covert thumbs-up, hoping to tell him not to worry, but it just made the wolf stand up and come over to him again. He sniffed Hunter's injuries carefully, more gentle this time as he avoided any actual contact. Then he lifted his gaze to Hunter's pointedly, holding it for a long moment before sitting down beside him with an audible sigh. Hunter was forced to move his arm as the wolf leaned up against him, like Hunter might fall over if there wasn't someone there to prop him up.

"That's some dog you've got there." The malamute man's voice interrupted their silent reassurances. "Jumped in to protect you the second you went down. Never seen anything like it."

"Yeah," Hunter croaked, resisting the urge to bury his face in the wolf's fur. Why did he have to be so damn big? He was taller than Hunter, sitting down, and wasn't that a weird feeling. "He's one of a kind, all right."

The other Rangers were heading straight for them. Having cleared the beach--although not without drawing a small crowd up on the road--they must be coming to check on the "civilians." Great. That would be fun.

Shane reached them first, but the others were right behind him. "Are you all right?" the Red Wind Ranger asked, and it was weird to hear Shane's too-polite tone directed at him. "Do you need someone to call an ambulance?"

Hunter barely kept himself from rolling his eyes at the other Ranger. "No, thanks," he said through clenched teeth. The malamute guy was offering him a hand, and he made himself take it. The grip steadied his balance just enough that he managed to stand on his own. The wolf was up before he was, standing alertly by his side.

"I'm fine," Hunter added, and this time malamute guy backed him up.

"We're all right," he said. "Thanks to you--and this dog here."

Shane took one look at the crowd clamoring for their attention on the road, then went down on one knee in front of the wolf. "You're a good dog," he said, patting him on the head. "Keep up the good work."

Then he stood up again, gave both of them a small salute, and turned away. The others fell in smartly behind him, except for Blake who turned and looked over his shoulder as they walked away. A moment later, though, all four of them were dark streaks that disappeared inland without another word.

Hunter glanced down. The wolf's ears were back, and not in a friendly way. He was staring in the direction those streaks had gone. There was a tiny ridge of fur running the length of his back, and Hunter really didn't want to be Shane the next time Cam saw him.

Most of the crowd up on the road seemed to be talking amongst themselves, or on cell phones, or just drifting back to their cars now that the excitement has passed. A couple climbed down over the seawall, though, and more were coming down the beach from the direction of the stairs. The woman with the notepad was in the second group.

"I'm Bill Hagner," the malamute guy was saying, and it took Hunter a moment to realize that the man was holding out his hand again. "Nice to meet you."

Was that what people did after random kelzak attacks, Hunter wondered? Introduced themselves to the other victims? He'd never had a reason to find out. Still, ignoring him now seemed rude. And he was really afraid that if he tried to leave, some of those people on the beach might follow him.

"Hunter Bradley," he said, shaking the guy's hand. He had to bite back the impulse to introduce Cam too. "Same here."

"Hello," the woman with the notepad interrupted. "Hi," she added, when they glanced at her. "I'm Cindy Lilisetti from the Harbor Herald, and I saw the Power Rangers as I was driving by... would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

Hunter really wanted to tell her to get lost. He didn't like reporters, he didn't want to talk about the Power Rangers, and his chest felt like it had just been clawed open again except without the adrenaline to numb the pain. But again with the leaving thing. He wasn't sure it was possible to just walk away from something like this. He'd never needed to--he'd always been the one streaking off, leaving the civilians to deal with each other.

He was starting to feel a little more sympathy for them.

"Go right ahead," Bill Hagner was telling the woman. "We're happy to help."

"Did I hear you introducing yourselves just now?" Cindy asked. "Had you never met before today?"

"Sure enough. I saw Hunter's dog, here, and it reminded me so much of my own I just had to stop and chat for a little while. He was kind enough to oblige."

"Hunter Bradley?" Cindy asked, glancing at him before giving the wolf a nervous look.

He tried not to smile. He reminded himself that scaring a reporter would be a very bad thing. So to make up for it, he nodded as politely as he could and answered, "Yes, ma'am. We were out for a run when we met up with--" For one irritating moment, he couldn't come up with the man's name.

"Bill," he remembered, after a second's pause. "We were just talking about dogs when the kelzaks showed up."

"Bill Hagner, right?" Cindy was scribbling something down in her notebook. "Would you spell that for me, please?"

Bill did, and Hunter looked down as the wolf leaned a little harder against his leg. "It's all right, buddy," he said aloud. Deliberately scaring someone, no. But he didn't see anything wrong with conveying a little impatience. "We'll go in a minute."

"Buddy?" Cindy repeated, transferring her attention to him momentarily. "Is this Buddy?"

"Uh--" He couldn't very well give Cam's real name, could he. "Yeah."

"Well, Buddy," Cindy said, apparently talking to her notebook. "You might be the first dog to get a one-on-one audience with the Red Ranger. That's quite an honor."

Now Hunter really had to work at keeping a straight face. The Red Ranger. Yeah. He wondered what she'd say if she knew the Red Ranger was a skateboarder who didn't do his homework and had almost dropped out of ninja school. Cam's life was complete now that Shane had told him to "keep up the good work."

"Amazing dog," Bill was saying. "Smart. Wouldn't come near me when I called him, but he was in there swinging the second Hunter was in trouble."

"Is that right." Cindy was still writing in her notebook, but she looked over at the wolf again a second later. "And what kind of dog is Buddy? He's pretty intimidating looking. I can imagine he'd be handy in a fight."

"Oh, there's not a mean bone in his body," Bill assured her. "Malamutes are friendly dogs. People are scared of them 'cause they look so much like wolves, but they're bred to work with humans. Smart dogs. This one doesn't have any trouble telling the bad guys from the good ones."

"Did you say he was a malamute?" Cindy repeated. She was giving Hunter a doubtful look, so he nodded.

Then the wolf surprised him by getting up and pacing toward her, head low, ears down, tail hanging just above his heels as it waved gently back and forth. He looked about as unthreatening as a giant wolf could look. Cindy hesitated, but she put her pen in her other hand and offered her free hand to the wolf cautiously.

The wolf just lowered his head even further, sidling up to her and letting her pat him awkwardly on the head. He gazed up at her adoringly from under a very meek expression. He looked for all the world like he lived to have people pat him on the head. His tail continued to wag as she smiled a small but charmed smile down at him.

Good boy, Hunter thought fondly. Don't piss off the press. Cam wasn't stupid.

"Well, he certainly seems friendly," Cindy remarked. "And you say this dog attacked kelzaks?"

"Only after they'd knocked Hunter down," Bill put in. "Buddy got between them and kept 'em from getting any closer until the Power Rangers arrived."

"Were you hurt?" Cindy asked, her eyes still on the wolf. "Did the kelzaks try to grab you, or scare you off, or what? Any idea what they were after?"

"Nah," Hunter said, glancing at Bill. "Could've been anything. They just roughed us up a little, that's all. The Power Rangers showed up pretty fast."

"I've heard they have some kind of alert system," Bill remarked. "Lets 'em keep an eye on the whole city at once."

Cindy was writing again. The wolf got up when she stopped patting him and moved slowly in Bill's direction, tail wagging again. He put his head down, wearing a sort of sheepish expression when the man remarked on it. "Look at that," Bill said. "I guess I'm not so bad now, huh Buddy?"

He held out his hand, palm up, and the wolf sniffed it once. He came close enough to be patted, and Hunter noticed that Bill didn't reach for his head. His hand fell to the wolf's shoulder instead, scratching the shoulder and then climbing to the place just behind his ear when the wolf didn't object. The wolf tilted his head, leaning into the petting, and Hunter felt a flash of jealousy.

Yeah, that would be easy to explain, he thought darkly. Don't say anything. Don't say, Look, pal, that "dog" is the guy I've been pissing off for months, and if anyone gets to touch him it's me. Because that just wouldn't go over well. With any of them.

"Mommy, can I pat the dog?" The high-pitched voice came from a girl with messy pigtails, and no way, because this was ridiculous, but the wolf was just sitting there calmly like he'd had his own fan club since the day he was born.

At least the woman with the kid was a little smarter. "Sweetie, I don't think that's a good idea--" But kids never listened to their parents, kids had no fear, and this girl obviously didn't see a wolf, just a big stuffed animal that moved all by itself.

She was heading straight for them. The wolf just watched, dropping his head as she approached and wagging his tail against the hard packed sand politely. The girl patted him with little finesse and less concern, but the wolf didn't flinch. He just sat there patiently, even when she shrieked, "Ew! He's all wet!"

Hunter winced, but the girl kept right on patting. The wolf nosed her arm gently and twisted to lick her fingers when she giggled. "Nice doggie," she told him, making Hunter grit his teeth.

"Do you mind if I take a few pictures?" Cindy was asking. She'd produced a little digital camera from somewhere and the notebook was tucked into the top of her purse. "Bill? Hunter?"

"Fine with me," Bill agreed amiably.

Hunter hesitated, but what was he supposed to say? That the sensei of a local ninja academy didn't want to see his students' pictures in the paper again? That putting a picture of a wolf in the paper probably wasn't the best idea, no matter what kind of dog the reporter thought it was?

"I don't really like having my picture taken," he told her. "Not very photogenic. You understand."

"Oh, you're fine," Cindy promised, lifting the camera as she stepped back. "Stand a little closer together--there. That's good. Let's get one with Buddy too; maybe you could both kneel down next to him?"

"Come over here, sweetie," the woman with the little girl instructed. "They're trying to take a picture."

"But look, Mommy, he likes me!" the girl protested. She squatted down too, right in front of them as Cindy just kept pushing that little button on her camera. "See, he's really nice! I have a dog too," she confided to Hunter. "He's a dalmation."

"Oh yeah?" Hunter managed a half-smile because hey, she just wanted some attention. He couldn't really hold the "doggie" thing against her when she looked like she was barely in grade school. "Dalmations are nice dogs."

"His name is Sparky," the girl told him.

Yeah, that's original, he thought, before he remembered that she thought his dog's name was Buddy. "That's a good name," he said. The giant furry shape between them leaned into him, and he put a hand on the wolf's back to steady himself.

"Liney, come over here," the unidentified mother figure urged, and this time the little girl got to her feet and took a few reluctant steps back.

"My dog doesn't like to come to the beach," the girl explained. "He can't swim. He likes to ride in the car though. Once he rode all the way to Canada with us."

"That's a pretty long way," Hunter agreed, shifting in his crouch to get more comfortable. His arm slid around the wolf's back, which at least was drier than his paws. "How many pictures do you need, anyway?" he asked the reporter.

"Oh, I think that's enough," she said, not lowering her camera. "They probably won't even make it into the paper, but just in case. Liney, you'd better ask your mom if it's okay to print your picture."

The girl didn't seem surprised that Cindy had caught her name. "Is it, Mommy? Did you see, she took a picture of me!"

She'd taken a lot more than one, Hunter thought. He wondered what happened to the pictures that weren't used. He still wasn't thrilled about the idea of their picture being in the paper in the first place.

"It's all right with me," her mom answered. "Which paper are you with? And what did you say your name was?"

"Cindy Lilisetti." The reporter was scanning through her pictures now, but she took a moment to offer her hand to Liney's mom. Interesting, Hunter noted; she hadn't shaken his hand. "I'm with the Harbor Herald, and I just happened to be driving by. Can I get your daughter's name for the picture caption?"

"I'm Liney," the girl said proudly. She clearly sensed a new audience. "I'm six!"

Hunter took advantage of the distraction to stand up, thinking maybe they could make their escape. The wolf jumped up as soon as he moved, tail curved above his back, watching Hunter intently and doing a decent job of conveying his own impatience. Hunter wasn't the only one who saw it.

"Looks like he's ready to go," Bill remarked, taking a step back to give them some room. "That right, Buddy?"

The wolf glanced at him, then turned his stare back on Hunter. He didn't need any convincing. "Yeah, we'd better go. It's, uh..." He couldn't say "sorry" for the kelzak thing, or "thanks" for the malamute thing, because either one would be incriminating.

"It was good talking to you," he finished lamely. "Take care of yourself."

"Yeah." Bill seemed to think it a perfectly normal thing to say. He looked down at the wolf, still watching their conversation. "Nice to meet you, Buddy." The wolf stared back at him, not blinking, and Bill nodded.

"You got a good one there," he told Hunter. "Take care of him."

Hunter's mouth quirked inadvertently. "As much as he lets me," he replied. The wolf's head swung back to him, yellow eyes looking for his, but Bill just nodded again.

"All you can do," the man agreed. "See ya 'round, Buddy."

Cindy was still deep in conversation with Liney's mom, and Hunter knew better than to draw a reporter's attention on purpose. So he just gave Bill a half-wave and turned away, heading back up the beach toward where they'd left the truck. The wolf bounded up beside him a moment later.

There were still some rubberneckers on the beach, but most of them left him alone and Cindy didn't come running when she realized they were leaving, so that worked out okay. The wolf didn't leave his side again. Like Hunter, he seemed more interested in getting out of here than he was in the ocean.

Kinda too bad, Hunter thought, but only to himself.

They got up the stairs and back to the truck without getting into trouble, and maybe that surprised him a little. No matter what he'd said to Cam beforehand, he hadn't expected to see anyone else on this part of the beach. Or if he had, he'd thought they would be at a distance, too far away to think twice about the silhouettes of a guy and a "dog" down by the water.

He hadn't counted on people actually coming up to talk to him. He hadn't expected to draw a crowd for any reason. And he definitely hadn't seen that camera thing coming.

So much for his life getting back to normal. He held the door open for the wolf, who leapt into the cab with a fluid motion that Hunter didn't know whether to admire or resent. How the hell was he still in such good shape when Hunter couldn't do anything lately without getting mauled for his trouble?

As he settled into the driver's seat, though, he took it back. The wolf was trying to get comfortable and--as far as Hunter could tell--failing miserably. He actually squeezed down onto the floor of the cab for a moment, turning around and trying it out before jumping back up onto the seat. Finally he just sat down, shifting uncomfortably as he tried to brace his front paws against something.

"Hey, at least they won't bust you for not wearing a seatbelt," Hunter muttered, mindful of the open windows as he started the engine. "Just think how many laws don't apply to you right now."

The wolf glared at him, and Hunter smirked. It wasn't all bad, this mute-Cam situation. Yeah, it was seriously screwing with his social life, but on the other hand, he could snark about it all he wanted because what was Cam gonna do? Bite him? Again?

He saw two of the gawkers from the beach getting into their own vehicle a few cars down, and he sighed as he backed out onto the road. "Might want to stay like that for a few minutes," he said, under his breath. "Someone's following us."

Of course, the wolf's muzzle swung around so he could peer out the back. Hunter checked the rearview, then looked to his right. "Want that window open?" he asked.

The wolf seemed to consider that. Then, settling his head on the back of the passenger seat, he whined softly. It was probably more of a "yes" than a "no," since if he didn't want it open he didn't have to answer at all.

Hunter reached back and slid the window open for him.

The wolf lifted his head from the seat and leaned over to lick Hunter's cheek.

"See, that's just weird," Hunter complained. He kept his eyes on the road and his mind on anything else, because he had not just been kissed. Licking and kissing were not the same thing. And he really didn't want to be turned on by a wolf.

"I mean," he continued, "it's not like I don't get the difference. I get that you're..." He tried to figure out what he was saying for a long moment before he gave up.

"Okay, you know what?" he said. "No, I don't. I don't get it. You're all--" He took one hand off the steering wheel to gesture irritably. "Touchy-feely as a wolf, right? Then, when you're you..."

He trailed off, looking in the rearview mirror to check on the car behind them. Close enough that he didn't think they were trying to be inconspicuous. Maybe they really had just happened to leave the beach at the same time.

He couldn't help noticing that the wolf had shifted, muzzle still resting on the back of the seat but his head canted toward Hunter now. He was watching Hunter, staring at him in a way Cam just didn't. Or at least, in a way he hadn't, until very recently.

And that was it, wasn't it. Cam had been just as physical as a human, right up until this morning. "Okay, yeah," he said slowly. "You were like that when you were human, too. Until today."

He glanced over at the wolf again, then away. Watching Cam ignore him on the mats this morning been disturbing and hard and lonely. But he'd seen it coming, and he'd been able to walk away. Cam had reacted just the way he'd expected.

The wolf hadn't. The wolf hadn't changed. The wolf was all over him, and he didn't get it.

"Today you're acting like you again," he muttered. With a quick look at the animal beside him, he added, "The wolf isn't. It's, uh... kinda weird."

The understatement of the year, he thought grimly.

The wolf whined a little, turning around in the passenger seat, giving the back window a final disgusted glance. Hunter didn't miss the pathetic gaze that came to rest on him, and he shook his head as he stared through the windshield. "Yeah, I know. Shouldn't talk to you when you can't talk back."

The wolf shifted, trying to position his front paws between the two seats, and finally he just flopped down, curling a little awkwardly in the available space. He heaved a heavy sigh before lowering his head to rest his muzzle on Hunter's leg. Spacewise, maybe it even made sense, but this was still Cam, and no matter what he looked like he couldn't ignore the fact that it was really Cam's head on his thigh.

"Yeah, that," Hunter muttered, careful to keep his eyes on the road. "That's exactly what I'm talking about."

The weight on his leg vanished as the wolf lifted his head. He tried not to look down, but he couldn't help it. He caught the wolf's hurt expression, sad and confused and inquisitive all at once--or maybe Hunter just couldn't interpret it, he didn't know.

"Never mind," he said with a sigh. "Tell you later."

The wolf hesitated. Then, carefully, he laid his head alongside Hunter's leg. His muzzle was too close to the stick shift, though, and he seemed to realize it. He tried to squirm backwards, leaving room for his head on the seat, but his hind leg slipped on the edge of the seat. He scrambled up into a sitting position hastily, and Hunter felt like a bully.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said. "My bad. Just do whatever's comfortable, okay?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the wolf's head swing toward the back of the truck again. He checked the rearview automatically, but the car that had been behind them at the beach was gone. Unfortunately, there was someone else behind them, and there were plenty of cars passing in the other direction. They were skirting the edge of town on their way into the mountains, but there was enough traffic that having a shapeshifter in the front seat could still get them noticed.

Finally, the wolf settled down again. His head rested gingerly on Hunter's leg--closer to his knee than it had been before, Hunter noticed, and that pretty much answered his question. Yeah, Cam knew what he was doing. Whether it seemed more natural to the wolf or not, it wasn't like he didn't know.

The first time they turned a corner, Hunter realized he was going to have to rest his arm on the wolf's shoulders in order to shift. The wolf didn't move, though, and as the truck sped up again it didn't seem so strange to keep his hand where it was. So they drove like that for a while, with the wolf's head on his leg and his hand on the wolf's back.

Only when the truck turned off onto the logging roads did the wolf sit up, struggling a little to keep his balance on the bumpy trail. The logging roads were as much privacy as they'd get short of bushwhacking into the wilderness... and the whole not talking thing had to be getting old. Especially for someone who counted verbal sarcasm as his main mode of communication.

Between one breath and the next, the wolf was gone and Cam was sitting next to him in the passenger seat.

It was weirdly like a wall going up between them. No matter how much he reminded himself that the wolf was Cam, and Cam was the wolf, they were still different in his mind. One was weaker somehow, confused, stuck... in need of protection. The other was dangerous, unpredictable, and not someone he wanted to piss off.

Funny how Cam's ability to talk back made him the dangerous one in Hunter's mind. Maybe that said something about him, he didn't know. Or about Cam.

Cam was rubbing his hands together irritably. It seemed strange, but it wasn't until he lifted his hands to his head and started messing up his hair that Hunter dared to look over at him. Definitely not a typical Cam gesture. "What's wrong with you?" he asked gruffly.

"I'm covered with sand," Cam muttered. "It felt better as a wolf."

Before Hunter could process that, Cam turned a penetrating gaze on him. "Are you all right?" he demanded.

Hunter frowned, trying to keep his eyes on the road so he wouldn't have to look at Cam. He knew perfectly well that his stare was the same, wolf or not. "What are you talking about?"

He thought he could hear Cam roll his eyes. "I'm talking about the fact that you just suffered blunt trauma on top of serious lacerations and almost passed out afterwards. I don't know how you're even driving now."

"I didn't pass out," Hunter snapped. "So I dropped my guard. One punch isn't going to send me to the emergency room."

"You're bleeding again," Cam informed him. "I can tell. Even Shane was worried about you."

Hunter snorted. "Shane doesn't even know what happened. And since when do you care what Shane thinks, anyway? He called you a good dog!"

"He was playing a part," Cam said stiffly. "Just like we were."

Hunter banged his hand against the steering wheel in frustration. "I wasn't! You're not a dog, and I'm not gonna treat you like one! That's stupid!"

"I look like a wolf, Hunter! It was safer for them to think I'm a dog, and if that means I have to let women and small children fawn over me then that's what it means! If that means I have to let Shane pat me on the head--"

"Shane knows better!" Hunter shouted. "What the hell was he thinking!"

Cam didn't answer, folding his arms over his chest, and Hunter thought he saw him shake out of the corner of his eye. He frowned over at Cam before something occurred to him. "Are you wet?"

"Gee, let me think," Cam retorted. "I just jumped into the ocean. Why would I be wet?"

Hunter shook his head, reaching one hand back to fish around behind his seat. He couldn't find it without turning around, though, so he just jerked his thumb at the back. "I've got a sweatshirt back there, if you want it."

Cam didn't have to be told twice. He must be cold. He rummaged around in the back, unhindered by a seatbelt, and after a moment he came up with the crimson and grey pullover. He dropped it in his lap and wriggled out of his long-sleeved shirt, but Hunter was totally unprepared to see him go for the t-shirt he wore underneath and peel it off over his head. He kept his eyes on the road until Cam had pulled the sweatshirt on in its place.

"Thanks," Cam said with a sigh. He even sounded like he meant it. "It seemed like fun at the time. I didn't think about what it would mean when I changed back."

Hunter opened his mouth, but he wasn't sure he could ask without it sounding weird. Thinking of Cam's clothes made him think of the amulet, though, and that reminded him of something he really shouldn't have been without. "Hey, where's my morpher, anyway? Did you hide it somewhere?"

Cam shifted, trying to find something to do with his wet clothes that wasn't tossing them on the floor. "You couldn't have used it on the beach anyway," he muttered. "People were watching."

"Yeah, well, regardless," Hunter retorted. "I'm gonna need it eventually."

"It's in the lab." Cam gave up and threw his wet shirts in the back. "I'll get it for you when we get back."

No apology? No acknowledgement that hey, maybe he shouldn't have stolen Hunter's morpher in the first place? "Could you maybe pretend you're sorry about all this?" Hunter blurted out.

"What?" Cam was immediately defensive. "Being a wolf? There's not much I can do about it now."

"Not being a wolf," Hunter snapped. "Acting like one. Hiding my morpher, knocking me around, pretending to be all..." He gestured helplessly, groping for words. "Cute." That wasn't it. "Fawning." No. Cam's fault, for using the word before.

Don't say "sexy," he thought, half a second before he did. "Sexy. I mean--" He gripped the steering wheel tighter, wondering what the hell he was doing. "Geez. Never mind."

"I didn't hide your morpher," Cam said stiffly. "I forgot it, all right? It's been in the lab since Blake charged in there on Tuesday and dragged you off to bandage you up." He threw Hunter a sidelong glance as he said it, and Hunter's eyes flicked to his right wrist.

The thing about getting slashed across the chest, he thought, was that it made the gash Cam had put in his arm feel like nothing. He had a new wrap around his lower arm, leaving his hand and elbow free, and the bandage was invisible under his long sleeves. The way things were going, he might be wearing long sleeves for a while.

"Fine," Hunter said abruptly. "So my morpher's in the lab. Great."

Cam was staring out the window now. He didn't say anything, and Hunter wasn't even gonna try after the whole "sexy" thing. What was wrong with him, anyway? Wolves weren't sexy. If he really had a thing for Cam, which he was not in any way prepared to repeat aloud, he should've had a thing for him the way he was before. Normal. Human. Geeky. Dangerous.

Hot.

His hands clenched on the wheel again, because shit. Why couldn't he stop thinking that? He'd as much as admitted it last night, and he'd been kicking himself for it ever since. He'd put it down to the rush of the fight, the battle of wills, Cam's totally unexpected come-on... anything at all to avoid admitting that the desperation he felt wasn't totally about control.

"It's easier to talk to you when I'm a wolf," Cam muttered, still watching the trees bounce by through the open window.

Hunter shot him a resentful look. "You don't talk."

There was a brief pause, but all Cam said was, "You do."

Yeah. He talked a little too much. There was nothing wrong with him that shutting up wouldn't fix.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked aloud.

He'd never been very good at shutting up.

Cam was shaking his head. "I don't know," he muttered, drawing his arms across his chest again and making the sweatshirt fold around him in a particularly harmless looking way. For just a moment, he looked like the last person on the planet who would have anything to do with wolves, or evil ninjas, or guys who didn't know whether they wanted to kiss him or hit him.

"I don't get you," Hunter grumbled, fixing his attention on the dead-end turn-off coming up on their right. Tori's van was already parked there, taking up the good flat area beside the ruts. "If you want something from me, tell me what it is."

"I'm trying," Cam snapped. "I've been trying for days! How much more obvious do you want me to be?"

"Obvious enough that I know you want me, not the stupid alpha wolf!" Hunter exclaimed. "So you're hot! So what! You think I'm gonna take advantage of your damn wolf's dominance issues just to--to..."

His brain finally caught up with his mouth, and he slammed the gear shift into second before turning off the engine. Damn it. Did he have to say everything he thought?

"It's not about dominance," Cam said in the cab's sudden quiet. "I'm not--I'm not trying to win anything. I'm just trying to..."

"What?" Hunter demanded. He stared out the windshield at the forest, determinedly plotting the best course to avoid wear that would eventually form a path from this spot.

"I'm just trying to tell you how I feel," Cam said softly. There was a brief hesitation, and then, "I'm not very good at it."

Hunter closed his eyes. What the hell was he supposed to say to that? And really, which was worse: wanting something he couldn't have, or having something he shouldn't want? He didn't know. He was sure Cam didn't know. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know.

"Yeah, well," he said, after a long moment. He opened his eyes and reached for the keys, because of course he wanted to know. He just wasn't sure he'd like the answer. "Join the club."

His hand was on the door when he heard it. He paused, glancing back at Cam as he answered the summons from his morpher. What, were they not moving fast enough for Sensei?

It was Blake. And yeah, they definitely weren't.

"Where are you guys?" Blake demanded. "Are you all right?"

"We're fine," Cam said curtly. "We're in the mountains now, just parking the truck. We'll be there soon."

"You sure?" Blake insisted. "Hunter okay?"

Cam gave him a pointed look, and Hunter spoke up. "I'm cool, bro. Reporter showed up at the beach, gave us some trouble. That's all."

"A reporter?" Blake's voice repeated. "Should we turn on the news?"

"Nah." Hunter grimaced. "Wait till the paper comes out tomorrow."

"We're on our way," Cam said firmly. He dropped the amulet, which Hunter assumed meant Blake had just been cut off, and pushed his own door open. He did grab his shirts from the back before he got out, but he didn't say anything in the process.

Hunter raised an eyebrow. Blake and Cam had been pissy with each other the night before too, but he'd figured it was a wolf thing. Cam had always gotten along okay with Blake in the past. Last night he'd just seemed... jealous, suddenly. And Blake had picked up on it, subconsciously or not, and given him attitude right back.

Still, should've been over by today, right?

He must have hesitated too long, because Cam was at his door a moment later. "You okay?" he wanted to know. Just like Blake.

"Yeah," Hunter said impatiently, pushing the door open. "I said I'm fine." Cam backed up, but not very far, and he watched as Hunter climbed out. Stiffer than he should have been, even when he tried to move normally. Cam's critical gaze caught every wince.

Hunter sighed as he slammed the door shut behind him. He'd figured things would be different today. He hadn't realized how little it would matter once the damage had been done. Maybe Cam was right after all. Maybe dark ninja magic didn't just disappear.

Or maybe the things it revealed just couldn't be hidden again.

8. Siren Scent

Hunter and Blake's apartment actually did have an outside entrance, at the top of a set of exterior stairs that doubled as a fire escape. It opened into their kitchen, though, and they tended to use the one in the living room as their front door instead. That one was in a tiny hallway on the second floor, and Cam preferred it because it meant that fewer people would see him standing awkwardly outside their door in the middle of the day.

He didn't know whether Hunter was there or not. He was pretty sure the Crimson Ranger hadn't gone into work today, since even Rangers didn't heal that fast. The track was out for the same reason, and Cam had come from Ninja Ops so he knew Hunter wasn't there. That left the apartment.

He knocked sharply, still not totally sure what he would say when he found Hunter, but since he doubted it could go worse than yesterday he was willing to improvise. Between getting Hunter sent home from work, bringing down the kelzaks at the beach, and then the mess with that reporter--not to mention the scene at Ninja Ops afterward--he had some ground to make up. He thought he might at least be able to get Hunter to go to lunch with him.

The door opened, and the idea froze before it could even make it to his mouth. Hunter looked... strange. It wasn't his clothes, even if Kelly had forbidden him to wear that benzene t-shirt to work once she found out it was a beer molecule, and it wasn't the wrap on his arm. It wasn't his disheveled hair, or the stare he gave Cam when he saw him standing there.

But it was something about how long the stare lasted. It was about how dark Hunter's eyes were, and how long it took him to focus. It was something about the way he smelled--the faint scent of motor oil and dirt and sweat that clung to his clothes even when he himself was clean had been overpowered by the antiseptic smell from his injuries, but now there was something else. Something that warred with the sharp sterile sting of medicated bandages.

Something that smelled disturbingly like flowers. Perfume. Like a woman had been very close to Hunter, very recently.

Hunter as good as confirmed his suspicion by stepping out into the hall and closing the door behind him. "Hey, Cam," he said, and his voice sounded strangely detached. Almost as though he wasn't really there, as though this wasn't happening. "What's going on?"

Cam stared at him. What was going on? Shouldn't he be the one asking that question? Hunter was his. Maybe there were still some details to work out, like when and where and how and how long, but he was very clear on the first point. Hunter wanted him.

"Who's inside?" he blurted out.

Hunter blinked, clearly startled. "What?"

"Who," Cam growled, "is in. the apartment. It's a simple question."

"Yeah, and it's none of your business," Hunter shot back. "What, are you staking out the building now? Watching the door? What do you care, anyway?"

"I care that I can smell her on you!" Cam shouted. In the back of his mind, he was aware that he wasn't at his most reasonable right now. But Hunter was standing there, right in front of him, smelling of perfume. "You don't even like girls!"

He saw Hunter's expression darken, and he knew he'd crossed the line. "You don't know anything about me," Hunter snarled. "Get the hell out of here."

It wasn't worth considering. Fury had taken hold of him, and nothing Hunter could say would defuse it now. He grabbed the door handle and shoved it open, striding in before the other Ranger could stop him. There was someone in here who knew less about Hunter than he did, and she was the one that needed to go.

She was standing in front of the TV, her back to the door, perfectly styled blonde curls tumbling over the red plaid shirt she had wrapped around her. Hunter's shirt. Actually seeing her was such a shock that he stopped and stared.

She turned at the sound of the door. She smiled at him, shirt held loosely closed with one hand while the other reached up to brush a curl out of her face. "Hi," she said, just on the charming side of awkward. "Cam, right?"

He realized distantly that she was, in fact, wearing clothes under that shirt. Barely decent nylon shorts and a pink spandex crop top, like a Maxim model dressed up in a jogging costume, and that was definitely her perfume he'd gotten from Hunter. It was annoyingly strong. He shook his head in a futile effort to clear it, narrowing his eyes as her gaze shifted to Hunter.

"You have very handsome friends, Hunter," she remarked, her voice sweet and pretty and just the right pitch to be somehow soothing and suggestive at the same time. "I never realized."

"Leave him alone," Hunter muttered. He'd closed the door but he made no effort to approach her, instead leaning back against the door like he wanted to be anywhere but here. "He's new to this thing."

"Of course," she said agreeably, throwing Cam another smile as she sidled toward the door. He knew her from somewhere. He had just seen her; she was irritatingly familiar, but right now he couldn't see past Hunter's shirt around her shoulders and that awful perfume that had permeated the apartment.

"Not like you," she continued, close enough to touch Hunter now and he wasn't even doing anything about it. She let go of the shirt and lifted her hand, letting her fingers trail across his skin. "You know exactly what you're doing," she purred. "Don't you."

Later, he wouldn't be able to remember what it was that did it: her touching Hunter, her talking to him like that, or the way Hunter closed his eyes and trembled when she got close. A growl tore from his throat, uncontrollable. The wolf launched himself across the room and the blonde half-naked bitch was the only thing he could see.

He slammed into her and his senses overloaded. He felt like he was being suffocated by flowers and they squealed so hard his head threatened to explode. For a moment he might have been able to see but he couldn't tell because everything was a whirl of sound and smell and pain as he hit the floor. He didn't even know where the girl had gone and he folded in on himself in a futile effort to make it stop.

Then the sound was gone and he heard a scream that made all the fur on his back stand on end. He rolled over and skidded to his feet, finding Hunter first and deeming him safe before he realized the woman he had just attacked was leaping off the floor and sparkling. Shrinking. A broad-winged bird of prey backwinged into the air where she had just been, opening its beak to scream again.

Hunter was going after her--it--blindly, like he had no idea how close he was to getting his eyes clawed out, and Cam was human again in the second it took to reach Hunter and knock him out of the way. Hunter struggled as they banged up against the door, and Cam wrapped his arms around him and held on as best he could while the bird screeched angrily. It flapped dangerously in the small space, but it kept its distance even as Hunter thrashed against his restraint.

"Hunter!" he shouted, trying to keep an eye on the bird and mostly failing. The other Ranger was snarling, irrational, utterly uncommunicative. "Hunter, stop it! Hunter!"

When Hunter paid no attention, he yelled at the bird instead. "What did you do to him!"

He couldn't focus much past Hunter's hysterical fit, but he did see the woman reappear about the time the giant winged predator vanished. "Open the door," she snapped, and all the sweetness was gone from her voice now. She spun away from him, the red plaid shirt fluttering behind her as she stalked across the apartment.

Hunter lunged after her, and the distraction was enough that Cam lost his balance. He couldn't let go of Hunter and Hunter wouldn't stop fighting and they both crashed to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs. Cam's efforts to hobble his apparently crazed partner meant that he hit the floor first and Hunter couldn't recover fast enough to keep from slamming down on top of him.

There was a second, maybe two, when it was just the two of them trying to figure out how to get up. Then Hunter's gaze met his, and he knew those eyes were blue, he knew that, but right now they were so dark Hunter might as well have been drugged. And Cam cried out in surprise, in relief, as hips ground down against his and Hunter attacked his mouth with a savageness he hadn't realized he wanted.

Everything in him surged up to meet this new assault. Everything he had known was in him and had tried to deny. Everything he had suppressed, everything Hunter had suppressed for him when he couldn't do it anymore. Everything that was between them exploded the second Hunter lost control, and Cam latched onto it with a ferociousness that turned the entire world hot and close and demanding.

He was kissing, biting, being kissed, being burned, hands everywhere, scrabbling desperately at a body that pinned him and eluded him all at once and all he wanted was more because nothing about it was enough. Why couldn't he--he had to--he whimpered in frustration, in agony, in pure bliss, because he had needed this for so long and it had always been Hunter--

One word, gasped into the heat, a word that would haunt him for days and nights to come: "Mine."

The world shattered into piercing pain. He howled, convulsing, unable to make sense of the conflicting signals--pain, pleasure, pain--and Hunter was gone. The shrill pain in his ears vanished the second Hunter did but his body was already reacting and he swung toward the source with a snarl on his face and every muscle ready to lunge.

Almost every muscle. He dipped his head, a wolf gesture in human form, knowing he was vulnerable even as he did it but trying, trying to somehow shake the lust that rippled through him. The girl--

She had thrown off Hunter's shirt, he saw, as he forced himself to his feet. Another shudder wracked his body. And it was Hunter he wanted, but without the shirt he recognized those curves immediately. As she straightened up he blurted out, "You're the waitress."

She turned away from the window, and he was absolutely certain of it. She'd been wearing more, and her hair had been straight, but this was the same woman who had brought their food at the community center the other night. His eyes went to the grey plastic strip around her wrist: a bracelet with a circular design on it--or a button.

Hunter had been right, he thought with sudden clarity. The noise was painful.

He looked around quickly, found Hunter backed up against the wall beside the door, and he started toward him without thinking. He was stiff, head bowed, fists clenched against the floor on either side. Controlled. Self-contained.

"Don't touch him," the girl said sharply. Cam stopped where he was, turning on her with a growl.

"Yes, I know." She obviously wasn't intimidated as she stepped between them and pushed open the front door. "Gay ninja wolves. That explains some things."

"He's not--" Cam broke off when she turned away from the door. Her eyes were glowing green. It faded even as he stared, but he recognized the same thing his own eyes did under the right circumstances. Albeit a different color.

"Don't try to protect him," she said sternly. "We're the normal ones here."

His fingers clenched and he took a single step toward her. "Get away from him."

She didn't move. "If you touch him now, he'll react exactly the same way he did before. Let the air clear a little first."

That was what was different. She didn't smell like perfume anymore. The scent lingered in the air, but it wasn't coming from her. The open door was letting the slightly stale air from the hallway mingle with heavily perfumed air from the apartment--and now that he took the time to notice, he saw that she had opened as many windows as they had. A slight crossbreeze was springing up, further diluting the scent.

Not perfume, he realized. "Pheromones," he said aloud.

She just shrugged. "It's a fine line between passion and aggression."

Her casual dismissal of the situation infuriated him, and the wolf wanted to take action so badly that he was paralyzed. Torn between tearing into her and jumping the man huddled on the floor at her feet, he found that he couldn't do either. He could only stand there, angry, embattled, gritting out the one thing he could think of that might protect her.

"Get out of this building," he said, teeth clenching on the words.

Whether she would have done it or not, he didn't know. It was Hunter who gasped, "No." Staring straight ahead, he barely seemed aware of them. "Wait. What--what are you doing here?"

Cam couldn't stand still, so he backed away until he ran into the arm of the couch. "Are you all right?" he demanded, staring at Hunter. He looked awful. And in all fairness, Cam didn't feel much better.

"He's fine," the woman said brusquely. "He'd feel a lot better if he got laid, but it'll make my job easier if you wait until I leave."

"Still in the room, here," Hunter growled without moving. "Answer the question."

"What am I doing here?" She sounded vaguely amused. "Practically speaking, or the ultimate goal?"

"Whatever," Hunter muttered, turning his head toward the door. For fresh air, Cam wondered?

"I was sent here to seduce you," the woman informed him. "Iza thought you were the alpha, not the SO.

"Too bad," she added, apparently as an afterthought. "All the pretty ones are gay."

Cam was frozen in place. Her brazen words slammed into him, affecting him all over again, driving him closer and closer to rage. He could see it, feel it happening. He knew it wasn't human. It wasn't him. He struggled with the urge to put her in her place, fighting it, fighting it down, one tiny piece at a time, and it just came roaring back. The desire to dominate, to possess, to show her where her territory ended and his began.

Hunter wouldn't want me to shred her, he thought, a little desperately. Hunter was questioning her. He had to stay out of it until Hunter was done with her.

The rational part of him was irritated that this was the argument that worked on the wolf, but it did work, and he really needed not to kill her. No matter what Hunter was to him, there wasn't a jury in the world that would side with him if he murdered someone. Plus he had the sinking suspicion that she had "friends" who would respond poorly to their werebird being mauled by a werewolf.

"Right the first time." Hunter was hauling himself to his feet, and he gave her a glare when she offered a hand to help him. "Stay away from me."

She shrugged again. "If you say so."

"I do," Hunter snapped, his voice a little stronger now. "And I am the alpha. You got a problem with that?"

Cam bristled at the skeptical look she threw his way. "He's your alpha?" she repeated.

"You got a problem with me," Hunter snarled, "you take it up with me. Not him."

She didn't even look at him. "You don't have to listen to a human just because you're fucking him," she told Cam. "The pack won't make you give up your toys. Don't even have to share if you don't want to."

That was it. He went for her throat. He forgot every shred of rational argument as he leapt across the intervening space, intent only on defending Hunter. It was Hunter's voice that shouted "No!" and it was only his instinctive response that saved her life. Or his. She wasn't defenseless, after all. He stood there, glaring hatred at her, watching in mute, restless satisfaction as Hunter shoved her into the doorframe.

It was Hunter's arm on her throat instead of his teeth. It was Hunter's knee that slammed into her stomach when she made an abortive move for her bracelet--automatic self-defense, maybe, since it wouldn't have any effect on Hunter--and it was Hunter's voice that hissed in her ear. "I'm not a toy, and no one around here shares anything. You can tell Iza that the next siren she sends gets my friend in her face."

Siren. He turned that over in his mind, deciding that the name fit disturbingly well. But if Hunter knew what they were, why had he let the woman into his apartment in the first place?

Cam would have heard her if she said anything, but she must have tried to nod, because Hunter let her go. She twisted her neck a little but she didn't reach for her throat, eyeing Hunter warily as he stepped back. "Iza's not going to like you," she said, matter-of-factly.

"We don't have a problem with Iza." Hunter turned enough that he could see both of them--checking on Cam without taking his eye off of the girl. "As long as you know who you're dealing with, we're all good."

"No we're not," Cam snapped. She was too beautiful, too naturally appealing, too damn good at what she did, to be let off that easily. "Whatever you are, I don't want to see you around here again."

She looked at him, then back at Hunter. "Just a welcome present," she told him. "Iza sends us out to any new alpha in the area. It's not like you're special."

Hunter snorted. "Yeah, great. I'll pass on the freaky initiation ceremony, thanks just the same."

"Who's Iza?" Cam demanded, angry with the entire situation. She could leave any time now. And not just to spare him the trouble of killing her, either.

Again, the girl looked at Hunter. "You could tell him something, you know." She sounded disgusted, though it was hard to tell with who.

"What do I know?" he shot back. "I didn't even know you guys were for real until Cam showed up and broke your stupid spell!"

"It's biochemistry," Cam muttered. "Not magic." At least, he didn't think it was. On the other hand, the woman could turn into a giant bird, so what good was thinking going to do?

Finally, she was looking at him. "Iza's the pack leader," she informed him.

Then her gaze was back on Hunter. "If she'd known you were gay," she added, "she would've sent a satyr."

Cam's fists clenched. He was a breath away from his lupine form when Hunter glanced at him, and his eyes hadn't changed. Still dark, still full of heat--he might be standing and talking but he was still high on pheromones and it made his voice harsher than usual. "I have what I want," he rasped. "I don't need your kind of gift."

"It isn't just for you." She was actually pouting, and Cam understood that this was not a woman who was used to being turned away. Lucky her if she got to leave at all, with what he would have liked to do to her.

"Yeah?" Hunter said dangerously. "What do you get out of it?" His tone made it clear that if she so much as mentioned sex again, he wouldn't be responsible for the consequences.

"Information." She gave him a sultry, knowing smile that made Cam want to claw her eyes out. "You'd be amazed how much a man will say if you know what you're doing."

Tossing Cam an assessing look, she added carelessly, "Or maybe you wouldn't."

His nerves were raw from the fury roiling inside, the angry jealous possessiveness that clamored for her submission, the constant ache of wanting and fighting and being denied. He really was going to hurt her. Not because he wanted to, which he did, but because he couldn't help it. The energy had to go somewhere.

"Cam." Hunter's voice was quiet and tired and not at all commanding. If it had been, something inside him probably would have snapped, so tired of being held back and pushed around and kept away. As it was, he stopped even before Hunter added, "Don't," and the part of him that might have snapped just ached for everything he heard in that one word.

It was everything he felt. A weary mirror of his own frustration and anger and need. This was hurting Hunter too. It almost made him consider backing off.

He couldn't, of course. But he wished he could at least consider it.

"If we tell you what you want to know," Hunter grumbled, "will you go away?"

She considered him for a long moment. "No one's ever seen him before," she said abruptly, tilting her head toward Cam. "How long?"

"Get the logs from Mike and find out for yourself," Hunter snapped.

"Already have," she replied without hesitation. "Just wanted to see if you'd tell me the same thing you told him."

"Who are you?" Cam demanded irritably. "Because as the neighborhood welcoming committee, you leave a lot to be desired." The wolf might hold when Hunter told him to, but--hard as it was to remember lately--he was more than just the wolf.

"My name is Akeelah." She turned that pouty smile on him, suddenly finding him worth paying attention to. "And I offered more, if you remember. Hunter didn't want it."

She paused just long enough to catch him completely off guard when she asked, "Do you?"

"That's it," Hunter growled. He didn't even wait for her to look at him. "Get out. Right now."

She didn't move. "Nothing personal," she told Hunter. "I just hate to ruin my record."

"Get out!" he shouted, and even Cam flinched in surprise. "Get out of here!"

She shrugged, but she might have looked a little more nervous than before. "If you say so," she murmured. The tone did nothing to endear her to Hunter, who actually pushed her out into the hallway and slammed the door behind her. Cam stared at him, shocked to see Hunter smash his fist into the solid door and curse without inhibition.

That had to hurt, Cam thought distantly. But he was frozen in place. He could do nothing but watch as Hunter pressed his other fist against the door, not hitting it so much as just pushing as hard as he could. His arms trembled with the force he was exerting. Carefully, deliberately, he leaned his head forward and rested it against the door too.

Cam was torn. It wouldn't be hard to find the girl. For all he knew she was still in the hallway, standing on the other side of that door. There was only one thing he wanted more than to tear it open and find out--and it was literally standing between him and the possibility of doing just that.

"You should go," Hunter told the door. His voice was strained and his knuckles were white where they pressed against the wood.

"I can't," Cam heard himself say. Like he was someone else entirely. Like he was maybe even the wolf, and it was the human talking now. "You're blocking the door."

Without a word, Hunter lifted his head, pushed away from the door, and took a single step back. He paused there. Then he turned and walked jerkily to the chair on the near wall, throwing himself down into it without looking at Cam. "Go," he told the floor.

"I can't," Cam repeated, still stuck halfway between the couch and the door.

At least it made Hunter look at him. His expression was almost as dazed and drunk as it had been when Cam arrived, but he was in control of himself now and he sounded close to normal when he asked, "Why not?"

"Because you're here," Cam said quietly.

Hunter seemed to consider that, staring hard at him before tipping his head back to rest against the chair. "I really, seriously hope you don't mean that literally," he told the ceiling. "Because that has to be the only way this day could get worse."

It would be so easy to just go over there. Hunter had sprawled across the chair, spread-eagled with his legs open in front of him and his arms draped over the sides. He was making no effort to disguise the state of his body. So easy to straddle him in that old, well-cushioned armchair, to press mouth and hands and hips into feverish service in the name of relief. What could be wrong with that?

Cam knew even if the wolf didn't. So he backed up until he felt the couch behind him again, and he slid down to the floor and leaned up against the arm of the couch. It would have been safer if he'd sat on the other side of the couch entirely, out of sight of Hunter, but if he'd had that much restraint he would have just left.

"This is a really bad idea," Hunter muttered, not moving from his place in the chair. They were maybe five, six feet apart at the most. And Cam thought that if he concentrated any harder, he could hear Hunter's heartbeat from where he was.

"I don't remember any ideas being thrown out," Cam muttered.

"Here's one." Hunter's suddenly harsh tone was at odds with his boneless sprawl. "You get the hell out of here while I try to forget someone ever mentioned you and fucking in the same sentence."

"Here's another one," Cam retorted, almost cutting him off in his urgency. "We do it and get it over with because I don't know how much longer I can be around you like this!"

"Like what, doped up on some crazy woman's sex cologne?" Hunter snapped. He was still staring at the ceiling. "Well good news, they only try to 'welcome' you once! After that you don't get any more free aphrodisiacs and you're stuck with what you've got!"

"Are you completely clueless or is it just a clever act!" He was shouting and he knew it and all the windows were open but at least the door was closed now. "The wolf isn't an independent personality! It feels everything I feel; it just doesn't hide it as well!"

"Great, hide behind the wild animal excuse again!" Hunter shouted back. "Some of us have to deal with the consequences of our actions!"

"I can't hide!" Cam yelled. "Don't you get that! My privacy is gone thanks to my demented uncle and an immature wolf! I don't have any more secrets!"

Hunter glared up at the ceiling in silence for a moment before lifting his head to fix his gaze on Cam. For a moment Cam thought he wasn't going to say anything. Then, though, in a more subdued voice he remarked, "You're not as obvious as you think you are."

"You're not as observant as you think you are," Cam snarled in return. "Try being around people you know in a form that gives you zero control over which feelings you express and which ones you keep to yourself and see how long it takes you to get tired of them pretending they don't notice."

"Try being on a siren high around a guy who didn't look at you twice before that form," Hunter retorted.

"I am," Cam shot back.

Hunter let his head fall back against the chair. "This might be the stupidest argument we've ever had," he muttered. "I can't believe we're actually fighting over which of us is making the other more crazy."

"I win," Cam declared automatically.

"You do not fucking win!" Hunter exclaimed, sitting up in his chair. "I'm this close to saying 'screw it' and letting you do whatever the hell you want, and you think I'm making you crazy?"

Cam swallowed hard, wondering how close was close and what he could do to make that distance smaller. Hunter was right there. He was almost in reach, as if Cam could just extend himself a little farther and make the choice for him. Please, if he could just have this one thing--

He didn't realize he'd said it aloud until he heard the words. "Please, Hunter," he whispered, the sound strange in the silence that had followed Hunter's outburst.

He let his head drop, already feeling his face tingle in the wake of that unintentional plea. He wished it were only the wolf that told the world everything that was on his mind. It seemed to carry over into his human consciousness as well, and this might not be the most embarrassing thing he'd said but it had to be right up there.

"Okay," Hunter said quietly.

His head snapped up. "What?"

"Okay," Hunter repeated, elbows braced on his knees as he stared across the distance between them. "Screw it; what do I care? If it's you or the people you're gonna hurt if you don't respect me in the morning, I pick you."

Cam barely heard him. He was already on his feet and two steps away from Hunter when the door swung open and Blake walked in. Cam almost didn't stop. His momentum carried him to the chair, his knee just brushing Hunter's as he wrenched himself away. Blake's greeting drowned out the soft, strangled sound Hunter made, and Cam stumbled to the window and braced himself against it.

"Oh, hey Cam," Blake added, the clink of keys trailing his movement through the apartment until he tossed them on the counter in the kitchen. Cam heard him open the refrigerator, calling as he did so, "What's going on?"

For a moment, Cam thought the question might go unanswered. Then Hunter muttered, "Nothing." His tone--bitter, amused, disgusted?--was impossible to interpret. "Nothing's going on."

The refrigerator door closed, a can popped, and Blake sounded a lot more aware all of a sudden. "You all right, bro?"

Cam gritted his teeth, steeling himself to glance over his shoulder. Hunter was sitting just as he had been in the chair, except that now his head was in his hands and his face was hidden. Cam was struck by the sudden uncomfortable desire to comfort him somehow. When combined with the urge to tear his clothes off it was a truly disturbing feeling.

"No," Hunter told the floor. "You know those crazy siren things your friend warned us about? At the community center?"

Cam could only stare at him. Peripherally, he could see Blake nodding.

"Yeah, right, the--" Blake's pause was barely noticeable, but Cam felt other Ranger's gaze flick toward him. "Bird women. What about them?"

"They're the waitresses," Hunter said, not lifting his head. "The girls who staff the place, they're sirens. And Iza owns them."

"No way." Blake stopped with the soda can halfway to his mouth. "Seriously?" He paused just long enough to shake his head. "That almost makes sense."

Hunter lifted his forehead from his hands and rested his chin on them instead, so that he could eye Blake without having to actually move. Cam watched him, waiting for a look, a glance that would tell him he hadn't ceased to exist just because Blake walked into the room. It didn't come.

"No, come on," Blake was saying. "They're practically the hottest women on the planet, and they're waiting tables at a wolf hangout? Should have known there was something weird about them."

Hunter snorted, dropping his hands and bracing them against his knees as if he was about to get up. Except that he didn't. "They're freakin' weird all right," he grumbled. "One of 'em was just here. And she had her charm turned all the way up."

"Oh." Blake looked from one of them to the other, and he obviously got it. "Oh," he repeated, folding one arm over his chest and holding his soda can a little closer. "So... she's gone now? What'd she want?"

"Who knows," Hunter muttered. Then, seeming to realize that wasn't enough, he added, "She said she wanted to... know more about us. That Iza saw us at the community center, me and Cam, and she's trying to figure out if we're a threat or not."

"What, 'cause you're..." Blake trailed off, frowning. "Why would you be a threat to Iza?"

"Standard procedure," Hunter said with a grimace. "According to her. Iza must not have cared when we went because neither of us are wolves."

"Well--" Blake was still frowning. "That makes this more of a problem."

Cam glared at him, but Hunter just raised an eyebrow. "This what?" he wanted to know.

And he was right; it wasn't about Cam at all. Nothing seemed to be, when Blake was around. Instead, he wanted to talk about Tori--and okay, Cam liked her, but was this really the time for a brother-to-brother chat?

"She wants to see the community center," Blake was explaining.

Hunter shrugged, and for once he seemed to agree with Cam instead of Blake. "So take her."

"You know what it's like there," Blake protested. "She doesn't. She's hot and she's a ninja and they're gonna be all over her."

"So don't take her," Hunter said impatiently.

"Bro, this is Tori we're talking about," Blake emphasized. "She's not gonna take no for an answer."

Hunter rolled his eyes. "What do you want me to do? Mind control?"

"Come with us," Blake urged. "Tonight. We'll go, she can see the place, and if there's trouble I'm pretty sure the two of us can keep her out of it.

"It doesn't have to be for long," he added. "It's not like she's gonna want to stay once she sees what it's like."

Hunter considered it for longer than Cam thought the question deserved. Finally he nodded once. "Yeah, okay, fine. As long as you don't tell her I'm the extra bodyguard. I don't want to be on her bad side any more than you do."

Cam opened his mouth to protest, and he had actually gotten as far as "Wait a minute," before Hunter's still-dark gaze pinned him where he stood. "You want to come?" Hunter asked roughly.

Cam broke off mid-sentence. "Yeah." That was it, just yes, because the wolves and the sirens and the people who knew things about them that Blake and Tori didn't just didn't matter as much as the fact that Hunter would be there and Hunter had just asked him to be there too. With him.

"Great," Blake said, and he didn't sound quite as happy about it as he had a minute ago, but he hadn't really expected Cam not to go, had he? Straightening up, he carried his soda back into the kitchen with the words, "I gotta get back to work; break's almost up."

That was the best news Cam had heard all day.

Then Blake called, "Oh, Hunter, Kelly wants you to come in and sign some paperwork. Something about the sick days."

"What, now?" Hunter demanded. He sounded significantly more irritated than usual and still not nearly irritated enough, as far as Cam was concerned. "Does it have to be today?"

"Uh, considering that today's Friday?" There was a clanking sound as Blake tossed the empty can into their recycling bin, and he added, "Yeah, it's gotta be today. Unless you don't want to get paid next week. Your choice."

Hunter was staring at him and Cam was staring back and it wasn't momentous or climactic or anything except force of habit and the fact that neither of them was willing to say this thing between them was more important. Maybe Hunter wouldn't, because it was his brother, standing there by the door and waiting impatiently. And Cam couldn't, because who was he to tell Hunter that he needed this more than Hunter needed a paycheck, needed food, needed his own life?

"I'm gonna go," Hunter muttered. "Probably won't take long." His tone was indifferent. His expression was anything but when he added, "You can hang here if you want."

Cam's gaze went to Blake in time to catch the look he gave Hunter for that offer. But he didn't say anything, and Hunter didn't look at him. He kept his eyes on Cam until Cam nodded.

Blake glanced at Cam as Hunter moved past him into the hallway. Hunter didn't look back, and for once, Blake's face was hard to read. All he said was, "Later, Cam," and then they were gone.

Staring at the closed door, Cam wondered what Blake knew. Hunter kept secrets from Blake--of that, Cam was sure. But which secrets, and how carefully were they guarded? Blake certainly seemed to think he knew everything about his older brother...

In the sudden quiet, Cam's eyes were drawn to the shirt that hung over the arm of the chair on the opposite wall. One sleeve was hooked over the cushion while the bottom of the shirt trailed on the floor, and it was hard to tell if the girl had actually cared where it landed or not. It looked as though it might have come in contact with a piece of furniture purely by accident.

He went over and picked it up before he thought about what he was doing. As soon as he moved the shirt a wave of fresh perfume wafted into the air and his fists clenched involuntarily. What had been mildly annoying when he first arrived was now threatening to make him insane, and the reason for the strength of Hunter's reaction was clear in retrospect. Length of exposure was obviously a key factor.

There was no safe place to put the shirt. Finally he dropped it where it was and retreated to the kitchen, hunting through the drawers until he found something sealable. He stuffed the shirt inside and looked around for something to label it with. If Hunter and Blake owned markers, they weren't immediately visible, but he did manage to find duct tape and a pen.

Do not open, he wrote. Wash alone.

He considered leaving it out on the table, but the temptation to poke around Hunter's room was stronger than the desire to embarrass him. So he carried it over to the room on the left and pushed the door open. Yes, maybe it was Hunter's privacy he was invading. But as he'd said, he didn't have any privacy anymore, and that made him less respectful of other people's.

It hit him like heat rolling out of the room, the scent of Hunter stronger here than anywhere else in the apartment and undiluted by the outside air coming in through open windows. He actually closed his eyes, shocked by the force of his reaction. Hunter smelled like hurt lately, like bandages and antibiotic and injury, but this... this was just him. Just like standing next to him and breathing him in and not needing to pretend he wasn't.

That was when he knew that this particular privacy mattered. He wasn't just looking at a room. He was sensing the person who lived in it. He was communicating with Hunter in a way that was every bit as one-sided as the conversations Hunter had with him when he was a wolf. He should put the shirt down and leave, right now.

He set the shirt down carefully, beside what he thought might be the laundry pile. There were so many clothes strewn around the room that it was hard to tell. It was funny, he thought, studying the scene. It was disorganized and haphazard and chaotic... but it wasn't messy. There was nothing he could identify as trash anywhere. There was nothing that looked forgotten, nothing open that should be closed, nothing spilled or broken or--

Leaving, he reminded himself firmly. He was leaving now.

He sank down on the bed, not sure why he wasn't moving toward the door. He could imagine Hunter in this room, and maybe that was the strangest thing of all. He never saw Hunter when he wasn't working or training or hanging out with the others. He never saw Hunter alone--or he hadn't, until this past week. Yet he could picture him here, staring out the window or yelling to Blake or digging through his endless piles of clothes for something he'd lost.

Lying on the only partially made bed and gazing up at the ceiling. Falling into it late at night, exhausted and bruised and secure in the knowledge that Rangers got more from a night of sleep than most people did from a week of healing. Sleeping here, dreaming here, fantasizing here in this bed...

What did Hunter fantasize about, he wondered? It was an impossible question, not to mention an inconvenient one. The last thing he needed was to be sitting on Hunter's bed, thinking about Hunter's fantasies, when all he really wanted was to--

Wasn't that exactly what he wanted? He needed something, anything to relieve the tension inside. And here he had it: a few moments alone, privacy, the scent of the person he wanted.

It wasn't the same. But it wasn't anywhere near as embarrassing, either.

He couldn't do it. He was paralyzed by sudden comprehension as his mental schema went from "invasion of privacy" to "romantic longing." He wasn't here to jerk off. He wasn't even here for sex. He was here for Hunter.

The thought was terrifying.

9. Rank and Reason

He was going to kill Cam. He really was. He'd cut him some slack because of the wolf thing--in fact, he'd cut him more slack than anyone he'd ever known, and not just because of the wolf thing--and he got that the idea of sex with another guy wasn't something most guys considered without freaking at least a little. He completely and personally got that.

But he hadn't been the one to force the issue, and Cam didn't have a history of freaking out over anything. Leaving the apartment without a note or a call was fine: disappointing, okay, but not totally unexpected. And, if he admitted it, maybe kind of a relief, because the longer he'd had to think about it the more he'd remembered exactly how bad an idea it was.

Not showing up for training that afternoon had been a different thing entirely. When no one had heard from him by the time Sensei dismissed them, Hunter was starting to get a little annoyed. Cam might not freak out, but he sulked exceptionally well.

Blake thought they should leave him alone. Tori thought that Cam could take care of himself better than any of them and probably just wanted some space. Shane pointed out that Cam disappeared on them all the time--and he almost always got into trouble when he did. Dustin thought they should go look for him.

That was when Sensei revealed that he had already tried. "In extreme circumstances," he admitted, "there are ways of locating any given Ranger. Unfortunately, I have already employed these measures, and I was unsuccessful in my attempt to locate Cameron."

"What does that mean?" Hunter demanded. "Where'd you look?"

"Everywhere," Sensei said simply. "All of your morphers emit a signature energy that can be traced anywhere on the planet. The computer is capable of isolating that energy in a matter of minutes, but it has been unable to find the Green Samurai Ranger."

"Well, that's not really everywhere," Dustin pointed out. "Just everywhere on Earth. There's still, like, space and Lothor's ship and stuff like that."

"The amulet," Hunter interrupted. "Anything Cam's wearing disappears when he turns into a wolf. Including the amulet."

"Maybe the computer can't track it when he's a wolf." Tori finished the thought for him. "Do you think Cam knows that?"

"And he's avoiding us on purpose?" Hunter said grimly. "Could be."

"Either that or he's in trouble," Shane put in. "We need to figure out which one it is."

Blake hadn't thought much of the idea at first, but he didn't drag his feet once they made a decision. "Where do we start looking?" he asked, glancing at Hunter.

"We'd better cover the academy grounds first," Hunter said. "The cameras would have caught him if he was in Ninja Ops, right? But if he's a wolf, he's probably not in here anyway."

"Figure he's not downtown for the same reason," Shane agreed. "We'll check the off-campus training sites."

"Plus the beach and the track," Tori said unexpectedly. When they all looked at her, she just shrugged. "Cam knows where we'd look first. He probably knows where we'd look last, too."

"Hide in plain sight?" Blake suggested, folding his arms. "Yeah, that sounds like Cam."

So they split up, and only after he was standing alone in the sunset light near the entrance to Ninja Ops did the irony of the situation occur to Hunter. The Wind Rangers had left him and Blake searching their campus while they checked the track and the beach. Okay, and the remote training sites, which he and Blake didn't know as well, but still.

He shook his head, heading for the remains of the academy and the shadows of what had been there... both literally and figuratively. Blake preferred the less creepy areas: the holographic portal, the peripheral grounds, the places less devastated by Lothor's attack. Hunter didn't mind. It wasn't his school, and at dusk it was just another deserted ruin.

One more deserted ruin with eyes. Hunter stopped where he was, holding his breath, but the flicker of light was gone. "Cam?" he murmured anyway. He didn't spook that easily, and Cam had already proven that he wasn't above games.

The eyes were back, glowing bright yellow in the middle of a particularly still shadow, but there was no sound to accompany them. They did look awfully familiar. And how weird was that, that he could now say stuff like that was familiar?

"Cam," he said aloud. "Kelzaks shapeshift too. You're gonna have to do more than look at me to convince me that random shadow under the brush is you."

The eyes disappeared again, and a soft whine came from the shadow's general direction. No other sound or movement followed. That wasn't an answer, Hunter reminded himself, but he was moving forward anyway, almost like he couldn't help it. Why did he believe it was Cam? Why was he so sure that if he walked away, he wouldn't see Cam for the rest of the night?

The shift of brush and leaves made him halt again. Sure enough, a grey-brown wolf shape dragged itself out into the open, flinching as the fading sun touched it, looking so pathetic that at first he was sure it had been hurt. But the wolf just drooped, melting to the ground in front of him, head inches from the ground as it stared at his feet.

"Cam?" he asked uncertainly. "You okay?"

That was a really stupid question, considering. "I mean," he corrected himself, "are you hurt? Do you need anything? We were worried about you."

He hadn't meant to let that escape, and it was definitely the wrong thing to say. The wolf lowered its head to the ground, eyes closing. It let out another whine, like there was something it desperately needed and he just wasn't getting it, and that was starting to get on Hunter's nerves.

"Okay, I'm gonna take that as a no," he said sharply. "I'm calling off the troops. The entire team's out looking for you, you know."

He lifted his morpher, but the wolf didn't respond. Hunter hesitated. "Seriously, Cam," he said at last, letting his arm fall without touching his morpher. "Are you okay?"

The wolf lifted its head, rolling its eyes upward to look at him, and suddenly it was Cam sitting there staring at him. The look of anguish on his face cut deeper than the wolf's obvious shame had. Hunter went down on his knees beside him, alarmed and worried and so far from annoyed all of a sudden that he couldn't even remember what it felt like.

"I killed something," Cam whispered without looking away. He was watching for Hunter's reaction, no question. Hunter had no idea what to say.

"What, like--" He paused, fumbling for words. Cam hadn't said "someone," so that was a good sign, right? "An animal, or something?

Cam nodded miserably, then he started shaking his head. "I don't even know what it was," he mumbled. "It was just--it was there, right there in front of me and it was so fast and I--"

His voice broke, and Hunter realized with a shock that those were tears in his eyes. "Hey," he said awkwardly. "No, it's okay, look..."

Cam didn't move, and Hunter put a hand on his shoulder. The wolf liked physical contact, right? Cam never had, at least not as far as he could tell. But the wolf would lean on him, lay on him, lick him... The wolf liked that kind of comfort.

Cam didn't pull away. "I didn't mean to," he whispered. "I didn't want to; it was an accident..." His voice wavered and he stopped talking. Hunter could see him swallow, and light glistened briefly on his face.

A tear. Cam was crying. It had never occurred to him that Cam even knew how to cry, and seeing it was a horrible, helpless experience. Anything he could say would be the wrong thing; he knew it and he still felt terrible about not talking. Cam didn't need silence or questions or maybe even anything human right now. But Hunter didn't have anything else to give.

He leaned forward hesitantly, and Cam turned into him without any prompting at all. Hunter wrapped his arms around him, a little awkward, a lot surprised. He hadn't been sure Cam would allow the hug at all, let alone welcome it.

He felt Cam's shuddering breath, his efforts to steady it so that he didn't sob, and Hunter tightened his embrace instinctively. He had never seen Cam so close to breaking. He wanted to hold him together somehow, and he didn't know how but if Cam ever told him he would listen, take notes, and stick them up on the refrigerator.

"Thank you," Cam whispered. It was so unexpected, and even the softness of the words didn't disguise the tremble in his voice.

Hunter closed his eyes, rubbing his hand against Cam's back in an effort to soothe. He wished he could do something, say something that would help, but he'd never been really good at talking. At least holding on meant that Cam was still here with him.

"Why'd you leave," he muttered after a minute. Because that was the most important thing, wasn't it. Whatever Cam did or had or wanted, he should want it with Hunter.

It was a disturbingly possessive thought, and Hunter knew exactly what he was doing. He was setting himself up for destruction. It was everything he'd tried to avoid in those first couple of days when Cam was fast and hot and out of control and Hunter could have had anything he wanted. He had held himself back, waiting for a return to normalcy and Cam's inevitable withdrawal. He'd known he'd have to live with normalcy a lot longer than the weirdness, and he'd tried to hold onto at least the possibility of friendship.

The inevitable had come and gone. Cam was mostly in control of himself again, with an emphasis on mostly, and he was still a wolf, still wanting everything the wolf had wanted. And Hunter couldn't turn him down any longer.

Cam's voice finally rose above a whisper and he sounded marginally calmer, but all he said was, "Scared," and Hunter couldn't help but think that the lack of pronouns was a bad sign.

"Scared of what?" he murmured.

Then Hunter knew he'd underestimated him again, because Cam replied, "I'm scared of everything, Hunter. I turn into a wolf. I do whatever you tell me to. I'm hungry all the time and apparently I kill small defenseless animals. Aren't you scared?"

Hunter had to smile, because Cam's sarcasm lost some of its edge when he was letting himself be hugged within an inch of his life. "No," Hunter told him. He turned his head and squeezed Cam a little tighter. "I guess you're just a wuss."

"As demonstrated by the fact that I can't move or breathe yet am still managing to form coherent sentences," Cam muttered.

Hunter tried to let him go, embarrassed, but Cam wouldn't let him. "No," he whispered, and his voice sounded raw and vulnerable again. His arms slid around Hunter before he could pull away. "Please..."

Hunter gave in, wondering if he was being played. Was the weakness an act, carefully calculated to get Cam just what he wanted? Or could Cam really pull himself together like that, act normal and wry and sarcastic on cue? Had he always done that? Was Hunter seeing behind the mask, or was he just being shown a new one?

Don't ask, he told himself. He already knew too much, had seen and heard and felt too much that he would never forget. He didn't want to know anymore. He was sure Cam would eventually figure out how to reverse the effects of the dark ninja powers and turn himself--and his dad--human again. Permanently.

Even if the wolf wasn't the source of Cam's interest in Hunter, it was obviously the motivating factor... the reason he acted on that interest. With the wolf gone, there would be no guarantees. And the possibility of friendship with a restored and purely human Cam was fading fast.

The more he had with this Cam, now, the harder it would be to lose him later.

"Cam," he said softly. "Are you messing with me?"

Oh, fuck, why couldn't he ever listen to himself?

He felt Cam stiffen in his arms. "What?"

"The crying on my shoulder thing," he muttered, wishing he could just take the question back. "It's--I--" Disgusted with himself, he spit it out and tried not to listen. "I'd do anything for you right now and if you're just fucking with me--"

He broke off as Cam jerked away from him. "You touched me first," Cam snapped. His eyes were bright and gold and there were still tear tracks on his face and that just looked weird. "I'm sorry if I did something wrong by letting you hug me but I can't not--!"

Cam stopped abruptly, breathing hard. "What do you want me to do?" he asked at last. "It scares me but I can't do this alone and I need you. I don't know what else you want me to say!"

"I want you to say it doesn't matter!" Hunter stared at him, startled, horrified, and trapped. He couldn't not respond, and if he thought about it that might scare him as much as Cam. "I want it not to matter that I'm the fucking alpha but I am and I want you so much I don't even care!"

Cam was staring back at him, glowing eyes and inscrutable expression and what was he thinking, anyway?

"It matters," Cam said finally. "But it doesn't matter that you're the alpha. It matters that I trust you."

"Could have fooled me," Hunter muttered, because he was pretty sure he was supposed to say something. As soon as the words were out he winced, and he even knew it wasn't fair but he had said it anyway. Because knowing he was supposed to say something and knowing what to say were totally different things.

"That's why you're the alpha," Cam said, and his voice was more deliberate this time, like he was trying to keep himself from saying something he'd regret. Great. He had more self-control than Hunter now. That was just great.

"I trust you to do... to know what's appropriate," Cam continued. "When I can't trust myself I need someone else to tell me... and, I guess, you're the only person on the team I can take that from."

That was just ironic. The only person on the team he'd never bossed around was telling him that he was the only one who was allowed to do it. "I don't want to tell you what to do," he blurted out. He never had.

Okay, he always had. Everyone wanted what they couldn't have, right? Cam didn't submit to authority. He wasn't a student, and he wasn't a team player. He helped the team, even ran the team from time to time, on his own terms. His independence was part of what drew Hunter.

"Good," Cam said sharply. There was a pause, and his tone softened. On purpose? "That's why I can take it from you. Because you won't abuse that power. You don't even want it. That's why I trust you with it."

"So, tell me," he muttered, because he couldn't stand it. "Am I supposed to let you come on to me, or not? Cause if not, I gotta tell you, that kind of trust is making my life hell."

For a long moment, there was no answer. "That's not my decision," Cam said at last. "I mean... if I--it's up to you how you respond."

"It's not up to me," Hunter snapped. "Because if it was up to me, it'd be a lot easier than this. You'd come on to me and I'd be like, hey, best day ever, and I wouldn't even think about it!"

"So don't think about it," Cam retorted. "I'm not. Obviously," he added, under his breath.

"Yeah, and that's exactly what I'm talking about," Hunter told him. "I've gotta do what you don't. And believe me, that probably freaks me out more than you, but for some reason you decided I was the responsible one on this team."

Cam smiled. It was so far from what he expected that he could only stare. "You are," Cam said quietly. "Can you really see me trusting anyone else with this?"

Tori. He didn't realize he'd said it aloud until Cam's smile faded.

"She's eighteen, Hunter. She's barely legal. I like her, but... if I screwed up somehow? I don't know if she could stop me."

"I wasn't talking about sex!" Hunter yelped. "Geez, Cam, you make a move on my brother's girlfriend and I'd have to kill you! I was talking about making decisions, bossing you around when you need it."

"So was I!" Cam said loudly, and he was obviously uncomfortable but it was impossible to tell whether he was telling the truth or not. "She's not the one who keeps jumping in front of me when I lose it! She's not the one who knocked me down with the same arm I sliced open with my teeth! She isn't as strong as I am!"

More quietly, Cam added, "She isn't as strong as you."

"Great," Hunter muttered, because he wouldn't mind being a little less strong if it meant he could let Cam kiss him. Of course, if Cam had just implied that he'd be going after whoever was in charge, then he was just as stuck because this was like some giant cosmic test where the reason he couldn't have something was the only reason he had it in the first place. "Lucky me."

"Hunter." Cam took a deep breath, then sighed like he couldn't believe he was saying this. "I don't... want you because you're the alpha. You're the alpha because I want you." He hesitated. "Maybe you don't see it, but there is a difference."

Yeah, he didn't totally see it. But it looked like he couldn't change it, either. Which meant that the questions he'd been asking himself for days came down to just one thing.

"If we did it," Hunter demanded, "would you still trust me?"

Cam looked mortified, but he didn't hedge. "Yes," he said simply.

He wanted to believe that. He really did. So much that he was maybe willing to test it.

Not now, obviously.

On the other hand--

No. Come on, that was ridiculous. Plus the rest of the team was still out looking for Cam, and if he turned up missing too... well, they could track his morpher.

"I'm gonna call the others," he said abruptly. "Let 'em know you're okay. You want that we should cancel the community center thing?"

Cam was staring at him, and who knew what he was thinking now. His eyes hadn't stopped glowing since Hunter had found him. "Whatever you want," he said at last.

That was still kind of a creepy thing to hear, but Hunter didn't say so. "I told Blake I'd go," he said instead. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather keep my word."

Cam just shrugged. "Fine."

Yeah. Extra creepy. "You coming?" Hunter wanted to know.

"I said I would," Cam said evenly.

"Yeah, but..." Hunter paused. He didn't really need to remind Cam of anything. "I just thought--I was just checking," he finished awkwardly.

Cam looked away. "I might as well see what I'm going to become," he murmured, and the words gave the lie to his sudden calm.

Just like that, Hunter knew he was being held at a distance, and he hated it. Cam hadn't been playing him, he'd been letting him in--and now he wasn't. "Don't do that," Hunter told him.

Cam's yellow eyes turned back to his and his expression wasn't distant at all.

"Hey," Hunter said gruffly, worried and sympathetic and guilty for his own self-interest. "You are who you are, okay? That doesn't change just 'cause your uncle threw some freaky ninja magic at you. Again."

That prompted a lightening of Cam's expression. It wasn't quite a smile, and he didn't actually answer, but he looked a little less devastated. Hunter wished he could do more, even if he knew perfectly well that he was trading one of them for the other. Everything he gave semi-wolf Cam now was something he'd lose if human Cam dumped him later.

He lifted his morpher, alerting the rest of the team all at once. "False alarm," he told them. "Cam was just checking out the campus with his handy new wolf vision. Turns out he can cover a lot of ground on four legs."

Sensei wanted to know if he was okay, to which Cam replied with a minimum amount of sarcasm and even a possibly sincere apology for worrying them. Shane and Dustin must have taken his word for it, but Blake was waiting for them when they arrived back at Ninja Ops. "Everything okay?" he asked, looking from one of them to the other.

"Yeah, we're good," Hunter told him. "We're gonna take the truck. We'll meet you outside the community center."

"Sure," Blake agreed, giving Cam a last look. "We'll be waiting."

Taking separate vehicles seemed to cheer Cam up a little. Stopping for burgers on the way seemed to cheer him up more, and Hunter wondered what else he was eating. He hadn't seen Cam put anything but meat in his mouth for days. Even now he left the bun and the vegetables in their foil wrap and stuffed it back in the bag as they pulled into the parking lot on the edge of town.

Tori's van was easy to spot, and she and Blake were still sitting inside when Hunter took the space next to it. Hunter saw her wave out of the corner of his eye, but he noticed that Cam didn't return the gesture. He wondered about that too. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned Tori earlier. Or maybe Cam was just worried about how he was gonna look after all of this.

He wasn't the only one, Hunter thought with a grimace. He and Blake had kept their heads down the last time they came here, letting Blake's friend do all the talking, and as far as he knew Blake hadn't been back since. Tonight was probably going to be a little different.

"Hey, guys," Tori called, as they climbed out of the truck. She slammed the driver's side door behind her and they all met in front of the vehicles. "So this is the super secret wolf hangout! It doesn't look as dangerous as Blake made it sound."

"Yeah, because if it did, it wouldn't still be here," Hunter told her. "It's not the outside you need to worry about."

"Okay," she said, holding up her hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'll be good."

She didn't say anything about bodyguards, which Hunter figured was a good thing. Maybe she thought he and Cam would have come anyway, and she and Blake were the ones that were tagging along. That would be good for team relations, but bad for all of them if she didn't take this seriously enough.

Tori started talking to Cam as they headed for the building. She asked him if the campus looked any different to wolf eyes, and Blake interrupted her before Hunter could. "Hey, Tor," he warned. "Remember the stuff I told you not to mention?"

Hunter looked over at them in time to see her roll her eyes. "It could be any campus," she pointed out. "I'm just making conversation."

"Yes," Cam said, ignoring Blake. "It looks bigger. And it smells different."

Tori smiled at him, and Hunter shook his head. He yanked the door open and went through without waiting for them. If Cam decided to play along with Tori's unintended insubordination, this could be a really long night.

There were people in the hallway and that surprised him, though he tried not to let it show. There was music coming from somewhere down the corridor to their right, which he was pretty sure was the direction of the actual community rooms. The dining cars and the visitors' office were to the left, so that was the way they went, but they passed a couple going the other way and three more people coming out of the office as they went in. Tori actually said hi to one of them and got nothing more than a nervous look in return before Blake shushed her.

Mike was at the desk again, and he nodded to Blake before tossing Hunter a clipboard. Interesting, Hunter decided, picking up a pen and scribbling Tori's name on the form. His alpha status was apparently independent of unknown company now.

Blake didn't complain, anyway, and Tori probably didn't even know what was going on. Mike raised an eyebrow when Hunter handed the clipboard back, though. "We don't cater to humans here," he warned.

Hunter shrugged, affecting indifference. "Friend of Cam's," he said. "He wants her here."

"Yeah?" Mike's gaze went from Cam to Tori and back again. "Akeelah's got a different story."

Hunter didn't even have to fake his smirk. "She assumed a few things that weren't totally true. Didn't see any reason to correct her."

Mike grinned at that, and he pulled the form off of its clipboard and stuffed it into a file folder behind him. "Good enough," he said, turning back to them. "Place is wide open tonight, and there's a bonfire in the hills. You been there?"

Hunter shook his head wordlessly.

"Cam'll find it if you want to go," Mike told him. "Iza's out there. Last I heard she's not totally pissed at you, so you should be okay."

"Thanks," Hunter said automatically. He was pretty sure there was a reason no one messed with Mike, and he wasn't gonna be the one to find out what it was. "Let's go," he told the rest of them.

Blake fell into step beside him before Cam could, and for a moment Hunter was surprised. As soon as they were out of the office, though, Blake distracted him by asking, "Bro, did you just imply that Tor is Cam's girlfriend?"

Luckily, he hadn't said it as loudly as he could have, but both Tori and Cam heard him anyway. As one they demanded, "What?"

"Look," Hunter said over his shoulder. "Do you want to see the place or not?"

Two wolves padded down the hall in the other direction, and Tori wisely didn't answer. Hunter frowned a little, wondering why it was so crowded tonight. Typical Friday night? Or something more?

They found a table in the third car, but service was so slow that Blake had time to point out the sirens and explain what they knew about them, which wasn't much. Tori seemed fascinated, and maybe a little too amused when she found out one of them had visited Hunter. Blake had left out the part about them being sent to check out new alphas because he didn't know it, so Hunter became the subject of endless teasing as Tori speculated on his personal appeal.

Hunter didn't miss the fact that Cam was getting more and more annoyed, but luckily one of the women turned up at their table just as Hunter was trying to change the subject. Tori looked surprised when she was offered either beef or lamb with one of three "accessories," but she didn't protest. At least, not until the waitress had noted their orders with little checkmarks and disappeared again.

"What, no menu?" Tori asked, the moment she was gone. "Not much of a restaurant. Or bar... Or whatever."

"It's not aimed at humans," Hunter told her. "Be glad they usually cook the meat."

Tori stared at him. "You're kidding."

He couldn't help smirking. "Yeah. Health code, they have to cook it."

"I'm going to get a drink," Cam interrupted, pushing his chair back as he got up. For a second, Hunter felt bad for joking, but then Cam added, "Do you want anything?"

"Yeah, water'd be great," he said, flashing a smile at Cam. "Thanks."

"I'll have a soda," Blake remarked, reaching out to poke Tori. "Tor, what about you?"

Hunter saw Cam's expression darken, and a little mental alert started going off. This could go bad very fast. Because Blake and Tori were still "out with friends," while Cam had probably been in pack mode since they walked in the door. And wherever Cam ranked, it was pretty clear that he thought Blake was below him.

"I don't remember asking you," Cam said stiffly. He stalked away without waiting for an answer, and Hunter braced himself. Could have been worse. Probably would be, in the next few minutes.

Tori, who had started to answer when Cam left, just stared after him. "What's wrong with him?" she wanted to know.

Hunter hesitated. He could lie, of course. He could make up some story about doing Cam a favor and him returning it now, or maybe some private joke that only sounded like a brushoff when you didn't know the history...

A clatter from the direction of the bar made him swing around. And he should have expected it, but there was Cam, facing off against a woman with an offended snarl on her face. Hunter hadn't seen enough to know who started it, or even what the problem was.

"What--" Tori was on her feet the second Cam's fists came up, and Blake was right behind her. "Cam!"

"Sit down!" Hunter hadn't even meant to stand up, but he was and he was glaring at her naive indignation. "Both of you sit down!"

Blake took his seat reluctantly, but Tori just put her hands on her hips and stared right back at Hunter. "I'm not going to--"

He wanted to watch Cam, make sure he was all right, that he didn't need help, and here was Tori getting in his face and taking all his attention. Perfect. He didn't bother to let her finish, because whatever she was saying obviously wasn't important.

"This isn't class," he growled. "This isn't school or work or training or anything else you've ever done. This is a wolf pack, and you're new, and you're fourth out of four when it comes to deciding what to do and when!"

"Hey, bro," Blake began, and Hunter cut him off.

"Shut up," he snapped. "She wanted to come, she can obey the rules while she's here. When I say sit down," he added dangerously, "you sit down."

Tori sat down. She looked mutinous, but at least she kept her mouth shut long enough for him to look around for Cam. Who was calmly collecting two drinks from the siren at the bar, while the woman he'd tussled with a moment before was nowhere to be seen.

Of course. He would be fine.

Hunter took a deep breath, turning back to Tori. "See?" he said, deliberately mocking. Whether it was himself or her, though, he wasn't sure. "No problem."

Tori didn't look appeased. "If there are rules," she said under her breath, "someone should have spelled them out for me before we got here."

"Just one rule," Blake muttered. He was watching Hunter now too, and he didn't look away when Hunter glanced at him. "Follow the alpha wolf."

Hunter stared at him, and finally Blake's gaze flicked to the table instead.

"Who," Tori was asking, "Cam? We're supposed to do whatever Cam says?"

"Okay," Cam's voice agreed. "Sure. That works for me." He stepped around Hunter to sit down in his chair, setting down his own water and sliding the other one into Hunter's place.

"No," Blake told the table with utter certainty. "Hunter. We're supposed to do whatever Hunter says." He looked up then, catching Hunter's eye in subtle challenge. "Isn't that right, bro."

It was Cam who answered, his tone quieter but no less sure of itself. "Don't talk to him like that," he warned.

Blake looked at Cam in surprise, and Hunter took the opportunity to sit down. They were drawing way too much attention as it was. At least this time it wasn't for fighting. Yet.

"Look," he said, trying to keep his voice low. "You're right, we should have said something to you before we all got here. But we didn't, so here's the short version: every group of wolves has a leader. Cam was too out of it to be that guy the first time we came here, so it ended up being me.

"I know it's weird--believe me, I get that--but this is how they do things here, and you're better off if you answer to someone else anyway. Loners get twice as many challenges and lousy service."

"Do they get punched if they get in your way at the bar?" Tori asked, her eyes on Cam.

"She could have waited her turn," Cam muttered. He was watching his water like it was the most interesting thing at the table.

"Don't use Cam as a model," Hunter told them, trying not to sound amused. "Everything here is physical. If someone pisses you off, you've got two choices: suck it up or fight. And if you fight, you'd better be damn sure you can win, because no one's going to hold back just because you're human."

"They don't hold back for anyone," Cam said under his breath.

"Yeah, try not to tick off the guy with the knife," Hunter agreed, and Cam glared at him. "Hey, we're all in this together," he pointed out. "We might as well share information."

Cam didn't look happy about it, but he let it go. It was safe to say that Blake wasn't thrilled either. But he was at least talking, asking questions, trying to figure out what they knew that he didn't. Unlike Tori, who Hunter was pretty sure was ignoring him on purpose.

She didn't say anything else until the waitress brought their food. She waited until the woman had left to mutter that she was thinking about becoming a vegetarian, and that got Cam's attention. He stopped antagonizing Blake long enough to offer Tori the non-meat "accessories" that came with his meal. She smiled at him, and Hunter frowned in Cam's direction.

Before he could say anything, though, he realized he wasn't the only one, and he closed his mouth abruptly. Cam wasn't trying to bug him. He was trying to annoy Blake. And judging by Blake's expression, it was working.

"I thought you said you were hungry," Blake said irritably.

"I am," Cam agreed. "All the time, lately. But I don't want peas and carrots and rolls, so Tori might as well have mine."

"Thanks, Cam." Tori looked like she might forgive him for the fight at the bar sometime soon if he kept this up. "I really don't mind meat. It's just--"

"This is kind of intense?" Cam finished for her. "I know. I try not to think about it."

Hunter was this close to jumping in--he didn't mean to, after all, like he could really be jealous of Tori--but he didn't get the chance. Blake beat him to it. Again. Hunter tried not to be weirded out by the fact that he and his bro were both annoyed by the not-quite-flirting between Tori and Cam.

"Why'd you order it if you don't want it?" Blake wanted to know. "I thought the point of coming here was to get... you know, wolf food."

"Habit, I guess." Cam didn't seem perturbed, and his tone was deceptively calm when he added, "Hunter ordered it for me the first time we came, so I assume he likes it. I figured he'd eat the vegetables if Tori didn't want them."

The familiarity implicit in the remark made Hunter suppress a smile. Would you look at that, he thought. Cam had not only let Hunter do something for him, but he'd even acknowledged it aloud. And he'd thought about it. At least as much as assuming that Hunter liked anything he would order for Cam meant that he'd thought about it.

Blake wasn't so pleased. "Hunter doesn't even like carrots," he snapped.

"Oh?" Cam didn't look surprised. "He's sitting right there. Why don't you ask him?"

Blake didn't, and Hunter's amusement faded as he tried to figure out what was going on. They'd been sniping at each other since they arrived, but at first he'd chalked it up to mutual discomfort. Blake didn't like it when other people knew more than he did, and Cam didn't like having anyone else seeing him like this, so they were both a little stiff. But this was bordering on ridiculous.

Tori was staring at both of them. "Isn't this usually Hunter and Shane's thing?" she asked, her gaze flicking to him in wry acknowledgement. "Stupid arguments and random posturing?"

Alpha males in their natural environment, she liked to say. He and Shane, each the leader of their own team, came into conflict whenever they had to make decisions that affected all of the Rangers. But Cam and Blake, though they might be next in line behind the Red and Crimson Rangers, tended to stay out of it...

Just like that, Hunter knew what they were doing. They weren't arguing over Hunter's taste in vegetables, or Cam's order, or even Tori. Because Cam and Blake weren't alpha males at all.

They were fighting for beta rank.

He watched them totally ignore Tori's comment as they continued to poke at each other verbally. He watched Tori roll her eyes and sneak half of her steak to Cam anyway when she thought Blake wasn't looking. He watched Blake insist on going with her when she got up to get her own drink, and he wondered if he should say anything to Cam while they were gone.

"Tori's not as freaked as Blake thought she'd be," he remarked, testing the water.

In Blake's absence, though, Cam had nothing bad to say about him. He focused on Tori instead as he reached for his own drink. "She's seen stranger things," he answered noncommittally.

Hunter narrowed his eyes. "You know, watching you suck up to her isn't my favorite part of this little adventure." He probably shouldn't have mentioned that, but then, that applied to almost everything he'd ever said.

"She's my friend," Cam replied. The statement seemed calculated to piss Hunter off until he lifted his head and added quietly, "You're more."

Hunter swallowed what he had been about to say and tried a smile. "Same to you."

What could he say, after all? Keep your hands to yourself? Stop fighting with Blake? Neither of them would make him choose if he called them on it--at least, he was pretty sure they wouldn't. Not in so many words.

Did he even get to choose? He hadn't chosen to be the alpha. Maybe the rest of the "pack" was the same way. Hell, maybe Cam decided, being the only real wolf in the group. He'd picked Hunter. Maybe he wasn't fighting with Blake so much as he was putting him in his place.

"Hunter." Cam's voice interrupted his thoughts, but he wasn't looking at Hunter anymore. He was staring toward the bar.

When Hunter followed his gaze, he saw two people blocking Tori and Blake's way. The two of them already had their drinks, but the direct path between the bar and their table had been blocked by a couple of normal looking guys. Normal, except for the fact that they didn't make way or squeeze past or do anything other than stand there.

Tori looked like she was about to try to push through them, but Blake caught her arm. Without a word, he jerked his head to one side. Tori followed his lead reluctantly and they turned away, taking a different route through the tables. The guys who had gotten in their way continued toward the bar like nothing had happened.

Hunter glanced at Cam and found him smiling slightly. He was kind of unsettled by that look, the sort of condescending expression Cam would give the others when they made fun of something they didn't understand. Like Cam had just assessed his brother and Blake had come up short.

"You would have done the same thing if you'd had Tori with you," Hunter said, a little defensively.

"No," Cam murmured. He held Hunter's gaze for a moment before looking away, but that brief pause made his position very clear. "I wouldn't have."

O-kay. So this was about him only in the way that whoever won was his second. He had no control over it after all. Cam had claimed his place already, and apparently he planned to hold it. No matter what.

Cam didn't hassle Blake when they returned to the table. At first Hunter thought that was a good sign, but it didn't take long for him to realize that Cam just didn't think he had to anymore. When Tori offered him some of her soda, Cam put his straw in her glass without so much as a glance at Blake. Blake fumed quietly, but without Cam holding up his end of the verbal sparring it mostly disintegrated.

It helped him, too, that Tori didn't seem to have any idea what was going on. She backed Cam unintentionally, because he was suddenly acting "reasonable," and that left Blake on his own. Cam took shameless advantage of her favoritism.

Hunter didn't like it. On the one hand, Cam was being a jerk, and he was being a jerk to Blake which made it way worse. On the other hand, Blake was letting him get away with it, and if he really wanted to make an issue of it, he could challenge Cam outright. Any time.

Hunter shook his head, disgusted with himself. Now he wanted them to fight? What was wrong with him? Whatever weird dominance issues Cam had, they were totally his. Blake was doing the right thing by staying out of it and letting him have the win.

They all managed to get through dinner without any major scuffles, which was maybe more of a surprise than he'd wanted it to be, and even the rest of the patrons left them alone for the most part. He thought maybe they'd be able to leave before anything big went down. Yeah, he was feeling optimistic--but he hadn't expected Tori's questions about the bonfire.

She didn't sound more than mildly curious, but the questions got Cam interested and that ended up being the deciding factor. Hunter hadn't really understood what Mike meant by "Cam will find it" until he saw Cam step outside and head for the trees without hesitation. What was that, secret wolf knowledge? Magic powers?

Cam gave him an amused look when he asked. "I can smell the smoke," he said.

Right. Okay, so the bonfire couldn't be far. Unfortunately, the sun was totally down by now and although there was plenty of light in the parking lot, the same couldn't be said for the woods. It was kind of unnerving how fast it got dark once they got into the trees, actually.

Tori complained first. "Cam, do you have night vision or something? Because I can't see a thing."

Cam stopped so quickly that Hunter bumped into him. He put a hand on Cam's shoulder to steady himself, and he thought Cam looked at him but it was hard to tell when his eyes weren't lit up from the inside. "You can't see?"

Hunter shook his head, fairly certain Cam would catch it in the darkness.

"You can?" Blake countered.

"Yeah," Cam said slowly. "I knew my vision was better... I guess I just didn't realize how much better. Can you see at all?"

"I can keep from running into trees," Tori offered. "But only because of our ninja training. Not because I can see them."

"I can see you when you move," Hunter added. "If I'm not looking directly at you."

A blue glow formed in the space between them, revealing Blake's hand underneath it and his face above it. Ninja light. Mildly electric--Hunter knew it would shock him if he touched it--but mostly just excited electrons releasing energy as light when they fell back to their normal levels. It lit their surroundings brightly enough to see by.

"Now who's bringing up things we're not supposed to talk about?" Tori wanted to know.

"They already know we're ninjas," Blake pointed out. "And we're not gonna win any points by getting lost in the woods."

"Fine," Hunter agreed, glancing around. The light didn't penetrate very far into the forest but it made all their shadows move against the trees, an odd sort of peripheral distraction that was almost as bad as the darkness. "Keep it to one. No need to show off."

Cam didn't say anything, but the rest of them fanned out behind him so they could all use the light to follow. Blake let the glow fade and vanish as soon as they caught sight of flames through the trees. No sooner had he done so than a wolf flowed through their little group, making no other effort to interact as it disappeared into the darkness behind them.

It wasn't the only one, Hunter realized, looking around as they approached the clearing. A modest bonfire crackled in the middle, hot enough to feel from some distance away and strong enough to generate a breeze. Flames licked a respectable pile of brush and logs while sparks flew up, spiraling toward the canopy, and there were a lot of human forms standing, sitting, walking around it.

There were more wolves. They weren't as obvious until he looked for them, and then he saw glowing eyes in every shadow, deliberate movement in every rustle of air. The noise came mostly from human conversation, but the wolves were clearly communicating in some way. Groups of them moved together, split up and reformed and mingled... some of them in an oddly human way.

No one challenged their arrival. In fact, the only person who even seemed to notice it was a tall, lanky guy who drifted up to them and asked curiously, "Tori?" When she turned, a smile spread across his face. "Tori Hanson?"

Blake wasn't gonna like him, Hunter thought.

Tori did, though. "Dill!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here!"

"Same thing you are, I guess," he said, with a shy grin. "Just checking out the party. Haven't seen you in a while."

"No," she agreed, looking a little chagrinned. "Um, actually--" She glanced back at Blake, who was looking just as standoffish as Hunter had expected. "Dill, this is my boyfriend, Blake. Blake, Dill Peterson... we met at Storm Chargers, before you started working there."

"Hey, good to meet you," Dill said easily, holding out his hand to Blake. "So you work at Storm Chargers, huh? That's a cool store."

"Yeah." Blake shook his hand once, still reserved but apparently willing to make an effort. "The owner sponsors me and my bro at the track."

"Right, um, this is Hunter," Tori said quickly. "He and Blake are the 250cc motocross team for Storm Chargers. And this is my friend Cam, from, uh, school."

"Hey," Dill said, clasping Hunter's hand and then Cam's briefly. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too." Hunter noticed that Cam didn't answer, but Dill seemed more interested in Tori's response than Cam's lack of one. Blake seemed more interested in Dill, so Hunter took a few steps back and caught Cam's eye.

Cam followed, silently and unobtrusively, as Tori and Dill settled in to chat.

"You know anything about him?" Hunter asked under his breath.

Cam frowned a little. "Not personally," he admitted. "But I heard his name almost nonstop for a week or so, back when they first got their morphers. He was Tori's crush before Blake."

Hunter considered that. "I'm guessing you didn't hear anything about him being a wolf at the time."

"I'm pretty sure that would have stuck in my mind," Cam said dryly.

"Huh." Being a wolf didn't make someone untrustworthy, obviously. And Tori didn't have the worst taste in friends--that would have to be Shane, Rangers excluded--so maybe Dill was just another guy who'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe he'd been a wolf before he met Tori and maybe not, but if he was here he probably didn't have any prejudices on the subject.

Tori had even gone to the trouble of introducing Blake as her boyfriend, which Hunter had never heard her do before, so it looked like everyone knew where they stood. Dill might be an okay sort of guy who just checked up on people he recognized at wolf parties. He was certainly being polite and accommodating now.

"Keep an eye on him?" Cam asked quietly, following his gaze.

Hunter's mouth quirked in a half-smile. "Oh yeah."

10. Committed

"So, what," Shane was saying the next morning. "This guy Dill turns into a dolphin?"

They were gathered in Ninja Ops for an emergency meeting, prompted mostly by Hunter's alert the night before when Tori went missing. Cam had managed to follow and find her while Hunter and Blake were circulating among the wolves, looking for information, and he'd let Hunter know where she was only minutes after Hunter had contacted the rest of the team. In time to calm everyone down, but not in time to stave off their curiosity.

"He's an encantado," Tori explained, looking a little too awake for someone who had been out late getting kidnapped, and then rescued, and still insisted nothing had gone wrong. They were overreacting, according to her, because she had gone with Dill "of her own free will" and she had been about to call them when Cam found her.

"Yeah, so, he turns into a dolphin?" Shane repeated. He and Dustin seemed more confused than upset, like they still hadn't figured out what Tori had been doing out without them to begin with.

"No, Shane." Cam didn't look away from the computer because he knew that if he did he would see Blake, hovering protectively around Tori, and he wouldn't see Hunter at all. Both things would irritate him for no logical reason, so he didn't look. "He turns into a human."

"Dude, he's already a human," Dustin put in. "I mean, I saw him with my own eyes, and he was totally a human being."

Cam sighed, but Shane was agreeing with Dustin like they had actually thought about this, which they obviously hadn't. "Yeah," Shane said, "two legs, two arms, a head, and bad clothes. Definitely human."

Shane didn't seem to notice that he'd just made "bad clothes" a defining characteristic of humanity. But then, Shane apparently wasn't at his most logical today. Cam stood up, turning around just in time to see Shane and Dustin exchange smirks.

He didn't draw anyone's attention until he turned into a wolf right there in front of them. None of them had actually seen him change yet, except for his father, who was watching the scene without comment from his place beside the mainframe. And Hunter, who had refused to get out of bed for a meeting without coffee, and so wasn't present.

"Whoa!" Shane took a step back.

"Dude," Dustin declared. "That is sick."

Blake just folded his arms, looking annoyed, and Cam curled his lip at him. Tori gave him an odd look but didn't seem surprised. His dad was the only one who got it, and he broke his silence to become Cam's voice.

"How certain are you that he is a wolf?" Sensei inquired mildly.

"What--" Shane began.

"Well, he's not a wolf, right?" Dustin said without taking his eyes off of Cam. "That's why it's so cool!"

"No," Sensei agreed. "He is not a wolf."

"And Dill isn't a human." Tori had her hands on her hips, looking just smug enough to suggest that she had known where Cam was going with this from the beginning. "He's a dolphin who turns into a human. That's what encantados do."

The sound of footsteps on the stairs didn't distract anyone until Cam glanced in that direction, alerted by the weight of the tread and the scent that came with it. Hunter came skulking into the control room, a paper coffee cup in each hand, and he paused when he realized they were all looking at him. "Hey," he said after a moment.

Then, without waiting for a response, he strolled up to the wolf and offered one of the two cups he held. "Coffee?"

Startled, flattered, and a little bit awkward in the face of everyone's sudden interest, Cam was relieved to make the transition from wolf to human without tripping or otherwise losing his balance. He accepted the cup with a mumbled thanks, trying not to stare at Hunter. He hadn't really expected Hunter to show up at all, let alone with--

"What?" Hunter demanded. Cam looked up in surprise, but Hunter was looking at Blake.

Blake was frowning back at him. "What are you, the coffee fairy now?"

Cam narrowed his eyes, but Hunter just shrugged. "I asked if you wanted any," he told his brother. "You said no."

Blake didn't answer, but Cam got the distinct impression that he might have responded differently if he'd known his coffee would go to Cam. The thought was troubling, because the Rangers were held together by a fragile truce established in the early days of the team and unquestioned since then: the Winds and the Thunders didn't interfere with each other. Period.

This unspoken understanding had brought an end to the constant squabbling between Hunter and Shane and allowed all of them to work together. It kept everybody on relatively good terms without threatening anyone's equilibrium--because at the end of the day, Hunter and Blake were a team apart. They didn't outrank the Wind Rangers, but they didn't answer to them either.

The same went for their relationship with the Watanabes, and part of him knew that if Blake thought Cam was going to come between him and his brother, there would be trouble.

Unfortunately, the other part of him wanted to gloat. Because he had come between Hunter and Blake, he was coming between them even now, and he would keep on doing it until Hunter acknowledged that he was more important. Until he had won.

"Okay, so the point here is what, again?" Shane was asking. "Tori got kidnapped by dolphin people?"

"I wasn't kidnapped," Tori reminded the room at large. "I went of my own free will."

"Yes, well, in the future," Cam said, somewhat testily because Blake was still glaring at him and he had to look away to address Tori. "Maybe you should tell us that before you leave a party with someone other than the people you came with."

"Look, she said she meant to," Blake pointed out.

That gave Cam all the excuse he needed to frown at Hunter's brother again, but Blake was looking at Tori. "And you're okay, right," he said, ignoring Cam, "so that's the important thing."

"Yeah," she agreed, but she looked chagrinned. "I should have let you guys know, though. Sorry about that."

"That's the important thing," Cam said, glaring at Blake even though he was nominally talking to Tori. "You shouldn't have had to let us know. That was a dangerous place to be, and none of us should have been left alone. Especially not with someone we barely knew."

Blake frowned, obviously not missing the implication that he had failed in his responsibility. Before he could answer, though, Tori protested, "I said I was sorry. And I wasn't alone... I know Dill, even if you don't."

"Cam," Hunter warned. "Cut it out."

Cam saw Blake smirk, and he bristled. "Stay out of this," he snapped without thinking. "You don't get to decide."

"Oh?" Hunter's tone was calm and slightly amused, but he didn't challenge that assertion. All he said was, "I wondered about that."

He lifted his coffee cup, like he really didn't care, but he paused just before it reached his lips. "Sorry Blake," he added. "Guess you're on your own."

"Uh, guys?" Shane was looking at them like they'd lost their minds. "What are you talking about?"

"Yeah, what's going on?" Dustin wanted to know. "Are you talking in some kind of secret code? Because I totally didn't get a decoder ring."

"Ongoing argument," Hunter said smoothly. This time he split his warning look between Cam and Blake before he added, "Apparently it's none of our business, so maybe you guys could have it somewhere else."

"Hey, hey," Blake protested. "What did I do?"

"If there is some kind of dispute, perhaps it would be better to settle it now," Sensei remarked, observing the scene from the top of the computer monitor.

"There isn't a dispute," Cam said firmly. "There's just Tori's minor lapse in judgement and Dustin and Shane's compulsive curiosity concerning something they could have asked her about over the phone."

"Whoa, dude, you were the one who wanted us all to stop by this morning," Shane reminded him. "Hunter could have just told us what was going on last night."

"I didn't know," Hunter defended himself. "Tor vanished, Cam found her, that's it. That's all I knew."

"And now we all know more," Sensei interjected, in that calm way he had. He managed to keep anyone else from speaking just by opening his mouth, and that was one skill Cam would really like to have.

"Tori," his father continued, "perhaps next time you will remember that people are not always what they seem, and that your friends are only trying to look out for you."

Cam thought they were all pretty clear on what Tori thought about the situation, but she managed to school her expression to an appropriate level of respect. "Yes, Sensei," she agreed.

"And now," he continued, "I hope you will enjoy a Saturday without ninja training."

"Are you serious?" Dustin exclaimed.

At the same time, Shane burst out with, "Sweet! Thanks, Sensei!"

"It has been an eventful week," their very small ninja instructor said, tolerant humor in his voice. "And I believe you will all benefit from some well-deserved time off."

Cam couldn't help reading into the words with some amount of cynicism: his father could see how close the group dynamic was to disintegration, and all training would do was push them over the edge. Blake was annoyed every time Cam spoke, Tori was resentful that her judgement had been questioned, and even Shane and Dustin, who were the least affected by what was going on, knew they were the least affected and were feeling left out. Hunter hadn't been allowed to train since Tuesday and probably had an alarming amount of unleashed energy, so he was basically a time bomb in an already unsettled situation.

Then there was him. Cam wasn't sure he trusted himself in a sparring situation with any of the Winds, because who knew how the wolf would react to even a simulated threat? He already knew he couldn't spar with either of the Thunders, Blake because he would take any excuse to best him, possibly to the point of violence, and Hunter because--

Well, because he already knew perfectly well how the wolf would react to anything from Hunter: simulated threat, real threat, proximity, distance, a long look, a quick look... anything involving Hunter was dangerous in the presence of others.

"Will you also take the day, Cameron?" His father's voice was quiet now, clearly aimed at him while the other Rangers bantered and planned and Shane and Dustin tried to lure Tori toward the stairs.

"I've been 'taking the day' all week," Cam muttered. He was trying to answer the question discreetly and listen to Blake and Hunter at the same time. "I can't leave CyberCam to do all the work."

"We should get in some laps," Blake was saying. "See how your arm does, maybe schedule some practice time before the kids' promo tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure." Hunter agreed without hesitation, possibly sensing Blake's effort to hustle him out of Ninja Ops before Tori disappeared completely. "Hey, Cam, you want to come to the track with us?"

Cam looked up in surprise. Funny how something that had never held that much appeal before suddenly seemed like the best way to spend the morning. Hunter was obviously waiting for him to agree, which probably would have been incentive enough, but Blake looked irritated, which only made him want to agree more.

What else was CyberCam was for, after all?

Going out in public with Hunter turned out to cause more problems than he'd expected. The wolf had been ready to defend Hunter from any threat for days, of course. Now it turned out that the human was no different--and thanks to Akeelah's visit the day before, his definition of "threat" had expanded considerably.

So Cam found himself watching everyone who came near Hunter, assessing their interaction, and intervening if it went on too long. Where "too long" became "more than a sentence each." It seemed to surprise Hunter at first, then amuse him. Finally he just accepted Cam's constant presence and started introducing him to anyone they ran into at the track.

Cam was pretty sure that was the way it should be. Besides, it was driving Blake crazy. More than an hour after they all descended on the track, Hunter was still standing on the sidelines--suited up, yes, bike beside him, always, but he hadn't done a single lap. He was just hanging on the handlebars, chatting with Cam, while Blake kicked up dirt on the track and the others mostly left them alone.

Cam actually wasn't paying any attention to the others until Kelly wandered by, and it occurred to him to wonder what was going on this morning. Hunter and Blake had some event tomorrow, right? Was there something else going on today, or was Kelly just getting ready for the next day?

Her greeting drove the questions from his mind.

"Hi Hunter," she called, smiling as she swung by. "Heard you got a dog!"

Cam's eyes went to him immediately, and he found Hunter looking back at him. The newspaper article. He hadn't even seen it. Had the reporter printed a photograph, or had it just been that terrible story about him and the kelzaks?

"Few days ago," Hunter agreed warily, when Kelly turned and seemed to be waiting for an answer. "It was kind of... unexpected."

"Oh?" Kelly looked curious. "How did that happen?"

"A friend had to move suddenly," Hunter said. He barely even paused. "He couldn't take the dog with him. I sort of agreed to... take care of it for him."

"Oh, is it a temporary thing then?" Kelly guessed. "That's really great of you. I didn't know you could even have dogs in that apartment of yours."

"We can't," Hunter agreed smoothly. "The dog's been staying with Cam the last few days. I come over and, uh... walk him, feed him... y'know. That kind of stuff."

Cam was staring at him in surprise. They hadn't come up with any sort of explanation for Hunter's sudden "dog," yet here he was, reeling off a story like he'd been practicing it for days. A not entirely inaccurate story.

"That's great," Kelly repeated, including Cam with her smile this time. "You should bring him by the shop sometime."

Hunter hesitated for the first time, glancing at Cam. "Yeah," he said at last. "Maybe. It's--kind of up to Cam. He's my, uh, dog expert."

"Oh, really?" Kelly gave him an interested look. "I didn't know you were a dog person, Cam."

Cam did his level best not to roll his eyes. "I'm learning," he said curtly. Then he really felt like he should step up a little and not leave Hunter all alone in this, so he added, "Hunter's dog isn't very well socialized. It's better if it's--if he's not around large groups of people. At least not right now."

"Yeah, the beach thing was kind of an accident," Hunter agreed. "You saw that article in the paper? We--I didn't really expect to run into anyone else there."

Cam couldn't resist. "I told you not to take him to a public beach," he muttered.

The look Hunter turned on him was startled and unamused. Fortunately, Kelly spoke before he could. "Yeah, I saw that," she said. "Once I got over my surprise at your sudden state of dog ownership, I noticed the part about the kelzaks."

"Well, it's been kind of busy lately," Hunter hedged. "Stuff just kept coming up. I guess I, uh, forgot to mention it."

"Well, bring him to visit me and we'll call it even," Kelly said, smiling up at him. And Cam knew Kelly was harmless, he knew she would never hit on one of her own employees, but that smile was just irritating.

"Once he's better socialized," she added belatedly. The glance she threw in his direction was probably supposed to be an acknowledgement, but as it was the look just annoyed him more.

"If Cam okays it," Hunter repeated. The qualification only narrowly staved off Cam's sharp comment about boss socialization, and later he might even be grateful. Now he was just frustrated.

Someone called for Kelly's attention, which was excellent timing as far as he was concerned. They could have called for her before she'd even had a chance to stop and talk, but failing that, the faster she left the better. He'd never really noticed how pretty she was before.

"Sorry," Hunter murmured as she left. "Best I could do on short notice. Thanks for... y'know, playing along."

"Is she seeing anyone?" Cam asked bluntly.

Hunter stared at him like he'd just turned into a wolf in front of the entire track. Cam glanced down quickly, but no, he was still human. The look must be for the question, not his appearance.

"What?" Cam frowned at him. "She pays a lot of attention to your life, that's all."

"Cam, it was in the paper." Hunter hadn't stopped staring at him. "You can't seriously think that Kelly would--that she's--"

Mine. The word had been in his head since yesterday, and it wasn't going away. He only barely stopped himself from saying it aloud. He thought Hunter probably saw it in his eyes anyway, because he didn't finish his sentence.

"Okay," Hunter said at last. "Are you gonna... I mean, seriously? Are you really gonna be like this with everyone, or is it just a--phase, or something? Is it 'cause of the thing with Blake? What's going on?"

Cam frowned at him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Hunter narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe that," he said bluntly. "You haven't let me talk to a single person since we got here. Not without glaring or muttering or practically warning them off. What's the deal?"

Cam looked away, giving the ground an angry look because he knew Hunter wasn't in the mood to take it right now. "No one shares," he said under his breath. He had to trust Hunter to get it, because he couldn't say any more than that.

Hunter got it. "What I said to Akeelah."

Cam didn't bother to nod.

"So this isn't about Blake," Hunter said, like he wasn't totally sure.

Cam gave him a disgusted look, then threw it at the ground again when Hunter frowned in response. "Okay," Hunter said. Through clenched teeth, Cam was sure. "Fine. Nothing to do with Blake. You can't seriously think I'm gonna--that everyone who says 'hi' is coming on to me?"

He sounded so skeptical that Cam folded his arms, wishing he could walk away and regain his composure. The wolf was so much harder to recognize around Hunter, so much more real, more a part of him--he had trouble knowing where he ended and the wolf began.

When he was alone, he could be just Cam again. Or at least pretend. He knew who he was, and he could identify the wolf when it responded to something in a way he normally wouldn't. The problem was that when the wolf did make its presence known, without Hunter, it was completely out of control. What good did it do him to recognize it if he couldn't control it?

What good did it do him to control himself if he didn't know who he was?

"Cam." Hunter had that look again, the one that said I want you like nothing else. It wasn't a happy look. He only wore it when he was totally lost and obviously wished he was anywhere but here, with Cam. But he was with Cam, and he was staying with Cam, not because he wanted to but because he wanted Cam.

"I don't know what you want from me," Hunter muttered, voice low enough that hopefully no one nearby would overhear him. "But I figure it's pretty clear what I want. You don't have any reason to be jealous."

"I'm not jealous," Cam snapped. And his voice wasn't quiet enough, because he saw more than one glance come their way. Strangely, he found himself torn between embarrassment and satisfaction, because if people thought there was something going on they'd be more likely to leave Hunter alone.

Hunter definitely wasn't satisfied. "Then tell me what this is about," he growled, still quieter than Cam. "If it's not Blake, and it's not me, what is it?"

The fact that Hunter still cared was enough to bring the embarrassment back full force. The man just didn't give up. Ever. And maybe Cam didn't know exactly who he was right now, but Hunter had said over and over that he was exactly who he'd been before. And he wanted Cam. That didn't make it safe, but it definitely made it... something.

"It's you," Cam told the ground. He opened his mouth before he knew how he was going to continue and he blurted out, "You're mine. They can't have you."

Okay. So maybe he was a little jealous.

There was no answer, and when he looked up, he found Hunter staring at him. He couldn't interpret that expression, but he thought Hunter was probably angry when he demanded, "Do I get any say in this?"

"Obviously," Cam retorted, and he knew he sounded defensive because when he said obviously he really meant obviously not.

"Okay, then obviously," Hunter mimicked, "you don't have anything to worry about. So cut it out."

"Hey, guys." Dustin had never been able to sneak up on him before, and Cam was a little alarmed that even with super wolf senses he had been too distracted to notice him this time. "News from the secret tipline."

That got his attention, and Hunter's too. "Are they here?" he demanded.

Dustin shook his head, running his fingers though his hair in a way that made him look typically absent-minded. He was covered with dirt, and he had his helmet in one hand. He'd clearly been riding, but he wasn't out of breath and he wasn't ridiculously hyper, so he must have been off his bike for a while before he'd caught up with them. "Nah, just the one.

"She says you're a surprise," Dustin added, glancing at Cam.

It was weird to see Dustin so serious, so casual, so good at playing his part. No matter how long it had been since Cam found out about Dustin and Marah, the fact that they managed to play the double-double-cross game so convincingly was still a surprise. Dustin claimed Lothor had no idea Marah wasn't really double-crossing them, or even that Dustin was supposedly double-crossing her... let alone that he was only pretending to.

Cam had found it was easier not to believe anything either of them said, lately. All he knew for sure was that so far, this thing hadn't blown up in their faces, so Sensei was letting it go. For now.

"What kind of surprise?" Hunter was asking. "The kind that means it's about time for a fight? Or the kind that means it's past time?"

Dustin looked confused, which was normal, but he also answered immediately, which wasn't. "Past time," he said vaguely, and Cam gave him a hard look. That made sense, and if he gave Dustin any credit at all, he would assume Dustin knew that. Which meant that his apparent confusion was just an act.

He's dating my evil cousin, he reminded himself, and he hasn't been caught yet. That implied either an insane amount of luck or some amount of acting skill. And Cam still couldn't shake the feeling that he might have been underestimating Dustin since the day they'd met.

"Okay," Hunter agreed. He'd never had that problem, Cam admitted silently. Hunter had always listened when Dustin spoke.

Was it just the wolf, then, respecting the people to whom Hunter accorded respect?

"They didn't think you could turn human again," Dustin was saying. Then, with an utterly innocent expression, like he had no idea what he was saying, he added, "Surprise."

Hunter's mouth quirked, and suddenly jealousy threatened to overwhelm all other concerns. He really couldn't handle the loss of Hunter's attention, even for a moment. That wasn't a good sign--particularly when it came to team relations. He'd already alienated Blake, possibly beyond repair, and he couldn't afford to do the same to Dustin.

"You're thinking," Hunter remarked, and Cam looked at him in surprise. Hunter was studying him, and Cam hadn't even noticed when that attention was turned on him again. He had been thinking. He'd been very... human, there, for a moment.

"Not about anything relevant," Cam admitted reluctantly. "Just--thinking." He held Hunter's gaze, and he knew he was understood. Thinking. Such a simple thing, yet worthy of comment now, and somehow Hunter had known.

The expression on Hunter's face lightened a little further, and now Hunter was smiling at him. Not Dustin, but him. And Hunter said he didn't have anything to worry about. He doubted that would convince the wolf, but maybe it would at least make the human part of him a little less snappish.

"Yeah, well, don't go thinking anywhere alone," Dustin was saying. "The dude upstairs is really, really interested."

"You're thinking possible kidnapping?" Hunter asked, giving Dustin a sharp look.

"I'm thinking that scene at the beach could happen again," Dustin said absently. At least, apparently absently. The words might be vague but the intent was very clear. "Anytime."

"Let him try," Cam growled.

Dustin gave him a sort of confused look, which was typical, but Hunter's expression was more guarded as he tapped his own cheek just below his eye. Cam frowned at him. "What?"

Hunter just raised an eyebrow. Then, without a word, he reached out and pulled his sunglasses off of Cam's head and offered them to him. Pointedly.

Cam got it. "That won't hide the glowing anyway," he muttered, sliding them on again. He was more embarrassed than resentful. He'd taken the sunglasses off to talk to Hunter and then completely forgotten about them. Which meant that everyone who had interrupted Hunter since had seen Cam's unshaded yellow eyes.

No one had said anything. Were they just not looking?

"Better than nothing," Hunter told him. "Just don't stare at anyone for a few minutes and you'll be fine."

Assuming that a few minutes was all it took. He still had almost no control over his eyes--mostly because he couldn't see them, and Hunter had stopped telling him when they were glowing and when they weren't. Did it usually fade after a few minutes?

"Or, hey, a few seconds." Hunter was still studying him. "You're good."

Cam opened his mouth to say he hadn't done anything. At least, he thought he was probably going to admit that, because he needed to get Hunter to help him with it--he couldn't keep walking the streets with eyes that would spontaneously start to glow. But Dustin beat him to it.

"What's with the glowing thing, anyway?" the Earth ninja wanted to know. "Why do they do that?"

"I don't know," Cam said. He gave Hunter a warning look, but Hunter had on his most bland expression and hopefully that meant there wouldn't be any embarrassing disclosures regarding... intense emotion.

"Okay." Dustin was either bored or more on top of things than he looked, because he took the hint without letting on that he'd noticed it. "I'm gonna go try and get in a few more jumps."

"Sure," Hunter agreed, still utterly nonchalant. "Watch your back."

"Watch your head," Cam muttered under his breath. With the way Dustin threw himself around on that bike, he should have a full-body helmet.

"Same to you." Dustin gave them both a somewhat distracted wave before wandering off, and Cam wondered once again just what was going on behind that absent-minded stare.

"That glowing thing's no good," Hunter said, and when Cam looked back at him he realized Hunter had been watching him watch Dustin. "You gotta work on that."

That didn't even deserve a response, so Cam just looked at him. Hunter stared back. Slowly, though, his cheeks flushed, and Cam felt his lips quirk in response. Hunter made a passable alpha wolf, but at the end of the day he was still human. He might not look away, but it was obvious he realized how stupid that remark had been.

"Wolves don't blush," Cam said quietly, holding his gaze with no intent to challenge. All he wanted right now was to see what Hunter would do.

Hunter didn't bat an eye. "Guess you need a new alpha, then."

"I don't want a new alpha," Cam countered.

Hunter just looked at him for a long moment. "Your eyes are glowing again," he said at last. "You're right. The sunglasses don't help."

Which Hunter knew perfectly well, since he was the one who'd first noticed that. He really was uncomfortable, Cam thought, a little surprised and a lot curious. What had him so suddenly off-balance?

"You're nervous," he said aloud. He didn't give it much thought before he said it but he didn't just blurt it out, either, and that had to be an improvement. "Why?"

Hunter blinked, but they were still staring at each other and he obviously didn't like it. "I'm facing off with a ninja werewolf," he said. His voice was low, but the hostility was unmistakable. "Yeah, no reason to be nervous there."

The wolf demanded that Cam lower his gaze, that he respond to the aggression with some sort of submissive gesture. Cam told it to shut up. "You never were before," he pointed out.

Hunter snorted. "Yeah, you know me really well," he muttered, and the sarcastic tone made Cam bristle.

He managed to keep his mouth shut just long enough to recognize the sarcasm as deliberate. Just like the hostility. Hunter was doing it on purpose, Hunter was trying to make him back off. To make him let it go.

Being aware of the manipulation should have made him angry, but for some reason it was only making him more curious. "Why won't you tell me?" he asked, studying Hunter's expression. "There can't be anything more embarrassing than what you already know about me."

Hunter's face relaxed just enough that changing the subject was almost convincing. "The wolf thing didn't level off," he said gently, and the warm look he gave Cam was almost as sweet as it was irritating. "It's still fading. Think you're getting more human every day."

"Hunter." Cam refused to roll his eyes only because it would have meant looking away. "I can out-patronize you any day of the week, so I advise you not to try. If you don't want to talk about it, just say so."

Hunter opened his mouth, then frowned and apparently changed his mind.

This time Cam did roll his eyes because there was only so much of this that he could take. Yes, okay, he was thinking again, possibly reacting more normally, questioning behaviors that until now had gone unchallenged. But he had gotten this far on utter, often painful, honesty, and he wasn't about to see that change.

Cam turned to walk away.

The wolf howled. Silent, unnoticed by anyone else, it was still enough to make him flinch and draw up short before he'd taken a single step. He wasn't used to the level of concentration it took to turn his back on Hunter, even now.

Luckily Hunter spoke at the same time, words falling over themselves with the things he hadn't said. "Wait, Cam, don't--geez, I didn't... I'm sorry, okay? I don't know, uh, how to deal with this. I don't know what to do."

"Answer the question," Cam said. It took everything he had to stay where he was, to keep from turning around, to not actually throw himself at Hunter.

"Your eyes," Hunter said quickly. He was obviously more convinced of Cam's intent to walk away than the wolf was, and his alarm was oddly reassuring. "When they glow it makes me think of... well. Y'know."

"Of course I don't know," Cam said. He turned back with a sigh. "I never see them glow, so how do I know what it makes you--"

He wasn't sure if it was the look on Hunter's face or his own brain finally catching up with him, but he got it. He really did get it. It was strange to think that something so creepy could be any kind of turn-on, but Hunter had never been one for flowers and valentines.

At least, not as far as Cam knew. That was twice in as many days that Hunter had implied Cam didn't know him, and the accusation was possibly fair. But every effort Cam made to fix that seemed to get derailed by wolves or birds or inconvenient siblings, so he might not be getting anywhere but it wasn't like he wasn't trying.

"This is weird," Hunter muttered. "I mean, it was weird before, but now..."

"Would you have said anything if this hadn't happened?" Cam asked abruptly.

Hunter just stared at him. When he opened his mouth, it became clear that the look was not indecision but incredulity. "I didn't know anything before this happened. What do you think I was gonna say?"

"Traditionally, one asks a person they're interested in out on a date," Cam snapped.

Hunter's incredulous look only got more so. "Okay, maybe you hadn't noticed? But this isn't a part of my life I'm really comfortable with. I don't go around asking guys out for the hell of it!"

"You think I want you to ask me out for the entertainment value?" Cam demanded.

"I don't have a clue what you want!" Hunter shouted at him. "You asked me a question! I answered it! Stop trying to get me to say something when I don't have any idea what it is!"

They were definitely drawing attention now. Cam let his gaze slip from Hunter's long enough to glare at anyone who seemed to be a little too close, more than a little too interested, or otherwise anywhere in the vicinity. It made two passersby pick up their pace and one person look away. He glared at the rest of the track in principle.

"Okay, yeah," Hunter grumbled, his voice no less angry for all that it was quieter now. "Great. Thanks for outing me to half the population of Blue Bay Harbor. That makes my life better. Anything else I can do for you while you're at it?"

"I should have said something," Cam decided. He wouldn't have, of course, that was the whole point. That was why whether Hunter would have asked him out or not mattered. Without the wolf, they wouldn't even be standing here now.

"Let me take you out," Cam continued, determined to make this happen in as human a way as possible. "Lunch, dinner, whatever you want. It can be my way of saying thank you."

He'd just tacked that last part on because about halfway through he'd realized what he was doing and Hunter wasn't looking any happier about it than he had before. This might not turn out to be one of his better ideas. Too bad he now had less reason than ever to blame it on the wolf.

"I want to," Cam added uncertainly. He wasn't sure whether this was the right thing to say or not, but standing there staring at each other didn't seem to be helping anything either.

"Yeah, well," Hunter said after a moment. He seemed just as confused, which was at least a little better than openly hostile. "I want to kiss you in front of people who already know way too much about me, so... good thing we don't always get what we want."

He had no idea what made him do it. Wolf, human, brief moment of insanity, he didn't know at the time and he never figured it out afterward. But he hooked his fingers through Hunter's moto gear and took a step forward, entirely too self-conscious as he lifted his head for a kiss and wondered if he looked as much like a girl as he thought he did. He'd never kissed anyone taller than he was until Hunter.

Hunter looked almost comically startled. Something fought the instinct to jerk away, though, and he just stood there, letting it happen. He didn't quite get it together enough to kiss back. Cam couldn't meet his eye afterward, either, and somehow Hunter was the one who managed to break the silence.

"Okay," he said at last. "A little warning would have been good."

"It was your idea," Cam muttered. So Hunter hadn't pulled away. So what? Had he really been embarrassed so much over the last few days that he'd figured a little more wouldn't matter?

"Yeah," Hunter agreed, an odd note in his voice. "Which means that I should've, I dunno... been able to enjoy it. Right?"

Cam frowned, trying to figure that out.

"Do over," Hunter continued. "Seriously. We've already advertised this to the entire track, so let's make it stick."

This time it was Hunter who kissed him, possibly because Cam was still trying to decide whether Hunter meant what he thought he did. Let's make it stick? What was that supposed to mean? No backing out now, no going back, no sharing... that was all he could come up with as he felt the press of Hunter's mouth and the weight of every stare that had to be on them now.

He was with Hunter. Indubitably, irrevocably, at least as far as anyone who heard about this would care, Cam Watanabe and Hunter Bradley were gay. Dating. And didn't care who knew it.

"We're so screwed," Cam muttered, unconsciously imitating Hunter.

Hunter's face was still very close to his, and he could feel breath on his skin as Hunter whispered, "I wish."

He blinked once and found Hunter smirking at him, with a look in his eyes that invited Cam to share the joke. The silly, halfway crude, very private joke. No matter what he did or didn't know about Hunter, he understood that the brief remark was perfectly him. And Cam found himself very close to smiling back.

"Lunch," Hunter added, in an apparent non sequitur.

Cam searched for an explanation and found none. "Now?"

Hunter just shrugged. "Sometime today."

He seemed to get that Cam was still confused, so Hunter continued, "You offered to take me out, remember? Lunch or dinner. My choice. We've already done the dinner thing, so you can buy me lunch."

Cam studied him. For someone who wasn't "comfortable" with dating guys, Hunter adjusted very quickly. Or maybe it was just his "nothing to lose" attitude. Hunter didn't worry much what other people thought of him, and Cam had started to suspect it was because he didn't think anyone liked him. If they didn't like him to start with, what did he care if their opinion of him changed?

Hunter raised an eyebrow at him, and Cam realized he was still waiting for a response. "Okay," he said. "Good. Lunch." He wanted to add, I like you, but there was absolutely no way he was going to say that out loud. He'd have to settle for buying lunch.

They managed to ignore the rest of the track for several minutes, discussing future food options and necessarily being brought back to Cam's unabated preference for meat. He complained about it, Hunter teased him gently--which to his surprise, he found he didn't mind--and they agreed that they needed to find somewhere other than the community center to eat. There were plenty of other places that catered to meat-lovers.

"We've managed to avoid Iza this long," Hunter commented. "The longer that keeps up, the better off we are."

"Better not to draw attention to ourselves?" Cam suggested. Hunter wouldn't get any argument from him on that subject.

"I'm pretty sure," Hunter agreed. "I've never seen her, but no one wants to be on her bad side. There's gotta be a reason, right?"

This time, Cam noticed Blake approaching before he got close enough to stand out from the crowd. Back to the human world, then, and from the expression on Blake's face there was going to be trouble. Cam tried to suppress a smile that was all wolf. I win.

Instead of glaring at his brother, though, Blake gave Cam an unfathomable look. "Tori's in trouble," he said without preamble. "Shane thinks you might be able to help."

Cam glanced at Hunter in surprise and found Hunter looking back.

Apparently, exchanging glances was all it took to set Blake off now. "If you don't cut that out," he said, lowering his voice, "people are gonna talk."

It was impossible to know whether he was serious or not, but after the week they'd had, Cam had about six different replies to that comment. Hunter's laugh stopped him before he could even open his mouth. "Trust me, bro," Hunter declared, "people are already talking."

Then, like he was the one who knew how to prioritize, he added, "What's wrong with Tori?"

Blake gave Cam a suspicious look, but he admitted, "She doesn't know. She just says she feels weird, and her ninja powers are out of control."

"What do you mean, out of control?" Cam demanded. Blake didn't look worried enough for Tori to be giving herself away every time she turned around, but "out of control" couldn't be anything good.

"They're not doing what she wants them to do," Blake said. As explanations went, this one was relatively unhelpful.

"She's in a public place," Cam reminded him with a sigh. "Why is she using them at all?"

"She wasn't," and there was more exasperation in Blake's tone than strictly necessary, "until she realized they weren't working right."

This was not only unhelpful but also contradictory, and Cam was about to give up when Blake added, "You know that trick she does with the water drops, right? Where she throws them up in the air and they catch the light? She tried it earlier and she says it was like they had a mind of their own--they went everywhere."

"Like she had just thrown water up in the air?" Hunter suggested dryly.

"Bro, she can do that trick in her sleep," Blake insisted. "It always works."

Cam had to admit he was right. Tori loved her sparkling water trick, partly because she'd invented it and partly because it was so unobtrusive that she could do it in public without anyone noticing. "Did she try to do anything else?" he wanted to know. Strange as it was, it wasn't really enough to qualify as Tori being "in trouble."

"Yeah, of course," Blake said, rolling his eyes. "You know her. She started messing around with her water bottle and got sprayed in the face. She tried to fill one of those paper cups and Shane got sprayed in the face.

"Nothing happens if she doesn't try to do anything," he added hurriedly. "But when she does--"

"And she always does," Hunter interrupted.

"Things go wrong," Blake finished. "Shane said we should ask you about it."

They should ask Sensei about it. But he was here, he was curious, and he was perfectly willing to tell Tori so in person. So Cam just shrugged and said, "It happens. It's not a good sign, but it's not unheard of. Where is she?"

Blake waved in a way that was completely useless. "Down at freestyle."

Probably right near where Dustin and Marah were having their latest not-so-secret get-together. Great. This was something they really wanted Lothor to hear about: a second secret ninja potentially unable to fight, a third overall on the temporarily disabled list. This week was going well.

When he turned to follow Blake, though, Hunter bumped his shoulder and their eyes met. They fell into step with each other almost by accident, and Cam carefully amended his silent commentary. Parts of this week were going well.

11. Aliens in the Closet

Hunter was pretty sure the high point of his day had been that coffee. Everything had gone downhill after that. Not just compared to the coffee, either, although it had been pretty good. But the screwiness of his day wasn't relative.

Almost immediately, Cam had managed to treat Blake like crap and get away with it by telling Hunter to mind his own business. At the time it had seemed way more reasonable than it did now. He blamed it on the early hour, but he would be hearing about that later. If Blake remembered it after everything that had happened at the track.

Not only had Cam scared off everyone Hunter normally associated with by gluing himself to Hunter's side and glaring--constantly--but he had forced a very public display of affection that Hunter hadn't had time to regret yet. Blake had shown up with a crazy story about Tori, a nameless alien had shown up with kelzaks that seemed intent on separating them, and none of the Rangers had bought a clue until it was too late.

Every last one of those kelzaks had converged on Cam and he was gone before they realized just how brazen Lothor could be. He hadn't waited to catch Cam alone at all. He had set up the situation he wanted and they hadn't even seen it coming.

The alien, minus its kelzak reinforcements, kept the rest of the team busy by growing to a ridiculous size that had only one purpose: to prevent them from going after Cam. Hunter didn't find out until later that Marah had still been with Dustin when the attack began, and he had "protected" her by dropping her at Ninja Ops on his way to his zord. If anything about Cam's return could have made the day worse, it did--when he showed up in the company of Marah's sister.

"It wasn't sabotage, I swear it wasn't!" Marah was babbling even before the Rangers descended on Ninja Ops, one defeated alien left behind and way too many undefeated aliens still ahead. Starting with this one.

"Yeah, she totally had to do it because we had this plan and if she hadn't Cam would have been stuck on the ship forever--" The only thing that could make Kapri pause was running out of breath, and it didn't happen often enough as far as Hunter was concerned.

"It's true, they figured it out days ago." Dustin wasn't trying to talk over them so much as he was trying to explain himself to Shane, who didn't look any happier than Hunter felt, but at least Shane was listening.

Hunter didn't feel like listening right now. Where was Sensei? This was chaos. His bro was safe and Cam was back but those were first impressions that needed serious confirmation. And were they a Ranger short?

"I need to learn to fight as a wolf." His attention narrowed to Cam's voice the moment he spoke, and Hunter forgot to count. "Do you trust me enough to help me with that?"

Hunter stared at him. Cam's eyes were glowing, his sunglasses were gone, and he was very, very focused. On Hunter. Hunter didn't get it. He couldn't look away, either. Couldn't do much of anything, actually. So he just stared.

"It's important," Cam continued. His voice was low, but Hunter had no trouble hearing him. Cam was the only thing he was hearing, now. "There are things the wolf can do that I can't, but that doesn't help me when I don't have the control to pull them off."

Hunter dropped his hand the second he realized he was reaching for Cam, but it was too late. Cam saw the gesture, gaze flicking to his hand and then back to his face, and he just waited. So now they were standing there in the middle of a very loud room, staring at each other, without even saying anything. Great.

"You all right?" Hunter blurted out. No one was paying any attention to them. Probably. He still didn't care enough to look at anyone but Cam, so what did he know?

Cam should have said something sarcastic then. He should have had a cutting reply on the tip of his tongue, something so obvious that it was reassuring, something that meant Cam was fine--the guy he had always been. Unaffected by whatever had just happened.

But no matter what had happened, Cam wasn't the guy he had always been. His next words only reminded Hunter that he had changed. "Do I look all right?" he said simply. Not sarcastically. Almost curiously, like he wanted to know the answer.

He looked hot. Cam looked like he had just figured out what he wanted, like for once he didn't care what anyone else thought. He looked intense in a way that he normally didn't unless he was staring at a computer. Focused on something he would figure out or die trying.

Focused on Hunter.

Hunter was pretty sure that any move he made here in Ninja Ops would be a bad idea. He was equally sure that anything he could say would be worse. So he didn't say anything. He put an awkward hand on Cam's shoulder and just hoped for the best. It was a mostly meaningless gesture until Cam took it as an invitation and stepped forward to wrap his arms around Hunter.

Shit. Not what he had expected. No way was anyone gonna miss this. It was obvious as hell and since when did Cam not care? Since when did Cam forget that Shane and Dustin could make their lives miserable with very little effort? Since when did Cam think his dad would overlook any more physical affection from them than he did from Blake and Tori?

Since when did Cam get himself kidnapped in full view of everyone who should have been able to keep him safe? Hunter was hugging him back before he'd really even thought through the consequences, and when he did they weren't enough to make him let go. Which was good, since it looked like letting go wasn't really an option at this point.

"Where's Tori?" Blake's question cut through the chatter around them. Just like that, the others' voices were real again, understandable, urgent, and yeah, he was standing in the middle of their command center hugging Cam but the team definitely had bigger problems right now.

"I don't know!" Kapri exclaimed.

At the same time, Shane said, "She should have been back here by now. Cam, can you--"

Shane stopped just as Hunter let go of Cam, and whether it was because he realized what Cam was doing or something else they would never know, because Tori's voice answered before anyone else could. "She's right here," the Blue Ranger declared from the stairs.

It was actually the Blue Ranger, and that made Hunter frown. It turned out it was easier to direct his confusion at her than it was to send it Cam's way, though, so he demanded, "What's with the suit?"

"Ooh, that's a fashion nightmare," Kapri commented, disdain evident in her voice.

"So much better in purple," Marah agreed.

"Shut up," Blake snapped, folding his arms and glaring at them for good measure before he turned a more solicitous tone on his girlfriend. "You all right, Tor?"

She'd paused at the bottom of the stairs. Even as Blake asked, her Ranger uniform disappeared, and it was just Tori standing there looking uncertain. The expression vanished almost as quickly as the suit, though, and next thing they knew she was throwing Kapri's disgusted look right back at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh," Kapri said, with an utterly unconvincing effort at nonchalance. "Saving my cousin's life."

"Like you did it all by yourself!" Marah exclaimed indignantly.

"Neither of you were worried about me," Cam interrupted. "You were worried about yourselves. By all rights, we should send you back to Lothor right now."

This time it wasn't just Marah and Kapri who clamored to protest--Dustin jumped in with his own objections, and Cam held up a hand. It didn't do any good, so he just spoke over them. "I said should," he reminded the room loudly. "Not will."

Their protests turned to thanks, except for Dustin, who gave Cam a thoughtful look and said nothing. No one else got a chance to ask him what was going on, because Sensei's habitat cart rolled into the room and even Marah and Kapri shut up at that point. They were all quiet, in fact, moving out of the way so he could roll right up to Cam.

"It seems that Marah was telling the truth," Sensei said, after what seemed like a strangely long moment of silence. "I am glad to see that you are well, Cam."

"Yeah, me too," Cam agreed. "Thanks, Dad."

Okay, what? What had Marah done? Why had Cam shown up with Kapri? And why was Tori shushing Blake? Hunter could see them over there, Blake trying to whisper something to her and her totally brushing him off. Something was going on there, no question. And he had learned not to ignore Tori Problems, since anything that went wrong in Blake's love life lately had a weird tendency to affect the rest of the team.

Hunter was too slow to get any of his questions out, but he heard Shane start at least the first one before Cam continued, "Speaking of telling the truth..."

Oh. No. He didn't like the sound of that at all.

"Lothor seems to think he's an alien," Cam said conversationally.

Hunter blinked. What?

"What?" Shane echoed aloud.

"Well, duh," Marah and Kapri chorused, rolling their eyes at each other in perfect synch. The two of them weren't just annoying. They were seriously disturbing.

"He can't be," Tori put in, ignoring the Terrible Twosome. "I mean, you're twins, right?"

This last seemed to be addressed to Sensei. "Lothor is no kin of mine," he replied gravely. "Not anymore."

Yeah, they'd heard that before. But her point stood. If Lothor was an alien, then that meant that Sensei was an alien too. Which made Cam half-human at best. Which he obviously wasn't.

Was. Human, that is. He was human. Cam was human, so Sensei was human, so Lothor was either lying or deluded about the alien thing. So he was crazy. No shock there.

"He is, however," Sensei continued, "completely truthful when he asserts that he is not of Earth origin."

"Excuse me?" Hunter's protest was drowned out by Tori's disbelief and Shane's bark of laughter. Dustin got in on it too, but in typical Dustin style, he refused to jump to conclusions.

"Dude, are you saying that Lothor's an alien?" Dustin wanted to know.

"That is what I am saying," Sensei agreed slowly. "The answer to your most logical follow-up question is also yes. I believe you would call it... something of a family secret."

Dustin asked the question anyway. "So does that, like, make you an alien too?"

The guinea pig in senseis' robes inclined his head solemnly. At least, as solemn as a guinea pig standing on two legs and wearing clothes could be. He was looking at his son now, and Hunter couldn't help following suit.

The crack was probably inevitable, and in retrospect, Hunter should have expected it to be Blake that delivered it. "Explains a few things about Cam, then," his brother quipped.

"I knew being smart didn't cover everything," Shane added, a smirk on his face.

Cam didn't so much as twitch, and if Hunter had thought he was really as calm as he looked then he wouldn't have said anything. But Cam wasn't calm, he was angry and hurt and Hunter could feel it somehow, as clearly as his own impatience. He didn't know how he knew, and right now, he didn't care.

"Hey," he snapped. He glared at anyone who looked like they might be about to speak. "Cam saves our lives every other week, so maybe you should keep the snide remarks to yourselves."

"And maybe we should have a little family chat," Cam said evenly. He hadn't taken his eyes off of Sensei. "Cousins included."

"I'm sure the rest of you have some clean up work to do." Sensei's gaze swept over them, and maybe it was Hunter's imagination but he thought he got the eye a little longer than anyone else. "You must still have things that require your attention at the track?"

There were half-hearted agreements from his students, even from Blake, but Hunter wasn't going anywhere until Cam told him to. He held his ground while Kapri started to whine about something, Cam told her to stop, Sensei told her to stop, and she paid no attention to either of them. Yeah, she'd be really fun to have around more.

Hunter caught Blake's questioning look at the bottom of the stairs and shook his head. Quick, subtle, enough to make Blake nod in understanding and enough to draw Cam's attention at the same time. Cam just raised his eyebrows at Hunter, waiting.

"Want help?" Hunter asked under his breath. Probably loud enough that anyone could hear, but it had to be pretty clear he wasn't asking their permission. It was Cam's call.

To his surprise, Cam's expression lightened a little. "Ask me again later," he murmured, ignoring his father and cousins just as completely.

Okay. Message received. "If I don't hear from you in an hour," he said, still talking to Cam but frowning over at Marah and Kapri, "there's gonna be trouble. Just so you know."

"More trouble," Cam corrected dryly. "Or so one presumes."

Hunter felt his mouth quirk upwards in acknowledgement. "Yeah. That."

Cam nodded, and that was enough for him. Message received, yeah. It really was a family thing. But message delivered, too. Cam's business was his business, and if they messed with him they messed with Hunter.

He headed for the stairs, and he thought he could feel Sensei's stare on him the entire way.

The rest of the team was waiting just outside the entrance. At first he thought they were waiting for him, but Tori was the center of attention when he stepped into the light. Something about her zord had taken her longer than she'd expected, she was saying.

"Dude, they practically dock themselves," Dustin reminded her. "How can that take longer than you expect? We do it all the time."

"Did you have to read it a story?" Shane wanted to know. "Tell it that it's a good dolphin?"

"Shut up," Tori complained, but she was smiling in that way she had that was just short of laughing. Whatever was going on, at least she thought they were funny. After the alien jokes, Hunter wasn't so sure.

"Hey, bro." Blake reached out to knock fists with him as he joined the group. "They kick you out, too?"

The way he asked rankled, even if it wasn't meant to, but Hunter had to admit it was the truth. "Basically," he agreed. "Didn't expect to see all of you still here."

"Just ragging on Tori for being the last one back to Ops," Shane put in, nudging her with his shoulder. She bumped him right back, probably used to their teasing by now.

"And hey, you, for being the last one out," Dustin said. It was a typically Dustin remark, in that it was a little too obvious for comfort but didn't make any sense taken out of context.

Blake got it too. "Yeah, what do you know about this alien thing?" he wanted to know. "You and Cam are pretty tight lately."

"Nothing," Hunter said shortly. "I'm just as surprised as you are."

"It makes sense," Tori pointed out. "If Cam didn't even know..."

"You'd think Sensei would have told him or something," Dustin said. "I mean, keeping a secret like that--that's pretty harsh."

Yeah. That was one word for it. He didn't realize he'd said it aloud until they all turned to look at him. Hunter shrugged uncomfortably. "I just think Sensei's got some explaining to do," he muttered. "That's all."

"And we've got some picking up to do," Blake added, getting everyone's attention. It was reassuring, in its own way. No matter what had gone down with Cam, his bro still had his back. "We better get going."

"Maybe on the way you can tell us what Marah's up to," Shane said, clapping Dustin on the shoulder as they turned to leave. "What's that all about?"

"Yeah, since when does she miss a fight?" Tori didn't look like she thought there was anything Marah could do to prove herself, and this latest whatever-it-was was no exception. "And why did you take her to Ninja Ops, anyway?"

"Lothor totally set her up," Dustin protested. "He knew she was with me and he sent that thing anyway. He's always waited for her to get back to the ship before--this time he didn't care. He must have figured out what she was doing and decided to, I dunno, get her with us, I guess."

"Yeah, or he was just waiting for you to feel sorry for her so he could get someone on the inside," Shane warned. "She's played us before, man."

"I told you, that was an accident," Dustin insisted. "Lothor's after her now. She needs our protection.

"Besides," he added, like it was just an afterthought. "Sensei told me to bring her to Ops."

"Sensei said what?" Shane demanded.

At the same time, Tori repeated, "Wait, Sensei said that?"

"No way," Blake said. "He did not tell you to bring that freak into Ninja Ops."

"Guess that makes it easier to believe the alien thing," Hunter muttered. He kind of wished he hadn't been listening. "Maybe Sensei figures they have to stick together."

That shut them all up. And as much as he'd wished he hadn't been listening, now he wished he hadn't said anything. He didn't care so much about Sensei, but he didn't really want to lump Cam in with the rest of the crazies.

Suddenly, like he'd just realized what Blake had said, Dustin came to Marah's defense. "She's not a freak, all right? She's just confused."

"Yeah, about which side she's on," Blake agreed.

"If Sensei trusts her," Shane said, shaking his head, "that's good enough for me." His tone said it wasn't at all, but Hunter figured that--appearances aside--it probably was. Shane had a lot of respect for Sensei Watanabe, even if he did have a weird way of showing it sometimes.

"Me too," Tori said, in the same tone. Unlike Shane, she probably liked Cam's dad more than she respected him, and sometimes it showed. "I guess."

Dustin looked at Blake, but he just shrugged. "Whatever," he said.

Hunter didn't bother to answer. He was reserving judgement until Cam explained the Kapri thing. He didn't think it would be too hard to get Lothor to kidnap both the Strange Sisters back if he didn't like what he heard.

Unfortunately, he didn't get to hear the explanation for quite a while. It wasn't that there was that much to do at the track, especially since he hadn't actually ridden his bike that morning and he wasn't gonna let Blake talk him into practice laps now. Everyone was staring at him, and if no one had the guts to say anything to his face, he could still hear them thinking it: Hunter is gay.

Like he cared. Let 'em think whatever they wanted. He just didn't really want to be around while they did it. And he didn't want to hear about it here when someone finally got around to mentioning it to his friends.

So he spent very little time at the track, marginally more time putting his bike away, and then skulked around the grounds of the Wind Academy until Cam's hour was up. No surprise that he didn't hear from anyone in the Watanabe family by that time, no matter his threats on the subject. In reality, he thought he'd have been more surprised if Cam had called him back.

The logical thing to do, in the absence of any news, was to bring the trouble he had promised. He was pretty sure that him just showing up would fulfill the first level of "trouble" at Ninja Ops. He was perfectly prepared to take things to the second (questioning) and third (complaining) levels of trouble if it seemed like they might get results.

What he wasn't totally prepared for was the realization that Tori had beaten him there. When had she left the track? Okay, "after him" included most of the last hour, but still... what did she want with Cam?

He paused just outside the control room, taking advantage of the shadows at the bottom of the stairs. It wasn't the first time he'd used that particular ninja trick to sneak up on Cam. It wasn't even the first time he'd used it to overhear one of Cam's conversations. But Cam was irritatingly good at seeing through it, so even in the shadows he was careful to stay out of his direct line of sight.

"If it was that easy I just wouldn't do it," Tori was saying. "But it's not."

"Part of it's that easy." Cam was giving Tori his full attention, something that wasn't typical and made Hunter wonder just how serious this conversation was. "You said yourself they don't manifest at all if you don't use them, so at least that's the immediate problem solved."

Her ninja powers. Cam's disappearance had totally driven the issue from his mind. He wondered suddenly if that had anything to do with her reluctance to demorph--but no, she hadn't had any trouble fighting. Whatever was affecting her ninja powers, at least it didn't seem to interfere with the Ranger powers. That was good, right?

"The very immediate problem," Tori agreed. "The problem of the hour, not the problem of the day. If I don't use them, I can't train."

"Which makes you different from me how?" Cam's deadpan tone made Hunter want to step into the room, just to see his expression. Annoyed or amused? He couldn't tell from here.

"Even less different than you'd think." Tori, too, sounded strange all of a sudden. Were they teasing each other? Hunter was uncomfortably aware that Cam liked Tori, liked her better than maybe anyone else on the team, but he'd never been able to figure out just how close they were.

Not for lack of trying. He'd wanted to know, first because his bro had it bad for the blonde in blue, and then because... well, because Cam was a mystery. What did he like about Tori? Did they have some kind of history? Or was it just that she laughed at his jokes and he treated her like an equal and that was more than anyone else did for either of them?

"That does sound like a problem," Cam was saying, and yeah, of course Tori laughed. It made Hunter frown, which was bad, because who was he to say Cam shouldn't make fun of himself? He made fun of everyone else.

It was none of Hunter's business, anyway. He either liked Cam or he didn't. He didn't like him "but," he didn't like him "if," he just liked him. Or he didn't. Trying to change a guy he was only barely, arguably, dating, was not what he was about.

"You have no idea." Tori sounded like she was smiling, but her next words were, "Seriously, Cam. This is bigger than my ninja powers, and I don't know who else to talk to."

"Okay, sure." Cam sounded more approachable in that moment than Hunter had ever heard him--friendly, trustworthy, competent. Just a regular guy, ready to listen, happy to help out. Why didn't Hunter ever get to see that?

"Although I warn you," Cam added, "if you've suddenly started turning into a wolf, there's not a lot I can do."

This time Tori didn't laugh. "Not exactly," she said. "Um... maybe I should just show you. Could you come to the beach with me?"

There was a long pause. "Yeah, of course," Cam said at last. "Give me a minute, though. Can I meet you there?"

"Do you have a car I don't know about?" Tori countered.

"I'm sure Hunter will give me a ride." Cam didn't bother to raise his voice. He seemed to know he didn't have to, and Hunter sighed.

"How long have you known I was here?" he asked, stepping out of the shadows. Tori, at least, looked surprised to see him.

Cam gave him an amused glance as he shuffled into the control room, and perversely, that made him feel better. "Since you arrived," Cam answered. "It's hard to sneak up on the wolf."

"Yeah, well." Hunter stopped a few feet away and folded his arms. "Tell him I said hi."

Cam smiled. "Hi back."

Yeah, see, Hunter thought. This wasn't the Cam he knew at all. This was a nicer Cam. Calm, laid-back... confident without being arrogant. Very--cool. This was Cam being cool. Was this what Tori got from him?

She was looking from Cam to him and back again. "Okay, so..."

Hunter was with it enough to figure out what she was waiting for. "I'll give him a ride," he said gruffly. "We'll be right behind you."

Tori nodded, but it was Cam to whom she directed her threat. "You better be," she warned, backing up a few steps.

Cam lifted his chin in acknowledgement, and that seemed to be enough. Tori turned and darted for the stairs, casting only one curious glance over her shoulder before she disappeared. Hunter thought she was pretty trusting. He sure wouldn't have left Cam alone--especially with him--for nothing but a promise to follow.

"I take it my hour's up?" Cam's voice interrupted his thoughts, and Hunter blinked when he realized he'd been staring again.

"Yeah." It was awkward, but then, he hadn't really expected Cam to remember. "Where's the rest of the family?"

"My cousins went off to prove their allegiance by showing Dad where Lothor's surveillance equipment is." Cam's reply was so matter-of-fact that it took Hunter a moment to process it.

"Seriously?" he asked at last.

Cam's lips quirked, and for a second Hunter forgot his question entirely. He knew what it was like to kiss this guy. Despite his cutting remarks and command of sarcasm, Cam had a very friendly tongue. It was a hard concept to get his head around all of a sudden.

"So they say," Cam replied. Okay, maybe it had been more than a second, because he was totally lost. Who said what?

"Dad trusts them," Cam continued, and Hunter filled in the blanks. Marah and Kapri. Right. "I don't know why, but apparently there are a lot of things he hasn't told me, so what's one more secret?"

"Yeah," Hunter said uncomfortably. "What about this alien thing?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Cam replied without missing a beat.

Hunter opened his mouth to insist when it occurred to him that Cam wasn't calm about this either. The kind of anger that had prompted the wolf to go after Sensei, not once but several times, didn't come out of nowhere. It wasn't this secret that pissed him off, it was this secret on top of all the others. And Hunter should know when not to push by now.

It was Cam who broke the sudden silence. Maybe an idle remark, maybe an apology, Hunter couldn't tell, but he offered, "Turns out that's why I can change, though."

Hunter blinked. "Change?" he repeated.

"The animal spell," Cam said, like that helped. "You know that Wind Academy masters can turn themselves into animals, right?"

"Uh... no." Hunter frowned at him, but Cam just shrugged.

"Wind Academy masters can turn themselves into animals," he repeated, and Hunter thought, yeah. Not calm at all. Cam was kind of creeping him out, here. "Lothor's figured out how to turn other people into animals."

"You and your dad." Hunter felt stupid even saying it, because obviously, but Cam just nodded.

"Plus a whole bunch of other guinea pigs," he added, then he seemed to reconsider. "Bad expression. Lab rats. The wolves at the community center: Lothor got that idea from Shimazu, and he's been practicing it on humans ever since."

"He turns them into shapeshifters," Hunter said slowly. "But why? Looks like he's got it down. Why does he keep doing it?"

"Because it doesn't work on--" Cam hesitated, grimacing. "His people. Aliens, whatever. When he tries it on them, they just get stuck in the animal form."

Hunter got it. "Like your dad."

"And like me, at first." Cam shook his head. "Looks like I have my mom to thank for my ability to turn human again."

"Guess I owe her too," Hunter said without thinking.

Oddly, that made Cam smile. "I do less damage as a human," he admitted, and he didn't look at Hunter's chest or wrist but Hunter was very aware of the bandages there.

"Nah," he heard himself say. "I was just thinking you kiss better as a human."

Cam started to answer but the alarm cut him off and Hunter probably should be glad, because that was definitely not his smoothest line ever. But he wasn't, because Cam really had been smiling there. And Hunter was pretty sure that no matter how pissed he was at his father, he had finally been distracted enough to have an actual conversation, which Hunter wasn't sure he wanted but it had to be better than letting Cam seethe in silence, right?

That was when things started happening faster than he could keep up with. Cam was saying something about a spaceship, which, okay, that sounded cool, so he came over to look. Only instead of leaning on the back of Cam's chair, the way he usually did, he put a hand on Cam's shoulder and braced the other one next to the computer. Cam muttered something, he leaned in to hear, and suddenly Cam's mouth was on his and he honestly hadn't seen that coming but he sure as hell wasn't complaining.

Cam wasn't kidding, either. He'd turned away from the monitor, one hand fisting in Hunter's t-shirt and the other snaking around his neck to pull him closer, tongue already in play like he had a standing invitation. Which he kind of did, but--

Hunter had to grip the chair arms to keep his balance and he kissed back as hard as he could without crushing Cam. God, this was nuts. This was fucking crazy. Cam acted like he'd been holding back on this since... How come he could never tell what was going through this guy's head until he totally lost it?

"Cam," he gasped, when he started to realize Cam's make-out threshold was seriously higher than his. He was gonna be way too turned on by the time Cam let him go. And geez, how was that even possible? He wasn't the one attacking people with kisses, here.

"This is why," Cam murmured, loosening his grip on Hunter's t-shirt and then clenching his fingers again when Hunter tried to pull away. "You should never be a psychologist."

"What?" That came out a little higher than he'd have liked, but his shirt had ridden up and Cam's hand was on his skin crawling around his back and it made him shake and what the fuck was he supposed to do about that?

"Trying to talk me down." Cam was forming complete sentences, which was impossible, because Hunter couldn't even listen and kiss like this so how the hell was he talking? "Making me focus on you instead of my dad."

Cam was breathing the words straight into his mouth, into his skin when Hunter turned his head, lips on his face, tongue trailing across his jaw. Hunter closed his eyes because that stupid computer was still showing some kind of alien invasion and this wasn't even real. This was a fantasy of being with Cam in Ninja Ops while something big went down outside and Cam said, Screw duty, let's make out.

"I know psychology," Cam whispered, and that was not fantasy dialogue, that was Cam being... Cam. He was with Cam, Cam was kissing his neck and running fingers across his spine and his shoulders hurt and ow, he really wanted to straighten up--

"And it's fine," Cam continued. Hunter barely heard him. "But I can ignore my dad, and when there are unidentified spaceships in the atmosphere that's important. That's vital. That's what keeps the Rangers on top of alien invasions."

"D'you--" Hunter swallowed hard, because Cam was sucking on his collarbone and why did that feel good? God, he had zero experience making out and he'd never really thought there was much to know until Cam started ambushing him like this.

"D'you ever," he tried again, totally unable to hide the fact that he was panting and completely out of his league here. "Shut up?"

"I can't ignore you," Cam breathed. He pressed his mouth to Hunter's again and Hunter leaned into the kiss with a moan he couldn't believe had really come from him because he did not moan--

"Oh!" It was a woman's voice, and he didn't care. "Is this a bad time?"

"It looks like a bad time," another voice agreed. "Maybe we should come back later."

Cam was pushing him back, getting up, and Hunter was disappointed and relieved at the same time because he was in way over his head and there was no way he wouldn't screw this up if it didn't stop now.

"Go. Away," Cam growled. His fingers in the waistband of Hunter's jeans kept him closer than his wrinkled t-shirt would have, and then Cam's body was pressed up against his and Hunter barely realized he was being kissed because Cam's hands were even more distracting than his mouth.

"Going," Marah's voice agreed.

"We're going now," Kapri echoed immediately, and this time Cam didn't answer.

Hunter couldn't. This was bad. This was really bad: he was out of control, Cam was out of control, he didn't know what to do and he didn't want to do anything except what he was already doing which was basically to let Cam do whatever he wanted.

"Sit down," Cam said, and the growl was gone from his voice. He was quiet and gentle and very present, and for the second time Hunter thought maybe Cam had come to his senses. Cam was pulling himself together. Cam was not putting on a show for his cousins, he was going to ID that spaceship, and everything would be fine.

Cam nudged Hunter carefully into his chair and fuck if he wasn't in Hunter's face a second later. Seriously, knee between his legs, elbows on the chair back to either side of Hunter's head, in his face. He was all but sitting in Hunter's lap and this time when he brought his head down for a kiss Hunter felt it through his entire body.

Making out was easy. Kiss, grope, repeat. Hunter had been so sure that was all there was to it that after a couple of tries with girls he had given up and gone back to training in his free time. Waste of time and energy, as far as he was concerned, and at that point he'd figured he had all the experience he needed anyway.

He didn't have this kind of experience. The kind of kissing that made him pant, the kind of touch that made his skin hot and his brain useless. Cam was on top of him, Cam was in control, but he was always in control--even yesterday when he'd been on the floor pinned underneath Hunter he'd still decided what and when and how.

Cam's how made him shudder, and he wasn't just gasping for breath, he was actually seriously moaning--he didn't do that--and he couldn't stop himself because shit, Cam...

He let his head fall back against the chair when Cam went for his neck again. He unclenched his hands, finally getting that there was something a lot more interesting to hold onto than the chair, and fumbled his way across Cam's chest and down his sides. He wasn't paying much attention, honestly, he couldn't, and of course that was when Cam decided to wrench away.

Hunter stayed where he was. He couldn't think. He was pretty sure there wasn't much he could do, at this point. He could hold still. Breathing hard and staring mindlessly at nothing, but he could stay where he was. He could do that.

"The ship cloaked itself," Cam muttered, glaring at the screen.

So much for staying. He was up and out of the chair before Cam could turn around. The flash of anger made walking away easier than it should have been. He didn't need this.

Cam sounded surprised when his voice caught up with him halfway across the room. "Where are you going?"

He did need this, and Cam obviously didn't, and it was so frustrating he actually turned around and yelled at the guy who'd been kissing him senseless seconds ago. "What the fuck was that! The cool alien ship is actually boring, guess I'll kiss Hunter, no wait it's interesting again, Hunter doesn't exist--Hunter who?"

Cam was staring at him.

Okay, so it wasn't his most articulate rant ever. The point stood. Hunter only mattered when the wolf wanted something. When Cam was in charge, he got nothing.

Today sucked. Cam got snatched from right in front of him, brought back by one of his worst enemies, and then demonstrated his apparently considerable sexual prowess just for kicks. He was bored, so he might as well make Hunter feel like nothing. What else was a fake alpha good for if you couldn't push him around when the rest of the pack wasn't watching?

"I'm gone," Hunter growled. He turned away, made it all the way to the stairs before Cam called for him to wait, and he almost didn't listen.

"Please," Cam added urgently, and Hunter hesitated with one foot on the bottom stair. "Hunter, please. Don't go."

Hunter gritted his teeth. "I'm getting tired of you using that word to get whatever you want," he told the stairs.

He shouldn't have said that. He regretted it the moment it was out, but he couldn't change it now. He could turn back, though. He could even apologize, if he had to.

Cam didn't give him a chance. "It's the only power I have," he pointed out. Evenly, calmly, like he was trying to hold it together without letting on that it was a struggle. "You're the alpha; you call the shots. I only have one safeword if you do something I don't like, and 'please' is it."

Hunter opened his mouth, then closed it again. That was the craziest thing he'd ever heard: It's the only power I have. Cam was the power here. Hunter was just along for the ride.

"I didn't ignore you," Cam continued carefully. "I wasn't paying any attention to that ship, and yes, I'm appalled at my lack of priorities, but for some reason kissing you seemed more important."

"You stopped," Hunter muttered, folding his arms. Geez, was he whining? What the hell was wrong with him?

"Well, I--" Cam shrugged, obviously uncomfortable. "You... you're... I can only try to suck your brain out through your mouth for so long before I start to worry about not being able to stop."

"I'm what?" Hunter prompted suspiciously, not convinced this was a compliment.

"Hot," Cam snapped. "Okay? What do you want me to say? Sexy? Doable?"

Cam. What was wrong with him was the fact that he wanted Cam. And he was willing to do pretty much anything to get him, including playing alpha to his occasionally controllable wolf and being utterly gay in the presence of his human (alien?) side.

"You're kind of cute when you're flustered," Hunter observed. He didn't know exactly why he said it, except that it did fall into the "utterly gay" category, and also it was true.

It made Cam sigh. "You know, Hunter, I'm the oldest Ranger here, and it would be nice if that meant something. For instance, oh, say, never having to use the word 'doable' to describe one of my teammates. Since it obviously doesn't, however, I'd just like to point out that calling someone 'doable' and getting 'cute' in return is something of a blow to the ego."

"I've never done it with a guy," Hunter blurted out. Or a girl, but that wasn't really the point as far as he was concerned. He hadn't even really meant to say it, he just kind of... did.

"Okay," Cam agreed after a moment. "I assume you mention this as an explanation of your seeming reluctance or inability to qualify a person's sexual appeal?"

"I mention this," Hunter informed him, "because just being in the same room with you turns me on, and I don't think you get how amazing it is that I'm not totally freaked out by this."

The pause was longer this time, but finally Cam repeated, "Okay." Then he added, "That's probably fair."

If this was Cam being approachable again, then Hunter was starting to see why Tori went to him with her problems. He actually was kind of good at the friendly advisor thing, when he wasn't engrossed in his work or practicing his sarcasm. Too bad that was most of the time.

Tori. Right. They were in trouble. "Tori's gonna kill us," Hunter muttered aloud.

Cam didn't seem to get it. "Why?"

"Uh, 'we're right behind you'?" Hunter prompted.

Cam glanced at his watch. "Assuming she actually took her van, she hasn't even gotten to the beach yet. As long as I leave in the next ten minutes, I can get there before she does by streaking."

Hunter stared at him. "You mean, by breaking academy rules and using your ninja powers for personal gain?"

Cam just raised his eyebrows. "Do I look like my father?"

Seriously? Was this not a wolf thing, then? Did Cam really lie and cheat as much as the rest of them--he just hid it better?

At least that would explain why he and Tori got along so well.

"Actually," Hunter said, keeping his face as expressionless as possible, "you have been a little on the furry side lately."

Cam grimaced at him, but there was a smile behind it that he couldn't totally suppress. "Well," he said, drawing the word out like he was thinking about it, "I can see why identifying family resemblance wouldn't be one of your strong points."

Hunter let him have that one. "You gonna at least ID that spaceship before we go?"

"It's Vexacus," Cam said, barely glancing at the screen. "And who said anything about 'we'? Tori asked me to meet her there."

"Vexacus?" Hunter repeated. "The guy Shane chased off with the Battlizer?"

"Yeah." Cam was frowning, but he had turned away from the computer. "More specifically, the guy who came here looking for the power Shane now has, refused to ally with Lothor, and escaped without surrendering when he failed to destroy the Red Ranger."

Okay, he did sound more threatening when Cam put it like that. "So we're gonna, what," Hunter demanded, "just ignore him?"

"He's not doing anything right now," Cam pointed out. "We can't go attack him just for landing his ship on our planet. We've already seen that he doesn't like Lothor, and I've got a bug set to track him the second he or his ship moves. I'll warn Shane he's here, but there's not really anything else I can do."

Hunter didn't like it, and he said so. Cam called Shane from the stairs, explaining the situation without looking at him. But he finished with, "Hunter doesn't like it," and Hunter snorted.

"Yeah, me neither," Shane's voice agreed from Cam's morpher. "Let me know if anything changes."

"Will do." Cam dropped his amulet, then stood frozen at the bottom of the stairs for a moment.

Just as Hunter was about to ask, Cam strode over to the storage closet and yanked it open. Kapri actually stumbled out, like she'd been leaning on the door when it swung open, and Marah just stood there blinking at them with really wide eyes. They both burst into apologies and reassurances that they hadn't meant any trouble, all of which Cam ignored.

"I'm leaving," he told them sternly. "Don't touch anything."

Hunter glared at them, but he followed Cam without a word. Once outside, though, he asked, "You think it's really a good idea to leave them unsupervised in Ninja Ops?"

"Dad's problem," Cam said shortly. "Not mine."

Right.

"Besides," Cam said, apparently as an afterthought. "All the labs are locked, and the rest of my stuff is keyed to Ranger Power signatures. Dad can fake it, but there's no way they'll be able to get in. The supercomputer will shut down before it tells them anything."

Hunter had to grin. "You know," he said conversationally, "you're way more badass than I ever gave you credit for."

"Thank you," Cam replied.

"But," Hunter added, "next time can we do the making out thing someplace where your cousins can't accidentally wander in?"

"Oh, right," Cam scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Like having your brother walk in on us was any better."

Hunter closed his mouth again, because okay, yeah. Point.

On the other hand, Cam didn't question him on the beach thing again, so that was at least partly a win. If Tori didn't want him to come, she wouldn't have let him give Cam a ride, right? This way he got time with Cam and intel for Blake at the same time.

When they got there, though, it looked like Cam had miscalculated a little. There was no sign of Tori down by the water, but that was definitely her van parked by the road. "Ten minutes?" he repeated.

"Fine, I lost track of time." Cam was frowning at the deserted beach like Tori might really be here somewhere and he had just missed her. "I can't imagine how that could have happened."

Hunter just smiled, deciding to count that as another one for his side. It wasn't so hard to think of himself making out with Cam when Cam acted all... normal about it. Yeah, the wolf embarrassed him, no question--but the gay thing?

Not so much, apparently.

"Hey, Hunter?" Cam didn't usually stop there, but it was the tone that got his attention more than anything. Something about his voice said, You're going to think I'm crazy but I've considered every possible angle before saying this out loud.

"Did you hear what Tori said," Cam continued slowly, "about being like me?"

Cam wasn't looking at the beach, Hunter realized suddenly. He was looking out at the water. Following his gaze, it still took him a moment to pick out the motion beyond the breakers.

There was a dolphin out there. Not a pod, not a pair... a single dolphin, frolicking just offshore. Alone. Not stuck, either, not trapped, but the longer he watched the more obvious it became that it wasn't going anywhere. It was happy to play--alone--just beyond the surf on a deserted stretch of coastline.

Hunter looked at Cam and found Cam's yellow eyes staring back at him. "No way," Hunter said aloud. "That's crazy."

Cam just turned back to the ocean. He watched for a long moment, and Hunter watched him. Then, very deliberately, Cam lifted his hand above his hand and waved slowly in the direction of the water.

There was no mistaking the way the dolphin turned toward shore. The dorsal fin marked its progress when the rest of it disappeared, until even that was obscured by a breaking wave. It--she--was swallowed up by the rush of white and foam.

As the wave fell apart, Tori stood up in its place, bright blue swimsuit, shorts, blonde hair made darker by the water. She was heading straight for them. And when Cam lifted his hand again, she waved in return.

The dolphin was gone.

12. Leader of the Pack

"Well," Cam remarked, studying her critically, "I can see why that might affect your ninja powers some."

Tori looked away with a laugh, pushing her hair out of her face automatically. And it was obviously an automatic gesture, because her hair wasn't in her face. It was slicked back by ocean water and the angle at which she'd stood up when the dolphin disappeared.

He thought suddenly, inconsequentially, that Tori probably didn't have his balance problems in transition. She was surrounded by water, after all. It must buoy her when her mass shifted and give her extra seconds to readjust.

"I should have asked you before I agreed," Tori was saying, and she sounded rueful and apologetic and a little hopeful. "The ninja thing didn't even occur to me."

"Okay, hold it right there." Hunter's tone said he didn't expect any argument. "Before you agreed? Wanna explain that?"

Tori rolled her eyes. "Well, it's not like they kidnap people or anything. They asked me if I wanted to come with them, and they asked me if I wanted..." She held her hands out to the sides. "This."

"They?" Cam repeated.

"Dill," she said. "And his friends. They asked if I wanted to be a dolphin, like them. And, okay, I know I should have thought about it a little more, but how often am I going to get this kind of chance?"

Hunter folded his arms, and his tone was just a little too incredulous when he said, "To turn into an animal?"

Cam looked at him. Hunter returned his glance immediately, and Cam raised his eyebrows. There was a second's worth of confusion on his face before his expression cleared. "Which is cool," he said quickly. "It's fine, it's just, why would you choose to... uh--"

Cam frowned at him, and Hunter stopped. "You know what?" he said. "Never mind. Finish your story."

"The whole point of studying at the Wind Academy is to be able to turn into an animal," Tori insisted. "If I wanted to control the weather, I would have gone to your school, but I didn't. So when an encantado asks me if I want to be able to turn into a dolphin whenever I want, what do you think I'm going to say?"

"How about, 'let me think about it'?" Cam suggested. He was weighing the risk of some sort of mind control against Tori's tendency toward impulsiveness, and impulsiveness was winning.

"What if I'd said 'let me think about it' and then I'd never seen him again?" Tori argued. "It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, not a written contract."

"And this was really that important to you?" Cam asked, studying her. He had to admit that her decision cast his own shapeshifting ability in a different light. He hadn't imagined that anyone could envy a situation that left them... less than human.

Thanks a lot, Dad, he added silently. Apparently he never had been completely human, so maybe he hadn't really lost anything. He tried to put his immediate family out of his mind.

"It's the reason I'm a ninja," Tori was saying. Like this was the most obvious thing in her life. "I don't just want to study the elements. I want to be part of them."

"Less deadly at your academy than mine," Hunter muttered.

Tori crossed her arms over her chest, mirroring his position. "Figuratively speaking," she told him. "What do you care, anyway? I can still fight."

"Not as a ninja, apparently," Hunter shot back.

Cam wondered if Hunter was hurt by her implication that he didn't care about Tori outside of her ability to fight. Because Cam thought he was, but Hunter didn't act it, and why would he think that, anyway? What did he know about Hunter, really?

"I didn't know that would happen when I agreed!" Tori was definitely on the defensive, but she didn't see that Hunter was, too.

"It might be temporary," Cam interrupted. He didn't have any reason to think that, but he didn't have any reason not to, either, and as long as he was speaking they weren't. "I know what happened to us isn't exactly comparable, but I had trouble at first too, and I got better."

Actually, he had no idea what had happened to Tori. It didn't sound like it involved Lothor, though, so maybe she'd be all right. And as long as she kept saying it had been her choice, they didn't really have any excuse to hunt Dill down and interrogate him.

Cam was going to do it anyway, of course, but he didn't really have an excuse.

"Do you think so?" Tori looked uncertain. "I guess I should probably tell Sensei."

"You think?" Hunter said dryly. He sounded less confrontational now, but his condescension wasn't helping either.

"I don't," Cam replied. "I mean, you can tell Dad whatever you want, but we're not training today. Maybe if you lay off your ninja powers for a day or so, tomorrow will be different."

"Cam." Hunter was eyeing him skeptically. "She turns into a dolphin. You don't think that's gonna come up at some point?"

"I didn't say you should keep it a secret," Cam countered, exchanging glances with Tori. "I'm just saying... well, he won't find out about it from me. Your news, your time."

"You don't think you should, like, check her out or something?" Hunter demanded.

Cam raised his eyebrows. "For what? Whistling? A sudden desire to eat fish? It's magic, Hunter. What do you want me to look for?"

"Look, I'm just saying," Hunter declared. "You weren't the most stable shapeshifter at first either, okay? What if she starts acting... I dunno, weird, or something?"

Cam didn't know whether to be offended for himself or for Tori. "Weird?" he repeated, with as much disdain as he could manage.

"Yeah," Hunter said defiantly. He was glaring back at Cam. "Weird."

Cam sighed, giving Tori a sideways look. "How do you feel?"

"Um..." She shrugged a little. "Fine?"

"Fine," Cam echoed. "You'll call someone if you start to feel other than fine, right?"

"Yeah, sure," Tori agreed, smiling. She didn't seem to take their argument personally. In fact, she seemed more amused by it than anything, and Cam wasn't sure what to think about that.

"Good. Then we have a lunch date," he said, jerking his head at Hunter. "Watch out for fishing nets."

Tori looked exactly as interested in that as he'd expected. "Emphasis on lunch," she wanted to know, "or on date?"

"Lunch," Hunter said firmly.

At the same time, Cam answered, "Date."

"Really?" Tori stared at them, ignoring Hunter's impatient sigh. "Since when? Should I have known about this?"

Cam glanced at Hunter. "I guess it depends who you ask," he said, silently questioning Hunter's annoyed look.

"Oh, like you advertise anything," Hunter said under his breath. He didn't hold Cam's gaze, and he didn't look at Tori at all.

"Apparently not," Cam told Tori, frowning. Was telling friends somehow different from kissing in public? And how much longer could it stay a secret now that Marah and Kapri had seen them, anyway?

"I feel like we should throw a party or something," Tori mused, like she hadn't even heard. "You guys start going out, and I don't even know about it until... when? Seriously--how long have I been out of the loop?

"Hey," she added, before Cam could answer. "Were we on a double date last night?" She reached out and whacked him on the shoulder. "I can't believe you didn't tell me!"

He couldn't help but smile a little, no matter Hunter's reaction. "You've been a dolphin all day," he pointed out. Reasonably, he thought. "You didn't get around to saying anything until it interfered with your ninja powers."

She opened her mouth, then narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "Okay," she admitted. "True. But," she said, holding up a finger in warning. "I told you first, and if I find out I was the last to know about this--"

"You're the first to be officially told," Cam promised. He didn't mention that Marah and Kapri had already found out by accident.

"Good." Tori looked satisfied, then surprised. "But Blake knows, right?"

Cam looked at Hunter again, and this time he wasn't going to reply. Hunter could field that one on his own. Partly because Hunter should have to say something, and partly because Cam wasn't completely sure of the answer.

"No," Hunter muttered at last.

"Um... okay?" Tori looked to Cam for help, but he just shrugged. He and Blake were barely on speaking terms as it was. Anything Hunter might or might not have said to him since this morning was really none of his business.

Tori did wish them a good time on their date, but from the thoughtful look on her face, the first person she called after leaving the beach would be Blake. Cam didn't know what would happen, but he figured he'd better know where he stood before then. He hadn't expected Hunter's stony silence just because he'd mentioned dating.

"Do we not talk about this?" Cam demanded, when they were far enough away that Tori wouldn't be able to hear them.

"Huh?" Hunter lifted his gaze from the sand like he'd forgotten Cam was even there. "What?"

"You didn't seem too happy about me telling Tori we were going out," Cam clarified.

Hunter just shrugged. "I don't care."

"Fine." Then Cam frowned. "Just out of curiosity, is Blake going to be... more surprised than Tori?"

Hunter shrugged again, staring out at the horizon as they walked. "Beats me."

Cam was very close to putting it into the simplest words possible: Does Blake know you're gay? But at the last moment he decided to take the hint and keep his mouth shut. Because really, why would Blake know? Hunter himself didn't seem completely convinced. It seemed less and less likely that he would have mentioned it to his brother.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes. Cam had already eaten, and though he was happy to eat again he wasn't starving. So they walked in silence until Hunter seemed to remember what had started his brooding in the first place and brought up the subject of lunch again.

They ended up downtown, outside a little place that served stews and sandwiches all day long. The food was decent, but its main draw was its location directly across from a park. Even in the middle of the afternoon there were scattered diners lingering on the stone benches and sitting in the grass under the trees. The sounds of the street were loud enough that they had some privacy, though, and Cam figured they could talk about things that mattered without being overheard.

"I was serious about training, you know," he remarked, watching Hunter empty a bag of chips over top of his sandwich. "Fighting other wolves is instinctive. Fighting humans is harder."

Hunter paused, glancing up at him. "As a wolf, you mean."

"Yeah," Cam agreed. Had he forgotten to specify that? "Humans are more fragile. It'd be nice to have some control over how much damage I do."

"Can't wait to help you with that," Hunter said dryly. With a lack of enthusiasm so pronounced it had to be deliberate, he added, "Let's start right now."

Cam had to smile. The subject wasn't funny, but Hunter was. "I was thinking maybe after lunch," he remarked.

"I'm thinking maybe you're crazy," Hunter replied.

Cam stuck the plastic spoon back into his beef stew, trying to ignore the conspicuous gauze wrap on the arm closest to him. "Why?" he asked. "You need to learn to fight wolves as much as I need to learn to fight humans."

This time Hunter sounded more serious when he said, "Not with you."

Cam frowned. "Why not?"

"Straight up?" Hunter glanced sideways at him. "'Cause I don't want to be afraid of you, that's why."

Taken aback, Cam found he didn't know what to say. "Are you afraid of me?" he asked at last.

"No," Hunter snapped. Then he paused, apparently reconsidering. "Look, Cam. I'm gonna learn to fight wolves no matter what, right? Just by hanging out with you. I'd rather not screw up this... the--our trust, by doing it with you."

It sounded so reasonable that he wondered if Hunter had actually convinced himself it was true. "You already don't trust me," he said aloud. "I screwed that up days ago, didn't I."

"Of course I trust you," Hunter said testily. "I'm just saying I'd rather keep it that way, if it's all the same to you."

"Are you going to tell Dad you want to stop training with me?" Cam inquired. "You don't want to spar with me anymore because you might look at me differently?"

"That's different," Hunter said defensively. "Obviously you're not gonna... you're different as a wolf, okay?"

"Obviously I'm not going to hurt you when I'm human." Cam finished the sentence for him. "But you think I might as a wolf, don't you."

"No," Hunter muttered, and Cam didn't have any trouble interpreting that. Yes.

"I'm sorry about your arm," Cam said quietly. In his defense, Hunter hadn't exactly pulled the punch he'd thrown to provoke Cam's reaction, but he knew that wasn't the point. "I could promise that it won't happen again, but I guess if you believed that then I wouldn't have to."

Hunter hesitated, and it was then that Cam realized they weren't alone. "That's not--" Hunter began.

Cam hated to cut him off but some things were more important. He touched Hunter's wrist without looking, his fingers gentle on healing skin, and Hunter froze. He could wish his unexpected touch didn't make Hunter flinch quite so strongly, but he knew it did and he would take advantage of it if he had to.

The woman in the business suit didn't walk past them. She gave a friendly nod when she caught Cam's eye, and he resisted the temptation to look over his shoulder. He knew perfectly well there wasn't anyone behind him. But he didn't know this woman, and he didn't have any idea what she wanted.

"Mr. Watanabe," she said as she came to a halt in front of them. Her eyes flicked to Hunter, and she added, "Mr. Bradley. Good afternoon." But it was Cam to whom she held out her hand.

Cam reached out to shake it automatically, setting his stew aside so he could stand up. "I don't believe we've met," he said slowly, studying her. Behind him, Hunter didn't move.

"Isabelle Johanssen," she replied. She didn't wait for his reaction, just turned to Hunter and offered her hand to him as well.

Hunter squinted up at her. "Should we know you?" he drawled. He didn't take her hand, and she withdrew it without any sign of self-consciousness.

There was something about her that Cam should have already figured out, and his brain was sorting and discarding scenarios faster than he could speak. He should know her, he'd been convinced of that even before she smiled, but how? Where could he possibly have seen this woman that she would know not only him, but Hunter as well?

"Yes," she said, her attention on Cam again. "I'll sit, if you don't mind." Her tone said very clearly that he would not, and that was all it took. Her demeanor was weirdly reminiscent of Hunter--which made several things click into place at once.

It wasn't her attitude. It was his reaction to it. His reaction, and Hunter's, who had bristled the second he noticed her. Isabelle.

"Iza," he blurted out. "You're Iza."

That made Hunter straighten. "What?"

"Yes," she told Cam. She shot a sharp look at Hunter and added, "I've only allocated a few minutes for this meeting, so please don't ask for repetition again unless you can't do without it."

Hunter didn't have a reply for that, and Cam's mouth quirked up at the corner. "We're listening," he told her.

"I don't hold the actions of a single ninja master against the entire community," she informed him. "Some of the pack does, so watch out for that."

She tossed another glance in Hunter's direction. "Some people also feel that humans have no place in the pack, so don't take your position for granted. I acknowledge you as an alpha only nominally, and I won't accept your decisions over his."

Only then did Cam realize how strange it was to have someone from "the pack" talking to him instead of to Hunter. And as personally validating as it might be, at the same time, it felt vaguely... insulting. "Hunter does speak for me," he said reluctantly. "Believe me--I wouldn't let him get away with the alpha act if it wasn't true."

"That's really not my problem," Iza told him. "He's not a wolf, so as far as I'm concerned, your opinion is more valuable than his. That doesn't mean he can't come to pack gatherings," she added, "or that he can't hunt or fight for you if he chooses. It just means that I don't recognize his rank."

Cam frowned, not sure how significant that was, but she was already going on.

"Given your background," Iza said, "you're probably aware that there are a disproportionate number of supernatural dangers in the area. The pack has a guard that patrols the mountains, the rural areas, and parts of the city itself."

She paused for the first time, giving both of them an assessing look. "Depending on your skill and availability, I'd be interested in including you in that guard."

Cam glanced at Hunter and saw blue eyes flicker toward his. Iza's eyes weren't yellow, Cam thought suddenly. Were they? He resisted the impulse to turn and check the moment the thought crossed his mind.

"We'd need to know more about it," Hunter said curtly.

"I'll have someone get in touch with you," Iza replied. She was already standing up when Cam looked back at her, and he realized that she hadn't been kidding about "a few minutes." Apparently a few minutes had included the time it took to walk here.

"Your eyes aren't yellow," he blurted out, because no, they were brown. He wanted to know why, and she didn't seem the type of person he would ever catch at a better time.

"Contacts," she said briefly. Then she smiled at him. "They used to be blue. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to turn yellow eyes blue and make it look natural."

He nodded slowly. He almost asked why it mattered, but he supposed the natural look avoided questions better left unasked. "I see."

She looked like she was about to leave, but there was one more thing on her mental list. "Akeelah is a friend of mine," she remarked, suddenly including both of them in her stare. "I don't want to hear that her life has been threatened by either of you again."

Cam blinked, then narrowed his eyes. "Tell her not to touch Hunter again and there won't be any problems."

"That's not realistic," Iza informed him. "It's what she does. You might as well try to become a vegetarian."

"I was a vegetarian," Cam snapped, and maybe that was the wrong thing to get upset over but she'd hit a sore point.

"You could still be," she said. "If you never wanted to enjoy your food again. Don't ask Akeelah to suppress her nature just because it makes you uncomfortable.

"Besides," she added, glancing at Hunter. "He is, quite literally, the first person she's failed to seduce, so I don't see that you have anything to worry about."

"Great," Cam muttered before he could stop himself. "So now he becomes a challenge."

"Mr. Watanabe." It was her tone that reminded him who he was talking to. "I prefer that members of the pack do not talk back to me. Leave my girls alone and I'm sure they'll do their best to return the favor."

"Was she kidding about satyrs?" Hunter asked abruptly.

Iza waited until Cam looked away to address Hunter. "Not knowing what she told you," the pack leader said evenly, "I can't answer that question with any certainty."

Cam stiffened, but his gaze slid off of her when he glanced up because she clearly wasn't a person who expected to be challenged. Still... satyrs? He really didn't like the sound of that.

"You'll excuse me," Iza said with finality, "but there are people who need me more right now. Good day, gentlemen."

Hunter leaned back, draping his arm across the back of the bench, and pretended relaxation as they watched her walk away. She didn't look back. Cam waited until he was sure she couldn't hear them and pretty sure she wasn't going to turn around.

"Isabelle Johanssen," he said quietly, for Hunter's ears only. "Looks like I have a new research project."

"You adding her to the list?" Hunter murmured back. "She above or below Tori's friend Dill?"

Cam smiled, and when he turned his head his face was very close to Hunter's. "Am I that obvious?" he wondered aloud.

A faint smirk played on Hunter's mouth. "Sometimes."

"Now?" Cam asked, as his gaze dropped to the almost-smiling mouth.

Hunter's lips twitched. "Yeah," he confirmed, and he was the one who leaned in first. They met cautiously, careful about where they were and what it might mean depending on who saw them.

It was reassuring, if not particularly passionate. It was a connection Cam desperately wanted after yet another surprise from "the pack." It was a reminder that Hunter did want him, despite the craziness that seemed to follow Cam everywhere lately. It was a promise that going public with this--whatever it was--wasn't a deal-breaker.

"You're right," Hunter whispered, when he pulled away. He cleared his throat before he continued, "I'm gonna have to learn to fight wolves."

Cam shifted his stew to the other side so he could lean back against Hunter's arm without worrying about knocking it over. Iza was out of sight now, disappeared down the street or into a car or something that he hadn't been watching closely enough to catch. No one else was paying any attention to them.

"I'm not like I was," he said quietly. "I wouldn't hurt you, Hunter."

"I know that." Hunter said it with more vehemence than he'd expected, and Cam glanced sideways at him. He was frowning at the ground in front of their bench. "I know that," he repeated. "And I do trust you, so don't try to make it about that."

Hunter paused, still staring at the ground. "It's just--that guy at the community center--he hit me pretty hard, right?"

Cam's eyes flicked to Hunter's chest, but he didn't say anything.

"And I hit him back," Hunter continued. "That wasn't... it wasn't about control or skill or anything. It was just self-defense. I didn't think about it--I just did it."

"Exactly what you should have done," Cam agreed carefully. "That's why you train: so you can defend yourself without thinking about it."

"I train with humans, Cam. Not animals." Hunter lifted his sober gaze to Cam's. "That wolf hit me and I thought I was screwed. I threw electricity at him 'cause it was the fastest, hardest thing I could do."

"You defended yourself," Cam repeated. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"There is if it's you," Hunter said, his eyes sliding past Cam and out to the street. "That guy wasn't trying to kill me. He was just trying to put me in my place, and I could have fried him. If you came at me like that..."

Cam was silent, suddenly understanding. Hunter wasn't worried about getting hurt. He was worried about hurting Cam.

"I don't know what I'd do," Hunter said at last.

"I do," Cam said firmly. He wasn't scared of Hunter. "You'd do what you always do--you'd give me the benefit of the doubt. We've been sparring together for almost a year, and I've never seen you lose control in the practice rooms."

"This is different," Hunter insisted, but Cam spoke over him.

"This is exactly the same. It's just practice. It's not a real fight, there's no danger, and we know how not to hurt each other."

Hunter was quiet for a moment. Then he glanced over at Cam, eyebrows raised slightly. "Am I actually arguing safety with you? Am I being the voice of reason while you try to talk me into something reckless and unnecessary?"

Cam considered that. "It's possible," he admitted at last.

The agreement made Hunter grin. "All right," he declared. "You're on."

It seemed like a good idea right up until the moment he was facing off against Hunter on the mats in one of the least used practice rooms. Hunter's training uniform covered the rapidly healing gash on his arm and the claw marks that must still run the length of his chest... And here he was, ready to launch his wolf form at a guy who had as much as admitted he was afraid of it.

Suddenly realizing how much he was asking of Hunter, Cam hesitated. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea."

Hunter snorted. "Oh, now you realize this? Forget it; you're not backing out on me now."

"No, look..." It was only just occurring to Cam how different this would be from a normal sparring session. "There are things I can't slow down. I mean--in wolf form, the first thing I'm going to try to do is knock you down. By leaping at you," he clarified. "I can't do that at anything less than full speed."

Hunter shrugged. "No, but you can warn me, right? Like you just did. You're gonna try to knock me down, so I know I've gotta block you. No problem."

"Well, ideally, you'd get out of the way," Cam said dryly. "But failing that, yes, a block would be good."

Hunter smirked at him, but Cam noticed that he deliberately didn't fold his arms. He wasn't that confident. "Bring it on," Hunter told him.

Cam swallowed. Wasn't this what he wanted? The chance to prove he could neutralize an opponent without hurting them? He could, he was sure of it. He had to be able to. He was no kind of sparring partner if he couldn't control his attack.

He shifted to the wolf before he could change his mind. Hunter's expression didn't change as he paced carefully forward, calculating the exact distance he would want for his jump. He stopped, crouching down. Pausing. He made sure to give Hunter plenty of warning.

Maybe too much, he thought abruptly. Hunter didn't look smug, or confident, or really anything except grim. His cover for nerves. Hunter was nervous, he realized--and he wasn't helping.

Cam sprang forward with a half-hearted push from his hindquarters, enough to get him in the air, barely enough to cover the distance between them. Head back, elbows bent, even his front paws flexed to minimize the impact... It was, quite possibly, the most reluctant jump he'd ever made.

And it never landed. He slammed into something that was definitely not human and bounced. Not hard, not far, but he absorbed enough energy that he didn't just slide to the floor. He was knocked back almost a foot and landed in an undignified sprawl of tail and legs.

"Hey, shit, sorry--" Hunter sounded worried, and Cam saw him hold out his hand before he realized he couldn't exactly help a wolf up off the floor. "Are you--?"

Cam turned human again, lying on his back, blinking up at Hunter. "Okay," he remarked, holding up his hand. "That was effective." Hunter clasped his hand and helped him to his feet, and Cam added, "How come you didn't do that at the community center?"

"I told you," Hunter said with a shrug. "I wasn't thinking." He seemed a little more relaxed, anyway, and Cam figured that alone was worth getting knocked on his back for. "It's not like the guy said, 'hey, I'm about to try and knock you over, so think about blocking.'"

Cam tried not to smile, but he couldn't help it. "Maybe next time," he suggested.

Hunter's mouth quirked in return. "Maybe next time he won't have to," he countered. "If I practice."

"Right," Cam agreed. "So," he added, just to make sure, "you're okay with getting jumped again?"

Hunter's smile widened. "More than you know," he teased, and Cam tried to sigh but he couldn't quite manage it. Because that had probably been some kind of Freudian slip, and it was only fair that he acknowledge it.

"I'll try to restrain myself," Cam told him.

"Or not," Hunter said, shrugging. His smirk didn't fade. "Your call."

Cam rolled his eyes, but it was a token gesture and he was sure Hunter knew it. "I'm going to try and knock you over again," he said.

Hunter's smile vanished. "I'll try the getting out of the way thing this time," he offered, suddenly serious.

Cam nodded, then paused. "Uh... I know this ruins the element of surprise, but which way are you going to go?"

Hunter looked like he hadn't really thought about it. He held out a hand to either side, then dropped the left one. "Right, I guess," he said. "Why?"

"Because I really don't want to scratch you up any more than you already are," Cam said, and this time his sigh was real. "And if I'm going to miss, I want to make sure I miss completely."

Hunter looked down at his uniform in surprise. "You don't think this is enough protection? I mean--yeah, you could bite through it, but..."

Cam held up his hand and looked at it like it could tell him something. He transferred his gaze to Hunter, who shrugged. "Wanna try?"

He hesitated, but it had to be better to find out in as controlled a fashion as possible. So he called up the wolf and sidled over to Hunter. Hunter dropped to the ground immediately, on his knees as he offered his arm to Cam. Their heads were almost level with each other as Cam took a cautious swipe at Hunter's arm.

His left arm, he realized, even as his paw glided over the training uniform without a mark. Which made sense, since no matter how fast Hunter's other arm was healing he probably didn't want to take any extra abuse there. But at the same time--if the training uniform hadn't protected him, he would now have matching scars.

"Seriously, Cam." Hunter sounded amused. "You're not gonna hit me like that in a fight. Even in practice, you're not gonna be like--" Hunter reached out and poked him, ridiculously gently, in the shoulder. "That's not a test."

Cam curled his lip without thinking, but Hunter just grinned. He seemed to understand instinctively that this time the gesture was more of a sigh than a threat. "Come on, at least try to scratch up the leather."

So he did try, but at a standstill and a vertical angle he just didn't have a lot of power. He put one paw on Hunter's leg and caught his eye, but Hunter didn't say anything. So he leaned forward and tried to scratch through the reinforced material on his other leg. He felt Hunter turn his head so they weren't nose to nose, and he stopped abruptly.

He was about to sit back when Hunter asked, "Satisfied?" and he changed his mind. He gave Hunter's cheek an impulsive lick before he drew back. Settling down on his haunches, he studied Hunter's reaction.

"That's still weird," Hunter told him bluntly. But he didn't reach up to wipe his face off, and when he glanced down at his uniform, he smiled. "Hey, check it out. Turns out you're not so big and bad after all--can't even claw through a leather training uniform."

Cam let out his breath in a huff, which Hunter must have interpreted correctly because his smile turned into a grin. "You know, sometimes I think you're easier to understand as a wolf," Hunter informed him.

He stood up and turned away, pacing deliberately to the same distance he'd held before he leapt at Hunter the first time. He turned back, sitting down, and cocked his head. Still easy to understand, he wondered?

"Right, yeah." Hunter got to his feet, shaking his arms out and shifting his weight from one side to the other. "Okay. Bring it."

Cam smiled to himself and gathered his body to spring. Hunter did manage to get out of the way, but his deflection was clumsy and Cam was pretty sure his balance suffered. He resisted the impulse to spin and shove while Hunter was distracted, instead waiting until Hunter nodded to him. "Again."

This time Cam corrected for a right evasion without realizing it--and when Hunter went left, Cam missed him completely and had to scramble to keep his own balance on the landing. Hunter had the nerve to chuckle. "Serves you right for cheating," he declared.

Cam grumbled, the growl low in his throat, and Hunter reached out to muss his fur as he passed. He didn't flinch, surprised but pleased by the spontaneous petting. Maybe he should complain more.

They tried a couple more times. When Hunter finally got the evasion right, Cam swung around and leapt at him again without waiting for the okay. He was met with whatever ninja block Hunter had used on him the first time, but some of the force must have come through because Hunter stumbled back even as Cam went down.

"Damn," Hunter muttered, but his concern was apparently for Cam because he watched worriedly as Cam shifted back to human form. "You okay?"

"Fine," Cam assured him, sitting up. "I was expecting it this time." He reached for Hunter's hand and added, "You know, Dad's not going to like this new habit of yours of swearing in the practice rooms." Or anywhere else, actually, but that hadn't stopped Hunter yet.

"Yeah, well." Hunter let go of his hand once he was on his feet, but he wasn't subtle about checking Cam visually for injuries. "When I start mistaking guinea pigs for wolves, that'll be a problem. In the meantime, I'm pretty sure I can tell you apart quickly enough to know when to watch my language."

Cam smiled briefly. "Well, you can block without warning," he observed. "I guess that's worth a little bit of swearing."

"Yeah..." Hunter was still frowning. "Knocked me off balance, though."

Cam considered that. "Obviously, you want to stay on your feet," he said at last. "But if you're not sure you can, you might want to block a little higher."

Hunter eyed him curiously when he didn't continue. "That the special wolf block?" he suggested.

"Not the ninja block, that thing you're doing that shoves me back," Cam said quickly. Then he paused, adding, "Which I'd really like to learn, by the way."

Hunter's mouth quirked, and he nodded once. "No problem."

"But a regular block, a physical one," Cam continued. "You probably want it to be higher. I'm pretty sure a wolf is going to aim as high as possible... higher is more unbalancing, for one thing, and if he does manage to knock you down--" He shrugged apologetically. "Well, the first thing I'd do is go for your throat."

Hunter paused just long enough for Cam to be sure he wasn't thinking about strategy, and his next words confirmed it. "Like I'd mind if you went for my throat," he said, a faint smile playing on his lips. "But yeah, that's good advice."

"Do you always equate fighting and flirting?" Cam blurted out.

Hunter just snorted. "If I do, I'm at least more predictable than you. Like I ever have any idea what you're gonna do next."

Cam decided that was probably fair, but before he could say so, Hunter added, "Hey, can you use your ninja powers when you're a wolf?"

Cam frowned at that, surprised to realize he wasn't sure. "I don't think so," he said slowly. "I guess I haven't tried."

"So try," Hunter prompted.

He did, with decidedly negative results.

"No," Cam said, changing back. "Apparently it's ninja or wolf, not ninja and wolf."

Hunter shrugged like it didn't really matter. "Well, at least that evens the playing field a little."

"But it doesn't make sense," Cam mused aloud. "Dad's still a ninja master. He's stuck as a guinea pig, but he can still do everything he did before. How come I can't?"

"Maybe it's an alien thing," Hunter said flippantly.

A retort about obvious and completely unhelpful generalizations sprang to mind, and he gritted his teeth to avoid saying it aloud. He hadn't even told Hunter what his dad had said to him. He had no right to expect Hunter to avoid the topic when he hadn't even asked him to.

"Sorry," Hunter said after a moment. "You said you didn't want to talk about it. I should've, y'know. Kept my mouth shut."

Cam shook his head abruptly. "No, it's fine. Want to try that physical block?"

Hunter didn't hesitate. "Sure. Ready when you are."

So the wolf sprang at him again, and this time it was Hunter who landed on his back on the mats. Eventually. It took a couple of tries to get him there, but he went down in stages and Cam didn't let up until Hunter had lifted his block high enough to do him some good. By the time Hunter actually was sprawled on the floor with giant paws pinning him down, Cam was frustrated enough to pretend to go for his throat.

Hunter whacked his muzzle, hard, and Cam let out a yelp that made Hunter go rigid.

"Cam?" he demanded. He reached for Cam's head and Cam jerked away, rolling off of him as he shifted back to human form. "You okay?"

"Ow," Cam gasped, hands going to his face instinctively. "Oh, wow--" His eyes were stinging and he blinked hard, trying to keep from tearing up in response to the blow. "Ow," he repeated, with feeling.

"Oh, fuck," Hunter said in exactly the same tone. "I can't believe I did that--"

"It was my fault," Cam interrupted, speaking fast so that he could breathe in and out carefully around the words. And it was no good, he was going to have to wipe his eyes to keep them dry. "I shouldn't have pushed you, that was totally--" He had to stop to catch his breath again. "Out of line," he finished.

"No, I wasn't even thinking," Hunter said, crouching beside him. "Of course head contact would be the same, wouldn't it. I can't believe I hit you like that. Can I get you an ice pack or something?"

"No--" Cam waved it off. "It was my fault," he repeated. "I'm fine, just let me..." He swallowed, touching his face carefully. "Just give me a second."

Hunter was watching him worriedly, and Cam closed his eyes in order to concentrate. "You could have kicked me," he said, reviewing their scuffle in his mind. "When I first slammed into you, you could have kicked me in the stomach. Or kneed me, depending on how close you let me get and how good your balance is."

"If you think getting slapped in the face was bad," Hunter began, and his skepticism was obvious.

"I'm not saying you should do it," Cam interrupted. "I'm just saying you could. That would knock me back, give you some breathing room."

Opening his eyes, he added, "You have a height advantage with wolves, and they'll try to take it away by knocking you down. If you have to strike first to keep that from happening, do it."

"Is that what that is?" Hunter asked, still keeping a careful eye on him. "Trying to knock me down, that's just to get me on their level?"

"I don't know," Cam admitted slowly. "I don't think so. I mean, I think that's part of it, but I think... mostly wolves prefer to fight close up. It's more like grappling than sparring. They want you on their level, yes, but I'm pretty sure I'd try to knock down another wolf, too."

He was still thinking about it when Hunter opened his mouth to speak, and it came to him all of a sudden. "So I could use my hind legs," Cam said aloud. "Wolves don't have fists. If I can get someone on the ground, I can use my muzzle and my back legs at the same time."

"I may regret saying this," Hunter muttered. He looked speculative and wary at the same time. "But can you show me?"

"Can you keep from hitting me in the face?" Cam countered. Then he winced. "Sorry. That wasn't fair."

"Nah," Hunter said, shaking his head. "It probably was."

Cam opened his mouth to deny it, but Hunter cut him off. "You're right, you know," he said abruptly. "I guess I am a little scared of you."

Whatever he'd meant to say vanished, and Hunter added, "I know it's still you, but... I'm just not used to having a mouthful of teeth right there. In my face. Y'know?"

"Yeah," Cam said with a sigh. "I know. I'm sure I'd be scared of me too."

"Hey, I'll get over it," Hunter promised. "I think this training stuff is a good idea after all. I mean, if the best thing it does is get me more used to you, it's totally worth it."

Pleased, reassured, too honest, Cam blurted out, "Thanks," before he could think about it. Then, in an effort not to sound so grateful, he added quickly, "I think."

Hunter, who had definitely started to smile, frowned abruptly. "You think?"

Caught trying to pull back from something he didn't really want to let go, Cam surrendered with a barely audible sigh. "I think that's probably the best thing I've heard all day," he admitted.

Hunter's smile returned. "Cool," he said. And with Hunter, if "cool" was what he said, then "cool" was what he meant. "So, uh... this fighting thing," he continued. "You gonna show me what you've got?"

Cam's lips quirked, and if the left side of his face still felt too warm and maybe stiff enough to indicate minor swelling, well, it was a warning to go slower next time. "Unless you want to get knocked over again," he advised, "lie down. I'll give you a slow motion demo."

Hunter raised his eyebrows, giving him an appreciative look. "Did you try to make that sound dirty?"

There wasn't much he could say to that, so he ignored it. He settled into his wolf form and stood, waiting for Hunter to decide. Cam was pretty sure he wouldn't roll over for just anyone... but Hunter had asked.

Hunter's hesitation was palpable. He did it, though, and without any further comment. Only when Hunter was on his back did Cam really understand the power he'd relinquished by doing as he was told. That wasn't just a submissive position. It was a completely vulnerable one.

Hunter wasn't the alpha now, and the wolf in him was a little too happy about it.

He made sure to keep his head and tail down as he sauntered over, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. He nosed Hunter's shoulder, silently apologizing for his own thoughts. Thoughts of superiority, of dominance--thoughts of asserting his own power when he was only supposed to be doing what Hunter had asked.

Hunter had the audacity to grin up at him. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking," he teased. "Just remember, you don't want me 'cause I'm the alpha. I'm the alpha 'cause you want me."

Cam blinked, startled to hear his own words repeated back to him. Still true, he decided, putting one paw on Hunter's chest. But he was starting to wonder if some of the things that made Hunter a good alpha were part of what had drawn him to Hunter in the first place. It was annoyingly circular when he tried to sort it out.

"I get the slow motion part," Hunter added, watching him through half-closed eyes. Meant to convey his lack of concern, no doubt, when his whole body gave the lie to the look with its tension. "Still waiting for the demo."

It was silly to worry about hurting Hunter with his weight when he was no heavier as a wolf than he was as a human. Especially when he'd knocked him down, landed on him repeatedly, and all he was doing now was climbing on top of the man's unresisting form. Cam stepped up, front paws on Hunter's chest and back feet scrabbling for purchase on his legs.

It wasn't easy to balance like that for any length of time, he realized. In a fight, they moved too fast to worry about it, but there was a difference between coming down on top of someone and actually standing on them. He let one of his back feet slide off to gain solid footing on the floor and transferred most of his weight off of the other one. It was enough for demonstration purposes.

Hunter's lazy expression had melted away, eyes fixed on Cam as his breathing changed under Cam's paws. Cam could feel it, obviously controlled, shallower than before. Afraid.

Hunter didn't say anything when Cam bared his teeth, but Cam felt his invisible flinch through the tension in his muscles. He lowered his muzzle to Hunter's neck slowly, cautiously, alert to signs of panic, but Hunter held perfectly still. Teeth laid gently against skin, he clenched his back feet, pressing a hard warning of the damage he could do to Hunter's leg.

Or to his stomach. In a real fight, the closer his hind legs were to his body the more power he would have. With enough purchase, he could probably rip Hunter's midsection open.

Cam swallowed hard. It was enough to make his teeth move against the skin, and Hunter's control frayed around the edges. "Okay, cut it out," he said sharply.

Cam drew back quickly, carefully, his other foot sliding to the ground as the wolf vanished and he was back in his training uniform, straddling Hunter's hips with both hands braced against his chest. It wasn't an uncomfortable position. He stayed where he was, waiting on Hunter's reaction.

"That's fucking creepy," Hunter snapped, staring up at him with wide eyes that belied his anger and breath that was still coming a little too fast. It was fear that made him lash out, and Cam was sorry now that he had acceded to Hunter's request.

He started to pull away, but he couldn't move his arms. Hunter's hands had wrapped around his wrists and held them firmly in place. "I didn't mean it," he said evenly. He took a deep breath, then contradicted himself. "I mean, I did. It's creepy. But I don't... just give me a minute."

He flashed an unsteady grin at Cam and added, "Stay human."

Cam nodded once, relaxing a little, and Hunter's grip loosened. His breathing didn't change, but Cam could feel him calming slightly, slowly, muscles losing their hard edge as his brain gradually became convinced that it was a human sitting on top of him now, not a wolf. Hunter might not be scared of him, but he hadn't unlearned an instinctive reaction in a matter of days.

Some days, Cam hadn't given him much reason to.

"Okay," Hunter said at last, a smile playing on his face as he stared up at Cam. "Hi. I like this part," he added.

There just didn't seem to be anything that could make Hunter walk away. He kept trying, forgiving, reaching out. So Cam reached out in return, touching Hunter's face, letting his fingers trail across his lips. His hand dropped to Hunter's neck, touching the skin his teeth had grazed and making room for his mouth when he lowered his head for a kiss.

The lights went out, and Cam froze.

"Tell me you did that," Hunter whispered, his breath warm in Cam's mouth.

Cam kissed him, because he couldn't not, and the emergency lighting cut through the darkness a few seconds later. That made him sit up, because if they were on backup generators it meant the mains weren't coming back. He was still staring down at Hunter as the implications of a power loss that CyberCam didn't--or couldn't--see fit to warn him about raced through his mind.

"I wish I could," he said at last. Pushing himself awkwardly to his feet, he held out his hand for Hunter and hauled him up, holding on a little too long after they were both standing. Because at this rate, it could be... well, tomorrow before he got a chance like that again.

"Really," Cam said with a rueful sigh. "You don't know how much I wish I could."

13. Coming to Find You

He followed Cam across the mats without a word. He was mostly still stuck on training and wolves and how it felt to have Cam sitting on top of him and how weirdly like his apartment it had been. He hadn't thought there was anything that could make him feel the way he had around a siren who was really working for it, and it turned out that the only exception was anything Cam ever did.

Maybe he was lucky the guy hadn't looked at him twice before this whole wolf thing. Because he was starting to see how far denial wouldn't get him if it was tested in any way--and Cam's sudden interest wasn't a test, it was the fucking entrance exam to the school of gay lust. It was one thing to figure all girls were basically the same. It was something totally different to realize guys weren't.

A weird sound, gone before he could identify it, stopped Cam short of the door. He almost walked into him, putting his hands on Cam's shoulders to steady himself, but Cam didn't move. Hunter listened, but he couldn't hear anything.

Cam was acting like he could, so Hunter kept his voice quiet. "What was that?"

"Intruder alert," Cam muttered. "If it was an accident, we would have heard from CyberCam by now."

Not an accident. Deliberate, then--and probably just as deliberately cut off. No one who belonged here would fight over the intruder alert system.

"We should get to the control room," Hunter said grimly.

Cam still didn't move. "There are cameras in the halls. They're on independent power, and I can't turn them off from here. If our intruder is in the control room he'll see us coming before we even get close."

Hunter considered that. "I could disable them," he offered at last.

Cam didn't seem surprised. "Taking them out one by one isn't any better than waving at them as we go by."

"It's always better to be obvious and anonymous than obvious and identified," Hunter informed him. "But I can get them all at once if you want."

Okay, that surprised him. Cam turned, and only then did Hunter remember to let go of his shoulders. "You can take out every security camera in Ninja Ops from here? Simultaneously?"

Hunter shrugged. "No guarantees that you'll be able to get them running again afterward."

"Yes, I'd guessed that," Cam said dryly. He studied Hunter for another moment, then nodded. "Do it."

It actually wasn't that easy to trace something as ubiquitous as electricity in a place like Ninja Ops, but luckily Hunter had done this before. Or at least, he'd been prepared to do it before. He knew exactly how many security cameras there were, where they were, and how much power it would take to overload the entire network.

He didn't even have to step out into the hallway. He flung a bolt from the cover of the doorway, a power surge that would kill the nearest camera, jump the breaker that tripped automatically, and overwhelm the rest of the system. Five seconds, max. Even CyberCam wouldn't be fast enough to stop it.

"We're good to go," Hunter said, glancing back at Cam.

Cam looked impressed, and he wasn't going to forget that. For now, though, Hunter was okay with the silence as they ducked out into the hall and headed for the control room. Who knew what they'd find there, but between the two of them, he figured there wasn't much they couldn't handle.

"Hey." It was Blake's voice that hissed at them just before he appeared out of the shadows, and Hunter relaxed a little more. Yeah. Sweet. Now they were set.

"What's with the lights?" Blake demanded, still keeping his voice quiet.

"Doesn't anyone recognize the intruder alert?" Cam muttered back.

Hey. Hunter frowned at him. "Why would we?" he wanted to know. "It's not like it's ever gone off before."

"Is that what that was?" Blake was frowning too; Hunter could tell just from his tone. "Who's the intruder?"

"Presumably, the same person who cut the power," Cam said under his breath. "We're heading for the control room. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Blake retorted. "Or I was, until all the lights went out."

"Well, congratulations, you found us." Cam didn't sound particularly thrilled about it. "Can we go now?"

"Isn't the control room the first place our intruder is going to expect us to go?" Blake asked. "Shouldn't there be some kind of backup control room or something?"

"Ninja Ops is the backup." Cam's eyes were starting to glow. "And since I'd rather find this intruder before he does any more damage, I hope he's in the control room waiting for us. Are we done standing around in the hallway talking about this, or do you have more questions?"

"Oh!" Marah's voice came from somewhere up ahead, and Hunter tensed instinctively. "Oh, Cousin, I have a question!"

"Um, yeah." Kapri's voice was a mock-whisper to match all of theirs. "Me too!"

Hunter could see Blake mirroring his defensive stance on the other side of Cam. Cam just folded his arms, glaring into the shadows like he'd expected them. "Where did you get those uniforms?"

"Oh, please." They stepped into the light of the nearest emergency box like they were posing for a photo shoot, and Kapri continued, "We are ninjas, Cousin."

They were wearing Wind ninja training uniforms. Minus the academy and element badges, anyway, and their belts were a weird color in the dim light. It was a pretty good imitation, though.

Cam probably wouldn't think so.

"If you set off that alert," he was saying.

He didn't get any further before the girls' put-upon looks were obvious. "We didn't do it!" Marah exclaimed, sounding very hurt.

"Shyeah!" Kapri just sounded exasperated. "Obviously it was Uncle. And also, your zord bay is empty, just so you know, before you go storming in there and--" She waved her hand in a flamboyant but utterly useless gesture. "Blast him, or whatever it is you do."

"Lothor is the intruder?" Blake echoed, clearly horrified.

"How do you know it's Lothor?" Hunter demanded.

"What were you doing in the zord bay?" Cam wanted to know.

"Oh my gosh, he's totally after us!" Marah protested.

"Who else could it be?" Kapri agreed. "He probably thinks you've, like, kidnapped us or something. He's probably come to rescue us."

Marah seemed confused by this. "Really? You think he'd do that?"

"No," Hunter snapped. "It's not you he wants."

"It's Cam," Blake said darkly. "Lothor is after Cam. He must've traced you two to Ninja Ops somehow. I knew we shouldn't have let them in here," he added, with the frustration of someone who had once been used the same way.

"It's not their fault," Cam said with a sigh. "Look, we'll take care of Lothor. You just--stay out of the way. Don't give him a chance to make an example of you."

"We're not scared of him," Kapri declared defiantly.

"Uh-uh," Marah agreed. Then she glanced sideways at her sister. "Um... we're not?"

"We're going with you," Kapri continued. "We can defend ourselves," she added, holding up something vaguely green and definitely glowing. Hunter's eyes widened as he recognized it.

"Dude, is that--"

"A piece of the Gem of Souls." Cam finished Blake's sentence for him. "Yes. She and Marah fished them out of the ocean after I tried to sink them. It's just not as easy to throw things away as it used to be," he muttered.

Hunter shot a quick look at him, but Cam was still frowning at the girls. "I suppose you got yours out of the teleportation matrix?"

Marah beamed, holding up a second gem fragment. "All ready!"

"Their escape route in case Lothor started experimenting on them," Cam muttered as an aside. "They used them to get me off the ship after he kidnapped me."

"Yeah, too bad we couldn't find the other piece," Marah chirped. "Then you could have one too, and none of us would have to worry about Uncle coming after us!"

"If you'd managed to dredge up all three pieces from the bottom of the ocean, I'd be even more disturbed than I already am," Cam informed them. "As it is, I seriously need to work on my throwing ability."

"Wait," Blake said suspiciously. "Did you say three pieces?"

Hunter winced. Cam was the only one who hadn't been under the Mountain of Lost Ninjas with them when the gem shattered. He was also the one that Sensei had told Hunter to give the fragments to. So Hunter had handed over three fragments, and Cam hadn't asked any questions. Now it looked like he might be about to start.

"He's got the amulet," Kapri reminded her sister. Hunter saw Cam give Blake an odd look, but he didn't answer the question and with a little luck, Kapri and Marah would start something that distracted them all.

"Yeah, which Uncle totally wants to take from him," Marah said, rolling her eyes. "That's not protection, that's like a sign saying 'pick me!'"

"Hey," Hunter interrupted. No reason he couldn't help them out a little with the distraction thing. "You should give those things to Cam. They're not gonna do you any good on their own anyway."

"Huh," Kapri said with a sniff. "Shows how much you know."

"I do know," Hunter shot back. "Trust me."

Now Cam was looking at him oddly, and okay, maybe that hadn't been the smartest thing to say. But Blake jumped in with, "Look, Cam's the one Lothor's going to go for, not you. Anyone with half a brain would take the guy who knows more about Ninja Ops than the rest of us put together."

"Thank you," Cam said, sighing again, "but I think we can safely assume that letting Lothor capture any of us would be bad. So let's warn the others and get moving."

"Oh." Marah held up her hand but at least she didn't wait for Cam to call on her. "You can't call out. We tried."

Hunter glanced at Blake and found his bro looking back. He nodded, and Blake lifted his morpher. "Tori," he said. "Tor, can you hear me?"

There was no answer.

"Tried that," Kapri repeated, in a singsong voice. "The whole place is completely cut off. At least, from here to the zord bay. We haven't been any higher yet."

"We're going now," Cam said grimly.

They went. Hunter had expected that Cam would have to bust the door open for them, but to his surprise it opened at their approach. He and Blake stopped in their tracks. They weren't stupid, and anything the enemy wanted you to do was obviously something you should avoid doing.

Cam walked right in. Hunter gritted his teeth and followed, ignoring Blake's hiss of warning, because what was he supposed to do? He couldn't let Cam go without him. Impatient or not, they should have discussed this thing better beforehand.

"Nephew!" The man's greeting was more effusive than anything Hunter or Blake had ever heard from him. "So good to see you again! After our earlier conversation was so rudely interrupted--"

The girls weren't here, Hunter realized abruptly. Blake was right beside him, like always, but Marah and Kapri were nowhere to be seen. At least someone had had the sense to stay out of sight.

"What do you want," Cam said, folding his arms and giving Lothor his most bored expression. Sensei was trapped in his habitat cart on the other side of the room, a force bubble enclosing the entire structure. Cam didn't even look at him.

"I just want you to listen." Lothor looked about as sincere as an evil villain could look, especially while sitting in Cam's computer chair. He made it look more like a throne than a research post, and it had to be pissing Cam off. The screen behind him was dark, but he had known they were coming. The door had fucking opened for them.

What kind of game was Lothor playing this time?

"You and I, why, we're two of a kind," the man was saying. "Geniuses, lords of the land, underappreciated but highly capable when given a chance. And if we're not given one, we make the chance ourselves! I'm telling you, Nephew, the things we could do together are nothing short of astonishing."

"My name is Cam," Cam informed him. "And I'm nothing like you, Lothor."

"Blood calls to blood," Lothor said, spreading his arms wide. "We may have worked, temporarily, for opposing sides, but at the end of the day we're still family."

Cam snorted. "I've seen how you treat your family, Lothor. Given the choice, I'd decline."

"Ah, but you weren't given a choice, were you." Lothor looked deceptively sympathetic, and Hunter shot Cam a disgusted look. Cam wasn't paying any attention, but Blake caught the expression and threw it back at him. Lothor didn't really think Cam was buying this, did he?

"I assure you, I do know how hard it is to be caught in the middle of a conflict." Lothor stood, taking a single step forward. Without a word, Hunter and Blake moved closer to Cam, defending him from both directions. Cam didn't flinch. Lothor stopped where he was.

"As a token of my good will," Lothor said, "allow me to demonstrate my magnanimous nature on your behalf." He flung a hand toward Sensei's habitat cart and before anyone could stop him energy poured from his fingertips, pouring over the force bubble and rendering it opaque as it warped and expanded.

"Dad!" Cam lunged forward, and Hunter had his back. The energy vanished a heartbeat before he threw himself into it. The force bubble was gone, and in its place--

"You will not win any friends through trickery," Sensei said evenly. Or at least, it sounded like Sensei. It looked very... human. A dark-skinned man in a larger version of the guinea pig's simple robes, and yeah, he even had that same stick the guinea pig had carried... but come on. No way was this Cam's dad.

"Does it look like trickery?" Lothor wanted to know. Cam was still staring at the man standing in the guinea pig's place, and Hunter figured that was enough of an answer for him. If it really was his dad, wouldn't he, like, hug him or something?

"I can do the same for you," Lothor commented, offhand, as Cam turned slowly back toward him. Hunter divided his attention between the guy with Sensei's voice and Cam's crazy uncle. Either of them could strike at any second, as far as he was concerned.

"Your father and I were having a ninja showdown at the time of his transformation," Lothor explained. "I beat him, fair and square. I do regret, however, the unfortunate incident that led to your current... situation. Your condition is more complicated, of course, but if you come with me I give you my word that I'll do everything I can to reverse it."

Hunter gave Cam a quick look, but Cam's glowing gold eyes were fixed on Lothor and his words came out as a growl. "You so much as point a finger at me and I'll take it off."

It was the wolf talking now. Weirdly, Lothor seemed to get that, and the assessing look he gave Cam made Hunter bristle. "So, not completely in control after all," he said smoothly. "Still looking for a leader, then?"

Hunter frowned, glancing at Cam. What was that supposed to mean?

Cam positively sneered at Lothor. "I'm not like your scared little human experiments. I don't need anyone to tell me what to do."

Hunter didn't like the sound of this. He crowded up against Cam's shoulder, leaving Blake to watch the Sensei replacement while he glared at Lothor. "Back off, old man. You can't take all of us."

Lothor smiled. "Oh, I think you'll find I can." He threw a wave of power in Cam's direction and Hunter flung a hand out in front of them without conscious thought. The power hit the block he'd been practicing with Cam earlier and hung there, snapping and sizzling as it sought a way through.

Sensei--or the guy who'd taken Sensei's place--used that moment to attack. Hunter didn't wait to see what happened before he shoved Cam out of the way, block disintegrating and Blake's shield barely keeping the power from clipping his arm. Cam was gone and the wolf launched itself into the fray, catching a blast that might have been meant for his dad and getting thrown at the feet of two ninjas who hadn't been there a moment before.

"Hello, Uncle," Kapri said nervously, as Marah bent down to touch Cam's prone form. Hunter stiffened, but Cam snapped at her and started to struggle to his feet. Safe.

For the moment.

"Well, if it isn't the Troublesome Twins," Lothor drawled, and Hunter made a note never to call them stupid names again.

"Hi!" Marah waved as she straightened up. Lothor rolled his eyes, but she just clasped her hands in front of her and smiled back at him.

"I should turn you into guinea pigs for the trouble you've caused me." Lothor was giving them what could only be described as the evil eye. "I suppose you thought running off with my prize was clever, hm? What incompetent plan did you hatch that convinced you getting in my way would be a good idea?"

"Oh, well, there wasn't a plan, really," Marah babbled, trying to look cute and mostly just looking confused. "I mean, we thought--"

"Shut. Up," Kapri warned through gritted teeth, pretending to smile when Lothor looked at her.

"On the other hand," he said, as though it had just occurred to him. "You did lead me here, so I suppose you're not completely useless."

"Leave them alone," Cam growled. His wolf form had vanished and he was unfolding himself into an almost-guard position between the two girls. "They made their choice, Lothor. You've lost."

"Ah, but I haven't," Lothor replied. "Because you see, my dear nephew, I have no intention of leaving here alone. So who's it going to be: you, or them?"

Cam didn't hesitate. "Them."

"Wrong answer," Lothor snarled, power exploding across the room between them. Hunter flinched from the light, moving forward blindly, determined to get into this fight before anything else could go wrong--

The streaks and spots on his eyes were transparent enough that he could make out shapes behind them. Marah and Kapri, still standing in the control room, arms outstretched. Cam, behind them--still human, still here. An empty space where Lothor had been.

"What just happened?" Blake demanded.

"I believe Lothor has underestimated us," Sensei's voice replied.

"Okay, who are you?" Hunter wanted to know, casting a quick glance over his shoulder even as he headed for Cam. Blake was still keeping a wary eye on the man, so they were fine there. He reached for Cam's hand, which might have been weird except that Cam was already reaching out for him, and their handclasp turned into a brief hug.

"It's Dad," Cam said, as he let him go. "Minus the fur and whiskers."

"Sensei Watanabe?" Blake repeated incredulously. "No way."

"Uh-uh," Hunter agreed. "No offense, Cam, but I've seen pictures of your dad. That's not him."

"If you refer to this picture," the man in Sensei's robes said, picking up the family portrait from the counter behind the habitat cart, "then yes, you are correct. My appearance has changed somewhat since then."

"Oh my gosh, is that you!" Marah exclaimed, edging around Hunter to peek at the picture from where she stood. "Is that what Uncle used to look like too?"

He leaned away from her reflexively, bumping Cam's shoulder as he did so. "Hey, watch what you're doing with that thing." Marah still held the gem fragment in her hand.

"Oh, they can't do anything on their own," Kapri said blithely. "They just react to stuff around them. Hit them with something strong enough and kaboom!"

"They neutralize energy fields, mobile or stationary," Marah chirped. "The shield on Uncle's ship, the cloak around your secret lair... you know, that kind of thing. Oh, or that teleport Uncle just threw at us! The gem deflected the power back at him, see!"

Hunter just stared at her, but Cam was already heading for his computer. "They neutralize the academy cloak?"

"Oh, only when they're right next to a power source," Kapri said quickly. "Like the shield generator or something."

"Or the teleportation matrix," Marah added.

"Hey," Hunter interrupted, frowning at them. "When did you get smart?"

"We're smart!" Kapri complained indignantly.

"Yeah, we're totally smart!" Marah chimed in. "Right, Cousin?"

"It actually does make sense," Cam said over his shoulder. The screen was up and running in front of him, but it looked like he was just going through and inputting a bunch of codes. Passwords, maybe, to get back into the system after Lothor had tried to break in?

"You used it the same way at the Mountain of Lost Ninjas," Cam was saying. "The gem protected you by reflecting whatever Lothor did back at him."

"You don't know that," Blake pointed out. "Lothor just vanished. We don't know what the gem did to him. And it's not like Hunter knew what he was doing."

"Hey." Hunter glared at him.

Blake just shrugged. "It's the truth, bro."

"I'm sure Hunter did what he had to," Cam muttered, not as though he was paying much attention to either of them at the moment. "Right now, we need to keep Lothor from being able to just walk back in here any time he feels like it."

"Did you say that those gem fragments could also neutralize the shield around Lothor's ship?" Sensei wondered aloud, and Cam stopped what he was doing.

"Yeah, well, of course," Marah said with a laugh.

"Duh," Kapri added.

"It wouldn't be much of an escape plan if we couldn't get past an outgoing teleport lockdown, now, would it?" Marah continued, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Thought you said there wasn't a plan." Blake was staring at them, arms folded, looking about the way Hunter felt: do they fake being dumb, or do they fake being smart?

"Because we would totally tell Uncle if there was," Kapri said, rolling her eyes.

Hunter checked to see what Cam though of all this, but Cam was having some sort of silent conference with his dad. He seemed to sense Hunter's eyes on him, though, and he glanced over. Out loud, he said, "If we can get past the shield, we can get to the ninjas trapped on that ship."

Cam's screen flashed some kind of warning, and Hunter recognized the symbols that aligned in the lower right-hand corner. Zords were coming back: lion, hawk, and dolphin. Stats started scrolling in the box just above them, enlarging when Cam turned around and started to scan them.

"They've been fighting," he said, sounding surprised.

"Tori," Blake said urgently. He was talking to a morpher again, but this time he got an answer. "You all right?"

"Blake!" Her voice sounded weirdly normal over the morpher circuit. "Are you? We haven't been able to contact anyone else, not even CyberCam at Ninja Ops!"

"Yo," CyberCam said, popping into view beside the mainframe. "What's happening, peeps?"

"We had a little visit from Lothor," Blake told his morpher. "We're all at Ops now. Where are you?"

"On our way," Tori's voice promised. "We're bringing a friend. She helped us take on Vexacus while you were on vacation."

"Vexacus?" Blake repeated. "Where did he come from?"

"He arrived a little while ago," Cam muttered. "Lothor must have sent him the Scroll of Empowerment just before he crashed our party here. The zords are in bad shape, but at least they're all still under their own power.

"Which they'd better be," he added, "since the emergency power can't handle zord repair."

"Oh, right, the generators." CyberCam hopped off the console next to Cam and tossed off a goofy-looking salute. "Say no more, bro. I'm on it."

"Thanks," Cam said distractedly. "And thanks for the warning, by the way."

"No problemo, dude!" CyberCam sounded as cheerful as ever. "Least I could do. Figured you'd get it even if the big guy turned it off. Which he did. He's fast, man."

Cam snorted. "Tell me about it."

"You figured he'd get it?" Blake repeated. He'd lowered his morpher, but Hunter hadn't heard him sign off. Open circuit? "What if Cam hadn't been here? You couldn't have helped out a little more?"

"Sorry, dude," CyberCam said with a shrug. "I'm programmed to lay low in the face of overwhelming odds."

"The generators?" Cam reminded him.

"Right!" CyberCam shoved his hands in his pockets, rocked back on his heels, and turned into a sort of staticky hologram before disappearing altogether.

"He was just doing his job," Cam said absently. He looked like he was talking to the computer, and he didn't seem to notice when Blake started to protest. "I don't know what Lothor did, but he walked right past the security and as far as I can tell, there's no reason he can't do it again. I'm going to have to lock out everyone without a morpher until we can fix this."

"Wait--" Marah stopped like she wasn't sure what she meant, but Kapri didn't.

"What about us?" she demanded. "I mean, we don't have morphers, but we're totally good, fine to be here, I mean... right?"

"Yeah, because we so saved you from Lothor just now," Marah put in, sounding more confident now. "That's why you told him to take us, right? So we could use the gem fragments to stop him?"

"Yeah," Cam said, hitting "execute" on his keyboard. "That's exactly why."

Marah beamed, but Kapri frowned, and Hunter knew she'd picked up on Cam's tone. Devoid of any expression, the words could have been taken either way. He was pretty sure Cam was actually telling the truth. Kapri obviously wasn't.

"Morpher lockout's gonna be a problem," Shane's voice remarked, and Hunter glanced over his shoulder. He froze at the same moment Shane did.

Shane had a girl with him. Pretty, curly dark hair and gorgeous eyes, the kind of exotic features that looked totally out of place in jeans and a t-shirt but yeah, that was what she was wearing. And she was looking around Ninja Ops with mild appreciation, but nothing like the awe he would have expected from some chick off the street.

"Sensei!" Tori's shout made him remember that they weren't the only ones with a stranger in their midst. Or, okay, a relative stranger. Maybe not so much to the Winds, actually.

"Dude!" Dustin exclaimed. Tori had already run over to hug him, and Dustin looked like he was thinking about it. "You're all, like, tall! And not furry!"

"You recognize him?" Hunter blurted out.

"It's Sensei!" Shane crowed. "Wow! Man, how did this happen?"

Cam had turned away from the computer and was watching with a small smile as the Wind Rangers gathered around his father. His gaze flicked to Hunter for a moment, then past him as the smile faded. "And you are?" he inquired politely.

Yeah, Hunter wanted to know that too.

"Call me Skyla," the girl said, stepping forward. She offered her hand to Cam, who took it with a bemused but game expression. "I'm a friend of Shane's."

Hunter frowned. He knew that name.

"Wait, the one who gave him the Battlizer?" Blake demanded. "Aren't you supposed to be--" His usually suave little bro must have realized at the last minute that he was on the wrong track, but it was too late. "Uh, dead?" he finished awkwardly.

"She's a time traveler," Shane said, coming over to clap Blake on the shoulder. "This is her before I met her the last time."

"Yes," Skyla admitted, smiling at Cam before turning a rueful look on the rest of the room. "I'm afraid I miscalculated. Or I will, anyway. I came to tell you that I'll be passing the power on to you soon, but I guess you already know that. I shouldn't have arrived before I told you I was coming. I'm sorry."

This last sounded like it was meant for Shane. He obviously thought so too. "Hey," Shane said, shrugging carelessly. "If what you say is true, you haven't even done it yet, so. Nothing to be sorry for."

She smiled, and Hunter studied her more carefully. She had a nice smile. And Shane was acting less like a poser than usual, which could be because Sensei looked more intimidating as a human than as a guinea pig--or it could be because Skyla was flashing that smile at everyone who spoke to her.

"Okay, that--" Dustin was pointing in a vaguely Skyla-oriented direction. "Is really, really confusing."

"Yeah, I hear that," Shane agreed, but the look he gave Skyla wasn't confused. Or annoyed. It was a look that made Hunter think maybe her smile really was having some kind of effect on Shane's attitude.

"So let me get this straight," Cam interrupted. "Your future is Shane's past, and his present is your past. Right?"

"Well, we're both in our own present together," Skyla said, looking more amused than anything. "But you're right about the way the rest of our lives relate to each other. You must have some experience with time travel."

Cam's mouth quirked up at the corner. "You could say that. So you're here to... what?"

"I'm just here to help," she told him. "I thought Vexacus was after me, but he must have come for Shane. And now I see why," she added, glancing in Shane's direction. "He wasn't expecting two of us."

"Was?" Cam repeated.

"Wait, two of you?" Dustin said at the same time.

"We took care of him," Shane said, catching Cam's eye.

"Two of us with Karmanian powers," Skyla added. "I obviously didn't have time to tell Shane much about them the last time I was here--or I won't, the next time--so I'll do my best to fill him in now."

That only half made sense to Hunter, but Cam just looked at Shane and the Red Ranger nodded once. "Okay," Cam said with a shrug. "Thanks for your help, then."

"Sure." Skyla was smiling again.

"Can we talk about Sensei now?" Tori wanted to know. "I mean, look at you!" She waved both hands at him, still bursting with excitement. "We can! And you look--normal! What happened?"

"Yeah, this is totally sick," Blake put in. He'd obviously decided to go with majority opinion on this one. "I can't believe we've known you all this time without even knowing what you looked like."

"And I have known you all this time without knowing our relative height," Sensei said gravely. "As it turns out, you're shorter than I previously believed."

Hunter couldn't help grinning at his little bro's expression. "Yeah, well, I guess anyone looks tall to a guinea pig," he remarked.

"I assure you, Hunter, you are tall no matter my perspective," Sensei informed him.

Hunter eyed him, only barely suppressing a scoff. "No offense, but look who's talking, Sensei."

"Nah, dude, I think you're a little taller." Dustin was looking back and forth between them, squinting like he was trying to put them side by side in his mind.

"No way," Shane put in. "Come on. They're exactly the same height."

"Why are we discussing this?" Cam wanted to know.

"You were telling us how Sensei lost his tiny alter ego," Tori prompted.

Sensei answered before Cam could without even seeming to interrupt. "I believe Lothor was attempting to change Cameron's opinion of him by reversing the spell that held me captive."

"Lothor wanted me to join him," Cam said with a sigh. "I think he figured that by changing Dad back, he could get me to agree to anything to get him to do it for me. Like I trust anything he says," he added, rolling his eyes.

Like you really want to be human again, Hunter thought to himself. He'd heard something totally different in Cam's growled warning to his psychotic uncle. It hadn't sounded like "yeah, right" to him. It had sounded more like "mind your own business, creepy alien dude who doesn't know anything about me."

"Wow, so, like, how'd you get rid of him?" Dustin asked, looking around like maybe Lothor was still there and he just hadn't noticed him. "You did get rid of him, right?"

"Oh, me!" Kapri exclaimed.

"Ooh, that was us!" Marah declared, right on top of her.

They'd just been waiting for their chance to hijack the conversation, Hunter decided. He watched with some amusement as they explained how amazingly heroic they had been in standing up to their uncle and saving Cam--again, as Kapri didn't hesitate to point out--and Cam just rolled his eyes and let them babble away. He was more tolerant of them than Hunter had expected.

Of course, they had to show off their gem fragments, and it was almost funny to see the crowd of people in the room gravitate from Sensei toward Cam's cousins. Almost, because Hunter kept wondering when the girls would casually mention "three" gem pieces again. How they knew Cam had only had three, he had no idea, but maybe they had been watching him throw them into the ocean? It would at least explain how they had known where to look.

Somehow, the number of pieces didn't come up again, but the look Blake gave him said that his bro hadn't forgotten. He was going to hear about that later. He might have even brought it up himself, now, just to avoid the inevitable revelation, but he still wasn't totally sure whose side Marah and Kapri were on. He'd rather not give them anything to use against him later.

Well, anything else to use against him later.

That did come up. Unfortunately. He could have gladly gone forever without hearing anyone tell the story of How Marah And Kapri Found Hunter And Cam Making Out In Ninja Ops, but it turned out it wasn't up to him.

Shane being Shane, he had to remark on how lucky it was that half the team was in Ninja Ops with Cam when Lothor came looking for him. That led to Dustin's typically tactless remark about people needing to get out more, to which Blake protested that he had only been looking for Hunter and Cam. Cam made a credibly offhanded remark about sparring, which after all he and Hunter hadn't been allowed to do all week, so it wasn't really that strange, and that should have been the end of it.

Except that Marah laughed, and Kapri opened her big mouth, and that was so far from the end of it that Hunter couldn't even see the end from where he was standing. The end had to be in another state. Or maybe in another country, assuming he could get that far away and still commute to work every day.

He couldn't decide whether the fact that everyone now knew he was dating Cam or the fact that no one actually believed he was dating Cam annoyed him more.

"Seriously," Dustin exclaimed, burying his fingers in his hair. "Cam?"

Shane clapped Cam on the shoulder. "Hunter," he said, shaking his head. "Really?"

Blake just stood there, arms folded, shooting Hunter a weird look when Shane asked if he'd known. All he said was, "Tori told me," which effectively got them off his back while they complained to Tori that she hadn't told them, but didn't fool Hunter in the slightest. He was gonna be hearing about that, too.

By the time the regular lights flooded the control room, emergencies clicking off as the generators came back, Hunter was thoroughly sick of the whole conversation. He wasn't the only one, either. He could practically hear Cam grinding his teeth from where he stood, and he thought it was maybe the first time Cam had ever been happy to see his virtual replicant.

Cam was out of his chair the moment CyberCam appeared beside him, issuing instructions that his expression practically dared the others to call him on. "Set up a password system for anyone without a morpher," he said. "Make sure the Wind zords' self-repair systems kicked in, and try not to let any more bad guys get past our defenses for a few hours. I'm going to get something to eat."

Shit, right. His food thing. Hunter opened his mouth, but he didn't actually get a word out before Cam glanced at him and added, "Coming?"

"Yeah," he said, trying not to catch anyone else's eye. Like the fact that Cam had asked wasn't incentive enough, he'd do pretty much anything to get out of the control room right now. It was a party and a half in here, and he was over it.

"Bro." Blake kept his voice low, but there was no mistaking the serious tone. "We need to talk."

"Yeah," Hunter repeated, glancing at Cam again. He and Blake weren't the only ones. "I'll see you back at the apartment."

"You want us to pick up anything for you, Dad?" Cam was asking. "Groceries or anything?"

Sensei took one look at Cam's tired and impatient expression and shook his head. "Thank you, but I believe I will enjoy the novelty of shopping for my own food once again."

"Watch your back, bro." Blake might be pissed, but he'd never forgotten what mattered. "There's a lot of weird stuff out there tonight."

"Yeah." Hunter rapped his knuckles against Blake's automatically. More than Lothor and his minions, more than wolves--human or otherwise--sometimes it was the most normal stuff that seemed the weirdest. "And we're only half of it."

14. Hunger

They'd had a late lunch. It hadn't been more than a few hours ago that he'd finished off a second order of that stew, and okay, he had trained between now and then, but it hadn't been a particularly hard workout. He and Hunter had mostly been feeling each other out, checking for new strengths and weaknesses in the wolf--and in Hunter's reaction to it.

He shouldn't be starving right now. His stomach was so empty it hurt. Hunter didn't say a word when they pulled into yet another fast food place. It seemed like he hadn't been able to go a day without greasy burgers since this whole thing began.

The community center would still be open, Cam thought with a sigh. He was starting to understand why it was such a popular hangout. They knew what wolves ate, there, and no one looked at him strangely for not caring about bread and vegetables. But they had just been there last night, and he figured Hunter had already been subjected to enough of his life's weirdness for the entire weekend.

So they tried to avoid the pack, but the pack didn't make any effort to return the favor. Hunter wanted to get back and meet up with his brother, so they only stayed out long enough to get food. It was enough to take the edge off of his hunger, anyway. They turned back toward the foothills, and that was when they ran into the Wolf Blade.

With his window partly down, Cam could hear the screams over the sound of speed and rushing air. "Hunter, stop," he snapped, hand on the door before he'd even thought about what was happening.

Hunter didn't fool around. Cam's seatbelt dug into his shoulder and stomach as the truck slammed to a halt and he was already fumbling to get them loose. The sounds were coming from one of the tourist trails that followed the river, winding along the road here for several miles, and he was out of the truck and into the woods without even remembering to tell Hunter what was going on.

As much experience as he had running in the forest, Cam shifted almost instantly to his wolf form. Four legs were better than two, and his erratic sprint stabilized into an easy lope the moment he changed. He couldn't hear screaming anymore, but the voices were right there and he homed in on the overlapping babble easily. He already had an audible picture of the scene when he burst through the undergrowth and barreled into Shimazu's ancient fairy tale.

They were just a couple of hikers, out at the wrong time and on the wrong trail. One of them actually had a cell phone to her ear, calling frantically for help while the other tried to placate the giant wolf-like beast. The Wolf Blade's roar as Cam slammed into it drowned out their voices momentarily, but he heard one of them repeating "oh my god, oh my god" over and over again as he struggled to hang on.

Then there was a screech that made his entire body spasm with anger and surprise and something else that was buried under the adrenaline. He knew that sound. The Wolf Blade managed to knock him loose and he loved being a wolf, he really loved it because he was on his feet almost before he'd hit the ground and it was so easy to lunge right back in the monster's face. It couldn't even get in a solid hit when he sank his teeth into it and pounded it with all the strength he had held back for Hunter that afternoon.

The screech came again and there was another wolf attacking the creature from behind and Cam knew exactly what they had to do. Working with a stranger had never been so instinctive, so easy, and it wasn't really a stranger after all because this wolf was like him. He could see it in the flash of gold eyes as the Wolf Blade went down and the swiftly savage whirl that was completely controlled. He and the other wolf crouched on opposite sides, searching for signs of survival.

Cam's ears flicked back at the sound of someone crashing through the woods, and the other wolf's head lifted in angry defiance. Cam didn't move, recognizing Hunter's presence without even turning, and his calm obviously conveyed itself to his partner. The other wolf gave him a suspicious look.

The question was obvious in the wolf's posture. You know him?

Cam chanced a look away from the unmoving Wolf Blade. Hunter had clearly sized up the situation in a matter of seconds, and he was now carefully herding the hikers away. They were babbling at him, at each other, clutching backpacks and phone and a walking stick that they had conceivably meant to use as a weapon. Hunter didn't look back.

Glancing back at the wolf, he realized the question had already been answered. The other wolf was staring after the hikers and Hunter, eyes narrowed. His suspicion was still there. Not one of us.

Cam wasn't sure how he could tell, but he lowered his head in acknowledgement. His ears twitched, still following the sound of Hunter's voice, and his interest probably said as much as any words could. Mine.

The other wolf seemed to accept that. At least inasmuch as his attention to the Wolf Blade meant that he didn't consider Hunter a threat anymore. He nosed the creature with evident distaste, and this time a more restrained and vaguely melodic call echoed over the trees. Cam looked up as a familiar bird shape dove toward the river and turned sharply, backwinging hard to land on the banking between water and trail.

The very familiar bird shape, he realized, as it sparkled away to reveal Akeelah glaring at the scene. "That shouldn't be here," she said. "Too early. Too close to the road. Too easy to take down."

"Too young," the woman on the other side of the Wolf Blade said.

Cam blinked. The other wolf was gone. The other wolf was a woman. And he was the only one still in animal form.

"What do you mean?" Cam demanded, putting a hand on the ground to balance himself as he shifted back. He was hungry again, distractingly so. "Too young?"

"Not old enough to be one of Shimazu's," the woman elaborated. "They're making new ones somehow."

"New, bold ones," Akeelah muttered. Then her attention settled on Cam. "What are you doing out here?"

He set his jaw. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Patrolling." The wolf woman jumped in before Akeelah could answer, and to Cam's surprise, she smiled at him. "Akeelah's not actually assigned to guard duty, but she helps us out sometimes."

"I help you out." Akeelah was still staring at him, but it was clear she wasn't talking to him until she repeated, "And you?"

Cam shrugged. "We were driving by and we heard screaming."

"We?" Akeelah's pretty face grimaced, and she shook her head. "I thought I saw your boy toy's blonde head from the air. I hoped maybe I was wrong."

"Akeelah!" The wolf woman looked genuinely surprised by her attitude. Turning an apologetic look on Cam, she pushed herself to her feet and walked around the fallen Wolf Blade, holding out her hand to him. "I'm Kathy. It's nice to meet you."

He stood up quickly, taken aback by her friendliness. "I'm, uh... I'm Cam." He shook her hand briefly. "Thanks for the help with--" He jerked his head at the Wolf Blade, and she gave it a token glance.

"I should be thanking you," she countered. "I got lazy. I didn't expect any of them to get this close to civilization before full dark. I'm glad you got to it before it got to anyone else."

"You weren't lazy," Akeelah interjected. "You were just being practical. We would have gotten to it in plenty of time."

Kathy gave Akeelah a look of disbelief before throwing a baffled smile back in Cam's direction. "She's really quite charming, most of the time. But I guess you two already know each other...?"

"We've met," Cam said shortly. His stomach was starting to hurt, and what was wrong with him, anyway? He shouldn't have to eat six times a day.

"He's the one who interrupted my last assignment," Akeelah muttered.

Kathy frowned, then tilted her head to one side. It was an oddly wolfish look, Cam thought. He wondered suddenly if he did that too.

"The one that got away?" She sounded sharply curious and more than a little amused.

"His SO." Akeelah gave him a dark look. "And it doesn't really count, anyway. Everyone behaves differently with their SO standing over their shoulder. If I'd had him alone it would have been totally different."

"Akeelah, you said the man was gay," Kathy reminded her. Amusement had completely won over curiosity in her tone, and she sounded like she was on the verge of laughter. "Even you can't change someone's orientation."

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop trying," Cam snapped. He didn't find the situation at all entertaining. "He said no. Leave him alone."

"He didn't say no to me," Akeelah said sullenly. "He said yes to you. That's not exactly the same thing."

His fists clenched, and he saw Kathy notice. He saw Akeelah ignore it. He struggled to keep his mouth shut, knowing his hunger was making him more than irritable. He was angry, unreasonably so, and he hurt, and this was a bad situation all around.

"Look, he's not even here," Kathy said quickly. "There's no reason to fight over him. We'd better get rid of this thing," she added, kicking the Wolf Blade with a carelessness that spoke of experience.

Where was Hunter, anyway? Had he just been getting the hikers moving in the right direction up the trail? Had he escorted them all the way back to the road? And if so, where were they supposed to go from there? And why hadn't Cam insisted on a bigger dinner before they started back?

He winced as his stomach growled, and it was Akeelah who noticed. "Are you all right?" she asked, wary but not as standoffish as before. "Cam?"

"I'm fine." He flexed his fingers this time, trying to distract himself from the hunger pangs. "What do you do with these, anyway?"

"Depends where we find them," Kathy answered. She knelt by the creature again, studying it for a moment before spreading her hands and giving it a shove. It didn't move. "Help me turn it over?"

Cam got down beside her, and to his surprise, Akeelah came over too. The three of them managed to roll the thing over. "The magic that animates them dissipates pretty quickly and they just sort of... dissolve," Kathy said with a grimace. "We usually haul them off somewhere inconspicuous so they're hidden until it happens."

"I'll take it," Akeelah said, standing up again. "You'll have to back up."

It took Cam a moment to get it. "You can carry something that size?"

She smiled at him, and for the first time it was a smile without any malice behind it. "I'm stronger as a siren," she told him.

They got out of her way, and oddly, she ran for the river. Leaping off the bank, she shifted into her winged form and started to climb. Cam exchanged glances with Kathy, who looked enthralled by the display of power. "Amazing, isn't it?" she murmured.

"Yeah," Cam said under his breath. "Where's she going?"

"She's picking up speed for the snatch and grab," Kathy answered, pointing. Even as she raised her hand, Akeelah started to circle around, and as she dove toward them again Cam understood. Of course. Her talons were made to catch and lift. She probably couldn't get airborne from a standstill with something as big as a Wolf Blade.

The massive bird of prey sank its claws into the creature's back and kept on going, lifting more slowly this time, using the channel cut by the river to get aloft. "Why did we turn it over?" Cam asked, watching it go.

Kathy made a face. "I don't like seeing things hang upside down when she's carrying them," she confessed. "Personal quirk. Coming?"

Cam blinked. "What, you mean, follow her?"

Kathy was a wolf before he finished asking the question, and she looked up at him like that was all the answer he needed. Then she took off along the river without waiting to see if he would follow. Yes, apparently. That was exactly what she'd meant.

Cam hesitated. Wherever Hunter had gone, he wouldn't be able to find them if he came back here and they were gone. On the other hand, he must have taken the hikers out to the road, or he'd be back by now. And if he'd gone that far, he was probably giving them a ride back to their own car. Which meant it could be quite a while before he returned, and Cam didn't really feel like waiting.

He felt like eating. He felt like hunting. He felt like chasing something, and he let his wolf form take over with a sort of resigned ferocity. He didn't know what he needed, but running seemed more right than anything else right now.

He didn't have any trouble following Kathy, and later he would wonder about that. For now, though, he had her trail easily and somehow he could tell he was closing the distance between them. He caught up just after she'd reached the place Akeelah had dropped the Wolf Blade, and it wasn't until he looked around for the siren that he realized why Kathy had been moving more slowly than he had.

Looking up was hard. He swiveled his head around experimentally, but his eyes were definitely not made to watch the sky. Not while he was standing, anyway. Probably especially not while he was running.

A sharp growl got his attention, and he glanced at Kathy. She tilted her head at him exactly the same way she had when she was a human. Not annoyed, just questioning. Fine?

He wasn't sure whether she meant the Wolf Blade, or his odd head movements. But neither was an issue for him, so he nodded. Or he thought of it as nodding, after he did it. He drew his head back and his ears relaxed, and she seemed to get the message.

Then he glanced up again, shooting her an inquisitive look that he thought she'd probably understand just as easily. Where's Akeelah?

She lowered her nose to the ground in a gesture he took as a shrug, then sat back on her haunches and lifted her nose to the sky. The gentle howl that drifted from her took him by surprise. He couldn't decide whether the sound was strange or pretty, but he sat back and followed her gaze and a moment later he saw Akeelah drift by overhead.

She couldn't land here, he realized suddenly. The trees were too close together--she might be able to get down, but she wouldn't be able to get aloft again. At least, probably not. He hadn't forgotten her leaping into the air in Hunter's apartment. This wasn't that much more restrictive than that had been.

A snuffing sound from Kathy got his attention, and she stood up when he looked at her. Turning in a circle, she looked back over her shoulder at him, then at the Wolf Blade. A quiet growl put him on alert, and he watched as she padded off into the trees.

Make sure it's alone, she meant. Or maybe "hidden." Make sure it's hidden. That seemed right.

Cam got up and made a half-hearted attempt at following her instructions. He got distracted by a flicker of movement, though, and he froze before he realized why. Prey. He shook his head, a human gesture in wolf form, and he growled softly.

Not prey. He was human. He didn't eat little woodland creatures.

A flash of white behind him and he spun, starving, ready to leap on anything that dared to cross his path. The flash ran for it and he tore after it, intent only on capturing it. The chase was more important than the reason. Prey.

The white thing disappeared into the ground and he pawed at its burrow, yipping in frustration, feeling cheated and mean and hungry.

Hungry. Cam froze, then fell back, horrified. He was doing it again. He was hunting. What was wrong with him?

He spun away, racing for the river, racing up the river, back toward the place where he'd first encountered the Wolf Blade. Where Hunter had left him. The place where Hunter would be looking for him, where he had last been human, where he could walk back to Hunter's truck and go to a drive-thru like any normal person.

It was easy to find and utterly empty. Hunter hadn't been here since he'd left with the hikers. Cam could tell, and he couldn't change it, and he needed something to eat now. He wouldn't hunt. He couldn't.

He thought it would be easier as a human, but the second he changed the ache in his stomach intensified unbearably. He gritted his teeth, doubling over, and caught himself just before he would have gone to the ground. He was hungry, not dying.

He stumbled over to a tree and sat, pulling his knees up in a futile effort to calm his stomach. It was fine, he was fine. People got hungry all the time. People didn't eat for days, for weeks, and they survived. He could wait for Hunter to get back.

He barely heard Kathy coming, but he saw her flow out of the trees a moment later. She fixed on him instantly, running toward him, worrying him with her head-on rush but he was in too much pain to do anything about it. He was shaking all over and he was only vaguely relieved when she stopped beside him and transformed into a human on her hands and knees beside him with a grace that was disturbing.

"Cam?" She didn't reach for him, but her tone made it obvious that she wanted to. "Are you all right? What's wrong? Why did you run? Are you okay?"

He clenched his hands on his shins, trying to sound reasonable instead of whiny. "I'm hungry," he whispered. It wasn't enough. "I'm so hungry."

"There's plenty of game around here." She sounded honestly confused. "Don't you hunt?"

"No," he gasped, trying to put his head down but realizing almost immediately that it only made his stomach feel worse. He tipped it back and rested it against the tree instead, trying to make his breathing seem more important than the pain.

"Oh." She sounded like she wanted to ask, but instead she said, "You'll eat raw meat, though, right? If we get you something?"

"We?" Akeelah's voice echoed. Cam hadn't seen her arrive.

"Akeelah, he needs food." Kathy sounded worried. "I don't have anything with me, and if he won't hunt for himself--"

"I don't hunt at night," Akeelah said crossly.

"You do for me." Kathy was touching him now, putting a hand on his forehead and then on his shoulder, rubbing comforting circles through his shirt. "Please, Akeelah."

There was no answer, and Cam didn't know whether that was a bad sign or a good one. His eyes were closed and he didn't dare ask. He was trying to code backwards in his head, a minimally successful strategy in times of serious trouble, but better than nothing.

"Cam?" Kathy was asking. "Are you okay if I go too, or do you want someone to stay with you?"

Like there was anything she could do. "I'm fine," he ground out, refusing to open his eyes.

"Okay." She didn't seem to take offense at his tone, squeezing his shoulder before he felt the soft brush of fur that meant she was a wolf again. Then he was alone.

He wasn't sure how long he was there. He really didn't want to know. He was sure it was no time at all compared to the time that passed in his head, he was sure of that intellectually, but it wasn't enough to speed up his actual perception.

Not until he smelled something that was very bad and very, very good, and he didn't know what to do about this because that was blood in the air and he was not going to open his eyes. He wasn't. He didn't want to know.

"Hey." It was such a gentle sound that he didn't even recognize it, and he opened his eyes without consciously deciding to do it. "Cam."

Akeelah hovered over him--not literally, because she was human again--and the concern in her voice startled him as much as the bloody carcass lying casually on the ground beside her. "I don't hunt for just anyone, you know," she said, smiling at him with some of the charm that Kathy had claimed on her behalf earlier. "Come on, change. You can't eat like that."

"Like what?" he managed, trying not to look at the thing on the ground.

"Human," she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm not skinning it for you, and you need real teeth for that."

When he didn't answer, she settled down next to him and he caught a faint whiff of perfume. "Don't you want your dinner?" she asked, her tone softening further as a hint of amusement entered her voice. "It's delivery."

He shook his head, unable to form the words.

"Delivery is good," she coaxed, reaching out to touch his face. "The wolf wants it. Come on, Cam. Don't make him starve."

"I'm human," he whispered, wanting to pull away, wanting to not have to. "Not a wolf."

"You're both," she told him. Her fingers rested on his cheek and her thumb brushed against his mouth, making his lips part and his hunger rise and he needed food yesterday. "There's nothing wrong with that."

When she said it, he could almost believe it. And that seemed wrong, somehow, that he would trust her like that, and Hunter was going to be mad at him but Hunter wasn't here and he had to eat. He had to get away from Akeelah, he had to be in control of himself again, and it wasn't going to happen while he was still hungry.

He shifted into his wolf form and had to scramble a little when the strange position didn't quite work with wolf limbs. Then the blood hit his nose and nothing else mattered because there was food and it was right there and he had never been so hungry in his life. He didn't care what it was or where it had come from or how it had gotten there. He tore into it without hesitation.

Some time later, he realized that there was more than one fresh kill in front of him. He also noticed that the second one was much more tasty. He went for that one instead and heard a laugh as he settled down to work more diligently at the business of eating. There was plenty of food, after all. It wasn't going anywhere.

Not anymore, he thought, and he was vaguely amused by the idea.

At least, he was until Hunter's voice cut through the fog of contentment with a tone that made him sink his teeth into the meat in front of him and growl a warning. No one was taking this from him. A hand patted his shoulder comfortingly, and he started shredding again, gulping the pieces with renewed worry.

Mine, he told himself.

But Hunter didn't think so, and the anger radiating off of him made Cam cringe. "What the hell is this?" Hunter demanded. "You all decide to have a party without me?"

"He was hungry." Kathy's voice was meaner than Cam had heard it. "What kind of a guy are you that you just let him starve like this? He was practically hysterical, out of control--he almost keeled over before we even figured out what was wrong!"

"Yeah, and who the fuck are you?" Hunter snapped. "You don't know anything about him! He just ate half an hour ago, and I told you to stay away from him--" He had to be talking about Akeelah-- "so why don't you both just back off!"

"Why don't you stop endangering his life by pretending to know what he needs!" Kathy shouted. She didn't move from his side, hand still on his shoulder, crouched down on the ground and glaring up at Hunter with eyes that glowed bright yellow in the fading light.

Hunter towered over her and Akeelah was on her feet, standing between him and Kathy as he glared right back at the wolf woman. "Get the fuck away from my boyfriend," Hunter snarled.

Akeelah took a step forward, toe to toe with him if several inches shorter, in his face until he was forced to look at her or step back. "Touch my girlfriend," she said, with a terrible pleasantness that made her seductive tone sound sinister, "and you'll never love a man again."

Cam could only stare at the scene playing out in front of him, food somehow forgotten, perfume tickling his nose and an inexplicable restlessness that had nothing to do with hunger stirring deep in his chest. He growled suddenly, felt Kathy's fingers press reassuringly between his shoulderblades. That wasn't it. He shrugged her hand off, glaring up at Hunter and Akeelah. They shouldn't be standing there like that.

"What, Cam," Hunter snapped. He didn't move.

Cam shook off the wolf, and the clarity his human form brought was disturbing. "Back off," he ordered, lifting a hand to wipe his mouth and flinching when it came away bloody. "Both of you, just... step back."

Raw meat. He'd just eaten raw meat off of a still warm animal. Hunter had every right to be upset. He was just this side of insanely freaked out himself. And he wasn't looking at those carcasses. He wouldn't do it.

He got to his feet when neither Hunter nor Akeelah moved and pushed them apart himself. He stood between them to prevent them from gravitating toward each other again, and he frowned as the perfume finally registered. "Do you have to do that?" he demanded, staring at Akeelah.

She shrugged. "Habit," she told him. "At low levels, it has a calming influence."

"Yeah, well, surprisingly I'm not feeling very calm right now," Hunter growled.

"Hunter, I'm sorry," Cam began, and that was all it took to bring Kathy to her feet.

"You didn't do anything wrong!" she exclaimed. "Why don't you hunt? Who told you it was a terrible thing to do? Who told you to apologize for being what you are?"

"No one told me I shouldn't hunt," he said testily. "I haven't had the time or motivation to learn. I'm perfectly capable of buying food that's been humanely grown and slaughtered--because frankly, I have an aversion to killing my dinner myself. Call it a personal quirk," he added.

"Doesn't look like much of an aversion to me," Hunter muttered. His eyes were fixed on the half-devoured animals on the ground, and Cam couldn't help following his gaze.

Okay. Mostly devoured. He didn't know how long he'd been at it, but hunger wasn't eating him from the inside out, so it must have been long enough for the food to reach his stomach. He didn't know how his digestive system could even handle that much raw meat, but he wasn't throwing up, so obviously more than his eyesight had changed when Lothor did--whatever he did.

"You're a carnivore," Kathy was saying. "You're supposed to eat meat. Cooking it does something to it, makes it less good. I don't know what, but it doesn't keep you full as long as raw meat will."

"You can freeze it," Akeelah offered unexpectedly. "It doesn't taste as good, but not everyone has time to hunt everyday. Or shop," she added, "if you really can't bring yourself to hunt. There's a butcher in Killington who caters to human wolves."

"I can't live on a diet of raw meat," Cam said sharply. "That's ridiculous." But it had tasted good, a traitorous voice in his head reminded him.

"What's ridiculous is the amount of other stuff you'll have to eat if you don't." Akeelah didn't sound confrontational. She sounded almost... was that sympathy in her voice? "And the more often you change, the bigger your appetite, so watch out for that."

"Oh," he said softly, involuntarily. The training session. That would explain a few things.

He could feel Hunter's eyes on him again, and he didn't dare look up. Wolves, sirens, aliens... now raw meat? He didn't really want to know what Hunter's expression looked like right now. There was only so much a person could take, after all.

"Stay and patrol with me," Kathy said suddenly. "With us. I know a lot about the diet, and I'm pretty good at the hunt if you want some pointers."

Cam actually hesitated, because yeah, he wouldn't mind getting some answers to questions he hadn't even thought of yet. But when she said "us" she'd basically made the decision for him, because no way would he let Hunter stay in Akeelah's company without him and he was pretty sure it went both ways. "Thanks," he said with a sigh. "But we have to go. Hunter has someone waiting for him."

"Someone else?" Akeelah asked, and the way she said it made it clear she was thinking harem. She sounded curious and, annoyingly enough, impressed.

"I'm meeting my brother," Hunter informed her. He sounded as irritable about the implication as Cam felt, but that wasn't exactly definitive. Hunter had plenty to be upset about without Akeelah's innuendo adding to it.

"You could stay," Kathy said, lifting her chin. Her eyes met Cam's defiantly, and he caught the quick look Akeelah sent her way. That was enough to convince him that she was really doing what he thought she was doing.

"I go where Hunter goes," he said quietly. For as long as it lasted, he would follow Hunter, and if it was over tonight, well. Maybe he had told Lothor the truth after all. Maybe he really didn't need anyone telling him what to do.

But he would miss it when it was gone.

Kathy sighed. "If you say so." She sounded doubtful, and peripherally, he could feel Hunter bristle at the insult. "Just don't forget, you're not alone, okay? Other people deal with the same stuff every day."

Not Hunter, her voice said, even if her words didn't. Not explicitly.

"Thanks," Cam told her. "And thanks for..." He included Akeelah in his glance, but he stumbled over the words. "Uh, dinner."

Kathy gave him a genuine smile. "Our pleasure. We'll clean this up," she added. "Don't worry."

"We?" Akeelah repeated. This time, though, there was a hint of amusement in her voice. Amusement, or fondness. Maybe both. No trace of resentment, though, and indeed, Kathy paid no attention to her pretended complaint.

"Thank you," Cam said again.

Hunter did nothing but glare at both of them until he and Cam were shoulder to shoulder and heading back toward the road. Then he glared at the ground in front of them, the trees around them, and pretty much everything else except the person next to him. He didn't say a word. He didn't have to.

"Were those hikers all right?" Cam asked at last, the words awkward in the lengthening silence. He felt strange even asking, as though it had happened another night and they were only now getting a chance to share the information. As though it didn't really matter anymore.

"Yeah," Hunter muttered. He sounded just as odd, and Cam couldn't decide whether that was reassuring or not. "I gave them a lift back to their car."

Cam nodded once. "I thought you must have," he said, almost to himself.

"Were you hungry?" Hunter blurted out, still concentrating more on their surroundings than on Cam. Pushing through brush, ducking branches, stepping around rocks and roots and all the while avoiding Cam's gaze. "After we ate, I mean?"

Cam wasn't sure how to answer that. "I shouldn't have been," he told the trees.

"Were you?" Hunter insisted. He would push until he got what he was looking for; Cam didn't doubt that. What it was he was looking for, though. That was the question.

"Yes," Cam admitted, frowning. "I've been hungry all day. I've been hungry all week," he amended, his frown deepening. "I guess... I guess I keep waiting for the meat craving to go away, so I can eat what I want to eat again."

"It's not going away," Hunter said from just ahead of him. Cam couldn't see his face.

"No." And that was hard to think about, hard to deal with, almost impossible to imagine it going on forever. Raw meat being better than cooked meat. But he could freeze it, if he wanted to. In the name of convenience.

He swallowed a crazy laugh. He could freeze his fresh game to snack on later. "I didn't--kill those things, Hunter."

"Yeah," Hunter said briefly. "I figured."

It wasn't what he wanted to hear. Or it wasn't how he wanted to hear it. He couldn't tell. He just knew that he needed something from Hunter that he wasn't getting, and he didn't even know what to ask for. Sympathy? Understanding? Acceptance?

Something other than disgust?

"Hunter," he said.

Hunter didn't stop. "Yeah," he said over his shoulder.

Cam came to a halt. They were within easy sight of the road, and one of them had miscalculated because the truck was a little further up than the point where they were going to emerge from the trees. It didn't matter. It was faster to walk along the road than through the woods anyway.

"Hunter," he said again, not sure the other Ranger was even listening.

Hunter glanced back, realized he wasn't moving, and did an about face. "What?" he asked. He was already coming back, casting a wary eye around them as though Cam had seen something and he was trying to figure out what it was.

"I don't know," Cam said quietly. He didn't even know why he'd stopped Hunter, except that he seemed to be getting farther away the longer they walked. Now Hunter was at least paying attention again.

"Something you heard?" Hunter wanted to know. He was still scanning their surroundings. "Or something you saw?"

"No--" Not paying attention to the right thing, unfortunately. "That's not what I meant. I just..."

Hunter was looking at him, looking right at him and waiting, maybe for the first time since he'd come back from taking the hikers wherever he'd taken them. It wasn't enough, but it was better.

"I don't want you to treat me like I don't exist," Cam said at last. "Just because I'm a freak doesn't mean I'm not here."

"Freak?" Hunter repeated, eyeing him. He actually sounded confused. "Where'd that come from?"

He couldn't answer. Where didn't it come from?

"Look." Hunter was frowning. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do here. I don't know what you need, I don't even know what you want, and I don't know there's anything wrong if you don't tell me. So what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know," Cam said softly. He really didn't. "But I need you to keep trying."

"To do what?" Hunter exclaimed, obviously frustrated. "What do I try and do, Cam! Tell me!"

"Try to like me!" Cam shouted back.

Hunter stared at him, but Cam didn't back down. He hadn't meant to say that and he didn't even care. He was beyond embarrassment by now. He had begged Hunter to sleep with him; there couldn't be anything left that he couldn't say.

"What the fuck makes you think I don't like you?" Hunter demanded at last. "That's the craziest thing I ever heard."

"The way you look at me!" Cam exclaimed, then shook his head and amended, "The way you don't look at me, sometimes. I didn't ask to be a wolf, Hunter. But there are things about it that I don't want to give up, and I'm trying not to let the rest of it... I'm just trying not to let it--win."

"Hey." Hunter's hands were on his shoulders again. He'd been doing that more and more lately. Well, more than before, which had been never. "You're not a freak, Cam. Cut it out."

"Don't walk away from me," Cam told him. Half command, half plea. He didn't know how else to say it.

Hunter didn't answer. The look in those blue eyes was unmistakable, and the tang of iron was bitter on his tongue as he turned his head away. Hunter couldn't kiss him right now. There were limits, and just because Hunter forgot didn't mean it was all right.

"Hey, what," Hunter muttered, not pulling away. He was waiting, but he wasn't giving up. It still wasn't enough.

"I should wash my mouth out," Cam said quietly.

To his surprise, Hunter let out a huff of amusement, and then his hand was on Cam's face as he guided him back into kissing range. "News flash," Hunter told him, his gaze wandering a little as he leaned in. "It's not just your mouth."

Which Hunter's mouth didn't seem to mind at all. Cam gave in, because he'd done weirder things, right? He couldn't think of any of them right now, but Hunter probably could. And they probably involved Cam.

Hunter's kiss was gentle, biting his lip carefully, nuzzling the corner of his mouth. It was warm and sweet and Cam couldn't help thinking that Hunter wasn't as confident as he pretended. He didn't want to get too close to someone who had just--

Then Hunter's tongue traced his lower lip, and Cam almost laughed as he realized what he was doing. He lowered his head, breath escaping through a grin he couldn't suppress, and he shook his head. "That can't be good for you," he murmured.

Hunter kissed his cheek, his tongue a soft but insistent presence as he licked away another spot of blood. It was an oddly wolfish thing to do, and Cam could feel himself reacting to it. It was a gesture of affection, of trust... of dependence. Maybe Hunter just thought it was cute; he couldn't tell and he didn't dare ask. But it felt like family.

"Yeah, well," Hunter muttered, breathing on his skin when Cam didn't move. "I'll get a rabies shot."

This time Cam did laugh, finally letting himself forget what he looked like as he lifted his face to kiss Hunter in return. There really wasn't anything that could intimidate him, was there. He wondered how long Hunter would keep surprising him.

Hunter pulled away a moment later, eyeing him. "You should get a rabies shot."

Cam frowned, trying to figure out where that had come from.

Hunter brought a hand up between them, licked his thumb, and rubbed at Cam's other cheek gently. He raised his eyebrows, holding up his thumb for Cam to see. It was red.

Cam swallowed, self-conscious all over again. "Rabies is passed through saliva," he said defensively. "Not blood."

A slow smile spread across Hunter's face, and he leaned in before Cam could say anything. His kiss was thorough and deep, easy and unhurried but overwhelming in its refusal to yield. He went everywhere and Cam let him, somehow sensing that this wasn't a contest but a demonstration.

"So," Hunter said, his voice rough when he finally let up, watching Cam with a sort of smug desperation. He was nothing if not a walking contradiction, Cam though distantly. "We should both get rabies shots."

Now it was a contest, and Cam was going to win. He slid a hand behind Hunter's neck and pulled him closer, warm and sure and maybe a little bit sloppy but only because Hunter had started it. He wasn't used to having people lick his face clean, and wolf or not, a good idea deserved reciprocation.

He could feel Hunter's hands, resting awkwardly on his hips like he wasn't quite sure what to do with them. It wasn't discomfort, Cam realized suddenly. Hunter wasn't trying to push him away. He just didn't know how to get any closer.

"Hey," Hunter said, and he sounded a little breathless. Not like someone who didn't appreciate where he was. More like someone who didn't know how to stay there. I've never done it with a guy before.

Hunter wasn't reserved, Cam thought, he was nervous. And right now he was doing his best to hide it. Insecurity was a weakness the Crimson Thunder Ranger would never own.

"Can you do me a favor while you're at it?" Hunter was asking. "I could really use a dog license at some point."

Cam knew it was an evasion technique, he'd seen it coming the moment Hunter opened his mouth, and he still drew back in surprise. "What do you need a dog license for?" he demanded.

"It was my name in the paper," Hunter reminded him. "All it takes is one person who gets curious, calls the city clerk, and asks them what kind of 'dog' that was. And what does the guy say? 'Hunter Bradley isn't licensed to have a dog.'

"Then I get fined," Hunter continued, clearly warming to the subject. "And next April, I'll probably get hit with some kind of dog tax or something--"

"There's no dog tax," Cam interrupted, but it didn't deter Hunter.

"How do you know there's no dog tax?" he wanted to know. "Do you have a dog tax consultant? You're not even licensed!"

"Okay, okay," Cam said quickly. If this was how Hunter freaked out, he'd take complaints about licensing over issues with raw meat any day. "Dog license. I'll get you one. You'll need a rabies certificate first," he added.

"No, you need a rabies certificate," Hunter countered. "I wasn't kidding about that. If you're going to run around letting wild animals bite you, you should get a rabies shot."

"So far, you're the only one who's been bitten by a wild animal," Cam pointed out dryly.

"Well, consider yourself under observation," Hunter shot back. "You start being all rabid and then I'll worry."

Cam smiled to himself. "I'll get you a dog license," he promised. "Give me a couple of days."

"Fine," Hunter muttered, shooting him a dark look. "That'll give me time to find a collar."

Cam decided that kissing was better than arguing, and that showing was faster than explaining. So he let that comment slide in favor of a demonstration. Hunter was still here with him, despite blood and weirdness and personal injury, and if he wanted to do a little displaced venting then surely he'd earned the right.

After all, Cam thought ruefully, it wasn't like he needed a collar.

15. Everyone Screws Up Sometimes

It wasn't that he'd expected Cam to show up at the track that morning. But Cam had been there all day yesterday, and it wasn't like he didn't know where Hunter was going to be today. If Hunter had been good enough to skip work for yesterday, then what was he doing now that was so important?

Blake had just rolled his eyes when Hunter told him he was going to stop by Ninja Ops on his way home. His bro had had plenty to say about his secrecy in general, his sudden fixation on everything wolf, and his choice of dates in particular. But once he'd gotten it off his chest, Blake didn't dwell, so he figured they were okay.

He and Cam, on the other hand. Hunter strolled confidently into Ninja Ops, ready to bluff his way through this totally unnecessary visit until he figured out exactly where they stood. He came to an abrupt halt two steps away from Cam's chair, caught short and unreasonably horrified by the fact that Cam was snacking.

Little round salty things that came in a bag. Brown. Crunchy. Soy nuts. Cam had a bag of soy nuts sitting next to his computer, and he was popping them into his mouth like they were candy. Or like they were the completely normal snack that they were--okay, weird health geek snack that they were, but normal for Cam.

Not normal for the wolf.

"Come look at this," Cam said without turning around. "I think I've found a way to rescue the ninja students."

The words barely registered. "What are you eating?" Hunter demanded, approaching warily only because Cam had told him to. Cam hadn't been able to eat regular food for days, and Lothor had just been here the day before, turning Cam's dad human again--or whatever--like it was the easiest thing in the world. Cam could've reverse engineered a transmutation blast like that, no problem.

The chair swiveled around to face him, and Cam gave him the weirdest look. "I've just solved the biggest problem we have in a little under three hours, and you want to know what I'm eating?"

His eyes were still yellow. That was something, anyway. But he wasn't acting very wolf-like, and what if the eyes were just some kind of lingering side effect? Something left over from the wolf that hadn't quite faded yet? Or hey, what did he know: they could have been changed permanently by the transformation, so that even now when he was human again the yellow color stayed.

Cam was studying him. "Were you at the..." He trailed off, Hunter's dirty motocross gear probably answering the question for him. "The Youth Exhibition," he realized aloud. "I didn't realize that was so early."

Hunter shrugged, worried and uncertain and way less ready to bluff than he'd expected. He hadn't thought he'd walk in here and find Cam back to normal. He should have... Cam had been totally freaked out by the hunting thing, and whatever he liked about being a wolf it couldn't possibly be enough to balance that. But somehow he hadn't seen this coming.

He hadn't wanted to see it coming. That was the real truth. Non-wolf Cam wouldn't want anything to do with him, and he didn't know how this was going to go but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it.

Cam frowned up at him. "Are you all right?"

Hunter folded his arms defensively. "I just want to know why you're eating--" He decided it sounded stupid even as he said it, but he glanced at the bag anyway and the question had to be obvious.

"Oh." Cam seemed to get it then, and he smiled.

Yeah. Human again. That was what Hunter was afraid of.

"It turns out Kathy wasn't kidding about the raw meat thing," Cam was saying, oblivious to his worry. "I'm barely hungry, and stuff that isn't meat actually tastes like something again. I guess I went a little overboard with the snacks," he admitted.

Hunter just stared at him, still not caught up.

"What?" Cam asked at last. "You really don't have to be my keeper, you know. I'm not going to ignore the cravings again. Especially if it means I can eat regular food in between."

"I thought--" Hunter started speaking when he realized Cam wanted an answer, and he stopped when he realized he was actually going to tell him.

He tried again. "I just thought it was weird, that's all."

"Great," Cam said, grimacing. "Now my life is so strange that the one normal thing I do becomes weird."

Hunter cracked a smile at that, and Cam waved him at the monitor again. "Seriously, look at this. My cousins volunteered their gem shards for study, and I'm pretty sure they're right about the pieces disrupting energy fields."

"They volunteered?" Hunter repeated, bracing his arm against the back of Cam's chair and pretending to study the screen. Like he had any idea what it meant.

"Volunteered, were bribed, whatever." Cam dismissed the distinction with another wave of his hand. "They needed a gem shard at either end of their teleportation route in order to get through Lothor's shield. But it looks like that was a power issue--one we can solve by exposing the pieces to a sufficiently strong mobile power source. Like the ones we carry with us everywhere we go."

He might not know how to read the screen, but he could read Cam better than anything. "Our morphers," he said, without even thinking about it.

"Exactly." Cam sounded satisfied. "With a gem shard, I think we can teleport directly onto the ship, free the ninjas, and teleport off again."

Hunter didn't miss the qualification. "You think?"

"If it doesn't work, we won't go anywhere," Cam said bluntly. "And if it does work, we're all set. But if it only works halfway, we're going to want one of the pieces here in Ninja Ops to get us out again afterwards. Which means only one of us can go."

Hunter frowned, but Cam was already going on. "It has to be me, of course. My morpher is the strongest; it has the best chance of powering the gem shard through the shield. Plus I can figure out alien technology a lot faster than any of you."

"Plus nothing," Hunter said firmly. "There's no way you're going up there alone."

"It has to be me," Cam repeated. "I've already talked to Marah and Kapri. They gave me a complete layout of the ship and everything they know about the containment system. There's no reason to send anyone else."

Hunter moved his hand to Cam's shoulder, figuring he might as well enjoy it before the shouting started. This, at least, he'd seen coming. And if Blake's reaction yesterday had been any indication, Cam wasn't going to be pleased.

Cam turned his head, glancing at his hand and then up at his face when Hunter let him turn around. "There are only two shards," he reminded Hunter. "And one of them has to stay here. I don't want anyone getting stuck up there."

"Something I should have told you," Hunter muttered, not listening anymore. "A while ago. Come on."

Cam just looked at him. "What?"

"Better show you." Hunter jerked his head toward the stairs and repeated, "Come on."

Cam's mouth quirked upward. He didn't look worried. "Promise you're not going to turn into an animal."

Hunter gaped at him for a long moment before he remembered Tori's way of sharing information. "Oh," he said, closing his mouth. "No."

Cam was teasing him. Cam was smiling at him, getting up out of his chair and ready to leave for no reason except that Hunter said so. Damn. He really didn't want to do this, and every second that he waited made him realize just how much he had to lose.

"Yeah, no," he muttered, shaking his head. "It's not that."

Cam started walking and Hunter grabbed his arm, stepping in close, crowding him, staring down at him and begging silently for understanding. He'd lied to Cam. Deliberately, maliciously, a long time ago and yeah, he'd had his reasons, but he hadn't exactly gone out of his way to fix it since then.

He kissed Cam hard, maybe a little desperate for welcome, and for the first time Cam pushed him away. Holding him, fingers clamped down on his arms, glowing eyes pinning him in place. "What?" Cam demanded.

Hunter swallowed. "What d'you mean," he said sullenly, "'what?'" He knew mimicking Cam wasn't going to get him anywhere, but since when did Cam not want to kiss? He'd only wanted one, just one, before Cam started yelling at him.

"I don't like not knowing," Cam said, very clearly.

Hunter winced. "There were five pieces of the Gem of Souls," he blurted out. "I gave you three. I kept two."

Cam blinked, his grip loosening.

"I didn't tell anyone," Hunter added. "Not even Blake. When he heard Marah say 'three' yesterday, he was pretty pissed."

"He knew there were five," Cam said slowly. "He just didn't know how many you gave me?"

"The others too," Hunter admitted. "They all saw it break. Except maybe Sensei, I don't know. He went with you when you got rid of it, right?"

Cam just nodded, still quiet.

"Yeah, so." He was babbling and he knew it. "He knew how many you had. He must not have known how many there were originally."

Cam was frowning. "Why?" he said at last.

Yeah, great. Like Hunter hadn't asked himself that question a hundred times since then. "I thought maybe... I don't know," he muttered. "It showed us our parents once. I thought maybe it could do it again."

Cam stayed silent, considering this. Hunter risked a glance at his face. Yup. Eyes still glowing. Handy mood sensor, that. Too bad it was telling him exactly what he didn't want to know right now.

He was about to say something--sorry, maybe, some kind of apology, for whatever good it did--when Cam asked, "Where are they?"

"I, uh..." Hunter shifted uncomfortably. "I buried them? In the hills behind the track. Out where I go to ride."

Weirdly, this made Cam smile, and he just nodded once. "Let's go get them," he said simply.

He didn't let go of Hunter, though, and Hunter stared at him, waiting.

"Looks like you'll be coming with me after all," Cam added.

Hunter didn't get that, and Cam must have seen it on his face.

"To rescue the ninjas," Cam prompted. "Two more gem shards means I don't have to go alone. You know the ship... you're the logical choice."

"Are you--" Hunter stumbled over the words. "You're not mad?"

It was a kid question if he'd ever heard one. At least Cam didn't make him repeat it. "Everyone has secrets," he said simply. And this time he kissed Hunter, hard and hot and not at all apologetic.

So they headed out there without a word to anyone, and Hunter unearthed the gem fragments while Cam turned into a wolf and raced in wide, lopsided circles around the hill. It was amazing to watch, really. Not just because wolves were fast--he might be able to keep up on his bike, if Cam stayed on terrain the tires could handle--but also because it was so pointless. Cam was running for the fun of it.

He burned off some steam, Hunter figured, though he did worry about the food thing. He asked Cam on the way back if he wanted anything to eat, but Cam just rolled his eyes and he backed off. Not his keeper. Right.

"Hey," Hunter said suddenly, remembering. "Why did you tell Lothor you didn't need anyone telling you what to do?"

If he'd thought the eye roll was exasperated before, now Cam was giving him a look like he might be mentally damaged. "Because I didn't want him to know that controlling you would mean he controls me," he said. "He's already messed with your head enough. He doesn't need any more motivation."

"Oh." Hunter felt a little awkward, a little foolish, and maybe a little flattered by the idea that Cam had been trying to protect him.

"I'll have the others meet us at Ninja Ops," Cam added.

"The others" took a little more convincing than Hunter had, but eventually they all agreed that Cam's crazy plan was the best shot they'd had. Blake wasn't happy about being left behind, but they would need Rangers on the ground if--when--Lothor retaliated. His bro got revenge by backing Dustin's suggestion that they take one of Cam's cousins with them instead. After all, Marah and Kapri knew the ship, its systems, and its personnel better than anyone.

At least, that was Dustin's argument. Hunter had gotten the unspoken message behind Blake's unexpected agreement: if something went wrong, taking one of the cousins meant they would have a hostage. He didn't say anything aloud, of course, and it was impossible to tell whether anyone else had followed that train of thought.

"Kapri," Cam said, glancing at Hunter.

Hunter blinked. He got a say in who went? And why Kapri?

He agreed, though, since he didn't really care one way or the other. Kapri didn't exclaim gleefully, which should have clued him in, but he just watched her response in confusion. She nodded solemnly when Cam told her to wait until he and Hunter were on board, so that the link between space and the surface was as strong as possible for someone traveling without a morpher-boosted gem shard, and Marah anxiously wished her luck.

They had a couple of seconds alone, after the teleport worked and before they reported back. "Why Kapri?" Hunter asked under his breath.

"Testing her loyalty," Cam said simply.

Ah. "She knows," Hunter guessed.

Cam just nodded.

She was with them a moment later. She didn't seem at all surprised that the teleport had worked, but then, she and Marah went back and forth all the time. How the shield knew to let them through, Hunter had no idea, and he wondered suddenly if it could be changed so quickly. Maybe Kapri didn't even need her gem shard. Maybe she couldn't be blocked yet. Of course, if she and Marah had believed that, they wouldn't have used the shards to begin with.

Hunter didn't know if that made them more trustworthy or less.

They didn't talk as they made their way through the corridors of Lothor's ship. Even Kapri was silent, which was weird. Their arrival had apparently gone undetected, but it couldn't last, and they might as well put off discovery as long as possible. Hunter tried to ignore the familiarity of his surroundings and concentrate on the mission at hand.

The teleport had set them down relatively close to the containment pods. As close as they dared, Kapri had said back in Ninja Ops, because "Uncle Lothor" wasn't stupid and he definitely would have posted guards. Probably the second he realized those two gem shards were in the hands of the Rangers--or near enough, with Marah and Kapri staying with them. So they traveled the rest of the way on foot, and it wasn't until they turned into the last corridor that they ran into trouble.

He and Kapri stopped when Cam did, no other warning necessary. Cam was listening in the apparently deserted hallway, and after a moment he gestured them back. "There's four of them," he whispered as they gathered around the corner. "Including at least one general, and however many kelzaks they can summon the second they see us coming."

"About two dozen," Kapri volunteered. "Anymore and they won't be able to move down there."

Cam nodded, apparently accepting that information. "Do you think you can just walk in?" he asked her. "Confuse them long enough that you can get to the controls?"

Hunter looked at him in surprise, and Kapri didn't look any better. This hadn't been part of the plan they'd discussed in Ninja Ops. Cam was the computer expert, Cam was the one who disabled the system. Kapri was their guide, Hunter was their guard, and that was the end of it.

It looked like maybe that was just the beginning, in Cam's mind.

"Yeah," Kapri said after a startled pause. "Totally. I got first in my class in drama."

Hunter couldn't resist. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" he muttered.

Kapri shot him a look, but she didn't say anything while she waited for Cam to decide. That was new, Hunter thought. Since when was she ever quiet?

"You'll go in first," Cam said. "You have sixty seconds to get to the controls and free the students before I kill the lights. If you scream, the lights go out early. Got it?"

Her eyes were still very wide, and she looked worried. "What happens after the lights go out?"

"Hunter and I arrive," Cam told her. "We'll make sure you get out."

"Right." She nodded sharply, but she didn't really look reassured. "Sixty seconds, or until I scream."

"Hey," Hunter said when she turned away, not even waiting for them to push her or anything. She looked back like she might have forgotten something, and he just shook his head. She was here, after all. "Good luck."

She didn't smile.

"Start counting," Cam advised, when she'd disappeared around the corner. "If she can't free the students, we're going to have to destroy the containment system."

Hunter gave him a quick look. "I guess that's not as deadly as it sounds?"

"There's a failsafe that will release everyone inside to their place of origin," Cam said quietly. "Lothor doesn't want anything that can be used against him, so he made sure that he could destroy his own prison from the inside if necessary and not be any worse for the experience."

Huh. That did sound like Lothor.

"You should morph," Cam told him. "If Kapri can't do it, you're going to need a weapon to take out the controls. And if she can do it, you'll probably need a weapon to get her out."

"What are you gonna be doing?" Hunter demanded suspiciously.

"I'm going to be watching your back," Cam told him. "I'll kill as many of the intruder protocols as I can along with the lights, but everyone on this ship is going to know we're here. And I can see a lot better than you in the dark."

"Not when I'm morphed," Hunter objected. "You'd be safer as the Samurai Ranger."

"And you'll be safer with me as a wolf," Cam retorted. "You get your turn playing bodyguard right now, so stop complaining and let me see how far I can get with this."

Hunter counted ten more seconds before Cam's impromptu hack was interrupted by Kapri's scream. He didn't even get to eleven before Cam slammed his hand down on the panel he was working on and all the lights went out. That zord habit must be hard to break, Hunter thought, amused by his vehemence.

"Come on," Cam's voice hissed, and then glowing eyes glared up at him from somewhere much closer to the floor. Hunter spun his power disc, morphed, and took off after him.

At least, he was pretty sure he was following Cam. The guy hadn't been kidding when he'd said "the lights will go out." It looked like he'd meant everything from functional lighting to lit control panels to flashing alert systems. It was ridiculously dark, and Hunter couldn't tell whether it was ninja senses or Ranger Power that kept him going in the direction he wanted to be going. And no matter how attuned he was to electricity, or how good his visor was, there was no way he could keep track of one shadowy shape in the blackness.

Luckily, it did a damn good job keeping track of him. The first thing he knew of kelzaks was when one of them flew out of his way at the other end of the corridor, and from there on he went in swinging. He found Kapri almost immediately--she made a lot of noise--and the generals showed up on his visor as tinted energy signatures.

Kapri had already gotten one, he decided, scanning the area after he took a minion by surprise. It looked like there was another one, somewhere at or under two dozen kelzaks, and a containment system more important than any of them. He assumed the controls were wherever Kapri was, since she didn't seem to be going anywhere, so he yelled to her to get out of the way and waited for an opening.

Then a strange voice yelled, "Look out!" Kapri screamed back at him, another weird voice chimed in, and he heard a terrifying snarl come from someone he assumed was Cam. The lights came back on. And all hell broke loose.

Kapri was still shouting something about the ninja students, but he was staring at Lothor, who had appeared with two more generals in the hallway they'd just come from. He seemed to suck the light out of the room, the black kelzaks looking bizarrely bright by comparison. His shadowed eyes and crazy grin were fixed on Hunter.

"Welcome back," Lothor declared proudly, and Hunter almost couldn't hear him over the noise. "I do hope you're enjoying the party... I'm afraid this was the best I could do on short notice."

That was when two things registered simultaneously. One, the "noise" was a dozen or more voices screaming at Lothor, at him, at Kapri, at everyone in the vicinity and where were they all coming from? And two, a low keening moan had started and was escalating rapidly full-bodied howl of rage.

Hunter looked for the source of the second sound instinctively, and it led him to the first. The wolf was crouched in a cleared space not six feet away, muzzle lifted as he howled, until even the kelzaks were cowering from the sound. The wailing competed with the voices--

When he looked where Cam was looking, he took a step back without even realizing it. Force bubbles, ninja containment pods, hovering high above their heads, clustered together and shifting around each other as though jostling for a better view. Twenty or more, thirty, they actually seemed to be multiplying as he watched, and they were...

They were moving. They were talking. There were people inside those bubbles, and they were watching and shouting and every last one of them was wearing a ninja student uniform. Cursing Lothor. Shouting at Kapri, at Hunter, at the wolf. Crying.

They were begging for help, Hunter realized with a distant sort of horror. Some of them were, some of them weren't, just railing against their captors--they couldn't seem to decide whether these were good guys or bad guys below. He understood with a sick sort of reluctance that as far as any of the students knew, he and Kapri were still evil and the wolf they had with them wasn't necessarily fighting the good fight.

Because these students had been aware for the last year. They were awake and alert and knew exactly what was going on around them. They would have seen Kapri and Marah countless times. They would have seen him and Blake, fighting for Lothor again and again. They hadn't been in stasis at all, the way all the Rangers had assumed--had hoped--they had been.

They had been conscious prisoners of war on Lothor's ship for an entire year.

He was on his knees and that was wrong, this was a battle, this was a fight not just for their lives but for the lives of everyone trapped on this ship and he had a general on his back. He shoved the offending creature off, his mind escaping gladly into the physical struggle, anger and guilt making his counterattack vicious. He felt a horrible sense of pleasure in the general's destruction, something he hadn't felt since he'd been freed from Lothor's influence, and he tried to push it away.

Turning to look for Cam, he found Kapri first. She was holding her own against the kelzaks with disturbing ease, but he supposed she hadn't lived with her uncle this long without picking up a trick or two here and there. He was more worried about the way she was flinging energy blasts in Lothor's direction; there was nothing more likely to get his attention and he might decide to kill her just to keep her from distracting him.

Hunter decided he'd better go for Lothor himself and that was when he saw Cam. The wolf had the evil ninja pinned to the ground, teeth at his throat, and Kapri wasn't trying to hit her uncle at all--she was trying to keep the other two generals off of Cam. One of them went down even as Hunter realized what was happening, and if they were busy watching each other's backs then suddenly all those trapped ninjas had become Hunter's responsibility.

He barely noticed the kelzaks anymore. He shoved Kapri out of the way. Blowing the console took two seconds and caused a concussive blast that knocked everyone except him and Lothor off their feet. Hunter had his Ranger uniform. And Lothor hadn't been on his feet to begin with.

The good news was that the last general beating on the wolf didn't get back up after the blast. The better news was the the ninja students started disappearing immediately. Even Kapri was okay, when he pulled her up out of the mess of disoriented kelzaks.

The bad news was that the structural integrity of the room had suffered a serious blow. Hunter had spent enough time in space to know what you didn't want to have happen, and he was pretty damn sure they were venting atmosphere right now. His uniform would protect him for a while, but Cam and Kapri didn't have that advantage.

They needed off this ship. Fast.

"Get out of here," he told Kapri, glancing up at the ninja student pods. Almost gone. He couldn't think about what they'd been through, or what they had yet to go through once they were free. He could only count, watch them disappear, count again, and make sure that everyone who came for them disappeared too.

"But Cousin," Kapri began, startling him. He hadn't expected any argument.

"I got him," Hunter said roughly. "Go."

She didn't need any more convincing than that. She was gone, along with the last of the ninja students, and he was still fighting his way through kelzaks just to reach Cam and Lothor and that was just wrong. Not as wrong as the fact that Cam had blood on his paws and his muzzle and Lothor wasn't moving and Hunter stopped and stared at them in shock.

"Cam!" He didn't get any further before the wolf swung around, hunched over the light-sucking darkness the same way he'd crouched over his bloody prey the night before. His eyes were glowing bright gold and if Hunter hadn't known better he would have sworn the animal was feral.

Then the wolf leapt at him. He had less than a second. His Ranger uniform disappeared in a flash and he held up his hands in surrender. "Cam, it's me! Just calm the fuck--"

A mass of snarling fur powered into him and his head slammed back and that was the last thing he knew.

When he woke up, he had no idea where he was. There were lots of lights. He wasn't in his own bed. In fact, he wasn't really in any bed. He also wasn't on the floor. He didn't know what time it was or what had happened and it was starting to freak him out until he caught sight of a ninja uniform.

Shit. He and Blake were in trouble this time. If one of their pranks had landed him in the medical ward, the lectures were never going to end. Sensei Omino...

Was on Lothor's ship. This was a Wind Academy treatment room, not the medical ward. He looked around, and the sudden sharp ache in his head made him groan. Geez, he'd felt fine until he tried to move. But his gaze landed on Cam, whispering to his amulet a few feet away, and it was almost worth it.

Cam looked up at the sound. "He's awake," he said, dropping the amulet and taking a step toward Hunter before he caught himself. He looked horribly awkward and anxious at the same time. "Are you okay?"

"I feel like I forgot my helmet," Hunter muttered, staring up at him and trying to remember. He and Cam had been practicing together... had they screwed up somehow?

No, the intruder alert, that had been yesterday. He'd been on his bike this morning, but he remembered putting it away. He hadn't crashed. He'd come to see Cam--

The ship. His eyes widened. They'd gone up to Lothor's ship to rescue the--

He turned his head too quickly, remembering the other flash of black, and he flinched as the pain in the back of his head throbbed. He was right that there was another ninja in the room. His head hurt too much to really care now, though.

"How are you doing?" The voice that came from the strange ninja was calm and just quiet enough that he didn't bother to snap at her.

"Can I have some aspirin?" he asked instead.

"Don't have any," she said apologetically. "Do you have any problems with acetaminophen? There's plenty of tylenol. It sounds like you took a pretty bad blow up there."

He frowned as he tried to remember. They'd gone up to the ship. He and Cam had teleported onto Lothor's ship to rescue the trapped ninja students. They'd gone to rescue the students...

"What happened?" he asked at last, giving up.

"Tylenol's fine," Cam told the ninja. "He takes a half-dose. Fast metabolism."

Unfortunately, the ninja wasn't listening to both of them. She'd focused on Hunter's question instead of Cam's answer, and while Hunter appreciated that, he also kind of wanted the tylenol. So when she asked, "Do you remember how you got knocked out?" he rolled his eyes at Cam in silent appeal, and he got a quirk of the lips in response.

"We went up to the ship," he said, when Cam turned away to get the stuff for him. "Cam rigged a thing so we could teleport on." He didn't totally remember that part, actually, but it was a safe bet. Most of what they did was because of Cam, after all.

"We rescued the ninjas," he added, which was obvious since here she was. "And as usual, I got hit on the head. Just another day in the life."

That made her smile. He was careful not to move his head as he smiled back, because he knew how to be charming, but wincing in pain would probably ruin the effect. He heard the rattle of the tylenol bottle they kept in here, followed by the sound of running water. Just lying here wasn't so bad after all.

"How did you hit your head?" the woman persisted, and okay, lying here wasn't so great if she was going to keep asking him questions. He wasn't even totally convinced he had hit his head, let alone how it had happened, but apparently she wasn't going to leave him alone until he answered.

"Stuff happens," he told her. "Sucks to be a Ranger."

"Here." Cam's voice was a welcome interruption, even if it did mean he was gonna have to sit up. "This should help."

Yeah. He squeezed his eyes shut and pushed himself up on his elbows, hesitating as the throbbing increased. It didn't kill him, though, so he sat up the rest of the way and reached for the water. He managed to swallow the tylenol, and by the time he looked around again the other ninja had gone away.

"I'm sorry," Cam was saying quietly. Hunter squinted at him, taking a long moment to register his miserable look. "I wasn't--I didn't... they were so upset. I guess I just... stopped thinking."

"Hey," Hunter said, setting the cup down beside him and fumbling for Cam's arm. "It's okay." His fingers closed around Cam's elbow, and he added, "Don't worry about it."

Cam finally came close enough to hug. He put his arms around Hunter, and Hunter felt his shoulders and his neck relax and his head was still killing him but at least the rest of him didn't feel so bad. Cam was still whispering "I'm sorry," which made no sense, but if there was one thing he'd learned around Cam it was that sometimes it was better not to ask.

Then the others were there. Blake looked seriously pissed off, and Hunter would have figured maybe it was because he was stuck in here except that his bro was glaring at Cam every chance he got. And that was just great, he'd thought they were over each other, but there was obviously something he'd missed.

"What happened?" he asked, frowning back and forth from Blake to Cam.

"Bro, I think that's our line," Blake informed him. "Kapri says it was all going great until Lothor showed up, and Cam says it's his fault you ended up with blunt head trauma, and that's all anyone knows. So start talking."

"We went up to the ship," he said. "Cam rigged a thing so we could teleport on. We rescued the ninjas. And as usual, I got hit on the head. Just another day in the life."

He thought Cam gave him an odd look for that, but Blake's was worse. "Hit on the head how?" he demanded. "Are you okay? Is he okay?" he added, turning his glare on someone behind Hunter.

"Stuff happens," Hunter reminded him. "Sucks to be a Ranger."

"Hunter?" Cam sounded weirdly cautious. "Do you remember how you got hit on the head?"

He shrugged, and the movement felt like bright lights in his eyes, making him wince. He lifted his hands to his head automatically, muttering, "I feel like I forgot my helmet."

"Yeah." Cam didn't sound nearly sympathetic enough. "You mentioned that." He might not sound sympathetic, but he did sound worried, Hunter decided. He figured that was okay.

"Can I have some aspirin?" he wanted to know, squeezing his eyes shut to see if it helped. It didn't.

"Ava," Cam said sharply.

"He's concussed," an unfamiliar voice reported, and Hunter turned in surprise. Craning his neck around didn't do anything for his head, but the shock of seeing a ninja he didn't know was worth it.

Damn. They'd actually rescued the ninja students.

"Confusion is common," Ava was saying. "Some degree of amnesia isn't unusual. I've checked for any other injuries, but there's nothing. Obviously we need to keep him under observation, but the disorientation should be temporary."

"Amnesia?" That was Tori's voice, and Hunter was more careful about turning his head this time. "What do you mean?"

"Should be?" Cam repeated. He sounded dangerous.

"He's a Ranger," Ava reminded him. Like Hunter wasn't even in the room. That was nice. "He hit his head. There's no reason to think this is anything more serious than a grade III concussion, from which he'll recover perfectly normally on his own."

"Are you sure he's got a concussion?" Dustin wanted to know. "I mean, he looks okay to me. He's..." He waved a hand vaguely. "You know, sitting up, and talking and everything."

"The talking is the problem," Cam snapped. "He just repeated, word for word, exactly what he said before you guys got here."

Hunter gave him a skeptical look. "No offense, Cam, but no I didn't."

Cam gave the ninja on the other side of him a look.

"Anterograde amnesia," she said calmly. "I told you, it's not unusual and it's probably not serious. His short-term memory will come back as the swelling goes down."

"I don't have amnesia," Hunter insisted. "I'm fine."

"Tell me how you hit your head," Cam demanded.

"We were on Lothor's ship," Hunter said impatiently. "You were there. It was chaos. Someone got in a lucky shot, that's all."

"A lucky shot?" Shane sounded disbelieving. "Through your Ranger uniform?"

"He wasn't wearing his Ranger uniform," Cam said, not taking his eyes off of him.

Hunter snorted. "Of course I was. I morphed as soon as--" Hey, he remembered morphing. That was good. "As soon as we got there."

"You morphed after we got to the containment area and sent Kapri on ahead," Cam told him.

Oh. Right. "Yeah," he said, "which was like two minutes after we got there. Just because I didn't give you an exact timeline doesn't mean I don't remember it."

"So why did you demorph?" Blake wanted to know.

"I didn't," Hunter retorted. "Cam's just testing my memory or something."

"He demorphed because the wolf didn't recognize him in his Ranger uniform," Cam said quietly. "I couldn't stop in time. I knocked him down and he banged his head on the deck."

Cam sounded bad. Hunter reached out and rubbed his shoulder instinctively, trying to soothe some of the twisted sound out of his voice. "Hey," he said, when Cam gave him a miserable look. "It's okay," he promised. "Don't worry about it."

It didn't have the desired effect, unfortunately. Cam just closed his eyes and whispered, "You've said that before."

He frowned. "No offense, Cam, but no I didn't."

Cam didn't answer, but he didn't pull away either.

"So you remember going to the ship," Tori put in, "but you don't remember anything after that?"

Hunter sighed. "I don't have amnesia," he told them. "I'm fine."

"Except that you don't remember demorphing," Shane said.

"We were on Lothor's ship," Hunter reminded him. "You were there," he added, glancing at Cam. "It was chaos. Someone got in a lucky shot, that's all."

There was utter silence in the room.

"Uh, bro." Blake sounded more worried than pissed all of a sudden. "You already said that."

He needed an ice pack for his head. Maybe two or three. He could wrap them around his head until he didn't feel anything at all. "I feel like I forgot my helmet," he muttered, pressing his hand against the side of his head like it might help.

"The tylenol should kick in soon," Cam said softly.

Hunter squeezed his eyes shut. "Can I have some aspirin?"

"You just took some tylenol," Cam told him, and he sounded really miserable.

"Hey." Hunter pried his eyes open and patted Cam's shoulder reassuringly. "It's okay. Don't worry about it."

"Okay," Dustin interjected. "That's, uh... kind of creepy."

"Why does he keep repeating himself?" Blake demanded.

"Is that the amnesia you were talking about?" Tori asked, looking in Hunter's direction. "What did you call it?"

"Anterograde amnesia." The answer came from an unfamiliar voice right behind him, and Hunter jerked around in surprise. Ninja uniform. Strange face. Never seen her before, then, but here she was and no one else seemed confused. He'd definitely missed something.

"What happened?" he blurted out.

"There are two types of amnesia commonly associated with concussions," she told him. "Anterograde amnesia is the inability to recall memories formed directly after a concussion--that's why you're repeating yourself--and retrograde amnesia is the inability to recall memories from directly before the concussion. That's why you can't remember how you hit your head."

"We went up to the ship," he said, partly to prove her wrong, and partly because it was coming back to him. "Cam rigged a thing so we could teleport on. We rescued the ninjas." That explained where she had come from.

"And as usual," he realized, glancing around the room, "I got hit on the head." Geez, couldn't he go anywhere without getting injured lately? "Just another day in the life."

"How long is this going to last?" Shane wanted to know.

"Hard to say." The unfamiliar ninja sounded kind of apologetic. "It could be a few minutes or a few hours. We'll need to keep an eye on his recovery to make sure his symptoms don't worsen."

"Stuff happens," Hunter commented. "Sucks to be a Ranger."

"But it won't be more than a few hours?" Cam sounded really upset, and Hunter figured it was probably his fault. Cam didn't get like this for just anyone anymore.

"Rangers heal quickly," the other ninja was saying. "Or so I'm told. I'd be surprised if it takes that long."

"Sorry to worry you," Hunter said, trying to tease but maybe a little more serious than he'd wanted the rest of the room to hear. He really was sorry to see Cam look like that. "You don't have to stay, you know.

"Actually," he said, frowning at the strange ninja. "Do I have to stay? I feel okay. The painkillers must be kicking in," he added. He moved his head carefully, but the dull ache didn't intensify.

"Does that mean you're going to stop asking for aspirin?" Cam asked neutrally.

Hunter gave him a look, because thanks a lot for making him sound stupid. "You just told me I took some tylenol. I'll be fine."

"Oh, hey, that's a good sign," Dustin declared. "He's like, remembering stuff."

"Stuff that happened afterward, not stuff that happened before," Tori pointed out. "Do you remember how you hit your head yet?"

What was this, quiz Hunter day? "We were on Lothor's ship," he told her. "Me and Cam. It was chaos."

"Someone got in a lucky shot," Cam said, echoing the words as they came out of his mouth, and that was kind of weird. How did Cam know what he was going to say?

"It was me," Cam added fiercely. "I got in a lucky shot. I didn't recognize you, I knocked you down, you hit your head. You need to remember this time, because it's not an experience I want to keep reliving."

"Hey." Hunter gripped both his shoulders and stared into his yellow eyes. "It's okay. You're allowed to screw up sometimes. None of us are perfect."

Cam blinked, staring silently back at him. Way to go, he congratulated himself. He'd actually rendered Cam speechless. He was feeling better already.

"Can I go?" he added, letting go of Cam and glancing back at the woman in the ninja uniform. "I need to walk my dog."

Cam sputtered, and Hunter grinned. Yeah. He was on a roll.

The ninja woman was hesitating, but unexpectedly, Cam intervened. "I'll stay with him," he offered. "I can make sure he doesn't get worse."

"You really shouldn't be doing anything stressful while you're still experiencing symptoms." The woman seemed to be addressing him now, so Hunter tried to look like he was listening. "Even walking a dog."

Hunter smiled pleasantly at her. "Oh, my dog's very calm," he promised. "As calm as Cam. He won't be any trouble."

"Maybe you could take the dog for him," the woman told Cam. "At least for today. And come find me if he seems to be getting more confused or forgetful, or if he complains of any problems with his vision, or if he loses consciousness for any reason."

Cam was nodding, apparently ignoring the dog comment, which Hunter thought was too bad. "If he still has a headache later, should we let you know, or can he just take more tylenol?"

"If he still has a headache by tomorrow, I want to know about it," she told him. "And whatever you do, don't let him hit his head again for at least three days. Or until his symptoms clear up. Whichever happens later."

"Hey," Blake interrupted. "How are we going to find you if we need you?"

She paused, apparently as stumped by this as he was. "Well..."

"Dad can find you," Cam said. "We're going to see him now anyway. Ranger conference," he added, maybe for Hunter's benefit.

"All right," she agreed, but she still gave Hunter a warning look. "Don't go anywhere alone for a while. Even to walk your dog. I want you under observation at all times."

"He will be," Cam said, cutting Hunter off before he could answer. "Thanks for coming down here, Ava. I know you have a lot to do right now."

"We owe you our lives," she said simply. "Nothing you ask could be too much."

Cam bowed to her. Hunter saw the rest of the team follow his example, but he was sitting down and he was still a little behind, so he just sat there staring at them. Ava bowed in return before turning to put some stuff away, and Hunter watched with what he thought was entirely justified amazement.

They'd rescued the ninja students.

16. Run or Rest

Classes at the Wind Academy started up again the next day. It wasn't a full schedule, or even regular classes, not by any stretch of the imagination. But it was something, and it was more of a routine than the site had seen in almost a year.

It started spontaneously, with a unannounced but well attended sunrise meditation, a tribute to the normal lives of ninjas who hadn't had anything of the sort for too long. Communal meals were an absolute necessity and a logistical nightmare. Afternoon basics classes followed, mostly as a way to keep less experienced students occupied while people in authority tried to organize, prioritize, and plan.

The Rangers weren't allowed to join either of the groups. The Winds had actually been sent home soon after the ninja students' return, and the Thunders' offer of help was politely but firmly denied. Even Cam was told to keep to Ninja Ops as much as possible. It was an order that he at first automatically attributed to his lupine alter ego, but eventually he realized he was being given the same instructions as the rest of the team: stay out of the way.

He tried not to resent the implication that they were useless when it came to anything other than fighting evil space aliens. He was out early the morning after the return, and when he saw the meditation in progress he silently joined in. His father was there too, and said nothing. But when he went to offer his assistance with breakfast, he was unceremoniously turned away.

It took him the rest of the day to figure out what was going on. When Shane, Tori, and Dustin invaded Ninja Ops that afternoon, complaining that they had been barred from the basics class and Sensei was nowhere to be found, Cam actually felt a little better. Because it wasn't just him. All of the Rangers were being deliberately kept apart from the other ninjas.

It took him the rest of the week to understand why. Not because the reason was so complicated--once he got it, it actually made sense. But the why took longer because as soon as he realized the what he started avoiding the academy. Sulking, Hunter said, but since Hunter was just as annoyed about it, and since Cam did most of his supposed sulking wherever Hunter happened to be at the time, the Crimson Ranger didn't complain very much.

He did give Cam a present, and that was even stranger than it sounded once he explained where it came from. Which he did by handing Cam the note that had been wrapped around the handle of the odd-looking plastic brush. The odd-looking plastic brush with bent metal bristles.

Iza told me to apologize, the note told him. The handwriting was slanted and sharp, and nowhere did an actual apology appear. It was signed simply, Akeelah.

It wasn't a hairbrush, Cam realized, with an embarrassed sort of resignation. It was meant for animal fur. And there was a reason she had given it to Hunter instead of to him. He supposed it might be a typically siren way of saying "I'm sorry."

In return, he gave Hunter a rabies certificate, a dog license, and two tags. It was all perfectly legitimate, which required an explanation of Kathy's visit--also sent by Iza, interestingly--to explain the guard rotation, duties, and volunteer benefits. She had been full of other potentially more useful information too, so Cam had questioned her until she had to leave.

She had told him how to find the butcher in Killington, who the butcher was related to, and what his hours were. She had told him which private property owners had up "no hunting" signs, how to spot the monitoring stations in parks and wildlife reserves, and where to get non-prescription contact lenses if he wanted to hide his eyes as a human. She'd even told him about a guy at one of the sports stores who did "custom sunglasses work": a free service for human wolves that involved double tinting the lenses.

And she had told him there was a vet tech who had married into the pack two years ago. The girl worked in Blue Bay Harbor, got regular rabies shots herself, and knew how to fill out seamless paperwork. Cam had gone to see her the next day.

Kathy had also mentioned, in passing, that her day job was psychiatric therapy. She had a medical background, invaluable all on its own and made moreso by her contacts at the hospital, and very few human clients. The pack kept her in business. More a testament to their loyalty, she assured him, than to their need for psychiatric care.

Cam wasn't convinced, but he asked for a card anyway. He was a little disturbed at how easily members of the pack were managing to find him, even at a secret ninja academy that didn't officially exist, but after her recitation of names, addresses, and helpful skills, he decided that the fact that he didn't know everyone was apparently the oddity. He planned to change that as quickly as possible.

The dog tags made Hunter smirk. He didn't keep them, either. The rabies certificate and the license, yes, but not the tags. What good did they do him, after all? Cam should have known Hunter would follow through on his collar threat.

It was a dark green nylon choke collar, and it had Hunter's number embroidered in black on the outside. Hunter put one tag on the choke ring and one on the dead ring before handing it over. Cam just stared at him.

Hunter shook it. "So it doesn't make noise," he said, like that was Cam's problem. "What?" he added, when Cam kept staring at him.

"You must be joking," Cam told him.

Hunter raised his eyebrows. He was leaning on the desk out back at Storm Chargers, supposedly looking for some part or other for Dustin. Cam was pretty sure Dustin didn't actually expect Hunter to turn up with said part for quite a while. The store wasn't exactly busy on a Wednesday afternoon, Kelly didn't seem to be around, and most of the employees were doing their own thing.

"You really want to get locked up at the dog pound?" Hunter was asking. "Or hit with a tranquilizer dart by wildlife control? Or hey, maybe someone will just take a shot at you and leave you to die in the woods. Bet a collar won't sound so stupid then."

Cam frowned at him. "First off, wolves are protected. And second, I'm not about to let anyone get close enough to toss me in a dog truck."

Hunter snorted. "Oh, good, an aggressive unlicensed dog. That's even better. Then the dogcatcher will start carrying a tranquilizer gun, they'll probably put up wanted posters, and you'll make the evening news with warnings about keeping small children and pets indoors.

"And just because a guy has a gun," Hunter continued, not letting him interrupt, "that doesn't mean he knows what he's shooting at. So wolves are threatened, so what? So he thinks you're a really big raccoon, a coyote, or hey, maybe that rabid dog people have been seeing around town!"

"No one's going to see me," Cam insisted. "Kathy says human wolves have been in the area for hundreds of years. No one's shot at them."

"She tell you that?" Hunter demanded.

Cam blinked. "Well, no. But we would have heard about it if someone had killed a werewolf."

"Yeah," Hunter scoffed, "just like we heard about the Wolf Blades before Shimazu. Or the aliens that have been coming and going from California for the last thirty years. Or hey, the secret ninja academy in the mountains. That stuff makes the news all the time, so if we haven't heard about it then obviously it isn't happening."

"No one's going to see me," Cam repeated, folding his arms. "I'm not stupid, Hunter. I'm not going to go strolling through a residential neighborhood in broad daylight."

"You could," Hunter informed him. "If you were wearing a collar."

It wasn't his most convincing argument, but Cam ended up leaving with the collar. He didn't actually wear it, but he did keep it where the wolf could reach it. Unfortunately, that meant leaving it out, which normally wouldn't have been a problem, but his cousins had discovered early on that he didn't lock his door anymore and they had an annoying tendency to make themselves at home.

Word of the collar made the rounds quickly after that. He and Hunter were still taking their share of teasing for dating in the first place, and the collar made it exponentially worse. On top of that, there were no alien incursions the entire week, so there wasn't a lot to distract them.

The return of the ninjas could have done it, of course, if they'd been allowed to integrate in any way. They weren't, but Cam did eventually figure out that his father was keeping the Rangers separate, not because they were useless, but because they were too powerful--both physically and symbolically. They were literally too strong to train with anyone outside the team, and they were the subject of too much hero worship to help the already struggling ninja hierarchy.

It was an odd thought. Their strength wasn't something they'd ever had to worry about, since they hadn't had anyone else to train with since before they'd received their morphers. And as far as hierarchy went, the Winds had always been at the bottom, the Thunders had been anonymously middle-ranked, and Cam had been outside of the power structure entirely.

Sensei finally met with them all again on Thursday, which was the day that the Wind Academy started to empty out again. All of the students had been accounted for, given several initial assessments--both physical and psychological--and then assisted in the process of locating friends, relatives, and professional contacts. The school would remain largely shut down for the next week while returning ninjas dispersed to deal with the tangible consequences of their lost year.

Dealing with the intangible consequences would be a much longer process, and it occurred to Cam that maybe the Rangers were the lucky ones after all. Being left behind hadn't been fun, and holding the line against a seemingly unending flood of evil aliens and their cohorts had been life-altering and potentially life-ending. But at least they had still been living. At least they'd been able to do something.

Even now, being kept apart from everyone else and isolated from the academy itself, they were the ones who had somewhere else to go. No excuses or explanations, just more free time than they were used to and a whole lot of unanswered questions. Nothing like what the ninja students were going through right now.

Nothing worse than enduring his friends' mockery over the collar his boyfriend had given him. Cam smiled a little to himself, not sure whether the "boyfriend" or the "collar" part of that amused him more. Yeah, fighting Lothor had turned him into a wolf. But it had made him go after Hunter, too, and who knew that would turn out to be a good thing?

Hunter never did remember getting slammed to the deck by the wolf. Or waking up in the medical ward afterwards, for that matter. His memory of that entire afternoon was hazy to nonexistent, but he let Cam recount the rescue for him and he swore up and down that no, he wasn't lying about forgetting it, and yes, he would have forgiven the wolf for it anyway. Cam had to take his word for it, because Ava said that if he hadn't gotten the memory back by now he probably never would.

It wasn't so bad, Hunter told him later. It wasn't like he really needed another memory of Lothor's ship. The best part, according to him, was that Cam couldn't accuse him of not trusting him anymore. "'Cause really," Hunter drawled. "Demorphing as a giant wolf leaps at me? If that's not trust, I don't know what is."

The worst part, as far as Cam was concerned, was that he couldn't fill in all of the gaps himself. They talked about the recent lack of alien monsters at their meeting with his dad, but he honestly didn't know what had happened to Lothor. The wolf had been raging and out of control and distracted by Hunter before the situation could be objectively assessed.

His uncle could be dead. He acknowledged that aloud, and his father didn't flinch. The rest of the team was steady and matter-of-fact about it too. Which might have had something to do with the way Hunter sat next to him, leaning back against his shoulder and liberally distributing the evil eye while Cam talked, but he didn't really think so. He preferred to think that they had learned to deal with whatever came, and if there was a killer wolf inside the Green Samurai Ranger now, well, at least there was an alpha in his boyfriend.

Hopefully circumstances like those on Lothor's ship would never be repeated.

They would have the opportunity to train while the campus was closed, Sensei reminded them. Even if Lothor was dead, he had left behind generals and technology and enough kelzaks to consititute a serious threat. And they were the ones with the Power, they were the ones with the experience, and half the team was on the Scroll of Destiny. So they would keep their morphers and they would continue training as Rangers.

That was when Tori bit the bullet and told them all about the deal she'd made with Dill. Cam wasn't expecting Blake to look surprised, but he did. Hunter folded his arms and didn't say anything, even when Cam gave him an odd look. Sensei didn't seem at all taken aback, but then, he never did.

The rest of the Winds, not to mention Blake, gave Tori a harder time about the dolphin thing than Cam had ever gotten for being a wolf, and he wondered why. Because she had chosen it? Because she wasn't an alien with a guinea pig dad? Or just because she had kept it a secret?

It was still affecting her ninja abilities, she confessed. She didn't know why, and she didn't know exactly how, since the last time they had trained together had been last Friday--the day she'd gone off with Dill and come back a dolphin. They'd taken the weekend off from training, and they'd been basically banned from campus since, so it hadn't come up until now.

Cam was cynical enough to wonder at her timing, but not skeptical enough to say anything aloud. Her secret, he reminded himself. Her decision. He felt the press of Hunter's shoulder against his, and he knew what it was to have secrets again. After last week, when his soul had been laid bare for anyone who was watching, it was nice to have some control over his life again. He wasn't about to challenge the way Tori handled hers.

Hunter and Blake disappeared that night, off to check in at the Thunder Academy even if they weren't allowed to train there either anymore, and the Winds were left to sort out Tori's shapeshifting abilities on their own. Cam tried not to get involved, but they dragged him into it, and as the only other shapeshifter on the team he grudgingly admitted that it was fair. What help he actually was, he didn't know, but it kept them all out of trouble and maybe more importantly, off-campus.

By Friday the Wind Academy was deserted. Marah and Kapri were running around "fixing" things, there was still no sign of Lothor, and Sensei had cleared all the Rangers to come and go from the grounds again. Tori stopped by after school, alone, and she and Cam commiserated over the side effects of having animal alter egos.

Then she caught sight of one of her classmates, which was odd given the current quiescent nature of the site, and she and Cam conferred quietly before agreeing that Tori was the more approachable choice for confidant. So Cam sat back and watched as Tori flagged the other girl down. Not a first-year--he was sure he'd seen her around longer than that prior Lothor's arrival--but no element badge, either, despite the blue accents on her training uniform.

Nena. The name came back to him suddenly, and he had a vague recollection of her training. Much like Tori, she'd failed her first water test. And she'd been in the process of failing her second when Lothor arrived. What was she doing at the academy now, he wondered? Didn't she have friends, family, someone who would have missed her while she was away?

He was still sitting there some time later. Not wondering about Tori's water ninja so much as he was just enjoying the quiet... he felt like lying down and closing his eyes. He wasn't tired, and he didn't really do it, but he did think about it.

The wolf, he figured. Run or rest. No in between.

Somewhat surprisingly, Cam didn't mind. He worked hard, he always had, and he knew people worried about him burning out. It wasn't something he gave much thought to himself, but he did find himself enjoying the chance to actually stop when he was taking a break instead of just starting work on a different project.

He let Blake sneak up on him. He heard the other Ranger coming before he saw him, but he was relaxed and unworried and he was safer here on his own ground than probably anywhere else in the world. So he didn't react, didn't even look around until Blake said his name.

Of course, Cam didn't give him the satisfaction of thinking he might have startled him, either. "Blake," he said aloud, not moving. Tori and Nena were gone, Blake was alone, and Cam could only imagine what Hunter's brother had to say to him right now.

"You've got a lot of nerve," Blake remarked. His tone was perfectly even. "Thinking you can come between Hunter and me like this."

That made Cam turn around, at least. He hadn't expected Blake to say that aloud. He knew perfectly well that Blake didn't like having Cam around in this new capacity as--well, as rival for Hunter's attention. He also knew that he was a lot more interested in what Hunter thought than he was in whatever problem Blake was having. So he didn't put as much effort as he could have into trying to figure it out.

"I like nerve," Blake was saying. He was standing there, arms folded, a half-smile on his face. "I respect that."

Cam studied him. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said at last, which was mostly true. He had won. He knew it and Blake knew it. So what did he care if Blake was okay with it?

He looked away, telling the wolf to stop it already. Of course he cared what Blake thought. They were a team, they were friends--or they had been. "Sorry," he muttered at the ground. "I know I've been kind of... confrontational, lately."

"Yeah, like that's new." Blake sounded so much like his adopted brother then that Cam looked up in surprise. Blake was even wearing the same familiar smirk, and, not for the first time, Cam wondered how the two of them shared so many mannerisms.

"Look," Blake said. "I don't like this wolf thing. I don't like how weird it makes Hunter. But I don't have any problem with you, and I don't have a problem with you and him together. Okay?"

Cam frowned, defensive and annoyed and aware that it wasn't the wolf's reaction at all. He didn't need Blake's approval to be who he was. He didn't need Blake's permission to be with Hunter. And he definitely didn't need Blake's acceptance of the wolf.

But Hunter did. Hunter would want it. And Hunter didn't need him and Blake at each other's throats if there was any possible way to prevent it.

"There are things about this that I don't like either," Cam said at last. "There are things about it that I do like, but there's a lot I could do without. I'm not gong to add competing with you to that list."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Blake demanded.

Cam suppressed a sigh. "It means 'I don't have a problem with you either,'" he said. "All right?"

There was a long pause before Blake nodded, and in the quiet, Cam could hear voices from the direction of the waterfall. Convenient, he thought. Lucky. Neither of them wanted to be the one that walked away, and if that was Tori on her way back, they might not have to.

"Right," Blake finally said. "Fine."

Then he added, "Hunter says the pack has ranks. How does that work?"

Cam blinked. Taken by surprise, he admitted, "I don't know. Why?"

"I always heard Iza was the pack leader," Blake said with a shrug. "But Hunter said he was in charge at the community center, and you basically do whatever he says, so."

Cam just stared at him, too confused to be offended by the implication. Had Blake somehow missed the concept of "alpha" all this time? Had Cam known what it was before he'd experienced it for himself? He was trying to figure out if it was even possible that Blake had no idea, or if Cam had just misunderstood a more complicated question, when Blake caught sight of Tori and her friend.

"Company," Blake muttered, and Cam blinked again. His immediate reaction was, yes, thank you, he'd noticed them five minutes ago. His next response was, wait, was that a display of... solidarity?

"It's like the Rangers," he said abruptly. "We can all work independently, but if we're going to do anything as a group, someone's decisions have to be more important than everyone else's. We have to agree to let someone be the leader. Like Shane. Or Hunter.

"That's what the alpha is," he continued, keeping his voice quiet enough that it wouldn't carry to the girls. "It's just whoever the majority respects in any given situation. Leaders of little groups, like family packs, or the Rangers, answer to leaders of bigger groups. Like Iza, or the academy's sensei."

Blake was staring at him, and Cam couldn't tell if it was because of the explanation itself or the fact that he'd given it at all. "So," he said after a moment. "Hunter's in charge when he's with you, but not, like... if he was with Iza, he wouldn't be?"

Cam couldn't squash the flare of irritation this time. "He's not in charge," he snapped. "I just listen to him. That's all."

Blake looked taken aback instead of amused, and that was all it took to convince Cam that he hadn't really been thinking about it that way. He really was just trying to understand. He wasn't thinking about what it meant.

"Okay," Blake was saying. "Whatever, you listen to him. And he listens to Iza?"

"He's supposed to," Cam said reluctantly. And just like that, it hit him: why Iza didn't like Hunter. "He doesn't feel it, though. That's she's the alpha."

"Wolves can feel it," he elaborated, when Blake gave him a weird look. "It's just, I don't know--instinctive, I guess. We know who to trust. I trust Hunter. And he should trust Iza. But he doesn't... He doesn't have any reason to. Because he doesn't feel it."

"Hi guys," Tori called. Her voice was cheerful, but he though the question was sincere when she added, "Are we interrupting?"

He and Blake exchanged glances.

"Nah." Blake turned toward them with a grin, unfolding his arms and hooking his thumbs in his pockets. "Just catching up on academy stuff. Who's your friend?"

"This is Nena," Tori said, smiling at the other ninja student. "Nena, this is Blake, and you already know Cam, right?"

Blake's and Nena's "hello"s overlapped, but she shook her head in Cam's direction. "We saw each other around," she offered carefully. "I don't think we were ever introduced."

"Cam," he said, holding out his hand. It was redundant, and he did it on purpose, as a joke, because she looked like she wasn't quite sure if he was going to chew her out or ignore her. And depending on how much she had known about him before the Rangers, that was probably fair.

The gesture made her smile a little, and she held out her hand in return. "Nena," she replied. "Nice to meet you."

He shook her hand. "Same here."

"There's a rumor going around," Nena continued, surprising him with her frank stare. "That the wolf on Lothor's ship was you."

Cam raised his eyebrows, and he saw Blake and Tori look at each other out of the corner of his eyes. "That's true," he said. He hadn't realized it was still just a rumor.

Her reaction was possibly the last thing he had expected. "Congratulations," she said. "That was fast."

It took him several seconds to figure out what she was thinking. He hadn't even been a student when she left, and now, as far as she knew, he had Ranger powers and ninja transmogriphication abilities. Maybe she figured a sensei's son advanced through the disciplines more quickly than the average student?

"It's not a ninja animal form," he told her. "I fought Lothor by myself and lost. Hence the wolf."

She tilted her head to one side, still staring at him intently. "Lothor turned you into a wolf?"

Had it really only been two weeks ago? Not even, Cam realized. Now the explanation felt like it would take hours. "It's a long story," he said simply.

Another smile broke through, and this time it touched her eyes. "I bet."

Something about that made him smile back. He was surprised when Tori interrupted, "Hey, have you seen Hunter?"

Cam gave her an odd look, wondering if she thought he needed to be reminded of who he was dating. "He's not here yet." They were supposed to meet at the academy for dinner tonight, all of them together. It was a combination of a "welcome back" party and a planning session, and maybe some of the Rangers had ideas about Halloween that Cam was trying to ignore. If there had ever been a more unnecessary holiday, he didn't know what it was.

April Fool's. Now that he thought of it, actually, that was an even more useless holiday. He didn't like days when people deliberately set out to embarrass other people. Mostly because he was usually one of the people being embarrassed.

"Nah, he and Dustin are out by the road," Blake corrected. "Dustin's got some new thing he's testing out."

"We saw them," Tori agreed, glancing at Nena. "I wasn't asking where he was," she added, and now she turned her most innocent expression on Cam. "I was just asking if you'd seen him."

Cam frowned back at her. What did it matter? If she had another collar crack coming, she could just keep it to herself. Against his better judgement, he asked warily, "Why?"

"No reason," she said blithely.

It did make him a little nervous that Blake was smirking too, but that was all he got out of her until the rest of the team came tromping through the woods toward the training grounds. Even at a distance, he could see that the tallest figure was wearing a black bandana, and Cam rolled his eyes. Hunter had come in costume, then. Great. He supposed he could at least be thankful that everyone was wearing their ninja uniform: it limited creativity.

But not enough, he realized a minute later, when Tori noticed them and he looked up again to check their progress. Hunter was carrying a brightly colored bird under his arm, ignored while he and Dustin talked animatedly over Shane's objections, and the black bandana had been tied pirate-style over what was obviously a wig. A bright green wig.

Cam was going to kill him.

He entertained the killing option very seriously for about three quarters of a second, which was how long it took him to notice that everyone in their group had turned to catch his reaction. Blake was looking at him out of the corner of his eye, Tori was grinning at him, and even Nena was darting curious glances back and forth from the incoming Rangers to him. So he folded his arms, schooled his expression, and bit his tongue.

Then Shane caught sight of them, and of course, his eyes went straight to Cam. Something made him laugh, and he slapped Hunter's shoulder before waving at their little gathering. "Hi guys!" Shane yelled. "Happy Halloween!"

Hunter looked for him first too, but when Cam glared at him, his gaze slid away to land on Blake. "You've gotta see Dustin's bike!" he crowed. "It's got killer speed now, you're not gonna believe it!"

"I told you Perry could do it," Dustin interrupted, shoving him like he really wanted to be jumping up and down but knew he'd be mocked for it. "Dude, you've just gotta give him a chance and he can do, like, anything!"

"Hello," Shane added, finally noticing Nena as they joined the group gathered around Cam. "I'm Shane." And he was very suave about it, but after seeing him hanging out with Skyla the whole week, Cam had finally realized that Shane was just like that. He wasn't trying to impress anyone, he was just being himself.

It wasn't so different from Blake's usual attitude, if it came to that.

"Nena," she answered, nodding to him.

"And this is Dustin and Hunter," Tori added, when they were still too busy congratulating each other to acknowledge her. The sound of their names got their attention, and she added, "Or should I say, Dustin and Blackbeard?"

"Parrothead," Hunter corrected cheerfully, brandishing his stuffed animal with one hand and holding the other one out to Nena. "Hey."

"Hi," Dustin added, while she shook Hunter's hand. He grabbed Hunter's parrot away from him and used it to peck Cam. "I love Cam!" he declared in a squeaky, supposedly bird-like voice. "Caw!"

Cam wished he could get his eyes to glow on command, because he thought the freaky look would add weight to his stare. "Parrots don't caw, Dustin. That's crows."

"Well, maybe he's imitating a crow or something," Dustin retorted. "You don't know."

The conversation degenerated from there, and Cam tried to keep his mouth shut as long as he could. The parrot got passed around, there were the obligatory remarks about Hunter's "hair" matching Cam's collar--which he really could have done without, especially in front of someone outside the team--and Hunter made fun of them all for "dressing up" like ninjas.

This prompted Blake to protest that he was actually in costume as a spy. "I'm like a chameleon," he declared. "I blend in wherever I go. You never know I'm not one of you until it's too late."

"Yeah, and I'm like, a motocross rider pretending to be a ninja student," Dustin agreed.

Cam thought Dustin might have missed the point, since that actually described him pretty well, but he didn't want to get dragged into this. Especially when Tori informed Hunter that she was a dolphin, so he'd better get off her back about dressing up or she would get into "costume." That gave everyone a moment's pause while they tried to figure out whether she'd really do it or not.

Apparently deciding that not asking was the better part of valor, Shane said smoothly, "I'm a ninja master. I wear a student's uniform to denote my modest mastery." This was followed by an entirely appropriate amount of mocking while he pretended to slick his hair back.

"Nena can be a Ranger," Tori decided then, and to Cam's surprise, she pulled her morpher off and handed it over. Nena didn't take it, so Tori lifted her hand and put the morpher on the other girl's wrist herself. "There! Now we're all in costume!"

"Except Cam," Dustin had to say, and Cam sighed.

"Come on," Hunter scoffed. "Anyone can see what Cam is just by looking at him. He's my arch-nemesis," he added, taking the parrot back from Tori and setting it on his own shoulder. "Every pirate needs enemies."

"The sea police!" Shane exclaimed. "Dude, that's totally you."

"Yeah, that does kind of describe you," Dustin remarked. "Except for the 'sea' part."

"You've got the glower down," Blake added.

If only ignoring Halloween made it go away, Cam thought, he would be all set. Unfortunately, holidays weren't particularly obliging that way. Lucky for the rest of the world, because if they were there would be a lot fewer of them.

Hunter caught up with him when they finally started in the direction of the academy proper, building restored by the same magic that had destroyed it the year before. "Hey, nemesis," he said under his breath. "You all right?"

Cam glared at the others, just in principle, but Hunter had picked one of those rare moments when no one was paying any attention to them. What was he supposed to say, though? "I think Halloween is an embarrassing holiday"? "I'm tired of everyone making fun of us for going out"? "I can't believe I'm dating someone who names his pirate persona 'Parrothead'"?

"It's just the wig," he muttered at last. "It's a bit much."

"The--oh," Hunter said, and there was a long pause. "Um, how pissed would you be if I said it wasn't a wig?"

Cam frowned, not getting it. Then he looked at Hunter--really looked at him--and Hunter shrugged apologetically. The bright green strands brushed his collar when he lifted his shoulders, and they suddenly looked very... real. Cam stared at him.

"It's not permanent," Hunter said quickly. "I mean, it'll wash out. In a week or... two, maybe."

Cam couldn't quite get his mind around the idea. "You dyed your hair green?" he repeated.

Hunter stopped where he was and reached up to pull the bandana off. It was even more shockingly green without the bandana to cover it up, and Cam couldn't stop staring at it. Hunter gave him a sheepish grin, ducking his head to prove that yes, it was dyed all the way to the roots.

"Why?" Cam wanted to know. He was only peripherally aware of the others going on without them, either not realizing that they had stopped or deliberately ignoring them. He hoped it was the latter, because after this week? They owed him.

Hunter shrugged again. "I was bleaching it last night and I went a little overboard. But it's Halloween, so I figured, why not?"

"Bleaching it?" Cam echoed. He couldn't seem to get past even the most basic part of this story. "Why were you bleaching it? Your hair's lighter than Tori's."

"Yeah," Hunter agreed, giving him an odd look. "Because I bleach it."

Really? And he'd never noticed that? He was struck by the sudden urge to smell Hunter's hair, and he told the wolf to shut up. "What color is it normally?" he wanted to know.

"Normally it's blonde," Hunter said patiently. "Naturally? It's brown."

Cam studied him, deciding he had to have known that and just never really acknowledged it. It was obvious when he looked for it. Maybe that was the answer, though: he hadn't looked for it. He supposed he'd just never wanted to admit he cared about Hunter's hair.

"You weirding out on me?" Hunter wanted to know. "I didn't do it to piss you off. I kind of like it, actually."

Cam lowered his gaze, smiling. "It's different," he allowed. Green hair. And the Winds teased Tori for wearing navy blue. They'd never hear the end of this.

Maybe he didn't need to hear the end of it. It was a strange thing to think, all of a sudden, that he didn't really mind being the center of attention. It wasn't so strange to think that Hunter might as well declare himself Cam's, because he was, and that wasn't going to change just because the color eventually washed out of his hair.

"Hey." Hunter touched his chin tentatively, and Cam looked up in surprise, because out of every look, every word, every kiss they'd shared that gentle touch might be the most intimate thing Hunter had ever done.

"What?" Hunter added, letting his hand fall. "The hair? Seriously, that's your thing now? Amnesia, collars, all the shit I've done and it's the hair you don't like?"

Cam couldn't think of any response but to laugh. For so many reasons, for no reason at all, maybe because there was nothing else Hunter could have said and Cam still couldn't have anticipated that question for anything in the world. He couldn't predict Hunter, and he couldn't control anything about him... but he could trust him.

"I like the hair," he interrupted, when Hunter opened his mouth to protest.

Hunter frowned, and Cam repeated firmly, "I like it." He didn't even bother to look around for the others before he reached up to touch the disturbingly green color that now framed Hunter's face.

Whatever he used, it must be good stuff, because his hair felt perfectly normal under its heavy tint. Normal and soft and curly and Cam didn't even realize he'd buried his fingers in it until he was breath away from Hunter's face and he was absolutely about to kiss him except that Hunter got there first. And when he got the chance he didn't even think before whispering, "I like you."

He felt Hunter's soft sound of amusement on his skin, and that silly stuffed parrot was still in his hand because he could feel it against his hip where Hunter was almost-holding onto him. There was something about standing so close to each other in the middle of the training grounds that felt more real than anything they'd done in Hunter's apartment. Which wasn't a direction his mind needed to go right now, if it came right down to it.

"Yeah, well," Hunter said, giving him an annoyingly sexy look from under his eyelashes. "Sometimes I like you too."

His eyelashes were brown, Cam noted. Had he really never noticed that before?

"Don't make me growl at you," he told Hunter.

Hunter just smirked at him. "Bring it on."