Kyle could smell the man's sweat on the brick of the building as clearly as if it was painted there in a broad swath of neon colors. Sweat, fear, adrenalin, and the acrid chemical tang of cocaine. The man was slowing, apparently convinced that he hadn't been followed. Kyle slowed as he rounded the corner of the burnt-out store front. The man's scent was thick in this alley. The alleyway was L-shaped, Kyle knew, with steps at the far end that lead down into the courtyard of an abandoned tenement, and formed a narrow landing that looked down on the space below.

Kyle crept silently around the next corner, wishing that he could shift to full cougar form. He knew that the black sweatpants, once-baggy sweat top and fanny pack would become entangled in cougar legs; so he relied on the tufts of fur between his median-form toe pads to muffle the sounds of his footsteps. He caught a brief whiff of butane and heard the click of a lighter as he approached the edge of the landing. The man was in the courtyard, leaning against a wall of the tenement, lighting a cigarette. Kyle watched him pull a wad of money from a wallet and count it, flicking the wallet away onto a pile of trash. He stuffed the money into his hip pocket and adjusted his shirt to conceal the small revolver in the waistband of his pants.

Kyle waited until the man had turned his back to the landing and vaulted the rail, landing in a crouch in the courtyard behind the man. He quickly shifted to human as the man spun around, pulling the revolver free with one hand. Kyle backhanded the gun hand almost lazily and posted the man in the chest. The man stumbled backwards against the wall, but recovered and pushed off the wall to confront Kyle again.

Or rather, the to confront the pistol in Kyle's hand. Kyle pulled the badge under his top free and let it dangle from its chain around his neck. The man blinked a couple of times, then slowly raised his hands.

"Police," Kyle said conversationally. "You're under arrest for armed robbery. Please turn around and interlace your fingers on top of your head."

Alex hiked up his gun belt and leaned against the door frame. "I mean, you're always right there when something goes down. I'm beginnin' to think you're a furball. You even look like one."

Kyle stiffened. "What?" he asked, trying to keep his tone normal.

Alex grinned. "You always wear that baggy crap when you're plainclothes. All the furballs dress like that. Supposed to be so they can shift easier."

Kyle relaxed. Alex's voice was joking. "Yeah, well, if I was a were I wouldn't be working here. Besides, all the kids dress this way. Helps me blend in downtown."

Alex's face clouded over. He spat dryly. "Stupid kids. They all wanna be fuckin' furballs. I don't understand that shit."

"Yeah, well, it takes all kinds." He turned back to his paperwork. Alex turned to leave, but paused in the doorway. "Say, Kyle, you wanna get a beer after shift?"

Kyle looked up again. Alex looked ill. He could tell something was bothering the older officer. "Yeah, sure. I should be done with this by eleven."

"Meetcha at Sonny's, then." Alex waved and left.

Kyle puffed out his cheeks in a sigh. He was going to have to be more careful in the future, slack off on his miraculous busts. But it was so easy to track down the criminals that other officers, human officers, couldn't find. Easy, but after a while people begin to talk. There weren't any discriminitory laws in this state like there were in so many others; not yet. But shapeshifters were feared by many, and extra-legal discrimination was everywhere. "Furballs"... Kyle snorted. And Alex was one of the more easy-going officers in the department.

"Lookit that shit," he mumbled. "All dressed up like a bunch of fuckin' furballs. Hell, some of 'em probably are. Outta make em wear rabies tags." Alex looked. The kids were all wearing baggy sweats and a couple of them sported dog collars. The males wore their hair long and had ample facial hair; two in the group had affixed fake-fur tails to the seats of their pants. They waved to a similarly attired group at the far end of the bar and joined them.

Kyle sipped his beer. He really didn't like the taste, but beer was de rigeur amongst his fraternity of collegues. "They're just kids. They'll grow out of it."

"Outta ship 'em all off to that compound in Wyoming. Shit." Alex morosely studied his bottle.

Kyle watched him closely. He was obviously upset about something. He wasn't usually so vehement about anything. He cleared his throat. "Alex, what's wrong? You're pissed about something."

Alex looked up from his beer. "Aaaah.." he started. Kyle waited patiently while he took another long swallow. "My kid. She came home with some furball punk. She says they're in love. Fuck, furballs aren't even human! She might as well date the family dog."

Kyle sipped his beer to cover his expression. "What'd you do?"

"What do you think? I told her no fuckin' way. No way I'm lettin' her date an animal."

"What did she say?"

Alex sighed. "About what you'd expect. She locked herself in her room and won't speak to me. I caught her wearing one of those damn dog collars to school this morning. I told her if she expected to live under my roof I'd better not catch her with that shit."

Kyle spun his bottle around absently. "Well, there's not much you can do about young love." he said, wincing at how cliche'd it sounded.

"Geez, you sound like my bleedin' heart wife." He drained his beer and stood up. "I'm goin'. See you tomorrow." Kyle waved at him as he walked somewhat unsteadily to the door.

"Alex had some things on his mind."

"Uh huh. Well, I've got something on my mind, too." she said as she squeezed his crotch.

"You're a letch." he said, but he felt the beginnings of an erection. He kissed her again, longer this time. "How about a shower? I stink. You can do my back and I'll do your front."

They shed clothing on the way to the shower, giggling at one another. Kyle shifted to median and tried to relax under the warm spray as Caroline worked shampoo lather into his fur. He closed his eyes and let her knead her fingers along his spine.

"You're still tense. Long day?" she asked. He sighed.

"Caught a guy that ran from patrol. They lost him, but I sniffed him out."

"Mmmm, that's my animal."

"Alex's daughter is dating a were, and he's not to happy about it."

"Oh?" Her kneading became automatic. "Did you tell him I was too?"

"It didn't exactly seem like the right time to come out. He sounded like he wanted to kill the guy."

She stopped kneading. "And I suppose you just nodded and smiled and commiserated, right?"

He placed his hands on the shower wall. "He's not a bad guy. Just has some... prejudices, that's all. Everybody's got something they're irrational about."

"That's not what I mean. When are you going to start standing up for what you are?"

His claws came out unbidden at the tone of her voice. "Carol... they're all real tolerant. People are just afraid of what they don't understand. Don't ask, don't tell. Why should I make things harder than they already are?"

"Oh, that's just great." He turned as she climbed out of the shower. "You know what I saw on the news today? They're trying to pass a bounty bill in Wyoming. Five hundrerd dollars if you turn in a shapeshifter. Do you think anyone in that department will help you when they start hunting weres here? Do you think they'll help me, since I'm 'disgracing my species' by sleeping with you?"

"You're exaggerating. It wouldn't get that bad..."

She snatched a towel off of the rack and stalked out of the bathroom. "I don't know why I talk to you anymore. You're impossible."

Kyle stood in the shower and let the stream wash the lather from his fur. Sure, they were going overboard out west, but things would never get to the point of genocide...

One officer turned to face him as he sat down. "Hey, did you hear about Alex?"

Kyle shook his head. "No, what?"

"He smoked a furball last night."

Kyle felt his stomach churn. "What?"

"Yeah, man. Apparently this were was stalking his daughter. Alex told him to get lost, and the mutt attacked him! Alex put one right between the eyes, cleaned his clock."

"No shit." Kyle said numbly.

"No shit. Really wild." The man turned around as the shift commander spoke up from his podium at the front of the room.

"All right people," the Lieutenant said. "Settle down. I guess you all know that Alex shot a were last night after it attacked him." Kyle was shocked to hear a small cheer come from one or two of the assembled officers. "I don't know any more than you do, so let's let IAD do all the speculating. In any case, this will undoubtedly make the papers, so the Chief wants those of you on the TAC squad to be on alert." There were groans from a couple of people in the room. "Jackson, this means you actually have to turn the pager on this time. Anyway, I don't think there'll be anything to this, but let's be on our toes out there around the college and Bazelle street in case there's any protests. And let's refrain from using 'fleabag' or 'furball' in public.

"So. Kyle, I take it you want to be plainclothes again tonight? Kyle?"

"Um... Yes, yes sir." Kyle said automatically.

"OK. Good job on nabbing that signal thirteen last night, keep it up. Jackson, zone three. And clean your boots, would you? They look like you polished 'em with a Hershey bar..."

Kyle walked on autopilot out to the parking lot. Part of him wondered if the fur... if the were attacked Alex at all. [Jesus, I'm even starting to talk like them.] he thought. [But Alex wouldn't shoot someone in cold blood. Caroline couldn't understand. None of these guys would do something like that. Sure, some of them would shun me if I came out; some might even refuse to work with me. But every department has its share of assholes...]

Kyle was startled to see Alex walking to his car in the lot. He shouted to get his attention. Alex looked up and waved, and walked over to Kyle.

"Hey, man, I heard what happened."

Alex grinned. "Yeah, I just got done talking to the Chief. He said it'll go down as a clean shoot. He doesn't think there'll be a problem with the shooting board."

"So, what happened?" Alex asked quietly.

"Aah, I caught that little shit in the yard when I got home. Sneakin' over to see Cindy. We got in a shouting match. I had to plug him."

"I heard he attacked you."

Alex winked. "Well, that's what the report says. Hell, it's not like it's murder. It's not even animal cruelty-"

Kyle couldn't stop himself. He shifted to median and grabbed Alex by the throat, choking off his words. His unsheathed claws made little dimples in the skin on the sides of Alex's throat. He brought Alex's face close to his and snarled. "If he's not human, then what am I? What the fuck does that make me?" He threw Alex to the ground and spun around, stomping towards the department door. Alex sat on the ground, eyes wide, rubbing his throat.

The officers in the hallway started as Kyle slammed the door open and strode past them. A couple started to unsnap their holsters, but stopped at the sight of the badge dangling from his neck. He palmed the Chief's door open with such force that it rebounded off the wall stopper and slammed shut behind him. The Chief jumped from his seat, already shouting.

"Who the fuck are you? Get the fuck out of my-" He stopped and did a double take. "Kyle?"

Kyle stood in front of his desk, trying to keep his anger from quivering his voice. "I want to report a murder."