The only real sign of injury was a nasty cut on her forehead, and a few other Bruises which Techno and Tonya had taken care of before laying her in her bed. Once she had been taken care of, the search for Alec had begun. Using the tracker in his cell phone, they had found his car on campus in a parking lot near the library, but there was no sign of Alec, and no one at the police station had heard from him. The girls, Zarbon, and even Sebastian had covered all of his favorite haunts, and then all over the city. They had still turned up nothing. And as the sun was starting to rise, they were beginning to wonder if he simply didn't want to be found.

 

"He was a bounty hunter you know. Unless I go bounty hunter on his ass, we can look for him until our eyeballs fall out and still not find him if he doesn't want to be found." Tonya said as she took another sip of tea and a bite of doughnut. "If anything had happened to him, we would have known by now."

 

"But it doesn't make sense that he would just dissapear after she had been hurt. Why didn't he stay there with her until you got there? And why hasn't he called all night?" Techno shook his head. "That just isn't like him."

 

"No, it isn't." Sally added. "But there isn't anything we can do until either he shows up, or Poopsie wakes up and can tell us what happened."

 

"Yeah. I just hope she is coherant this time." Said Jed. "The only thing she could say last night was something about a dog attacking her."

 

Upstairs, the sun was just sending warm beams of light onto Poopsie's face, and she started to wake up just a little, and then finally opened her eyes. There was only a half second before her head started to throb and her whole body began to ache. Closing her eyes again, she gingerly raised her hand up to her head and felt the bandage over the cut. She frowned trying to remember what had happened the night before.

 

She had been at the Library. Someone was going to pick her up because the weather was bad. Alec was supposed to pick her up. But he didn't come. Two boys standing next to the library. Up to no good. Something had.....

 

"Maybe someone should go check on her. She should be waking up anytime." Suggested Zarbon.

 

"I'll go." Tonya stood and she started up the stairs, with Bowie following close behind her very quietly.

 

Something had hit her from the back... someone had hit her. Poopsie concentrated on it, but still couldn't remember what had happened, then a knock on the door had broken her concentration completely.

 

"Poopsie?" Tonya asked as she poked her head in through the door. She saw Poopsie move the hand from her forehead and look at her. "Poopsie! Your awake!" Tonya grinned.

 

"Yeah.. I think I am. What happened? How did I get home?"

 

"You mean you don't know?"

 

She shook her head and closed her eyes again. "No. I was just trying to remember. I think someone hit me. He was trying to take my bookbag."

 

An image of a typical mugger entered her mind. He was tall and skinny, weighing maybe a buck 75 soaking wet. He wore an old black jacket that had seen the 50 cent rack at the DAV a few times, and a stocking cap that had once been blue with an orange border. His hair was greasy and hung down past his chin and one of his front teeth had been replaced with a gold one. The other was just gone.

 

"He tried to mug me." Poopsie said finally.

 

"Someone tried to mug you? Who?" Tonya sat down on the chair at Poopsie's desk.

 

"I don't know who he was.. but he tried to take my backpack. H..he had me down on the ground.. and then.." The color drained from her face as she remembered what had happened after that.

 

"Then... what?" Asked Tonya asked quietly. Without even realizing it, Tonya had unsheathed her claws just a few inches and her hands had balled up into fists, assuming the worst.

 

"I...I don't know.. I yelled for Alec, but he didn't come. Then there was this huge... like... dog.. or something. It attacked the guy and he ran off.. That's the last thing I remember."

 

"Alec must have seen it happen. He called me and told me to come bring you home." She hesitated.. "And that was umm... the last time anyone heard from him."

 

Poopsie sat up as quickly as she could. "What do you mean the last time anyone heard from him?" The throbbing in her head became worse and she recieved a massive head rush that forced her to put her head down and stare at her blanket.

 

"Don't get your ball gown in a twist, Miss Princess.. we'll find him. Don't worry. Just relax until I get Techno up here to look at you. I'll take care of finding your boyfriend." Tonya stood and headed towards the door as Poopsie layed back down with a defeated look on her face. She knew she wouldn't be able to help them look for Alec. She couldn't even sit up. "Do you need anything? Tea, Soda, A nice thick juicy hamburger?"

 

Poopsie ignored the attempt to cheer her up and shook her head slightly, so as not to cause more pain than necissary. She heard the door close as Tonya left, and concentrated again on the events of the evening before.

 

She had been working on a report for class, and hadn't gotten very much of it done, but was too frusterated to even work on it anymore, and she knew Alec was going to pick her up soon. The roads were icy so she hadn't driven. Two boys were standing next to the library. A red-head and another guy wearing one of those marshmellow coats. She had thought they were up to no good, but now figured they weren't. She had decided to not wait for Alec anymore, so she had gone down the steps and started down the sidewalk to the parking lot where she thought she would find him.

 

Something had hit her from behind, and she had felt someone trying to pull her book bag away from her, but she didn't let go. There was a struggle. She  broke his nose. He was pissed. She was forced down to the ground and she remembered feeling him ontop of her. She screamed for Alec both out loud and mentally because she realized the situation was too dangerous for her to handle on her own now. The two boys had run in the opposite direction and left her there alone. She had heard their footsteps as they ran Alec didn't come either.

 

The force of the blow to her head, and hitting her head again on the sidewalk and left her quite dazed, and she didn't really know what was happening, but she was aware of something on top of the man now, and he was screaming. It almost looked like a big dog. A big, black dog. But it's eyes were what was so strange about the animal. They were bright green, almost glowing, and they seemed to look right at her. The man screamed and started to wrestle with the dog. The last thing she heard was someone running away, and the growling of the animal.

 

----------------------

 

Alec looked at the half empty pack of ciggerettes in his hand and threw it back down again. He already couldn't breath without feeling like the smoke from the other cigerettes he had smoked was permenatly lodged in his lungs. It reminded him why he had quit smoking some years ago. The sun was up now. They would be able to find his easier if they wanted to. If they were even still looking. Part of them wanted them to find him, and make him explain what happened, but the other half wanted to sink into a hole and never be seen again.

 

"You should have told them before now." a voice in his mind reminded him again. "it wouldn't be so hard now if you had."

 

And he knew it would have been easier if he had explained this beforehand, but that was the whole reason he had left home. So that he wouldn't have to explain anymore. No one here knew what he was, and he had wanted to keep it that way. He felt slightly guilty for not wanting to share his secret with his closest friends and roommates, but somehow he had just never found the right time. It wasn't like it was a typical evening dinner conversation.. "Oh yeah.. I forgot to tell you.. I'm a shape shifter. I can turn into a black wolf anytime I like." frowning, he picked up the pack again, removed one more cigerette and lit it with the zippo on the table.

 

Still, it wasn't like he was the only other person in the house that could change into something else or that wasn't completely human. "But you are the only one who kept it from the others" said that same little annoying voice.

 

Alec sighed and inhaled on his cigerette deeply. Yes, he was the only one that had kept it from them. Because he thought that it would never happen again. He had been foolish enough to think that there would never be an occasion where he lost control and allowed himself to change. And really he hadn't even realized it had happened last night. He had heard her scream, and started running towards her. When he saw them struggling on the sidewalk, something had snapped and by the time he had reached them, he was a wolf. He shook his head and blew smoke out of the side of his mouth. How could he have let it happen. Right there in the open like that. Somebody might had seen him. What if someone had? It didn't matter now though. He wasn't going to stay. He couldn't. he couldn't face anyone at home now. Maybe if he had told them before, but not now.

 

------------------------------

 

"Well, she's awake" Tonya reported as she came back into the kitchen. "And she is still saying there was a dog, but it didn't attack her, it attacked the guy that attacked her."

 

"She was attacked?" Asked Jed.

 

Tonya nodded. "Apperently.. She said that a man attacked her as she was coming out of the libraray and then a dog attacked the man. I also told her that no one had heard from Alec." She turned to Techno. "And that you were going to go up and have a look at the cut on her head."

 

Techno nodded. "I'll go up in a minute. Did she say anything else about the dog or whatever it was?"

 

Tonya shook her head. "No, she doesn't remember a lot of what happened. Just that she called for Alec, Alec never came and then the dog was there."

 

Zarbon frowned and bit his lip thoughtfully.

 

Sally cocked her head to one side in a Tonyaish move "But if  he called you, then obviously he was there.. why didn't he help her?"

 

"I have no idea." Answered Tonya. "But if he doesn't show up soon, I'm going to go look for him again.

 

"I'll go and check on her." Zarbon stood up and pushed his chair back in to the table. "I might be able to heal her cut a little."

 

"Call me if you need help." Techno said as he left the room.

 

Upstairs, Poopsie's room was still closed, and Zarbon knocked on it quietly. "Poopsie, can I come in?" He asked, the thick aussie accent giving away who it was immediately.

 

"Yeah, come on in." She answered.

 

"How are you feeling?" Zarbon poked his head in the door, walked in and slowly closed it behind him.

 

She tried to smile a little. "Like I've been hit by a semi. What's wrong?" She asked, seeing the look on his face.

 

"Well, there is something I need to talk to you about." He answered. "Do you mind?" His eyes drifted over to the chair where Tonya had been sitting.

 

Poopsie shook her head just a little. "No, go ahead. Do you know where Alec is?"

 

With a deep breath Zarbon sat down and tried to decide how excatly to start this conversation. "No, but I think I know why he left."

 

"Why?"

 

"First tell me about the dog you saw."

 

"I don't know. I don't really remember. It was just a big dog. Why?"

 

"Do you... remember what color eyes it had?"

 

"Green."

 

Zarbon nodded. "I thought so." He took a deep breath, hoping he wasn't going to regret this later. "It was Alec."

 

Poopsie didn't say anything for a minute. "Ok.. I'm the one thats been hit on the head here, so why are you having the hallucinations?"

 

"It's no hallucination. Alec is a shapeshifter. He just didn't tell you because he thought it might.. well.. scare you. And because he didn't want to have to deal with all the problems he had to deal with in England because of it."

 

"How come he told you if he didn't tell me?"

 

"I can't answer that question for you, but he did. Have you ever noticed that sometimes when he and I go out, we both come back with all sorts of scratches and bite marks on us? To keep him self under control, Alec has to change every once in awhile just to kind of... get it out of his system. I usually go with him. We ride out to a field a little ways out of town."

 

Poopsie stared silently at the ceiling for a long moment, and then chuckled a little bit. "I was beginning to think Alec probably felt left out being one of the few in the house that is completely human, but I guess I was wrong. Zarbon, do you know where he is?"

 

"No, I don't." he replied "But I know that he probably won't want to be found for awhile. His being a shapeshifter caused a lot of problems for him in the past, and I think he is afraid the same things will happen. He told me that he had to leave England because of it, and that basically everytime he loses control, he has to leave again, before someone finds out."

 

Poopsie sat up in bed, this time ignoring the pain and the dizziness. "You don't think he would leave, do you Zarbon? I mean.. he just wouldn't up.. and dissapear, would he?" They both knew that Alec could do just that, and had many times before. Although before he didn't have Tonya looking for him.

 

"I honestly don't know, but Tonya is going to go back out and look for him, she'll find him."

 

"Will you tell her to tell him if he doesn't come home I'll.. I'll find a dog collar for him?"

 

Zarbon smiled and stood up. "I will relay the message, but let me take a look at your forehead first."

 

-------------------------

 

Tonya perched herself on the hood of Alec's still unnamed car and waited for him. Sooner or later he would either come back to his car, or come back to the house. And her bet was on the car. Finnally, the hood got too uncomfortable for her and she picked the lock and fiddled with it until the alarm stopped going off. Finally after two hours Alec showed up.

 

Opening the car door as he approached, she looked him up and down. "Geeze.. what cat drug you in? You look like hell."

 

Alec glared at her. "Thanks. What are you doing in my car?"

 

She shrugged. "Well, I get a little worried when someone I live with calls and tells me to pick up his girlfriend, who I find laying in the snow unconsious and then dissapears. I'm funny that way." She smiled at him.

 

"Get out of the car." Alec's voice took on a tone that she had never heard before. it was really more of an angry growl than anything.

 

"Hmm.. somebody is in a pissy mood.." Tonya said as she put her hands ontop of the steering wheel and put her head against it. "What's wrong with you?"

 

"None of your business" he shot back. "Get out of the bloody car. Now."

 

Tonya blinked and lifted her head, as one eyebrow raised. It was a side of Alec that was rarely seen, and had never been seen by anyone living in the house before. Tonya got out of the car, walked around it and opened the passenger side door, sitting down.

 

"Tonya, I am not in the mood for games. Get.. out.. of.. the.. car.." Before he realized what he was doing, Alec made a grab for her jacket, but instead recieved a very minor scratch on his hand from her fingernails.

 

"Who's playing games?" she paused, suprised beyond belief at what he had just done. "I just want to know what's going on, and so does everyone else. We were worried about you. Now you can either sit down, and talk to me while you drive around, or I can fight you and make you tell me what happened."

 

Alec glared at her again for a moment, and then sighed. "Fine." He got into the car and slammed the door. The car started with a rumble of thunder from the engine and he pressed the gas peddle to make it rev harder before slamming it into gear and leaving tread marks as they sped out of the parking lot.

 

Alec drove the car off campus onto a highway near by, and waited for Tonya to say something, but she didn't. Finally, he felt himself beginning to calm down as he drove, and he looked over at her for a moment then back at the road. "So, aren't you going to ask me what happened?"

 

"No, I'm going to let you tell me." She said calmly.

 

They drove another four miles and finally Alec slammed on the breaks and stopped the car on a little dirt road off the highway. He got out and sat on the hood of the car, pulling the pack of cigerettes out again. Tonya quietly got out and sat down on the other side of the hood.

 

Finally, with a sigh, Alec looked at her. "Has Zarbon ever told you anything about me?"

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"Like where we go when just the two of us go out. Like when we got the poison Ivy."

 

Tonya shook her head. "No, he hasn't mentioned anything about it to me."

 

Alec took another long drag off the cigerette and flicked the ashes onto the dirt. "Well, there is a reason it is just him and I that go." He waited for a response, but got only a nod and looked out to the field. "Besides being bounty hunters, my family has another small legacy. We're shapeshifters.And every once in awhile... just to get it out of my system.. I have to change and run around for a little while. If I do, usually I can keep myself from changing the rest of the time. But last night, I saw Penny being attacked, and I don't know.. it just happened. I attacked him, but I attacked him as a wolf."

 

Tonya nodded. "Ah.. so you were the big fuzzy thing that saved her. Well just incase you were wondering, She's fine.. but she wants to know where you are."

 

Alec blinked. "Did you not just hear what I told you? I'm a shape-shifter."

 

Tonya shrugged. "And I have a 4-foot tail and retractable claws.. so what?" He stared at her for a moment. "I'm sorry.. I just really don't see the problem with it. Your a shapeshifter... It's not that big of a deal."

 

"But it is.." Alec said and threw down the half smoked ciggerette. "It is a big deal.. because when I lose control I can't keep myself from changing and when I can't keep myself from changing, people see it .. and when people see it, it just creates a huge mess. Do you think that mugger isn't going to tell the police he was attacked by a black wolf?"

 

"No.." Tonya said slowly.. "And besides, you are the police. And so what if he does? Remember what happened to those other two guys when they were attacked by..." Tonya paused and cocked her head. "That must have been Tony? He changes into a white wolf?"

 

"Yeah, and if you ask me he changes a little too often."

 

"But look what happened when those two went to the police.. they were laughed out of country. Maybe I don't understand, but honestly I don't think there is anything to worry about. It's not like anyone at home is going to freak out about this.. Hell look at our house. We have one elf, one alien, one who can cut off various body parts at will, a pirate, and me....oh yeah.. and we have a talking dog." She stressed the last words as she stood up "A talking dog... do you think a little more fur around the house is going to make that much of a difference?"

 

Alec shook his head and sighed "No, you don't understand. There are still a lot of people that are looking for me. Still a lot of people that would love to see me at the end of a rifle scope. They look for things like this. Which is why I can't stay here anymore."

 

"Can't stay anymore? Why?"

 

"Because if someone should happen to get wind of this, they will come looking for me, and I'm not going to drag anyone at the house into it.

 

Tonya blinked. "You know" she said after a moment "that kind of hurts."

 

"What does?"

 

"That you don't think we are capable of or willing to help you out in the outside... and you have to admit it is an outside chance that someone should happen to catch wind of this. If that were the case, none of us would be able to live together. Zarbon and I have enough people after us. Not to mention the face, and everyone else... we've protected eachother through all of that, and now you are going to leave because you think someone is going to come after you?" Tonya frowned and looked straight ahead across the snow covered field infront of them as a small gust of wind picked up a bit of snow and carried it away.

 

Alec was silent and still for a long time, then with another heavy sigh, he reached for the pack of camels, but it was quickly taken out of his hands "You can destroy your lungs if you want to." Tonya said without looking at him. "But I sort of like being able to breath."

 

"Sorry." he said quietly. "And it isn't that I don't think your capable or willing to cover my back if I need it, I just don't want the need to arise."

 

"Well I have a novel Idea then, Alec. How about waiting until the situation arises to worry about it, because I'm willing to bet that it won't. But if it does, we will handle it then."

 

"Alright. So we wait and see what happens. What am I supposed to tell everyone? Oh yeah, by the way, I've lived with you guys for the last three years and there is something I forgot to tell you."

 

Tonya shrugged. "I don't know if you need to anyone. Zarbon already knows, I'm assuming that Techno knows. As far as I'm concerned, those are the only two people that need to know, but you might want to mention it to Poopsie. And besides, when you moved in, you signed a lifetime lease. And as your land lady I refuse to let you out of it. So there." Tonya looked at him and blew a raspberry which made him smile a little. "But can we please get out of here? I'm freezing?"

 

"Yeah.." Alec stood up and got into the car to start home.

 

---------------------

 

Poopsie was still in bed when they got back and Alec came up to her room. He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it gently. "M'love.. are you awake?" he whispered.

 

Slowly Poopsie opened her eyes and saw him.. "Your back."

 

"Yes.. but there's something I need to tell you.." Her eyes met his, and her smile faded as she saw the worry in his eyes.

 

"When... you were attacked last night.. I..." he paused and looked at the back of her hand. "You see.."

 

"What?" As hard as he tried, Alec couldn't find the words to explain the secret he had kept from her for the last three years. "If it is about you being a shapeshifer, I already know. Zarbon told me."

 

Alec's head jerked up quickly to look at her. "He told you?"

 

She nodded and smiled a little. "Yes.. he told me... I was afraid you weren't going to come back."

 

"I wasn't going to."

 

"Why? Because you were afraid of what I might think?"

 

"Yeah.. I suppose.." Now in the light of a new day, it seemed pretty silly that he had been so afraid to tell her about it. "I was just a little nervous that you might be angry at me for not telling you."

 

Poopsie shook her head as she yawned. "No.. I'm not angry at you for not telling me. I wish you would have, but Zarbon explained. He said that everytime someone finds out about you, you have to leave.. but you aren't leaving, are you?"

 

Alec bent down and kissed her lips. "I wouldn't dream of it.."

 

"Good.." Poopsie blinked slowly, and struggled to keep her eyes half open. Alec gently layed his fingertips on them. "Go back to sleep, m'love."

 

"Will you lay down with me?" She asked, already beginning to drift off.

 

"Sure.. Just give me a second to change." He kissed her hand once more and layed it down. She heard his footsteps walk away from the bed.

 

The next thing Poopsie knew, there was a cold, wet nose nuzzling her neck, and for a moment she wondered why Alec had let Bowie in, but when she opened her eyes, she saw a pair of bright green eyes surrounded by black fur staring back at her. She smiled and wrapped her arms around Alec's neck as he snuggled down with her and drifted off to sleep.