“I won’t judge you,” she said in a patient whisper.

“I want to be able to look in your eyes in the morning and still see some semblance of respect there,” he said in a pained whisper as he rested his forehead against hers with his eyes shut tightly. “Right now… I’m not sure that will happen. I’d better go before I truly humiliate myself.”

She backed him up against the door, and took his mouth hard until his hands found her hair like they meant it. The moment her breasts pressed against his chest and her pelvis molded to his, she felt his breath hitch. No matter how awkward his words, his body was anything but. His fingers were long, graceful, and magnificent against her skin. Warm maleness and gentle caring surrounded her; his embrace made her dizzy. How could she have been so blind?

Honorable protests about the next day melted against her touch as her hand slid between them and found his shaft. The hard clench of his stomach nearly doubled him over as he murmured her name. It had been so long since anyone had passionately breathed her name into her hair that she almost wept. Fumbling with his shirt buttons, she swallowed his moan, giving them permission to redress years of self-denial.

“I know it’s been five years or more of celibacy… for both of us,” she said on a ragged whisper. “You won’t disappoint me, no matter how brief the first encounter. We have all night. Just love me.”

“You know, Bradley’s been up there a long time, guys… You think ’Rissa is really upset?” Winters said, glancing toward the stairs.

“Nah,” Fisher said with a wave of his hand, flipping channels on the remote. “You know those two-they probably got into some philosophical debate after she calmed down and they’re up there talking.”

“More to the point, what happened to the brewskis and burgers?” Woods stood and paced, staring out the window at the moon. “I’m hungry as hell and going stir-crazy.”

“Mighta been a lot of orders in across the street,” Winters said with a shrug, tossing Woods what was left of the chips. “We can always call in more deliveries-whatcha want? They’ll be back soon.”

“From the look that was on Bear Shadow’s face, those guys ain’t coming back,” Woods said, catching the chips and shoving several into his mouth.

Fisher smiled and pounded Winters’s fist, wiggling his eyebrows at Woods. “Shit, dude, from the look on your face, you’re about ready to go AWOL, too.”

Woods closed his eyes for a moment, his voice becoming completely sober. “You guys have no idea.”

Winters and Fisher gave each other wide grins.

“I’ve gotta get out of here, seriously.” Woods flung the chips onto the table and began to pace.

“Okay, okay, man, before you do anything stupid, let’s get ’Rissa to call Sasha… Maybe she can talk her into-”

“ ’Rissa is getting laid! What about this don’t you all get-are you deaf?” Woods wiped the sudden perspiration from his brow. “You can’t ask her jack shit right now!”

“Are you serious, dude?” Fisher was on his feet, leaving Winters on the sofa, gaping. He tilted his head like a hunting dog and then opened his mouth. “I’ll… just… be… damned.”

“I have got to get out of here,” Woods said, walking back and forth between the lobby door and the sofa. “I just need a burger, a cold one and-”

“Some options,” Fisher said, slapping him five on the next pass.

“Okay, it doesn’t take an hour and a half to get from Ethan’s bar to here-more like fifteen minutes, tops,” Winters said. “Dudes, we are seriously slipping. Where’s the ambulance, anybody hearing me?”

“So do we leave or stay-go do recon in the streets or maintain base, like Captain said?” Fisher raked his hair and turned around in a circle. “This is so fucked up.”

“I need to eat; I need to get out of this lobby before I lose my mind,” Woods said, holding his head with both hands.

Footfalls made all three men look up. Sasha came through the door first, followed by Doc in hot pursuit.

“I don’t want to talk about it-not now and not in front of my men. We’ve been debating it for the last half hour and I really can’t go through this anymore.” Sasha spun on Doc when he drew a breath to speak. “Not in front of my men. This is between me and you.”

Doc nodded and then dropped his shotgun on the coffee table.

“Uh, guys, where’s the patient?” Winters asked nervously.

“In the bar across the street with his lieutenants, most likely!” Sasha shouted.

“Or in the closest Louisiana Werewolf titty bar he could find!” Doc shouted back.

“You know the address-is it close by?” Fisher asked, smiling but completely serious.

“Cap, we’ve gotta get out of here,” Woods said. “Like, now… We’ve gotta eat… just need a few hours.”

Sasha spun on him, but the plaintive tone of his voice held so much longing and his eyes seemed to be filled with so much pain that, for a moment, she couldn’t respond.

“Cap,” Winters said. “These guys are seriously bouncing off the walls. I’m good with takeout-which we went through a half hour ago and polished off a six-pack-but they are really hurtin’ pups. But back to the bigger question, did the patient go AWOL all patched up and normal again-or is he off the hook?”

“He’s fine,” Sasha said, placing both hands on her hips.

“Shogun is not fine,” Doc shouted. “Neither are you, Captain. He’s in-he’s not the issue right now!” Doc wiped his palms down his face and looked from Sasha to Winters. “Sasha, I want a meeting with you, McGill, Bradley, and you, Winters, stat. This thing is getting way out of control and we need a containment strategy right away. If there’s some bad juju, as you claim, causing everybody to go insane, then let’s get to the bottom of it pronto, before anything else happens. What happened in the back of that ambulance was a near miss and can never happen again.”

“All right, fine, you’re right-how many times do I have to agree with you? But let Woods and Fisher go eat. Why should they suffer, just because I have to?” She turned around and saluted them. “Your chain has been officially popped till oh-eight-hundred. Just be careful and come back alive.”

Woods didn’t say a word, just saluted her with tears in his eyes and bolted for the door. Fisher almost fell over the table getting out of the front door.

“Umm, sir,” Winters said carefully, standing slowly. “Uh, about that meeting. See… McGill and Bradley are, uh, doing some research and aren’t available right now. But if you want me to go into the databases and look stuff up for you, I’ll be glad to, but-”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Doc said, closing his eyes and tilting his head. “I’m going to have some dinner and to get my mind right, after…” He shook his head and let out a hard breath. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Hopefully they’ll be finished researching by then. I’m leaving.”

Sasha and Winters watched Doc huff out the door, allowing the screen to slam with a bang. Sasha tilted her head and looked up at the ceiling.

“Good for them,” she said quietly. “ ’Bout time.”

He sat with Silver Hawk in front of the fire in the shadow lands as the elderly shaman added more water to the hot rocks. Hissing steam filled the small sweat lodge, blanketing their nude bodies with thick, humid vapors that leached moisture from their pores. He watched Silver Hawk’s ancient eyes through the opaque haze, waiting for the moment that the flames would tell him when to become Silver Shadow, when it would be time to chase the spirits beneath the blue-white moon.

His grandfather drew a labored breath and began a low, murmuring chant in their native tongue to call the ancestors. The heat and the sound slowly began to fuse into a low buzzing resonance inside his head. Almost as though his vision was doubling, he saw Sasha lying on the cavern floor, and then an opaque version of her stood-leaving her body on the ground-to walk off into the mist. Then one by one he saw them all… his spirit stood and then walked away from his body… Bear’s, Crow’s, Doc’s, Ethan’s-Silver Hawk opened his eyes when Shogun’s father’s wolf came.