Chapter 15 - Cry Havoc

Julian paced in front of the Cutlass impatiently. He'd been doing so for nearly ten minutes now, and he was growing impatient. It was nearing half past 2, and he had to meet Jesse Beckett and his pack in a little over half an hour. He'd had a quick phone call with Romero where he'd outlined what he needed, and then he had made another quick phone call. After those phone calls were both completed, Julian had driven east like a bat out of hell.

He'd pulled into a secluded parking garage a couple streets over from the address, and now he was simply waiting. He hated waiting. He'd done his research, the address Beckett had given him led to a big industrial warehouse. It was supposedly some storage facility on the western edge of Inglewood, out away from the shopping centers and the neighborhoods full of people. There were some other businesses around, but nobody other than those business' employees were really hanging around this corner of Inglewood. It was a good choice for a secret werewolf pack to operate out of. Julian doubted this was their main headquarters, not unless Jesse Beckett was reckless and uncaring at this point. If this was the main headquarters, Julian was going to make Beckett pay, but most likely this was some kind of location they dealt with business. The pack headquarters would likely be somewhere more homely, but you never knew. Sometimes city packs had to make compromises.

Julian heard the sound of a car, his werewolf ears twitching, and his head snapped towards the noise. He was on the second to highest layer of the parking garage, the last one that had a roof. There were almost no cars this high up, everyone wanted the lower level parking spots and there were still plenty of them beneath his feet. Julian recognized the car at once, and a feeling of relief flooded through him. Meg's Beetle pulled into the spot two over from the Cutlass, and Romero and Inara piled out. Meg and Freya were both not present, presumably because they were watching the shop.

"Please tell me you got it." Julian said by way of greeting, his hands clenching worriedly.

"We got it." Romero nodded. "You need to take a breath though, Julian. Stressing out this much won't help your partner."

"I can't help it." Julian grimaced. "I feel like there's a swarm of bees inside me. I hate this waiting around."

Inara came up to him, and he glanced at her as she did. She, as usual, was dressed in a whole lot of leather. Today's outfit was skintight black leather pants tucked into tall boots and underneath what must be her favorite black leather jacket was a crimson crop top. The djinn's black hair was pulled back in a glossy, tight ponytail, and she'd lined her eyes with kohl.

"You look ready for war." Julian tried for a joke, but Inara ignored him. She grabbed him by the shoulder and looked at him intently.

"You're freaking out." she observed, her gold-flecked gaze holding his. "Romero's right, you need to calm down."

"I can't calm down, not while Abigail's being held hostage. They'd beat her up too, she was bruised and bloody in that photo." Julian snarled, and Inara shifted her hand to his heart, which was beating fast.

"Abigail doesn't need you going crazy in there and getting both of you killed." Inara said, and for once, there was not a single ounce of mockery in her voice. "We're here, we're going to help, and you and your partner are going to be fine."

Julian tried taking a deep breath, but he was too on edge. It didn't do much.

"Let's just talk through the plan." Julian shook his head after a moment. "I'd rather get to cracking heads faster than sit here longer."

"Werewolves." Inara muttered, but she said nothing else on the topic as Romero opened the Beetle's trunk. Inara's sword lay there in its' sheath beside a small black duffle bag. He unzipped the bag, revealing a pair of silver knives and two magazines of pistol bullets.

"Just two?" Julian scowled.

"All the silver bullets we could scrounge up." Romero apologized. "That's why I brought the two knives too."

"Well, it'll have to do." Julian sighed. He reached for the magazines, but Inara caught at his wrist.

"I'm carrying your gear." she told him, and Julian frowned.

"Why would you be carrying it rather than me? I have the gun."

"I'll have that too, actually." Inara shook her head. "There's no way you don't get searched going into this place, and there's even less of a chance they let you keep your gun and two magazines of silver bullets."

Julian scowled, but the second she said it, he knew she was right. He should have thought of that too, but he was too wrapped up in the all-consuming urge he felt to bust into there and try and take the werewolves down Rambo-style. Logic and planning ahead was never really the bread and butter of angry werewolves.

"Fine." Julian nodded, and he reached into the back of his jeans and pulled his gun from its' holster. He handed it over to Inara, and she tucked it into the duffle bag.

"And now... my other gifts." Romero said, grabbing a box from the backseat. It was small and square, and Julian raised an eyebrow curiously. All Julian had asked for was the silver bullets, he hadn't expected extra magical goodies.

"What's in there?" Julian wondered as Romero took the lid off the box, revealing a leather cuff. He took it out of the box, and offered it to Julian. It was a simple looking thing, just a band of faded leather with a strap to tighten it.

"It's a simple enchantment on there, but an effective one." Romero nodded at the cuff as Julian took it from him. "I like to call it my Cuff-link."

Inara held up her wrist, pulling back the sleeve of her jacket to reveal an identical cuff on her own wrist.

"So we can talk to each other?" Julian guessed.

"Got it in one." Romero nodded. "This way you can signal for help when you need it."

"I like it." Julian said with a nod. "It's a good plan. I go in, get Abigail out of immediate danger, and then call in backup."

"Speaking of backup...?" Inara raised an eyebrow.

"Ellen's on her way." Julian nodded. "She was very happy to help when I told her what was going on."

"Shame they've locked us out of vampiric backup." Inara frowned towards the midafternoon sunlight. "They wouldn't know what hit them if we had some vampires on our side."

"I think the three of us will be alright." Julian said, trying to drum up some confidence. "You bust in when I signal, you bring me my gun, and we go nuts on these bastards."

"It likely will not be that easy." Romero cautioned, but Julian rolled his shoulders, ignoring the enchanter. His blood was singing with the need to fight, to make somebody pay for what had happened to Abigail. Everything else was a dull thought at the edge of his mind. Maybe that was dangerous, but right now, Julian was far from any self-preserving thoughts. Abigail's safety was at the forefront of his mind, closely followed by Inara and Ellen's, but his own wasn't anywhere on that list.

Julian's ears picked up on the sound of an engine coming up the ramp, and Julian nodded as he saw Ellen's familiar Jeep pull up. She hopped out as soon as the car turned off, and she came stalking up to Julian, Inara, and Roman. The werewolf girl wore a pair of baggy jeans and a white crop top she was poking through noticeably.

"Please tell me you've got a plan." Ellen snarled. "I like Abigail, I like her a lot. These wolves are going to pay."

"Damn it, there's two of them." Inara muttered.

"We've got a nice simple plan. I go in alone, like Beckett said. I get Abigail out of immediate danger, and then I use this to signal you and Inara to come running in to crack some heads." Julian relayed, holding up his wrist with the cuff on it. Ellen nodded at once.

"My kind of plan." Ellen grinned toothily. "Are we ready to go?"

"I am well aware of the loyalty werewolves are imbued with, but please, do not lose your heads here." Romero urged. "They will greatly outnumber the three of you, trying to take them on head-on will not end well."

"I won't be an idiot." Julian replied. "But I'm not going to try and avoid risks when it comes to Abigail. She's my partner, Romero, and it's all my fault that she's even in this mess. She has no idea what's happening right now, and I'll be damned if she doesn't walk out of that warehouse alive."

"Just make sure the three of you come out alive too." Romero said wearily. All at once, he looked his ancient age, like he'd seen too many people die throughout his lifetime.

"We'll do our best." Inara affirmed, and she squeezed Julian's arm firmly.

"We will." Julian agreed.

"Inara." Romero said, and he pulled a ring off of his finger, a little golden ring with a red crystal. "Use it wisely."

"Seriously?" Inara gaped. "I thought you told me this was never to be used?"

"I said only used in a time of great need." Romero said cautiously. "Don't use it as a weapon, it's a last resort."

"I understand, Mero." Inara said, and she added it to the various rings already on her fingers, sliding this one onto her left thumb.

"What is it?" Ellen asked curiously.

"It's a 'break glass in emergency' kind of thing." Inara shook her head. "I'll use it if we need it."

"Being secretive now?" Julian mused.

"I know all too well the bloodlust werewolves get when their loved ones are in danger." Romero said wryly. "I'd prefer to keep it far from werewolf paws."

"Fair enough." Julian admitted. He probably would use whatever it was if Romero had given it to him. Self-control wasn't high on his list of virtues right now.

"So... we're good to go?" Ellen asked eagerly.

"Yeah, I'll head over there now." Julian nodded. "You two follow behind me after a few minutes. Oh, how do I trigger the Cuff-link?"

"Just grab it and squeeze it. Inara will feel hers constrict." Romero explained. "I'd have a code that means come in, to avoid any accidents."

"Alright, three quick squeezes then." Julian nodded towards the djinn, who nodded back.

"Say the word, we'll come storming the castle." Inara smirked, and Julian smirked back.

———

The anger was building in Julian the entire walk from the parking garage to the address a few streets over. It was about 2:45 by time Julian arrived, and he was met by two smirking werewolves standing outside the warehouse, proclaimed MOONLIGHT STORAGE SOLUTIONS by the big sign above the double doors entrance.

"Nice to see some punctuality." one of the werewolves, a big guy with a buzzcut and a dopey smile. "It's a lost art these days."

"Detective Julian Anderson?" the other werewolf inquired a bit more politely. He still had a big shit-eating grin on his face though, he was hardly a paragon of manners.

"That's me." Julian said.

The buzzcut werewolf nodded at the other one, and he stepped forwards to search Julian. He patted him down quickly, then did a more thorough inspection of Julian's brown leather jacket.

"No weapons?" the werewolf sniffed. "Figured I'd get to steal a real life police gun."

Julian quickly revised his opinion of this werewolf being the more polite one. The werewolf finished his inspection and stepped back, nodding at the buzzcut werewolf.

"Come on then, stray." buzzcut werewolf said, grabbing him and yanking him forwards. Julian scowled at him, but buzzcut completely ignored him. The other werewolf followed behind, and Julian wasn't left with much option except to go along with it. They passed a bunch of storage crates and a few cargo containers as Julian was led essentially to the middle of the big open warehouse floor. There was plenty of stuff in the warehouse, enough to make Julian think this was an actual business they ran, but the middle had been cleared out.

Julian's eyes went first to Abigail, who was tied up in the same chair she'd been in the photo he had received. She looked even worse now than she had then, and she had several new bruises on her face. She was also gagged now, but her green eyes widened when she saw Julian, shaking her head vehemently. She was wearing her work clothes, but her button up blouse was covered in dirt, a bit of blood, and the collar had ripped a bit.

Jesse Beckett was sitting on the edge of a crate a few feet away, grinning. He looked neatly put together, a sharp contrast from the disheveled Abigail beside him. His black hair was combed back, his beard finely trimmed. The tall Asian man may be smiling, but there was an iciness in his gaze, discernible even from where Julian was standing.

"Welcome, Detective!" the Alpha exclaimed. "You're early, that's nice to see."

"Let her go, Beckett." Julian snarled. "This doesn't involve her."

"Doesn't involve her?" Beckett laughed coldly. "You murdered two of my pack in cold blood. Zeke and Ezra both gone now, because of you. Not to mention the four wolves that your vampire bitch killed right in front of me."

"I don't control Alexandra." Julian shook his head. "And as for Zeke, he was choking the life out one of my friends. Ezra attacked me in the Glade in full view of a lot of people. Plenty of witnesses. Your wolves were violent assholes, and I don't regret a thing."

"Not even now?" Beckett raised an eyebrow. "With your lovely partner in danger?"

"She's not in danger." Julian told Beckett firmly. "You, however... different story."

Movement flickered at the edges of Julian's vision, and amongst the rows of boxes and crates came easily twenty werewolves, if not more. They were all in human form still, but many of them looked downright murderous. Unease flicked within Julian, but he ignored it.

"You must have big brass ones, Anderson." Beckett snorted. "There's thirty of us, and one of you. You might be good, but no one's that good. And from what I've heard, you're not even that good."

"I'm good enough to deal with you." Julian glared. "You're just a coward, resorting to taking an innocent hostage in a stupid attempt at payback."

Beckett snarled, but Julian just shrugged. "Am I wrong? You could have tried to attack me, but you knew that wouldn't work out as well for you."

"We already took you hostage once, we could easily do it again." Beckett smirked.

"Oh yeah, you did a great job when I never saw it coming. Another cowardly move." Julian almost spat.

The other werewolves snarled angrily. An insult to their Alpha was even worse than an insult to them, but Julian forced himself to look completely nonplussed.

"You may be a cop, Anderson, but from what I hear, you don't spend a whole lot of time in either of your wolf forms." Beckett shrugged. "Doesn't seem like it'll be much of a challenge to beat your ass."

"I mean.. it didn't work out that way for Ezra." Julian needled, and he saw the anger ripple across Beckett's face. Good.

"Why don't you let her go, and then we'll settle this?" Julian raised his hands, casting his gaze around to the restless werewolves, who he was quickly realizing all felt the same burning anger that he felt currently, but they felt it for their six dead packmates. "Surely you're right, there's no way this goes any way but me dead. So let's find out. You let Abigail go, and then you all get to try to kill me."

Beckett scoffed, but as he, too, glanced around, he saw the agreement in many of his pack members. They were past an eye for an eye, they just wanted blood. Julian glanced quickly around too, the thirty-odd werewolves had him in a loose circle, but there was no getting out of the circle, Julian knew. They could close ranks far too easily.

"She's human." Julian pressed him. "She didn't know anything about us until today. This isn't her fight. You let her go, and I'll give you all something to fight."

Beckett nodded slowly, and he pulled a pocketknife from his pocket. He flipped the blade out, and he held Julian's gaze as he leaned down to start cutting Abigail's bonds. Julian folded his arms across his chest, and as he did, he pinned his left wrist between his chest and his bicep. He squeezed the Cuff-link three quick times, as subtly as he could. He wasn't sure at first if it had actually gone through, but then his cuff squeezed his wrist in quick succession three times.

Abigail's feet were free now, and Beckett reached up to cut her hands away.

"She's free to go." Beckett said, gesturing to the door somewhere behind Julian.

"Abigail, go." Julian said urgently, seeing that his partner was still sitting in the chair, looking around, uncertain. She reached up and removed the gag, shaking her head.

"Julian, what-"

Beckett hit her, clean across the face. "Get out, human. Unless you want to join the stray in getting torn apart."

Abigail recoiled from Beckett, standing up quickly out of the chair. She looked deeply overwhelmed, and Julian groaned inwardly. This was not what he'd wanted, he'd wanted Abigail to get up and run.

"Abigail, go!" Julian shouted, and she looked him in the eyes. Whatever she saw there, she took off running. Julian turned and he lunged for Beckett. No reason not to go for the top dog first. The other werewolves all around him burst into motion, but Julian was closer to Beckett than any of them were to Julian. His fist slammed into the Alpha's fast with all the force a raging werewolf could muster. Beckett staggered backwards, laughing.

The first of Beckett's pack reached Julian, but Julian was ready. He slammed his arm up to block the punch from the werewolf and delivered a kick to the werewolf's knee as hard as he could. The werewolf, still in human form, shouted as his knee buckled. Julian tried to turn to face the second werewolf, who happened to be buzzcut werewolf, but he wasn't fast enough.

Buzzcut werewolf's fist smashed into Julian's face with enough force to knock him backwards. Julian staggered two steps before a pair of strong hands seized him from behind, lifted him up overhead, and slammed him down onto the ground. Julian's whole body flared with pain, but he rolled away from the werewolf's incoming foot attempting to stomp down on his head. Julian jumped to his feet, only to be hit with a brutal kick to the ribs.

He stayed up, but stumbled backwards from the force of it, his back slamming into a storage crate. He stared, for just a millisecond, at the horde of werewolves coming at him. There were a mere seven close enough to be a real threat, but the other twenty-odd werewolves, Beckett included, were standing snarling at him.

Julian spun around the edge of the storage crate and took off running. He leaped over a table, glancing over his shoulder to see they had, of course, given pursuit. Many of the werewolves from the other end of the crowd were running parallel to him, clearly intending to cut him off.

A wolf-whistle interrupted the wolves, and there was a brief, stunned moment of silence as all of the werewolves looked up to see Inara standing on a storage crate maybe forty feet away. She stood there, legs wide in a fierce stance, her sword held in one hand and a silver knife in the other.

"Here, doggy!" Inara called, and a solid ten werewolves turned to charge at her. Julian picked back up with the running while the werewolves were momentarily torn about pursuing Julian or Inara. It took only a second for them to remember they had the numbers to do both, and they split pretty evenly. Julian was running like hell, but every one of the wolves pursuing him had at least his speed, if not faster.

They also, Julian realized belatedly as he rounded a corner, knew the warehouse better. He almost ran right into a smirking werewolf, his fingers lengthened into wicked sharp claws, who lunged at him. Julian leaped backwards out of the range of the wolf's claws, but only just barely. Julian pushed off his backfoot and lunged into the werewolf as soon as the claws passed him. He slammed the werewolf into the storage crate, both of them crashing through the box. Julian grabbed the werewolf by the hair and smashed his head into the concrete floor as hard as he could. He couldn't afford to hesitate here, and he smashed the werewolf's head into the concrete one more time before a strong hand seized his ankle.

Julian barely had a moment to think before he was yanked backwards and smashed into a metal storage unit, which made him howl in pain. The owner of the hand gripping his ankle like a vice was none other than a werewolf who had shifted into actual werewolf mode. Like Julian and Ezra had been at the Glade last night, this werewolf had morphed into the huge, muscular half-wolf, half-man form. He stood several feet taller than Julian, and he held Julian up with one hand, chuckling with a snarl.

A bang echoed through the warehouse, and Julian was abruptly dropped. He hit the floor hard, but he rolled to his feet, pushing through the pain. The werewolf who'd been holding him up had hit the ground like a sack of bricks, bleeding profusely from a bullet hole in the neck.

Julian turned to see Ellen standing there, duffle bag slung over her shoulder. She held his gun with two hands, still standing still where she'd pointed the gun at the werewolf holding Julian and shot him. Julian scrambled to Ellen's side.

"You are a fucking lifesaver, Ellie." Julian groaned, and he kissed Ellen's cheek in utter relief as he took the gun from her. The ten-ish werewolves who had been gathering around Julian looked wary all of a sudden, seeing Julian holding a gun. Ellen handed over the duffle bag, smirking.

"Silver bullets, assholes." Julian called, and he shot one of the werewolves standing in front of him in the leg, followed quickly by shooting another one in the shoulder. Some of the werewolves ducked behind cover, while the majority of them charged Julian and Ellen. On Julian's left, Ellen started growing, brown fur spouting from her body as her nose lengthened into a snout. She tore easily through her clothes, leaving them ruined shreds on the ground as she ran forwards in her werewolf form to meet the human form werewolves charging at her. Ellen's claws tore into that group, and Julian looked around the warehouse in the brief moment he had.

Across the warehouse, Inara was jumping from crate to crate, trying her best to ward off the snarling, furry werewolves trying to kill her. Julian swore and took off running towards the djinn. She had her sword for length, and a silver knife if they managed to get in too close, but he had a gun.

In the time it took Julian to sprint across the warehouse, one of the shifted werewolves smashed into the crate that Inara was standing on, sending her sprawling to the ground. Julian lifted his gun and shot at the little cluster of shifted werewolves, four big bulky monsters. He was still a few dozen feet away, and two of his bullets missed, but two hit true. They weren't perfect shots, but the silver bullets would take the werewolves out of the fight regardless.

Inara jumped to her feet in time to face off with a human werewolf who'd been running at her. She drove her silver knife into his chest, then yanked it out and kicked him in the chest.

"Watch out!" Julian called, but Inara didn't have his werewolf reflexes. She cried out as she was tackled to the floor, behind a crate and out of Julian's line of sight.

Julian raced towards her, but he was cut off by buzzcut werewolf, popping out like a jack in the box from behind a storage crate. He slammed into Julian, who lost hold of his gun as both werewolves hit the floor, rolling apart from each other. Buzzcut werewolf looked in the direction it had flown, but Julian didn't. He punched buzzcut werewolf square in the jaw, and the man grunted. Getting to his feet, Julian slammed his knee into buzzcut werewolf's face, knocking him onto his back. Julian brought his foot down hard onto the werewolf's chest, knocking the air out of him.

Julian turned and dived for his gun, hoping he'd bought enough time to do so. He grabbed it off the ground, rolled over onto his back, and fired twice into buzzcut werewolf's chest as the man bore down on him. Julian rolled out of the way of his falling body, but he couldn't catch his breath. He jumped to his feet, running for where he'd last seen Inara. He rounded the corner and found her and the man who had tackled her grappling on the floor.

Julian snarled and reached down to grab the werewolf Inara was fighting and kick him in the face.

"I had him." Inara groaned, wiping the blood from her nose with the back of her hand. She got to her feet with a groan, holding her side as she knelt to pick up her sword.

"Take the knife." Inara grumbled, kicking it over to him. He knelt and picked it up, nodding at her.

"You alright?" Julian asked. Inara nodded past him, and he turned to see three werewolves, two men and a women, coming towards him. All three were in werewolf form, meaning they were a very intimidating sight.

Julian lifted his gun and shot one of the men in the head, but when he turned to shoot the other, it clicked. Fuck, had that been ten bullets already? Too quickly, the surviving two furry monsters were on them. Julian tried for a stab with the silver knife but he couldn't get close enough before he got backhanded, which with these monsters, meant some serious gashes from their claws. He went airborne briefly before slamming hard into the concrete. He was aching all over, but he staggered to his feet regardless. He always had the option of going werewolf mode himself, but it'd mean he couldn't wield his silver weapons. A gun and a knife were both too small to be effectively used by large werewolf paws.

In the time it took him to jump back into the fight against these two werewolves, Inara lopped off one of their arms with her sword, and the werewolf howled in agony. She drew back and then slammed her sword forwards into its' chest. The last werewolf standing, the female, roared and lunged at Inara, who did not have time to dodge. In desperation, Julian threw the knife. It hit the broad back of the werewolf, a bit wobbly, but the blade sank in and that was enough. The werewolf howled and thrashed. She raked out with her claws trying to get it out of her back, but she just cut up her own back in her desperate fury, Inara completely forgotten.

Julian dodged a swipe of the claws as he seized the hilt of the knife and yanked it free. He went for another stab with it, but the enraged werewolf spun and sank her claws into his chest. Julian gasped in shock, tasting blood in his mouth.

"No!" Inara's cry came, and in a metallic flash, the werewolf dropped to the floor, headless. Julian dropped to the ground, still impaled on the claws.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Inara muttered as she grabbed Julian's hand. "This is gonna hurt, alright?"

"Just make it fast." Julian coughed up blood. Inara looked around worriedly, but from the loud snarls and roaring across the werewolf, they seemed largely focused on Ellen. Ellen, unlike Julian, was a pro at the werewolf form. She was a predator in her element, and she was good enough to stay alive against multiple-

"Fuck!" Julian shouted as Inara wrapped her arms around the werewolf's burly arm and yanked the claws out of his chest. Julian rolled to the side, shuddering and coughing from the pain.

"Shift! I'll grab your gun." Inara urged. Julian nodded, but it was hard to think with this much pain wracking through his body. He grunted, and let the wolf wash over him. He shifted into the bestial werewolf form, clambering messily to his feet. He was still bleeding, but in this form, he could take a lot more punishment before giving out. Julian glanced over at Inara tucking his gun into her pants, then looked over at the huge fight happening across the warehouse.

He wanted Jesse Beckett dead, but he had no idea where the bastard had gotten off to. He made a split-second decision and went rocketing off towards the fight. When he arrived, he saw two werewolves in human form dead, and he bounded over their bodies, jumping up onto a storage crate as he surveyed the area. Ellen, a lean, muscular shaggy brown werewolf, was bleeding from what looked like dozens of different cuts, but she was squaring up against two gray werewolves who looked just as fucked up. Julian leaped at one and tackled him away from Ellen. Julian rolled with him away from Ellen and the one werewolf she was squared up against currently.

The werewolf Julian had tackled recovered faster, and he darted out of reach of Julian's swipe. Julian ducked under the one that came at him, catching the gray werewolf under the armpit and lifting him. Julian slammed him into the solid brick wall of the warehouse, flexing his claws so that they tore up the skin he was grabbing onto. Julian dropped the werewolf hard on the ground, then dived down with his fangs. It was a bloody death, but Julian chalked it up to the wolf inside him rather than conscious choice. He turned back to Ellen, only to find she'd dispatched hers as well.

Julian peered around, wondering where the other wolves had gotten to. They definitely hadn't killed or beaten thirty, though Inara and Ellen probably had gotten a few he hadn't seen. One werewolf he hadn't seen since the fighting broke out, however... was Beckett. The one he really wanted to kill. Julian sniffed the air, but he couldn't get a clear scent over all of the blood and the old scents.

Julian, with Ellen at his right flank, prowled through the maze of storage crates. The noises of fighting had died down, but this was definitely not over. Ellen nuzzled up against his side, and she poked her nose towards his chest, where the very deep claw wounds he'd sustained in human form were still looking bad. Julian shook his head with a huff, and Ellen gave him a little glare.

A sudden howl went up across the warehouse, and Julian and Ellen both took off. Ellen was way faster than him, even when he wasn't injured, but he did his best to keep pace as they rushed towards the sound of the howl and sudden burst of fighting. Two bangs went off in quick succession, and Ellen barreled through a storage crate into the fray. Julian came up right behind her, and too late, he realized the problem. Inara, on edge in the middle of a fight, turned and pointed Julian's seemingly reloaded gun at Julian and Ellen. Julian tackled Ellen aside as two bullets burst from the gun, one after the other.

Julian shook his head urgently at Inara, holding up his paws in an approximation of surrender.

"Oh, shit! Sorry!" Inara gasped. "Did I hit either of you?"

Julian looked down at himself, and saw no new wounds, and he looked to Ellen in terror, but she looked unscathed as well. Julian exhaled heavily in relief.

"Whew." Inara said with a huff. "That would have definitely put me on an animal cruelty list."

"ANDERSON!" a voice bellowed, and Julian whipped around towards it.

Tentatively, Julian, Ellen, and Inara emerged back out into the middle area of the warehouse, the clear circle amidst the rows of boxes, crates, containers, and whatever else. A snarl burst from Julian's maw as he saw Beckett. Beckett had morphed one of his hands into a clawed paw, and he stood with his human arm holding Abigail in place, his werewolf paw set to her throat.

"There you three are." Beckett snarled, his voice dripping with hatred. Inara lifted her sword, but Beckett shook his head.

"Any of you three take a step, I'm tearing out her throat." Beckett said cruelly. There was a wild light in his eyes, and he looked more enraged than Julian had ever seen him. "The three of you have hurt or killed at least fifteen of my wolves, probably more, you fucking animals."

"You started this." Inara reminded him. "It's not our fault your wolves tried to kill us."

Julian growled his agreement.

"Back to human form, please, Anderson." Beckett shook his head. "Now, or you can watch your partner die."

Julian hated the thought of abandoning the strength of this form, but he acquiesced, shrinking back down to human form. He wore only his boxers, which had somehow held up pretty well through the transformation. He almost passed out from the pain of his wounds, but he managed to keep consciousness, even if he did drop to his knees. He looked to Abigail, and saw absolute shock written across her face. He hung his head, unable to face her gaze.

"You see now, I have to kill her, right?" Beckett asked, and Julian lifted his head back up in stark horror. "You've killed too many of mine. I know you'll kill me for it, but there must be blood."

The gun went off, once, twice, but it was very likely that today was Inara's first time using a gun. It bought Abigail the opening she needed, and Julian watched in relief as his partner kicked Beckett and dived away from him. He tried to muster the change, but he was too spent. He staggered to his feet somehow, making his way for Beckett, but Beckett started growing.

"Julian, move!" Inara exclaimed, and she slammed into him. He heard the gun go flying as he landed on his back, Inara's curvaceous form atop him. Beckett, a huge black werewolf, slammed into Ellen, and the pair of them thrashed in vicious combat. Julian's vision swam, but he had to get up.

"Stay down, you idiot." Inara grunted, pushing his chest down with her hand, carefully avoiding the deep claw wounds in his chest. "Ellen's got this."

Julian turned to look as Beckett body-slammed Ellen to the ground, roaring. Inara swore, and she rolled off of him to grab her sword or the gun, he wasn't sure. As soon as she was off of him, Julian started struggling to his feet. He was a bloody mess, he was in so much pain, but he had to find that gun.

Ellen scrambled away from Beckett, who howled, head tipped up towards the ceiling.

BANG!

Julian startled, but before he could think, BANG! BANG! BANG!

Beckett stood there for a moment, stunned, before falling backwards onto his back, where he slammed against the concrete floor and did not move. Julian turned to see Abigail standing there, trembling. Her hands were steady, but the rest of her body was trembling, and Julian saw she was clicking the trigger even though the magazine had obviously been emptied.

"Abby." Julian groaned, and she turned towards him, startled. For just a second, the gun was pointed at him, but she dropped it immediately and rushed forwards.

She threw her arms around him, almost knocking him clean over.

"Covered in blood." Julian groaned. Thankfully, his werewolf healing would kick in soon, he hadn't tussled with any silver.

"I don't care!" Abigail sniffled. "You should have told me."

"That's your first response?" Julian croaked. "Not 'holy shit, my partner's a werewolf?'"

"Well, I already had that first thought." Abigail said, leaning back and wiping away the tears in her eyes. "Oh my God, you need a hospital!"

"No, no, I'll be fine." Julian grunted. "Just... let me sit down."

"Do not sit him down." Inara interjected. Julian looked over to see she was standing off to the side with a naked Ellen slumped against her, Ellen's arm around her shoulders, though Inara was holding it there. Ellen, much like Julian, was dazed and bleeding profusely. Julian was so woozy from blood loss he didn't even have the bandwidth to properly admire Ellen's big tits, but he was sure they looked incredible as ever.

"Grab Julian, and let's get them out of here."

"They look like they're about to die!" Abigail protested.

"They heal fast." Inara said. "Come on."

Abigail grabbed Julian in the same position Inara had Ellen in, though it was a bit tougher because Julian was significantly taller.

"Where are we going?" Abigail demanded.

"Just out front. I already texted our ride." Inara called over her shoulder.

"So, uh... you still pissed at me?" Julian asked weakly.

"Ask me that again when you're not bleeding your guts out." Abigail huffed. She helped Julian out front, where Inara was standing with Ellen waiting impatiently.

The Beetle pulled up quickly, and Inara threw open the backseat door, helping Ellen into it.

"Julian next." Inara said, and Abigail startled, coming forwards quickly.

She and Inara helped Julian into the backseat, where he sagged back against the leather.

"Oh, Meg is going to kill me." Romero winced. Ellen flopped against Julian, smiling up at him as she nuzzled into his shoulder.

"We... we got 'em." Ellen beamed.

"We sure did." Julian grinned.

"You two are way too happy about this." Abigail blinked.

"They're werewolves, they go nuts about fighting." Inara huffed, sliding in on Julian's other side. Abigail hesitated, then took the front seat.

"I didn't die, Romero." Julian grinned, and Inara swatted the back of his head.

"Jury's still out, mutt." she rolled her eyes. Julian laughed and wrapped his arm around Inara's waist. She glared at him, but did nothing to move his arm.

"Let's get out of here." Romero said, and Ellen let out a drunk sorority girl 'woo!'

"I really hope you two idiots heal fast." Inara grumbled. "You're way too loopy."

Ellen giggled at that, nosing into Julian's shoulder more as Romero drove them away from the warehouse, hopefully back to the parking garage.

Julian met Abigail's eyes as she turned back around to look in the backseat, and she gave him a small smile.