Underdogs The First Stories - By Geonn Cannon Page 0,39

"Come with me, Ariadne. I want to speak with you in private."

"Sure." Ari took another drink of her beer before she stood up, following Sadie into the living room. In the dim twilight glow coming through the curtained windows, Ari could see the vague outlines of furniture and a tall roll-top desk in next to the stairs. Sadie turned on a lamp and gestured for Ari to sit on the couch.

Sadie walked behind her, out of sight, and Ari resisted the urge to twist to watch her. Instead she faced forward and scanned the room. There was no television, but a handful of framed pictures hung on the wall. One of them showed a much-younger Sadie with long, wavy red hair. Like in the photo at the bar, Sadie wasn't smiling in the older picture. Ari forced her focus past the photographs to see the reflection in the glass of the frame. Sadie was leaning against the wall just behind her, arms crossed, staring at the back of her head.

"We're a tight-knit group here. Just because you're in this house right now doesn't mean you're one of us. Do you know what you smell like to me?"

Ari smirked. "I'd love for you to tell me."

"Domestic. Beck and Pen, they're dogs. They should smell like they've lived in a house, pampered and cared for, but you and I? We're wild dogs. A wolf should never smell like people. How many canidae friends do you have?"

"Ah..."

"Right. I smelled you the other night, too. Hanging out with the felidae in the field. I don't care how cute her person form is, that's simply not done."

Ari's smirk had faded. "Sorry, I didn't get the rulebook."

"Tonight we're going to do a trial run. We're going to see if you have the chops to run with us full-time. You're not going to get a full cut at first even if we do decide to keep you around. Ten percent."

"That's a joke, right?"

"It leaves an even thirty percent for the rest of us. Prove yourself and we'll see about raising it a little. But you're definitely the Dixie cup. If something goes wrong, you're cut. If something doesn't smell right, you're left behind." Sadie began to move, circling the long way around the couch. Ari finally turned her head to watch as Sadie stopped right next to her. "So what do you say, Ariadne? Do you hear the call of the wild?" Her lips curled into a cupid's-bow of a smile, and Ari couldn't help returning it.

"Loud and clear."

Sadie held out a hand to help Ari stand. "Then let's get on with it. We've got a long night ahead of us." She walked into the kitchen with Ari trailing behind her. "Okay, ladies. We're a pack of four tonight. Pen, everything all set?"

Pen wiped her hands on a napkin as she stood. "The bags are waiting for us at Kingston Jewelers. I checked out their security this morning. Should be a piece of cake." She looked at Ari. "I only put three bags, though."

"That's okay." Sadie went into a narrow linen closet and withdrew a bag just like the one from Bull and Terrier. She tossed it to Ari. "You can take one with you. Do you know how to get into it?"

"Yeah, Milhous explained it to me the other night."

Sadie nodded. "Beck, you ready?"

"Yep."

To Ari's surprise, the other three women began to undress. Sadie had peeled off her tank top before Ari knew what was happening, reaching back to unhook her bra before Ari cleared her throat. "Uh, there's no... changing room?"

Beck laughed, and Pen raised an eyebrow. Sadie reached out and touched the side of Ari's head like she was petting her, and Ari pulled away from the patronizing petting.

"She's domesticated. Been around too many people." She unhooked her bra and let it fall. "Changing isn't dirty, Ari. A couple of bars use changing rooms because of the nudity involved, but in private and among friends..." She shrugged and unbuckled her belt. "If you'd rather change in the living room, I'm sure none of us would think any less of you."

Beck and Pen were already down to their underwear, and Ari saw Beck was trying to suppress a smile. She had always thought her taboo about nudity was eliminated by constantly ending up naked in public, but to strip down in a kitchen with three women she'd just met was a little beyond the pale. Still, she didn't want to be the butt of their