Underdogs The First Stories - By Geonn Cannon Page 0,5

I've never actually told anyone this whole story before."

Dale said, "We can leave it there if you want."

"No, it's fine." She shifted in her seat and looked down into her coffee. "Like I said, Evangeline knew what I was. She could smell it or something. She was from the old country and had some sort of sense when it came to this." She cleared her throat. "She wanted me to be the wolf. She would take me for walks, pet me, have me curl up on the couch with her when she watched TV... I was basically her pet. I wore a leash and everything. The only time she wanted me human in her presence was when we were having sex."

Dale grimaced. "Oh, God. Did you..." She touched her throat.

"Yeah, I wore the leash and collar when we were having sex. That was part of the kink, I guess."

"Wait, if that's true, then you must have been in wolf form for..."

"About nineteen, twenty hours a day."

Dale's eyes widened. "Holy shit. How did you not go completely insane?"

Ari shrugged. "I did. A little bit. I started to be less than human even when I wasn't the wolf. I didn't particularly like myself at that time, so I was fine with being... nothing. But eventually I realized how sick it was, and I finally got up the courage and told Evangeline I had to go away. She was fine with it. I think she'd been expecting it. So she gave me some money and wished me well. I used the money to get a PI license, trained with Glory, and rented our office with what was leftover."

Dale whistled and shook her head. "Did you ever see Evangeline again?"

"Once. She was out walking her dog. Well, a dog."

Dale shuddered. "That is some messed up shit."

Ari shrugged again. "I don't judge. Evangeline was a nice enough woman. She treated me very well, gave me a warm place to sleep. And when I had enough, she let me go. There are a lot worse things out there than some bizarre fetishes."

"That's why you agreed to find Rebecca Sampson. You really just want to make sure she's being treated well."

"Yeah." She watched Dale and said, "What?"

"Nothing. Just remembering why I work for you, that's all."

Ari smiled and looked down the street. A blonde girl had just stepped out of the building they were watching. She pulled a pair of sunglasses from the collar of her shirt and slipped them on before she stepped from the entryway and started walking.

"That's our girl, right?" Ari said.

"Rebecca Sampson, in the flesh."

Ari took off her sunglasses and sat them on the table. "All right. You follow her on foot. I'll check out the apartment. Did you get the signs?"

Dale tapped the stack of paper next to her laptop and said, "Ready to go. Are you sure you'll be all right?"

Ari gave her a thumbs-up and dropped a few bills on the table as they stood to leave. She went into the alley while Dale went down the street to fall in behind the departing Rebecca Sampson. All the apartment buildings on the street had fire escapes, and it didn't take Ari long to reach the one for Rebecca's building. She pulled down the ladder and scaled the three flights to the apartment number Mrs. Sampson had given them.

She looked inside to make sure Rebecca's lover wasn't home before she jimmied the latch and stepped inside. The area under the window was a library, and Ari took a moment to examine the books lining the walls all around her. A nice mix of fiction and biographies, and quite a few law books. There was a photo on the table of Rebecca Sampson and an older blonde woman, cheeks pressed together. They were on the pier, the water stretching out behind them. They looked happy, but photos could be misleading.

There was a bedroom, but it was full of clothing. Ari could hardly believe the amount of clothes piled on the floor and stuffed into the open closet, and wondered if there was another half dozen residents in the apartment that she didn't know about. The foldout couch in the living room was still in bed-mode, the sheets and blankets tangled together on the mattress. Ari ignored the sex paraphernalia on the floor next to the bed as she continued her search. She wasn't exactly sure what she hoped to find. Even if there were shackles on the wall and a leather dominatrix