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Sasha

Oh, God, where did they go!? What the hell have I done!? What's going to happen!?

"RED!? LEE!?" I bellowed, their names seeming to scrape my throat as I yelled with such force. "WHERE ARE YOU!?"

This wasn't good. My worst nightmare had seemed to have come true. After all three of us had such an amazing night together I never would have thought this could've happened. It didn't seem possible to me even though I'd been dreading the situation since I found that I had feelings for both Red and Lee. I knew this would come to pass, but I never imagined it would have now, and not with so many heartbreaking consequences.

I skidded to a stop, slipping a little in the grass, and looked around desperately for any sign of the two dogs, but it was hopeless. They could've vanished into thin air as good as my tracking skills were.

My tail coiled behind me as I paced back and forth. I felt like I was trapped in a loop. Round and round I went carving a depression into the grass, my ears flicking toward each little sound, my body yearning to tear off after them again. I would have too, but, being the logical guy that I was, I wasn't going to run off willy-nilly again without a sign that I was going in the right direction. And also, being the passionate and overtly fearful guy that I am in regards to relationships, I was about to lose my mind as my two sides waged war to decide what I should do.

My heart drummed hard in my chest, and I grimaced as some of my bruises and aches started to flare up from my sudden increase in blood flow and activity.

"DAMMIT!" I stomped my feet hard as my indecisiveness and frustration spilled over, and the backs of my eyes seemed to rattle and grind as my brain began to slip its gears. I gripped my ears in anguish and pinched, hoping the pain would snap me back into a sensible state, but it just really fucking hurt. I clenched my eyes together as I felt tears welling up, and I fell onto my knees, knowing that those two were out there somewhere fighting over me.

I didn't want that. Dammit, it wasn't right! I wasn't going to let this happen - I wasn't going to lose either one of them!

I was done crying. I'd had enough. Red and Lee were strong and brave enough to go up on that stage and pour their hearts out for me, and - so help me God - I could be just as strong and brave.

The grass had stained my pants, I noticed, when I pushed myself up and took off running again. I was so dead-set on finding Red and Lee that I almost ran right by the husky's fedora laying a few yards away from me. It was right at the mouth of the woods. The gaping darkness bedded amongst the trees seemed to churn and writhe, and I warily slipped over and snatched up the hat before backing away a considerable distance. It wasn't the dark itself that frightened me so, but it was what could possibly be lingering just out of sight: Lee and Red beating one another to a pulp was one thing, but...the Shadow. A chill ran down my spine and I began to sweat as the black bowels of the forest seemed to creep toward me, reaching, ever reaching...

I found myself backing away even more. I didn't want to go in there, but...but I did want to go in there. I had to go in there. I looked at the fedora clutched in my paws, and I slipped my fingers over the soft fabric of the brim. My pads tingled when I stopped and let my arms fall to my sides. I peered into the dark. Shadow or no Shadow, I had to find my boys. I closed my eyes, the fear still tangled around my heart like a snare, and I tried to think of something that would free me from its grasp. Faintly I heard a voice, and it was singing. I thought it was coming from within my head at first, a remnant of Red and Lee's songs that I knew would never ever leave me, but as I focused and listened more intently I realized it wasn't coming from within me. It was coming from the woods.

The sound was so sorrowful, and it seemed to slip faintly and effortlessly through the air like the haunting call of a wisp. I stepped closer, and as I treaded within the forest the song became clearer as if the darkness and the trees were holding it all in. I recognized that voice, too.

"Lee..." I muttered. I wanted to yell again and call out his name, but the trees were smothering and oppressive, and my voice didn't creep above a whisper as I went on. "Red...please be okay."

Dried leaves, pine needles and cones, and dead twigs snapped beneath even my light tread as I practically tiptoed onward. The song was my only means of guidance, and it beckoned me on like the call of a siren, filling up my senses and telling me that I was on the right track. I jumped as my foot caught the claw-like end of a large, fallen branch, and it rustled the shadowed foliage off to my right. My chest heaving, I kicked at the thing and freed myself, and then the land began to tilt down slightly into a soft, sloping hill. There wasn't much grip as I went down since the ground was covered in shedding from the trees, and I had to brace myself against the rough-barked things many times to keep myself from falling, but I made it to the bottom unscathed.

The first thing I noticed was how churned up the ground was. It looked as if someone had been rolling around as all of the needles and things that covered the rest of the forest floor were swept aside. Then I saw a little, black heap - like a wadded up rag - nestled at the bottom of a tree. Picking it up I realized it was a band of cloth. I whimpered as I unfurled it and saw the eye slits cut into it.

"Lee's mask..."

I pushed myself up and swiveled my head about looking for him, but there was nothing - nothing but the song still whispering through the air.

A cloud passed from in front of the moon, and the light shone quite brightly through the canopy above me. It shone on something across the churned up mess before me, and the thing glittered white like a crystal as I crept toward it. I brushed off a coating of dirt and leaves to find a sword - the sword Lee had been carrying. It was free of its scabbard, but a breath of relief washed over me at seeing the weapon's blade wasn't stained red. Then the song faltered, and someone coughed, a groan seeping up from somewhere off to my right and making me gasp and jump up with the sword held ready in my paw.

"Who...who's there!?"

No reply.

As much as my instincts were telling me to run the other way, I went toward where I'd heard the groaning.

"Lee? Red?"

My body was practically vibrating from the adrenaline rushing through my veins. A twig snapped beneath my foot, and something writhed on the ground a few feet ahead of me. It was just a mound of black, but as I drew closer I made out the white patches of fur and...and...

"God, no! Lee!? No, no, no!" I dropped the sword and fedora and ran to him, and the blood staining his neck and face stirred up a sick familiarity that soured my stomach. "Lee, oh God, what happened to you!?" I brushed his hair out of his eyes, some of the strands dried hard and red to his fur, and he just stared up into the sky as if I wasn't even there. His eyes didn't even find me until I practically leaned over him, and even then he seemed like he was lost in a dream.

His nose was split like he'd been punched, and the blood had dried into a gruesome, brick-colored scab that nearly blocked his airway. Still, he was breathing through his mouth, his tongue lolling out of the corner and slightly swollen. His eyes were puffy too, the fur damp and sticky around them. His left arm was clutched over his stomach, and his right was just draped across the ground.

Only one word came to mind as I kneeled there and looked over him: Broken. In both body and spirit he was shattered. I didn't cry even though the want was overwhelming. I didn't cry even when I knew who'd done this to him.

"Lee," I groaned through clenched teeth. "Tell me Red didn't hurt you!"

No reaction. His eyes remained glazed over.

"LEE!" I barked, shaking him by the shoulders.

His eyes tore open wide then, and he arched his back and screamed, writhing and clutching his right arm. I fell backward and inched away from him as he sobbed and twisted and kicked. When he stopped he was lying on his left side, and his chest was heaving as he held firm onto that arm, his eyes pinched together in agony. Sweat was beading from his forehead, and as I crawled back to him and lay my paw on his cheek I noticed how hot he was.

"L...Lee..."

His eyes quivered open, and I knew he saw me now. "Sa...Sasha..."

He coughed, and blood dribbled off of his tongue. His chest jerking sent his shoulder to spasming, and he clutched his arm tighter. It cracked and flopped there as his face contorted in pain, and I could've been sick as I realized it was broken. I was trembling so much at the sight of him that I could barely stay steady on my knees.

"Who did this to you!?" I whimpered, still stroking his cheek as if the action would make everything better.

"R...R..." he groaned.

I just knew what he was going to say, and I didn't want to believe it. I was just waiting for his name...

"Run..." he coughed.

I looked at him in surprise. "W...what?"

He groaned and shifted where he lay, and electricity tingled down my spine as his eyes grew wide. "RUN!"

My skin grew cold beneath my fur as dull footsteps thudded against the bare earth behind me, and I couldn't find the means to breathe as I jerked around and saw that dreadful, looming wall that was the Shadow stalking toward me. Everything about him was from the bowels of my nightmare, and he struck such terror in me that every other feeling, instinct, and emotion was dwarfed by that fright. All I heard was the beating of my heart. Everywhere was the beating of my heart, hard, fast, and pounding like a tribal drum. I couldn't move. All I could do was watch as he drew closer and closer. Those flashing teeth glared white from a black mouth hidden within a hood pulled up over his head, those sharp ears jutting tall and pointed like the crests of a crown. Closer and closer he came, and faster and faster did my heart race.

He was so close that I could see the whites of his maddened eyes, and he smiled and cackled a horrific laugh so deep that it rattled my bones. He reached toward me, and I knew my life was over. He reached toward me and...

*WHUMPH!*

Out of the black of night another shadowed figure flew through the air and collided into the Shadow like a wrecking ball. The newcomer flung him a good fifteen feet across the churned up ground, the monster skidding to a rolling stop and instantly collecting himself, stooping over with his legs bowed and ready to pounce. The other figure had landed gracefully on his feet after knocking the Shadow for a whirl, and he now stood dividing Lee and I from the beast crouching across the way. He barely moved, and he just faced the Shadow and stared him down from behind a frightening Oni mask.

I jumped as he spoke. "Are you two alright?"

I could barely find my voice. Even from a good five yards away it felt as if the Shadow had his paw clutched around my throat. "I...I am, but Lee...He's really hurt. His arm's broken." I didn't know who this guy was, but I instantly knew he was here to help. Well, obviously, but still...

Oni still had his gaze locked on the enemy. "Okay. There are officers on the way. Just sit tight."

"Bu...but..."

"I'm not going to let him hurt you again, Sasha," Oni stated resolutely.

I quivered as the Shadow let out a raucous cackle. "How sweet of you."

Oni stood taller and yanked down some black fabric wrapped around his upper arm. A silver police badge glittered under the pale light of the moon. "Corbin Wells, I am hereby placing you under arrest for the crime of hate-based assault and battery, and - if the evidence proves strong enough - attempted murder..."

Corbin!? The Shadow was Corbin!? But...but why!? I stared wide eyed at the fur lurking across the way, and I couldn't imagine that he was that stuck up Doberman...

"...Make this easier on yourself and do not resist," Oni continued. "Get down on the ground and put your paws behind you head."

I watched in bewilderment as the Shadow drooped like a sulking child, and his voice was rancid with sarcasm when he spoke. "Awh poo, I guess you got me, officer. Everything's just ruined. I didn't mean to do it - honest!" I shrank back as his hooded head twitched and I felt his eyes on me. "Besides, he didn't even die..."

"GO TO HELL!" Lee screamed. His outburst scared the shit out of me, and he whined in pain as he stared daggers at the Shadow.

The Shadow giggled maniacally. "Oh dear, Lee, you don't look so good. What happened? My star captain and quarterback get a little too rough with you after that endearing little ditty for our 'zombie in the park' here?"

"F...fuck you."

"Now, now," the Shadow said sourly. He clicked his tongue, and once again I felt his gaze lingering on me. "Look at what you've done to my athletes. Such a nuisance..._And where is _dear Rudy?"

"ENOUGH!" Oni bellowed. "Get on the ground - NOW."

The Shadow began to creep around the edge of the circle of bare earth. "Oh no; I've got something I need to take care of here, officer. I'm afraid I will not be going quietly."

Oni growled and shifted, and - from a strap hidden in the cloth of his leg - he pulled out a black remote-shaped thing. He flexed a finger and the area was bathed by a popping, pulsing electric-blue light. For an instant the Shadow's face was illuminated, and - low and behold - he was a Doberman, his fur as black as night just like Corbin's. "So be it," Oni growled. "We'll add assaulting an officer and resisting arrest to your cumulated list of charges. Kids, if things get..."

The Shadow snarled and charged.

I screamed at the sight of him rushing toward us, but Oni immediately flung himself protectively in front of Lee and I. He dashed forward and jabbed his Taser out, the darkness once again replaced by blue, popping light. The Shadow was quick, and he was proving difficult to hit. Oni jabbed and swatted, blocked punches and kicks, and he tried to strike at every opportunity he got. The air around us was filled with grunts and snarls, the smack of hard blows, and the blinding light and static zap of the Taser. As terrifying as it was, I couldn't look away. It was like I was watching a fight between a super hero and his arch nemesis. I just prayed that Oni could take the Shadow down. Even with his stun-gun the fight seemed to be heading toward a stalemate as they were rather evenly matched in fighting skills.

"Sasha," Lee gasped, tugging sharply on my shirt with his good arm. "Run, please! Get...get out of here!"

For an instant I thought of doing that. For an instant I saw myself fleeing like a coward through the woods and leaving my wounded friend behind. Then I gave myself a mental slap across the face, and I shook my head as I looked at him.

"No. I'm not leaving you."

His eyes grew huge and pleading, his face outlined sharply from a burst of light from another discharge of the Taser. "Sasha! I'm begging you! Please go! If something happens to you..."

"NO, LEE!" I barked. I winced as a particularly hard blow from Oni and Shadow struck my ears. "How do you think I would feel if something happened to you!? I'm not going anywhere!"

"GYAAAAAAAH!"

My head snapped around as the electrifying light burst forth for an instant and went out, and I saw Oni with the Taser jabbed into the Shadow's abdomen. The Doberman's body jerked and convulsed, each wave of electricity making his head snap back a little further each time until the hood slipped off completely. I'd never paid enough attention to Corbin to know exactly what he looked like, but it did seem to be him as his sharply cut facial features and smooth, dark fur rang familiar.

I thought Oni was going to kill him as he hadn't let the Taser stop its current, but then he jerked it quickly away and the Doberman collapsed to his knees, and with a hearty thump he fell face first onto the ground and didn't budge.

"Damn," Oni gasped. Even from behind his mask I could hear him panting, and his shoulders bobbed as he took deep, tired breaths. "This guy's had military training that wasn't mentioned on his background evaluation." Oni yanked out a strip of plastic from a hidden pocket and bent over the Shadow. He yanked the Doberman's hands behind his back and fastened them together. "Wish I'd known. I was worried for a minute."

He stepped away from the Shadow and began to talk into a radio he had strapped to his shoulder. I turned to Lee overwhelmed with relief and smiling wide, but the Shepherd just frowned. "Lee? See!? Everything's fine."

"Sure it is..." he muttered.

"What?"

"Sasha," Oni beckoned. I eyed Lee worriedly before turning to the masked officer. He shifted his weight as he turned his hidden face toward me. "Where's Rudy? Does Lee know? None of my officers have seen him."

Oh God. My joy immediately curdled like sour milk in my stomach. I looked at Lee, but he just shut his eyes and shook his head. Then something struck me...

"You never answered me before," I muttered, still thinking. "Did...did Red do this to you?"

He didn't say anything for a minute or two. I heard Oni shuffling around behind us, but I was only focused on Lee. He frowned and chewed nervously on his lip, and when he opened his eyes again he was crying.

"It...it's my fault. I started it." He sucked in a wet breath and cringed at the pain it caused. I leaned away from him a little in disbelief. He'd started it? "I'm...I'm sorry, Sasha. I just...just couldn't take it anymore. I was so angry_. He wasn't even mad."_

I frowned. My tail began to writhe. "But...but yet you picked a fight with him? Why!?"

He let his head thump against the ground. "Y...you wouldn't understand. He...wouldn't have either." He let out a dry little chuckle. "Hell, I don't even...understand it myself."

"Where is he!?" I barked. I was suddenly much less concerned about Lee.

"I...don't know, Sasha."

Now I was seething. "THINK, LEE! What did you do to him!?" The sword I'd dropped glinted in the dark, and a terrible thought crossed my mind as I warily picked it up. "Did...did you draw this on him?" I asked fearfully.

His eyes bugged as he saw the blade. "N..NO! Where...where did you get that!?"

"It was lying on the ground over there! Did it fall out while you were beating my boyfriend up!?"

"No," he muttered. "My...scabbard has a lock on it." He whipped his left paw to his belt, found the empty scabbard, and his chest began to heave. "Oh...oh God, no..."

"What!?" I snapped. I was growing very tired of this whole "playing dumb" routine. It was tearing my nerves to pieces, and I was ready to find Red.

He jerked his head toward me. "Sasha, you've...got to find him. I didn't draw that on Red, I swear! But..." His eyes flicked toward the Shadow still lifeless on the ground. "He...he found me. Dragged me around...kicked me." He clutched his stomach and winced, and when he peered into my eyes I knew he wasn't lying or playing dumb. "He...he threatened to kill me, Sasha! For...for being gay. He knew about me...he knew about Red, too! What if...what if he...Oh God, no..."

My heart seemed to wrench itself apart. He didn't even have to say it. I didn't want him to say it. Red couldn't be dead.

Lee began to sob, and I rose shakily to my feet and just started to shout. "RED!? REEEED!?" Like the zombie I was dressed as, I wandered both mindlessly and lifelessly around and called his name.

"What's going on?" Oni asked.

My body was trembling as I looked at him, and then the unthinkable happened.

With no other sound but the ruffling of his clothes the Shadow seemed to whirl himself up off the ground, and - as he did - he took Oni's feet out from underneath him. The guy behind the mask struck the ground hard, his Taser flying from his grasp and bouncing into the dark somewhere, and then the Shadow raised a foot and dropped it heavily against the back of officer's head. There was a "Crack!" and then Oni didn't budge. The Shadow stared angrily down at the limp body beneath his foot, his face submerged in darkness, and he then looked at me. Something snapped, and he pulled his hands around front. He tossed something, and he cackled as the broken remains of the zip tie handcuffs fell at my feet. They'd been cut through partially. He waved the knife in his paw for me to see.

"Well," he rumbled. "Looks like this guy..." he nudged Oni with his foot. "...isn't all he's cracked up to be."

"SASHA! RUN!" Lee bellowed. He was trying to fight his way up, but he couldn't manage.

I was frozen where I stood. The Doberman gingerly rubbed his stomach and pulled up the hoody he was wearing, and he dabbed some fingers against a singed patch of his fur. He growled, dropped the cloth, and then he yanked his hood back up and began to slip toward me.

"SASHA!" Lee shrieked again.

"Quiet," the Shadow hissed at the Shepherd, shifting his stride and turning toward him.

I don't know how, but I found myself in between Lee and that monster. I was so frightened that I forgot I still had the sword in my left hand, and now it was raised and pointed right toward the Doberman's throat. He paused at my bold, unplanned move, and his teeth glinted as his muzzle was yanked back into a sharp grin. He thumbed the pocket knife in his paw.

"NO, SASHA! RUN, GODDAMMIT!"

I don't know where this bravery was coming from, but I was suddenly much less afraid - for myself at least. I was the only thing standing between Lee and the Shadow, and that bastard may have hurt my boyfriend. He'd caused too much pain, and - for the life of me - I felt ready to fight him to the death if I had to. I had someone I had to protect, someone I needed to find, and nothing was going to frighten me away. I'd had enough.

"Where. Is. Red!?" I growled. "Why are you doing this!?"

He threw back his head and cackled into the sky. A moment ago I would've been cowering at the madness seeping from every pore of this guy, but now I was unshaken.

"ANSWER ME! What do you have against us!? Have we done something to you!? Or is killing gay teenagers just a hobby of yours!?

His wide shoulders bounced. "Oh, you poor, poor child," he sighed. "Unless that zombie getup is genuine and you are the walking dead, then I don't believe I've killed anyone."

"You came pretty damn close," I snarled.

"Heh," he chuffed. "Did I now? Well, you look fine and dandy to me at the moment."

I was getting real tired of this guy. I knew Corbin was a dick, but - come on - even when I'm threatening him with a sword and he just beat the shit out of a cop does he joke. I was beginning to think he was genuinely insane.

"Where's Red!?" I demanded again.

He shrugged and stepped toward me. "How should I know?"

"STOP PLAYING GAMES!"

"Sweetheart," he said. "Dear little pawn, that's allllllll that this has been, and - don't take this the wrong way - but I don't give a shit about you or your boyfriends."

Say what now? My arm drooped as I was taken aback, but I hefted the sword back up. "What?" I gasped.

"I'll just say this: In regards to you and your little threesome - For me, it's nothing personal." He flicked the knife he had closed and stuffed it back into his pocket. "You're just convenient to use, and very, very unlucky. And I'll leave it at that."

"Wha...then...then why did you..."

He waggled a finger at me, and I wished it was closer so I could have lobbed it off. "Tut, tut," he clucked. "Question and answer session is over." He cracked his fingers, and I backed away as he came closer. Lee was growling on the ground behind me. "Now, I'd rather you not see where I go. So be a good little boy and hold still. I don't want to accidentally snap your neck."

I shrieked as he rushed toward me, but he paused as a light passed in front of his eyes. He growled as a gang of yelling voices seeped through the woods and more lights danced through the trees, but still he came at me.

"SASHA!" Lee screamed.

I cringed as I felt the Shadow's presence weighing down on me, and I just swung the sword. It met a little resistance. There was a bellowing roar, and I opened my eyes to see that I'd sliced the Doberman across his chest. It had carved a gash into his meaty right pectoral, and blood was already staining the cloth of his hoody. He clenched his teeth as I stared, and the voices drew closer. I could hear them rushing across the ground littered with dried pine needles.

Another beam from a flashlight passed over us, and I closed my eyes as the light stung them. Then I gasped as I was flung backward by a shove, and I heard Lee scream as I tumbled over him and hit the ground. I looked back up and the Shadow was gone. Then a swarm of police officers gathered around while others raced off in hot pursuit, and I was lifted to my feet by a powerful set of arms. I looked around shakily to find the familiar and stoic face of Trooper Ridge. As intimidated as I was by the wolverine before, I was overjoyed to see his hardened face with a sympathetic smile across his muzzle. He didn't even grumble as I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed, and he even hugged me back.

"It's alright, kiddo," he said. "You're going to be fine. He won't get far."

I let him go and found Trooper Rutger crouched over Lee. His enormous ears were stiff and rotating, and they flicked as he probed the Shepherds arm and it cracked. He spoke into his radio. "We're going to need two ambulances - over."

"Make that three," a German Shepherd officer said. He'd found Oni and had flipped him onto his back. To my relief he was awake. His mask was lying next to his head, and it was shattered into four big pieces.

"I'm fine" he grumbled, shooing the officer over him away and sitting up. His face was cut by the fragments of his mask, and his nose was bleeding, but other than that he seemed okay. "Make sure the kids are alright."

"Uhm, about Rudy," the Shepherd officer mumbled.

Crowley perked. "Please tell me someone found him?"

"We did," the Shepherd said. "He's in serious condition. They're getting him to an ambulance right now."

I found myself walking toward them. My ears were strained to hear them better through all of the commotion.

"Goddammit," Oni snapped. "What was wrong?"

"He had a pretty serious head injury, but..." the Shepherd officer rubbed the back of his head. "His leg was really torn up, sir. He'd fallen down an old switchback into a ravine over there." He raised a paw and pointed. "Steep as hell, and a good few hundred feet deep. Leg snagging under a rock stopped him, but..." He shook his head.

"Fuck," Oni spat. "I wasn't supposed to let this happen!"

I fell to my knees, and Ridge was there to pick me back up again.

Red was hurt. Lee was hurt. They were both hurt because of me. They'd hurt one another, and they'd been hurt by the Shadow. "For me, it's nothing personal" he'd said, but what had that meant? I was so confused and scared and lost and overwhelmed by everything that had happened that I was surprised when I was suddenly out of the forest and surrounded by a gaggle of cops and my bawling family. I was embraced for the longest time, and I was so happy to see my parents and my sister, but...

I caught a flash of red fur being hefted into the back of an ambulance on a stretcher, and suddenly I was fighting to free myself from the loving embraces so I could race to see him before...The doors slammed. The siren wailed and the lights flashed, and I stood wavering unsurely on my feet as the ambulance disappeared around the lodge and up the road. Everything else played out like a sluggish dream.

Lee was loaded into an ambulance as I watched on. He wouldn't look me in the eye at all, and soon he was gone, too. The siren shrieked in my ears long after it had vanished from sight and earshot. My parents tugged me along with them as they were anxious to get home, but I wasn't ready to go just yet.

I peered around as furs trudged by silent as specters, and it wasn't difficult for me to spot him. He was putting up one hell of a fight, and arguing the whole time as he was led toward a squad car. His head had a bloody gash across it, and if the cop hadn't been holding him he wouldn't have been able to have stood it seemed. He looked drunk to be honest.

Corbin Wells: the Shadow.

A burly Ox officer had both of his arms, and he simply rolled his eyes as the Doberman shouted that he was innocent and that he hadn't done anything. Even when he was stuffed harshly into the cop car did he continue to prattle on about his innocence through the partially cracked rear-window. He managed an "I've been framed!" before the ox grew tired of his big mouth and rolled the window up completely.

I jumped as a paw rested atop my shoulder and snapped me back into reality. The chaos going on around me was suddenly too much to bear.

"Some nerve, huh?"

I craned my neck to find that it was Oni, his face covered in bandages from where his mask had cut him. He looked like a husky too now that I could see his face, and I could've broken down right then at the thought of my husky on his way to the hospital.

Oni patted my shoulder and faced me. "Sasha, you were incredibly, incredibly brave tonight, and I thank you. I'm detective Crowley; I never got to make a proper introduction seeing as you weren't supposed to know I was following you around."

He offered me his paw and I shook it absentmindedly. "What do you mean 'following me around?'"

"I was supposed to keep you safe and arrest your attacker should he attempt to harm you again." He shrugged and smiled weakly. "I guess I underestimated both you and Corbin. It seems you can take care of yourself and others, and I apologize for letting that madfur get the better of me." He sagged where he stood and shook his head, rubbing his temples. "God, all I would have needed was for you to get hurt, too." His eyes sparkled with sincerity as he looked at me. "I'm so sorry about your friend Lee, and Rudy especially - I really am. I know you care about him, and so do I. He's like a nephew to me. He'll be alright - I know - but if he'd been killed..."

I cringed. I couldn't stand dwelling on the "what-if's" any longer. "What's going to happen to Corbin?"

The black and white husky watched me silently for a moment before turning to the squad car that held Corbin. "It's pretty much a done-deal now. The officers pursuing him lost him for about ten minutes, and apparently that was enough time for him to change out of his clothes. He could have gotten away, but - as luck would have it - the idiot tripped and cracked his skull against a rock. We found him out cold on the ground. A little searching led us to the clothes he'd stripped out of, and..." He picked up a plastic grocery bag he'd been toting. "These were in the trunk of his car." He dumped the contents out of the bag and held up a pair of black jeans and one of my track team's hoodies - the one he'd been wearing from the security recording. I could even make out the dark stains of blood on the fronts of both. "I guess he planned on destroying these," he grumbled, stuffing the evidence back into the bag. "There was a can of lighter fluid in there with them."

"I...I just don't understand it," I thought out loud.

His eyebrows bobbed and his ears flicked as he looked out over the cops shuffling about. "We'll get to the bottom of this; don't worry."

I shrugged, too tired to assure myself of that. Something still didn't feel right about all of this, but I only wanted to get in the car and go to the hospital to be with Red and his family. I also wanted to have a nice long heart to heart with Lee. I didn't know what he was referring to by saying I wouldn't understand his reason for fighting my boyfriend, but I sure as hell could try, and I think I deserved an honest answer for once tonight.

"Oh," Crowley peeped before walking off. "And did you cut him? Ridge said he had to practically use the Jaws of Life to get that sword out of your paw, and there was a really nasty gash on the left side of the Doberman's chest."

Oh yeah. Not that I wanted to recall the grizzly feeling of the sword in my hand slicing through another's flesh, but I had done that. I nodded, and Crowley gave a lopsided grin.

"Just making sure," he said as he turned and strode off. "Have a safe trip to the hospital."

I peered after him. "How'd you know that's where I was going?"

He stopped and turned around, rolling his eyes. "Honestly?"

I was too worn out to blush, and the circumstances wouldn't have permitted it hadn't I been, but I knew I would have any other day. "That obvious?"

His tail wagged limply. "Well, duh." He smiled and waved over his shoulder as he left. "I'll see you there."

I waved and called after him. "Bye, and thank you - you know - for saving our asses."

"Likewise!"

Something made me pause, though - something he said. What was it? Did he say the cut was on the left side of Corbin's chest? I thought...

"SASHA!"

I would have screamed given my unstable emotional state, but I couldn't get a lungful of air big enough to do so as I was grabbed and lifted off of my feet in a hug that could have crushed a marble pillar. The hats floating above his head gave my cuddle-assailant away, and I looked into those bright yellow eyes - and like I'd done so many times before - I immediately broke down.

I squalled and bawled and sobbed and sniffed until my eyes were red enough to be mistaken for a pair of tomatoes, and all the while I just babbled on ceaselessly about what had happened and how Red and Lee were hurt and it was all my fault. He held me and nodded and soothed me even though I doubted he could understand a word that I was saying, and when I'd run out of tears and soaked the shoulder of his jacket he hugged me again and set me down. He wiped my eyes with his sleeve, and I could tell he was on the verge of crying too.

"I'm...I'm just happy you're okay. Lee and Red," he frowned. "They're...they're tough boys. I hate to hear they're hurt so badly, but they'll bounce back."

"I...I know they will, but..." I heaved through a fit of racking sobs. "I...I don't want to lose them, Conall! I don't...I don't want them to lose one another either! Not over me! It isn't fair that I've done this to them!"

"Hey, hey," he cooed stroking my cheek softly. "Stop it, okay? You're going to make yourself sick. Just...just talk with them. Have them talk to each other. Work it out. I know everything will be fine between the three of you, but you can always come to me too if you need help. You know that, Lee knows that, and I'd be more than happy to counsel Rudy, too. You'll get through this."

His confidence always seemed to rub off on me, and I hoped it would turn out that well. It seemed we all had issues of trust and confidence to work out; we all had things we didn't know about one another.

He walked with me to find my parents, and it suddenly struck me that Mindy must have been a mess after what happened.

"Yeah," he said, nodding and then catching an Ivy cap as it was shaken lose from his rack. "I had to hold her back once she saw the police leading him to a squad car. She couldn't believe it - believe it or not. Him yelling that he was innocent the whole time really shook her." He took a tired breath. "I'm just glad this is over, I'm glad you're safe, and I'm glad that devil is going to be behind bars."

"Are you going to tell the police about him abusing Mindy?" I asked.

"I will, but only if she doesn't agree to tell them herself."

"Good luck with that," I snuffed.

"Hey," he jabbed. "Maybe now she'll see she should move on to someone who isn't going to be a convicted felon."

I rolled my eyes. "Give her time to grieve, big bro."

"She's been grieving through their entire relationship, Sasha. Now's her chance to be happy for once."

He bounced as I smiled at him. "Happy with you, you mean."

"Go on, Frost. You've got two hearts to mend yourself." He nudged me toward my parent's waiting in the car.

We all waved as we left, and words could not express how glad I was to be leaving that place. I only wanted to know that Red was going to be okay, and until I was at that hospital and by his side I was not going to be satisfied. Until I had the whole truth from Lee I was not going to be satisfied either. I hated to think this way, but - the way I saw it - the both of them were going to need a hefty amount of time to recover. And as severe as their injuries were I doubted they'd be able to play the rest of this football season. I mean, the football coach himself did just get arrested anyway. That gave us all a lot of free time to work out our problems, and - since they'd been the ones to take care of me during my time of being incapacitated - it was my turn to return the favor and take care of them. And at least with Corbin under custody I could focus on someone else without feeling the need to constantly check over my shoulder. I wasn't afraid in that aspect any more, but there were other things I knew that would take its place.

I saw a winding, bumpy road ahead, but I was ready and willing to go full throttle until the highway became smooth again. Hopefully, I prayed, the route we were traveling together wouldn't lead to a dead end - for one or all of us.