He was going to kill Cam. He really was. He'd cut him some slack because of the wolf thing--in fact, he'd cut him more slack than anyone he'd ever known, and not just because of the wolf thing--and he got that the idea of sex with another guy wasn't something most guys considered without freaking at least a little. He completely and personally got that.

But he hadn't been the one to force the issue, and Cam didn't have a history of freaking out over anything. Leaving the apartment without a note or a call was fine: disappointing, okay, but not totally unexpected. And, if he admitted it, maybe kind of a relief, because the longer he'd had to think about it the more he'd remembered exactly how bad an idea it was.

Not showing up for training that afternoon had been a different thing entirely. When no one had heard from him by the time Sensei dismissed them, Hunter was starting to get a little annoyed. Cam might not freak out, but he sulked exceptionally well.

Blake thought they should leave him alone. Tori thought that Cam could take care of himself better than any of them and probably just wanted some space. Shane pointed out that Cam disappeared on them all the time--and he almost always got into trouble when he did. Dustin thought they should go look for him.

That was when Sensei revealed that he had already tried. "In extreme circumstances," he admitted, "there are ways of locating any given Ranger. Unfortunately, I have already employed these measures, and I was unsuccessful in my attempt to locate Cameron."

"What does that mean?" Hunter demanded. "Where'd you look?"

"Everywhere," Sensei said simply. "All of your morphers emit a signature energy that can be traced anywhere on the planet. The computer is capable of isolating that energy in a matter of minutes, but it has been unable to find the Green Samurai Ranger."

"Well, that's not really everywhere," Dustin pointed out. "Just everywhere on Earth. There's still, like, space and Lothor's ship and stuff like that."

"The amulet," Hunter interrupted. "Anything Cam's wearing disappears when he turns into a wolf. Including the amulet."

"Maybe the computer can't track it when he's a wolf." Tori finished the thought for him. "Do you think Cam knows that?"

"And he's avoiding us on purpose?" Hunter said grimly. "Could be."

"Either that or he's in trouble," Shane put in. "We need to figure out which one it is."

Blake hadn't thought much of the idea at first, but he didn't drag his feet once they made a decision. "Where do we start looking?" he asked, glancing at Hunter.

"We'd better cover the academy grounds first," Hunter said. "The cameras would have caught him if he was in Ninja Ops, right? But if he's a wolf, he's probably not in here anyway."

"Figure he's not downtown for the same reason," Shane agreed. "We'll check the off-campus training sites."

"Plus the beach and the track," Tori said unexpectedly. When they all looked at her, she just shrugged. "Cam knows where we'd look first. He probably knows where we'd look last, too."

"Hide in plain sight?" Blake suggested, folding his arms. "Yeah, that sounds like Cam."

So they split up, and only after he was standing alone in the sunset light near the entrance to Ninja Ops did the irony of the situation occur to Hunter. The Wind Rangers had left him and Blake searching their campus while they checked the track and the beach. Okay, and the remote training sites, which he and Blake didn't know as well, but still.

He shook his head, heading for the remains of the academy and the shadows of what had been there... both literally and figuratively. Blake preferred the less creepy areas: the holographic portal, the peripheral grounds, the places less devastated by Lothor's attack. Hunter didn't mind. It wasn't his school, and at dusk it was just another deserted ruin.

One more deserted ruin with eyes. Hunter stopped where he was, holding his breath, but the flicker of light was gone. "Cam?" he murmured anyway. He didn't spook that easily, and Cam had already proven that he wasn't above games.

The eyes were back, glowing bright yellow in the middle of a particularly still shadow, but there was no sound to accompany them. They did look awfully familiar. And how weird was that, that he could now say stuff like that was familiar?

"Cam," he said aloud. "Kelzaks shapeshift too. You're gonna have to do more than look at me to convince me that random shadow under the brush is you."

The eyes disappeared again, and a soft whine came from the shadow's general direction. No other sound or movement followed. That wasn't an answer, Hunter reminded himself, but he was moving forward anyway, almost like he couldn't help it. Why did he believe it was Cam? Why was he so sure that if he walked away, he wouldn't see Cam for the rest of the night?

The shift of brush and leaves made him halt again. Sure enough, a grey-brown wolf shape dragged itself out into the open, flinching as the fading sun touched it, looking so pathetic that at first he was sure it had been hurt. But the wolf just drooped, melting to the ground in front of him, head inches from the ground as it stared at his feet.

"Cam?" he asked uncertainly. "You okay?"

That was a really stupid question, considering. "I mean," he corrected himself, "are you hurt? Do you need anything? We were worried about you."

He hadn't meant to let that escape, and it was definitely the wrong thing to say. The wolf lowered its head to the ground, eyes closing. It let out another whine, like there was something it desperately needed and he just wasn't getting it, and that was starting to get on Hunter's nerves.

"Okay, I'm gonna take that as a no," he said sharply. "I'm calling off the troops. The entire team's out looking for you, you know."

He lifted his morpher, but the wolf didn't respond. Hunter hesitated. "Seriously, Cam," he said at last, letting his arm fall without touching his morpher. "Are you okay?"

The wolf lifted its head, rolling its eyes upward to look at him, and suddenly it was Cam sitting there staring at him. The look of anguish on his face cut deeper than the wolf's obvious shame had. Hunter went down on his knees beside him, alarmed and worried and so far from annoyed all of a sudden that he couldn't even remember what it felt like.

"I killed something," Cam whispered without looking away. He was watching for Hunter's reaction, no question. Hunter had no idea what to say.

"What, like--" He paused, fumbling for words. Cam hadn't said "someone," so that was a good sign, right? "An animal, or something?

Cam nodded miserably, then he started shaking his head. "I don't even know what it was," he mumbled. "It was just--it was there, right there in front of me and it was so fast and I--"

His voice broke, and Hunter realized with a shock that those were tears in his eyes. "Hey," he said awkwardly. "No, it's okay, look..."

Cam didn't move, and Hunter put a hand on his shoulder. The wolf liked physical contact, right? Cam never had, at least not as far as he could tell. But the wolf would lean on him, lay on him, lick him... The wolf liked that kind of comfort.

Cam didn't pull away. "I didn't mean to," he whispered. "I didn't want to; it was an accident..." His voice wavered and he stopped talking. Hunter could see him swallow, and light glistened briefly on his face.

A tear. Cam was crying. It had never occurred to him that Cam even knew how to cry, and seeing it was a horrible, helpless experience. Anything he could say would be the wrong thing; he knew it and he still felt terrible about not talking. Cam didn't need silence or questions or maybe even anything human right now. But Hunter didn't have anything else to give.

He leaned forward hesitantly, and Cam turned into him without any prompting at all. Hunter wrapped his arms around him, a little awkward, a lot surprised. He hadn't been sure Cam would allow the hug at all, let alone welcome it.

He felt Cam's shuddering breath, his efforts to steady it so that he didn't sob, and Hunter tightened his embrace instinctively. He had never seen Cam so close to breaking. He wanted to hold him together somehow, and he didn't know how but if Cam ever told him he would listen, take notes, and stick them up on the refrigerator.

"Thank you," Cam whispered. It was so unexpected, and even the softness of the words didn't disguise the tremble in his voice.

Hunter closed his eyes, rubbing his hand against Cam's back in an effort to soothe. He wished he could do something, say something that would help, but he'd never been really good at talking. At least holding on meant that Cam was still here with him.

"Why'd you leave," he muttered after a minute. Because that was the most important thing, wasn't it. Whatever Cam did or had or wanted, he should want it with Hunter.

It was a disturbingly possessive thought, and Hunter knew exactly what he was doing. He was setting himself up for destruction. It was everything he'd tried to avoid in those first couple of days when Cam was fast and hot and out of control and Hunter could have had anything he wanted. He had held himself back, waiting for a return to normalcy and Cam's inevitable withdrawal. He'd known he'd have to live with normalcy a lot longer than the weirdness, and he'd tried to hold onto at least the possibility of friendship.

The inevitable had come and gone. Cam was mostly in control of himself again, with an emphasis on mostly, and he was still a wolf, still wanting everything the wolf had wanted. And Hunter couldn't turn him down any longer.

Cam's voice finally rose above a whisper and he sounded marginally calmer, but all he said was, "Scared," and Hunter couldn't help but think that the lack of pronouns was a bad sign.

"Scared of what?" he murmured.

Then Hunter knew he'd underestimated him again, because Cam replied, "I'm scared of everything, Hunter. I turn into a wolf. I do whatever you tell me to. I'm hungry all the time and apparently I kill small defenseless animals. Aren't you scared?"

Hunter had to smile, because Cam's sarcasm lost some of its edge when he was letting himself be hugged within an inch of his life. "No," Hunter told him. He turned his head and squeezed Cam a little tighter. "I guess you're just a wuss."

"As demonstrated by the fact that I can't move or breathe yet am still managing to form coherent sentences," Cam muttered.

Hunter tried to let him go, embarrassed, but Cam wouldn't let him. "No," he whispered, and his voice sounded raw and vulnerable again. His arms slid around Hunter before he could pull away. "Please..."

Hunter gave in, wondering if he was being played. Was the weakness an act, carefully calculated to get Cam just what he wanted? Or could Cam really pull himself together like that, act normal and wry and sarcastic on cue? Had he always done that? Was Hunter seeing behind the mask, or was he just being shown a new one?

Don't ask, he told himself. He already knew too much, had seen and heard and felt too much that he would never forget. He didn't want to know anymore. He was sure Cam would eventually figure out how to reverse the effects of the dark ninja powers and turn himself--and his dad--human again. Permanently.

Even if the wolf wasn't the source of Cam's interest in Hunter, it was obviously the motivating factor... the reason he acted on that interest. With the wolf gone, there would be no guarantees. And the possibility of friendship with a restored and purely human Cam was fading fast.

The more he had with this Cam, now, the harder it would be to lose him later.

"Cam," he said softly. "Are you messing with me?"

Oh, fuck, why couldn't he ever listen to himself?

He felt Cam stiffen in his arms. "What?"

"The crying on my shoulder thing," he muttered, wishing he could just take the question back. "It's--I--" Disgusted with himself, he spit it out and tried not to listen. "I'd do anything for you right now and if you're just fucking with me--"

He broke off as Cam jerked away from him. "You touched me first," Cam snapped. His eyes were bright and gold and there were still tear tracks on his face and that just looked weird. "I'm sorry if I did something wrong by letting you hug me but I can't not--!"

Cam stopped abruptly, breathing hard. "What do you want me to do?" he asked at last. "It scares me but I can't do this alone and I need you. I don't know what else you want me to say!"

"I want you to say it doesn't matter!" Hunter stared at him, startled, horrified, and trapped. He couldn't not respond, and if he thought about it that might scare him as much as Cam. "I want it not to matter that I'm the fucking alpha but I am and I want you so much I don't even care!"

Cam was staring back at him, glowing eyes and inscrutable expression and what was he thinking, anyway?

"It matters," Cam said finally. "But it doesn't matter that you're the alpha. It matters that I trust you."

"Could have fooled me," Hunter muttered, because he was pretty sure he was supposed to say something. As soon as the words were out he winced, and he even knew it wasn't fair but he had said it anyway. Because knowing he was supposed to say something and knowing what to say were totally different things.

"That's why you're the alpha," Cam said, and his voice was more deliberate this time, like he was trying to keep himself from saying something he'd regret. Great. He had more self-control than Hunter now. That was just great.

"I trust you to do... to know what's appropriate," Cam continued. "When I can't trust myself I need someone else to tell me... and, I guess, you're the only person on the team I can take that from."

That was just ironic. The only person on the team he'd never bossed around was telling him that he was the only one who was allowed to do it. "I don't want to tell you what to do," he blurted out. He never had.

Okay, he always had. Everyone wanted what they couldn't have, right? Cam didn't submit to authority. He wasn't a student, and he wasn't a team player. He helped the team, even ran the team from time to time, on his own terms. His independence was part of what drew Hunter.

"Good," Cam said sharply. There was a pause, and his tone softened. On purpose? "That's why I can take it from you. Because you won't abuse that power. You don't even want it. That's why I trust you with it."

"So, tell me," he muttered, because he couldn't stand it. "Am I supposed to let you come on to me, or not? Cause if not, I gotta tell you, that kind of trust is making my life hell."

For a long moment, there was no answer. "That's not my decision," Cam said at last. "I mean... if I--it's up to you how you respond."

"It's not up to me," Hunter snapped. "Because if it was up to me, it'd be a lot easier than this. You'd come on to me and I'd be like, hey, best day ever, and I wouldn't even think about it!"

"So don't think about it," Cam retorted. "I'm not. Obviously," he added, under his breath.

"Yeah, and that's exactly what I'm talking about," Hunter told him. "I've gotta do what you don't. And believe me, that probably freaks me out more than you, but for some reason you decided I was the responsible one on this team."

Cam smiled. It was so far from what he expected that he could only stare. "You are," Cam said quietly. "Can you really see me trusting anyone else with this?"

Tori. He didn't realize he'd said it aloud until Cam's smile faded.

"She's eighteen, Hunter. She's barely legal. I like her, but... if I screwed up somehow? I don't know if she could stop me."

"I wasn't talking about sex!" Hunter yelped. "Geez, Cam, you make a move on my brother's girlfriend and I'd have to kill you! I was talking about making decisions, bossing you around when you need it."

"So was I!" Cam said loudly, and he was obviously uncomfortable but it was impossible to tell whether he was telling the truth or not. "She's not the one who keeps jumping in front of me when I lose it! She's not the one who knocked me down with the same arm I sliced open with my teeth! She isn't as strong as I am!"

More quietly, Cam added, "She isn't as strong as you."

"Great," Hunter muttered, because he wouldn't mind being a little less strong if it meant he could let Cam kiss him. Of course, if Cam had just implied that he'd be going after whoever was in charge, then he was just as stuck because this was like some giant cosmic test where the reason he couldn't have something was the only reason he had it in the first place. "Lucky me."

"Hunter." Cam took a deep breath, then sighed like he couldn't believe he was saying this. "I don't... want you because you're the alpha. You're the alpha because I want you." He hesitated. "Maybe you don't see it, but there is a difference."

Yeah, he didn't totally see it. But it looked like he couldn't change it, either. Which meant that the questions he'd been asking himself for days came down to just one thing.

"If we did it," Hunter demanded, "would you still trust me?"

Cam looked mortified, but he didn't hedge. "Yes," he said simply.

He wanted to believe that. He really did. So much that he was maybe willing to test it.

Not now, obviously.

On the other hand--

No. Come on, that was ridiculous. Plus the rest of the team was still out looking for Cam, and if he turned up missing too... well, they could track his morpher.

"I'm gonna call the others," he said abruptly. "Let 'em know you're okay. You want that we should cancel the community center thing?"

Cam was staring at him, and who knew what he was thinking now. His eyes hadn't stopped glowing since Hunter had found him. "Whatever you want," he said at last.

That was still kind of a creepy thing to hear, but Hunter didn't say so. "I told Blake I'd go," he said instead. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather keep my word."

Cam just shrugged. "Fine."

Yeah. Extra creepy. "You coming?" Hunter wanted to know.

"I said I would," Cam said evenly.

"Yeah, but..." Hunter paused. He didn't really need to remind Cam of anything. "I just thought--I was just checking," he finished awkwardly.

Cam looked away. "I might as well see what I'm going to become," he murmured, and the words gave the lie to his sudden calm.

Just like that, Hunter knew he was being held at a distance, and he hated it. Cam hadn't been playing him, he'd been letting him in--and now he wasn't. "Don't do that," Hunter told him.

Cam's yellow eyes turned back to his and his expression wasn't distant at all.

"Hey," Hunter said gruffly, worried and sympathetic and guilty for his own self-interest. "You are who you are, okay? That doesn't change just 'cause your uncle threw some freaky ninja magic at you. Again."

That prompted a lightening of Cam's expression. It wasn't quite a smile, and he didn't actually answer, but he looked a little less devastated. Hunter wished he could do more, even if he knew perfectly well that he was trading one of them for the other. Everything he gave semi-wolf Cam now was something he'd lose if human Cam dumped him later.

He lifted his morpher, alerting the rest of the team all at once. "False alarm," he told them. "Cam was just checking out the campus with his handy new wolf vision. Turns out he can cover a lot of ground on four legs."

Sensei wanted to know if he was okay, to which Cam replied with a minimum amount of sarcasm and even a possibly sincere apology for worrying them. Shane and Dustin must have taken his word for it, but Blake was waiting for them when they arrived back at Ninja Ops. "Everything okay?" he asked, looking from one of them to the other.

"Yeah, we're good," Hunter told him. "We're gonna take the truck. We'll meet you outside the community center."

"Sure," Blake agreed, giving Cam a last look. "We'll be waiting."

Taking separate vehicles seemed to cheer Cam up a little. Stopping for burgers on the way seemed to cheer him up more, and Hunter wondered what else he was eating. He hadn't seen Cam put anything but meat in his mouth for days. Even now he left the bun and the vegetables in their foil wrap and stuffed it back in the bag as they pulled into the parking lot on the edge of town.

Tori's van was easy to spot, and she and Blake were still sitting inside when Hunter took the space next to it. Hunter saw her wave out of the corner of his eye, but he noticed that Cam didn't return the gesture. He wondered about that too. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned Tori earlier. Or maybe Cam was just worried about how he was gonna look after all of this.

He wasn't the only one, Hunter thought with a grimace. He and Blake had kept their heads down the last time they came here, letting Blake's friend do all the talking, and as far as he knew Blake hadn't been back since. Tonight was probably going to be a little different.

"Hey, guys," Tori called, as they climbed out of the truck. She slammed the driver's side door behind her and they all met in front of the vehicles. "So this is the super secret wolf hangout! It doesn't look as dangerous as Blake made it sound."

"Yeah, because if it did, it wouldn't still be here," Hunter told her. "It's not the outside you need to worry about."

"Okay," she said, holding up her hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'll be good."

She didn't say anything about bodyguards, which Hunter figured was a good thing. Maybe she thought he and Cam would have come anyway, and she and Blake were the ones that were tagging along. That would be good for team relations, but bad for all of them if she didn't take this seriously enough.

Tori started talking to Cam as they headed for the building. She asked him if the campus looked any different to wolf eyes, and Blake interrupted her before Hunter could. "Hey, Tor," he warned. "Remember the stuff I told you not to mention?"

Hunter looked over at them in time to see her roll her eyes. "It could be any campus," she pointed out. "I'm just making conversation."

"Yes," Cam said, ignoring Blake. "It looks bigger. And it smells different."

Tori smiled at him, and Hunter shook his head. He yanked the door open and went through without waiting for them. If Cam decided to play along with Tori's unintended insubordination, this could be a really long night.

There were people in the hallway and that surprised him, though he tried not to let it show. There was music coming from somewhere down the corridor to their right, which he was pretty sure was the direction of the actual community rooms. The dining cars and the visitors' office were to the left, so that was the way they went, but they passed a couple going the other way and three more people coming out of the office as they went in. Tori actually said hi to one of them and got nothing more than a nervous look in return before Blake shushed her.

Mike was at the desk again, and he nodded to Blake before tossing Hunter a clipboard. Interesting, Hunter decided, picking up a pen and scribbling Tori's name on the form. His alpha status was apparently independent of unknown company now.

Blake didn't complain, anyway, and Tori probably didn't even know what was going on. Mike raised an eyebrow when Hunter handed the clipboard back, though. "We don't cater to humans here," he warned.

Hunter shrugged, affecting indifference. "Friend of Cam's," he said. "He wants her here."

"Yeah?" Mike's gaze went from Cam to Tori and back again. "Akeelah's got a different story."

Hunter didn't even have to fake his smirk. "She assumed a few things that weren't totally true. Didn't see any reason to correct her."

Mike grinned at that, and he pulled the form off of its clipboard and stuffed it into a file folder behind him. "Good enough," he said, turning back to them. "Place is wide open tonight, and there's a bonfire in the hills. You been there?"

Hunter shook his head wordlessly.

"Cam'll find it if you want to go," Mike told him. "Iza's out there. Last I heard she's not totally pissed at you, so you should be okay."

"Thanks," Hunter said automatically. He was pretty sure there was a reason no one messed with Mike, and he wasn't gonna be the one to find out what it was. "Let's go," he told the rest of them.

Blake fell into step beside him before Cam could, and for a moment Hunter was surprised. As soon as they were out of the office, though, Blake distracted him by asking, "Bro, did you just imply that Tor is Cam's girlfriend?"

Luckily, he hadn't said it as loudly as he could have, but both Tori and Cam heard him anyway. As one they demanded, "What?"

"Look," Hunter said over his shoulder. "Do you want to see the place or not?"

Two wolves padded down the hall in the other direction, and Tori wisely didn't answer. Hunter frowned a little, wondering why it was so crowded tonight. Typical Friday night? Or something more?

They found a table in the third car, but service was so slow that Blake had time to point out the sirens and explain what they knew about them, which wasn't much. Tori seemed fascinated, and maybe a little too amused when she found out one of them had visited Hunter. Blake had left out the part about them being sent to check out new alphas because he didn't know it, so Hunter became the subject of endless teasing as Tori speculated on his personal appeal.

Hunter didn't miss the fact that Cam was getting more and more annoyed, but luckily one of the women turned up at their table just as Hunter was trying to change the subject. Tori looked surprised when she was offered either beef or lamb with one of three "accessories," but she didn't protest. At least, not until the waitress had noted their orders with little checkmarks and disappeared again.

"What, no menu?" Tori asked, the moment she was gone. "Not much of a restaurant. Or bar... Or whatever."

"It's not aimed at humans," Hunter told her. "Be glad they usually cook the meat."

Tori stared at him. "You're kidding."

He couldn't help smirking. "Yeah. Health code, they have to cook it."

"I'm going to get a drink," Cam interrupted, pushing his chair back as he got up. For a second, Hunter felt bad for joking, but then Cam added, "Do you want anything?"

"Yeah, water'd be great," he said, flashing a smile at Cam. "Thanks."

"I'll have a soda," Blake remarked, reaching out to poke Tori. "Tor, what about you?"

Hunter saw Cam's expression darken, and a little mental alert started going off. This could go bad very fast. Because Blake and Tori were still "out with friends," while Cam had probably been in pack mode since they walked in the door. And wherever Cam ranked, it was pretty clear that he thought Blake was below him.

"I don't remember asking you," Cam said stiffly. He stalked away without waiting for an answer, and Hunter braced himself. Could have been worse. Probably would be, in the next few minutes.

Tori, who had started to answer when Cam left, just stared after him. "What's wrong with him?" she wanted to know.

Hunter hesitated. He could lie, of course. He could make up some story about doing Cam a favor and him returning it now, or maybe some private joke that only sounded like a brushoff when you didn't know the history...

A clatter from the direction of the bar made him swing around. And he should have expected it, but there was Cam, facing off against a woman with an offended snarl on her face. Hunter hadn't seen enough to know who started it, or even what the problem was.

"What--" Tori was on her feet the second Cam's fists came up, and Blake was right behind her. "Cam!"

"Sit down!" Hunter hadn't even meant to stand up, but he was and he was glaring at her naive indignation. "Both of you sit down!"

Blake took his seat reluctantly, but Tori just put her hands on her hips and stared right back at Hunter. "I'm not going to--"

He wanted to watch Cam, make sure he was all right, that he didn't need help, and here was Tori getting in his face and taking all his attention. Perfect. He didn't bother to let her finish, because whatever she was saying obviously wasn't important.

"This isn't class," he growled. "This isn't school or work or training or anything else you've ever done. This is a wolf pack, and you're new, and you're fourth out of four when it comes to deciding what to do and when!"

"Hey, bro," Blake began, and Hunter cut him off.

"Shut up," he snapped. "She wanted to come, she can obey the rules while she's here. When I say sit down," he added dangerously, "you sit down."

Tori sat down. She looked mutinous, but at least she kept her mouth shut long enough for him to look around for Cam. Who was calmly collecting two drinks from the siren at the bar, while the woman he'd tussled with a moment before was nowhere to be seen.

Of course. He would be fine.

Hunter took a deep breath, turning back to Tori. "See?" he said, deliberately mocking. Whether it was himself or her, though, he wasn't sure. "No problem."

Tori didn't look appeased. "If there are rules," she said under her breath, "someone should have spelled them out for me before we got here."

"Just one rule," Blake muttered. He was watching Hunter now too, and he didn't look away when Hunter glanced at him. "Follow the alpha wolf."

Hunter stared at him, and finally Blake's gaze flicked to the table instead.

"Who," Tori was asking, "Cam? We're supposed to do whatever Cam says?"

"Okay," Cam's voice agreed. "Sure. That works for me." He stepped around Hunter to sit down in his chair, setting down his own water and sliding the other one into Hunter's place.

"No," Blake told the table with utter certainty. "Hunter. We're supposed to do whatever Hunter says." He looked up then, catching Hunter's eye in subtle challenge. "Isn't that right, bro."

It was Cam who answered, his tone quieter but no less sure of itself. "Don't talk to him like that," he warned.

Blake looked at Cam in surprise, and Hunter took the opportunity to sit down. They were drawing way too much attention as it was. At least this time it wasn't for fighting. Yet.

"Look," he said, trying to keep his voice low. "You're right, we should have said something to you before we all got here. But we didn't, so here's the short version: every group of wolves has a leader. Cam was too out of it to be that guy the first time we came here, so it ended up being me.

"I know it's weird--believe me, I get that--but this is how they do things here, and you're better off if you answer to someone else anyway. Loners get twice as many challenges and lousy service."

"Do they get punched if they get in your way at the bar?" Tori asked, her eyes on Cam.

"She could have waited her turn," Cam muttered. He was watching his water like it was the most interesting thing at the table.

"Don't use Cam as a model," Hunter told them, trying not to sound amused. "Everything here is physical. If someone pisses you off, you've got two choices: suck it up or fight. And if you fight, you'd better be damn sure you can win, because no one's going to hold back just because you're human."

"They don't hold back for anyone," Cam said under his breath.

"Yeah, try not to tick off the guy with the knife," Hunter agreed, and Cam glared at him. "Hey, we're all in this together," he pointed out. "We might as well share information."

Cam didn't look happy about it, but he let it go. It was safe to say that Blake wasn't thrilled either. But he was at least talking, asking questions, trying to figure out what they knew that he didn't. Unlike Tori, who Hunter was pretty sure was ignoring him on purpose.

She didn't say anything else until the waitress brought their food. She waited until the woman had left to mutter that she was thinking about becoming a vegetarian, and that got Cam's attention. He stopped antagonizing Blake long enough to offer Tori the non-meat "accessories" that came with his meal. She smiled at him, and Hunter frowned in Cam's direction.

Before he could say anything, though, he realized he wasn't the only one, and he closed his mouth abruptly. Cam wasn't trying to bug him. He was trying to annoy Blake. And judging by Blake's expression, it was working.

"I thought you said you were hungry," Blake said irritably.

"I am," Cam agreed. "All the time, lately. But I don't want peas and carrots and rolls, so Tori might as well have mine."

"Thanks, Cam." Tori looked like she might forgive him for the fight at the bar sometime soon if he kept this up. "I really don't mind meat. It's just--"

"This is kind of intense?" Cam finished for her. "I know. I try not to think about it."

Hunter was this close to jumping in--he didn't mean to, after all, like he could really be jealous of Tori--but he didn't get the chance. Blake beat him to it. Again. Hunter tried not to be weirded out by the fact that he and his bro were both annoyed by the not-quite-flirting between Tori and Cam.

"Why'd you order it if you don't want it?" Blake wanted to know. "I thought the point of coming here was to get... you know, wolf food."

"Habit, I guess." Cam didn't seem perturbed, and his tone was deceptively calm when he added, "Hunter ordered it for me the first time we came, so I assume he likes it. I figured he'd eat the vegetables if Tori didn't want them."

The familiarity implicit in the remark made Hunter suppress a smile. Would you look at that, he thought. Cam had not only let Hunter do something for him, but he'd even acknowledged it aloud. And he'd thought about it. At least as much as assuming that Hunter liked anything he would order for Cam meant that he'd thought about it.

Blake wasn't so pleased. "Hunter doesn't even like carrots," he snapped.

"Oh?" Cam didn't look surprised. "He's sitting right there. Why don't you ask him?"

Blake didn't, and Hunter's amusement faded as he tried to figure out what was going on. They'd been sniping at each other since they arrived, but at first he'd chalked it up to mutual discomfort. Blake didn't like it when other people knew more than he did, and Cam didn't like having anyone else seeing him like this, so they were both a little stiff. But this was bordering on ridiculous.

Tori was staring at both of them. "Isn't this usually Hunter and Shane's thing?" she asked, her gaze flicking to him in wry acknowledgement. "Stupid arguments and random posturing?"

Alpha males in their natural environment, she liked to say. He and Shane, each the leader of their own team, came into conflict whenever they had to make decisions that affected all of the Rangers. But Cam and Blake, though they might be next in line behind the Red and Crimson Rangers, tended to stay out of it...

Just like that, Hunter knew what they were doing. They weren't arguing over Hunter's taste in vegetables, or Cam's order, or even Tori. Because Cam and Blake weren't alpha males at all.

They were fighting for beta rank.

He watched them totally ignore Tori's comment as they continued to poke at each other verbally. He watched Tori roll her eyes and sneak half of her steak to Cam anyway when she thought Blake wasn't looking. He watched Blake insist on going with her when she got up to get her own drink, and he wondered if he should say anything to Cam while they were gone.

"Tori's not as freaked as Blake thought she'd be," he remarked, testing the water.

In Blake's absence, though, Cam had nothing bad to say about him. He focused on Tori instead as he reached for his own drink. "She's seen stranger things," he answered noncommittally.

Hunter narrowed his eyes. "You know, watching you suck up to her isn't my favorite part of this little adventure." He probably shouldn't have mentioned that, but then, that applied to almost everything he'd ever said.

"She's my friend," Cam replied. The statement seemed calculated to piss Hunter off until he lifted his head and added quietly, "You're more."

Hunter swallowed what he had been about to say and tried a smile. "Same to you."

What could he say, after all? Keep your hands to yourself? Stop fighting with Blake? Neither of them would make him choose if he called them on it--at least, he was pretty sure they wouldn't. Not in so many words.

Did he even get to choose? He hadn't chosen to be the alpha. Maybe the rest of the "pack" was the same way. Hell, maybe Cam decided, being the only real wolf in the group. He'd picked Hunter. Maybe he wasn't fighting with Blake so much as he was putting him in his place.

"Hunter." Cam's voice interrupted his thoughts, but he wasn't looking at Hunter anymore. He was staring toward the bar.

When Hunter followed his gaze, he saw two people blocking Tori and Blake's way. The two of them already had their drinks, but the direct path between the bar and their table had been blocked by a couple of normal looking guys. Normal, except for the fact that they didn't make way or squeeze past or do anything other than stand there.

Tori looked like she was about to try to push through them, but Blake caught her arm. Without a word, he jerked his head to one side. Tori followed his lead reluctantly and they turned away, taking a different route through the tables. The guys who had gotten in their way continued toward the bar like nothing had happened.

Hunter glanced at Cam and found him smiling slightly. He was kind of unsettled by that look, the sort of condescending expression Cam would give the others when they made fun of something they didn't understand. Like Cam had just assessed his brother and Blake had come up short.

"You would have done the same thing if you'd had Tori with you," Hunter said, a little defensively.

"No," Cam murmured. He held Hunter's gaze for a moment before looking away, but that brief pause made his position very clear. "I wouldn't have."

O-kay. So this was about him only in the way that whoever won was his second. He had no control over it after all. Cam had claimed his place already, and apparently he planned to hold it. No matter what.

Cam didn't hassle Blake when they returned to the table. At first Hunter thought that was a good sign, but it didn't take long for him to realize that Cam just didn't think he had to anymore. When Tori offered him some of her soda, Cam put his straw in her glass without so much as a glance at Blake. Blake fumed quietly, but without Cam holding up his end of the verbal sparring it mostly disintegrated.

It helped him, too, that Tori didn't seem to have any idea what was going on. She backed Cam unintentionally, because he was suddenly acting "reasonable," and that left Blake on his own. Cam took shameless advantage of her favoritism.

Hunter didn't like it. On the one hand, Cam was being a jerk, and he was being a jerk to Blake which made it way worse. On the other hand, Blake was letting him get away with it, and if he really wanted to make an issue of it, he could challenge Cam outright. Any time.

Hunter shook his head, disgusted with himself. Now he wanted them to fight? What was wrong with him? Whatever weird dominance issues Cam had, they were totally his. Blake was doing the right thing by staying out of it and letting him have the win.

They all managed to get through dinner without any major scuffles, which was maybe more of a surprise than he'd wanted it to be, and even the rest of the patrons left them alone for the most part. He thought maybe they'd be able to leave before anything big went down. Yeah, he was feeling optimistic--but he hadn't expected Tori's questions about the bonfire.

She didn't sound more than mildly curious, but the questions got Cam interested and that ended up being the deciding factor. Hunter hadn't really understood what Mike meant by "Cam will find it" until he saw Cam step outside and head for the trees without hesitation. What was that, secret wolf knowledge? Magic powers?

Cam gave him an amused look when he asked. "I can smell the smoke," he said.

Right. Okay, so the bonfire couldn't be far. Unfortunately, the sun was totally down by now and although there was plenty of light in the parking lot, the same couldn't be said for the woods. It was kind of unnerving how fast it got dark once they got into the trees, actually.

Tori complained first. "Cam, do you have night vision or something? Because I can't see a thing."

Cam stopped so quickly that Hunter bumped into him. He put a hand on Cam's shoulder to steady himself, and he thought Cam looked at him but it was hard to tell when his eyes weren't lit up from the inside. "You can't see?"

Hunter shook his head, fairly certain Cam would catch it in the darkness.

"You can?" Blake countered.

"Yeah," Cam said slowly. "I knew my vision was better... I guess I just didn't realize how much better. Can you see at all?"

"I can keep from running into trees," Tori offered. "But only because of our ninja training. Not because I can see them."

"I can see you when you move," Hunter added. "If I'm not looking directly at you."

A blue glow formed in the space between them, revealing Blake's hand underneath it and his face above it. Ninja light. Mildly electric--Hunter knew it would shock him if he touched it--but mostly just excited electrons releasing energy as light when they fell back to their normal levels. It lit their surroundings brightly enough to see by.

"Now who's bringing up things we're not supposed to talk about?" Tori wanted to know.

"They already know we're ninjas," Blake pointed out. "And we're not gonna win any points by getting lost in the woods."

"Fine," Hunter agreed, glancing around. The light didn't penetrate very far into the forest but it made all their shadows move against the trees, an odd sort of peripheral distraction that was almost as bad as the darkness. "Keep it to one. No need to show off."

Cam didn't say anything, but the rest of them fanned out behind him so they could all use the light to follow. Blake let the glow fade and vanish as soon as they caught sight of flames through the trees. No sooner had he done so than a wolf flowed through their little group, making no other effort to interact as it disappeared into the darkness behind them.

It wasn't the only one, Hunter realized, looking around as they approached the clearing. A modest bonfire crackled in the middle, hot enough to feel from some distance away and strong enough to generate a breeze. Flames licked a respectable pile of brush and logs while sparks flew up, spiraling toward the canopy, and there were a lot of human forms standing, sitting, walking around it.

There were more wolves. They weren't as obvious until he looked for them, and then he saw glowing eyes in every shadow, deliberate movement in every rustle of air. The noise came mostly from human conversation, but the wolves were clearly communicating in some way. Groups of them moved together, split up and reformed and mingled... some of them in an oddly human way.

No one challenged their arrival. In fact, the only person who even seemed to notice it was a tall, lanky guy who drifted up to them and asked curiously, "Tori?" When she turned, a smile spread across his face. "Tori Hanson?"

Blake wasn't gonna like him, Hunter thought.

Tori did, though. "Dill!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here!"

"Same thing you are, I guess," he said, with a shy grin. "Just checking out the party. Haven't seen you in a while."

"No," she agreed, looking a little chagrinned. "Um, actually--" She glanced back at Blake, who was looking just as standoffish as Hunter had expected. "Dill, this is my boyfriend, Blake. Blake, Dill Peterson... we met at Storm Chargers, before you started working there."

"Hey, good to meet you," Dill said easily, holding out his hand to Blake. "So you work at Storm Chargers, huh? That's a cool store."

"Yeah." Blake shook his hand once, still reserved but apparently willing to make an effort. "The owner sponsors me and my bro at the track."

"Right, um, this is Hunter," Tori said quickly. "He and Blake are the 250cc motocross team for Storm Chargers. And this is my friend Cam, from, uh, school."

"Hey," Dill said, clasping Hunter's hand and then Cam's briefly. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too." Hunter noticed that Cam didn't answer, but Dill seemed more interested in Tori's response than Cam's lack of one. Blake seemed more interested in Dill, so Hunter took a few steps back and caught Cam's eye.

Cam followed, silently and unobtrusively, as Tori and Dill settled in to chat.

"You know anything about him?" Hunter asked under his breath.

Cam frowned a little. "Not personally," he admitted. "But I heard his name almost nonstop for a week or so, back when they first got their morphers. He was Tori's crush before Blake."

Hunter considered that. "I'm guessing you didn't hear anything about him being a wolf at the time."

"I'm pretty sure that would have stuck in my mind," Cam said dryly.

"Huh." Being a wolf didn't make someone untrustworthy, obviously. And Tori didn't have the worst taste in friends--that would have to be Shane, Rangers excluded--so maybe Dill was just another guy who'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe he'd been a wolf before he met Tori and maybe not, but if he was here he probably didn't have any prejudices on the subject.

Tori had even gone to the trouble of introducing Blake as her boyfriend, which Hunter had never heard her do before, so it looked like everyone knew where they stood. Dill might be an okay sort of guy who just checked up on people he recognized at wolf parties. He was certainly being polite and accommodating now.

"Keep an eye on him?" Cam asked quietly, following his gaze.

Hunter's mouth quirked in a half-smile. "Oh yeah."