I’LL LEAD YOU OUTSIDE: ELINA HAGAROVA

"The neighbor called," Louis began as the EMT's prepped the body for transportation. "said she heard howls." I looked up at him.

"How?" I asked incredulously, stepping out of the way of the M.E before looking back at him. "The room is sound proof." I noted.

He raised his hand and pointed somewhere behind me, I turned to look and saw that the top windows had one with a break in it.

"We figure the kids hit the window repeatedly with the chain, have probably been weakening it over time, and it finally broke allowing her to hear their howls." He explained and I nodded. That made sense.

"She heard them howling and screaming. Said she'd been hearing it a while but figured it was a pack of dogs. But it didn't move away and kept going on and on. She heard it coming from the dead guy's yard and came over to ask him what was up, but he didn't answer. His car was in the yard; the door wasn't locked but he wasn't answering. She opened the door and the howls got louder so she called the cops." He finished and I noted the yellow outline the M. E's people had drawn of the man's outline.

It stood in way of the door. If he'd been killed immediately he came in, then the door stayed open and that too helped their voice carry. But why here? The room was small, not well lit. I looked around till I looked up and saw the piece of metal sticking out. I spied the chain away in the corner just as the detectives put it in a sack labelled 'evidence'.

They probably threw it over the hook and somehow got him tangle in it enough to strangle him. She sighed and rubbed her brow. Now that the body was carried away the pins and needle scratchy feeling she'd been getting was gone.

She looked at the children, the two oldest ones didn't look anything alike. The girl had raggedy dark curly hair and brown skim that had dark patches of dirt. The boy was pale with pale blonde hair and eye brows. They both had frowns on their faces and all four wore white shapeless gowns like the man had done. The two younger ones poking their faces out of the older one's waist looked identical, both boys.

She approached them carefully. The older two began baring teeth at her. She raised both hands and went much slowly. They were not even old enough to shift yet but they could still deal damage if they all jumped her. She stretched a hand carefully and they sniffed around her. She'd worked with shifters long enough to knot that smell was everything to them. A shifter could smell a lie and the true nature of a thing. Nothing could fool a shifter's nose. Finally, they must've felt better about having her there as they stopped growling and moved closer.

She bent to their level, the two young ones, still trusting dashed into her and almost bowled her over. She wrapped her arms around them both as they bawled into her chest. She looked at the older two.

"Do any of you know where your parents are?" They exchanged looks before the girl spoke.

"He bought us from the dark human place," she said.

"How long have you been here?" Elina asked, her heart already breaking because one day was too long.

"I've been here four years, Mati three." She pointed to the boy.

"What of these two?" she asked.

"They got here two weeks ago, we didn't want him to…that is why we killed him." She finished. Elina could see they were shaking. She had to get them out of here.

She rose with the two young ones in her arms. Her shoulder and chest ached at the weight, but what was the point of working out every day if she couldn't carry these two out of here?

"Hold my coat, I'll lead you outside." She told them and they nodded and took hold of her long beige coat as she turned around and slowly made her way out of the room, the police men moving out of the way for the slow procession.

By the time they got upstairs her arms were shaking but she clenched her teeth and they reached the brightness outside. There were female medical personnel waiting and they immediately rushed forward and carefully took the young ones. She led the girl and Mati to the waiting ambulance.

"They are shape shifters and they haven't eaten for at least four days that we know of, just get them some food I will see to getting the right person here for them." She told the woman who was currently wiping one of the twins' face with a wet rag.

She nodded and turned to the side. "Water!" someone rushed there with for bottles with straws and the children began to suck hard.

Elina shifted out of the way as blankets were brought and the four children were placed on the bench together as they attached drips and other medial stuff to get some food into them.

The boy hadn't let go of her coat so she remained closed as she began to scroll through her contacts for who would work best.

Louis approached her with a familiar. "Fresco, thank the godsyou're here." The younger woman nodded and looked at the children as she signed.

ARE THEY GOING TO BE OKAY?

Elina nodded and looked down at them. She's survived hadn't she? She waved Louis over "Can you see to getting me some pizza and ice-cream? There should be some restaurant nearby," she said and searched through her pockets for money to give him but he waved it away and left.

"They'll be." Then she looked to Fresco, the much shorter, curvy woman with expertly styled rainbow colored hair. "I'm trying to figure which wolf alpha is close enough to call for them, has to be female and able to get here within the hour." Up here in the north it wasn't easy to find specific shape shifter packs because they gravitated towards the south and Midwest were most of their kind were.

HAVE YOU TRIED CATALINA DIAZ? Fresco offered up.SHE IS THREE MILES AWAY.

And Elina shook her head, "Catalina's nickname is the iron widow, she is too old, too hard, not the kind of care these children need, we need someone…" She wrinkled her nose, "motherly." She finished and went back to scrolling. Fresco touched her arm and signed.

AYANA MALAY? SHE HAS THREE CHILDREN. Fresco suggested again.

"Didn't she just assume power like, three weeks ago?"

MORE LIKE THREE MONTHS BUT YOU'RE RIGHT.

Elina stumbled on a name in her contacts list and narrowed her eyes. "Lucinda Tate?" she said out loud and fresco looked at her.

THAT MIGHT WORK. ALL HER LIEUTENANTS ARE FEMALE RIGHT? SHE RUNS THAT PACK FOR SHIFTERS IN NEED OF HELP. Fresco confirmed and Elina nodded and placed the call.

The list of phone numbers was given to her by the agency, it had the contact information of every denizen leader on the entire northern hemisphere of the country.

"Who is this?"

"Sorry to bother you at this hour Ma'am, My name is Elina Hagarova, I work with the Bureau for Denizen and Human affairs,"

"I don't deal with humans." He voice was clearly female and yet somehow…other. Elina swallowed.

"I have four extremely young wolf shifters here; they seem to have been held captive for a long time. By an unrelated human male." She didn't have to say the words for the woman to understand. The only thing she heard on the other side was a sigh.

"There has to be something deeply wrong with your kind, Elina Hagarova." A pause. "Where?"

Elina breathed a sigh of relief and gave her the address.

"What a coincidence, I was already in town, I'll be there in thirty minutes." The line cut.