Wolf mate

Chapter 1

"There you are," Beckett greeted him when he jogged up to them, he could almost swear her eyes lit up at the sight of him. He knew they did.

"You're late," the latino grunted and he smiled apologetically.

"What do we have?" he asked and his soulmate made a gesture to the M.E. kneeing beside the body.

Lanie Parish, the latina medical examiner, nodded before starting her go-through.

"Victim female, cause of death gun shot to the head, time of death estimated to 9 pm last night. There's no sign of sexual assault but I can't be sure until I take her back to the lab and make a full examination."

"Any I.D.?" Beckett asked and Castle realized they must've waited for him.

They hadn't gone through the details until he came. Did he not stall long enough? Was he getting impatient and not slowing down enough? He was always impatient with seeing her but that didn't mean he could start take it any less serious.

"Yeah, Hannah Lorenz, her driver's license states she was twenty three."

Quicker than he perhaps should have, Castle jumped in. "Lorenz? Did you say Hannah Lorenz?" He looked down at the blonde woman before looking around them, taking deep breaths to get as much scent as he possibly could into his nose.

There was indeed a distant sting of wolf in the air. No longer here. What was she doing here? Of all place she could be, she had been here. It couldn't be a coincidence.

"Did you know her?" Beckett questioned and he was snapped back to reality, eyes connecting with worried hazels.

He cleared his throat, shit. "No, not really. I-ah, some of my old... friends mentioned her once as his daughter's girlfriend." Nice save.

Her eyes narrowed and he tried to ignore his sudden urge to gulp. Maybe not so nice. Her hands landed on her hips and she raised her eyebrow in question.

"He did, I promise," Castle lied.

It wasn't truly a lie. It was someone who'd told him about the daughter and her girlfriend Hannah Lorenz, but it wasn't exactly a friend.

"Fine, what's the girlfriend's name?" Beckett asked and he swallowed his curse. He really couldn't leave them out of this, could he?

"Julie Trent."

"And your friend?" Espo asked and Castle glanced back to the latino.

"Marco Trent. But I'm sure they had nothing to do with this." He wasn't sure who he was trying to assure, them or himself.

"Okay, you guys check out the Trents and we'll go door to door, try to see if anyone heard or saw something," Beckett ordered and the duo nodded before walking off.

Castle looked after them and hoped they wouldn't piss off the wolf they were about to see, he'd heard things about the man he wish he'd never heard. As he turned to follow his partner he almost walked straight into her and had to jump back in order to not touch her.

"Jeez," he exclaimed and he saw a glimpse of amusement in those hazels before they turned worried, serious.

"What aren't you telling us, Castle?" she questioned and he clenched his jaw before narrowing his eyes in a questioning matter.

"What do you mean? I'm telling you what I know."

Her eyes searched his and he tried to empty his mind as much as he could, he didn't need her to worry. He would worry for the both of them anyway. After a few seconds he could see she gave up, nodded her head before turning around to walk in the direction of the first building. What she didn't know was he could hear the sigh she let out in small disappointment. She didn't believe him. Anyway he followed his partner, if he'd been in his wolf form he'd sure had his tail between his legs. He hated lying to her. It always felt as though a piece of his heart was ripped out, as if the fact that they were soulmates actually meant they lost a piece of themselves every time they weren't honest with each other. At least from his end, he had no idea what it was like to be human and be soulmate to a werewolf. Maybe she didn't feel the same magnetic pull he felt. Then again, she had walls she'd built up after her mother's murder. She hadn't told him about them, but he could feel them. He could also feel he was slowly gaining her trust, gaining a passage into her heart. He wondered if telling her would shatter that passage, that trust, or if it would help him to fully get it.

Beckett's knock on the first apartment door jerked him back to the present. It didn't take long before she was asking questions to every resident in the building, however it took forever until they were finished and had every statement they could get their hands on. On their way out of the building Castle couldn't stop his mouth from moving.

"Well, that was useless."

"Yeah," Beckett said in a sigh and they started walking across the street when all of a sudden he could feel her body straightening with a peeked interest before setting off towards the alley across from the crime scene.

He quickly followed her and tried to see what she'd seen. His eyes almost immediately landed on a homeless man sitting with his arms hugging his body as he rocked back and forth. Oh no.

"Hey, excuse me, can I ask you a few questions?" Beckett asked as she came in ear shot with the man.

And he smelled, jeez. Castle had to restrain himself from wrinkling his nose in disgust. This man hadn't bathed in at least a couple years. Yurk. The man looked up with eyes filled with horror and Castle felt a chill go down his spine.

"Wolf," the man said with a shaky voice. "She turned into a wolf."

The last was just a breathy whisper and even though Beckett asked the man to repeat himself Castle had already heard the statement he would give.

"She turned into a wolf, she was a wolf, then not, then wolf again," the man chanted as he rocked back and forth.

"There was a woman here? Last night? Did you see who killed her?" Beckett asked, eyeing the man with caution.

"Wolf, not wolf, woman, not woman, shot bang, woman, new wolf, gone," the man looked almost hysterical and Castle wondered if this was how it looked like when normal people found out werewolves were real. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy.

He met Beckett's furrowed eyes when she looked back at him for a few seconds before glancing back to the homeless man. She dragged her hand through her hair and Castle felt a small relief of her scent flowing his way, masking some of the terrible smell of garbage, but her sigh indicated she was disappointed the man hadn't been to more help.

Before she could say anything about them moving along Castle turned around and walked to the hot dog stand to order three hot dogs. He could feel her eyes on him as he paid and before she could say anything more he handed the hot dogs to the homeless man. Just because he smelled bad didn't mean he didn't need the little he could get.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the man started chanting instead when he had the hot dogs in his lap. The man didn't hesitate before he picked one up and put it in his mouth.

"No problem, stay safe," Castle muttered before he turned back to his partner and gestured for her to follow him towards their next stop.

"What do you think he meant?" Beckett asked as they walked into the lobby of one of the buildings across their crime scene.

He decided to shrug, play unknowing. "I have no clue. He talked about a wolf... you think the zoo has lost one of theirs?" he said in a half-joking matter, but deep down he hoped she would go with that story rather than a werewolf one. It wasn't time. Not yet.

"Didn't you hear? Wolf, not wolf, and she turned into a wolf. I thought you would be all over a werewolf-theory by now," her voice was filled with mocked amusement and he pretended to way it over as he did his best not to show the terror he felt inside himself.

"Well, if you say so then maybe..."

"Castle, I'm joking," she cut him off with a brilliant smile across her lips, her shoulder nudging his in a teasing shove.

You have no idea how happy that makes me. Still, he couldn't help a sudden feeling sting in his heart. She would never believe him.