UTONAGAN

Chapter Two

"Now, let's see. I assume you're detective Kate Beckett," Gates looked towards her and she nodded.

"Yes, ma'am."

"If my mother drops by, you can call her ma'am. Call me sir or captain," the woman said and gave each one of them a look as if to say it applied to all of them. "Now, as I understand it there was a shooter at your old captain's funeral and that shooter tried to kill you, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir. A sniper to be more exact," Kate replied and the captain nodded, took off her reading glasses which she'd had on the entire meeting.

"Do you have a clue about who could be behind this?"

Kate definitely had a clue, but it wasn't one she felt she could share. "Not at all sir. But I've put away a lot of killers during my years here so I think we should start with looking through if there's anyone who's been released recently."

"Detectives Esposito and Ryan, you two get on with that. I want you to pick out the most likely before you resume the case when CSU hands you over all of their findings, tomorrow I want you to hand the cases you found over to Beckett for her to look through. You two are dismissed." She waved with her hand and Kate gave her a confused look before watching the boys leave with worry in their eyes as they observed her quickly.

"Sir?" Kate questioned when they had closed the doors behind them.

"You're going home detective," Gates said and Kate felt her hands turn into fists. "I will put a protective detail on you and you will not return to the precinct until tomorrow morning when you'll be put on desk-duty and look through the cases your team will have put together for you."

"Sir, I'm not going home. I am of more use here," she was trying really hard not to sound too harsh but she could feel in the way her partner tensed that there was no question in the fact that she would start arguing if that was what it took. Apparently the new captain heard it too.

"Go home detective, that's an order," the African-American said with a strong no-point-in-arguing voice. "And for you mr Castle, my precinct isn't a playground to play around in so as of today it's your last day here. We're not in any need of a writer to disturb the detectives' important work here."

That made her tick. "You are not kicking my partner out! Not to be disrespectful sir, but Castle here has been a part of my team for three years and he's more than enough times proven his worth in here."

"Detective," Gates said with a warning tone, her eyes narrowed. "I suggest you don't say another word in the matter. It's not your decision. Mr Castle you're as of today no longer a consultant with the NYPD." Kate was about to bite back, about to yell and show exactly how angry and protective she could be of her partner, when she felt his hand gently land on the small of her back.

"Kate," he whispered, only loud enough for her to hear and she was too busy trying to calm her raging heart that she didn't realize he had whispered it too low for any normal human to be able to hear it. Instead she focused on his calm heart in order to try and match her own with his. She wouldn't deny she'd done that before, listened to his heart to calm her own, it had always seemed to work for the same reason she couldn't find it in herself to truly try make him leave.

"Dismissed."

That earned the captain a quite angry look from Kate, but before she could do anything she felt her partner push a bit in order to get her body moving out of there. Once they were outside the door she growled and stormed off on her own, leaving a stunned partner behind her as she heard the boys ask what had happened inside the office. At the moment she didn't care about letting him catch up to her, she needed to get out of here, fast. And she needed something more to calm down. Something that no one could know about, which was why she made sure to be out of the building before her partner was done talking with the boys.

She quickly spotted the detail that had been put on her, and for a split second she felt sorry for them because they would soon not be doing their jobs anymore and would most likely be yelled at by the same captain she'd been sent home by. But she didn't care. She needed to get out. She needed to turn. And so, she made sure to lose them not far from the precinct and head out to the forest she'd claimed as her safe haven not that many years ago. It didn't take long, and she drove out of the city when she was sure no one had spotted her car. Once she was out of the city she found the hidden road to her favorite spot. She'd found it when she was seventeen and had felt the urge to change, at that time she hasn't had the time or patience to take the bus out to her family cabin. She'd been grateful for the scooter she'd gotten from her parents since she otherwise wouldn't had been able to found the path nor the forest.

"Here we go," she mumbled to herself as she parked the car behind the bushes she'd formed through the years to make sure it would hide a normal sized car. Usually she tried to make sure she took her bike out there but she also knew that wouldn't always be possible. As for now she hadn't been able to go home in order to change vehicle because if she had then she most likely wouldn't had been able to get rid of the protective detail.

Jumping out of the car she didn't hesitate before she started undressing, putting the clothes in the trunk of her car. Once she was completely naked she went further into the forest, to the tree she usually stood by once she changed. Bending down she curved her back, making her bones crack into place of her other form. Her arms and legs turned the same length as hair started to grow and cover her whole body, the chestnut brown hair a reminder of her own in her human form. She gritted her teeth in a low growl as she let her claws scratch the dirt beneath her paws. Taking a deep breath through her nose she can feel all the scents for miles away, flowers, grass, trees, and best of all: no humans.

The bigger than normal wolf standing in the same place human Kate Beckett had done bent its back before running off through the woods. All the stress slowly making its way out of her body as she let her paws move the dirt with the speed she set. Kate never felt better than when she was in her wolf form. She felt so free, like she could do anything, be anything. The wind in her fur as she flew forward with trees and bushes on each side of her. Sometimes she wished she could be a wolf for the rest of her life, everything would be so much easier. Except she would never see Castle again. She had known the moment their eyes met that there was something special about him, it felt like her mom and dad had described the feelings from them meeting each other. But after the disaster that happened to her family she didn't want the same thing to happen to him. That's why she had tried to push him away. That's why she hadn't wanted him to shadow her. That's why she was terrified about him trying to take a bullet for her earlier that day. Sometimes she wished that her mom had just...

She shook her head, tried to focus on the ground underneath her paws. There was nothing she could do to change the past. She could change form, but not the past. There was no use in thinking about it. Right now, all she should think about was the way it felt being free to run around in a forest with no one interrupting her. No shooter. No new captain. No non-existing evidence. Right now it was just her and the peace she got from being a wolf.

To be continued...