The morning came fairly early for Teddy Green as he awoke cuddled up to his wife, but he couldn't help but smile at that. He had loved her dearly for years. It wasn't "love at first sight" for them, but it did grow strong to where they married and lived together. The only real issue was that Marci was a werecat and that while a bi-sexual werecat could fall in love with a normal human male, her specific strain of the were-virus would kill any man exposed to it as werecats were strictly female. Male werecats turned into the wild version of various small cats and there was often the discussion of calling them: werewildcats in order to help identify the difference, but Marci also informed Teddy that going with a werewildcat would likely change his sexuality, as they, like werecats were at least bisexual, if not homosexual. And with that, the Greens had settled into a life where both knew they couldn't truly be together.
But then came the recent case, the murder of Major Jeff Decker in Virginia. The Marine MPs and his agents were able to get a lead on their suspect and that lead him to Moon Lake in the course of that investigation. And while his visit hadn't been related to the fact that he would need to become a were in order to be with his wife in everyway, it was something that developed from it. Their police chief had caught some of Marci's lingering scent on him when he first visited, likely gambling that Teddy had been aware with Marci being a were and was okay with it and revealed enough information that he was able to get the ball rolling. And it paid off in the end. With the Decker case closed and Marci having handled some of the recent cases she'd had at the law firm she was a partner in, the pair of them were able to come to Moon Lake on a vacation and Teddy was able to gain his own fursona.
And it was something that he was greatly pleased with, a great majestic white tiger. It was actually something that he and Marci had agreed on in various conversations on what were to be. Some of it, Teddy figured was likely the fact that as a white tiger he'd sort of match his wife's form, which was based on the Turkish Angora, an all white breed of house cat, but he really had no complaints. The only thing that mattered was that now, he and Marci could do more than kiss and cuddle and could seriously consider having children together. For him personally, it was very much a happy union made happier, and he couldn't help but smile as his eyes fluttered open to find his wife's head resting on his chest.
"She's so beautiful," Teddy smiled as he looked down to her and thought over some of the various things that they'd done since his joining were society.
Of course a lot of it had been making up for lost time with regard to sex, but there had also been some concerns and thoughts over what to do when they reached the point where they would be expected to retire in the future. While Teddy did enjoy his work with the FBI, as he saw it as the ultimate means to protect and serve people and make sure that criminals can't play games with the jurisdiction rules that governed local police forces, he also knew that he couldn't remain a field leader forever. At some point the work would become too physically taxing for a normal human and without promotion up the proverbial ladder Teddy knew he'd need to retire as he couldn't just keep going without risking exposing that he was now a weretiger and that would risk losing Marci.
Moon Lake seemed like a good enough place to settle down for that. He and Marci had walked around the town and marveled at the town's formation and how it had maintained a great many buildings that looked like they had an architectural style that went to the 1800s so well. In a way it was something that was rather quaint, and as he'd made his way, he'd found with his new senses that there were a great many weres in the town and that they came in all varieties. With that, Teddy figured that he and Marci could potentially find work in an atmosphere that wouldn't be as antagonistic or confrontational with regard to were status.
He and Marci had also spent the previous night exploring the woods around Moon Lake with the weretigress that transformed him and looking at the various spots where they would be allowed to go in were form. It was an interesting walk and the sounds of nature that seemed rather attractive to Teddy's new instincts. The hike would also see them run into someone they hadn't expected to, one young Tad Decker, the son of the man who's murder Teddy had worked to solve. Tad's being a werewolf was by now known, but Teddy hadn't expected to run into him. He looked well and happy with the female werewolf that he'd met, and in a way that was something well worth defending and supporting. And seeing people like that in Moon Lake made it more attractive a place to move to, when it came time to retire.
"Hmmmm," he heard Marci yawn and soon felt her stretch in the bed at the hotel they were in.
"Morning..." Teddy said to her.
"Morning," Marci smiled back to him, "Sleep well?"
"I did," Teddy answered, "because you were there..."
Marci only smiled back, "So what would you like to do today?"
"I really don't know," Teddy answered, and stretched and while Marci also sat up, "though I suppose we have a little while to figure out what to do... See if there are hiking trails at that recreational area or simply enjoy the parks and scenery that they have."
"You do like the sights here, don't you?" Marci smiled.
"I do... don't you?" Teddy answered.
"I suppose I do," Marci answered, "it's different and lacks a lot of the excitement that comes with being in the big city... it does look nice... And there is a quality to it... that would well be worth it when it comes time to retire."
The two soon stood up and looked over the room. It was reasonably clean for the moment, though there was a slight hint of the scent of sex in the room, which made sense. They'd spent the previous day making up for the years of not being able to enjoy what most married couples probably took for granted. And the activity was probably enough that the motel's house keeping probably knew not to come into the room. As they both stood up and stretched, Marci felt it might do them some good to head out for the day and explore the city. Even if they'd already seen a lot of it already, it'd at least give the hotel staff the ability to do their job.
Marci moved to head to the bathroom first and take care of some urgent needs that required being in the bathroom and let Teddy move toward the front door to the room. The hotel wasn't the richest or most fancy looking. In fact it was only a single floor building the door to the rooms lead directly onto the sidewalk outside. There was no sort of continental breakfast, though Teddy remembered seeing a box of donuts in the front desk area when he and Marci checked in... but those were likely store bought donuts. In that, the hotel was fairly typical of a small town establishment that was in an area where it was unlikely that they'd see a lot of tourists.
There was, however, one thing that made the hotel rather nice, and that was that they actually delivered a local paper. It was wrapped in plastic and hung from the doorknob for the guests. Arguably it wasn't much of a local paper, and Teddy figured that there probably a lot of people that read the Seattle paper, but he'd found it interesting and managed its reporting in a way that didn't seem to be covering a major crisis or being accused of being biased, which was something that he'd seen a lot of in Washington. In that, he liked Moon Lake's paper.
And so, he came to the door opened it slightly while staying behind the door and then pulling the newspaper and the bag it was wrapped in into the room. As he pulled out the newspaper, however, he was drawn to their front page headline. There was no picture, but the headline itself was enough focus his attention. It read: Arrest Turns Violent When Vigilante Resists. Teddy let out a heavy sigh as it appeared that even small towns had their issues with criminal activity. It seemed to run counter to what he'd seen of Moon Lake, so far. In fact the more he saw of the town and occasionally got to talk to its people on the street, if it was only to say hello, the less he could believe someone from this little town could be involved in such activity, and included Lionel Ulysses. Though he was well aware just because things looked nice that that didn't mean there was the potential for trouble.
"Is something wrong?" he heard Marci say from the door to the bathroom, making him look up.
"For us... no..." Teddy answered and held up the newspaper, "Just something that went on yesterday... You remember what I told you, about someone murdering Lionel Ulysses after I helped catch him, right?"
Marci nodded.
"Well... apparently Ulysses' murderer was hanging out her, seemingly for medical care for his wife," Teddy gave his wife a brief rundown on the article, "And after the FBI office in Seattle named their suspect... a man named Dymixious Drake..."
"Dymixious?" Marci wondered.
"That what it says his name was," Teddy answered, "the Moon Lake Police put him under observation and began laying down plans for his arrest... essentially in accordance with the FBI warrant... though likely as they didn't want to run the risk of having the FBI and Seattle PD come in, find their man and then essentially lecture the local cops for letting a violent criminal come in and hide in plain sight."
"They'd have the authority to do that?" Marci wondered, "just to arrest him because the FBI wants him?"
"In pure theory, yes," Teddy nodded, "though... normally you'd see some means of coordination between different jurisdictions and agencies before such an arrest is carried out. Anyway, the put together their plan for arresting him and yesterday morning... not super early but reasonably early... acted on it."
"So they arrested the guy," Marci spoke, "this Dymixious... that is an odd name."
"Actually... they shot him..." Teddy said slowly, "according to the article, they tried to arrest him peacefully, but he resisted and lead into an all out fight. He managed to injure two officers of the law before being shot. He died on the operating table trying to deal with the wounds he sustained in the battle."
"Do you think this will turn into another protest over police brutality?" Marci asked.
Teddy gave a small sigh as law enforcement had taken a pretty hard hit with regard to public opinion, particularly with regard to its treatment of minorities. Though in general, Teddy felt that the system worked, as there could always be the potential for a violent criminal and one couldn't hamper a policeman's ability to respond or assess his situation as it developed. And so long as there were violent criminals there was going to be the chance of violent clashes between criminals and law enforcement. The problem, though, was that any system could be abused, and it was that that Teddy felt was drawing so much negative attention on police units. Though, Teddy wasn't really sure on what would solve the problem fully, as some changes would be bound to irritate some people while not changing them would irritate others. However, the battle that was reported in Moon Lake's paper didn't seem to fit into those sorts of issues.
"I don't think so," Teddy said slowly, "they report that the wounded officers were also treated at the hospital and the hospital staff DID state that they treated officers with the injuries described. For the moment it would appear as though this was pretty clear cut that the guy resisted arrest and put up quite a fight before going down. I don't see there being any problem... Maybe they could have been a bit more diplomatic to talk the guy down... but from what they've reported, the Moon Lake officers were well within their rights to open fire."
Marci watched him for a moment as he set the paper down on the bed.
"You're not going to want to talk with their police... are you?" Marci asked.
"No... we are on vacation," Teddy answered, "and as I said... with what is reported, I don't think the local police really did anything wrong... I suppose it's just some shock and surprise that such a nice looking town could have events like this..."
"It probably isn't an every day occurrence," Marci commented, "as that group of werewolves we met in the woods last night seemed nice."
"They were indeed," Teddy nodded, "are you done in the bathroom... or..."
"Actually... I was thinking we could take a nice hot shower together before heading out for breakfast," Marci gave a small smile.
Teddy only smiled back.