"Can't blame him for that." Shakira waved at the screen. "They haven't even been able to get away from the crime scene."

Otto nodded and resumed the playback.

Corona, standing behind Jack, put her arms around him and rested her muzzle on the top of his head. She smiled at the camera, and Jack almost let a smile of his own show.

Taura stood beside and slightly behind them, shivering and glancing around nervously.

"Anyway," Jack said, "after it was all over, we talked to the lab tech that Givens assaulted. He said Givens was pissed because he'd been waiting longer than an hour for his pictures to print out. That was it. Instead of taking it like an adult, Givens threw a tantrum like a spoiled brat. Then he assaulted the tech and pulled a gun on him." Jack smirked into the camera. "Corrie, here, ended it in about two seconds. One punch and she put him down like the bitch he is."

"He actually crapped in his pants." Corona giggled. "He'll never live that one down."

"Good. Fuck him." Jack raised an eyebrow and stared directly into the camera. "Anybody out there who routinely abuses retail or food-service employees would do well to keep that in mind. You never know when it might be you sprawled on the floor with a load in your shorts."

Shakira paused it. "I wonder how many times Jack wished he could punch a customer in the face."

"Probably all the time. Y'know, after hearing Jack's delivery stories, and seeing the videos he recorded with his eyes, I decided that people working in retail and food service should be allowed to hit anyone who gets abusive."

"Well, one good thing about Jack's new job is that he can do exactly that, now." Shakira grinned and tapped the play button.

A reporter's off-screen voice fired off another question. "Ah, from the way you're cuddling, may I assume you're … uh, a couple?"

"You may." Corona giggled and flashed a brilliant grin at the camera, which probably scared the crap out of most of the people watching. The baring of her thumb-length fangs was an expression that could easily be misinterpreted unless one knew her fairly well.

"Ah," the offscreen voice said, sounding less than thrilled. "That's … interesting."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You got a problem with that?"

"Oh, uh, no! Not at all. Just … um … "

Corona laughed. "If any of you suddenly have questions about our sex life, don't expect any answers. It's nobody else's business."

"I imagine it must be rather difficult," someone else said. "I mean, with those claws and teeth and all."

Jack stared at him for a moment and shrugged. "I'm still in one piece, so obviously it's not that hard."

"That reminds me," a third voice called out, "weren't some video clips of you having sex circulating recently?"

All three of them tensed up, scowling at whoever had just opened his cake-masher, and everyone else grew silent. Otto imagined all the reporters taking a few steps away from the guy who'd just spoken.

"Those videos were recorded without our knowledge or consent," Jack said through clenched teeth. "We found the person responsible and … dealt with him."

Taura stepped forward. "I've been tracking those clips down and deleting every copy I can find. I know a few still exist, but believe me, I will find them." She glared directly into the camera. Her whole body shook and she looked ready to leap into the crowd and start slamming heads together. "And if anyone continues to copy and distribute them, I'll track them down and ..."

Jack and Corona exchanged a startled glance and stepped in front of her.

"You'll have to excuse us," Corona said. "We need to get back to the office for debriefing."

With that, the three of them pushed through the crowd, ignoring the reporters' shouted questions, and the clip ended.

"Well," Otto said with a chuckle, "let that be a lesson to you all. Jack and the girls don't like having their privacy invaded, and they don't react well when someone tries to pry answers out of them."

"Especially Taura. Poor girl looked like she could barely stop herself from throttling the guy who asked about the clips."

"That's probably because she's in heat. She's normally a master of self control. Very Zen. I always found that rather intriguing, given the reason she was created." Otto cocked his head and smirked. "On the other hand, the 'scary' Taura is kinda hot, too. I bet she'd be dynamite in bed."

Shakira flicked a sharp glance at him and rolled her eyes. "Excuse me, folks, I'm gonna go grab another cup of coffee while Otto regains control of his hormones. I'll be right back."

Otto watched her leave, adjusted the front of his pants, and reached out to the recording panel on his screen. "Actually, I think we'll take a quick break and kind of reset ourselves, and I'll try to play nice. Don't go anywhere." He paused the recorder, loaded a random music clip and inserted it into the stream. He took a longer drink of his coffee and hoped his erection would subside before Shakira came back.