Beta Bear

His eyes snapped back to Dustin’s face as the man made it clear that he very well knew what a wererabbit smelled like and that David wasn’t one. So whatever Dustin was, he had an acute enough sense of smell to know the difference, but he hadn’t met a wererat before. That bit of information was actually reassuring. David had only known of wererats through nighthook. Meeting one out in the “wild”, so to say, would be odd. Dustin’s following warning against lying made the ‘rat’s eyebrows raise as he stared at Dustin. Who was this guy? Shifting from foot to foot, the ‘rat edged a little closer. 

"I'm a bear, a Beta of the local sleuth at that." he responded just as quietly, his eyes going over David's head to look out towards the street behind him. No one still seemed to be aware that the two were even in the alley.Dustin's posture relaxed some, David confirming Dustin's suspicions allowed the tension set in Dustin's shoulders to ease until her was standing in an open posture and let his hand drape at his side. He threw his finished cigarette down on the ground and snuffed it out with the toe of his boot. 

David licked his lips, glancing around them nervously. His ‘rat was more than ready to bolt, not enjoying being cornered into confessing it’s lycan state any more than it had enjoyed being taken by surprise. Unconsciously, his breathing had grown shallow to match the gallop of his anxious heart. He should run; what if this really was someone out to take him back? But would they really have sent a lycan? And one that would be so ham-handed in it’s approach? If Dustin had wanted to take David by surprise, weren’t there a hundred better ways to do it? 

It was the smell that kept David in the alley. When Piper had approached him, she had been professional yet caring, and Tori had been friendly and extroverted. Both had been lycan, not the smell of meateaters, and both had approached him carefully. Then there was Drake, the human he was getting to know. Gruff as Drake had first seemed, the man was warm and friendly, and his laughter effortlessly unwound the fear that always seemed to be crushing the ‘rat’s chest. Dustin’s manner had been rough, but he was a lycan. Not all lycans could be trusted, but David couldn’t think of a single lycan that had wanted to be in the grip of Nighthook.

God, it was risky, but it was either stir up a scene by bailing and maybe even losing his job, or…give an inch? He could start with his name, then, maybe lie? Just a little… David remembered Dustin’s claim that his sense of smell was especially acute, and he chewed at the inside of his cheek. Should he risk it…? Doubtlessly Dustin could smell the adrenaline and the fear in his scent, 

"…I’m David. D-David Ramsey." The ‘rat finally gave, his voice cracking from nerves. His eyes were narrowed, trained on Dustin’s face for any glint of recognition or any other emotion that would send off alarm bells. 

"H-have you ever smelled a w-wererabbit before…?" It wasn’t an outright lie. It was just a question. Maybe Dustin would buy it and assume that David meant that he was a wererabbit?

Dustin's eyes narrowed suspiciously the longer the lycan in front of him stalled. His smell was starting to bug the Beta the longer Dustin tried to place it. He smelled like a rodent the more Dustin thought about it, remembering the first few shifts he went through at home in Posen, Michigan. The Moore's had lived slightly secluded from others and Dustin remembered the smell of rats that had come from their shed where all of the tools were put. He had almost ate a few one time, but the house light had flicked on before he could. Just thinking about the first few shifts he went through as a new bear were painful. He had been alone in his lycanthropy then. Now he had risen to Beta in his first sleuth and had found a mate. All things aside with the craziness of Pickens, Dustin's life was doing much better here.

"Well was that so hard, David?" Dustin's smirk Good, he thought. The more he could get David to open up to him the better. Dustin liked to know his co-workers enough that he could at least be on friendly terms with him. Layla had been one of the ones Dustin grew close to at his time so far at the Rookery. The departure of the barista had been a sad one to the 'bear, but he kept her memory alive every time he had the urge to throw a scone at a customer. It had been their own personal joke.