text: All things considered, Cooper would rather be at a masked orgy under a full moon right now. It honestly sounded like less work.
  
  His shoulder ached where the hard plastic of a bundle of oars dug into the muscle, and his legs were shaking. When they had made their way to the lodge promptly at four o'clock, they'd found most of the other guests milling around the front steps. Of the small, five-person staff, four of them would be joining the hike—a short, white, heavily tattooed woman named Reggie, who quietly introduced herself as the "relaxation expert"—meaning who knows what—and the two therapists, Dr. Vanessa Claymont and a man who introduced himself as Dr. Bradley Joyce. Vanessa's partner and co-director, Paul Claymont, was nowhere to be seen, and it was obvious his absence was unexpected. Vanessa's opening speech sounded uneven and rushed, as if she'd had to take over last minute.
  
  "Even couples who have been together as long as we have and know all the tricks can have the odd miscommunication," Vanessa admitted, and the small crowd laughed, more to ease her embarrassment than anything else. Jack Nielsen the cook would apparently be filling in as an extra set of hands in place of Paul.
  
  "He's certainly handy," Cooper remarked to Park. "Who isn't he filling in for?"
  
  "My mate," a short woman nearby said, playfully elbowing the equally short man next to her, presumably her aforementioned mate who just smiled and rolled his eyes in an easygoing manner. "But the weekend's just getting started."
  
  The small group around them all laughed except for a tall, sour-faced man who sucked his teeth pointedly before moving away, across the yard, leaving his own partner, an extremely talkative woman, to smile embarrassedly, speechless for once, and follow him.
  
  There were nine couples attending the retreat for this weekend in total, including Cooper and Park, and though they'd all introduced themselves, most of the names and face blurred together. He didn't feel particularly bad about it. It was highly unlikely any of the guests had anything to do with Kreuger's disappearance, and Cooper figured he'd have plenty of time and forced bonding over the next five days to get to know his neighbors. His only real concern was whether anyone there would recognize Park.
  
  But nearly every guest seemed to live outside the Park family's northeast territory. No doubt they'd still recognize the pack's infamous name, but were far enough not to know Park's face on sight. Almost all of them were from the southeast. Five of the couples even hailed from the Carolinas themselves, practically locals. Cooper and Park got some interested looks when they said they were from DC, but really no one seemed terribly surprised.
  
  "Well, where else could a couple like them go openly?" Cooper overheard the talkative woman whispering to her sour-faced husband in a matter-of-fact, if somewhat pitying tone. He assumed she meant because he was a human and not because they were gay, since there were at least two other visibly queer couples there besides Cooper and Park and no one batted an eye at them.
  
  Dr. Claymont hustled everyone toward the trail as soon as the final couple arrived, two laughing Black women in their sixties who apologized for holding the group up, though they were hardly two minutes later than Cooper and Park.
  
  When Dr. Claymont had described the trip to the top of the falls as a journey, Cooper thought she was being cute. Or maybe alluding to the emotional journey they'd need to traverse together. An hour and a half later, he realized she'd actually been downplaying it. Odyssey would have been more accurate. They had hiked two and a half miles of steep terrain at a forty-five-degree angle from the quarry, carrying all the gear they'd need to then raft another two miles down the river. In Cooper's humble opinion, if he and Park had actually been having relationship issues, all this physical work would have sent them over the edge.
  
  Speaking of which...
  
  "This is the same river that turns into that enormous waterfall, right?" Cooper asked Park as he dumped the bundle of oars to the ground at last.
  
  Nearby, one of the counselors chuckled. Dr. Bradley Joyce was a cuddly-looking white man in his fifties with shaggy brown hair and a close-cropped beard. Somewhat barrel-chested, he had a deep voice that could be heard laughing often as they'd hiked. Like the rest of the staff that had joined them on their quest, he had floated between the groups, introducing himself, answering questions and quietly observing the way guests worked together.
  
  It chafed Cooper's nerves how obviously this was a test of teamwork, and yet he still found himself acting almost ludicrously conscientious. Fortunately, he wasn't the only one affected by the observation. The whole hike had buzzed with Watch your step ahead and Does anyone want to swap out? and gentle touches to the shoulder paired with concerned eyes and How are you doing? No one got touched more than Cooper.
  
  Tired, hurting and worried about what other activities lay ahead, the extra attention felt cloying and superficial. At least ten times during the hike, another guest had wandered over to touch Cooper's arm and ask how he was and if he needed help. The frustrating thing was that Cooper couldn't even blame them for being concerned. While everyone was undeniably working hard, Cooper felt like the only person who looked like he'd already taken a dip down the falls and then fought his way back up, he was sweating so much and breathing so heavily.
  
  "There's a large bend and stretch of still water before the drop-off," Dr. Joyce explained. "You'll have plenty of time to row to shore. It's quite safe."
  
  "Well, that's a relief," Cooper said. "This one's not much of a sailor." He jerked his head toward Park, who snorted at the understatement while carefully setting the raft down on the riverbank along with the couple they'd been partnered with: the same sour-faced man and talkative woman from before. The man had warmed to Cooper and Park just enough to brag about what an experienced outdoorsman he was and how this was actually their second time at the retreat.
  
  "We're just here as a nice little getaway, not for all that counseling stuff," he'd announced to Cooper and Park, a bit defensively. Whether that was true or not, he certainly did like acting as if he was one of the staff.
  
  "What class rapids are these again, Bradley?" the man—Jimmy—asked Dr. Joyce, leaving Park and Jimmy's talkative partner, Lisa, to secure the raft by themselves. "Four? Five?"
  
  "Oh, goodness no," Joyce said. "The river's a one, with some small sections of two. Really, you don't need to have any whitewater experience for the distance we're going." He directed this last part at Cooper, which seemed unnecessary. "If you're nervous, Vanessa always packs a couple of lifejackets, just in case."
  
  "Actually, I grew up on the water," Cooper said tersely.
  
  "Really?" Joyce said, with more curiosity than the comment warranted. "That's very interesting."
  
  Was it? "Yeah. I mean, don't try to connect it to my unstable sense of self or daddy issues or anything," Cooper muttered, regretting he'd said anything. "Those are all strictly land-based."
  
  Joyce laughed again and looked like he was going to respond when Dr. Claymont clapped her hands and called for everyone's attention.
  
  "Well, look at that! The first stage is complete and you've all made great time by working together and encouraging your partner and your teammates."
  
  "Teammates?" Cooper heard Lisa whisper to Jimmy with a somewhat insulting degree of concern. "Do you think we have the same team the whole weekend?"
  
  Jimmy shushed her and hissed, "If you shut up for once and let me actually listen, maybe we'd find out."
  
  Lisa looked down quickly and crossed her arms over her stomach. As if remembering they were supposed to be the most evolved couple with the least amount of problems, Jimmy glanced guiltily over his shoulder and caught Cooper watching him. His face turned a blotchy red and quickly turned away. Cooper couldn't resist looking at Dr. Joyce beside him, and saw he too was observing the couple with a small, concerned frown.
  
  "Now the hard work can begin," Dr. Claymont was saying. "For safety, we're going to launch one at a time and have a staff member in each raft." She began to assign the nine couples an order and, hearing that he, Park, Jimmy and Lisa would be last, Cooper finally gave in to the urge to sit down, back against a large tree.
  
  Park sat beside him and touched his shoulder lightly. He peered into his eyes with exaggerated concern. "Hey there. Hey. How you are you doing? You need me to carry you?"
  
  "You're lucky I'm too tired to break up with you," Cooper warned, but was unable to contain his chuckle, and a few people looked over at them curiously. He lowered his voice to match Park's near whisper. "So I was right. People are being extra worried for me."
  
  Park didn't bother denying it. "You look less competent than you are," he said simply. Cooper couldn't tell if he felt insulted or flattered. "Christopher isn't a wolf, either, you know," he added.
  
  "Who? Just so I know who to flash the secret signal later." Cooper scanned the crowd as if he'd be able to tell. At the river's edge, Vanessa and Nielsen were supervising the first raft's launch and helping "relaxation expert" Reggie into the raft along with two of the more enthusiastic couples. As he watched, Nielsen slipped slightly on the slippery river stones and Vanessa's hand reached out instinctively to steady him, and Nielsen jerked quickly away.
  
  "He's Mutya's partner," Park was saying. "Over there." He indicated a short, Filipinx man and woman, talking to Dr. Joyce. The woman, Mutya, was the same one who had made the raunchy joke that had pissed off Jimmy. Now she stood with her arm wrapped somewhat possessively around her partner Christopher's waist, while he waved his hands around, describing something that made the doctor laugh.
  
  "He's human and six inches shorter than me. How come no one was asking him if he needed to sit down and rest his legs?" Cooper asked a little peeved.
  
  "All of us together, working as a group like this, activates our pack-ier instincts. Subconsciously they just want to be near your high AQ."
  
  Cooper frowned and shifted uncomfortably. "Don't say that," he said without thinking, and Park looked at him, surprised. "Sorry, just...never mind."
  
  He guiltily looked away and his gaze found Nielsen again. Neither he nor Vanessa were looking at each other, and they seemed very careful not to touch again. An odd thing, to be the only human working at a camp run entirely by wolves and ostensibly for wolves.
  
  As Cooper considered this, a faint motor sound grew to a loud grumble and an ATV pulled into view and parked in the small clearing. A man climbed off hurriedly, scanning the area.
  
  "Sorry I'm late, everyone!" He gave a slow-moving wave that reminded Cooper of a dictator on his balcony. "An errand in town. Two years living here and I still forget how long it takes to get in and out of the mountains."
  
  He was tall, white, bald, in wiry good shape and, interestingly, significantly younger than Vanessa. Fifteen years or more. He looked like the sort of man who thought it was his god-given duty to benevolently inform everyone else on the health benefits of juicing and paddleboard. Cooper immediately blamed him for today's agenda.
  
  "Sorry, Vee. Thanks for holding down the fort," the man continued, still loudly enough for everyone to hear, and kissed Vanessa quickly on the cheek. "My rock. What would I do without you?"
  
  "Paul Claymont, I assume," Cooper murmured to Park as the couples who hadn't launched yet dutifully awwed and vocally aspired to being referred to as a rock after their partner left them holding the bag all day. He watched Vanessa extricate herself swiftly from Paul's hold and begin loading the second raft with two more couples and Dr. Joyce. "Do you think he'll try to speak to you?"
  
  "Santiago said she made it clear no one was to know. That he should treat us as any other guests." Park sounded a bit like he was trying to convince himself. Like he was hoping more than anything not to be acknowledged, sought out.
  
  "But..." Cooper said gently.
  
  "But I already smell his excitement, his fear."
  
  Indeed, even as Park said this, Paul was looking around the group, barely paying attention to the couple introducing themselves to him. It was exceedingly obvious the moment he caught sight of Park. Paul startled and took a hasty step back. He excused himself and walked in their direction at an alarming pace.
  
  "Paul, buddy!" Jimmy called in a friendly voice, and made to intercept him, but was brusquely dismissed with an impersonal wave.
  
  Cooper inwardly winced at Jimmy's expression, caught off-guard and embarrassed. For a moment, Cooper could have sworn he saw Jimmy's face jump in place, like the flickering of a screen. It was unlike anything Cooper had ever seen from a wolf.
  
  "Did you see—" Cooper started, and Park looked questioningly at him, but Lisa had already pulled Jimmy away and Paul was drawing nearer. "Ne-never mind. Should we stand up?" Cooper asked instead.
  
  "Why," Park simply stated. It wasn't a question. His voice and expression already set to carefully uninterested and unbothered. It reminded Cooper of the Park he'd first met. A Park he now understood carefully hid years of hurt and loneliness under a blank mask.
  
  Up close, Cooper could see Paul's head was shiny, and his T-shirt pit-stained—as if he, too, had needed to trudge up the mountain—and his eyes were wide and dilated inhumanly. About a foot away Paul dropped eerily fast into a crouch, waddled awkwardly a couple steps closer, then dropped again to his knees so that he was about eye-level with Cooper and Park. He licked his lips, nervously, but after all that rush seemed reluctant to speak. Park, too, remained quiet.
  
  Normally Cooper quite liked a man on his knees in front of him, but this was too weird for him and he worried for Park if this turned into another antagonistic meeting like that with Muñoz. He broke the silence.
  
  "Nice ride," Cooper said cheerfully, nodding at the ATV. "Which box do I have to check next time to drive up rather than walk?"
  
  Paul glanced at him, as if surprised by his presence or gall to break such a preciously uncomfortable staring match. "We normally discourage vehicles on the trails, but I wanted to join you as soon as I could. I can't apologize enough for not being here to welcome you when you arrived." He dipped his head in something that was not quite a bow, but uncomfortably close to doffing the proverbial cap.
  
  "It's...a beautiful property," Park said carefully. It was still a lot smoother than anything Cooper could have managed right then, feeling unbearably awkward under the eyes of what seemed like all four couples still waiting by the river.
  
  "Thank you. So kind of you to say. Of course, we've been very lucky." Paul lowered his voice significantly. "I was wondering—of course you probably don't remember. But—" He laughed. "Really funny thing, you actually helped out my old alpha Becca once."
  
  "I remember," Park said.
  
  "Oh!" Paul seemed thrown by Park's bluntness. "I just wanted to say, that was the best pack I was ever a part of in no small part thanks to you and what you did for us." He waited for Park to say something but got zip. "Well, ah, anyway, I hope you're happy with your room. Number seven is our nicest cabin."
  
  Cooper and Park made satisfied noises and Paul beamed, back on track. "Wonderful. We're so honored to have you choose our retreat to stay. And your mate," he added, remembering Cooper's annoyingly persistent presence. He licked his lips nervously again and glanced over his shoulder where Vanessa was loading the third raft and beckoning him over. He held his finger to indicate just a minute. "If I may say so, I understand you're not using your, ah, family name." Lip lick. "I didn't tell Vanessa... But perhaps I—"
  
  "No," Park interrupted sharply, and Paul jerked and rocked backward. "I would be—" Park hesitated "—most appreciative to you, if everyone here knows me only as Andrew Preston. Guests and staff."
  
  "Of course. I understand completely. We're very discreet here at Maudit. And if there's anything—"
  
  Park abruptly got to his feet, and this time Paul really did fall backward to the ground. He hastily got up and Cooper, feeling like a prick being the only one sitting, hauled his ass up, too.
  
  "I believe your presence has been requested on this next raft," Park said stiffly, formally.
  
  "Yes. Good. Great." Paul hesitated again, and this time Cooper was worried he was waiting for Park to literally dismiss him. But finally he said, "I have always had the utmost respect for your family and everything they did after the Division. I hope they know—you know—for however long we live down here, my loyalty remains."
  
  He dipped his head again, backed up a couple of steps, then turned to hurry to the river and Vanessa.
  
  Cooper exhaled, long and slow. "Well."
  
  "I cannot be in a fucking trust-building activity with him," Park said vehemently as soon as Paul was a fair distance away, leaving them alone on their side of the clearing. "He's going to ruin this."
  
  Cooper put his hand on Park's back in sympathy and watched Paul clamber into the river, enthusiastically introducing himself to the two couples already on board.
  
  "He seemed nervous," Cooper prompted. The little interaction with Paul, the fawning subservience, whether real or acted, had felt gross to Cooper, too, and he wasn't even the target. But it was something they could take advantage of if Park was willing. "Paul's more likely to talk to you than me—" he started, apologetically.
  
  "I know," Park interrupted. He hesitated, shook his head as if to clear it. "Sorry. I'll do better. He just...caught me by surprise. Don't know why. He's hardly my first. They either hate me like Muñoz or they—" He cut himself off this time. "Guess I was enjoying being someone else, even if it only lasted this afternoon."
  
  Something about that, hearing Park's defeated self-chastising, made Cooper's throat hurt. "We should go somewhere. After this," he said, abruptly. "When we next get time off. Somewhere you can be you, fully you, and no one will care."
  
  Park looked at him, startled. His lips parted slightly and his amaretto eyes seemed softer, younger than usual. "I'd...like that."
  
  "Well, good. Me, too," Cooper said, feeling oddly fluttery. "Mind you, anywhere fancy and you're paying." He patted Park's butt playfully.
  
  "Oh, to be the rich patron of a younger, demanding man," Park bemoaned. "When will I escape your sexual snare?"
  
  "When I murder you in Mykonos and abscond with my lover to spend your fortune."
  
  "I see you've decided to accept life in the lap of luxury after all," Park said dryly.
  
  Cooper winked. "Now, when have I ever been able to say no to your lap?"
  
  "Last group, get ready!" Vanessa called.
  
  They made their way to their raft where Jimmy and Lisa were having a hushed argument that cut off as soon as they recognized they weren't alone. Cooper remembered the strange face thing and wondered if it was something worth asking about later.
  
  "I didn't realize you'd met Paul before," Jimmy said loudly, even as Lisa sucked her teeth and hissed something under her breath at her partner.
  
  "We have a mutual friend," Park said shortly. "Shall we?" He gestured to the raft.
  
  Cooper didn't like the look in Jimmy's eyes, but he said nothing else and obediently lifted the raft to bring it to the riverbank. He silently cursed Paul Claymont. He hadn't said anything to outright expose Park's identity, but how could the man practically crawl on his knees and think no one would notice?
  
  ...unless the point was so that people would notice. But what would be the benefit of drawing attention to Park like that? Right now the only person reacting was Jimmy, childishly jealous of their perceived special treatment.
  
  The river was shockingly cold, but the farther away from the launch point they paddled, the more they caught the late-afternoon sun, until eventually the constant flyaway oar drips and splashes of ice water that leapt off the rocks and into the raft were a relief to heated skin. Despite Park's own admission of not being a water person, he'd been assigned the front and Jimmy had immediately plopped himself alongside him but had been politely asked by Vanessa to move a row back due to weight distribution.
  
  Being the last group, both she and Nielsen were riding with them, and she joined Jimmy on his row. Lisa and Cooper sat on the row after, and directly behind them sat Nielsen. When Cooper had glanced back at him, Nielsen had winked. Cooper kept his eyes forward as much as possible after that. Up ahead he could just see Paul Claymont's raft rising and falling over the bumpy water. It wasn't quite the Lazy River Log Ride Dr. Joyce had implied, and Cooper wondered how long until they got to the falls. He was exhausted and they hadn't even gotten anywhere on the case yet.
  
  They paddled hard into the strong current and then concentrated on navigating the jutting rocks and logs. Cooper kept waiting for someone—Vanessa or, hell, even Nielsen—to launch into some metaphor about why every position on the boat matters and only through communication can we get where we need to go, blah blah blah, but they both kept quiet. Vanessa seemed distant and distracted. More than once Cooper noticed her oar still in the water and have to jerk back into movement when the raft began to turn off course. Lisa was the only one determined to keep up the polite and enthusiastic chatter.
  
  "Isn't this beautiful? So nice. So fun. A real treat for us to get out of the suburbs, back into nature. I'm so glad we came back. Aren't you, babe?"
  
  Jimmy ignored her.
  
  "You and Andrew just flew in this morning, didn't you?" Lisa said to Cooper, determinedly. "This must be a terribly long day. Especially for you. I mean—" Blotchy spots of pink tinged her cheeks.
  
  "That's okay, I ate my Wheaties." He winked at her and she laughed in a relieved sort of way. "When was the last time you were here?"
  
  "Oh, last October, wasn't it?" she said. Before Kreuger would have been here, Cooper noted. "We couldn't go rafting then, but we did the two-day hike with Hal. He taught us about edible plants and we camped out on the trail." In Cooper's opinion, she sounded far too nostalgic for someone remembering nibbling on wild fungi and shitting in the woods.
  
  "Two days of hiking and camping?" Cooper repeated, alarmed, and heard Park cough, poorly disguising a laugh. "Do we have to—are we doing that?"
  
  "No, activities change depending on the session," Vanessa explained. "Since Reggie has joined us, we've been able to start offering our popular Intimacy Through Touch workshop."
  
  Park coughed again, and Cooper silently apologized to all mushrooms. He would rather eat every type of them than intimately touch Park in a room full of strangers and possible murder suspects any day. Even the poisonous ones.
  
  "I was sorry to see Hal wasn't still working here," Lisa continued. "I wanted to ask him about this strange little plant we found in our yard. I have pictures on my phone. Where did he go?"
  
  "The West Coast, I think," Vanessa said vaguely.
  
  "Do you think maybe I could get his contact information?"
  
  "Oh, I don't know if I have the right number anymore," Vanessa hedged.
  
  "I'd love to be able to ask him about this plant and if it's the same one that he said the leaves are poisonous to us in fur but not if they're steamed? Or maybe it was the roots we can't eat in skin—"
  
  Jimmy cut her off. "She obviously can't just go around giving out people's personal information."
  
  Lisa laughed but looked down at her oar, letting her hair cover her face for a moment before looking determinedly back up, smile in place. "Of course not. Silly of me. I didn't mean to put you in an awkward position."
  
  "Not at all," Vanessa said mildly.
  
  There was a strained silence.
  
  "I know a little something about wild plants," Nielsen said eventually. "I could take a look if you want."
  
  Lisa looked behind her and blushed slightly. "Oh, that's very sweet of you." She paused and looked uncomfortable. "With the poison leaves and such...do you, um, know much wolf biology, though?"
  
  "Oh, I'd say I know a bit," Nielsen said. There was a curious tone to his voice Cooper couldn't identify.
  
  "We're almost to the turnoff point, but the river's rougher up here than usual," Vanessa interrupted them. "We should focus."
  
  Cooper would have suspected her of deliberately shutting down the subject, except the river really was getting choppier, angrier. The sun had disappeared and the rocks were harder to pick out in the gray light. None of this was helped by Jimmy trying to take control. He kept paddling harder and faster than both Vanessa and Park, and their raft was turning in directions it shouldn't go. More than once they were getting stuck on stones and debris that could have been avoided.
  
  "Would you just push?" Jimmy said to Lisa as they were trying to dislodge themselves from one such outcropping.
  
  "I'm...trying..." Lisa grunted, and Cooper leaned over to her side with his own oar to help. "Oh!"
  
  As the raft shot free, her oar got stuck between two rocks and yanked out of her grasp. She reached for it instinctively, flinging herself too far, and her body overbalanced into the water, legs flipping up as she yelped.
  
  Cooper grabbed her. Just barely snagging a handful of thigh flesh. Enough to slow her down but not to pull her back. He knelt up carefully, leaning over the edge.
  
  Everyone in the raft was yelling and scrambling toward them, trying to help. The raft tilted precariously, but Cooper got his other hand on her shoulder and tugged. He felt Lisa's weight shift back toward safety and her hand shoot back to scratch blindly at his chest.
  
  "I've got—"
  
  Something hard and sharp slammed up and under his side ribs. Cooper choked in shock and tumbled into the dark water.