Soul Bound

Chapter Three

He looks away, but the edges of his mouth twitch. Hicks' way of smiling.

"So what's the plan for today?" Dunn puts his hands on his hips. "Let's get it started. Don't wanna sit in this little shack all day."

"So no breakfast in bed, then?" He doesn't take the bait.

Wolf makes me peek out of the corner of my eye at Hicks whose eyes are hidden behind his signature sunglasses. It occurs to us that we don't actually know what color his eyes are. I don't think I've ever seen him without them on, in all four years I've known him. His full lips are pulled into a frown and he's chewing on a toothpick.

Wolf's got a soft spot for him. He's weirdly gentle and good with animals. But not Dunn. Dunn's not a dog person. Or a cat person. He's more of a rock person.

"I have to pick up the kiddos from school. Simon is off at one of the other Banks for some maintenance."

"Shit. A double-dose of whiny babies today." Like I said, rock person.

"Gotta make a living somehow." Though I'd watch these kids for free every day of the week if Simon needed me to.

"Well, let's go then, yeah?"

I gesture to the blanket covering my nudity and Dunn's eyes go wide.

"Oh, yeah, all right then," he gestures to Hicks and walks straight out the front door. Hicks grunts and follows, tossing his toothpick in my recycle bin as he goes.

When the door closes, I drop the blanket and pull some clean clothes from my dresser. These two have definitely complicated my day a bit. Not only do I have to play prison guard with Wolf, but now I've got Dunn and Hicks watching my every move too. Finn really doesn't want me to shift.

I look out the window at the forest and can feel, even from inside, that things are back to normal. A pair of cardinals fly past my window and the chirping of other birds and insects prove that, whatever was going on last night, wasn't permanent. Maybe we imagined it.

Not imagined, Wolf stresses. Real.

Well it's over now, I lament. Maybe we can get away from Dunn and Hicks long enough to check on things tonight.

I finish getting dressed and head out the door, only to be greeted by Dunn's obnoxiously orange, gas-guzzling Hummer.

"You still have that nasty thing?" I ask him.

"Be nice, yeah? She has feelings." Dunn rubs a hand protectively over the hood. "And she's driving your hippie ass around today. Hop in."

Dunn's mood doesn't lighten when he finds out I have to pick the kids up from the elementary school. And he projects it onto anyone that comes within reach when we pull up to the front of the parent pick-up line, surrounded by other people waiting for their children.

"Keep walking, rugrats," Dunn barks at some fifth graders that pause too long to look at his vehicle. He paces along the length of the Hummer, protecting it from "grubby brat" hands, ready to pounce on anyone who comes too close.

"Jeez, you're like a crotchety old man," I say, climbing out of the backseat. It's hard enough trying to keep Wolf calm without Dunn's bitching as an added distraction.

"What? Am I embarrassing you, princess?" he yells after me as I put some distance between us.

Away from Dunn and Hicks' familiarity Wolf beings to fidget in my head as the small, animal-like little humans run around us.

We do not chase children. They run around like wild animals, true, but we do not chase them.

It's the same mantra I repeat to myself every time I'm stuck in the student pickup area. A little girl in a blue dress dashes by, shrieking with the pleasure of freedom and I have to swallow down the urge to pursue; avert my eyes, try to find something interesting about the way my shoelaces are tied.