Unbound (Bound To You sequel)

FIVE - Wait, what?

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"You okay?" Robin asked me as he loaded my suitcase into the back of the SUV. We were sadly going in one of the pack's five boring SUVs rather than the amazing Porsche I'd left behind in the garage as I went to get the car.

The Porsche was Markus and while it was so very tempting the last time I'd borrowed it things hadn't gone so well. We were also heading into winter, or it felt like that to me even though Halloween was a week away, so there wasn't going to be any cruising with the top down anyway.

"Super," I said, but frowned. I hadn't seen James since last night. It hurt that he was staying away. Not even coming to say goodbye it seemed.

I also hadn't seen Trist since the day before, which worried me a little too.

I wasn't sure how the best or right way to deal with him was. How did you deal with someone who at times was your proud father-in-law (basically) and other times would throw temper tantrums, rant and threaten to kill everyone.

Was there a right way?

"Has Trist always been like this?" I asked Robin but avoiding eye contact and instead focusing intensely on the gargoyle adoring the entrance of the manor. "I mean, since his mate died? Has he been..."

"No," Robin said. "Maybe. Every time something has changed he's gotten a little worse."

"And I'm a change," I asked as much as stated, knowing that was very true. I was the biggest change the pack had seen in decades.

"Yes," he said, his light brown eyes intense.

"How do I fix it?"

"I don't know that you can," Robin said, his voice a little rougher than normal. "Sometimes you just can't fix. No matter how much you want to. I mostly think that just being kind to him, remembering that he was once great is enough. Or I hope."

"It's sad," I said, wondering what Trist had been like when he'd been Trist the Great. "Would you tell me about him? I would ask James but..."

"Sure," Robin said after a few long second. Then I felt his hand on my shoulder. "Megan, I wanted to ask you-" He stopped speaking abruptly, shifted, letting go of me, his head tilting to catch a sound or scent.

"What is it?" I asked.

Robin shook his head. "Nothing. I thought..."

I tried to hear or see what had caught Robin's attention but all I heard were the approaching footsteps and the soft feeling of a pack member approaching through the pack bonds.

"Hey guys," Owen said, a bag slung over his shoulder. "Catch a ride with you?"

Robin eyes were still searching as he absentmindedly said, "For sure."

"Why are you going to Montreal?" I asked, confused as all of the pack lived at the manor. With James going after the nest it seemed a strange time for Owen to be heading south.

"Not Montreal," Owen replied as he open the back seat to throw his bag in. "Just town."

"Oh," I said, still confused. Because I still wasn't sure why he'd want to go to town in the AM. Normally the pack headed into town to hunt wraiths after dark. "Scouting the nest?"

Owen smiled. "Visiting my girl." Then he got into the back.

"Owen has a girl?" I asked Robin across the hood of the car.

"Yeah," he said as he got into the car.

"There are other werewolves in Tenebri?" I asked as I got into the driver's seat.

I was great driver, probably the best of the whole pack. Maybe because most of them had grown up when riding horses was more of a thing than driving cars. Okay, they weren't that old but the modern automobile and the speeds they could reach still seemed to make a few of them almost uncomfortable, while I loved the strength, the speed, the thrill of driving a powerful and fast car.

"No," Robin said. "Human."

"Oh," I said, glancing at Owen in the rearview mirror. Human werewolf relationships were frowned upon. At least they were in the south. My father had been firmer and firmer against them because the fear of exposure. There was also the possibility of the wolf bonding with the human, which I'd been told could cause problems. No one had specified exactly how. It made me worry a little for Owen though.

Owen said something to Robin in French, then turned sharp eyes to me.

"Yes," Robin replied in English as I started the car. "She's driving."

Owen accepted this with a small frown but asked, "Alpha?"

"No," Robin replied into the rearview mirror. "Because she's better at it."

Owen smiled as the car picked up speed. "Yes."

I smiled too, I'd only driven with Robin in the car once, but I was glad he'd recognized my skills.

"I remember the first time I drove a car," Owen said, shaking his head. "It's not easy."

"I remember it too," Robin said, wincing. "Be glad he's not driving," he told me jokingly.

"How will you get back?" I asked.

"Tommy is picking me up from Josie's," Owen said. When he said her name, his eyes changed a little. Softened. That made my heart clench with happiness at the fact that Owen had someone he loved. And maybe just a little bit with jealous;  I wanted James to look at me with kind-love eyes too.

"Josie, that's your girlfriend?" I asked after a few seconds.

"Yes," he said, but added nothing more.

"And," I prompted, excited. Maybe me, James, Owen and Josie could go on a double date. Not right away because I imagined it'd take some time before James felt comfortable going to the movies and just hanging out. But it didn't hurt to think about. "How'd you meet? What's she like? You haven't told her about the werewolf thing, right? What kind of stuff does she like to do?"

Owen looked briefly at Robin who just shrugged, then he said, "She's a singer."

"Oh wow, that's cool," I told him as we hit the highway. "Does she have Youtube or anything? Have you met her?" The last question was directed at Robin.

He shook his head. Owen frowned. Maybe he didn't know what Youtube was? James hadn't. Not so weird since he didn't have a phone or computer. Owen was about as old as James, having been born around the start of world war one.

"Do you think she'd want to met me?" I asked Owen. "I'm not starting class until the spring so it would be great to meet up with some local people, maybe make some friend and learn where the best hangouts are."

"Perhaps," Owen said after a few thoughtful seconds and another look to Robin. "Just you, though."

I nodded, remembering how James had reacted to Trist's smell on me. Werewolves were territorial and even if Owen wasn't bad looking with his square jaw and percing blue eyes, Robin was in another class on his own. If I was a guy I wouldn't want him around my girlfriend either.

"Awesome!" I said when the conversation suddenly seemed to come to a halt. "Ask her and maybe we can meet up next week. I figure we'll be back by then, right?"

"Yeah," Robin agreed when I gave him a worried glance. "As long as Dante doesn't try to kill me, we shouldn't have too much trouble."

"Right," I said, pleased that I'd both get a chance to make a new friend before soon (hopefully) and that I'd get back to James fairly quick. Then I realized what Robin had said. "Wait? What?"