Soul Bound

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Finally a free day. A free day with my pack. It's a relief to be at the park with Dunn, Hicks, and the kids, rather than training with River, or more like Mr. Let-Me-Show-You-How-Much-Better-At-Everything-I-Am-Than-You. I'm absolutely exhausted.

Three days since we started and I already feel like a week's worth of sleep still won't be enough to get my energy back. But, as much as I hate to admit it, I've never been as strong as I am now. I can shift into birds and hold forms for twice as long as I used to. And my connection with Wolf is more vivid—stronger—whenever River is around. I can't imagine what it would be like to have a group of soul binders together.

"Stand still, okay?" I tell Dunn, backing away a bit.

The park is quiet today. Niki and T.K. are busy on the swings and I've decided now is as good a time as any to do a little "soul searching."

"Why are we doing this again?" Dunn asks. He undoes a few buttons in his shirt collar.

"River said I can see human souls too. I wanna try it out. So don't move."

Dunn huffs. "Great, that's just great. Blondie's a real Mr. Miyagi, yeah?"

"Be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate."

Looking Dunn straight in the eyes, all I can see are his green irises, twitchy, trying hard to keep my gaze.

"And don't be such a baby. It's just nice to have someone around who knows more about what I am than I do."

"So we're chopped liver now, yeah? Hicks is real beaten up over it. Thinks you don't care about us anymore."

Wolf panics.

Hicks, sitting on the park bench next to us, turns and silently looks at me, pushes his toothpick to the other side of his mouth, then turns back.

My frustration comes out in an "argh." "Stop being a puss, keep eye contact," I bark. "We have to keep eye contact."

"So, what? Every time you want to search for someone's soul you're gonna ask for a staring contest?" Dunn opens his eyes as wide as possible and stares me down.

"No. If I practice I should get the feel for it. Then I can do it with just a quick look. I think."

I take a step closer and finally Dunn doesn't look away. I see green. Green speckled with a lighter green. His pupils dilate a bit.

Deeper, Wolf encourages.

Slowly, I exhale, concentrating as hard as I can. My temples start to throb. There's nothing. Just green.

I'm just about to give up when slowly Dunn's soul starts to appear. It's like a white fire behind his eyes, burning gently.

Deeper, Wolf repeats.

I exhale again. The white fire starts to trail over Dunn's body. Dunn becomes a blur, his features swallowed up by gentle flames that grow brighter and brighter as they spread. The fire doesn't look hot, almost as if it'd actually be cool to the touch.

Amongst the white blaze is a dark area, right over Dunn's stomach. Dunn breaks eye contact and then it's gone. I rapidly blink away the brightness that lingers.

"Okay, I'm done being a guinea pig, yeah? That felt like being naked under a spotlight."

"Like that would bother you."

"Can't help it if the gene pool was good to me, yeah?" He flashes me his shark smile. "So, what'd it look like? Was my soul as handsome as I am?"

I hesitate. Should I tell him about the black spot?