“Perfect!” Mina smiles. “Now let’s see what Tyler sent you.” She grabs for my phone again. I slap her hand away.
“Remind me to change my password, again.” I say as I open my phone to Tyler’s message.
“You know I’m training to hack right? So technically I should be allowed to break into your phone, you know, for research purposes and practice.” She winks at me.
“You’re an idiot! And I am definitely keeping you away from Sierra, she’s a bad influence on you.” I laugh at her then look down at my messages. ‘Tyler said to meet up by the student center and we will run the trails, ‘like normal’ is in quotes, then we will change and do a real run once we are about five miles into the trails.” I look up at Osiston, but Mina has to chime in before he can respond.
“He also said he’ll have a bag and would be more than happy to hold your clothes for you while we run.” She starts giggling, like a toddler. “He wants to make sure he gets to see you naked.”
I groan. “Not a chance, I’m not stripping to shift, I dont have to, neither do you remember?” She stops laughing for a second then grins again.
“It’s still funny and kind of cute. He’s pretending to be
chivalrous, while being a total guy.” We both laugh and a clearing of the throat catches our attention.
“If you two are done drooling.” Osiston says, but he doesn’t look angry, just like he’s rolling with the teenager vibe in the room. “Although, I don’t know if you should advertise that you can shift without changing…”
“I’m not getting naked with these guys. I wouldn’t have even if I couldn’t shift with my clothes. They are unknown and that makes me vulnerable. Never gonna happen. If one of you were going as part of the group or if Xander or Oscar were there maybe, but they can’t be here, and you can’t be seen, so no go. We can both do it, so we’ll just say it’s a pack thing if they even ask.” I hope that is enough to finish that argument.
Robbie is questionable at best, but I don’t get totally safe energy from the other two either. My instincts say to keep a healthy distance. And I trust my instincts.
Osiston looks at me for a moment, clearly making a decision of some kind. I don’t break eye contact, trying to convey my uneasiness at the situation. He must find what he’s looking for, because he just nods. “Okay, keep this boy close though. Engage with him and try to get him to talk. Any information can be helpful. Where he’s from, what he’s studying, family, all the mundane stuff can lead us to more answers.” I nod. “So what is on the agenda tonight?”
“Homework.” Mina and I say together.
“I have to maintain my teacher’s pet status.” I roll my eyes playfully. “I can work the teachers more if they think I’m an overachiever. There’s also something about my ecology professor, he’s not normal, but I don’t think he’s a bad guy.
Based on his appearance and his scent he spends all his free time outside and probably in those woods. He might have information too. We have a later start tomorrow so we could do a run in the morning before we train.” He nods and heads towards the door.
“We are going to go get a patrol schedule going and then we will bring back dinner and talk about anything new we find.” He doesn’t wait for a response, just walks out the door with the rest following. I move to sit by Nickolas on the couch and rest my head on his shoulder. He hasn’t said much since we came inside.
“Do you want me to make you some tea, or something a little stronger?’ Mina asks quietly.
“Stronger would be preferred, but I need my head on straight for this and if I start down that road, I may not be able to stop.” She nods and heads towards the kitchen.
“I know you just fought it out with Osiston, but do you want to go workout? It always makes me feel better when I’m frustrated.” I look up at him from my spot on his shoulder.
