I try to soothe her, to try to make her understand.What if I can't come back? What then?
She snaps her teeth, clearly irritated.He will call you back.
I doubt he'd care enough to call me back.
I walk into the courtyard to a small sea of fur and skin. More than half of everyone has already shifted, and those who are still human are in various stages of undress. My gaze finds Drew without effort. Parker is next to him in a pair of gym shorts and nothing else, but Drew is fully dressed.
What is he doing?
Parker's expression is pinched as he speaks to Drew. Drew's face is carefully blank as he shakes his head.
Go to him.
I shake my head. He can stand over there and be weird all he wants all by himself.
He needs help.
I raise a brow at that.Parker can help him.
You're being stupid.She huffs again but doesn't persist.
One of the counselors starts announcing groups and Drew reaches up to stroke the side of Parker's neck before going back inside.
What is he doing? Leaving Parker to hunt alone? Why?
My name is called, immediately commanding my attention.
“Barrett. Mills. Shaver. Merritt. Rakes.”
I knew it. I knew they would put me with one of them. There is no way the staff doesn't know what happened between us, so why put us together? Especially this early in the program.
Parker rakes his hands through his hair, making it stick up and out in places, but doesn't make a move to find or join any of the other people on our assigned team.
Why did Drew leave?
Curiosity carries me across the courtyard to land in front of Parker.
“What?” he asks without looking at me.
“I'm on your team for this hunt.”
“There are three other people you could stand with.”
So rude.
“You can't get out of this, Parker. You're stuck with me right now, and I have a feeling you're going to be stuck with me a lot before we leave Recovery. You can be mean, or you can get over yourself. I want to try to enjoy this hunt, even if it's just a run through the trees. I don't know those other people.”
“You don't know me.”
I roll my eyes and pull off my shirt, folding it before reaching back to undo the clasp of my bra and pulling it off, too. Everyone else is leaving their clothes either in tight piles or neatly folded stacks on benches and tables and the ground. Nobody cares about the nudity before shifting so when Parker forcefully blows out a breath and scrubs his face with his palms, it takes me aback.
“Do you have to be so...” he gestures toward me with one hand.
I look down at my bared torso, then at the people surrounding us in various stages of undress. People are shifting, the pops and grunts as bodies change making me homesick.
“So what?” I ask, genuinely confused.
His gaze flicks down my body and his lip curls in irritation. “Go find the other two, Genie.”
