Among The Wolves

Name

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. I had never heard a more obvious lie in my life. This pale, round eyed, sandy brown haired kid looked nothing like my black hair, monolid eyed, olive skinned mate. In addition, Ty'Bin was not an Omicron.

“If Ty'Bin is your dad then pigs fly.”

The kid blinked and looked down. Scuffing the ground with his foot. “I can't say anything.”

After the shock subsided, it was fairly easy for me to conclude that he, the kid, was harmless.

I waved a hand, “Whatever.”

I picked the bike back up and brushed it off.  “Well, you can hop on…” the boy's eyes lit up “but I should let you know that I am not going to Wos’Theon...” I looked his way carefully to see his reaction. He was unfazed, he walked up to the bike looking for a good way to get on. “...not yet anyway. I have a couple quick stops to make.”

He still inched closer to the bike.

Perturbed by his nonchalantness, I held my hand up. “Just wait until I get on and then you can get behind me.”

The boy nodded, easily surrendering to my command. I understood my own caution to extend trust to this young stranger but what about him? Why was he so at ease to trust me with his life if we've never met before?

Baffled, I sighed, “But if you tell me another outrageously stupid lie like Ty'Bin's your dad then you're walking, got it?”

The boy nodded again, “Yes ma'am.”

I eyed him seriously, “How long have you been in Vakusi?”

A small shrug, “I can't tell you that.”

A huff escaped my nose and I clicked my tongue. “Of course you can't.”

I swung my leg over and gestured for the boy to get on. I was going to need Ty'Mee's help in picking out a name for this boy so I did not have to keep referring to him as ‘the boy’ in my head. Although, for now, I could just call him the kid. It was not a real name but it would put my mind at ease. It certainly was better than "Mr. Homeless-look-alike".

The kid got on the motorbike behind me and gripped the sides of the seat. “Ypu can hold on tight to me, since I've got no helmets.” I told him.

When he gripped my clothing I rolled us out of the alleyway and watched for traffic before I started the motorbike and our journey to the first stop officially began.

Since I knew where some post offices were, the ride was mostly leisurely. I did what I could to take back roads and out-of-sight streets. We left the inner city and entered the suburbs. In about an hour we made it to a small town. I left the kid with the bike but took the key and quickly paid for the two letters to be sent out. There was no doubt that this would be the last time these people would hear from me and vise versa. While I was sentimental toward Vakusi, I never wanted to come back here again.

Now, it was early afternoon, we would probably be traveling for a while before we reached the border. And for that, I was relieved. I dreaded the whole debacle. Really, I just wanted to teleport back in the BlackAxis Pack, safe. Although with the warning I had, the whole of Wos’Theon would be far from calm.

Without saying anything to the kid I made another stop at a gas station. I left the kid to pump the bike while I paid for the gas.

The bell above the door tinkled, alerting my arrival. The man behind the counter looked expectantly at me. “Anything I can help you with.”

I nodded, “Actually yes. I just need to pay for the pump with the bike.”

“Sure, just need to wait until it's done pumping.”