Read Black Wolf for Free Online Page B

over, and figured
he'd better ask directly. "Fix things how?"
     
    "Pushing for
better environmental laws, better laws to protect animals, more
money for education and health care and social services programs,
stuff like that," Flynn said promptly. "There are folks from Haven
doing everything from animal rescue and wildlife rehab to
environmental impact assessments to more efficient engineering. Ah,
here we are." He held a branch aside for Jesse, and they emerged
from the trees onto a narrow strip of flatter green stuff that
wasn't grass, running for a few feet along the side of a stream. It
was wide enough that he knew he couldn't have jumped across it, and
moving surprisingly quickly along a bed of more green stuff, but it
looked clean.
     
    "It's
perfectly safe for washing, just not for drinking," Flynn said, and
handed Jesse the backpack. "There's clothes, a towel, and soap and
all in there. There's nobody else around, take your time. Want me
to come back in a bit and show you the way back to the campsite, or
can you find your way?"
     
    "I can find
it," Jesse said. He'd learned a long time ago not to tell people how he could always retrace his own steps; they never
believed him that someone could follow their own scent trail while
it was fresh. "Thanks, it's going to feel good to get clean."
     
    "No problem."
Flynn dropped to one knee beside the stream to rinse and fill the
bucket. "And try to relax, okay? Haven's weird but harmless. No
one's going to try to convert, recruit, bully, blackmail, or
otherwise make you do anything you don't want to do. We're helping
you out very simply because if any of us were in your situation,
we'd hope someone helped us." He grinned at what must have been an
extremely startled expression, and headed back the way they'd
come.
     
    Not only was
there soap and shampoo, but there was an obviously new razor, even,
which was good—he tended to have little facial hair, but he
preferred none. At the bottom was a small bottle of drinking water,
a still-sealed toothbrush, and toothpaste.
     
    Tucked between
the lightweight burgundy knit shorts and grey T-shirt was an
unopened package of three pairs of grey men's briefs and another of
socks. He puzzled over how Flynn had known what he needed, but
concluded that someone must have visited while he was asleep, or…
if they'd taken him to the doctor, then obviously there were other
people around who knew about his presence.
     
    Mystery
solved, he got dressed, and used the bottle of laundry soap—neatly
labelled, like the rest, in flowing script in black marker—to get
his own clothes as clean as he could. Not perfect, but it was an
improvement, at least.
     
    Feeling much
better, his arms full of wet laundry and the backpack slung on one
shoulder, he made his way back to the others, with great care for
prickly things and scratchy things and the other discomforts the
forest offered.
     
    "Welcome
back," Kevin greeted him. "Hm, let's see what we can do about
hanging up that much wet stuff." He rummaged around in the pile of
gear, and produced a length of rope and a small drawstring bag.
"Here we go." Bane got up to help tie the rope tightly between two
trees; the bag held clothespins.
     
    All that
activity left Jesse feeling exhausted again, though it was
certainly worth it. He stayed quiet while he joined the others for
lunch, and fell asleep while lying on his stomach nibbling grapes
for dessert.
     
    * * *
     
    The second
night Flynn was there, Jesse woke from restless dreams to the
darkness, and lay still, listening to the others breathing, all
quite soundly asleep. His internal clock told him it was very late,
past midnight.
    What on earth
was he doing here still? He was much less tired now, and the weird
flashes in his head were getting easier to deal with. He didn't
belong here. There was going to be a price on all this, and it was
bound to be something he wouldn't want to pay. Tomorrow they were
planning on packing up the tent and going