Golden Binds

He crashed through the door, nearly smashing it off its hinges. Garret was close on his heels, the juice gone, probably dropped.

“Where the fuck is she?” Garret asked.

“How should I know?” he snarled.

He grabbed the mattress, picking it up and throwing it across the room as though he expected her to be hiding beneath it. He stormed into the bathroom, checking it thoroughly.

“What’s going on?” Joe asked as he raced into the room.

“The girl is gone.” Sawyer’s voice held a warning rumble.

“How can she be gone?” Joe searched the room, as though they’d somehow missed her, a five-foot-two, hundred-pound sprite.

Sawyer turned to Garret. “You were the last one who talked to her. What did you do?”

Garret held his hands up. “Do? I didn’t do fucking anything. When I left her, she was sitting over there.”

They all stared at the wall. There was nothing to see. No sign she’d ever been there.

Garret moved closer to the wall, sniffing. He crouched down. “Her scent is still strong here. How could she disappear?” He looked back over his shoulder at Sawyer. “Weren’t you watching the monitors?”

“I went to the bathroom and when I came back, she was gone. But the cameras were recording.” He stormed out of the room, taking the stairs three at a time and racing into the control room. He sat in his seat, barely aware of the others entering the room and standing behind him.

He rewound the camera and watched in surprise as the female turned to the wall behind her, knocking at it. Then she started pressing against the bricks.

“What’s she doing?” Garret asked.

“She’s searching for a way out,” Joe said.

Then suddenly the wall gave way, and she disappeared inside. Sawyer froze. “There’s a fucking secret tunnel.”

Joe ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t remember the dads ever telling us about tunnels.”

“Maybe they didn’t know,” Garret said.

Sawyer was up again and taking off for the dungeon once more. His skin was on fire. The beast felt like it was trying to claw its way out. He pressed against the brick he’d seen the female touch before she’d disappeared. The wall disappeared, revealing a tunnel on the other side.

He let out a roar that rattled his very bones. Then the beast erupted. He felt hot then cold. The world spun. Dark spots danced in front of his eyes before he crashed to the floor in a faint.

* * *

Joseph froze, staring down at Sawyer in horror. Or what he assumed was Sawyer. Because gone was the scruffy man who desperately needed a haircut and in his place was a huge, brown-haired bear. His clothes had torn with the change, lying in rags around the bear.

“Holy fuck. What just happened?” Garret whispered, as though he was worried about waking the bear.

“I believe that Sawyer’s bear just broke its way free.” Joe shook his head. Surely, he was seeing things.

They’d all seen their parents shift into their bear shapes, but they hadn’t changed that often. At least not in front of them. And that had been years ago.

Suddenly, Sawyer opened his eyes. He climbed onto his feet then shook his head as though still dizzy. He looked at Garret then over to Joe then opened his mouth and roared.

Joe stared at him. “Impressive.” Even though he was freaking out on the inside, he figured it probably wasn’t a good idea to let that show. Sawyer was freaking out enough for the three of them.

Sawyer stood up on his back legs then looked down at himself as though realizing he was now a bear. He bellowed again.

“Yeah, you’re a bear,” Garret told him.

Another loud growl reverberated against the walls.