Chapter Four
~ Ajag ~
I didn't understand how things had gone so horribly wrong? We were just supposed to walk out the front door and disappear into the shadows. How could we end up trying to leave just as someone was breaking in? And they weren't even after me, but Jackson.
Had I pissed off a leprechaun or something?
I kept the blanket held tightly around me, trying to hide my torn shirt. I didn't want anyone to see me. I wished that I could go hide in some deep dark hole somewhere.
Everyone was staring.
They were trying not to, but I could see the furtive looks. It was so embarrassing. I might have only been an omega shifter, but I was still a shifter. Anyone looking at me could tell I hadn't been able to fight off one stupid human.
"I've called the sheriff and he's on the way out here," Ze'ev said. "I've also called Jackson in. I want Sy taken up to his room while the sheriff is here. Lu, you can stay with him. If there's trouble, get him out."
Lu nodded.
"You think there's going to be trouble, Ze'ev?" Rad asked.
"These are humans we're dealing with," Ze'ev replied. "You can never tell. That's why I want Sy upstairs. Until I get a feel for these humans, I don't even want them to know Sy is here."
I was in full support of that idea. I didn't even want the police to know I was here. Having my name on any sort of paperwork, even a police report wasn't going to be good. It could put me back on the radar of the people I was trying to avoid.
I couldn't let that happen.
"I don't want to report this," I whispered. "You can report the break in, but leave me out of it."
Rad stiffened against me. "Ajag—"
"No." I held tight to the blanket as I pushed away from him. "I refuse to press charges. I don't want anything to do with this."
Before Rad could stop me, I jumped off the bed and ran to the door. I swung the door open and then froze. The three men that had broken into the house were sitting on the floor in the living room, their hands tied behind their backs.
When the door opened, all three of them turned to look at me, but it was the burning hatred in the leader's eyes that gave me pause. It promised retribution in the most painful way possible.
I turned my head away and walked past them to the stairs. I could feel their eyes on me even as I went up the stairs. I tried not to hurry and just walk at a normal pace, but it wasn't easy. My skin was crawling like a thousand little ants were running all over me.
As soon as I stepped into the small closet to the stairs leading up to the attic, I closed the door and leaned back against it. I was exhausted, beat to shit, and scared out of my mind. I needed to grab Sy and get the hell out of here before something else happened.
I just had to wait until the sheriff came and left. I couldn't take the chance that he would spot me or Sy and ask unwanted questions.
When I heard movement outside the door, I pushed away from it and hurried up the stairs to the attic. Lu and Sy both looked in my direction when I reached their floor.
I walked over and sat on the side of the bed next to Sy, putting my arm around his shoulders. "I need you to be really quiet for a little while, okay?"
Sy nodded.
I could see the confusion on his face and knew I had to give him some sort of explanation. "There are some men coming to the house for a little while. We can't let them know we're here."
"Bad men?" Sy asked.
I shot Lu a quick look before answering. "No, I don't think so, but it's still important that they don't know we are here. They could accidently let the bad men know where we are."
Lu gave me an inquisitive frown that I ignored. I didn't have to explain myself to him, and I didn't want to. The less the people that here knew about my situation, the better for all of us.
Time slid by at a snail's pace. The waiting seemed to take forever. After sitting there for what felt like forever, I got up and walked over to the window, pulling the edges of the curtain back to look outside.
There was nothing to see except darkness even with my enhanced sight. Just darkness and moonlight and a whole hell of a lot of trees.
I suppose that was a good thing. It meant there was no one out there watching the house or waiting for just the right moment to attack. It also meant this was still my opportunity to escape.
I let the curtain fall back into place and turned to walk over to the bed. I could feel Lu's gaze on me with every step I took. I didn't mind that the man never communicated verbally, but the intensity of his stare was unnerving.
Lu snapped his fingers. When I glanced at him, he gestured to me and then to his mouth. He might not be able to talk, but he could clearly get his point across.
"No, thank you." I couldn't eat right now if I tried.
Having spent a large majority of the last few years skipping meals more often than I would have liked, I knew I should eat. I could use the nutrients. I would need the energy when the chance to escape came again.
If it came again.
I also knew anything I tried to eat would simply come right back up. My stomach was in too many knots to accept food into it right now. My anxiety level was rising with every passing second.
"Should we turn off the lights?" I asked.
Anyone coming up the drive would be able to see the lights shining from the windows of the small attic room. They would know someone was up here. If they decided to search the place, I was doomed.
Instead of answering, Lu got up and walked over to turn on the small bedside lamp and then he went to the wall by the door and flipped the switch to turn off the overhead lights.
The room was darkened, but not totally. I could still see everything, which was good. I needed to be able to see my surroundings for my own piece of mind.
Things grew quiet again after Lu sat back down. I didn't really have anything to say at this point. I was hoping to avoid the confrontation I knew was coming. I doubted that would happen, but I could always hope.
I would say if luck was with me, they would just let it go, but I had never been lucky. At some point, Ze'ev and Jackson, as well as the others, would want an explanation as to why I was leaving.
I sucked in a harsh breath when Lu suddenly got up and went to the window. "Are they here?"
Lu gave a single nod.
"Sy," I said as I went over to kneel in front of my brother. "I need you to be very, very quiet. Can you do that for me?"
"Bad man?"
I hated that the Boogeyman was alive and well in Sy's mind.
"No," I replied again because I didn't like lying to him. I also knew from experience that explaining things more than once was kind of the norm. "But there are strangers coming to the house and we don't want them to know we are here."
I knew I had already explained this to him once, but come on, he was three. Explaining things more than once happened a lot. Granted, he always listened, but it never hurt to remind him.
My heart seemed to still in my chest when I heard voices from the first floor. I swallowed tightly, my eyes pinned on the door. I didn't know what I was going to do if they decided to search the house. With the scratches and bruises covering my body, there would be no way to deny I'd been involved in what had happened downstairs.
I glanced at Sy. Luckily, he was immersed in watching some cartoon on the tablet Rad had given him. Lu stood by the door, his head angled as if he was listening in on the conversation downstairs.
When he suddenly stiffened and glanced at me, my heart climbed into my throat. Lu pushed away from the door and hurried over to a section of the wall. He grabbed a hanger attached to the wall and turned it.
My jaw dropped when a section of the wall swung open. Lu snapped his fingers, pointed to the opening, and then made a gesture with his hand.
It took me about two seconds to figure out what he wanted.
I jumped up and grabbed Sy, pulling him toward the hidden space. "Come on," I whispered to him as I took his tablet and set it on the bed. "We have to hide."
"Bad men?"
I didn't know for sure, but I nodded. "You can't make a sound."
As soon as Sy and I were inside, Lu held a finger to his lips and then shut the door. I moved Sy as far away from the opening as I could manage. It was a small space, no bigger than a closet so we couldn't go far.
I quickly pressed my hand over Sy's mouth when I heard a knock on the attic door. A moment later, several sets of footsteps echoed from the main room.
"Lu," I heard Ze'ev state, "those idiots downstairs swear there's a man and child up here. These deputies need to look around."
I didn't hear Lu reply, but I didn't expect to. He didn't talk.
After a few moments someone said, "Yeah, Sheriff, those guys are blowing smoke. There's no one up here but some guy watching an action flick on a tablet. Yeah, I'll tell him."
"What's wrong, Deputy?" Ze'ev asked.
"The sheriff wants everyone to go downstairs. He needs to see your identification and run your record."
Ze'ev snorted. "Don't run it in Texas."
"You got problems in Texas?" the deputy asked.
"Nothing a cold beer and a few less assholes wouldn't cure."
"Any warrants?"
"Not that I know of and I've never been arrested there. Just had to break up a few fights."
I had no idea why Ze'ev was telling this guy all of this. If I'd had trouble with the law somewhere, I'd never mention it to another lawman.
Was he trying to get into trouble?