“I’m not the one with a problem.” Ella nodded her head and touched my arm. “But let’s get moving before we get caught.”
How the hell did you do that? Mason’s tone was half annoyed and half full of adoration. If I said something like that, she would’ve bitten my head off.
It’s all in the delivery. He should know. He and Ella were very similar when it came to others telling them what to do. “Let’s go.”
I took off toward the gates in a run. I jumped to the halfway mark and grabbed the top of the railing that was flat underneath the spikes before pulling myself up the rest of the way. I balanced on a smooth section and jumped back down to the ground, landing on my feet.
Okay then. Mason took a running start and jumped, reaching about two-thirds up the gate. However, when he grabbed at the top of the gate, one of his hands landed on one of the spikes, causing him to grunt, and when he flipped himself over the top, he landed on his back.
Are you okay? I forced the laughter back.
I’m fine. He slowly stood and glared at me. Go ahead and laugh.
I can’t. I covered my mouth with my hand. I gotta stay quiet.
Ella appeared as she jumped from the tree branch to the ground. She landed in a squat with her hands helping her stay upright. She glanced at her brother and rolled her eyes.
Even without a pack link, I could hear what she was saying internally - ‘And he thought I was going to cause the noise.’
Needing to not spend too much time out in the open, I waved them both on to follow me.
The three of us ran across the yard, heading straight to Kassie and Mona.
When we reached them, Kassie nodded and pointed toward the back of the house. Once we acknowledged her, she took off running, blending in with the dark.
As we reached the back, I noticed that there weren't any partial windows to the basement, so I wasn’t quite sure what our plan was.
Kassie took in a deep breath and placed a finger to her lips. She hurried off to the other side of the back yard when a light turned on inside.
If we didn’t move, we’d be found. I pointed to the bushes that were at the edge of the house, and the four of us headed in that direction. Luckily, both sides of the house had them, so Kassie managed to hide as soon as the back door opened.
A walkie talkie buzzed to life. “Do you see anything?”
“No, it must’ve been a squirrel or something.” The guy walked outside with no concern at all. “You know this happens at least one time a night. Fucking suburbs.”
“I hear you.” The guy’s voice on the other end of the line was loud enough to hear. “I’ll be glad when we can head back to the city. I wish Chad and Bruce would give us a call. It can’t be that hard hunting down a stupid teenager.”
“Let me just do a quick scan, and I’ll head back in.” He sighed. “These false alarms are killing my sleep.”
“Yeah.” The guy talking through the walkie talkie yawned. “You’re telling me. All right, I’m heading back to sleep. Let me know if something comes up.”
“Next time, it’s your turn.” The guy grumbled and put the device in his pocket. “Fucking squirrels.”
As he took off in the direction where Kassie was hidden, she grabbed his leg, making him fall.
He grunted as he hit the ground and went for the walkie talkie, but Kassie kicked him hard in the face, and his head jerked to the side.
She reached down and took his walkie talkie, putting it in her jeans pocket, and glanced right at us.
Your guardian is a fucking legend. Mason’s voice was filled with awe.
Well, you can tell her all about it when this is done. I’d always known these two ladies were badasses.
Mona grabbed my arm and motioned for me to follow.
I took a hold of Mason’s and Ella’s hands, and we ran to Kassie with Mona following behind us.
Once we were grouped together, Kassie opened the door and glanced both ways. When she confirmed everything was clear, she waved us in to follow after her.
To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what we were going to do. I got that we were going to confront my uncle, but other than that, I didn’t know what would happen. I guessed we’d have to just play it by ear. He wasn’t going to stop trying to kill me, so something was going to have to give.
The house was dark, which wasn’t surprising. It was approaching one in the morning. As we made our way to the front of the house, my heart felt like it leaped into my throat. Houses like these were usually built the same with the stairs right at the front door. Usually, there were two staircases on each side in kind of an arc. If I had money to bet, I was sure that’s where we were headed.
I peeked into a large den and found what had to be my twenty-five year old cousin lying on the couch. He had several beer cans thrown on the ground around him and he was watching something on the television. I glanced over at the group and lifted my finger to my lips. We had to make sure we were quiet.
“Jay, is that you?” Richard’s voice was slurred from his obvious binge drinking. “Grab me another beer.”
He had heard us somehow.
Kassie moved faster, heading toward the front door of the house.
Mason and I stayed back as Mona and Ella quickly crept across the opening.
“Jay?” Richard called out again. He stood, and his eyes met my own through the window. “Holy shit.” He began yelling. “She’s here. Guards. Guards.” He began a drunken shuffle over to grab his phone.
I had to do something. I ran through the front door, across
