Four Days (Seven Series #4) (18 page)

“No sweat. I’m on it.”

I pulled my hand from Lynn’s and placed it on my lap, waiting for someone to speak, but everyone quietly digested the dark and ugly truth of my past. I wasn’t the innocent Ivy they’d come to know, and what judgment would they pass on a mother who gave away her own child?

A hand touched my shoulder and I looked back to see William standing behind me, looking at all the downcast eyes at the table.

Izzy was the first to stand up and walk away. She rounded the table and when I thought she’d gone, I felt her arms wrap around me. She placed her face against my neck. “I’m so sorry, Ivy. I can’t imagine what you had to go through, and then to keep silent. I’m here if you want to talk.” She sweetly kissed my temple and left the room, Jericho following close behind her.

“Mommy!” Maizy cried out from the other room. “Mommy, are we gonna paint
?
”

Lynn touched my shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. “I’m sorry, Ivy. Maizy’s been getting cabin fever—you know how much she likes to take walks outside.”

“That’s fine. Go to the little one,” I said, kissing her cheek as she bent down to hug me.

Wheeler waltzed over to the other side of the table across from Austin, stepping over the bench and taking a seat. Unlike Ben, he had a short mustache that connected to a trimmed goatee, creating a circle of hair around his mouth. He had a little stubble along his jaw, as if he were going for the dangerous-sexy look. He held a butterfly knife in his hand and stabbed the knotty wood. “So, how about we catch us a Fox?”

I changed into a pair of baggy jeans but kept Lorenzo’s red flannel shirt on.
It made me feel connected to him in his absence, and occasionally I’d bring the cuff to my nose and breathe in.

Lexi kept her cell phone glued to her hand since neither she nor April could leave the house. That left her candy shop in the hands of the part-timers. April created a rotation schedule and made sure there were two people on site at all times, but they had to close the store earlier than usual since none of the girls could commit to working past eight. Lexi was on call for emergencies, which mostly consisted of her explaining how to assemble and wrap up a gift order. Only she and April handled special orders. Naya called and had Lexi pacing the living room floor. She was a good friend to Lexi, also a Shifter, and wanted to stay with us after hearing about our troubles.

Austin decided against bringing in outsiders. It had taken a full day to introduce William’s wolf to the pack. That was one reason Prince’s men couldn’t just show up to help us fight off rogues; his wolves could turn on us in the heat of battle. Something like that could not only prevent us from defeating our enemies, but could drive a wedge between allies.

Throughout the afternoon, Jericho repeatedly checked the locks on all the doors and windows. He had a pregnant mate, and the protective instinct of fatherhood was in full gear. His brothers had once written him off as the rebellious, self-absorbed rock star, but he’d proved them wrong when, earlier that year, he’d fallen in love and mated with Izzy. He’d even gone against Shifter custom and given her a diamond ring. The love shone in his eyes when he looked at Izzy, and there was no question he’d move mountains for that woman. Watching his behavior made me long for that kind of devotion.

Dark clouds rolled in, and at around eight in the evening, a gunshot went off. Everyone rushed to the windows.

“What is it? What happened?” April tossed down her paperback and hurried toward the front door.

“Keep away from the windows!” Austin shouted. “We don’t know if they’re armed, so let’s not make targets of ourselves.”

“Reno,” she whispered, covering her mouth.

A minute passed before the front door opened and Reno came in. April rushed to his side and frantically looked him over. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead before setting the butt of his rifle in the corner. On the wall behind the door was a row of nails used to hold keys, each with a letter directly below. I didn’t have a car, so sometimes people hung an umbrella on mine. Reno hooked his hat on my nail.

“There’s a panther on the property,” he said, closing the door. “He’s just inside the line of trees by the road. He’s been circling the perimeter. I took a shot, but it’s too damn dark with the clouds blocking the moon. This shit keeps up, I’m gonna put a floodlight out there and see how they like that.”

Austin cursed under his breath. “How long have they been out there?”

“Since noon. Fox isn’t planning an attack; he’s keeping us penned in. He’s got at least one Shifter watching us at all times. I don’t like this one bit, Austin. That bastard looks like he weighs about one seventy. I may have alarms on the house, but something that size can crash through one of these windows. They’re not double paned. I told you we should have upgraded them this summer, and not just to save on the electric bill.”

“Can we talk about windows later?” Lexi complained. “What should we do?”

He scratched his head while April curled against him. “I ain’t gonna sugarcoat it for you. Anyone who can’t handle a gun needs to get their ass in the basement. That’s a sturdy door no animal can break down. There’s also a lock I installed on the inside.”

“Wait a minute, I’m not going down there,” Lexi said, rising to her feet from a chair by the fireplace.

Reno tipped his head. “Then you better sit outside with me for the next hour and practice shooting a gun. I got a moving target just beyond the tree line if you need something to aim at. That goes for anyone here who can’t handle a firearm.”

“That won’t be necessary for me,” Lynn said, smoothing a wrinkle on her sleeve. “I grew up shooting tin cans on my granddad’s ranch.”

“I didn’t know that,” Lexi said with a gasp. “I thought you hated guns?”

Lynn swept her faded blond hair back and then straightened her blouse. “I didn’t want them in my house, but I could hardly make your father get rid of them. I was always afraid you kids would find them and get curious, so I made sure he locked them up. I haven’t picked up a gun in almost thirty-five years, but it’s not something you ever forget. I can’t promise I’ll hit a target, but I’m not letting anyone hurt my family.”

“Lynn, this is too dangerous,” Austin said. “You’re human, and these are men who will stop at nothing. There’s no reasoning or bargaining with a Shifter when they’re on the attack.”

“Nor is there reasoning or bargaining with a mother protecting her children,” she retorted.

“Then who’ll watch Maizy?” Lexi asked.

Izzy raised her hand from her spot on the sofa beside me. “I will. It’s no secret I can’t shift without putting the baby at risk, and I’m not going to leave that little girl down there by herself. Denver’s her watchdog, but we need him up here.”

“True that,” Denver said from the hall leading to the kitchen. He slid a handful of peanuts into his mouth and began licking his fingers. “Hand me my pistola and let’s get this party rolling.”

“Don’t give him a gun,” Izzy said. “The only thing he can shoot off is his mouth.”

Reno sighed. “We’ll rotate. Lexi first, then Denver, and anyone else who needs to fire off a few practice rounds. I can’t do anything about your aim, but you need to know how to handle a weapon without shooting your foot off.”

I raised two fingers. “Just hand me a gun; my father taught me how to use all kinds of weapons. I’d prefer something with less kickback.”

Reno’s brows arched up. “My kind of girl.”

I guessed he was saving April for last. Reno had taught her how to ride a motorcycle this past summer after they’d returned from a vacation, but I’d never seen him teaching her to shoot. Maybe he didn’t want to admit a situation might arise where he wouldn’t be able to protect his woman. I had a feeling Reno might end up sending her down to the basement. April was a tough girl, but Reno was a tougher wolf. Women often fought by the side of their pack, but her mortality would give a man like Reno pause.

I slipped my braid inside the back of my shirt so it couldn’t be used against me by a pair of grabby hands. Everyone milled around talking, and Lexi was putting on her jacket. When I peered out the window, a lone wolf howled in the distance.

Austin gripped my arm and tugged me back. “Keep away from the window.”

“That was Fox,” I said in a soft whisper. At least I had peace of mind knowing he wasn’t out there searching for my son.

“I say we just go out there and shoot them all. We can’t just sit here,” Lexi said, putting her hands on her hips. “You should just go out there and kick their asses.”

Austin curled his right arm around her waist and kissed her brow. “Ladybug, in another life, I would have been that man. I have a pack to think about now—lives to protect. Keep your wolf in check.”

Lexi swallowed him up with her big brown eyes. “What if we just locked up the house and went to town? It’s not like they’re going to start up a war at Howlers.”

Denver snorted. “You haven’t seen ladies’ night. Still, it’s not a bad idea, Aus. Maybe you can chat with a few Packmasters and see if the Council wants to intervene.”

Austin gave him a disapproving look. “And then what? We come home to find they’ve taken over the house?”

Denver shrugged. “You have legal rights to this land if they do. We can call the human cops and have them thrown in jail.”

Wheeler laughed in a dark voice. “Now
that
I’d like to see. Doubt anyone would bail their sorry asses out.”

Austin sighed and leaned against the wall near the door. “The Council would, if not the higher authority. They get flagged whenever one of our kind uses one of our aliases in a human jail. You know that.”

Wheeler chewed off the end of his jerky and took a seat at the foot of the stairs. “Maybe so, but it would buy us some time. Fox would be safe and sound and it might give Reno time to track down her kid.”

Austin shook his head. “We’re not doing anything that might get the Council involved. I don’t want anyone thinking we can’t handle our shit. These are the times that will test a pack and send out a message to others. What kind of message do you want to send? That we need hand-holding and can’t use our heads to fight off a rogue pack?”

The heavy blanket of dread began to lift. Fox would wait us out for as long as it took, but Austin was right about not calling the Council. It would make him look foolish as a new Packmaster. If we stayed inside, we could run out of food, sleep, or simply grow impatient and do something foolish like go after them. They could try to set the house on fire; all these ideas swam through my mind of ways they could smoke us out.

“My father once told me that sitting ducks wind up on the dinner table.”

Everyone looked at me with a bewildered expression. I moved away from the window and tapped my cane on the floor. “A strong pack will prepare for battle no matter where they are. Fox can’t claim the land without taking down the pack. What if we ask one of the stronger packs to take Maizy and Izzy in?”

Denver stepped forward. “Because then I won’t be able to guard her. Not having it. She stays by my side. That’s not up for debate.”

Austin ambled toward me. “I see what you’re saying, Ivy.”

“Then give it serious consideration.” I felt so adamant about this that I wanted to burst. “You know the rules. If they take out the Packmaster, they can claim the land since they will have dismantled the pack. It’s
you
they want out of the equation. They can’t occupy the house as long as you’re still around to contest it.”

Lexi played with the zipper on her jacket. “But what if they burn it down?”

I struck the floorboard with the end of my cane to gather their attention. “Then we rebuild. That’s what a strong pack does. They can burn the house, but they can’t burn the land beneath it. Perhaps I’m young, but I’m not without experience. I’ve survived three attacks, and I come from a long line of wise leaders on my mother’s side and warriors on my father’s. Fox wouldn’t anticipate us moving into a populated area. He expects us to do exactly
this
. He was the second under my father, but not the wisest wolf in the pack. He disagreed with my father a number of times on strategy. Let’s be the one to draw him from the safety of the forest. There are rules in Breed establishments. But out here, there is no law.”

Austin’s icy blue eyes drifted down, deep in thought. “We can’t live in town,” he mumbled.

I laughed and couldn’t even bother with covering my mouth. “Lots of people live in town. There are Breed hotels, or we could even arrange something at one of the clubs to rent out their private rooms. I hear they have comfortable sofas. You have more than enough funds for us to survive for a long time, but I suspect Fox will grow impatient.”

He lifted his eyes to Reno. “Impatient men make mistakes.”

Reno peered out the window and scratched his jaw. “I got no problem with that. We have more than enough weapons for everyone. I can meet up with my contacts easier that way to get information on the boy. If the house burns, then fuck it. Ivy’s right—we still got land. We’ve also got the other house if we have to squeeze back in there for a little while.”

Wheeler laughed. “That’s a tight fit. I’d rather pitch a tent out here than share my room with one of you bastards.”

Austin rubbed his jaw and strolled to the center of the room. “Boys, let’s get our things together. Pack lightly; we can buy what we need. Wheeler, get the backup copies of some of my files and hide my personal laptop behind the wall. Let’s take Reno’s so he can use that for business.”

April rushed upstairs with Lynn.

I touched Reno’s arm. “Are you good with computers? Is there a way you can watch surveillance from an outside location? I know you have those small cameras hooked up around the property, but can you somehow feed it to—”

“I’m already on it,” Reno said with a chuckle. “If they stick around here, we can keep an eye on them. You come from a family of warriors, huh?”

I smiled proudly and threw my shoulders back. It was the respect in his eyes that sent goose bumps up my arms. “I do.” I touched his arm and squeezed it, quietly confirming that my family of warriors was all around me.

***

While we packed up the cars, Reno stood on top of the blue pickup truck with his rifle loaded and ready to shoot. He had on a bulletproof vest beneath his coat in case one of Fox’s men was armed. They probably weren’t, since most rogue Shifters believed their animal was more deadly than a weapon.

April got inside the driver’s seat of the blue truck and started up the engine. Lynn scooted to the middle, and Reno sat by the door so he could jump into action if needed. We needed a wolf to pick up scents in case someone was getting too close to the vehicles, so Austin made Ben shift and ride in the back of their truck.

My small bag contained a toothbrush, a dress, extra changes of underwear, and a few bands to tie up my hair.

Maizy was another story. Denver slung her pink princess backpack over his shoulders. Inside were several changes of clothes, and the one she carried was stuffed with all her favorite toys. That girl packed like she might never be coming home.

“That looks real sweet on you,” Wheeler said to Denver as we piled in his Camaro.

“Shut it.” Denver climbed into the back of the gunmetal-grey car with Maizy, and I sat next to Wheeler. Maizy had been quiet the entire time.

William led the convoy in his BMW, keeping a steady speed. Next was Lexi, driving the black Dodge Challenger with Austin beside her. Trevor and Jericho sat in the back with Izzy sandwiched between them. Then came Reno and April, and finally our car at the back of the line. We had a good view of Reno hanging out the window with his gun aimed at nothing in particular, but it sure made him look menacing.