"Are you sure that's all that means?" Aver asked.
Wyatt stood a few inches taller. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he growled.
Aver never blinked. "Only that we all know you aren't a fan of Alpha Walker. More than anyone else. You've been harassed the most. Are you sure you aren't having Kansas—"
Wyatt swung out his fist, punching Aver in the chin.
I looked to Nash, but he shrugged. "Kind of deserved it."
Branson stood in front of Aver as I did the same to Wyatt. "Knock it off, buddy."
Wyatt winked, but he didn't look like he wanted to hit Aver anymore.
"Are you all done?" Nana asked, clearly not at all pleased. Beside her, Julie clutched a rosary in one hand and a tissue in the other.
"Nana, why are you here?" Riley asked.
My first instinct was to think that was rude, but then I thought about it. Alpha Walker was her son. I'd been told how she rushed to his side the few times he'd been sick before. If he was unwell, why was she here?
Nana pressed her lips together as tires approached outside. They came quickly. More than one or two vehicles had to have rolled over gravel and grass to get to them. Not just tires, but growls and snarls, like a nightmare storm had rolled directly over the top of us.
The guys circled around, backs to us as they formed a circle, standing shoulder to shoulder.
We heard a door open and then a squeal, like someone turning on a megaphone. "Riley Walker," the magnified voice of Delia Walker said. "Your presence is requested by your leader. Please come alone."
"That's happening over my dead fucking body," Branson growled.
"No one disagrees," Nash said, both of them with voices like sandpaper.
"Branson, that kind of language isn't helping," Riley snapped.
Finally, it was Nana who pushed through the Walker men boundary line, and we spilled out after her. She went to the front door, Julie following close behind her, but both women found themselves faced with four frowning men.
"Nana, you can't go out there," Aver said.
"I can. That woman is the mother of my grandson."
I didn't know what that meant or what effect it had on anything, but Nana moved forward, finding Wyatt and Nash in her way.
"You move out of my way, boy, or I will tan your backside," Nana snarled.
"You're gonna let her threaten us like that?" Wyatt asked his mother.
"Move out of the way, boys," Julie said sadly. "Delia has wanted power for so long. She'll only make things worse if we don't deal with her sooner rather than later. Think about it. Why did your Nana come here instead?"
For us, to be here, already on the inside. She knew things, like how I could consume energy and how Phin could heal a cut. And she'd come here.
They stepped aside.
Nana opened the door and stood in a gap that was about a foot wide. "Why do you want Riley?" she asked without hesitation.
"I'm not surprised to see you here, Nana," Delia replied. I could only get small glimpses of her at a time, but she looked like she was enjoying herself in an olive green pantsuit with her hair pulled back in a tight, low ponytail like some Bond villain reject. "Not that I'm required to tell you, but we need Riley so we can question the disgraced Walker alphas and determine which of them has been poisoning Alpha Walker."
Poisoning? I'd only thought he was sick. Had that been poison I tasted?
"None of my boys would poison Alpha Walker!" Julie yelled back, making it clear she meant the four of them when she said my boys.
Delia didn't say anything for a long time. At least, it felt like forever as I sat crouched, trying to sneak peeks out the front door. I could see Delia, Aver's parents, and John Walker, but there looked to be many cars behind them, and every so often I saw a body move in the background. I was sure the others would be able to say exactly how many people were out there and what they ate for lunch, but it didn't take shifter senses to realize we were surrounded. The pack might not have been interested in attending our prospective member ceremony, but none of them seemed willing to miss our execution.
Chapter Seventeen
Wyatt
"Eat." I handed Wyatt a Snickers bar.
His hand trembled as he attempted to wave me away. I grabbed his wrist, placing the candy in his open palm.
"Eat," I whispered.
He peeled it open as Aver and Nash brought in more planks from the garage. We'd been lucky they'd been there, left over from the remodel, and had used them all blocking the windows and doors.
Nana and Branson returned from the porch where'd they'd been negotiating with Delia.
"And?" Riley asked. He'd sat next to the playpen and brought his knees up to his chest. "I won't use my ability without consent," he said. "Not if I can help it. Accidents happen, but this wouldn't be an accident."
"No one is going to make you do anything," Branson snarled. "And that discussion was as useless as you all thought it would be."
"Not useless, my boy. She listened. That's more than I was expecting," Nana replied. Her silver hair was back in a messy ponytail with strands sticking out, almost like she'd gone straight from working in the garden to here.
"Will she let you see Alpha Walker?" Phineas asked.
Nana shook her head sadly. "I won't leave this house now." The implication being she wasn't sure if she'd get back in.
The pack considered her a grandmother as much as the rest of us. They loved and adored Nana, and I was willing to bet her presence was the only thing keeping Delia from storming in.
We were completely surrounded. Branson turned off the perimeter alarms because they wouldn't stop sounding. At some point, they'd run out of shifters to add to their numbers.
"Can they just storm in?" Riley asked.
"They can try," I growled.
Riley held onto my elbow, as if afraid I'd leap through the plank and out the window to engage the whole army. I wanted to, just like Branson, Aver, and Nash wanted to. The urge to fight was strong, but not stronger than the urge to protect Kansas.
"I could heal you all," Phineas suggested.
"No," Nash growled. "You aren't healing us. It hurts you."
"So you should be the only one who gets to hurt?"
"Yes." Nash met Phin's energy level and then some. "That is exactly right. I should be the one who hurts. Aver should, Wyatt should, Branson should. Not you or anyone else in this room. Understand?" He polished one fist with his other palm but seemed to realize what he was doing and dropped his arms, scooping Phineas into a hug instead.
"No one is using powers they don't want to use," I said, looking at Kansas with a pointed expression.
I'd seen him think about it, draining the crowd. From what I knew of his ability, he probably could drain everyone outside. Not all at once, but a little, here and there. If they stayed out there for hours, he might be able to do it, but he'd be dancing the line of an overload the whole time.
"This is your pack," Nana said. "Not your enemies. We won't be fighting—"
The lights cut out, and Nana didn't bother finishing her sentence. She did say a very rude word that made Nash smirk.