"Maybe," Ze'ev admitted. "Considering the men that attacked you were human, it's reasonable to assume whoever hired them was also human. If that's the case, and with what you said about them calling you Jackson, I suspect I might know who that is."
My eyes narrowed as my rage went up a notch. "Who?"
Ze'ev snorted. "Who do you think?"
I knew a few humans, but only three that would even know who Jackson was. One was his cousin Harrison, but he was under the watchful eye of his mate Khal, the beta of Ze'ev's birth pack. I doubted Khal would let him do something like this.
That left Jackson's other two cousins. "Emma and William."
Ze'ev tapped the end of his nose. "Bingo."
"Any way to prove that?"
"Not at the moment, but I'll get word to Khal and ask him to talk to Harrison. Maybe he'll know. I'll also tell the authorities when they come out to arrest these guys. If they want to avoid doing time behind bars for the rest of their lives, maybe one of them will talk."
Every muscle in my body locked up when Ajag whimpered and turned to bury his face in my chest. "They need to die for what they did. That's the wolf way."
"Except they are not wolves," Ze'ev said. "That means we have to let the human law handle this."
I was not a fan of this plan.
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.
