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“Scared.”

I immediately try to school my features.

“Nah, you just made it worse,” he says. “So what are we dealing with?”

I chew on my words, debating whether to turn him away or indulge him. He’s a cub. It’s wrong to have him involved with anything like this, but I also know exactly how stubborn Matt is. It’s a trait that runs through the siblings, all the way down to Leo.

“Sasha knew a very bad man in Wayward, and now that very bad man is here,” I tell him. “And I told that very bad man exactly what I’d do to him if I ever saw him again.”

“Dismemberment?”

“Among other more creative things.”

“Excellent. So it’s us against one guy.”

“Two. I think his friend is in there.”

“Weapons?”

“Likely guns.” I sneer at the thought of them. If there’s one thing I hate more than anything, it’s guns. I hear the sharp, short burst of gunfire in my nightmares. They’re unpredictable, obnoxiously loud, and messy. Knives are clean and precise. Guns are destruction.

“Okay, so that puts us at a disadvantage,” Matt points out, like it’s not already obvious. “We need to flip things back in our favor.”

“And how do we do that?”

“Separate them.”

A whistle sounds behind me, one long and slow, followed by two short and quick. My eyes close for just one second, begging for patience, before I turn and find exactly what I should have been expecting to find the second I saw Matt.

My cubs are in a group, half-hidden by shadow.

“I thought you said JJ and Josie were watching them.”

Matt shrugs and points at the teens. “Looks like they’re watching them to me.”

“This is dangerous.”

“This is what you’ve been training us for,” JJ points out. “Two guys with guns? We’ve got this.”

“No.” I might have had a lapse in judgment when it came to Matt, but like hell will I put the others at risk. They’re too young. Too vulnerable. I refuse.

“You don’t get to tell us what to do,” Gracie says, crossing her arms. She’s heavily armed, like the others, and I’m half-tempted to sic Bob on them and make them all remember their place.

“Go home,” I spit.

“Make us,” Josie counters.

We’re locked in a standoff, the seven of them against me. I’ve created a monster.

“This isn’t a joke.”

“No one here is laughing.”

I cut my glare to Matt, who can’t really be encouraging this. “These are your siblings. It’s your job to protect them.”

“Since when? They’re their own people.”

“Leo’s five.”