something I had much of anyway.
***
"Hallie said the crows have been doing a great job watching the garden."
"Hallie is sitting right here." She glared at me from across the table. We'd gathered for lunch or, as I called it, Operation Ultrasound.
Me, the twins, Hallie, Storri, and Dr. Tiff sat around the long table. Jazz napped upstairs with Angus, while Diesel and Knox worked in the basement and outside, completing the panic room and securing the perimeter.
Hallie tilted her face to Storri. The glare she'd given me vanished. "But Faust isn't wrong. The crows have been out there every day. Rain or shine."
"Have you been giving them meat?" Storri held his tummy. I'd rubbed lotion into his stomach and back that morning. With as quickly as he was growing, it was important his skin stayed soft and stretchy.
"Every day. Their numbers are growing, though. We're going to run out of meat soon."
Storri's pink lips turned down in a frown. "We can't run out. That wouldn't be fair. Faust? Can you hunt for more meat?"
I shook my head. "All the work we've been doing outside scared the game away. We could go into Rockshell and—"
"Well hunt for you, Storri," Huntley offered.
My hand clenched into a fist, and I growled. I didn't need another alpha tending to the needs of my mate. The twins weren't aware of our mission, but they weren't stupid.
Jagger kicked Huntley's leg under the table.
They weren't both stupid.
Huntley's eyebrows furrowed. He still didn't understand what was going on, but at least now he knew something was going on. "Actually, we can't. Today we have to clean…the kitchen."
"Are you sure all of you were mercenaries?" Hallie stared pointedly in Huntley's direction.
"I can help you clean, if you would rather hunt." My sweet Storri still didn't suspect anything because he was so trusting. And look at how you treat that trust.
I grabbed both of his hands. "Storri, this is a trick. The crows have meat, though there are a lot out there now. I don't know if you've checked recently." The number was closer to one thousand than one hundred.
Storri glowered at the table. "What are you trying to trick me to do?"
"To go into town where you can have an ultrasound. We need to check—"
"An ultrasound will answer some questions about what is going on and why your growth is so different than what Jazz experienced," Dr. Tiff explained.
My omega cocked his head to the side. "We don't need more meat for the crows?"
Of course that was my mate's concern.
"We'll run out eventually," Hallie said. "But these guys are pretty good at keeping the supply up. I have a friend—not really a friend, actually, an acquaintance. He knew my ex."
This was new information to me. I'd met Hallie's ex, if watching a man-child get knocked out could be considered meeting. "What is his full name and known aliases?"
"Why, so you can do a full background check including DNA profile?" Hallie sneered.
I waited.
"Fine, his name is Alejandro Hernandez. Everyone in Rockshell calls him Al, and I don't know if he goes by any other aliases. He was my ex's best friend in high school. Then I came along and…" She shook her head, pushing back from the table with a face that was clearly wondering how the topic of conversation had swung so far in her direction. "We aren't friends, but he doesn't ignore me in the grocery store, so that makes him the closest relationship I have in Rockshell." She turned her attention to Storri. "Honey, you have to have an ultrasound. And you have to go in town to get it. We'll be with you—Dr. Tiff, Faust, and me—the whole time. It's okay if you're still scared. We'll protect you."
"What about us? We're chopped liver?" Jagger asked.
"No, I just know it's going to be hard explaining these two to Al." She wrenched her thumb toward me and Dr. Tiff. "I don't even want to attempt explaining the gruesome twosome."
We didn't have to explain shit to this guy. It was nice he was letting us in, but breaking in and tying him up in a closet would've worked just as well. Hallie was right about keeping things simple, though. "We're going in, getting it done, and getting out." I jumped to my feet and helped Storri stand up from his chair.
"But won't people see me?" Storri's forehead wrinkled.
"We won't stop anywhere else," I assured him. "And Hallie can get us in through a back door." I looked to her to