Don't Whistle Past the Graveyard

Ch. Eighty-Nine

"Here," Kyle croaked, raking a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. He pointed at a house on the left. "We came out of here and they were on the sidewalk."

"Waiting for you?" Shane asked as he downshifted and steered the truck toward the edge of the cracked sidewalk.

Kyle grimaced thoughtfully. "I...don't think so. Honestly, they looked just as surprised to see us." He scowled. "Before they started shooting at us, at any rate."

Shane stopped the truck and movement in the rearview mirror made me look into the bed. Lisa was standing, already moving toward the tailgate before Shane had even killed the engine. None of us moved.

"They just shot at you?" I asked, brow furrowing. That didn't exactly line up with what I'd overheard about this other group. Their conversation with Dad had made it sound like they were interested in growing their group. Shooting at strangers instead of trying to recruit them seemed like a bad way to go about doing that.

Unless...the half-and-half deal was more about keeping your group weak. Honestly, I still don't have it all entirely worked out. I don't necessarily care that much, seeing as how it doesn't matter anymore.

Kyle nodded, his fingers curling into white-knuckled fists on his knees. Vik's blood still stained his fingers, his shirt. His lips pressed into a thin, painful line before he nodded once. "It was my fault," he whispered. "I just wasn't paying enough attention."

"You were worried about getting back on time," I said softly, touching his shoulder. "You were thinking about other things."

"Yeah," Kyle said harshly, jerking away from me. "So that plus one more inch to the right would have made Vik a corpse."

I swallowed hard as I stared at the omega glaring at me like an eye from beside the door.

"Well, she's not," Shane said. "No use thinking that. Not right now."

He twisted the key and the sudden silence seemed to ring in my ears. For a moment, he stared thoughtfully at the ignition where the keys dangled. His apartment key was still there. So was a shield with faded words engraved into the back—Psalm 144:1, he'd told me when I'd been unable to make out the words around the edges.

Then he opened the door, making Kyle and me gape at him. Shane never left the keys in the ignition. Never. He gave me a small, grim little smile before he got out of the cab.

Kyle and I shared a knowing look before he turned and opened the passenger door.

Lisa jumped down to the asphalt and walked out into the middle of the street, staring around intently. Her head was cocked like she was listening for something. I scooted out after Kyle, joining Shane and Lisa in the middle of the street.

"Why that house?" Lisa asked flatly, dark eyes narrowed on the omega beside the doorbell.

Shane, Kyle and I managed a three-way glance. I shrugged. There was no point in really hiding anything anymore. Kyle frowned as Shane sighed and said, "We'd heard what Noah said, about how the stuff in the alpha houses was yours."

Lisa squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. "You've been taking from the omega houses. Just the omega houses. Haven't you?"

"Yes," I said simply when she looked at me.

"It felt wrong stealing from you," Kyle added. "None of us liked it. Aaron was the one to say it."

Lisa stared at him for a moment. I did the same, raising an eyebrow at him. In answer, he cut his eyes back to Lisa. When I did the same, I found that the harsh lines around her mouth and eyes had relaxed a bit. Obviously, Shane and I hadn't been the only ones to notice the attraction between Lisa and Aaron. But even if she did feel something for Aaron, that didn't soften her response.