Chapter Three

Michael

Cody is leaning against a wall launching anything he can reach at Trent"s face, while Brandon waits beside the window with a baseball bat poised by his ear. "I"ll break every finger you"ve got," he grits. "You"re not getting in here."

I can see her foot. It's barely visible in the space between Cody's body and Joseph's. She might be scared but she's not otherwise hurt. And she's not missing. That's the important part.

The boys are so worried about keeping Trent out that they haven"t noticed me crawling through the window on the back wall. I'd laugh if the situation was different. As fun as it is to watch Trent dodge the rocks being shot at his head, laughter wouldn't go over very well right now. Especially with those three terrified boys. They're doing their best to protect Iris and they don't deserve laughter. The whole scene reminds me so much of when me and Ben were kids. And Rafe. We used to try to protect Desie from all kinds of things, including Mateo when she was in trouble.

Oh my god. It's exactly like when we were kids. I'll bet just about anything that Iris ends up being an omega. Their omega. Every one of her dads are going to lose their shit here in about twelve minutes, or however long it takes to get these kids out of this tree.

"Hey," I say softly, keeping low to the ground and closer to eye-level with the boys huddled around Iris. Both boys snap their attention to me, their violent startle turning into stark relief. "It's okay," I tell them. "That's Trent. He's one of her dads. It's alright. Is she hurt?"

Cody shakes his head. "We ran with her as soon as Brandon saw the cars come around the corner. One of them chased us but me and Brandon knocked him down." His voice trembles with each word.

"We saw him," I smile. "You did good. So good. We're going to have to get you guys out of this tree though. Her mom is really worried about her. Can you let me carry her down?" I don't really want to think about how they got her up here. Joseph is barely big enough to climb up himself.

"I can't," Joseph says.

"You're her dad?" Brandon asks Trent, lowering his bat.

Trent nods at him as he takes in the scene from outside the other window.

"I'm coming up," Jasper calls from the ground. There's a current of relief in his tone, but that bizarre clicking is still coming from his throat. I don't think Jasper would ever intentionally hurt a kid out of fear or anger, but his current state might scare the hell out of these already terrified boys.

"No, don"t. I"ve got it. It"s just a few kids. She"s okay," Trent calls down. "Give us a minute to get them down."

I crawl over to where Cody, Joseph, and Iris are sitting against the wall. "You have to let me have her so I can take her down to her family, okay?"

Joseph shakes his head, screwing his eyes shut. "I can't."

Then I notice his white-knuckled grip on her dress. He's in shock. Of course he is. What seven year old wouldn't be in this situation.

"Hey, Joseph," I reach out and touch his clammy forehead. "You were so brave. And I know you're scared. You might even be a little bit sick right now. But we need to get you and Iris down this tree. I can carry you and her dad can carry her, then you can sit with her again when we get down there. How about that?" I look at Cody for help.

"That's a good idea, Joseph. Let Michael carry you, I know you're shaky. I'll climb down after you."

The smaller boy shakes his head again. "I don't think I can let her go," he whispers. "My fingers are too tight."

Trent comes over and touches Joseph's cheek. He takes a breath and releases it slowly. "How about I carry you down? I'll carry both of you. You hang on to me while we climb, okay? I know all about when your fingers are too tight to let go. Let's do that, okay?"

"Are we in trouble?" Cody asks.

"No, man," Trent smiles. "Nobody's in trouble. Let's climb down before Jasper climbs up. If he climbs up, we might all be in trouble." Trent can try to make light of that if he wants to, but even I can feel the turbulent worry pulsing from Jasper and he's still on the ground.

"We cut the rope," Brandon says. "That's how we usually get down. It's safer to go down like that. But we didn't want that jerk to climb up. So we cut it."

"I would have cut it too." Trent nods toward Joseph. "You ready?"

"You won't drop them, will you?" Cody asks.

"No, Cody. He would never drop them. I'll start down first and I'll grab anybody who falls." That makes no sense, but it's good enough to reassure him.

"Trent!" Jasper yells.

"Fuck," Trent mutters and reaches down to pry Joseph away from Cody. He immediately wraps his legs around Trent's waist and one arm around his torso and shoulders and Trent takes a moment to look down at Iris tucked between them. "You're okay, baby. Ready to climb down with me?"

Slowly, carefully, we all climb down the tree. When I was a kid, it seemed so much higher. When we hid out in the treehouse, it felt like we were miles and miles above the ground and everybody on it. It takes less than a minute to climb back down now.

The moment Trent's feet touch the ground, Jasper rushes him. "Hang on, Jasper. Go slow. She's alright, I promise. But this kid isn't."

Jasper steadies himself and starts looking Joseph over. "Are you hurt?" Now that he knows Iris is safe and unharmed, he's a completely different person. Almost. He's still putting out intense energy.

"I don't think so," Joseph says. "My fingers are still tight."

Jasper is, without doubt, an omega. It's easy to forget with all the weird energy and sounds he makes, but he's absolutely an omega. He starts a soft, rolling purr and puts his hands over Joseph's. "Can you tell me what happened? How did you end up in the treehouse?"

Joseph starts working through his version of the whole thing while Kaleb and I look over Cody and Brandon. Neither have so much as a scratch, but they're both badly shaken up. Cody is trembling so much that his teeth are chattering.

I catch Kaleb's eye. "We need to get them home." I bend down and lift Cody onto my back, piggy back style. He doesn't even fight me on it. "Ben, will you run ahead and get their families?"

He nods and takes off back towards the houses. Their parents are probably already worried sick and looking for the boys. He'll probably run into most of them on his way back.

Kaleb nods puts his hands on Brandon's shoulders. "Can you walk?"

Brandon's nose snarls at the suggestion that he might be carried. "Can you?"

Kaleb smiles at him. "Devon is going to love you. Let's go."

"What about that guy?" Brandon asks. "We can't just leave him here."

Kaleb nods. "No, we can't." He pulls out his phone and makes a call. "She's okay… We've got her. But we've got a rogue too… Unconscious… There's a treehouse in the wooded area behind the houses. Can somebody send people to get him? Good… Okay." He hangs up and furrows his brows at the man on the ground.

Reid reaches into the middle of everything to touch Iris's hair and closes his eyes for a moment. He opens them and nods at Kaleb. "I'll stay. Get her back to Talia."

Kaleb nods and motions towards the houses. "Shall we?"

Somehow, miraculously, there isn't a panicked crowd of mothers, aunts, and grandmothers gathered in front of our house when we round the corner.

Ben meets us at the door. "Blood in the kitchen. He's okay, just bloody and exhausted. They're almost done cleaning it up, I just didn't want the kids to see it and get scared."

"After what they just went through, a little blood isn't going to bother them too much. Did you call their families?"

"Yeah," he says, lifting Cody off my back and helping him get steady on his feet. "Your parents are going to be here soon. Are you hurt?"

Cody shakes his head.

Ben squeezes his small shoulder. "You did a brave thing. All of you. Me and Michael used to take care of Desie when we were your age. I'm really proud of you."

Then Talia pushes around us to get to Trent. Iris reaches for her and Joseph reluctantly lets her go. Trent puts him down, but his knees wobble a little bit too much and Trent picks him back up and carries him into the house. He settles Joseph onto the couch. "Stay right here. Your mom will be here in just a minute."