"Criminals, hm?" Mom's voice spoke over the intercom.
"Yes, mom." I met gazes with Baron. He shrugged and mouthed 'don't fall for their tricks'.
What tricks? I frowned in cluelessness, he sighed. He mouthed the same statement again but what tricks would mom and dad try to play with me? There was no tricks, and if there were, I had no part in it, neither did I understand it. I just wanted to make sure we all survived this morning without mom and dad knowing the real truth.
Them finding out was the worst, no one would leave here today. We would all remain here and a lot of other lies would be exposed. Like when I had pretended to break a leg so Baron could take me to school when the boys were refusing to talk to me.
Or Baron growing his wolf's nails just to pretend I had fallen, to cover up the main story of the phone theft and bullying. There were a lot of things mom and dad knew nothing about, it was better it remained that way.
"So you, Katherina, are saying those guys are criminals?" Dad asked again.
"Yes, dad." That was the only truth I could tell him, and it was the only one he would ever know.
"Alright."
He looked at the rest of the boys. "Do you all agree those boys are criminals?"
Heads were nodding in affirmation.
Dad chuckled. "I expected nothing else. Even if she was lying, you would all still cover up for her. Moreover, you might have discussed this issue before we even called you." His wise gaze roamed all of us.
"How did you get those boys, dad?" Baron asked.
"It was your mom that saw them in that room."
Of course, it could only be her. Mom was always eager to know everything. She wanted to be aware of everything and anything that was happening. And yes, I remembered she had said she looked for us everywhere before she could find us. But she did not make any mention of Greg and Bryan. And she knew them from our old pack, she was supposed to know them.
But she had not made mention of knowing them. Had she truly forgotten who they were? I just prayed she did not remember them. That just made me realize that if she did, our story would be busted. I had once told her of Greg and how he was always trying to get me to have sex with him, trying to force me into a relationship with him.
"I saw them when I was looking for you guys. Since you guys say they are criminals, meaning you have gotten to them before we did." Mom's voice again over the intercom.
What was she doing in the kitchen? Trying to prepare breakfast while there was trouble? Well, mom could do it, no doubt. I just wanted to know what they would do to this boys, that was my own concern.
"How did you guys get those boys?" Dad asked, studying all of our faces.
"It was me." Trenton replied. I was surprised to see him willing to talk. Trenton had been getting better with communicating with people, he was a bit open, though there was still this reservation about him, it was not as before.
"What time and what were you doing outside by that time of the night?" Dad focused on him.
"I think it was already nightfall, it was really dark and I was not with my phone. I had just decided to come out of the house when I spotted them walking around the premises."
"You had just decided? Trent when did you decide to start coming out of your room when it's that later. You can not tell me you went to pee. You have everything in your room." Dad was really in the mood today. He did not want to bully anyone into saying the truth.
Knowing who he was, he would have tried to use his power to make one confess.
"I was unable to sleep and you have problems." Trent said without mincing words.
"Hm. Okay, so what did you do after you saw them?"
"I held them and we got into a fight." Trenton explained.
"How did the rest of the boys and girl come into the conversation? How did they come into the mix?" This man was really trying not to let this go. He truly wanted to get to the root of this matter. Who knew what he and mom would have concluded before calling for this meeting in the family living room that felt more like a courthouse.
"I heard noise. You know I'm a light sleeper, so you can't say I'm lying." Baron put in.
"Yes, I know, Baron but so…what has it got to do with the matter being discussed?"
"That's how I came in. I went out and saw Trenton involved in a fight with these guys, I realized they were two of them and rushed forward to help him. We ended up beating them. We dragged them to the room step mom found them and called the others." Baron narrated.
"Yes, it was Trenton who came to call me." I added.
The story, though not thoroughly planned, was coordinated. It was as though we had all rehearsed it, everyone was saying their own lies to corroborate the stories and lies of the rest.
I had never been more proud to be part of this family. They had their issues but it never affected the necessity of coming together when and where required, just like now.
"So you guys are saying you dragged those boys into the room to lock them up?" Dad looked at our faces again. Did he believe us or not? Was he trying to play a fast one or tricks as Baron had called them?
"Yes dad. I beat them up more." Lucas replied, he sounded like he was tired of all the questioning. When he was sounding that way, it was for myself and the rest of the boys too because I was tired and the rest looked so too.
"You best them up, Luke?" Dad faced.
"Yes dad. We all assembled there and I beat them up." Lukas told his own lie straight faced.
"Why would you guys let Lucas touch those criminals?! What if they had hurt him?" Mom's voice again, over the intercom.