Three Alphas, Three Mates

Chapter 23 - What Happens At Home

"Who's at the door?" Mom asks from the kitchen.

Michael's face pales. "Um, tax collectors," he screams back.

"... Tax collectors?"

He reaches down for Onai and yanks him from the ground. Onai growls. I wince, but close the door behind him and lock it.

"What was that?" Mom asks, and I'm not sure if she's asking about the noises or Michael's answer, but either way, I'm afraid she'll try to investigate and walk over here.

"It's just me," I say quickly. I stand in the way, hoping I can stop her if she does.

Michael looks at me like I'm crazy. "Get away from there." He lowers his voice. "You're covered in blood."

I look down and he's right. There's a large patch of blood on my pants' thigh and smears all over my shirt. I don't think any of it's mine either.

"Alright, well dinner's almost ready," Mom says. "But how did things go today? Anime Club, right?"

"I'll tell you about it later. I've got... homework." I run away from the hallway, unsure of what to do. Then it hits me. Dad's probably not home yet, but Megan and Charlie could come and see this at any moment. It'll be walmart boys all over again.

"Where's Charlie?" I ask Michael as he haphazardly drags Onai across the floor, towards the stairs.

Michael waves me off. "He's taking a nap."

I sigh in relief. Perfect timing. I wipe the sweat starting on my forehead. I'm not even the one carrying Onai.

"But I don't know where Megan is," Michael adds.

I freeze. What? I look to the top of the stairs. Her room is right beside it. If she comes out...

I try to pass Michael on the stairs, but he's as reckless as ever. On one particular bump, I see Onai bite his own arm not to scream. "Get off me. Get off me. I'm fine." He shoves Michael away from him, nearly knocking me down in the process, but his eyes say it all. He tries to climb up one step. Then he falls to the side.

Michael yanks him back up before he can start falling down the stairs, which doesn't seem like an easy task considering Onai is bigger. Michael glares at him. "Stop before you make this any worse." Then he looks at me. "Stop trying to pass me before you make this worse."

I cock my head back. "I'm trying to see if Megan is coming or not."

"We have bigger problems." He points to the trail of blood Onai's leaving.

My eyes widen. I look around for something to clean it with.

"Don't bother," Michael says. "Just try to make sure none of it gets on the carpet."

As Michael drags Onai up each step painstakingly slow for the sake of keeping quiet, I unfortunately have to hold his pile of clothes below his wound, which can't be making it feel any better. I try not to pay attention to the fact that I'm kind of getting an eyeful of butt action. I just focus on what I'm doing and hope that's enough to keep the mess under control, because Michael's right. We can come back for the hardwood floor easily. But if blood gets on the carpet, it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Michael helps Onai into my room, which is the closest between the two of ours. I follow him in, closing the door behind me. Thankfully Megan's room looks undisturbed.

"Are we under attack?" Michael asks immediately. "Is our family in danger?"

I shake my head. "I don't know." I look at Onai, ready to ask him.