DAY ONE
Indianna was woken by Kal's snores, they were soft, but she had been struggling to sleep the whole night and now all she could focus on was Kal's heavy breathing. She sighed and turned over, trying to get comfortable which was rather hard with her bump. She was now looking at Greyson as he slept. He seemed so peaceful. His face was so calm and serene, she wished that he didn't have to wake up to the hell they were in.
Greyson's eye twitched and Indianna knew that he was no longer asleep. He reached out, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his chest, resting his chin on her head and one hand on her stomach. *It's early, sugar, you should be asleep, not perving on me while I sleep.*
Indianna chuckled slightly. *Sleep doesn't come easily these days.*
*Try,* Greyson pleaded. *It's 2am. You need your rest.*
*So do you.*
*I'm fine. I'm swapping watch duty with Oscar soon anyway.*
The rest of the previous day was spent waiting anxiously for Oscar, Kirstie and Mac to return with more of Rogue's men. They managed to bring back two more that were branded and freed from Rogue's control. They were then sent back out but would be ready at a moments notice to help defend the pack against Rogue. Now, the pack members were taking it in turns watching the grounds outside the pack house for any signs of an attack. The men that they had managed to free from Rogue's control had sworn they would mind link Greyson when they heard that Rogue was coming, but they weren't risking being caught unaware.
Indianna sighed and snuggled into Greyson's chest. *So, hold me until then.*
Greyson had left Indianna asleep on their mattress that they had brought down into the basement a few hours later. He dressed silently and made his way up into the house. Oscar was sitting outside on the front steps. Their exchange was silent, Oscar stood and let Greyson take over. Greyson sat down where Oscar had just been seated and his eyes scanned the trees. He was watching for any slight movement, listening for any footsteps or sounds.
An hour later he was still alert and he heard movement in the house. His dad, Mark, was taking over from Harry who had been keeping watch at the back of the house. Once Harry was downstairs in the soundproof basement there was silence again and Greyson continued to watch and listen. He didn't move, twitch or yawn for three more hours.
He sensed her before he felt her. Arms wrapped around his neck and soft lips kissed his cheek. Tingles filled Greyson's body and any tiredness he was feeling was wiped away from just one touch from Indianna. "Morning," she whispered.
Greyson leaned into her touch, reaching his hand up and tangling his fingers into her hair. He turned and pressed his lips to hers. He would never get bored of her lips. They were so soft and delicate. Every kiss felt like the first.
"How long do you have left?" Indianna asked.
"Half an hour."
"I'm going to help Laura with breakfast for everyone," she told Greyson. "Most people are still asleep."
"And why aren't you?"
"Because." Indianna walked in front of Greyson and took his hands, placing them on her stomach. He felt it move immediately and smiled at the thought of his children kicking. "They're making it impossible for me to lie still for more than half an hour."
"I'm sure you can forgive them," Greyson chuckled, spreading his fingers across her bump, feeling the imprint of a heel push on Indianna's stomach.
Indianna smiled. "Of course. I'll see you in half an hour."
Greyson let his hands fall from Indianna's bump and she returned to the house. Laura was already in the kitchen, cracking eggs into a bowl. She smiled when Indianna entered. "Hello, dear. How is he out there?"
"He's good. He'll be finished in half an hour." Indianna opened the fridge and pulled out multiple packs of bacon. Luckily, they had a mountain of food left over from Christmas dinner so they wouldn't have to worry about running out of supplies anytime soon. Between the two of them they cooked breakfast for the pack, carrying trays of bacon, eggs, beans, sausages and toast downstairs to the basement.
Mattresses were scattered across the floor, sleeping bags and duvets covered everyone who were still fast asleep. Laura flicked the light on and very quickly people stared to rouse.
"What," Kal called, poking his head out from underneath a duvet, "is that gorgeous smell?"
Kimberly who was sleeping next to him reached out her hand and covered his mouth. "Shh," she groaned. "I'm trying to sleep, idiot."
"Laura!" Kal's yells were muffled. "I love you, woman! You too, Indie!"
"If people were sleeping they aren't now," came Harry's grumpy voice as he rolled his eyes at Kal from across the room. Brooklyn was snuggled into his chest, his arms wrapped protectively around her. He pressed his lips to her ear. "Stay in bed, babe, I'll get you some food."
"Help yourselves everyone. We need to keep our energy up!" Laura instructed and Indianna and her placed the trays and plates on the floor. "I'll go and get the cutlery, Indie. Make sure you eat."
One by one the pack members got their breakfast and returned to their makeshift beds to eat. Indianna took a plate and made her way over to Oscar, Kirstie and Mac.
"Hey, Indie," Mac smiled. "How you holding up?"
"I'm good. How was it getting out of the tunnels yesterday?"
Kirstie smirked and bit into a piece of toast. "Piece of cake," she said. "Rogues men aren't on the lookout as they think we're all trapped. It's easy to get around unnoticed."
"Do you think you'll manage to bring back more men?"
"We're going to grab as many as we can today," Mac nodded. "We've been in contact with the rest of the pack as well and we'll be getting them back tomorrow. There's quite a lot of them scattered around town so it's going to take some organisation to get them here undetected."
"Once everyone is back then the humans, children and elderly will be going with you and the girls," Oscar said. "The rest of us will stay and fight."
Indianna pursed her lips and stared at her plate. "Don't remind me."
"I'm surprised my brother managed to convince you to leave," Kirstie said. "I mean, I completely agree, but there's no way in hell I'd leave my mate." She glanced at Mac who smiled at her.
"I know that he's right," Indianna sighed. "I need to look after them." She rubbed her stomach. "But I can't help but think they are safer away from all of this?"
"We need the numbers," Mac said. "And we did talk about leaving those who can't fight where they are, but Greyson said we had no way of knowing if Rogue would come for them too, just for being members of this pack. We thought not to risk it. We'll get everyone back here and then get everyone who needs to be away from the fight gone."
Indianna felt slightly better about leaving knowing that they would also being taking the more vulnerable pack members. In her mind, she was not only protecting herself now but also her pack. The thought of leaving still make her heart want to crack, but she thought of her children and her pack and it softened the blow a little.
"How much time do you think I have left with him?" She asked, her eyes locked on her plate. She was pushing around a piece of bacon with her fork.
Kirstie sighed and placed her hand comfortingly on Indianna's leg. "It'll only be a matter of days."
Indianna felt nauseas.
"You'll see him again," Mac said confidently.
Indianna wished she had his optimism. She didn't want to get her hopes up only for them to be crushed, but at the same time she had complete faith in Greyson.
But Rogue was even more frightening than before. Now he had nothing to live for, and Indianna and Greyson had so much.
"Don't cry," Kirstie said firmly and brushed a tear away from Indianna's cheek. "You need to eat."
Indianna sighed and nodded. She ate the rest of her breakfast in silence while Kirstie, Mac and Oscar discussed their plan for the day.
Not long later Indianna heard his voice. "Kirstie, why does my mate look upset?"
Indianna looked up as Greyson crouched in front of her and stole a piece of toast from her plate, taking a bite.
"Don't blame me, you dick. This is all you," Kirstie said dismissively.
*Hey.* Greyson cupped Indianna's cheek, frowning.
"I'm fine," Indianna sighed and shook her head.
"Don't lie to me," Greyson said.
Indianna forced a smile. "I would never."
Greyson chuckled. "Are you not eating any more, sugar?"
Indianna stared down at the food on her plate, feeling full. She had taken a lot more food than she could manage to consume. She shook her head.
Greyson turned to his sister. "Has she actually eaten a decent breakfast?"
"Greyson, I've eaten!" Indianna argued.
Kirstie rolled her eyes. "Trust your mate, you dick. She ate enough for a whole family."
"Great. In that case." Greyson took Indianna's plate from her and sat down between the two girls, tucking into the remains of Indianna's breakfast.
"We better get organised," Mac said, running his hand along Kirstie's thigh. "We gotta a lot of men to get today."
"No rest for the wicked," Kirstie sighed and jumped up from the floor. "Let's go tear down Rogue's empire, lover."
Mac chuckled and let Kirstie pull him up from the floor. "Let's do this."
"You know," Oscar said, furrowing his eyebrows as he stood up with Kirstie and Max , "you'd think that being the third wheel would get easier when you're constantly surrounded by mates."
Greyson laughed. "Stop whinging and get to work, Oscar."
*
Three hours later Greyson was finalising plans with Ace, Kal and Harry. Figuring out the logistics to getting all of their pack back to the house.
Kirstie, Mac and Oscar had gone and successful captured two men and brought them back to be freed from Rogue's control. They were currently being fed by Laura and recovering from the exhaustion of the rebranding.
Indianna was with Brooklyn, Kimberly, Sasha and Alec, discussing what was going to happen when they left. Brooklyn had yet to call Harry's parents to find out their location. She was sitting with a distant look in her eyes, not present in the conversation. Indianna was worried about her. She didn't know how she was going to function without Harry.
"We're going to have children," Alec said. "We can't drag them through the woods for days. We need to know how far the distance to travel is."
Indianna looked at Brooklyn who was staring, unblinking.
"Brooke," Indianna said softly. "Brooke, we need you-"
"She needs to talk to my parents, doesn't she?" Harry's voice cut off Indianna. He walked up to them, looking at Brooklyn in concern.
"We need to figure out the safest way to get there. And that means we need to know the location," Indianna said. "Harry, is she going to be okay?"
Harry narrowed his eyes. "She'll be fine," he said sharply and crouched in front of Brooklyn, taking her hands. "You'll have their location in five minutes." Effortlessly, Harry pulled Brooklyn up from the floor and took out his phone as they went to an empty corner of the room.
"Babe," Harry murmured. "You're worrying me. Talk to me."
Brooklyn didn't say anything.
"Brooklyn-"
"I'm not broken," she said, her voice hollow. "Don't talk to me like I'm a child, Harry."
"I'm not talking to you like a child, babe." Harry reached up and took Brooklyn's face in his hands. "I'm not saying you're broken, but it's okay if you are."
"I'm just so tired, Harry," she whispered. "I'm exhausted. I can't do this anymore."
"You can."
"Since when were you optimistic?"
Harry smirked and kissed Brooklyn's forehead. "Babe, this is nearly over. You can do this."
"What if I don't want to?" Brooklyn asked, shrugging her shoulders. "What's the point anymore? Dead or alive, he's still going to ruin my life. I can't go a day without thinking about him. I'm done, Harry. I'm done feeling like this. I've put up with feeling disgusted with myself for years and I think that's enough now."
A glare covered Harry's face. "No," he said sternly. "No. You don't get to talk like that. I won't hear it, Brooklyn. You're a fighter. God, babe, you're the most stubborn person I've ever met! You don't get to give up. I won't fucking let you."
"Harry," Brooklyn sighed. "I gave up a long time ago."
"So, pull yourself together. Sort yourself out. I'm not letting you leave here in a matter of days with you thinking like this," he snapped. "You have so much to fight for, Brooklyn. So fucking fight."
"I don't need you yelling at me right now," Brooklyn said, her voice rising. "You think having a go at me is going to make this better? God, Harry, get off me. Let me go!"
"You are not going anywhere, babe," Harry said, catching Brooklyn's hands as she tried to push him away from her. "You're going to fucking talk to me."
"No, because you're just going to yell at me!"
"Like you're yelling at me now?"
"Harry!" Brooklyn groaned in frustration. "Get off me. Seriously, you're not helping-"
"Shut up," Harry demanded. "Babe, shut the fuck up and let me talk."
"Go fuck yourself-"
Brooklyn gasped when Harry pushed her up against the wall, arms pinned above her head and his hand across her mouth. He trapped her legs with his, his hips pressed firmly against hers so she couldn't move. He raised his eyebrows challengingly at her when she glared at him. "Listen," he whispered.
Brooklyn attempted to swear at him from underneath his hand.
"I'm not going to baby you. You don't need someone who doesn't raise their voice or is too soft with you. You need tough love. I know you, babe. I know it drives you insane how well I know you. So, I'm not going to stand there and let you talk like that. I'm going to tell you to shut the fuck up and to fight. I need you to be the girl who infuriates me because she's stubborn. I need the girl who will scream back at me in an argument because she's not scared. I need the girl I love, because right now I'm not seeing her and it's scaring me. If you leave the girl you are now then it may be the last time we see each other because I'm not going to be able to think straight if I'm worrying about you. I need to be able to trust you, Brooklyn. If I trust you then you can trust me to fight the best I can. If I don't trust you then you're going to be the one who kills me. Not Rogue. Not any of his men. You."
Harry let Brooklyn's arm go and he removed his hand from her mouth. She didn't move. She was staring up at him, her expression unreadable. Minutes passed and then Harry recognised a familiar spark in her eyes. Anger.
"You're a fucking asshole," she snapped. "You're not going to die. You don't even get to talk about dying. After all the fucking shit we've been through you are not dying and you are definitely not blaming it on me, Mr! And you are also not dying because that would make me a single mother and I'm not raising this kid without you because I'd probably end up feeding it the wrong thing and killing it and I'm not having two deaths on my hands, thank you very much. So, you're going to live and I'm going to continue to be pissed at you until this is all over so you better not die otherwise I'll never have the chance to make up with you. Now, you're going to fuck off before I slap you and leave me in peace so I can call your damn mother."
Harry smiled.
Brooklyn's nose flared as she glared at him. "Don't smile at me like that! You can't say all that and then smile, you dick!"
"There's the girl that drives me insane," he murmured and kissed Brooklyn fiercely before turning around and leaving her alone.
Brooklyn stared at Harry's back in anger. She wanted to shout, but instead she bit her tongue and took out her phone, dialling Harry's parents.
She tried to calm her voice when the call was answered and she smiled when she heard the familiar voice of Harry's mother.
"Hi," Brooklyn said softly. "It's me. No, I'm okay. Harry's okay. I... I was actually calling to ask a favour."