God, she was pathetic, but even knowing that didn’t stop her from glancing around the large bedroom to make sure that they hadn’t followed her. She’d broken a rule in that basement, one that she knew was going to get her kil-
Stop it! Indie mentally berated herself, reminding herself that she was safe.
Mary was dead and the rest of the Pack, the ones that hadn’t been there, had already been rounded up and taken into custody by the Council. As far as they knew, Indie was dead. There was no reason for anyone to look for her and even if they did, they wouldn’t know where to find her, she reminded herself as her grip on the blankets turned painful when her bedroom door suddenly opened.
“Sorry,” Ephraim said around a yawn, absently scratching his bare chest as he walked into her room and joined them, making her wince when she realized that she was giving off the scent of fear.
Again.
That was confirmed when Trace and Samantha stumbled into her room a few seconds later and-
“Move over,” Kale said, picking her up and handed her over to Trace, who pulled her closer so that he could wrap his arm around her, something that he did when she was scared. Kale grabbed the remote off the nightstand, turned the television on and-
“Move over, brat,” Nathan said with a wince as he pressed a hand against his stomach and flopped down across the bottom of the bed with a sigh.
“What are you doing?” Chris asked, drawing her attention to her bedroom door where he stood, holding his son in his arms as Kara and Drew walked past him and headed for Marc’s abandoned sleeping bag. In seconds, the shifter was sitting back against the nightstand with his mate sitting comfortably between his legs.
“Harry Potter marathon,” Marc said, climbing onto his father’s lap and got comfortable as Chris decided to join them, dropping down on the chair by the bed with his son fast asleep in his arms.
“What’s Harry Potter?” Trace asked, frowning only to glare when his wife said, “A goblin.”
“I freaking love Harry Potter,” Jacob, who had a habit of showing up in the middle of the night, said as he sat down on the floor in front of the bed with a heartfelt sigh.
As Indie sat there, squished between a Pyte and an Alpha, who always stole her dessert, she slowly exhaled as she looked up and-
Found herself looking at Ethan as he stood in her doorway, slowly taking in the scene before him. When his gaze landed on her, his eyes turned silver and-
She bit back a sigh as she watched him walk away.
*-*-*-*
“She’s fine,” Madison promised him with a warm smile as Caine scented Indie’s fear and considered going to get the human and bringing her in here to keep her safe, but it seemed that he didn’t have to, not with the rest of the house looking after her.
They were all very protective of the small human, especially after finding out what that sick bitch had put her through. When the Council found out about Indie, they’d made arrangements to have her sent to the New York compound where they could protect her, but Ephraim had refused to send her away.
She belonged with them.
None of them would have allowed her to be sent away, not after what she went through, and definitely not after what she did for them and not after they’d been forced to stay away from Jill.
“How is she doing?” he asked, watching as Noah double-checked Danni’s pulse, which Caine already knew had slowed down since the last time.
“It’s starting again,” Noah said, biting back a sigh as he said, “I’m sorry.”
Grinding his jaw, Caine nodded absently as he glanced at his mate, who was about to fall into another coma before his gaze shifted to Izzy and the sweet little girl curled up next to her and-
“Get them out of here,” he bit out as he sat down in the chair that he kept next to the bed for nights like this and watched his mate, waiting for the moment when her heart stopped beating and his definition of hell was redefined.
*-*-*-*
Boston Compound
Boston, MA
“Please don’t do this!” Jill screamed as she was pulled out of the holding cell that they’d thrown her in five months ago and dragged towards the tunnel that would take her to a future that would destroy her.
“I’m sorry,” the shifter said, throwing her a sympathetic look before he turned her around and yanked her arms behind her back.
“You don’t need to do this!” she said, biting back a sob when she felt the bite of cold steel close around her wrists.