I held onto my child, watching as Jude had completely subdued the wolf beneath him. He had been sitting there with his knee in the man's belly, his claws extended and placed onto either side of his head. Jude snarled at him furiously.

"Did you know what Declan was planning by coming here?" He growled. The other wolf simply glared, tilting his head to the side, his lips remaining tight. Jude's fangs snapped closer towards his face, and the wolf on the floor cringed back.

"He's not going to talk." I frowned, bouncing Willow on my hip as I stood a good distance away from the two should this stranger somehow manage to overthrow my Alpha. Willow kept crying, disturbed out of his peaceful rest by the commotion that had went on in the living room just earlier.

"If he knows what's good for him, he will." Jude huffed.

"You're back." George sighed, and I turned to face the entryway of our cursed home. There was Jason and Lucas walking inside, looking frustrated and upset. I doubted they made it up to Declan by the lack of blood on them, aside from Jason's reddened feet from stepping into the glass.

"Tch," Lucas snorted, folding his arms over his chest. Jason approached closer, making eye contact with me. But I immediately turned around, continuing to try and soothe our crying baby, ignoring him.

"I'm sorry," Jason said, approaching me close enough to place a hand on my side. As soon as I felt his touch, I started to walk away, circling to the other side of the room to stand closer to George rather than Jason, with no words for him.

He was the cause of all of this. This was his fucking fault for accepting any help from Declan in the first place. He was such an idiot!

The sounds of siren started to fill the house, the front door wide open. We all listened in silence as doors to vehicles slammed outside, and several men charged into the house with their guns drawn.

The head of this squad I recognized instantly by his lack of a standard police uniform. Instead, dressed in slacks, a dress shirt, and suspenders, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows with a look on his face of annoyance that matched the others.

"Dammit, I'm getting sick of seeing your faces," Detective Evan huffed, lowering the weapon and surveying the lack of a current threat. The other cops headed over towards Jude, pushing him off and flipping the wolf that had been pinned beneath him onto his stomach. They latched handcuffs onto him, starting to read him his rights as they lifted him onto his feet with a combined effort.

"What happened here?" Evan asked, scratching the back of his head angrily.

As though this was all our fault.

"Yeah, Jason. What happened here?" I frowned, watching him as he stared at the floor.

"It's the Grey Brotherhood," Jude piped up, rubbing the side of his mouth to remove the spittle that was there.

"No shit," Evan said with a surprised look, reaching into his back pocket to remove a small notepad, and snatching a pen from his shirt pocket. He flipped the notepad open, ready to hear more.

Jason took a step forward now. "It's my fault. All of this is my fault," he admitted, placing his hands into his pockets. Evan cocked a brow curiously, but didn't say anything, only waiting for Jason to speak further.

My partner took in a deep breath and continued on. "Declan, he started this. He's a leader of the Grey Brotherhood. He was just here, but he fled. We weren't able to keep up with him and his other goon."

"But why was he here in the first place. Keep an eye on that one and throw him in the back of your car," Evan spoke, nodding towards his team as they walked past him.

"Yes, sir,” they replied to their superior, dragging the slightly struggling wolf off and out of the house.

"I invited him here. For a surprise party," I admitted, continuing to rock Willow who was starting to quiet down a bit. "I didn't know he was involved with that group, though."

Evan slid a hand over his face in frustration. "Can you just start from the very beginning? If I don't get an accurate account of this it's not gonna be very fucking helpful."

We all stared at Jason, waiting for him to start from the very beginning. So that we could all understand what the fuck he had gotten us all into.

"Well, shit." Lucas blinked, completely enamored with Jason's storytelling. How he knew who Declan was from the first day he'd seen him at the funeral. How he had been there when Jason first met Leon, with … Jake. That part of the story made my heart sink into my stomach slightly, seeing the way he still had those deep-rooted feelings for his previous lover. And the fact that he and Jude had believed that Declan and Leon had poisoned Jake.

But during that part of the conversation, I looked George over and he seemed to be doing just fine. Absolutely fine, though maybe a bit tipsy.

"I'll be putting this into the report. I need to get a Judge's consent to search his house first." Evan put his notepad back into his pants pocket. But Jason didn't look satisfied with that answer. The detective noticed that as well, holding up a hand before he could protest further. "And don't any of you dare think of going there to handle this yourselves. You'll all end up dead or in jail. Got it?" He wagged a finger at us, like he was scolding children.

"Okay," I nodded, the others weren't as enthusiastic about having to stay put instead of pursuing Declan, but Evan was right. Declan was a fucking head hancho of this damned gang, and if we went in there with them expecting us to retaliate, he would have plenty of protection. If he was still holed up there, anyway.

"Alright, we're packin' out. If anything else happens, make sure to call me directly. Do you still have my card?" Detective Evan asked me. I nodded, I still had it in my wallet from when he had given it to me during the interrogation back at the hospital. After the first fight we had with the Grey Brotherhood.

As Evan and his team vacated the house, there was an awkward silence that fell over us. No one knew what to say or do, not even Lucas who's usual loud mouth was always there to break any tension among the pack.

I took it upon myself to head straight back into the bedroom with Willow. I didn't wait for anyone to say anything now, and gently placed my baby on the bed laying him on his back. He cooed, waving his arms in the air wildly and watched me as I began to dig into our drawers that were next to the bed.

I slammed out each one loudly, grabbing a few articles of clothing before slamming them shut again. Like folded jeans and sweatpants, some shirts, underwear, socks. The usual. I moved to the closet, also opening it with too much force. I heard the side of it crack, but I couldn't feel bothered controlling my strength and slowly building rage.

The red suitcase inside was mine, and the yellow Jason's. I grabbed his just because it was larger, and began to stuff it full of my things, not bothering to fold my clothes.

"What are you doing?" Jason asked me as he approached the room, though standing just outside of the doorway.

"I'm packing. What does it look like?" I replied cooly, refusing to let my emotions overwhelm me and start crying like a baby.

"You can't leave."

"Watch me."

"Forest. Forest!" he shouted as I zipped open the rolling suitcase. I ignored him, grabbing the diaper bag in the corner and slinging it over my shoulder. "Come on, Willow. We're gonna go." I smiled at my baby, lifting him up and holding him with my only free arm. He smacked his lips, continuing his calmer coos with shut eyes. As I moved to go towards the doorway, Jason stood there with his arms out wide, blocking me from walking past him.

"Get out of my way." I frowned, a bit of a growl rumbling deep in my throat.

"I just wanted to do what was best for you." Jason winced at my aggression. "And for Willow. I wanted a good home for us to call our own. To get away from the memory of Thorn."

"I don't think that matters, since he gave you his head.” I growled louder. He hadn't even told me that, and I only learned of it after he relayed his story to Detective Evans. If I had known how disgusting that Declan was, I wouldn't have invited him into this house. I wouldn't have even moved in here to begin with!

I couldn't be with someone who hid secrets like that. Not when it was something so serious, something that could have endangered our child.

"Forest, please. I don't want you to leave. I didn't mean for any of this to happen," he pleaded, but I wasn't about to be swayed.

"But it did happen! After everything that happened with me, you still took his help. At the funeral of your neighbor who was murdered by a Grey Brotherhood member."

"By your ex-boyfriend!" he retaliated. I flashed my fangs at him, and his eyes widened at how feral I was acting. But I didn't care. I couldn't care.

"And the way you've been keeping secrets is no better! You're just like him!" I snarled, moving closer towards him, but he didn't budge. At least at first. His brows were furrowed, staring down at me with his own teeth flashing, trying to get me to back down. Sure, I was only an Omega, I didn't have an ounce of Alpha within my veins, but I refused to back down and submit to him. Not this time.

As I stood firm, Jason's own look of frustration slowly faded. With a hefty sigh he removed his arms from the door frame, and stepped to the side, allowing me to pass by without further interruption.

Lucas, Jude, and George all stood there, staring at us. I nodded at my Alpha. "Are we leaving or what?" I headed straight towards the door. Jude tossed a glance between Jason and myself before he followed behind.

"Where are you going?" Lucas asked, tilting his head to the side. Jude grabbed him by the collar, dragging him along as well.

"We are going home," Jude snapped. I rolled the suitcase down the porch steps, walking towards the street.

"Should we call a cab, or..?" Jude asked, releasing Lucas from his hold and jogging up a bit to fall into stride next to me.

"Whatever."

"We don't want Willow to catch a cold." He offered a soft smile, placing a hand onto my shoulder. I shrugged his touch away, looking down at the child in my arms who was snuggled deep into my chest.

"We're only twenty minute drive away from your house, call one while we walk," Lucas piped up, "We're so close to downtown someone will be able to pick us up on the way."

Jude grabbed his cell phone, dialing and bringing it up to his ear and began to speak to the other person on the end of the line. Lucas took the chance to make it up closer to me as well. He grabbed the handle of the suitcase out of my hand, sliding off the diaper bag too and slung it over his shoulder.

"Are you gonna be okay?" he asked me, seriously for once.

I shook my head. "I don't know right now, Lucas. I don't know what I'm going to do. Everything feels just.. ruined," I admitted pathetically.

"I wanted this perfect, happy family with him. Just like I wanted one with Thorn. And I still don't have that happy family, I don't have a fucking job, and now I'm a single parent with no home to go to."

"Technically, you do have a home. With us."

"I guess."

"We're still here to save you no matter what, remember that." Lucas grinned, rubbing the top of my head. His words just added more fuel to the fire. I don't know how many times I've said it to them, but I didn't want to be constantly saved. I didn't want to be that pathetic pack member that needed everyone to baby him all the time.

But that's what I was, still.

A nuisance.