Wake up now,” Daren whispered, alarmingly holding his index finger to his lips. “The Militia. They’re here.”

My eyes widened. My hands went against my belly. The bump hadn’t protruded yet, but I kept touching it nonetheless.

“Come on. Both of you. Jared has a spot underneath the floorboards. We can hide in there,” Daren whispered.

Carter looked at me with dried tears on his cheeks. All of the emotional words I said last night came rushing back into my memory. It wasn’t that I didn’t love Carter. I did. I felt utterly connected to him, but in the end, it felt so difficult to go through with this pregnancy like this. I hated to think this, but Charlie was right.

That became even more apparent when we were ducking under the windows of the doctor’s house. Jared was kneeling down next to a trap door underneath a coffee table. He whispered, “Get in and walk to the other end. There’s another door in case you need to leave out the back. Don’t worry. I can handle this.”

I felt sick to my stomach with fear. How the fuck did they find us so fast? Part of me wondered if the doctor was in on it, but I quickly dismissed that idea when I saw how pale he looked.

We filtered down the small ladder and dropped to the cold floor underneath. We carefully lowered Hansel down, stretcher and all. His face was still grey, but at least his eyes were open. “Thanks. I know I’ve become a burden,” he whispered.

“You’re fine,” I said.

I immediately felt the urge to vomit. I didn’t think the symptoms would come on so soon. “We need to talk,” Carter whispered, eyes full of hurt.

“There’s nothing to say,” I whispered.

Charlie eyed us both carefully. “Do you mind telling the group why you both have tear marks on your faces? What’s going on?”

Carter tensed his mouth and pointed at me. “He’s leaving us. He’s literally skipping town,” he said.

“Whoa now,” Daren whispered. “This is getting too heated, much too fast. Keep your voices down. Armed guards were spotted near the road to the neighborhood.”

I circled my hand around Carter’s arm, but he pushed me away. Before I could say anything to console him, a sharp knock on the door perked our ears up. The low rumblings of soldiers boots accompanied the banging.

“Doctor, Jared Pierce. We have a warrant to search the premises. Open the door and place your hands behind your head.”

I could barely see through the cracks of the floorboard, but when the door opened, Sandoval Lewis’s face was in clear view. His heavy boots stepped above us. He pushed Jared up against the wall and smiled menacingly.

“Dear doctor. What do you have for us in store this time?” Sandoval asked. He was wearing a black trench coat that covered most of his feeble body. A large, dark-rimmed hat was hovering over his bald head.

Jared began panting for air. I closed my eyes, hoping that the fear wouldn’t consume him and blow our cover. “Please. You already took my son away from me. What else could you possibly want?” he asked.

Sandoval smiled and invasively walked into his kitchen. The soldiers behind him followed inside. They lazily dumped every object they could find onto the floor. Sandoval was pleased.

“Yes, your son. I think about him often. Don’t you?” he asked.

With a shaky voice, Jared answered him. “Every. Single. Night,” he said.

Sandoval took off his hat and held it close to his heart. “That’s ironic. So do I,” he said.

“Fuck you, Sandoval,” Jared cursed through his teeth.

Sandoval laughed for approximately two seconds before letting his anger carry him. He slammed the butt of his pistol against his face. “Watch your tongue. You may have left the barracks, but we still keep tabs on you. We know they’re in here somewhere,” Sandoval said, seething.

I felt my stomach churning. I needed to vomit so bad, but I knew that it would give us away. Carter could sense my discomfort. He reluctantly wrapped his arms around me and whispered, “Even if you leave, I’ll still do my best to protect you.”

I kissed his temple lightly and held onto him. I was so fucking confused. I put myself in such an awful position. I knew it was my fault too, not Carter’s. The alpha was sweet and loving, affectionate and pure. He had a firm and admirable conviction within his bones.

How could I leave him? Still, I didn’t feel safe in this house. Sandoval’s appearance only confirmed my worst fears.

Jared scrambled back onto his feet. His hand was shaking uncontrollably. “There hasn’t been anyone here for years,” he said, stroking the blood from his short, grey beard.

Jared noticed that his glasses were chipped. He threw them onto the counter and sighed as Sandoval coursed through every room methodically. His boots moved above us, stomping against the wood. I glanced back at the second exit, wondering if we would have to use it as a last-ditch escape effort.

Our hearts were beating painfully. I could feel Carter’s pulse against my skin. The two elder alphas kept their eyes fixed on the ground, but they looked intensely ready to move. Charlie held his rifle in his hands, two finger sliding against the trigger.

“Where are they?” Sandoval’s voice rose alarmingly. “Answer me, dammit!”

Sandoval pointed his pistol at Jared’s face. The doctor couldn’t stop shaking. Sandoval smiled, revealing his silver teeth. He pressed the barrel against Jared’s mouth and asked him one last time. “Where are you hiding your son?”

The four of us stared at one another with surprise. Son? Who the hell was he talking about?

Daren pointed at the second exit. Whatever he thought was about to happen wasn’t right. We carefully made our way to the trap door facing the south. Daren opened it a sliver, peaking his eyes out.

He pointed above and mimicked the words: Car. Directly above us was the henchmen’s vehicle. But we’d have to get the keys first.

“I haven’t seen my son in years. You know this,” Jared said.

Two soldiers walked behind him. They secured his wrists together. Sandoval gave him another cheap shot to the gut. He fell to the floor once again. Now was Daren’s chance to act.

Carter’s father carefully lifted his body out of the hole. My throat had closed, and I could barely even breathe, let alone watch him. Tensions were at the highest they’ve been on this trip. All Charlie could do was point his rifle upward, and pray.

It was the first moment that I got to witness Daren in action. A lone guard stood watch near the car. As he slowly made his way toward him, he hovered his arms out. He snatched the man’s neck. I had to look away when he cracked it. When did I become such a wuss?

Meanwhile, Sandoval had turned enraged. “That loser of a soldier has to be in here! We saw the last of that puny Alliance on these roads two nights ago. There is nowhere else they could be. They have to be in here,” he shouted violently.

What the fuck? Were they looking for… for me? None of this was adding up. I leaned against Carter’s chest, closing my eyes. I couldn’t take it anymore.

The one soldier that was holding Jared in place let out a goon of a laugh. “He’s worthless to us. We can find them without his help,” he said.

The other soldier agreed with him. “Yeah, let’s send him to the prisons. Let him fight it out with the other inmates,” he said.

Sandoval paced in front of them, thinking intently. Jared whispered, “Please, Sandoval. I don’t know why you’re doing this. You took my boy, and I never said anything about it. I never went to the press. I never told a fucking soul.”

“That’s because if you did, they would find your body in a river,” Sandoval growled.

“He doesn’t know. My son never knew about me. Carter is none of my business anymore,” Jared cried.

Carter fell into a deep state of shock. His arms locked up and his whole body trembled. “No,” he whispered. His eyes followed Daren’s movements above us and then shot back to Sandoval. He ripped his pistol out and aimed to kill.

“Don’t,” I growled at a low volume. “Please. They’ll kill us, Carter. We can talk about this later.”

He bit down against his teeth and his jaw muscles twitched. “Omega. I need you to stop talking right now. I have no one now,” he whispered.

I glanced back at Charlie, who already set his rifle down. Slowly but surely, Charlie got into a defensive position. “Put the gun down, Carter,” he whispered.

A soldier searching the house stopped above us. He sniffed wildly. “Boss. I smell someone. An omega,” he said.

Charlie darted forward and wrestled the gun out of Carter’s hand. With heavy emotion, Carter tried seizing the weapon multiple times with failure. Carter fell back, hitting his head against a small wood beam.

“They’re down here!” the soldier yelled.

Sandoval’s eyes met mine, though I’m not sure if he saw me. His pupils were as black as the night sky and sent chills throughout my body. I knew he was evil, but he seemed inhuman, and not in a good shifter way.

“We have to go,” I whispered in Carter’s ears.

Sandoval fired relentlessly toward us, but we were quicker. His men whipped their guns out and fired as well.

We had no choice but to follow Daren into the car. We opened the second door, right as Sandoval pushed the coffee table aside. Struggling to push Hansel up the ladder, I could see that Charlie was intent on leaving him behind.

“Don’t,” I whispered. “I’ve got this.”

I took charge and lifted Hansel’s heavy body above me. I dragged his body toward the car, and with Daren’s help, managed to prop him against the leather seat.

As we stepped into the government SUV, we could hear more bullets hitting the basement. Sandoval’s blood-curdling scream echoed around us. In his passionate rage, he sounded exasperated. “Find them!”

I saw the cruel man’s dark figure stumble outside. He held a pistol in his hand but didn’t make an effort to shoot us. I knew we’d meet him again. When we did, we had to be ready.

At that moment, I knew I couldn’t leave. Even if I wanted to escape, I had to be there for Carter. I just loved him too much to say goodbye.