Yuki's POV

You know the most annoying thing about being pregnant with animalistic instincts? Those animalistic instincts make overprotective mates seem much more logical in the heat of the moment.

I told myself I'd talk Damian and Galen out of trapping me with the "women and children" (more like men and women who didn't want to fight and the children, but whatever) in the basement of the pack house where the creepy cages were. Luckily, the pack only moved in recently, so there weren't any prisoners, and there was more room for most of the pack.

Back on topic, I did not talk Damian and Galen out of trapping my in the basement with the men and women who didn't want to fight and the children. They used their stupid kisses and loving touches to convince me and my instincts that staying down here is best for my baby.

-

1 hour earlier

"What if you get shot while running around? Or even bumping you wrong! I wouldn't be able to handle it if you or the baby got hurt, Yuki, please. Just listen to us. You'd be the last defense if a hunter decided to use a hostage to get at us while we attack. We can only trust you with this," Galen pleaded, his hand stroking my cheek in that way that makes my heart jump unevenly in my chest. The chaos of the pack rushing around us as the packed into the basement in the early hours of the morning faded to the back of my mind at the contact of my mates.

Damian pressed up behind me, his hands wrapping around my waist and stoking my flat stomach where our child slept. He nosed my neck and I leaned it to the side to give him access. "Please?" He murmured, ever so softly. The emotion in his voice made my eyes tear up at the love I felt after living years in the forest with only the animals as my company ever since my master.

I sighed and let Galen kiss me gently on my lips. I opened my mouth and let his tongue in, exhaling the tenseness in my body as he explored my mouth. His grip on my face tightened slightly as the kiss deepened and Damian pressed harder from behind.

"Boys," I heard Vizin—Dad, he said to call him—warn from somewhere behind us. My mates backed off and I closed my eyes in defeat.

"Fine," I murmur. I felt twin sighs from both sides of me. "You can't die. Or get hurt. It's not allowed." Galen chuckles and kisses my forehead. Damian tilts my head to peck me on my mouth before pulling back. "I'm not kidding." I feel my eyebrows furrow and my lips fall into a pout.

"We know you're not. We'll be careful," Damian reassures.

"Let's go. It's time," Dad calls out.

-

Angry at myself for succumbing to their charms, I kick the wall of the basement nearest to me, startling the man next to it. Just as I spin around to sit down, a loud clanging of metal startled me. With my tail snapping to and fro, I jerk into a crouched stance, ears alert to check for enemies who might've gotten through the door. Everybody around me just looks annoyed, so I relax my posture.

"I'm done! I'm fucking done!" A feminine voice screams, "One you of useless fuckers better come and help me or so help me Goddess I will tear—" I follow to noise to the second row of cells, surprised to see the woman from a while ago, whose child was killed—Anna or something—clinging to the bars like the monkeys on the animal channel Sammy showed me. She's using her entire body weight and is viciously jerking her weight around trying to open the door to get out the cell. I walk up to her and watch as she releases the bars, falling to the ground with a grunt. She doesn't look very good. Her blonde hair is greasy and stingy, she has bags under eyes, and I can smell her positively ripe scent emanating from her body. She looks up with a glare as I approach.

"The hell do you want, shorty?" She growls. I look around nervously with a step back, but firm myself to stay standing upright with my chin up.

"Why are you in a cell?" I ask her. She raises a sardonic eyebrow.

"Obviously because the alpha-" she sneers "-put me here. Vizin said I wasn't allowed to go put down some animals to avenge my daughter because he's scared I'd go in too recklessly and get myself killed. Like he has any right to prevent me from taking my revenge." She mutters the last part. I shuffle my feet while feeling indignation rise up within me. This isn't right. In the forest, if you kept a mama bear from killing someone who killed her cubs, you'd be asking to get killed. Also, this is an adult woman. If she chooses to die to avenge her daughter, I'm damn sure not to get in her way.

"Want help?" I ask her. She pauses and looks at me appraisingly, taking in the ears atop my head and tail lashing behind me, betraying the emotions rolling inside me.

"Sure. I'll even show you the way out, I can see you want it. Shifters are, like, real strong right? Then sure. You pull, I push," she says while getting to her feet. I look around at the people who've been staring at our conversation. I raise an eyebrow at the group of women off to my right who have disapproving expressions.

"What? The alpha had sense when he put her in there. She'll get herself killed otherwise." She says with her chin raised, her sloppy lipstick twisting with her lips with the unpleasant expression on her face.

Anna? Hannah?-scoffs at that. I look back at her as she glares at the group of women. "Yeah, well, last time I listened to a man who thought he knew what was best for me, I ended up pregnant at 16 and homeless until the Luna took me in. I loved my Naya, but I won't lie and say I planned for her. You, midget. Help me now. We need to be there before all the action's done for." She growls at me. I hop to it, gripping the bars and pulling as hard as I can as she pushes with a groan.

A long, strung out moment of tension, but the bars only creak. No give. I stop and contemplate the door to the cell. I notice how close it is to the wall behind it and get an idea.

"Pulling won't be as strong as two people pushing with a wall behind us. Hold on," I say to her. I let the tension drain from my frame and step so I'm perpendicular to the bars. I slowly push my leg through the tight gap, wiggling as I go. Then I slide my hips—that's pretty tight, am I getting fat?—and then twist my head to slide into the cell. I turn to the woman in the cell who looks at me approvingly. We both step to the door, bracing our heels against the wall. The metal bars groan with the force, before popping from the frame. The door falls to the floor with a loud clang, startling the people in the basement.

The woman holds out a hand, which I know I'm supposed to slap for a "highfive", so I do. She has a victorious grin on her face, lighting up her previously angry and drawn features. She grabs my hand and pulls me to the little covered square things on the wall.

"These are the laundry chutes. We can shimmy our way up. The name's Avana, by the way," she says, slapping my butt, and cramming me into the laundry chute. A yelp escapes me and I kick my foot into her stomach in retaliation as I start to make my ascent up the chute, cursing myself halfway up when I remember that I could've shifted into my smaller lynx form.

By the time we both make our way out, I'm slightly out of breath. I tumble out first, Avana following closely behind. We lay there for a second, to gather our breaths before getting up. I press my hand to my stomach to ground myself, catching the sad glance from Avana as she notices the movement. She takes a deep breath and balls her hands into fists as anger ad determination burn in her eyes.

"Now, well get those bastards. I'll sniff em' out. Hopefully they left a few for us." She jogs for the front door and I follow.

We start a brisk run into the woods, with Avana occasionally stopping to sniff. My inferior nose eventually catches the scent of blood and and sound of gunshots, so I run ahead of her until we both arrive at the "battlefield", which was pure chaos.

The hunters set up camp at a hill that's pressed up against a mountain, with the thickest of the fighting happening at the bottom and the top behind supported with a cliff-top blocking the back. Jeremiah and his men are at the bottom with most of the pack, fighting with many more men than I thought Damian reported coming into town. They must've called for more people. It would certainly explain the number of bodies laying on the ground. Fortunately, they're mostly hunter bodies.

I let my eyes drift through the crowd looking for my family, noting the pack's beta and gamma (and kids) and Max among the fighters. My eyes widen at the monstrosity that is Charlie fighting his way up the hill, shredding enemies who get in his path. Then I see my mates and their father ahead of Charlie, just getting close to the top where an older, roughened man and a manly-looking caveman woman stand looking over the battlefield with bloodthirsty grins on their faces. I inhale and turn to Avana, seeing that she's vanished from my side and probably joined the fighting.

I turn around and get venture further into the woods behind me. I traverse the forest around the field, making sure to stay out of sight. Obviously I'm not going to make it to the top quick enough if I try to get through the fight. So, I'll just go around. The steep cliff of mountain that is pressed up against the hill could stop a werewolf or a hunter, but it won't stop a lynx-shifter who is rather good at climbing.

As I get to the side of the mountain, I shift and start climbing. I try and get high and close enough so I can slide behind the couple and their friends at the top. I finally reach a point where I can see everything again, the group on top being the clearest, only to see that my mates are now circling the headhunter. His friends are gone, probably thrown down the incline. The woman is on the ground, bleeding from her arm, or the stub of her elbow where her arm was attached. Her face is twisted in an excruciating look of pain that I rather like to see.

Vizin is...

Vizin is on the ground. I can't see his face from where I am, but he's shifted back and one of his legs is missing. A wave of anguish nearly makes me lose my grip on the ledge, before another wave of anger overtakes it. The sight of Damian and Galen circling the headhunter with his sword (he probably realizes how many bullets it take to put down one werewolf) makes me get moving. I climb over so I'm over the ledge, and I shift back to my human form to slide down the mountain onto the ledge over the top of the hill. I lean over the side, seeing Galen on the ground and Damian crouched over him with a snarl. The headhunter is saying something I can hear, his sword raised over his head for what I think would be the finishing move. If I didn't take action, of course.

I leap off the ledge without thought while transforming. The expression on Damian's wolf slackens as he sees. I dive straight for the back of the headhunter, my claws poised to go for his back. I reach it, slashing my claws in a digging motion and rapidly moving them to open up his back to reach his spine. I dig in deeper, ripping through his spine and burrowing myself into his body and through the other side. I come out from his front, kicking his now-dead body behind me onto the ground. I ignore the blood and viscera on me and trot to Galen, nosing him will mewing. He rumbles in his chest and noses me back before falling unconscious.

I shift back to my human form, catching Damian shifting and hugging him tight to myself. "Lucky I was here, huh? Told you that you shouldn't leave me behind," I mumble into hair. He huffs out a laugh and nods without saying anything.

I'm just relaxing, noting the fight at the bottom of the incline going quiet and the howls of the wolves in victory, when Damian is ripped from my arms and thrown to the ground, a woman on him before I can blink while holding a knife to his throat, a savage grin overtaking her caveman face. I freeze, not taking my eyes off them.

"One fucking move and I'll slit his throat. Fucking knew I should've ripped that brat apart more," she starts rambling, but I'm not listening. Those English lessons are the furthest from my mind. The pressing of the knife hard enough to draw blood, the sizzling of the silver on his skin is making my hair rise. Just as I took a step forward, I notice movement behind the woman. Avana is creeping toward her on all fours in human form, nudity be damned. I relax. "If Matthew didn't stop me, I could've—"

The woman cries out as she's jerked backwards by her hair. Avana yanks the knife from her hand and starts pulling out the other woman's hair. I pull Damian towards me and cuddle him to my chest on the ground and watch as Avana rips the woman who killed her daughter apart. The woman is still sobbing and fighting back as well as she can with one hand. But she pulls out something from her pocket on the side where her hand is gone—it's a thin, metal pin—and before anyone can stop her, she jabs it into Avana's skull, just as Avana rams her entire fist into the woman's chest. They both freeze, and then the woman is falling over the other side of the incline where it drops into the rather vicious river.

I crawl toward Avana, leaving Damian where I released him when I first saw the pin. When I make it to her, I feel tears well up as I see the smile on her relaxed face. Logic tells me that it's the slackening of a corpse after dying, but my heart tells me it's her finally getting her revenge. I didn't know her, but I understand wanting to kill the one who took her child away. My precious baby isn't bigger than a sweet pea, but I'd do anything for it. I put my hand over her lidded, empty-looking eyes to completely close them. She deserves a peaceful rest.

I turn around, seeing Damian directing the clean up. The hunters' corpse are being piled at the base of the hill, probably to be burned, and the few wolf corpses are being laid out at the edge of the forest. Jeremiah and his buddies are going through the crates stored in the cave where the cliff hangs over. Some are running around making sure everyone's healing. Werewolves heal rather quickly, but medical attention makes it a quicker process.

It's a slightly strange sight, seeing a bunch of people working so seriously with blankets wrapped around their waists. Ignoring it, I walk over to where Galen is sleeping and Vizin, who's still unconscious, is having his leg stump wrapped with gauze by a healer. Damian jogs over to where I am, exhaustion making his face sag. He pulls me into his chest, making a purr rumble from mine as I grip him tightly with one hand and the other pressing against my lower stomach.

"We did it," I murmur. He sighs above me, rubbing his face into my sweaty hair.

"We did."

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