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  We walked north along the fence line, finally coming to the rifle range and a second fence around the edge of it. People, more accurately, Nevermores, milled about inside the range, not making a single sound despite the soldiers that were placed at intervals around the outside edge. I placed a hand on Scout’s head.

  “No attacking,” I said, and patted him for good measure. He sat back on his heels and stared at the ground. Good enough. I did a quick head count; there were at least thirty Nevermores in there. I counted 23 men and 7 women including the heavily pregnant one, Marks’ ex-wife.

  “Now what Mara?” Marks asked, as he started to walk towards me from the other side. He froze when he saw Scout tucked up against my legs.

  “Where’s Sebastian?” I asked.

  Just then three soldiers came out with Sebastian bound up and walking between them. He was growling and lunging at the end of the catchpoles they directed him with, his face twisted in a snarl of anger.

  “Bring him here,” I said, my heart trembling. How do you love someone so much and yet still fear them, knowing they could turn on you in an instant? It was a terrible combination of emotions and they warred for my attention within my heart.

  Sebastian saw me and his struggling ceased as he got closer to me and Scout, his eyes softening, his growls subsiding completely. It was a good sign and the guards started to relax their grips on the poles.

  “Let him go,” I said. “He’ll be fine if he’s right beside me.” I pleaded with them, hoping they believed me.

  “We can’t ma’am. Standard orders when dealing with the big boys.” One of the guards said. I let out a sigh. There was no use for it. At least they weren’t beating him.

  “Now what?” One of the other guards asked.

  I stepped up to the fence and threw three quarters of the loaf of bread over the top. The Nevermores inside the range froze in place, noses lifted to the wind in tandem, the rain running down over their skin. Then they broke as a single unit, scrambling over one another as they fought to get to the bread. Mass hysteria broke out, fists and feet flying, and the pack let loose with their unearthly howling and screeching.

  From there it seemed to go downhill, but it was what I was counting on. I fed Sebastian a piece of stale (but not moldy) bread as we sat on the wet ground. As the rain poured down around us, the first pair of males squared off. This was going better than I had hoped, better than if I’d planned it myself.

  I put my money on the larger of the two Nevermores. His body was tightly coiled and heavily muscled and he outweighed the smaller male by at least fifty pounds. They circled around one another, jabbing and growling as they tested the other’s reach and style. In a sudden flurry they launched at one another, screaming their rage. The fight lasted maybe a whole minute, with a surprise victory to the smaller of the two men. He stood over his opponent and crowed to the cloud-ridden skies before he dropped and ripped the bigger man’s throat out, sealing his win in blood. A ripple of chills went through me and I tucked my body tighter against Sebastian’s. The soldiers around us didn’t make a move, not even a gasp. I wondered how many times they’d seen this sort of thing.

  The winner was immediately challenged by a young male who was tall and lean, almost as tall as Sebastian, with a shock of red hair that stood on end as if he’d been electrocuted. Living here with Vincent, the possibility of that kind of torture was all too real. I had to work at putting away my sympathy for him, knowing that he could be the one Sebastian faced off against.

  This fight lasted longer, the two combatants wrestled to the ground, mud covering their bodies. It was hard to follow the progress and I had no idea who was winning until the very end. A loud crack followed by a scream signalled the fight was over, this time the young one was the victor. He strutted around the compound, kicking at the limp body of his opponent as he passed, eyeing up the rest of the pack. No one lifted their eyes to his, giving him the submission he was demanding with only his presence. He had no other challengers.

  “Now we can put Sebastian in,” I said, untying the ropes on his wrist and slipping the catchpole off his neck before Marks or anyone else had time to protest.

  “Mara don’t! He’ll attack us all and that’ll force us to shoot him,” Marks yelped at me.

  “Sebastian,” I said, holding his head and pulling his face close to mine. “I need you to go in and take over the pack. We need them to help get us out of here, okay?” I kissed his lips and he nodded, slowly. I pulled the rest of the ropes off of him and he followed me to the gate where the nearest soldier opened the door and stood behind it.

  “You’re one crazy bitch,” the soldier muttered.

  “Love will do that to you.” I said with a twist of my lips. Sebastian stepped into the rifle range, drawing all the Nevermore’s eyes to him. “Scout,” I said. He jumped and I pointed in. Slinking along, he did as he was told and the Nevermores saw him listen, saw him obey a human woman.

  And then the fight was on, the young buck rushing Sebastian and without realizing it, us too. The soldier slammed the gate shut. There was only one problem; he didn’t wait till I was out of the way, and the door hammered my back throwing me into the rifle range with the Nevermores and the raging male.

  11

  “Get her out of there!” Marks snarled, and I heard the gate start to open, but then slam shut a second time as the rest of the Nevermores surrounded me and Scout, sniffing and touching, Sebastian already battling it out with the young male.

  I stood slowly, my heart hammering along at a breakneck speed. Scout stayed at my heels, pressing himself up against me, looking to me for leadership in the new pack. Shit. This was not how I’d planned things to go.

  I still had three slices of bread and I pulled one out of the bag. A woman made a grab for it and I slapped her hand down and growled at her, doing my best imitation of Sebastian and Scout. She lowered her eyes and withdrew her hand. I split the piece into four and slipped the first to Scout, who took it eagerly, showing him favouritism. Then I handed one to the woman who’d reached out, her eyes filling with a joy so intense it brought a lump to my throat. They were starving, doing their best to live, to exist. Though they weren’t human, they still felt emotions, needs and wants. The third piece I handed to a grizzled old male who looked like he’d been in his share of battles. I looked over my shoulder to see Sebastian pounding the living piss out of the young buck.

  The last chunk went to Marks’ ex-wife. Then I broke my last two slices into as many pieces as I could, handing them out to the rest of the pack.

  They took them eagerly and when I growled and shooed them with my hands, they backed off. Maybe it was a good thing I was shoved in here. They weren’t attacking me and they were seeing me as the Alpha’s mate, higher than them in pack standing.

  A roar and I turned to see Sebastian standing over the young buck, his foot on the throat of his opponent. I ran over to him, pushing my way through the pack to put a hand on his arm.

  “Don’t kill him Sebastian, you don’t need to,” I said.

  I wasn’t so sure I’d made the right move when Sebastian turned his eyes to me, rage and a feral hunger flickering through them. I swallowed hard and put my hand on his chest. “Come back to me Bastian.”

  He shook his head slowly and the air went out of him. He lifted his foot and Buck, as I was already thinking of him, scrambled away with a groan.

  Sebastian clamped his hands on my shoulders and let out another roar, his message clear. He was Alpha, I was his mate.

  “Well your methods seem to be working. You can stay with them then. I think you should be perfectly safe with your Sebastian looking out for you. Yes?”

  I turned to see Vincent at the edge of the rifle range staring in at us. His face was blank, but there was a tiny corner of a pink journal peeking out of his shirt collar. Damn, he was going to punish me for reading the journal.

  A crash of thunder made me flinch; it was followed by a brilliant bolt of lightning and a second roun
d of thunder. Sebastian pulled me tight to his side and the rest of the Nevermores circled in close, putting a protective shield around us. Something bumped into my hand and I looked down to see Buck pushing his fire engine red head up into my fingers. Sebastian growled at him, but I gave my man a squeeze, recognizing that Buck only wanted comfort.

  The soldiers peeled away with a signal from Vincent, all except Marks.

  “Mara, I don’t want to leave you in there. It’s not safe,” he said, his face full of concern and fear. I smiled at him and stroked Buck’s hair while I leaned against Sebastian.

  “Marks, in case we don’t get a chance to see each other again, I want to thank you. You’ve been a good friend to me. I think you’re a good man; don’t let them turn you into anything else.”

  Marks pressed his lips into a thin line and, even with the distance between us; I could see the indecision warring in his eyes.

  “I’ll be okay. I’ve got Sebastian, and apparently, a new family. If I know nothing else, I know that packs look out for one another and for the moment, I’m one of them,” I said, certain that the words I spoke were true.

  I watched Marks walk away as the rain poured down on us, the lightning outlining everyone in sharp relief. I was standing in the middle of a Nevermore pack, a place that should have me well and truly terrified and yet, for the first time in weeks, I knew I was safe. At least, I thought I was.

  12

  That night we slept in a huddled bunch underneath the overhang where the shooters took aim at the targets. Sebastian was in the centre with me curled up beside him, Scout across our legs and every other member of the pack snuggling up as close as they could, not only to conserve warmth, but I think to feel secure and safe.

  We were woken by a rattle of the gate and a holler. It was Burns. “Mara, I don’t want you to have to fight for your food.”

  I scrambled to my feet and stared across the range. Burns stood with a basket of food. I thought of the moldy bread and was ashamed that I thought it was okay to feed it to Scout. Of course he’d eat it, he was starving. And now here I was about to get the same treatment as the Nevermores, despite the fact that I was still human. I let out a sneeze, scrubbed my nose and walked to where Burns stood.

  “Thanks,” I said, as he handed me a basket of stale—but not moldy—bread, and two plastic containers, one full of beans and the other full of creamed corn. Not exactly the breakfast of champions, but it was better than I had expected.

  Burns handed me a jug of water and a plastic glass. “Here. Don’t share this with them; they’ll drink from the puddles.”

  I took it and shook my head at him. “I know they’re wild, but if they were your family, would you expect them to drink muddy rain water?”

  Burns ducked his head, but not before I saw the high spots of shame on his cheeks. “No, I wouldn’t want that, but I also know that if given the chance they would tear me limb from limb, even your Sebastian.”

  I stared at him, knowing that what he said was true. They would kill any human they could for food; I managed this integration into the pack only because of Sebastian and our bond. Burns leaned towards me and tucked a hand gun into the waist of my jeans. “Marks asked me to give this to you. Just in case. If Sebastian turns on you, you’re going to need this. Here’s the safety, just flick it off and you’re good to go.”

  I looked down and stared at the weapon tucked into my jeans. “I can’t shoot him.”

  “You could wound him though, to get away.” His eyes stared into mine.

  “I know you mean well, and I thank you for your concern, but it won’t be necessary. Sebastian will take care of me.” I turned and walked back to the pack that’d watched the entire exchange but hadn’t approached.

  Sebastian had a solid frown on his face as he looked from me to Burns and back again. Oh God, that was the last thing I needed right now, a jealous feral husband trying to protect me from the good intentions of a lonely teenage soldier.

  “Food,” I hollered; the pack swarmed around me and I doled out the food, keeping the largest amount for myself and Sebastian. I gave him the whole container of beans and I shared it with him, dunking chunks of bread in and sopping up the juices.

  My stomach, shrunk as it was from the lack of eating, rebelled when I had only one chunk of bread left. I looked around to see Marks’ ex-wife laying with her back to us, shuddering. I headed over that way, stopping only when Sebastian put a hand on my arm. I glanced over my shoulder.

  “Something’s wrong with Momma,” I said, giving her a name impulsively. It was easier to keep track of the pack members this way.

  I reached her and bent down, touching her hip as I did so. She flinched and curled up tighter against the blows I think she expected. “Shhh. It’s okay,” I said softly. She rolled her eyes to see me and I smiled at her. “Come on now, sit up and eat.” I moved to the other side and helped her sit up, a low moan slipping past her lips as she shifted her bulk.

  I pressed the bread into her hands and she stared at me like I was some heavenly being. It was uncomfortable, especially when I thought back to my first reaction to the Nevermores surrounding our property, suggesting just getting in the car and running them over to get away. She ate the bread slowly between low moans, finishing it off as she let out a keening wail that set the whole pack off howling.

  Liquid suddenly pooled out around her and I gasped. “Shit.”

  I helped Momma lie back down then ran back to Sebastian. “She’s having the baby!” I yelled at him, hopping from one foot to the next, not sure if I was excited or terrified. On impulse I ran to the gate, “Burns! Burns! I need your help!”

  There was no one up here, what was I thinking, that they would hear me back in the bunker? Even if I fired the gun I didn’t think they would hear me that far underground.

  I spun and ran back to Momma, shooing away the pack members who had crept close and were sniffing at the fluid. If one of them so much as took a single sip, I would throw up on their heads.

  Though I’d read a lot of books in preparation for being a mom myself, I’d never thought I’d be helping someone else give birth. Certainly not in an army camp’s rifle range. I knew that walking was good, so that was the first objective. “Sebastian, I need you to help me get her up,” I called to him, while I tucked myself under one of her arms. Sebastian approached cautiously.

  “I mean it, grab her arm and help me get her up,” I said. He took a deep breath and helped Momma stand, where she moaned and wobbled, then tried to lie back down.

  “No, not yet. Walking first,” I said, encouraging her to step out with me. She took one step, than another and soon we were making our way around the perimeter of the range, her breathing improving and her face relaxing. A contraction would hit and she would pause but then keep going. I smiled at her and made soothing noises, occasionally touching her belly to feel the muscles contract. Sebastian watched all of this from a distance with a very strange look on his face, one I couldn’t identify and was too busy to analyze. When the other members of the pack tried to approach me and Momma he growled at them, letting us have our space.

  We walked for an hour and I could see that Momma was getting tired. I took her to the back of the overhang and found a relatively clean, dry spot for her to lie down.

  It was then that the contractions really started. Her whole body would tense and the muscles across her stomach would ripple and harden. Momma would sit up, her hair plastered to her face with sweat as she bore down.

  “That’s it sweetheart. You can do it.” I looked between her legs, the crown of the baby’s head showing clearly.

  I smiled up at her. “The baby’s almost here, another push.” She leaned forward and let out a wail as she screamed along with a contraction and pushed. The baby’s head and shoulder slid free; a second push and I caught the babe and helped guide it the rest of the way out as Momma collapsed back to the ground, one more contraction and the placenta came out right after. I used a hair elastic to tie
off the umbilical cord. Hardly sanitary, but it was all I had.

  “It’s a girl!” I shouted and brought the tiny angel child around to show Momma. The little one let out a wail and I laughed, tears of happiness trickling down my face. If Momma could have a baby that was so obviously human, could do this in the wild with no doctor, it gave me hope for the child I carried.

  Momma propped herself up on her elbows and reached for the baby, her eyes wide and staring. A cold chill swept over me. The baby was definitely human; would Momma accept her or would she try to eat her? Or was the intensity I saw a look of a mother wanting to hold her firstborn?

  Momma’s fingertips brushed the baby girl, a look of hunger flashing over her face, a drive so intense that I knew even her own child wouldn’t be spared. I wanted to believe that what was human inside Momma would override the animal instinct to eat another species’ helpless newborn, but as Momma opened her mouth and snapped at the wailing baby girl, I had to accept this for what it was.

  A complete and utter disaster.

  13

  I jumped clear of Momma’s snarling reach and growled back at her, holding the baby close as she wailed, trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do with her. I couldn’t keep the child here in the rifle range; I had nothing to wrap her in, no breast milk or formula, and I wasn’t entirely sure I could keep her safe from the whole pack.

  A hand touched my shoulder and I spun with a gasp. Sebastian stood behind me, a quizzical expression on his face at the squalling babe in my arms. “Momma wants to eat her baby,” I said, as if that would explain it all to him. He placed his hand over the still-slick skin and pressed it against her chest.