Evaporate

chapter twenty-four.

Thalia's POV

I don't know whether this is good or bad. Grayson's been getting a lot of work lately, but I'm officially 30 weeks along and I'm closer to giving birth with each passing second.

The upside is he's getting paid well and we were able to buy our baby girl all the stuff that she needs and will be needing. The downside is that I could go into premature labor at any given second and he spends most of his time working.

I'm pulled from my thoughts by the door being loudly slammed. The whole apartment rattles with the force of it and the baby kicks hard from being startled.

"Jesus Christ." I mutter and hold my belly, leaning slightly forward from the pain. Grayson immediately looks guilty but I can tell he's too angry to stay guilty for long.

"I'm sorry." He sighs. Ever since he told me about wolves about a month ago, I've been able to tell whenever he needs to shift and go for a run. It clears his head and he definitely needs it right now, judging by his body language.

"Need to shift?" I murmur as I walk over and gently place my hands on his biceps, trying to ignore the lingering pain.

"Yeah.." He mumbles, wiggling out of my grip. Immediately, I feel hurt, then angry, but I push it away. He doesn't need my anger on top of his.

"What's wrong?" I ask softly, fiddling with my hands. Grayson doesn't like to be touched at all when he's angry.

"I don't want to talk about it." He suddenly snaps and I can't hold my anger in anymore.

"All I'm doing is trying to help! Don't take this out on me!" My plea is anger filled but genuine. Grayson sighs.

"We're going to my mom's and then I'm showing you around the pack. Let's pretend this didn't happen." He smiles softly and I sigh. I don't want to fight in front of Theo.

"Okay." I go get Theo from his room and we head to Lisa and Sean's house.

Once we get there, the introductions are brief but I'm given strict instructions.

Don't wander off and stay close by.

We head to the pack village, as I call it, and I'm immediately greeted by some of my previous students from the high school. I greet them by waving and am pulled out of my short lived nostalgia by Grayson yelling at Sean.

"Drop it! Okay?!" Grayson's face is scarlet with anger and his veins are bulging out of his neck. Sean growls and clenches his fists.

"I will demote you to a kappa if you continue to disrespect me! Especially in front of the pack!" He yells right back. Grayson growls before pulling off his shirt.

"I'm going for a run." He turns to me and Theo. "Stay near my mom, Cameron or dad." And with that, he starts to jog towards the dense treeline, shedding clothes on the way.

I sigh and stay by Lisa, as asked.

The trip is slow and comfortable as she shows me living quarters, who lives where, where business happens and everything. She starts to go into more detail and we head towards where 'business happens'.

"I'm going to show you guys inside the pack headquarters where-" Lisa is cut off by two shrill screams.

"Hunters!" "Rogues!"

Everyone around me is overcome by panic and as I grab Theo and am pulled away by Lisa, I notice that everyone seems to be disappearing somewhere, but I can't tell where that is.

"Thalia! Faster!" Lisa yells over the commotion, having picked up Theo.

"I can't move faster I'm pregnant!" I yell back, panicked. I can hear growls as weapon wielding wolves and unshifted people rush to surround everyone who hasn't gotten to 'the safehouse' that everyone is yelling about.

"Please Thalia!" Lisa begs. As if the universe intends to ruin my life, I get a Braxton Hicks.

"Dear lord!" I exclaim, doubling over into myself. Lisa tries to help and coax me through it as fast as possible.

"They're here!" A male voice shouts. The world seems to grow silent as I see men, and the occasional woman and wolf, stride through the grounds, pointing their guns at every other wolf.

The contraction finally begins to subside and I begin to inch away when one of the people points their gun at me.

"Don't you dare move." She commands.

A tall, slender man with dazzling green eyes steps forward to examine Theo, Lisa and I.

"Now what do we have here?" He grins slyly. He looks us all over but his eyes return to me. "If it isn't Thalia Garrett, the mate to one of the most promising Alpha heirs?" His words send chills up my spine. He's clearly done his research.

"Now where is he? The notorious Grayson?" He looks around. "Has he abandoned his son and pregnant mate?" Theo's sobs come softly at first.

"Want daddy..." He cries harder and clings to Lisa's leg. I hadn't even noticed she put him down until now.

"Oh, of course, Theodore." He crouches down to eye level with him. "Where's daddy?" The man's pale, slender fingers caress Theo's cheek.

I slap his hand away from Theo. "Don't touch him." I hiss as I pull Theo towards Lisa and I. His hand flies out to slap me but he stops.

"I apologize. How rude of me." He chuckles and stands up, looking down at me. "No one should ever attempt to hit a woman, especially a pregnant one."

Fear instills itself back into my heart when I notice that most of the warrior wolves are at gun point and they won't dare move. They can't help us.

"Why are you here?" Lisa strongly asks. The man ignores her and continues to stare at me, staring into my soul. His eyes make my skin crawl with a kind of fear I'd never felt before.

"She asked you a question." I confidently spat at him. A woman raises her gun at me.

"Come on boss! Let me give it to the disrespectful bitch!" She yells, ready to shoot me. He holds up his hand to stop her.

"Ah ah ah, what did I say?" He turns to her slightly and she rolls her eyes and puts her gun down. "Besides, these ones are special, I want to kill them in front of Grayson." He smirks as his eyes glint over with accomplishment. My previous confidence drops. I can't even pretend to be strong anymore, not even for Theo.

Why is this happening? Why does he want to kill us in front of Grayson?

But the most important question:
Where the hell are Grayson and Sean?