Running with Rogues

CHAPTER 56 - DIRTY PAWS

Hey everyone! If you find me a typo, you can have a cookie!! I had to rush the editing on this chapter so there's probably a lot of them :)

"We're okay," I told Nia through the link. It was the first thing I'd done after getting out of the prison. Above ground, it was laughably easy to reach her. And the speed at which she answered me was impressive.

"Well, that's a bloody relief," Nia said. The tension in her voice was obvious ... and so unlike her. "We thought you were dead - or worse. Your mother is on her way with a small army. Give me a second and I'll call them off."

"No," I blurted. "Don't call them off. The entire pack is in turmoil right now. It's a good time to raid them, and we're in a position to help you."

I could feel her hesitate. I knew I wasn't exactly qualified to order raids, but it was too good a chance to miss. As it turned out, that wasn't what had given her pause. "Why's the pack in turmoil?"

I couldn't help smiling then. "There's a new Alpha."

"Oh, well done, Eva," Nia breathed. I could feel her thoughts racing across the link, and they were little more than a blur. The amazement shone through, above all else, because she had not been expecting this news today.

"Yeah," I said. "I have to go, but ... talk to Mam. See if she'll let them stay."

Without waiting for an answer, I emerged from the linking trance, blinking and disorientated, to find Liam waiting for me. I gave him a thumbs up. Another few hours, and it might have been a different story, but no one would be dying for us today.

He jerked his head down the corridor, and that was all the warning I got before he set off at breakneck speed. He led me across the pack house before he turned into a stairwell and began heading upwards instead.

"Where are we going?" I asked, as I tripped over my own feet. Flockies made stairs look easy, but I was still struggling with them, weeks later. They were just rubbish, overcomplicated hills.

Liam didn't even glance back. "To get Lilah."

I didn't understand at first. Lilah would be distraught and grieving, and the last thing she needed was an outing. It was the tension in Liam's body that gave me the biggest clue. "You think ... you think Micah would hurt her?"

"I think he'll kill her," he said. "Micah's lived through three successions, same as me. He knows how it works. You clean house or you live to regret it."

I made an effort to catch up with him, and then I nudged his shoulder. "But ... it's not like she's a threat ... and her daughter is only two."

Liam gave me a wary look. "I thought you knew."

"Knew what?"

"Lilah's pregnant. And if it's a boy..." He swore softly, shaking his head. "Let's just say I don't fancy their chances."

Oh, Goddess. I'd killed her mate while she was pregnant. And even if she didn't miscarry from the stress of it, she would have to raise both children on her own. In a pack with an Alpha who wanted them all dead.

It was weird to see the flat again. The door was ajar, and no one was answering our knocks, so I crept inside. Liam baulked at the threshold. He had to force himself to cross it, and I could hear his heart thumping in his chest as we went deeper inside. It couldn't have been easy for him - seeing his home again after so long.

The place was a tip. Felix's room had been ransacked in the search for 'evidence,' and half of his clothes were strewn through the corridor. The smell of smoke had lingered.