It snowed all fucking night, making it pretty much impossible to walk anywhere, especially as not a single one of us are equipped with waterproof trousers.

Luckily it isn't too deep, only our feet covered as we traipse away from the pharmacy and towards the south. Only a mile was covered yesterday, what with an injured Heidi between us.

She had an hour-long argument this morning with both Sam and Emilia, correctly telling them that we couldn't stay where we were any longer, worried that Slayers might find us. Her husband and my wife didn't want her to move, her stitches so fresh and fragile. Even Myles was unsure what to do.

Heidi won in the end, spitting out brutal words to remind us that if we hang around for any longer, we'll all be needing fucking stitches after Slayers rip us apart. It's a fair point.

We're taking it slow, heading straight for the trees in order to be covered from any prowling eyes. Every one of us is armed and ready, just in case.

Heidi and Emilia are walking hand in hand ahead of me, talking about some shit related to their hair. It could be make-up for all I know, the two of them descending into giggles every couple of minutes. All the while, Emilia makes sure Heidi is walking slowly, pointing out every uneven section of ground, the snow making it almost impossible.

She may try to act brave, but I know my wife like the back of my hand. The absolute terror she felt over potentially losing Heidi yesterday was immeasurable, her eyes giving everything away as soon as she looked at me.

I worried over how the fight yesterday had affected her. Emilia ran over, her face covered in blood as she threw herself down next to Heidi and screamed. The sight is something that will haunt me forever. No-one should ever have to see the person they love in that state, having just fought for their life, the dark red splatters proof of how close she came to potential death.

My foot sinks into the snow as I slowly follow the girls, hanging back slightly to have a break from their chatter. I may love the girl, but listening to how she misses her favourite strawberry body lotion for over fifteen minutes is enough to drive me fucking insane.

"Hey." Jordan steps up beside me.

"Hey," I reply, nodding at him.

"We haven't really had time to speak since you... came back to life."

I laugh at his words. "I know," I say. "Life is fucking chaotic."

"It's a bloody mess."

"Thanks by the way," I reply and he raises an eyebrow questioningly. "For getting Emilia to the South. Even though it's a fucking shitshow."

"You would have done the same for Claudia." Jordan smiles and I inhale sharply at the mention of his fallen wife.

"How... how are you doing?"

"Honestly?" He smirks. "Fucking shit."

"I miss her," I admit and he nods, looking down at the ground.

"She probably would have had a better plan than us coming South and not knowing what we were letting ourselves in for," he replies and I can't help but grin. If Claudia was here she'd be lecturing us for putting Emilia and the others in potential danger.

"I can imagine she would have wanted to stay in the North," I agree and he finally looks up, a smile on his face as he looks up at the sky.

"Don't run from the fucking problem, Jordan," he quotes Claudia with a grin. "Solve it by going to the root of it all."

We fall into silence, the true magnitude of Claudia's words hitting me like a fucking brick.

"My sister is the root of it all," I manage to spit out, my voice hoarse as I think back to the day Gia shot her.

"It's not your fault, Zac."

"How?" I scoff. "She's my fucking blood."

"Blood means nothing," Jordan retorts, slamming his palm against my chest. "This," he gestures between us, "We're brothers. There's no blood, but that means fuck all. You are my family."

I manage to nod, feeling the exact same way as him, yet still unable to shrug the blame of Claudia's death from my shoulders.

"Claudia... she was my family too," I tell him and he nods, smiling.

"I know."

*~*~*

The sudden snowstorm is blowing at a rate of knots, the blustery, icy flakes stinging my eyes as we all struggle to put our feet down in front of the other, everyone's arms wrapped around themselves as they try to stay warm.

"We need to stop!" Jen calls back, her hand in front of her face.

"Agreed!" Sam replies, swooping in and hooking his arm under Heidi's as Kieran battles with the map, trying to squint at it despite the unrepentant snow.

"There might be a house down that hill over there." Kieran points to the left. "As long as it wasn't bombed in the war."

"Fantastic," I mutter, pulling my feet out of the snow and attempting to march forward. The others follow suit, all of us heading towards the brow of the hill before we begin to slip on the downward slope.

As soon as we get near the bottom, I spy the building Kieran was on about, looking relatively intact under the blanket of snow.

Thank fuck for that.

*~*~*

I was wrong. The half of the farmhouse not visible to us has been completely destroyed, looking like a fire has ripped through part of it.

Walking into the tiny bedroom, I look over at Emilia as she looks out the window, a smile on her face. Shutting the door behind me, her eyebrows rise in surprise before she glances over.

"How far did Kieran say we've walked today?" she asks.

"Six miles."

"Is that it?" she exclaims, pouting slightly.

"It is snowing," I remind her and she sighs, falling back onto the tiny, single bed.

"I know," she replies. "It just seems never ending. Plus, my feet hurt."

"Of course they do." I smirk and she rolls her eyes as I walk towards her.

"Hey! I've never walked this far before!"

"Me neither," I admit, slumping down beside her and grabbing onto her legs, pulling them on top of mine. "It's hard."

It's silent for a moment as I unlace her strange-looking trainers, shooting her a confused look to ask where her heels are. She merely shrugs and I look back down, pulling the shoes off her feet and freeing them. Wrapping both of my hands around one, I softly massage it, a small grin appearing on her face as she watches me work.

"I'm scared," she says after a few minutes, her voice so quiet that I nearly miss it. I instantly stop moving, lowering her foot back down and turning to face her. "What if they come for us? The Slayers, the Enforcers, your sister?"

I take a deep breath, moving up the bed and cupping her face with my hands. "They won't, Emi," I assure her. "No-one can get to us through the snow."

"Not just now," she replies, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I'm scared all day, every day."

I don't know what to say, I don't know how to reassure her with words, when I feel the exact same way, terrified she'll be ripped out of my arms at any point.

"Me too," I admit, her eyes widening slightly.

"You are?"

"Yeah," I reply and she quickly moves her head up, crashing her lips to mine in a rough, deep kiss. My dick stirs in my jeans and I move my hands from her cheeks to the back of her neck, grabbing onto her long hair and pulling it down, her head tilted up to me, completely at my mercy.

I lower my lips to her jawline, lightly nipping at the skin, her breath coming out fast and heavy, the sounds turning me on even more.

"Zac..." She breathes out, the word enough to make me lose any self control I had left.

Pulling away, I stand up from the bed before leaning over her, my lips connecting with hers, our tongues sliding against each other as my fingers slip to the buttons on her jeans. I wrench them undone before slipping them down her legs and hastily discarding them on the floor.

Our mouths disconnect as I pull back, grabbing onto her foot. She furrows her eyebrows at me before I slowly begin to massage them again, paying special attention to her arches.

"Zac?" she says questioningly and I shake my head, her own falling back onto the pillow behind her as she falls silent once more. I slowly move my hand up to her lower leg, being sure to work at the muscles in her calves before I direct my attention to her thighs. Her breath gets louder as she cottons on to what I'm doing.

I pay special attention to the skin on the inside of her legs, my fingertips pressing in, working their way around the muscles. Her body is now completely relaxed... if a little worked up from the sexual tension.

My fingers are working on the insides of her upper thighs, her arms covering her face as I accidentally swipe my finger across her slit through the fabric of her underwear.

"Stop teasing me," she moans from behind her hands, her voice slightly breathless.

Moving one of my hands away, I lean it on the bed, moving my body to hover over hers as my other hand gently caresses her area once more. 

"Where's the fun in that?" I tease and her hands fly away from her face as she glares at me.

"You're such a... Oh!" Her eyes widen as I slide my finger under her lingerie, slipping it inside her instantly. The wetness that coats my fingers makes it almost impossible to resist the urge to fuck her now. She's always so receptive to me, her body's reaction to my touch the best thing I've ever fucking experienced.

"We're finally alone, Emilia," I remind her, thanking my lucky stars that Jordan said the two of us should take the tiny bedroom, five of the others resting in the only other intact room. The final two members of the group are keeping watch from the open-air living room. "Do you remember what I said about when we finally got privacy?"

"Ahh..." She arches her back as I add another finger, stretching her out and pleasuring her as fast as I can.

"Well?"

"You... you said you'd fuck me," she stutters and I grin, adding a third finger for good measure, her eyes widening in ecstasy.

"You're fucking right I will," I exclaim before lowering my spare hand and yanking her top up. She helps me, pulling it over her head in one quick motion, before removing her bra. I cock my eyebrow.

"What?" She smirks before faltering, my fingers distracting her. "You think you're the only one who wants it?"

With a grin, I lower my lips back to hers, holding myself up as I straddle her legs, something that's an immense struggle on the tiny bed.

"Of course not," I say, breathing cold air against the skin below her jawline. "I can feel how much you want me, baby."

A sudden shove has me falling into the wall beside us. My hand slips away from her as my eyes widen, Emilia grinning as she shuffles sideways, climbing on top of my legs.

"Oh, yeah?" she mutters, her hands running down my chest towards the tented erection in my jeans. "I think you might want me more." She grins, a cheeky, teasing smile as she unbuttons the jeans. I help her take them off, my eyes not leaving her form. The busty blonde always fucking does it for me, her clothes a fucking sin, her body bloody irresistible.

Without wasting another minute, she climbs back on top, shoving my top up and kissing along my abs, every single touch making me physically ache for more. 

I let her pull the fabric over my head before grabbing onto the back of her neck and crashing my lips to hers, demanding and desperate, needing her to fucking ride me.

"I need to be inside you," I growl out against her lips. She places her hands on my chest, pushing me down on the bed before letting her hands drift down my bare skin.

"What's stopping you?" she asks huskily. Her touch moves further and further south until she slides a finger under my underwear, grazing across my tip and breaking my control.

Springing into action I reach up, grabbing her waist and spinning us around, pinning her beneath me.

"Nothing," I reply, reaching down and ripping her underwear off before my own follow suit. Climbing back on top of her, I nudge her legs apart, trailing my hands up her thighs once more, watching as she sucks in a breath. I move up, resting myself at her entrance.

She squirms against me, clearly impatient. The action is enough to destroy my urge to tease her. Instead, I push myself inside her, the tightness gripping onto me, reminding me how and why she's the best I've ever fucking had.

"Zac!" she exclaims, reaching up and grabbing hold of my hair, the slight tugs urging me to go faster as I pull out before slamming back in repeatedly. Her legs hook around my back, drawing me in, encouraging me to move faster. I happily oblige, her moans heightening my pleasure, drawing me closer and closer to a release.

This is more intense than most of the other times we've done it, no doubt due to our pent up frustrations; the length of time we've been apart, the argument we had, her thinking I was dead. 

I'm crashing into her harder than I normally would, her fingers scratching up and down my spine, definitely drawing blood, yet I don't even care.

Pulling out, I turn her over onto all fours before pushing back inside, gripping onto her hips and thrusting ferociously, her head burying itself into the pillow as she tries to muffle her cries.

Reaching down, I grab onto her tits, roughly massaging them before pulling her up with them, her back flush against my front. One of my hands moves down to her clit, playing with it as the other turns its attention to her nipples.

With a final cry of pleasure, I feel her contract around my dick, the sensations making it near enough impossible not to cum inside her. Kissing her on the jawline I ease out of her as she turns to look at me with furrowed eyebrows.

"You didn't...?"

"No condom," I remind her and her eyes widen in understanding. Without saying anything else she smirks before lowering in front of me, her eyes fixed on mine as she grabs hold of my shaft, guiding it to her lips.

As soon as she closes her mouth around me, swirling her tongue in every which way, I'm a goner, only ten seconds before I'm shooting my load into her mouth, my hand gripping onto her hair.

Once I'm done, she pulls back, kneeling up in front of me on the bed and wrapping her arm around my neck.

"Was that worth the wait?" she asks with a grin.

"It was," I reply. "Happy Christmas, baby." Her eyes widen at my words.

"Was that my Christmas present?" She grins and I laugh.

"Absolutely." I smile. "But who says I'm done with giving you gifts tonight?" I hook my hand under her knees and she falls back to the bed with a squeal before I lean down to hover over her.

*~*~*

A sudden scream causes me to shoot upright in bed, Emilia mirroring my movements from beside me, her eyes wide with fear.

Grabbing my trousers, I pull them on, my wife fumbling with a top and shoving her arms through the sleeves as she trips over the trainers on the floor.

A muffled yell sounds out and I ditch my attempt at a shirt, instead pulling the door open and grabbing my gun from the dresser, heading out of the room. Anna and Jordan appear in front of me, all of us practically running towards the yell.

As we get near, I begin to make out the familiar sounds and curse under my breath. Are they having a fucking laugh? Sam and Heidi?

I round the corner just as Emilia joins us, peering inside the empty room as Heidi throws her rucksack across the space, Sam dodging it just in time.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Anna exclaims as we all step inside, Jordan walking over to stop Heidi from chucking anything else. The little brunette looks like she's about to explode.

"Heidi, what's wrong?" Emilia asks, stepping in front of us.

"What's wrong?" Heidi scoffs. "For fucks sake, Emilia, you kissed my husband!"

"What?" My voice thunders out, echoing around the room as my eyes focus in on my fucking wife. Is she taking the fucking piss?

"Fan-fucking-tastic." Anna snorts, walking over and taking a seat at the table.

"It was a long time ago!" Emilia tries, looking back at me with wide eyes. I instantly relax, remembering the time I walked in on her and Sam in our house, the days when I paid her no attention.

"So?" Heidi screeches. "That makes it okay then?"

"Of course not-"

"You didn't even think to fucking tell me!" Heidi yells as Anna intensely watches the exchange.

"What's going on?" Jen suddenly appears, poking her head into the kitchen.

"I did, Heidi, but I didn't want to hurt you," Emilia replies, her arms out in front of her.

"Well, guess what, you weren't fucking successful!"

"I know." Emilia's voice cracks. "I'm sorry-"

"Sorry fixes nothing!"

"How did this even happen?" Heidi exclaims, covering her face with her hands. "I thought you two were only best friends!"

"We were! We are," Sam corrects himself. "I was just confused."

"Confused?"

"We were just partnered up, I didn't know what to think," Sam continues. "Mils was upset, she was unhappy, and it made me mad!"

"So you kissed her?" Heidi scoffs.

"It made me question everything! I couldn't decipher whether the overwhelming thoughts I was having about Mils' misery were more than I should for a friend!"

Heidi chuckles before glaring at him. "Well, did it work? Did you manage to solve her misery?" Heidi spits.

"No!" Sam yells. "That's why I had to report Zac and Kayla to the State."

Everyone falls silent.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Wooohooo, they finally got some alone time!!

Did anyone ever suspect Sam?! Who remembers Zac and Kayla's stint in jail? So awful...

Complete and utter honesty here... I have had a hectic week but I couldn't leave you without an update for any longer, so please forgive any errors that you encounter! My attempt to edit the chapter was pretty pathetic!!