It's dawn by the time we reach the forest campground that Emilia and the others were using while I stayed at the mansion with Gia and Poppy.

Looking around, I cock an eyebrow at the broken remains of what appears to be a destroyed treehouse in the corner of the clearing. Has it been burnt?

Emilia scoffs at the sight of it before shaking her head with a grimace. I raise an eyebrow at her reaction but she doesn't spare me a glance. I'm not sure that she's even noticed that I'm looking at her.

"Fin?" Jordan barks out. One of the few guys standing five trees away raises his head, nodding at the sight of us. He steps over some logs, walking towards us. "Where is everyone?"

"Slayer attack," Fin explains with a subdued expression. "Lost three people. We had to move."

"Didn't I warn you?" Emilia huffs under her breath before rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. Then she turns away.

I frown. It's not like my wife to let something go so fast, especially when it surrounds the safety of people — doesn't matter who it is. She's despondent. Not entirely here with us.

Can't say I blame her.

"Why are you four still here?" Jordan asks, peering over the shoulder of the boy.

Fin shrugs before answering, "Believe it or not, Callum apparently values you. He wanted people to wait behind in case you survived."

I'm surprised, and I can tell by Jordan and Emilia's expressions that they are too. Poppy just smiles.

"Where did they go?" Poppy asks softly.

"The wall," Fin answers.

My stomach drops. "The wall," I echo. "Why?" I practically spit the final word out.

Fin shrugs once more. "He didn't see the point in waiting any longer."

"No..." Jordan breathes out. Poppy inhales, her eyes widening. Emilia just wanders behind Fin, stepping towards the other boys before rifling through their things.

My vision clouds with red and my hands reach out, grabbing onto Fin's collar and yanking him towards me. 

"What do you mean?" I snap.

Fear dances in his eyes. "He... he wants to get rid of it."

"The wall?" I clarify. Fin nods. Letting go of him, I roughly shove him away and turn to Poppy and Jordan, just as Emilia reappears with her rucksack slung onto her back. "He's going to fucking tear down the wall."

"But... like Gia said... the Slayers... They..." Poppy trails off, biting her lip. Her wide, worried eyes meet mine.

"Gia was right. You can't tear down the wall without a plan of action," I reply, looking around at the empty campground and running my hands through my hair. "We have to stop him."

"Agreed," Emilia murmurs. "Heidi said the same thing to me when we were sleeping here one night. That if the wall was gone, every Slayer could head straight up North. Harm Kayla, and everyone else," she pauses. "I denied it at the time, but she was right. The way those Slayers took control of the mansion..." She gulps. "We don't have a hope in hell."

I nod, turning back to Fin. "You," I point at him, "will take us to their new campground."

"But I have to help the others gather up all the stuff," he whines, pointing behind him. The idiots are just leaning against a tree trunk, watching from afar.

I shrug. "Poppy and Jordan will help them."

I'm not ready to let Emilia out of my sight just yet. I need her here. To know that she's safe.

Plus, I'm not sure that she's in the right mindset to be without me. I can help keep her grounded if her mind trails towards Heidi. Her sister.

I grind my teeth together.

"We will?" Poppy asks.

"We need to get to Callum as soon as possible. Even if we have to split up for a few hours," I answer her. "And apparently that's what it's going to take to get Fred here to move." I gesture to the guy beside me.

"It's Fin," he corrects me.

I shrug. "Let's get going, Fred," I mutter before turning to look at Jordan. "Can you see if my backpack is still here?"

"Got it!" Emilia answers, having ducked back around us without me noticing. She holds the black bag in the air and gives us a weak smile. "I'm ready when you are, Fin."

It's ten more minutes of Fin grumbling before we finally say goodbye to Poppy, Jordan and the others, making our way into the depths of the forest once more. We haven't stopped to rest since we escaped from Gia, but unfortunately, we can't stop now.

We have to reach Callum before it's too late.

We hike across yards of uneven terrain, sticking to a brisk pace and forcing Fin to speed up whenever he begins to slow. He doesn't understand the consequences or repercussions that are riding on us stopping Callum from ripping down the wall.

Emilia doesn't say a word the entire way, although I do give her a piggy back for the final three miles. She rests her head against my back, coiling her hands tightly around me.

It's the middle of the day before we get to their new campground, the wintery spring sun high in the sky. We've headed north the majority of the way, and I can see the towering grey wall from here.

Fin is instantly greeted by all his friends, them clapping him on the back. I grit my teeth at their friendly interactions and lower Emilia to the ground. Fucking idiots.

"Where the fuck is Callum?" I spit out.

Fin's friend points towards the wall. "He went to look at the gate in the wall," he answers. I nod, dropping my rucksack there and swiftly walking into the undergrowth, leaving the rest of them behind.

"Zac!" Emilia calls after me but I don't stop, too intent on hunting the hulking, domineering twat down. "Zac, wait for me!"

"You should stay here, Emilia," I reply, glancing at her over my shoulder. She's still stained with blood, her face bruised. It makes my jaw twitch. "It's safer."

"Right." She scoffs, nearly tripping over in her haste. "Like that's going to make me less likely to come with you."

I stop mid step, turning back to face her. She stops right beside me, smiling up at me with her wide, bright blue eyes. They're lacking their usual twinkle. Emilia moves her hands to her hips and huffs at me. My eyes follow the movement before lifting slightly to unashamedly glance at her low cut black top.

"You're a pain in the fucking ass," I tell her. She giggles, leaning up on her tiptoes and pressing her soft lips to mine. It's fucking heavenly. Feeling them against mine, back where they bloody belong. Fucking incredible.

My hands reach for her small waist, holding her close to me and pressing my mouth against hers, angling her head back with my force. She gasps and I smirk at the parting of her lips, taking the next step and deepening the kiss, all the while reaching up and curling one of my hands around her knotted hair.

We need this. I can feel the desperation inside her. I can feel mine.

She smirks against my lips and I retaliate by giving her lower one a light tug. She lets out a deep moan that instantly has my jeans tightening and I struggle to maintain a hold of my self control. Fuck. It's been so long and even though I know now isn't the time — she's a mess, and Callum's out there — I fucking need her like there's no tomorrow. 

She clutches tightly to the back of my hair and I growl against her mouth before gripping onto her ass and shoving us backwards against the tree behind her. Using my hips, I grind my lower body into hers, effectively showing the girl exactly how much I want her. How much pent up sexual desire there is inside me. And all of it is for her.

Her head tips back from pleasure. I know she's enjoying it, both of us on the same wavelength with our sexual cravings since day fucking one. She was fucking gorgeous when she stormed into our terraced house with her impressionable tits and curvy figure, long blonde hair flickering out behind her when she turned her back on me.

And I know she felt the same when we lived there together, the fire in her eyes only dimming ever when I moved away from her, her lips parting.

I knew how I affected her from the very beginning, and I may have fought hard against it, wanting to keep her safe from my world... but my body did the exact opposite, betraying me for the blonde women in front me.

But I did give in. I allowed us to fucking embrace the sex we needed... and here we are. Eight months later and utterly addicted in every damn way.

Emilia's eyes fall open as I tug slightly harder on her hair. Her gaze meets mine, full of lust, desire and... something else. 

My dick is hard as anything in my pants, determined to show my wife what she's been missing this last month, but instead I find myself focusing on the lacklustre emotion inside her eyes — the agony and the despair — reminding me of just what she's been through.

I might want to fuck her, and fucking hell, she looks like she wants me to take her in this damn forest. 

But it's not right. She hasn't even slept for fuck knows how long. I need to put her first - make sure she regains her energy before I spread her legs and dive between them.

Cursing my own fucking self for having so much respect for her, I pull back, letting her feet drop to the ground.

"Zac?" Her eyebrows are furrowed. I shake my head, stepping back and trying to convince myself that I'm doing the right thing. It is the right thing. Just look at her. If I widened my mouth any further, I would have tasted the dried blood that trails under her nose.

"You need rest," I tell her.

She scoffs. "There's no time for that, Callum—"

"Fuck Callum," I snap, shaking my head and grabbing onto her hands. "You should go back to the camp and sleep."

"That's not going to happen," she bites back, wrenching her hands away from me. "And you're not forcing me. So, if you don't want to fuck me, then we should just get to the wall." She whirls around, storming away from me, further into the trees.

My frustration pours out of me as a burst of air and I grimace. "Fucking hell," I exclaim under my breath. Gritting my teeth, I head after the clearly irate Emilia. She's offended that I stopped what we were doing, she's taken it the wrong way. "I didn't stop because I didn't want to do it, Emilia."

"Sure," she calls over her shoulder. "I get it... after being locked up by your sister for so long, I look awful."

I bite the inside of my cheek, looking up to the sky and praying that I have the strength to deal with this. She's insufferable.

"You're a fucking idiot," I call out. She shoots me a glare over her shoulder. "Don't even fucking go there."

"I'm not quite sure how else to take it," she retorts.

"How about that I fucking care about you?" I snap. She sighs before shrugging. My hands clench into fists. How can she be so fucking frustrating all the fucking time? Sometimes I don't even know why I'm so obsessed with her. She's a nightmare.

"You pulled away," she says softly.

I reach out and place the palm of my hand against her cheek. She closes her eyes and bites her lip. "You can't see you right now, Emi. But you're a mess," I tell her. Her eyes snap open. "A bloody, bruised mess that has my heart fucking aching.

She bites her lip, tearing her eyes away from mine, straight to the muddy ground below. She's not thinking straight. It's driving me insane.

"Can we just deal with Callum and figure this out later?" I ask softly.

Emilia pauses mid-step, looking up at me and giving me a tiny, barely there smile. "Fine."

And then she's off once more, disappearing into the trees ahead of me. Looking up at the cloudy sky, I curse under my breath before following the exhausted girl. Both of us are a complete mess, neither one ready for any more battle or arguments.

We need to head back to London, back to Callum's compound where we were safe. Sleep all of this hell off for a good month before trying to head back North all over again. If only we had the luxury of time.

But we never have. We've almost grown used to the ways of battle without breathing space — having to go forward whilst wounded, drained, traumatised. 

Not once have we had time to properly deal with anything. Any of our losses.

And one day it'll bite us in the ass, I'm sure of it.

I'm just praying to high hell that when the time comes, it'll hit me far harder than it does Emilia. It's all I ever wanted to protect her from when we were back in Nottingham. Before I dragged her into my life, before I got arrested and she managed to worm her way into the resistance, ripping my wall of protection away.

At the edge of the tree line, Emilia stops in front of me, lifting her hand above her eyes to shield herself from the cold sun and scan the length of the huge, towering grey wall in front of us. We're forty feet away from it at least, and yet it's still a giant fucking beast.

"Can you see him?" she asks as I come to a stop beside her.

Narrowing my eyes, I scan the base of the wall before shaking my head. "Come on, let's get closer."

Taking the lead now, I step out of the trees — but stay close enough to maintain some cover — and walk alongside them, only taking my eyes off the wall every five seconds to quickly scan the area behind us. Heaven forbid a Slayer launch themselves at us from out of nowhere.

"There!" Emilia eventually exclaims, lifting her hand and pointing ahead of us.

Callum stands with two others, all of them looking up at the wall, pointing at the wire that coats it, and talking. Nodding, I gently place my hand on the base of her spine and urge us forward, towards the group. My eyes narrow. 

How dare he take this decision into his own hands. And without asking any of us, no less. We had a fucking plan. Not to mention that we're the only damn fools who know what's happening up in the North. What it's truly like.

"Callum," I call out as soon as we're within hearing distance. His eyebrows rise as his head lifts, looking at us, his finger slipping off the walkie talkie button. Quickly, he says something to the woman beside him, dismissing her. She walks away just as we approach.

"You're alive," Callum exclaims before glancing behind us. "Where's Poppy?"

"She's safe. Just half hour or so behind us," I answer. "What do you think you're doing?"

Callum purses his lips before answering. "My men tell me that Gia's mansion has been destroyed?"

"What's your point?" I snap.

"It's time to destroy all of her other holdings. The only way to do that is to unite the kingdom," he answers blatantly, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"So, you're going to blow up the wall?"

"Yes," he confirms. Emilia sucks in a breath. "My team have been laying explosives along the bottom, trailing them for miles."

"But we haven't heard back from Anna or Sam! We have no idea how Lola is doing! What about the other sectors?"

Callum shakes his head and looks over at the grey, concrete monstrosity behind us. "It's too late."

"How?" Emilia splutters.

"Gia's going to regroup, she's going to come back with everything she has."

"So, we'll be ready for her," Emilia retorts, crossing her arms over her chest. Don't look, Zac. Don't look...

Callum sighs before shaking his head. "Neither one of you understand."

"We understand just fucking fine," I snap. "For fucks sake, we've fucking lived it all. You haven't."

"If we don't do it now, the country will never be re-unified," he insists.

Emilia scoffs beside me, just as the woman Callum dismissed earlier returns beside him. "Why should we unify the country at all?" Emilia asks.

"Excuse me?"

"Why? It's a fucking mess. Both sections that we have any knowledge on need more than just being shoved together to fix them." Emilia gestures towards the wall. "The wall should stay standing."

I nod from beside her, straightening my spine as Callum frowns before dropping his eyes. He's actually thinking it over. Debating. Deciding. Wondering...

But then his head snaps back up and he looks to his right at the woman. "Blow it up," he orders. She nods, turning and darting up the hill towards the wall.

I'm moving before I can think anything of it, arm outstretched before it winds around Callum's throat, tightening as I growl. The walkie talkie slips from his grasp to the ground.

"If you blow the wall up, the fucking Slayers will kill everyone."

Someone's hand catapults into my face and I nearly lose my grip on Callum before the surprise assailant is ripped away from me. Emilia lands a kick into my attacker's abdomen, knocking him out only a second later, her eyes wild with fire.

One of Callum's fucking sheep.

Dickheads.

"Don't you care about everyone up North?" I hiss. I know the fucking answer. He doesn't give a shit, he hasn't even thought about them. "You know how bad the Slayers are! Why the fuck would you do this?"

"Because..." His voice is garbled as I throttle him. "Because I don't know what else to do!"

The sheer reality of his words causes me to let go, pushing him backwards as I sneer. Fucking idiot.

"Hasty decisions aren't the answer," Emilia hisses, stepping towards him with a glare.

Lifting my hands to my hair, I run them through the strands before swearing, "Fuck."

He's an absolute twat. There's nothing more to it. He should never have been left in charge in the first place. Why anyone in London had faith in him is beyond me...

My eyes flicker up the small hill to the base of the wall.

The woman he gave the order to has disappeared out of sight. She's reached the wall. Shit.

Emilia takes another step closer, ducking down slightly as Callum rests his hands on his knees and exhales.

"We can figure this out together, Callum," she tells him, her voice slightly softer. "We'll come up with a plan, I promise."

"You don't know that," he says hoarsely. "The Slayers are picking us off every damn day, completely annihilating our population."

"And the State are doing the same thing up North. Uniting them won't fix things," she tells him.

"It will," he insists.

"No. It won't," my wife snaps. Quick as a flash, Emilia's arm stretches out towards the walkie talkie strapped to his leg. And then Callum's upright, wide eyed as his arm shoots forward, hand curling around the wrist of my blonde beauty, yanking her back against him.

My blood is instantly boiling, eyes full of fury as I stalk towards him.

"Not so fast, Zac," Callum snaps as Emilia's eyes close in defeat. Only then do my eyes fall to the shiny blade that he's holding. Pressed tightly against her throat. Her bare skin. 

He's holding her life in his pathetic fucking hands.

My fists clench. My heart roars. My teeth clench.

A snarl slips through my lips.

"We're doing this my way," Callum adds, tapping the blade harshly against Emilia's windpipe, causing her to let out a whimper.

Fucking disgusting, entitled, arrogant, worthless, piece of shit asshole.

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

Only two chapters of Broken South are left!! It was originally one — but the next part really ran away from me length wise... so I decided to split it.

The next book in the series — Book 2.5: Keeping The North — is now up, on my profile. Book 3 will also begin very shortly once this one is over. 💚

If you're still here, reading this... I love you with my WHOLE heart.