Sipping my ginger tea, I try to not think about the way my stomach is rolling. Ever since Tate left a week and a half ago, my body has been at war with itself. It seems as if my stomach is threatening to rid itself of its contents all day and night, making it hard to catch even a minute of sleep. The ginger tea I found in the back of the pantry is helping a little bit, but only enough where I am not constantly wincing every time I move.

"Hey," a groggy voice calls from the doorway. Turning around, I see Liam walking towards me, his hair in disarray and dark bags under his eyes. Matty doesn't look much better. He is only a little over two months old, but he seems to have quite the personality already. The past few nights have not been kind to anyone, the little boy crying his tiny lungs out.

"Good morning," I mumble, taking another long drink of tea. The scalding liquid runs down my throat, but the quick way it calms my stomach down has me not minding the temperature.

Liam lets out a quiet scoff, his blue eyes rolling in aggravation as he pours himself a cup of coffee. It takes the hot water a couple of minutes to filter through the grounds and drip into his cup, and Liam watches it intently the entire time. Once he has it in his hand, he makes his way over to the barstool to my right, settling Matty comfortably in his lap as we both stare out the kitchen window.

"'Good' isn't the proper word to explain how my morning has been." He rubs Matty's leg as the baby starts to fuss, attempting to calm him down before he can really get himself going.

Setting down my tea, I take Matty from Liam, watching as my friend slumps in relief once the baby is out of his arms. "Another rough night?"

Liam looks over at me, his eyes at half mast as he fights to keep them open. "You have no idea." He takes a long pull of his coffee before resting his cheek against his hand. "Matty has been insufferable ever since Ethan left. Ethan was always the one who got up with him in the middle of the night, and he always cuddled him back to sleep once he was done nursing. Now, Matty just screams once he realizes that we aren't Ethan. The only way to get him to calm down enough to go back to sleep is to wrap him up in one of his daddy's shirts."

I nod my head in understanding. The scent of Ethan would still be strong on his clothing that he left behind. Looking down at the little baby in my arms, I see that he is wrapped tightly in a beige t-shirt.

Liam must realize what I am staring at because he lets out a tired sigh. "The scent is almost gone from that one and there are only a few more left. I don't know what we are going to do once we run out of shirts."

"Did you try laying him on Ethan's pillow?" Liam's head snaps up at my words, his eyes widening a little bit in excitement.

"I hadn't thought of that." The smile quickly slips from his face though. "Isn't that too soft for him to sleep on? I don't want him to be in danger, no matter how happy it would make him."

A small smile spreads across my face at my friend's worry. "He should be fine if you just lay him on his back and swaddle him tightly. He won't be able to roll over, but he can still smell Ethan's scent around him."

Liam's face breaks out into a wide grin, his blue eyes twinkling at his new found excitement. Matty seems to notice Liam's change of mood because his face relaxes from the hard frown he had been wearing.

Liam leans down so that his nose is touching Matty's. "Did you hear that, little love? You are going to sleep like a dream all wrapped up in your daddy's scent."

Matty doesn't understand, but his blue eyes widen at Liam's words, causing the both of us to laugh at the baby's expression. Liam presses a small kiss to Matty's cheek before sitting back up and taking another sip of coffee.

We are only sitting in silence for a couple of minutes before Liam is breaking it. "So, how are you feeling this morning?"

My brow scrunches a little bit at his words, my queasiness coming back in full force. I take another drink of my scalding tea before answering him.

"About the same. The tea helps a bit, but I just can't seem to shake this constant nausea."

Liam nods his head in understanding. Matty lets out a little grunt, waving his fist around in the air before dropping it back down. He seems to be in a much better mood now that Liam is. It must be true what they say about babies being able to feed off of other people's energy.

Liam sets down his now empty mug before stretching his arms above him. His back lets out a few cracks as he twists from side to side. With a long yawn, he slumps back down against the counter for only a second before standing up.

The loud scrape of the stool across the wood floor causes me to wince a little bit and Matty lets out a whine in protest.

"Sorry," Liam says, but the mischievous smile on his face says otherwise.

"Mhm, sure," I say, squinting against the bright sunlight shining through the window. Liam lets out a laugh, not bothering to turn around as he starts gathering ingredients to make pancakes.

Before long, both of us are laughing as we talk about our lives before the infected came along, my queasiness long forgotten. Matty is content as he lays against my chest, something that hasn't happened in a long time.

"That smells amazing," a gravelly voice says from the doorway. A few seconds later, Erik is walking into the kitchen, taking the seat next to me that Liam had occupied earlier this morning. As soon as he is sitting down, he takes Matty from me, and the baby lets out a sound of protest before settling against the alpha.

"Well, about time you woke up," Liam says, a bit of a frown on his face. Erik just rolls his eyes at his words, not bothering to answer him.

It doesn't surprise me, really. The two of them have been snippety with one another ever since Ethan and Tate left. It was weird at first not seeing them get along, but now we are all used to it. Everyone in the house has been affected by the absence of our pack mates, and none of us can wait until we are all together again.

"Good morning."

Well, except for him.

Zalo walks into the kitchen, this time without his cane. He stopped using it a couple days ago, now that he is almost fully healed.

He is the only one who has seemed happy about Ethan and Tate being gone. His flirtations with me have not stopped, and no matter what I do, he won't stop trying to talk to me. The alpha doesn't seem to get the very clear message that I do not want to be with him, no matter what he thinks.

"Morning," Liam and Ethan grumble. I stay silent, deciding not to answer the too happy alpha.

Zalo doesn't seem to mind. He makes his way into the kitchen, leaning his hip against the counter so that he is only a foot away from me. Not trying to be subtle at all, I scoot my stool farther away from him and closer to Erik. The feral grin on Zalo's face doesn't lessen at all. In fact, it only seems to grow.

"How did you sleep last night, Taylor?" he asks, watching me closely.

My lips curl into a grimace and I do not bother to answer him. Ever since I rejected him over a week ago, he has been trying to get me to talk to him again. It is almost like he is taking my words of rejection as encouragement, and all it is doing is turning me away from him even more. The pull to be close to him that had been so strong before has lessened dramatically. Instead, I have been having the urge to stay away from him and I am not going to argue with that.

"Take a seat, Zalo, and leave Taylor alone." Liam shoots the alpha a glare over his shoulder before returning his attention back to the pancakes cooking in the pan in front of him. "It's too early and we are too tired for your shit right now."

Erik mumbles something that sounds like agreement, and when Zalo turns his shocked expression from Liam to me, I just raise a brow at him. He lost my respect once he tried to intentionally hurt Tate. I don't care how he feels. He needs to learn to back off.

Zalo, surprisingly, does not say anything else. Standing up from where he was leaning against the counter, he huffs out a breath before walking over to the loveseat and sitting down. A breath I had not realized I was holding comes rushing out of my lungs once he is away from me.

Liam stacks all the pancakes onto a plate and sets it onto the counter in front of me and Erik. He does not let either of us touch them, though. When Erik reaches out a hand to snatch one up, Liam slaps it away, narrowing his eyes at his mate. Erik rolls his eyes and pouts his lips, but does not try to make a grab for the pancakes again.

"I'm going to go get the little ones," Liam says, but before he walks up the stairs, he fixes us with hard eyes. "If any of those pancakes are gone before I get back, you will be regretting it for the rest of the day." With that, he turns around and makes his way up the stairs.

It isn't long before he is coming back into the kitchen, little ones and the others following behind.

The sight of Alexis out of bed surprises me. Jumping to my feet, I walk over to where she is leaning against the stairs. The once long jagged claw marks are now completely healed. All that is left behind is a scar running from her hair line to the collar of her shirt. I know for sure that the scar continues all the way down to her waist.

"Hey," she says once I stop in front of her. She gives me a smile and it pulls a little bit at her scar. The feeling causes her smile to slip into a frown. Her hand reaches up and ghosts along the scar tissue. It seems as if she had forgotten that it was there for a moment.

"You feeling better?" I question. Her fever from her infection only broke a few days ago, but her wounds have been healing nicely.

She nods her head, but her eyes are still far away as her hand feels along the scars. Looping my arm through hers, I guide her over to the couch. She opens her mouth to protest, but I shush her before walking back into the kitchen.

"Where's Jesse at?" Liam questions, looking up at me from where he is opening up a can of peaches.

The front door swings open as if to answer Liam's question, because the beta in question walks in ten seconds later. His face is hard as he closes the door behind him. With a weary sigh, he shrugs off his pack and leans it against the wall, placing his bat beside it.

He doesn't say anything in response to our questioning stares, instead walking over to join his sister on the couch. Alexis curls up next to him, and he wraps his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to his side.

It is not until we are all done with breakfast that he brings up why he has such a weary look on his face. All the little ones are playing in the living room while the rest of us sit around the table.

"We still have three weeks until the next heat, but I don't know if we are going to last that long." He rests his chin on his hands, his elbow placed on the table.

"What do you mean?" I ask, feeling my stomach dropping in dread at what he is going to say next.

His blue eyes fix themselves on me. "Everything is circling us, getting closer than they were before."

"How close?" Erik asks, his eyes hard. The tiredness shows on his face, but it is easy to see that he is trying to keep it hidden. Every decision has been resting on his shoulders, so I can see why he would be so exhausted.

"I took out a claiste less than three miles from here, and a few infected were only a mile and a half away from the house."

"It's not like we can leave yet. We can't have almost all of us out of our minds in heat while out there. We would be so easily picked off, and we can't risk it." Liam shakes his head. His blue eyes settle on where Matty is sleeping on the couch, Ethan's pillow below him and his shirt bundled around him. "Especially since we have so many little ones."

"I know," Jesse says. The honesty and resolution shine in his blue eyes. "But we have to be even more careful than before. If we aren't, those things can just take us out before we even leave this house."

"Let's just hope that Ethan and Tate are doing okay and quickly find their way to our old pack lands. As soon as the next heat passes, we'll get there as quick as we can." Erik lets out a long sigh, his shoulders slumping slightly. "There is nothing we can do now but pack our stuff and wait."

We sit in silence for a couple minutes before the sounds of Elliot and the girls laughing shakes us out of it.

Erik scoots his chair back before standing up. "We're just going to have to be on patrol twenty-four-seven. Jesse, Zalo, and I will take turns going on patrol. The rest of you should start packing all the things we can take because as soon as we wake up the morning after the full moon, we are out of here."

With that, Ethan walks out of the room in the direction of the storage shed, probably gathering anything he may need while he is out on patrol.

"Guess that means we are starting now," I say, and the others nod their heads and grumble in agreement.

The thought of being away from here and with Tate again pushes me to stand up and start doing the task that I was assigned. We are getting out of here alive and making it to the pack lands. We had been through too much just to die now.