When Liam and I are captured, I feel as if I am about to die. Liam has to constantly calm me down whenever I have a full blown panic attack. He tells me about the times where he did not know if I would make it through that particular attack, how my heart was beating so fast and I could not seem to catch my breath. At those time, when my mind is racing so fast I can barely keep track of my thoughts, I focus on Tatum and how much I love him.

I love him.

This comes as a bit of a shock to me once I realize this particular fact. Tatum and I have been together for over two months, constantly talking and doing other more fun activities. I did not think it would be possible for me to love and trust someone so easily, especially with what I went through with the Alphas the first time they captured me. It seems, though, that Tatum has been able to help me forget the past and look towards the future.

Liam seems to pick up on this little tidbit of information, rocking me back and forth and talking about Tatum whenever I find myself spiraling into another attack. Instead of taking me fifteen to twenty minutes to calm down, it only takes me about five, something that has never happened before.

A small groan snaps me out of my thoughts, making me turn to look at the source of the sound. After I see Liam wince for the millionth time this morning and telling him to stop rambling whenever we ask him what is wrong, I realize that he has gone into labor.

"Liam," I say, rubbing my fingers gently against the skin at the bottom of his stomach where the baby will be taken out, "we need to get you out of here. You should have told me earlier that you were having contractions."

"I didn't want you to panic," he whispers, eyes closing in exhaustion.

This shakes me to the core. My friend has been suffering contractions and has been too scared to tell me, fearing I may have one of my numerous panic attacks. Absolute shame floods through me, and I am unable to shake it off, no matter how hard I try.

I press my fingers a little harder than I meant too, and Liam winces slightly, causing me to feel even more guilty than before. Lifting up his shirt, I take a closer look at the thickness of his skin, trying to keep my mind from wandering.

"How far along is he?" Allie, one of the other captured omegas, says. She walks over to sit on my right, eyes following the movement of my fingers. It does not take long for her brother, Micah, to trail behind her, eyes flicking between us and the door.

"Judging by how close his contractions are and how thin his skin is, I would say that he only has a few hours left until the baby is ready to come out," I tell them, finally sitting back on my heels and pulling Liam's shirt back down, "We have to get him out of here, right now. If he has the baby in here, the alphas will kill it since it is not one of theirs. We can't wait any longer."

Allie and Micah silently nod their heads in understanding. We had all been hoping to be out of here by now, but it looks as if we can only rely on ourselves to get away from the monsters who are holding us captive.

Suddenly, the door bursts open, and Alpha Douchebag, as I like to call him, comes sauntering into the shack we are being kept in. He is the one who beat me so badly last time that I lost my baby. Usually, I would be terrified of him, but the fact that I am here for the second time and that my friend is in the same danger as I was, makes me angry. The rage I feel for him is about to bubble over, but I hold it in check, knowing that I am no match for him right now.

His black eyes run along our bodies and a disgusting smirk spreads across his face. He seems to put together what is happening with Liam, his smile growing once his eyes land on my pregnant friend. Before he can do anything about it, though, loud growls from wolves and moans from the infected filter into our tiny shack.

"What the fuck is going on out there?" he yells, the sudden noise scaring us so badly that we try to scramble as far away from him as possible.

I wrap my arms around Liam, massaging his cramping back and aching sides, while Micah and Allie crowd in front of us as if they are trying to protect Liam from Alpha Douchebag's wrath.

"Something is attacking, driving a huge horde of infected into our camp. There are too many of them. Even in wolf form, we can't fight them all off," a gruff voice says to Douchebag from outside the shack.

Seething, the leader turns his attention back towards us. His fists clench as the noises of the infected grow louder. As the growls of his wolves become fewer and fewer, he finally snaps. Surging forward, he pushes Allie and Micah away from us and rips Liam out of my arms.

The rage that I had been trying to hold back bubbles over. How dare he touch my friend. He already took my baby away from me, I will not let him take Liam's little one away from him.

"Stop! Stop, you asshole!" I yell, jumping onto the alpha's boney back.

The momentum of my jump causes the both of us to go crashing into the wall of the shack. His tattooed arms flail as he tries to balance himself and grab me at the same time. My arms are gripped tight around his neck, but an elbow to my face causes me to let go and fall to the ground, making my head start to spin.

"You pathetic omega. How fucking dare you touch me!" he screams, kicking me in the stomach repeatedly. With every kick comes a new wave of pain, but I am unable to move away, my body seeming to give up.

Faintly, I hear Liam screaming something, but I am unable to understand what he is saying. With one last kick, the alpha spits on my unmoving body and makes his way over to the others. I try desperately to stand up, but there is nothing I can do. Mentally screaming at myself, I try to stay awake, but it is useless. The hit to my head and the pain from the kicks eventually drag me under, leaving behind nothing but darkness.

*****

Sitting there in front of the crackling fire, I hear the brothers trying to comfort one another. Coming to the realization that they could have done nothing to stop the alphas from taking their heavily pregnant mate does not seem to appease them at all, and I do not blame them.

The thought of Taylor in the hands of those rogue alphas makes my stomach twist. He told me about what happened with them, how they treated him. He told me about what they did to him whenever they wanted to, and if he dared to fight them they would beat him senseless. He told me about the baby he lost, how it wrecks him sometimes to see Liam's pregnant belly, but he never let his sadness show.

My heart breaks whenever he tells me about his experience with the alphas. It usually happens when everyone else is asleep and we are cuddled up together under a blanket keeping watch. Taylor says that the stillness of the night makes him feel like he can talk about anything. He does not feel like he has to watch what he says.

"I still think about her," he whispered one night, his head resting on my shoulder. I knew he was talking about his daughter, the one he had lost at the hands of the alphas. "About what she would have looked like and her personality. Sometimes my heart aches so badly when I think about her, that I am afraid it will stop beating entirely."

My heart hurt for him, and I found myself pulling him closer, pressing a kiss into his soft hair. Gently, I reached my hand up to wipe away a few wayward tears, not knowing what to say. But Taylor seemed to understand, scooting closer to my side and seeming to take comfort in my presence.

A particularly loud crack of the fire snaps me out of my thoughts, and I blink, taking in the still murmuring brothers. After days of not talking, I finally break my silence. "We have to get them away from the alphas as soon as possible."

Erik and Ethan both look at me, readjusting the sleeping girls on their chests so that they are laying in more comfortable positions. The children have been hard to get to sleep lately. They seem to sense that something is wrong, especially Olive and Grace. Not having Liam here to comfort them is nothing they have ever had to experience, according to the alphas, causing them to be greatly distressed. Elliot has been affected too, seeing as he seems to be very close with the two girls. Whenever they are sad, he is sad. All of this has made for some difficult nights.

"Yeah, but how?" Erik asks, his green eyes meeting my blue ones. He seems to be surprised by my talking if the look of shock on his face says anything.

"Haven't you guys been taught anything by your old pack?" I question, my brows scrunching together as I look at them skeptically.

"What do you mean?" Ethan says, adjusting Grace on his chest. "We were taught plenty of stuff. Every day we had hours of training."

My eyes roll in slight exasperation. Alphas and their training. It seems as if all these two ever did was train back at their old pack, never branching out into the more historical side of werewolves.

"But did you learn about the history of wolves or other packs?" I ask, even though I already know their answer.

"Not really, no," Erik says. "Our mom was the one who knew everything. She was the historian in our pack, and if we needed to know anything, we could ask her."

"Just tell us what you know, Tatum," Ethan says with a bit of a bite in his tone. His green eyes harden in irritation, and I can tell that he is getting annoyed by my questions. It just amazes me how their old pack was centered around its physical strength, while my old pack was centered more around our ancestry.

Ethan's rigid shoulders relax, though, once his brother grabs his hand and gives it a squeeze. He slouches against Erik's side, the exhaustion obviously catching up to him. It has been a rough few days for all of us.

"Alphas are always protective of their mates," I say, eyes fixed on them. "This protectiveness gives Alphas an advantage over most other wolves."

"Like what?" Erik says, cutting me off. I raise a brow at him, silently questioning why he interrupted me if he wanted me to talk. He just sighs before leaning back against the tree behind him, waving his hand for me to continue.

"When in great distress, or when the life of their mate is in danger, an alpha can shift into a full wolf. It rarely happens, so I guess it makes sense that you two do not know about it," I say, looking away from them in order to pick Elliot up and cuddle him against my chest. My little brother squirms around until he is more comfortable, his body completely relaxing once I cover him with the blanket that had been sitting next to me.

"Why didn't we change when the alphas attacked us then?" Ethan asks, the disbelief clear in his tone.

"Your wolf didn't see Liam being attacked, so it did not force the shift. Now, if you saw your mate being hurt, you would have no control over your wolf. You would most likely black out and your wolf would take over."

"Okay," Erik says slowly, him and his brother trying to absorb everything that I said.

"But, the most important thing right now, is to get the omegas back. As soon as the full moon comes around, Taylor is going to be raped over and over again by the alpha pack in hopes of getting him pregnant. Liam will be too if he gives birth to the baby. Who knows, if the baby doesn't come soon, they may just cut it out of him so they can use him on the full moon as well."

Erik and Ethan look at me in shock and start murmuring to each other again, and I can tell that they are extremely upset with what I said. Tears threaten to spill over as I think about how scared Taylor must be, but I manage to hold them back.

"How do you know all of this?" Erik asks. I try to give him a smile, but I know that he can see right through me. No matter how hard I try, I am not able to hold back my tears.

I decide not to tell them everything about me and Taylor, just give them a few details. "Taylor and I have been talking a lot lately." Sniffing, I wipe away some of the escaping tears. "When he wakes up from nightmares, I talk him back to sleep. We have gotten to know each other over the past couple months, and I..." I love him.

It is not even that much of a surprise to me, that I love the omega, but instead of dwelling on it, I try to change the subject.

"He has been through so much. I don't know if he can survive going through what he did again." Refusing to look at them, I bury my head into Elliot's hair, breathing in his comforting scent. "He escaped once, I cannot imagine what they are going to do to him this time. He must be so scared."

My tears are falling faster, but before I can fall into a sobbing mess, Erik and Ethan walk over and wrap their arms around me. This catches me by surprise at first, but I soon relax into their arms. They are whispering reassuring words, but I am unable to hear them through my sobs.

Suddenly, Erik jolts up in surprise, causing me to look up. There, standing less than ten feet in front of us, are two betas. One of them is a guy with wide shoulders and tangled blonde hair, and the other is a girl, her bright blue eyes standing in stark contrast against her tan skin and dark hair.

"What the hell?" Ethan says. "Where did you come from?"

Ethan stands in front of us, making it hard to see the newcomers. His stance is rigid, and I can tell that he is debating whether or not to trust them.

"We've been following you, trying to find a time to talk," the guy says, eyes flickering between all of us.

"What do you want from us?" Erik growls, obviously not happy about them sneaking up on us.

"He told you," the girl says, stepping forward, "we want to help you."

"And why would you do that?" Ethan asks, not backing down. The betas look over him, seemingly unimpressed by his alpha behavior.

"The Warriors have my mate and his sister," the male beta says, "and we know they have your mates as well." A spark runs through my body at the mention of Taylor being my mate. I know that we are not mates, but that does not mean that I haven't hoped we were.

"How?" I question, trying to shake off the feeling.

"We were following them before they took your omegas, and then we have been trying to catch up to you. We wanted to make sure you were not dangerous before we approached you." The girl beta takes another step towards Ethan but stops approaching once he lets out a soft growl.

"We need to work together to get them back. If we do not, then all of our omegas are in danger. The full moon is approaching, and what your beta failed to mention is that it is a special moon. The only one where an omega can get pregnant by someone other than their mate," she says.

Seeming to approve of what they said, Erik nods his head before gesturing for them to sit down, taking his own seat next to his brother.

"We have a plan, and with all of us, it is bound to work," the male says.

"Wait, we do not even know your names," I say, not trusting anyone who I do not even have a name for.

The girl looks over at the guy and they both nod. She holds her hands in front of the fire to heat them up while the guy begins to talk.

"My name is Jesse," the guy says before pointing at the girl, "and she is my sister Alexis."

We all nod and tell them our names, making sure to talk quietly so that the young ones do not wake up.

"Now, we have to act fast, and like we said before, we have a plan," Alexis says, her blue eyes flickering between us. We nod our heads, open to the idea, and listen to what they have to say.

Alexis goes over their plan with us, and it all makes sense. First, we will contaminate their drinking water with a drug they have on hand.

"What is it called again?" I ask, looking in between them and the two little baggies of powder they are showing us.

"Ketamine," Alexis answers. "It will practically knock them out, and those who don't black out will not be able to move. They will be completely vulnerable."

"Special K?" Erik asks, eyebrows raised in surprise and slight amazement. "How the hell did you even get that?"

"You don't want to know," Jesse says, rubbing his hands together.

Then, after the drug has kicked in, we will release the infected they keep in cages along the edges of their camp. They will be unable to run away from the monsters they have been using as protection and attackers. This will make it easy for us to break into their camp and get our pack mates. The Warriors will be unable to come after us, and the infected will be too distracted by the drugged alphas to come attack us.

"Do you think it will work?" I ask once we have gone over the plan at least three times. The little ones and Meeka are sleeping in the tent less than five feet away, and the rest of us sit around the fire, mulling over our thoughts.

Alexis's eyes never leave the fire as she says the last words of the night. "It's going to have to."