The table was quiet for a while, for a long while. Anna had her eyes glued the slice of beef on her fork. She was well aware she had not touched her dinner or said a word to anyone the entire night.

She just wasn't sure she needed to say anything at all. She just wanted to keep on twirling her fork around and glaring at it. She was sure if she kept on doing that, if she remained quiet, she wouldn't have to tell Angelo what happened at the hospital even when she was dying to. She needed to talk to someone about it, she knew she could trust Angelo, it was his child too, but she was scared. It wasn't just the right time.

But If there was one thing she knew about her husband, it was the fact that he wasn't entirely blind. He wasn't enjoying his dinner watching his wife play dumb the entire night. It was almost like he wasn't there.

He was dying to know what was wrong with her. He frowned for a while, watching her closely, trying to read her mind but all he was getting was...nothing. Angelo exhaled in frustration, dropping his fork loudly in his plate. He pulled his napkin from his shirt and dabbed his lips with it

"Okay what's wrong?"
Anna looked up slowly

"What?"

"Anna you've been this way the entire evening. You've barely even touched your food."

Oh
She sat up

"It's nothing." She lied "I'm just thinking a lot about work."

"Work?"

"Yeah work."

She forced the beef into her mouth and grabbed her glass of water. She took a big sip. Angelo wasn't buying it.

"Do you need a break?"

She dropped the glass slowly on the table, shaking her head in disapproval

"I can handle it ."

She turned back to her plate and grabbed her fork. She really didn't want to be so obvious but Angelo had already grown so fond of her to know when she had something on her mind

Angelo hesitated before he turned to his food

"Were you able to see the doctor today?"

Anna paused. She didn't look up, she was hesitating. This was the point where she had to lie again. What on earth was she going to say? Angelo watched her closely. She turned back to her plate.

"Yes I did."

"And?"

"It's nothing serious. He just said I was ill from stress at work and needed to rest a while."

She looked at him hoping deep in her heart that he was buying it. Angelo didn't have a choice. He exhaled and nodded. He wasn't going to push it.

"Look, I know it's been a bit crazy these past few months, but you know you can talk to me if something is bothering you right?" He slowly reached for her hand, he squeezed it

She looked at him. He was just so bad at pretending to hide his worry. He didn't even try to.

She forced a smile

Just try to act normal Anna!

"I know ." She told him pulling her hands away slowly. She wasn't exactly in the mood to hold hands. Everything had changed since she left the hospital, her thoughts were all over the place. She couldn't afford to be distracted than she already was. She still needed to figure somethings out. She needed to find a way around everything that was happening. But that was Angelo, sitting right there. That was the man she trusted, the father of her child too. How could she just act like he wasn't there? Like he didn't have the right to get involved. At that moment everything the doctor told her began to make sense. She knew she could trust him, she wanted to. She wasn't sure she could handle it alone

"Angelo," She exhaled dropping her fork slowly "There's something you need to know."

That was it. That was all it took to get Angelo's undivided attention. If she was ready to talk, then he was going to listen. He was dying to know

"I Uh-" Her heart was racing, "I-" her voice trembled "I'm Uh-"

"No you cannot come in!"

They both stopped at the sound of Lauretta's voice all the way from the front door. Anna turned to Angelo. He was almost sure he wasn't expecting anyone. She shook her head as Lauretta's voice became louder, she wasn't expecting anyone either.

What she had to say could wait. If someone was trying to force their way into her home, she knew she needed to take care of it. She hurried up right after Angelo and they walked out of the dining room

"I beg your pardon, you can't just walk in here. At least have some courtesy and show some manners, you're in someone's home."

Lauretta's voice was getting colder. It was almost as if whoever it was she was talking to wasn't listening. It was like he couldn't care less

No it wasn't a he, it was "them".

Angelo tried so hard to understand what was going on as a couple of men marched into his home in uniforms. They weren't just men, they were soldiers and Angelo knew exactly who they were from. It wasn't exactly like they were hiding their 'NSS' badges and weapons and shields.

Anna was confused.

She could see Angelo trying to pull her back , to keep her behind him. He was trying to protect her. There was only one reason a troop of NSS soldiers were standing in position right outside their home, and it wasn't for a friendly talk. They saw a threat and they came to stop it, or get it.

He recognized the lady in the suit right in front of them. He wasn't sure he remembered her name after he walked her out of his house the last time she came.

"Sir Angelo," Lauretta was going to explain how she had no idea they were just going to barge in.

"It's okay Lauretta, you may leave ." He told her "all of you."

He announced to the rest of the maids that were lingering around , watching in fear. Angelo didn't have to wait for them to listen, he turned back to the woman

"Good day Mr Trusk," she walked forward, stretching her hand for a shake "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, I think I have introduced myself to you before , I'm-"

"What's the meaning of this?" Angelo asked , looking her straight in the eye. "I thought I was clear before, I don't want you in my home, any of you."

He turned to the rest of the soldiers who stood put on their guard.

"I'm sorry Mr Trusk, but we got news that your safety and the safety of your neighborhood might be in danger, and have been given orders to curb the situation ."

"Danger?" Angelo frowned harder "we were just having dinner. Do we look like we are in danger?"

"Mr Trusk, we have reason to believe your wife has intentionally tried to deactivate her bracelet. We think she currently has access to her powers, I'm afraid but we have orders to bring her back to base ."

"What?"

"I- I've not done anything wrong." Anna's voice broke.

How on earth was this happening? How did they know? What were they going to do to her? Anna was terrified, she was scared, he was too.

"I'm sorry." The lady said "it's just standard protocol."
She turned to the soldiers

"Take her in." She ordered.

Anna could feel her breath slowly disappearing from her lungs. Everything was happening so fast, too fast for her to think. How on earth was it possible? Who told them?

Angelo pulled her back further

"This is ridiculous." He told the lady "what you're saying makes no sense. My wife has never hurt anyone. Where is your proof? Do you even have a warrant?"

"Mr Trusk please we'd have to ask you to get out of the way and let us do our jobs."

"Your job?" Angelo scoffed.  "since when was it the job of the NSS to force their way into peoples homes and abduct them? This is insane, we know our rights, Atians have rights too."

"We have orders to bring your wife back to base Mr Trusk," she got out a piece of paper and stretched it towards Angelo "with force if she resists."

Angelo snatched the paper from her hand. He squeezed it and threw it away

"Not without a evidence, you don't. "

"Mr Trusk -"

"Screw your orders!" Angelo yelled "you're not taking my wife and that's final."

"Angelo." Anna was shaking all over . She didn't want to go, she wasn't going with them. There was a lot of things that would happen if she walked through that door and they were all going to end up with her getting hurt

"Take her." The soldiers fearlessly moved closer

"I swear to god take one more step and I swear you'd wish you didn't." Angelo warned the men that took the lead. He meant it, he was going to do all he could to protect his family, to protect Anna.

"Mr Trusk if you don't comply with us, you'd be charged with obstruction of justice. Please step away and let us do our job."

"If you're just going to walk in here and arrest my wife, I need to know why. What did she do wrong? Where is your proof? The law states that an Atian can only be called to order this way when someone gets hurt. She hasn't hurt anyone." He glared at her, he could read exactly what she was thinking.

"What? you think i got married to An Atian without knowing my rights? Her rights? Our rights in case your organization tried to do something like this?"

"Take her-"

"No," Anna cringed back as the soldiers walked forward

"Stay back."

They gathered close like ants as they marched closer. They weren't listening, they were not going to leave the house without Anna and Angelo wasn't going to let them and that was it. They hit him with their Batons.

"No!" Anna yelled as her eyes were filled with tears. "Stop don't hurt him!" She yelled as two of them rushed towards her with a neck cuff. They grabbed her arm and pulled her to her knees to subdue her before they forced it quickly round her neck.

Anna tried to free herself from the hold of the soldiers that grabbed on to her tight, turning her towards Angelo's direction so she took a better look while they beat him

"Stop!"

Angelo was fighting back. He wasn't that easy to get rid of. He wasn't going to let them take Anna and it didn't matter what they did to him. Anna tried so hard to free herself from their hold. She could feel her wolf gene try to unveil itself but the neck cuff kept suppressing it. It was tougher than she had ever imagined.

She didn't need it anyway.
Anna knew who she had to protect. It wasn't just Angelo, it was her baby. What would happen if the NSS discovered she was pregnant? She knew going back to base with them wasn't an option to consider

She turned to one of the soldiers and pushed her away as hard as she could. There it was the strength that she needed and it wasn't even coming from just her.

She hit the other one and pushed him too and was about to go rescue Angelo when they tased her. And shot her with a syringe filled with mercury, and then another. Anna couldn't hold it in much longer, she was feeling her life suck out of her. She could hear Angelo yell her name while she fell to the ground shaking as fast as she could.

She watched one of the soldiers say something into his radio while another one walked towards Angelo who the soldiers managed to keep pinned to the ground.

"You're going to be okay." His voice was like an echo. Anna was barely able to keep her eyes open let alone focused on him. She watched the lady walk closer to him with a syringe. Anna knew exactly what she was going to do, Angelo couldn't fight it anymore, they were too many. The woman drew blood from him into the syringe. It was so fast

And it was the last thing Anna saw before her last tear dropped. She was tired of fighting, she slowly let her eyes close themselves.

She was tired.