"Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life."
~Bob Marley

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Three weeks later...

Spencer

"How stupid can you be?" The Shadow asked in a thick Italian accent, smiling victoriously as he leaned against the wooden desk.

Dom, strapped to a table next to me, groaned, "Please, do not encourage him. He will absolutely take that as a challenge."

Through the pain and blood, I smiled, agreeing. "He's right."

"Obviously," the man said, striding up to me and grasping my hair painfully in his fist. "Now, you're going to tell me where your little piece of ass is so we can kill her for what she did to our comrades in the US."

Little piece of ass. His words made my blood boil. No one talked about my mate like that, and like Hell I was going to give him any information about Elsa. "Yeah, that's gonna be a hard pass."

"We'll see about that." The Shadow punched me so hard in the gut that it knocked me and my chair over. I grunted from the impact, spitting blood on the ground.

"Dude, I've been beaten up within an inch of my life by Renier Laroche himself. You're going to have to do better than that."

"Spencer, for the love of- do not encourage him!" Dom warned in exasperation. "We're not in a good predicament here! God, come to Milan, they said. It'd be fun, they said. I would like it to be known I'm not having fun. It's been pretty shitty, actually."

"I don't know. I think we'll start having fun once this guy's throat gets ripped out."

"Is that so?" The Shadow mused, chuckling, stalking towards me. "In your position, you can't do jack-shit to me."

"You're right. I can't." A bloody grin spread across my face. "But my fiancée can."

In the blink of an eye, a white wolf- fur matted with blood- lunged from behind at the Shadow's throat. The man never saw it coming, and his body thudded to the floor. Elsa shifted back into a human, rushing to Spencer's side and releasing him from his chains. Meanwhile, Anna hurriedly undid the restraints for Dom.

"Anna, I love you, but please contain yourself and your thoughts," Elsa said, cringing at her twin. "I really don't want to know what you and Dom enjoy."

"Well, then, don't read my thoughts!" Anna snapped back, flushing a deep red. Dom had much the same reaction, and I snorted in amusement.

"I wasn't trying to!" Rolling her eyes, Elsa cupped my face, her eyes anxiously trailing over me. "How badly are you hurt?"

"Your dad did a worse number on me. I'm still good to fight. Lead the way," I ordered, buzzing with anticipation. I had a bone to pick with these people for what they did to Dom and me the past two days.

"Hate to break it to you-" Anna began, cracking her neck- "but the battle just finished."

"What?!" Dom and I exclaimed, both disappointed.

"It wasn't much of a battle, to be honest," Elsa admitted, motioning for the boys to follow her. As they strode down the hall, she explained, "Once we found the entrance, we knocked out a couple Shadows. Viktor and Kline dressed up as them, snuck into the compound, got the layout, hacked the system, and opened all other entrances. The kids took them out one by one, only killing them if they didn't surrender. The adults really never saw it coming, though. The bloodiest bit was in the mess hall where they were having dinner, although the battle only lasted about half an hour. Anna and I left the pack to hunt down you two. They had you guys hidden deep within this place."

"Any losses?" Dom queried.

"Not on our side, not even with the kids. Just from the Shadows. We're taking care of the Italian kids right now. Just be forewarned, they're still a little wary about us, and as handsome as I find you, your bloody smile might scare them, so both of you wash up before you interact with them."

"Noted."

The group reached a set of ornate doors, and Elsa pushed them open. It revealed a relatively calm scene. On one side of the room, behind a makeshift curtain, were piles of dead bodies. On the other side, taking residence on the dining tables, were children of all ages, but much to my horror, most were on the younger side, most under the age of ten. I shared a look with Dom and found my brother appeared as sickened as I felt. We both made our way to the kitchen, where we washed the blood off our faces and anywhere else we could find it on our skin.

Once clean, or as much as we could be, Dom and I returned to the dining room. Elsa and Anna knelt on the floor at eye-level with two little girls, identical twins, who couldn't be older than six. Behind them stood an older boy, closer to about fifteen, but undoubtedly their older brother judging by his similar features. He was talking to Elsa and Anna, and I strained to understand what he was saying.

"They're scared of the dark," he said, rubbing the young twins' shoulders affectionately. "I've tried telling them there's nothing to be afraid of, but the adults convinced them monsters come out in the dark."

Anna shook her head, sweetly saying to the girls, "I remember having the same fear when I was your age. Elsa too, but you know what? I learned there's no need to fear the dark."

"Perché?" one of the girls asked, twirling her hair nervously.

"Why?" the boy translated.

"Because when darkness comes, people fear me and my kind, and you two, along with all the other kids in this room, have us in your corner. We're not going to let anything happen to you, okay?"

The brother translated what my fiancée had said to his sisters, and the little girls smiled shyly. Then, they opened their arms and hugged Elsa and Anna, who both eagerly returned it.

"Who do we have here?" I asked gently, not wanting to scare the little girls, who were understandably on edge from everything.

"This is Sienna and Bianca," Elsa replied, pointing to each girl respectively. I knelt down and offered my hand to them. Hesitantly, they shook it, and I smiled at them. "This is their older brother, Vincenzo."

"Nice to meet you," he said, extending his hand. Dom and I shook it. "Thank you for helping us."

"We're happy to have helped," I answered sincerely.

Elsa stood up, gingerly placing her hand on Sienna's shoulder. "Listen, I want to get the kids into a different room, one away from all the dead bodies. Can you two work with Viktor and Brayden on our plan?"

"On it," Dom and I said. After giving me a quick kiss, Elsa took Sienna's hand and led her out of the room. Vincenzo and some of the older kids helped them escort the little ones out.

I scanned the room for our allies but saw nothing. Dom and I peeked behind the curtains shielding prying, innocent eyes from the dead bodies stacked upon one another. Here, we found familiar faces, including Viktor and Brayden.

"Spencer! Dom!" Brayden exclaimed when he saw us. He looked us up and down. "You two look like shit. Thanks for pulling one for the team."

"Good to see you too," Dom replied, clapping him on the shoulder. "You look like shit too."

"Well, it's hard work pulling most of the weight in battle."

Behind Brayden's back, Viktor rolled his eyes. "As is having delusions of grandeur," he said. Then, peering at Dom and me, he added, "Thanks for risking your lives to help us. Did they hurt you too badly?"

"Nah. We've been through worse," I replied, waving a dismissive hand. "What are you two doing back here?"

"Trying to get a head start on your deaths. We've created a pile already. We have half of your body doubles ready to go. We're still trying to decide on eight others. Kind of gruesome, but these people were trying to kill us, so..."

"Didn't we try killing them first?" I asked, confused.

"No. We gave them all the option of surrendering, but-" Viktor motioned at the pile of lifeless bodies- "you can see how that went."

"Anything we can do to help?"

"Actually, you can help me," Miriam said, ducking underneath the curtain and joining the crew with Kline behind her. "I need to get your DNA to input it into the system so when an ID is made by officials, a.k.a. some of us dressed up as first responders, we can let your family know it's a match. Then we'll take your DNA out of the system once we tell them and dispose of the bodies so no one will ever find them."

"What do you need?" I queried.

"Hair and blood will do."

"We have plenty of each. Take what you need." I offered my arm to Miriam, and with practiced precision, she stuck the need in the crevice of my arm. I barely felt a thing as she drew my blood. Kline snipped a bit of my hair and then bagged it. Both the bag and syringe were clearly labeled with my name. They proceeded to do the same with Dom.

"We're going to get the rest of your pack's samples, and we should have this in the federal system by the end of the day for INTERPOL," Miriam declared, stuffing the samples in her bag. "Kline and I both speak Italian, and we'll recruit some of the actual Italians to join us when we arrive on the scene. We have fake badges and everything, so no need to worry about us."

"Be careful," Dom admonished, and I heard his heart beat a little faster. "The Controllers are powerful, and if they suspect even just a little that you're helping us, they will torture you or kill you."

"We understand, but we're prepared for that. You were all willing to die for us. We're willing to do the same for you. Now, go get some rest. You two have had a hell of a day."

Dom and I didn't argue, the adrenaline from earlier fading and exhaustion crashing over us in a wave. We shuffled out of the room, following Elsa and Anna's scents until we arrived at a side room full of bunk beds. The girls were tucking in some of the little kids, and although I spoke little Italian, I could understand that they were telling the kids goodnight.

Upon seeing us, Elsa and Anna padded over, grasping our hands and leading us out of the room. They shut the door silently behind them.

"Those poor kids are going to need serious therapy," Anna remarked sadly, a shudder running through her body. Dom wrapped a comforting arm around her.

"'They saw more than any child ever should," Elsa agreed, shaking her head. "I know we have a lot going on, but I feel we need to help Viktor and the others free the rest of the kids from the Shadows."

"I think the rest of our pack would agree," I said, slipping my arm around her waist and pulling her close to me. "But first, we have to witness our deaths."