I stare wide-eyed at the monitor before me as Peter holds the paintball gun to Jayson's face, his finger hovering at the trigger.

"Shoot.." I whisper as I lean forward, urging him on to finish this.

He'd done so well already. Far better than all my hopes for him had been in this. I didn't see what had happened after Peter had entered Aiden's and I's bedroom, but what I did see of my mate running out bruised by paint, told me all I needed to know.

Peter hadn't held back.

But he was now, foolishly letting Jayson speak when he should've been putting a bullet between his eyes.

I loved Jayson, I really did, but this was war and anyone who wasn't on my side, was against me. Besides, I wouldn't put it past my mate to have found a way to use Jayson's innocence, to have set something up that would end with one of my own being hurt.

Peter lowers the gun and my heart stops.

I couldn't hear what they were saying, couldn't follow their conversation but with the way our bond was turning sour, I knew it wasn't anything good. Peter's body goes limp next, sagging as if the life had been torn from him just as the glow of our bond vanishes.

A second passes and then another, my breathing coming fast and short as slowly rage creeps through, anger like nothing I'd felt directed my way building so quickly it was almost overwhelming.

He knew.

"Shit," I mumble to myself as I watch Peter speaking faster now, more determined while the anger continued to swirl and spread not only through our bond, but the familial one as well.

I watch as Peter and Jayson clench hands on the main monitor before me, smiling wickedly at one another, canines and all as they seal whatever deal they'd just made. More than likely, those two had created a team of their own, one that had no allegiances to anyone else.

Peter lets go first, turning himself to face the camera I had focused on the pair. He lifts his gun and the entire screen goes black.

Fuck.

Darting up from my chair, I grab the bottle of water nearest to me and douse the entire thing over the keyboard and cords of my setup. I didn't care if it would cause a blackout, I'd rather continue this shit in the dark than let Peter use these when he knew exactly where I was.

I only had a few minutes, if so much, before he'd be here.

"Fuck!" I shout as I head to my cabinets yet, grabbing all the files I had on Peter that I'd kept separate.

Of all my children, Peter was the kindest... but that kindness could turn as black as coal if the rights buttons were pushed. I knew all too well what I was doing, I just hadn't entertained the possibility that Jayson would be the one to turn him to the truth.

Everyone else, yes, but not Jayson.

I told you to leave Peter alone - Alex says sounding like he was living in all the panic I wasn't letting myself feel. I told you! Leave. Peter. Alone.

- I reply as I move, shoving all the files I could fit into my bags.

Alex yells angrily. Peter and Damon, Peter and Josey, Peter and Aiden, Peter and even fucking Katerina! Every fucking member of this family we accounted for! But not Peter and Jayson! WE ARE FUCKED!

"I know!" I yell as I slam my hands down, my mind working to figure out how I could pool everyone together to face them. "I know, just give me a second and I'll figure something o-"

"I think you'll need more than one-second dad,"

I freeze at the sound of Damon's voice and the feel of the plastic barrel he had pressed against the back of my head.

Fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk! - Alex yells as the top of his lungs.

"Damon-" I start but he cuts me off before I can start.

"I'm not here to waste time, I just want to know one thing." He says as he presses the gun in harder against my head, "Where is Blaze?"

My sons and their fucking bunnies.

"Hagen and Levi took him, I don't know where," I say quickly while I survey the table before me for something I could use to tackle Damon. Any other wolf, I would've made a move already but I trained this one, I couldn't risk being sloppy.

"I filled this up with vomit," Damon says making my blood run cold, "now you can either tell me where Blaze is, or you can find out what it's like to take a bath in vomit."

I raised a monster.

Anyone else using vomit against me, sure, but Damon... he hated it just as I did, the fact that he would even take the time to fill up a gun with it-

I gag.

"You don't have much time dad, Peter will be here soon and something tells me he'll want you more than he wants me," Damon presses.

"In the basement," I answer just as my eyes snag on a pencil, "he's somewhere in the basement."

We are not going to stab our son with a fucking pencil, you psychopath! - Alex admonishes before the thought had a chance to fully form.

I don't bother arguing that he'd heal. He was right.

"Dad did tell us not to underestimate you, that you were worse than him," Damon says with a whistle, "but I never - and I mean never - thought that you'd do that to Peter."

"It had to be done,"

"No dad, it didn't," Damon replies seriously, "you really didn't have to shave the bunny."

I don't reply and Damon doesn't spend any more waffling, calling on Katerina's magic he disappears from the room with his vomit-gun, leaving me alone in the darkness just as the sound of footsteps above filled my ears.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Pulling back the largest cabinet I had at the back of the wall, I throw my bag into the carved out tunnel before I tose over the bucket of gasoline I'd had waiting. It takes three tries for a match to take, but the second it does, I let the flame drop.

Heat blazes everything in its path, setting it all to flames while I squeeze myself into the narrow space. Reaching out, I pull the cabinet back into place as best as I can, my teeth grinding together to stop myself from making a sound as my nails dig in to pull it in.

A space left, no matter how small and they'd find it.

It settles back into place just before the door to my hideout opens, drowning me in complete darkness.

--------

I kick out the wooden beams I'd nailed in years ago to cover the other side of the tunnel.

I'd been crawling for almost ten minutes to make it to the other side of the house and into my second hideout located beneath Josey's bedroom. I'd set this place up in the case that whatever games we got up to as a family resulted in me having to abandon my set team, and though I didn't intend to leave Hagen and Levi out for the wolves, I had to save myself first.

It was a setup identical to the one I'd just abandoned meets me on the other side; same cabinets, same weapons, same monitors, just as I expected. What I did not expect was to find my mate standing there waiting for me.

"Jewels, what the fuck did you do?" He says as he stares down at me.

My instincts were to attack before Aiden did, but seeing that I wasn't being met with a weapon straight away, it seemed safe to assume that I wasn't in danger.

At least, not yet.

I take the hand Aiden offers, letting him pull me up and out of the tunnel before I put distance between us and quickly scan the space. Drawers which should've been closed were busted open, files scattered astray everyone - so he'd had a look then.

I don't bother hiding the files I'd salvaged, dumping the bag on the floor while I look for something to get some of the dirt out of my nails and hair.

"How did you find this?" I ask, slightly impressed but mostly angry.

"I'm your mate!" Aiden says following behind me, "you try explaining to me why the hell Peter attacked me with a paintball gun, a bottle of urine, and is now tearing this house to shreds with the fucking runt?!"

"I haven't seen anything in the last ten minutes, maybe fifteen," I say as I make a detour to check the monitors, "what have they done?"

My eyes scan over the display of our wrecked home but I was far more concerned with the image of Levi the screen presented, one where he was bound tightly to a chair that they'd hung upside down from the ceiling.

"They got Levi first," Aiden says as he steps up to my side, "found him trying to play out one of your pranks I assume, they knocked him out and did that to him." He gestures lazily at the dangling image of our son, "Josey and Hagen have been working together to avoid them, but they're narrowing in on them."

He points to one of the smaller screens at the top of the rest which showed Josey and Hagen behind a makeshift barricade outside of our bedroom. Nikola was popping in and out, delivery ammo for Hagen every time he ran out of whatever they were throwing at them which was blinding the screens in fragments.

"Damon?" I ask and Aiden smiles proudly.

"I've got no clue, and neither do they," he says as he looks to me, "the kids a ghost."

I don't give him the satisfaction of seeing my jealousy as I head to the rusted tap. I thought my team would be the best since I'd be able to move them as I pleased, something I couldn't envision with Damon.

And though I was right, having a wildcard like Damon was probably the best given how things had taken a turn for the fucking worse.

"Now that I've answered your questions," Aiden says as I scrub my hands under the dripping faucet, "are you going to answer mine?"

I glance back at my mate, my stomach flipping when I see him standing with his arms crossed across his massive chest. Aiden had filled into a bigger frame than I'd ever imagined for him over the years, one made of pure power and strength that felt best when he was pinning me to our bed.

I always loved looking at him, but it was a little hard to remember our current situation when he was standing there looking so sexy. Somehow my mind came to associate Aiden after a fresh shower as very attractive because that usually meant he'd cleaned himself for me, and I always enjoyed our time together then.

Since I could barely find his scent over the overwhelming scent of soap, I assumed he took a very extensive shower that didn't end until he deemed himself clean. Yet all my brain could think about was getting inside of him.

"You are not fucking me while we are literally in the middle of a war," Aiden deadpans, putting a swift end to my fantasies. My cheeks heat quickly, rising from my chest to fill my neck and face with my embarrassment.

I turn back to the tap to hide them while I comb my wet fingers through my hair, "I shaved Mr.Fluff with Damon's knife," I explain as I try to get my head back to where it should be, "I made it look like Damon it so that Peter would go after your team."

"Jewels?!?" Aiden shouts making me wince as I turn off the tap and tie my hair back, "What the fuck were you thinking?!?"

"I wasn't," I admit as I face him, "I was mad."

"So you thought it was smart to make Peter mad too?!" Aiden exclaims, his eyes wide with his disbelief, "we never make Peter mad! Never! You know that!"

"I didn't think he'd find out until after things had calmed down," I say with a sigh as I glance to the screen where Peter was letting arrows fly from an arrow with ease and precision, "I thought I'd just have to deal with his sadness, not his rage."

"Well he's mad now," Aiden scoffs as he runs a hand through his damn hair, "nobody believes me when I tell them you're just as bad, if not worse, than me."

I frown as I glare at him, "you threw fireworks at me while I was on the toilet!"

"And you involved the pets," Aiden says, tugging me to him from my elbow to hold me in his arms.

I wanted to pull away from him, but I couldn't help but sink into him when sparks rippled through us from the familiar contact, that amazing sensation never-fading even all these years later.

Lifting my arms, I hang onto him while he holds me close, rubbing my back comfortingly before another sigh fell from him, "I knew we'd take things too far, between the two of us, but I never thought the kids would do the same."

"They are our kids," I mumble against him as I glance at the screen to see Josey and Hagen each uncap a grenade that they throw to the other side. Jayson jumps in front of Peter, blocking him from the explosions that were thankfully not as big as a real one would've caused.

When the smoke clears, Josey and Hagen give up their post to attack both shifted and running at Jayson as the twin set of brown wolves they were. Canines ready, the growl and snarl as they jump on him, sending him tumbling down while Peter shifts to join the fray.

- Alex says with a less than humoured laugh as he tries to fade away but I keep a firm hold of him.

If we were going down, we'd be doing this together.

"They've got all the fucked up parts we do," Aiden says before he tenses. I tense as well, ready for an attack, but when he relaxes into me with a smile, I follow his gaze for the cause.

On the screen which only had Levi moments ago now showed Damon who was hanging upside down as well, but he wasn't tied up. His legs were tightly wrapped around the thick rope they'd used on Levi, holding his body upright, while his knife worked at cutting away at Levi's bindings.

"But they've got the good as well," I finish for him as I watch the scene before me.

I didn't think there was any team left in this game beyond the one between Peter and Jayson, or maybe, we'd all fallen into pairs instead. There'd be no way to tell until we faced each other again, but until then, the only thing I knew I had to do, was to get out of this damn house and come up with a strategy to take my kids down.

- Alex comments with a soft hum.

When Levi slips free from the bindings, Damon catches his ankle in his hand before he could fall to the fall. Through clenched teeth, his swings them back and forth until he'd built enough momentum to throw Levi high enough for him to land back on his feet.

Once he'd down, Damon drops as well. He throws Levi one of his knives before they disappear from the screen.

So much for witches not being involved...

"We've got to get out of this house," I say to Aiden as I pull away from him to look for my blueprints.

I stop in my tracks when Aiden laughs, that laugh far too familiar for me not to know what it meant, "Yeah, about that..."

"Aiden," I say slowly as I look at him. He rubs his head nervously, more nervous chuckles escaping him, "Aiden. What on earth did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Aiden says quickly, "Damon was the one who carried it out."

"Aiden," I warn.

"Also, I feel like we should remember that I didn't know at the time that I'd be trapping myself in here with an angry Peter," Aiden starts.

"Aiden,"

"I had a plan to get out first actually b-"

"Aiden!"

"The house is surrounded by quicksand," He says finally making my mouth fall open, "it was supposed to get you four while Jayson drove you out from the back, but then you went and fucked with Peter and now we're all stuck."

"Quicksand, Aiden?" I breathe out, "quicksand?!"

"You're making it sound worse than it is," he says waving me off.

"Its quicksand Aiden!" I shout which makes it his turn to wince, "how can I make quicksand sound any worse than it actually is?!"

Aiden raises his finger but drops it quickly when I send him a sharp glare.

Heading to the monitors, I click across the many cameras until one provides me with a shot of outside of the house. It was the front of the house, showing just beyond the leading staircase to the front door, and just like Aiden said, quicksand was there, mere inches away.

"Why is it bubbling?" I ask while I squint at the monitor.

The brown, viscous substance was bubbling and popping in a way that made it look more like lava than sand. It was probably thirty feet wide if I had to guess, far too wide to jump over, even as a wolf.

"Because it looks more daunting that way," I jump out of my skin at Kat's answer that she delivers directly into my ear.

I swivel around to see her snickering as she stepped back to stand beside Apollos who'd she'd brought along for this surprise visit. Unlike my mate and his, Apollos wasn't giggling like a schoolboy but he was smiling with clear amusement in his eyes as Kat propped an arm onto his shoulder.

(A/N - For those who don't know, Apollos is Kat's Linker/Mate and Nikola's dad. I know you don't see much of him, but there are a few extras that show his relationship with Nik on my Patreon.

A/N 2 - I know the express is giggling like a schoolgirl, but I thought why not switch it up lol)

"boring, old quicksand is no fun," Kat explains as she looks over my shoulder and to the monitor broadcasting her creation, "I thought something a little scarier would be way more entertaining to watch."

"Entertaining?" I question.

"We've been watching from the start," Apollos explain as he circles an arm around Kat who nods her head in agreement, the smile on her face telling me she very much enjoyed watching our family wreck our house. "I knew it'd be good, but you guys have honestly exceeded all my expectations."

"Thank you," Aiden says with a grin while I roll my eyes.

"Biggest plot twist so far has to be Jayson and Peter," Kat says as she lets out a breath and shakes her head, "I mean, that's a duo I never expected to see."

"I want them to win," Apollos says.

"What the fuck?" Aiden says with a deep frown but Apollos only shrugs, his guilt a non-existent thing.

Aiden and Apollos had always gotten along. While I hated the wolf who sometimes aided my archnemesis in his attacks while we were growing up, Aiden had been all too fond of him.

"I don't like underdogs, but I like what those two have been doing," Apollos says as he glances to the monitors, "Peter is fucking you all up."

We all look up at the screen to find Peter's grey wolf tackle Josey, pulling her off of Jayson and tossing her down the stairs.

Okay, maybe he had a point.

"Anyway," Kat says brings the attention back on her, "I just came to let you all know that Nik and I are pulling our aid out."

"Why?!" Aiden and I ask at once.

"Your family bonds by doing this nonsense, mine does by watching it together," Katerina says with a chuckle, "Nik's been running around trying to help Hagen too much. We're going to give him a little break."