The dinner is relatively quick, and Avery's parents drink enough wine for the entire table.

Avery decided to stick to water in solidarity with the pregnant she-wolf beside her.

Zephyr stuck to water due to the fact he had to drive home after this little shindig.

The party of five is in the dining room built for at least ten, and it's slightly awkward due to the vast unoccupied area.

The conversation lulls a little after dessert is served, and the guests shift a little uncomfortably.

"So where is your sister, Avery?" Zephyr asks, sipping his drink as he looks over the rim of his glass, desperate to end the weird silence.

Her mother butts in before Avery can open her mouth.

The tension present for the entire dinner between the mother and daughter did not go unnoticed by anyone.

"Louisa walked in on her and Alpha Lancaster having sex, so he sent her to the cells," Marie slurs, and Lilith's eyes shoot open.

Zephyr coughs, choking on his drink slightly as he gapes at Marie.

"Walked in on what?" Lilith asks, wondering if she was going crazy or deaf.

Neither of the Addisons' could believe the words they had just heard.

"Sex. Avery and him." Marie repeats, rolling her eyes when she finishes.

"Oh," Lilith murmurs, sipping her drink and kicking Avery as hard as she can.

Avery lets out a hiss of pain when Lilith's foot connects with her shin, and she shoots her a dirty look.

"That was uncalled for," she whispers angrily, rubbing her poor leg.

"You didn't tell me that you and him had sex," Lilith fires back in a hushed tone.

Zephyr listens in, absolutely blown away by the revelation. He's so baffled that he has no words to add to the conversation.

"I was waiting until you got here," Avery mutters, and Lilith gives her a dig in the side.

"That could have been another month! What if I had died on the way here?! I would have died without knowing you two screwed!" Lilith complains, and Zephyr clears his throat.

"No mention of you and dying, please," he murmurs, kissing her hand gently.

"If it had been another month I obviously would have told you," Avery hisses, rolling her eyes.

"So because Louisa saw his - excuse me, Former Alpha and Luna - dick, he sent her to the cells?" Lilith asks the table, raising her eyebrows in confusion.

"Yup," Marie pops her lips, and Richard rolls his eyes.

"My middle child insulted her sister in the visiting Alpha's presence. She would not leave when asked, and so, she disobeyed direct orders and was just generally rude. She's in the cells for at least two weeks," Richard sighs, shooting his wife a look.

He knows that she has rose-tinted glasses on when it comes to Louisa, but it's getting ridiculous. That girl can do no wrong in his wife's opinion, but she's so much stricter on the other two.

Marie rolls her eyes this time, shaking her head.

"I know what I heard," she complains, and Richard stares at her.

"I don't think you do, sweetheart," he sighs, standing up and walking to behind Marie's chair.

"I think that it might be time for us to retire, unfortunately. I think my lovely mate has had too much to drink this evening, you'll have to excuse her," he announces, hauling his mate out of her seat and pulling her into his arms.

There's a moment of silence after the older couple leaves the room, and then Lilith turns to Avery accusingly once she can hear footsteps upstairs.

"You whore!" Lilith gapes, dissolving into giggles as she points at her friend accusingly.

Avery puts her hands into the air with a grin.

"Was he good, though?" She asks in a hushed tone, and Avery bursts out laughing.

Zephyr stands up, clapping his hands over his ears jokingly.

"I'm going to the bathroom, I'm going to be in there for five minutes, please have your weird little sex talk over and done then," he teases, winking at his mate and shaking his head at Avery as he walks out of the room with a grin on his face.

Once he's gone, Lilith shakes Avery's hand.

"Come on, answer my question," she laughs, pouting a little when Avery stays quiet.

"It was good," Avery shrugs, and Lilith scowls at her.

"You have to give me more than that, I can't survive with that much information," Lilith grumbles, pushing her chair further back from the table.

"We did it on two separate occasions. He was fine. We had a really good conversation, but we ended on a very whatever note," Avery sighs, and Lilith's eyebrows continue to rise towards her hairline.

"Fine? Is that all you have to say for him?" She gapes, sighing in disappointment.

"I've had better," Avery shrugs awkwardly, and Lilith claps a hand over her mouth to muffle her scream of laughter.

"He's supposed to be some sort of Sex God! I've heard all of the rumours," Lilith collapses into a fit of giggles, and Avery goes a little red.

"He must have started them himself," Avery snorts, and Lilith falls into her best friend's lap, her entire body shaking with laughter.

"You're so brutal, I love it," Lilith gasps, her hand resting on her chest as she tries to catch her breath.

"I don't have the mate connection. If I did, he could seem like the best I've ever had," Avery points out, shrugging.

Lilith gets a dreamy look in her eyes and sighs.

She opens her mouth, and Avery shakes her head rapidly.

"I'm friends with Zephyr, please don't," she hurriedly begs, "I might cry if you talk about his sex life tonight."

Lilith grins and sits back up in her seat, one hand resting on her small bump.

"Another night, I'm giving you all of the gory details," Lilith cackles, and Avery's eyebrows shoot up.

"Gory? What the hell are you guys doing?" Avery laughs, throwing her head back in mirth, "I don't want to know, don't tell me."

"It's an expression, dummy," Lilith whines, gently slapping Avery's shoulder.

Avery grins at her, rolling her eyes.

"So, did you find out about his mate?" Lilith asks curiously, sitting forward eagerly.

Zephyr walks back into the room with his hands over his ears.

"You can take them off," Avery shouts, and he lowers his hands cautiously.

"I'll tell you later," Avery whispers to her as Zephyr approaches.

Lilith nods slowly, looking pretty confused at the situation.

"Right, baby, I have to start heading back to the pack," Zephyr sighs, and Lilith stands up sadly.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Lilith mumbles, hugging him tightly.

Avery turns away, pulling out her phone to try to give the couple some privacy.

"I'll miss you and the baby more than words can describe," he whispers to her, kissing her temple and then her lips gently.

"It won't be for long, we just need to sort out the moles," he murmurs, kissing her again and hugging her tighter.

Lilith tears up a little, sniffling and fanning her eyes.

"Baby, it's okay; everything will be okay," he whispers.

"You won't be here; it won't be okay," she mumbles to him, crying into his shirt quietly.

"Ave is here. You're here for your protection, and our baby's. Just remember that," he says into her ear, and Lilith wails suddenly.

"But she can't hug me or cuddle me while she works, or tuck me in and hold me at night," she whimpers, and Zephyr makes eye contact with Avery, who looks over quickly.

He nods to her, and she clears her throat.

"Yes I can," she hesitantly says, never wanting to be in a room less in her life.

She feels like she's intruding on a private moment, and so, she gets up and scurries towards the door.

She can hear the mates whispering to each other, and she can see that Zephyr is struggling to hold it together.

It's tough for both of them. She's seen how Kali struggled, and she wouldn't wish it on anybody.

Kali isn't pregnant, and she felt like her heart was being ripped out some days at the distance between her and her mate. The pregnancy, for Lilith, is another connection.

She makes a mental note to phone Scott tomorrow and see how his vampire problem is going. Kali needs to see him, and she doesn't particularly care if that's on her territory or his.

Sitting on the staircase, she waits for the couple to emerge from the dining room.

She answers another three emails while she waits, and then decides she needs to use the bathroom.

She wanders up the stairs to her bedroom, and hurries into the bathroom, doing her business and grabbing some of her clothes when she's done.

She's decided she'll stay in her house with Lilith. If Kali wants to join them, she can, she's going to offer tomorrow.

She had lots of open rooms in her house, and she'd like to get some use out of it before everybody leaves, and she's too afraid to stay there on her own.

She types a note into her phone to remind her to ask Lilith about setting up a meeting with some of the more sane rogues.

I could have just reminded you, Sonya grumbles, and Avery rolls her eyes.

You're about as useful as a ropeless jump rope, Avery retorts, even I'm better at remembering things than you, and that says a lot.

Sonya grumbles and goes quiet again while Avery skips back downstairs, holding a bag of clothes now.

As she reaches the bottom step, the couple stumbles out of the dining room, looking slightly ruffled.

Avery wrinkles her nose up and rolls her eyes, hiding her smirk.

"Come on, you love birds, we have a lot of stuff to do tonight," she grins, and Zephyr kisses Lilith deeply.

Lilith responds, and Avery covers her eyes dramatically.

"You guys just defiled my dining room, please move it along," she complains jokingly, and after a minute the couple pulls away.

Zephyr gives Lilith one last kiss and pulls Avery into a tight hug.

"Please mind her and yourself," he whispers, patting her head before he kisses his mate on the forehead again before he gets into his car.

Lilith watches after him, her face scrunching up and her eyes instantly filling with tears as she watches him start his engine.

Avery tries not to panic as she realises she has been left with a pregnant she-wolf.

The realisation that the pregnant she-wolf is about to sob and possibly have a mild mental breakdown on the porch of her childhood home forces Avery into action.

She quickly shoos her into her jeep, helping her get in.

"Come on, we'll go to my house, and we'll get all comfy, we can even have a fire and make smores," Avery babbles, making sure that Lilith's suitcases are in the car before she drives off.

They follow Zephyr's car down the winding road for a minute until they hit the main streets, and then they wave to him before going their route.

"How far away is the house?" Lilith asks, picking at her nail polish nervously.

"About five minutes, we'll be there in no time," Avery nods.

"Are you hungry? Any cravings? Do you need anything in particular?" She asks quickly, glancing at her friend who looks unusually pale.

"No, not right now. I might get some pretzels tomorrow, I really like them right now," Lilith mumbles, and Avery shakes her head quickly.

"I think I've got some at the house. If I don't, somebody will have some, okay?" She reassures, and Lilith gives a little nod.

"Thank you," she murmurs, shooting Avery a grateful smile as she gets comfortable in the seat.

"So what did you find out about Roman's mate?" Lilith asks curiously, trying to distract herself from missing her mate.

Avery sighs, gritting her teeth a little.

"That she's fake," she spits, and Lilith makes a noise of confusion.

"You need to elaborate," she exclaims, flinging her hands into the air.

"She was never real. He's an Unfortunate, too," Avery mumbles, and Lilith gasps.

"Say sike right now, I'm going to shit this baby out," Lilith gapes, gawping at her friend.

"Don't do that, keep my godchild safe," Avery retorts distastefully, glancing at Lilith before she looks back at the road.

"I'm so confused," Lilith mumbles, running a hand down her face.

"I was too, don't worry," she reassures.

"So you two are basically meant to be then," Lilith shrugs, satisfied with herself as she sits back.

"No, Goddess, I doubt we're ever going to speak again," Avery chuckles, shaking her head ruefully.

"Why?" She groans, "You all make things so awkward and hard, why can't you all just apologise to each other and move on?"

She makes good points, Sonya shrugs.

"I don't really care, we'll have to talk at Conferences, and I wasn't that close with him," she sighs, "I went a month without thinking about him, I can go longer."

"Yeah, but you didn't screw him before that," Lilith reminds her, rolling her eyes at her friends detached demeanour.

"Don't remind me," Avery mutters, pulling into the driveway and looking around.

"Hurry up, it's cold out here," Lilith whines as she takes an extra minute to squint into the darkness.

"I'm making sure it's safe," Avery snaps gently, trying to keep the bite out of her tone.

"If somebody wanted to kill me, they would have already," Lilith grumbles, getting out of the car as soon as Avery undoes the locks.

"Don't joke about that," Avery mutter, looking around quickly.

"Why? It's only a joke, chill out babes," Lilith rolls her eyes, jumping down from where she was sitting.

"Make yourself useful and grab one of your suitcases," Avery sighs, sliding out of the car and grabbing her laptop and phone from the back seat.

She walks around to the trunk of her car, her ears perking up when she hears a noise nearby.

"Lilith, stop moving," she murmurs, her voice barely audible.

Lilith stares at her blankly, raising an eyebrow until she can hear the rustling too.

The two girls stare intensely at the bush nearby, both assuming the sound is coming from there.

The noise stops, and Avery opens the trunk as fast as possible.

She grabs the three suitcases out in a blur of movement, flinging them onto the ground and slamming the trunk shut as quick as she had opened it.

"Grab them," Avery mutters, hurrying over to the front door.

She unlocks it and hurries in, grabbing the suitcases off Lilith and then dragging her friend inside.

As soon as they're in the door, Avery bolts it and puts the chain on the door immediately.

"What do you think that was?" Lilith asks nervously, nibbling on her lip and looking like she would rather be anywhere else.

"Maybe it was a guard," she says unsurely, pushing her hair back out of her eyes and setting the alarm system up.

"What if it wasn't a guard?" Lilith asks, her persistent questioning slightly irritating Avery, who shoots her friend a look before she walks into the kitchen area.

The lights turn on immediately as she walks in, and she's relieved to remember she got motion-sensing lights - nobody is turning them on to scare the crap out of them.

"What do you have to eat?" Lilith asks, perking up immediately when she realises that the refrigerator is totally stocked.

"Do you want those pretzels you were so desperately craving?" Avery questions, wandering into her small pantry and standing on her tip-toes to grab the salty snack.

"Maybe later," Lilith sighs dramatically, staring into the fridge.

There's some remaining tension in the room, and both girls are still fairly pale from the fright of outside.

Lilith snags a chocolate bar out of the fridge, a grin on her face as she opens the wrapper.

She walk away from the fridge, and Avery grunts, slamming it closed as she walks by it.

"It's not air conditioning, it's to keep the food cold," she scolds, nudging her as she walks over to the sink.

"You sound like such a mum, Avery," Lilith laughs, sitting up on the counter and munching on her chocolate.

"There are seats over there," Avery reminds her, pointing to the dining area and the living room.

"But I want to sit here and talk to you," Lilith pouts, widening her eyes and batting her lashes at her friend.

Avery feels her heart thawing a little bit, and she rolls her eyes at her with a slight smile.

"Stop kidding around, we'll go into the living room and watch something," Avery chuckles, offering Lilith her arm to help her get down.

Lilith hops down and skips into the living room, bouncing around.

"Can we watch some reality tv?" Lilith begs, and Avery shoots her a grin.

"Obviously, that's not even a question," she teases, switching the television on and plonking down beside her.

They settle themselves down, and Avery throws a blanket over their legs as they snuggle up on the couch.

Halfway through one episode of their show, something hits the window.

Avery immediately bolts up, mindlinking the guards that are supposed to be on the property.

She gets no response from them, and she curses under her breath, standing in front of Lilith immediately.

A rock hits the glass, and Lilith releases a muffled shriek, hiding under the blanket.

"It's okay, my windows are shatterproof," Avery says calmly, hiding her own fear as best she can for the sake of her friend.

She attempts to mindlink the guards again, and when they don't reply this time, she mindlinks their boss, who informs her that the guards should be there, but lost contact half an hour ago.

Avery widens her eyes when she receives this information, and she wastes no time in hauling Lilith up.

"We're going to go to my bunker until someone arrives," she reassures her friend and promptly pulls her down the hallway.

She yanks her into her home office, and walks straight to the bathroom, pressing one of the knobs in the shower and revealing a door.

Lilith releases a small exclamation of shock but doesn't try to stop or resist, letting herself be tugged downstairs.

As they enter the small space behind the door, a smashing noise echoes through the house.

Avery curses quietly again and quickly closes the door behind them.

A cranking noise can be heard, and Avery places her hand against the wall, her fingerprints being scanned.

A set of stairs promptly appear, and Avery tugs Lilith behind her, glancing back at her every few seconds.

"Are you okay?" Avery checks, walking down a metal corridor and popping into the second door, bolting it behind them.

"I'm fine," Lilith murmurs, her face ghostly white.

"Okay, there are soldiers on the way, we just need to wait for them here. It isn't worth risking your safety out there, because we don't know what, or who, is out there," Avery announces, walking around the wide room, her hands behind her back and her steps quick.

"Has this happened before? Is that why you have this?" Lilith asks nervously, and Avery shakes her head.

"Every house on my packland has one, they vary in size, but when we build things, we build them safely. Every house has different entry points, so if whoever is outside is in my pack, they could spend the day trying to figure out how to find this bunker," she reassures Lilith, who sinks into one of the chairs.

"That doesn't make me feel better," Lilith whispers, rubbing her forehead with a deep frown.

"Since we have time now," Avery mutters, sitting down across from Lilith and pushing her hair back.