A.N Hello all, hope your holiday season is going well. Just wanted to take a second to wish all of my loyal readers, new or those who have been following from the beginning a happy holiday season regardless of race/religion etc. you guys are amazing

Also yep , this is the shortest of the story but it's more of a bridge chapter than anything, occasionally they happen. Chap 12 will be up no later than SUN.

Thank you all

Pokie.

Chapter Eleven: Like Mother, Like Son

Bo's Pov

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June Twenty-Fourth—2:34 a.m.

"What the hell was that?" The words seeming to just fall out of my mouth before I can even push the door shut. She turns around almost surprised, one hand on the desk as she kicks off her shoes.

"Um, I am," Hesitating, eyes narrowing as she shakes her head. "I'm sorry, I don't even have a clue what you're meaning?"

"You leaving me all alone down there."

"Leaving you alone? What are you talking about?"

"Lauren you just threw it all on me and sat back."

"Okay, I'm beginning to think we both just had two very different experiences. Because in mine, you were the kick ass champion I know you to be, and handled everything flawlessly."

"I did handle it, but it would have been nice for some help."

"Help?" Her brow raises as she pulls off her scrub top.

"Lauren stop it. You threw it to me and then just stood there and agreed with everything I said."

"Last time I checked that was called supporting you."

"I didn't need support, I needed help."

"Did you?" Taking a breath, she walks up half way toward me. "You're serious right now?"

"Yeah Lauren," I nod. "I'm serious."

"Bo. Baby I wasn't mindlessly agreeing with you, I honestly believe in you."

"Yeah well I needed a little less of that."

"You need less of me believing in you?" She snorts.

"This isn't funny."

"I'm well aware Bo, it just sounds ridiculous. I'm getting scolded because I trust you implicitly."

"No, because I needed you to be-by my side, but not SO-"

"By your side?" She snarks.

"I think I made a mistake."

"Where?"

"All of it." I breathe out, running my hands over my face. "I mean, I didn't think I was being biased, but thinking about it now."

"What?"

"Sending Kate and Noah off." I sigh again, walking over to the bed.

"You think it was the wrong call now?"

"I-maybe. We have not only Geni-Tech, but the Brotherhood on our asses and I send two of our strongest allies away?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Tell me why you did it."

"I just said I don't know."

"No, tell me again what you said downstairs."

"Lauren."

"Come on."

"The biggest ally we have on our side right now is anonymity. No one would suspect anything with Kate and Noah leaving. They would think nothing more than Kate is running away and Noah is following his longtime friend. Ethan and Gabby need protection to get them back here safe and under the radar. No one else of us would be able to do that."

"Now call me crazy babe, but to me that doesn't sound like you being petty. To me, that sounds like a well thought out plan. Ethan and Gabby are not equipped to make their way back here by themselves, and we cannot leave everyone else to go and get them. "

"I don't like leaving them out there. We should-"

"We should go Bo? Then we would be leaving Isa, Adian and Nia. Or should we take them with us? We could do that and leave everyone else. Or we could all just go, but I think they might suspect we're onto them then."

"I get your point Lauren."

"Your plan is sound babe, everyone will play their roles."

"Even Vex?" My eyebrow raises, pulling my hair into a lazy ponytail.

"He will do what he needs too. Besides all he has to do is be himself." She walks over to her side of the bed, pulling back the comforter. "The only one we need to watch out for is Cole."

"I don't know, he's proven a few times he can be loyal. Besides, I don't know call me crazy, but I think I believe him when he says he loves Adian." I follow her lead, taking a seat. Slipping my legs under the blanket as I watch her closely.

"I don't trust him, and I think it's a little odd his attraction to our son."

"But Jimmy is fine?"

"Jimmy is very different."

"Because he's not flawed?" I look back over at her. "I know what it's like to be looked at how he is. To be that dark, discarded loner who is in love with someone ten times out of their league."

"Bo," Smiling softly, she reaches over taking my hand in hers. "You are nothing like Cole. I know he's tried to play it off that way, but you're not."

"Maybe," I reach over grabbing the remote and turning off the lights. "Maybe not."

Sliding down into my position I find myself staring up at the ceiling, replying the day. Every story from the kids. Vex's accounts of what had happened. What Lauren had just said. Was I trying to make a connection between me and Cole that wasn't really there?

I glance over at Lauren to find her doing the exact same thing.

"What's going on in the beautiful head of yours?" I ask gently, rolling onto my side to face her.

"Was just-thinking how cruel life can be sometimes."

"We know that better than most."

"It's just it's three in the morning and yeah okay, I am extremely tense, but not like I'm about to lose control. I am finally going to get to go to sleep and wake up with my wife, in our bed without the help of injections, but now. Now not only did most of my family almost get killed today, but Evony IS dead."

"I know." I sigh out, this being the first time tonight I actually thought of her as being dead. Well, being dead as in gone. For so much of tonight her being dead was something that united us in a common bond. It was something that cemented the fact that these attacks, while everyone escaped were not meant as just a warning. Her death was the reality check that we aren't untouchable.

"She was a cold, ruthless bitch-"

"But she loved the kids, and she loved you." My hand coming to rest on her stomach.

"That's what got her killed."

"No, no." I shake my head against the pillow. "They came after all of us. Anyone who would fight with us, the biggest threats first. Kate's pack and her, then Evony. Today they went for the kids thinking we were too weak."

"They obviously don't know us." Her words a harsh whisper, her hand coming to rest over mine.

"No, not at all."

Boston, Massachusetts—7:34 p.m.

(ETHAN'S POV)

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"Babe, we can take him. It's just one guy."

"Mm-hm, one Fae." I look down at her, our pace picking up. She's holding onto my arm tightly, if we weren't trying to run without actually running we'd blend in perfectly. "We don't know what kind."

"I doubt something that could stand up to two succubi."

"You want to take that chance my love?" I glance down at her again, only to find her already looking up into my eyes. "After yesterday I doubt they're sending in a Tickle-Me-Elmo."

"You're so cute."

"No, I'm not cute right now. Right now I'm a badass Fae." I tense my features, looking across the street to find our tail still tightly on us.

"I see that, you being alpha male is very sexy surprisingly."

"Gabby, can you be serious for like two seconds."

"I am being serious." She sighs, pulling her arms away from mine. "I believe in you Ethan, I know that no matter what, you will take care of me. So, I don't see the need in panicking."

"I don't want you to panic, I just-want you to act like you know we're in trouble."

"I know, we're in trouble."

We fall into this uncomfortable silence, something foreign to us. We didn't fight. Our disagreements are normally just an excuse to have makeup sex. This-I don't know how to deal with this.

She's scared and tired. Tired from a lot more than just our run in yesterday. She says she's tired of running from home, but I can't help to think there is more. Something she isn't saying-another foreign aspect. We don't lie, we don't keep secrets. I watched what it could do to a relationship, to a family. Just as I promised her I would never be that person, she promised me the same.

Yet, here we are.

"You're upset because I'm not trembling in my boots, but you want to stop for a little striptease?" She gives me that face, the one looks just like her mother's.

"It's owned by the Brotherhood."

"Brotherhood?"

"Remember the wolves from Juarez, helped us get away from the cartel?"

"The one Isa pissed off?" She looks at me through this 'I told you so' type of look, I'm not even sure what this one is supposed to mean.

"One in the same." I jog up the five steps, making sure to stay two ahead of Gabby. Only in Boston would a strip club look like a bank. Extending my left hand back for her, letting my eyes transition just long enough for the bouncer to see. He gives me that little nod, the one that's supposed to substitute form of some secret handshake.

"You think they'll help?" She asks, squeezing my hand as we make our way in. "Before you answer, let me just remind you, you are a married man."

"I know babe."

"And if I so much as suspect you're looking at one of these girls-"

"Yes babe." I smirk, keeping my eyes on the floor while sticking close to the wall. "To answer your initial question, they're wolves. We know wolves."

"We know Kathryn."

"Her pack."

"Point is we know wolves that are linked to this family."

"The Brotherhood saved us."

"And that earns our trust?" She scoffs, hand going from mine to the back of my shirt as we make our way up stairs that look like they should have been condemned ages ago. So narrow only a single file line could fit, and even then it better be a VERY petite line.

"Trust no, but wolves scratch each others backs."

"Did we suddenly jump species?"

"Kate holds a high stature, I'm sure we can arrange something."

"Here I thought Isa was the only one who played that card."

"Very cute my love." Glancing back I smile at her, though this odd feeling of unsettlement creeping up on me with the speed of a bullet.

I've lost our tail out in the crowd, the pulsing beat shattering my concentration. The enormously suspicious feeling lingering in the air as I start to take notice that I literally just walked up the stairs leading to the office of the most powerful wolf in the United States, and there isn't a single guard.

Are they really that confident? Did they know I was coming? Is something wrong? Was this a bad decision?

Too late to turn back now.

I open the door as if it was my own. This weight in my stomach as I notice two men much larger than me leaning against either wall by the desk. Then of course Dom sits behind his desk, smirking. I wasn't one to look for a fight, but I also wasn't one to be intimidated easily. Dom though, was a highly intimidating man on ALL accounts.

He was shorter than me, only about five-ten. I'd say we were equal in muscle mass, but the interesting thing is the fact of how 'small' he is, yet wolves twice his size near tremble in his presence. His eyes completely devoid of color, only popping more in the darkness of our surroundings.

"Dom." I smile, nodding. "I'm sorry to intrude."

"Intrude?" He laughs, that California drawl on his words always interesting to me. "A Lewis is never intruding." Leaning back in his seat, he pops open the three buttons on his vest. "What brings the favorite son into the heathen's neck of the woods?"

"My wife and I have seem to find ourselves in a bit of trouble."

"Again?

"Yeah, again." I force a chuckle through a polite smile.

"Just a bit, hm?"

"Yeah, a bit. I remember when you helped us in Juarez, you mentioned if we were ever in need of help to find you."

"I did say that didn't I?" He laughs, nodding.

"We would be able to compensate you. Between my parents and Kate-I'm sure we could work something out."

"Oh, I know. The only problem is that well, little Kathryn is not really in a position of power any longer. Such a damn shame about that." He mocks sincerity, lips curved in a smirk. "And your parents, well-aren't exactly doing any better at the moment."

"Ethan." Gabby's voice grabs my full attention, but I don't look back at her. I keep his stare as I hear her backing up.

"I don't suppose you gentlemen would let us just—leave?"

"You're not that stupid boy."

"Well, alright then." I shrug. After all what else can I do at this point?

Asshole number one on my right, a rather clumsy oaf charges at me with the element of surprise of an elephant. A step back, as he charges right passed. Three right body shots to his kidney sending him to his knees. A quick knee to the side of his head sending him to the floor.

Asshole number two not much more impressive than number one. Dropping down so his wild, though I'm sure brutal punch goes right over my head. Throwing my elbow back hoping for a liver-shot. By the way he stumbles back before falling to the floor, I'm thinking my aim was spot on.

I stand up, eyes on Asshole number two who while seeming disabled is still conscious. The sound of this icy laugh pulling my attention over to Dom.

"More of Bo in you than expected, always thought you were the one to take after Lauren."

"Whether it be my mom or my mother, you touch me and they'll kill you."

"Relax boy, there's rules about who can and can't kill you." He laughs again, waving his hand as if dismissing us. "You're free to go-for now."

"You know, I think my parents are still going to end up killing you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep boy."

"What?" I ask, glancing down at Gabby as we hustle down the stairs. Despite the urgency, she keeps glancing back at me.

"Wasn't aware taking down pure-bloods was so easy."

"Mom taught me how to fight, Kate taught me how to fight wolves." I smirk, hand wrapping around her waist as we hustle toward the exit. Seemingly every single set of eyes in the club moving toward us. "Can I just say I freaking hate wolves."

"Think that runs in the family baby." She reaches in her pocket, pulling her phone out.

"You think this is the time?" I step in front of her, going through the exit first remembering the bouncer.

He doesn't do anything though as we make our escape, doesn't even say anything. All he does is smile. It's the type of smile that tells you there's a joke going on and you aren't exactly in on it.

Half way down the street, still glancing around for a tail making all the regular folks on the street begin to take notice of us. Gabby hands me her cell-actually make that my cell.

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Kate: Get to the Sanctuaire in Chicago, Noah's sister will be waiting for you there. Your mom is sending us for you two. Toss your two's phone and don't make contact with anyone. (8:03 p.m.)

Kate: P.S. Stay clear of the Brotherhood at all costs. Love you both and be safe. (8:03 p.m.)

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"Something has happened." I sigh, popping of the back of my phone and letting it drop to the ground. Next the battery, and then the sim card. "We need to get to Chicago, help is coming."

"Your parents?" She hands me her phone without me needing to say a word. "My parents?"

"No. Kate, Noah and his sister." I answer, dismantling her phone the same exact way. "Mom has sent them for us."

We fall into a silence as she holds onto my arm, and we blend into the scenery. Undoubtedly we look no different than any other loving couple walking down the busy street of a brisk, Boston evening. Only difference is I can feel the eyes on us. I can feel this growing weight in the pit of my stomach as I go over the message over and over again.

What was happening so bad that my mom would send Kate for us? What was so bad that Isa couldn't come? What was so bad that we needed to be extracted, and not even from where we were, but from somewhere else entirely?

What as so bad that my own parents couldn't come?

North Wing-Combative Training Facility—9:02 p.m.

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"Sorry I'm late." Lauren says rushing into the gym, everyone's attention flying to her.

"Mum, what the in the devil are you wearing?" Nia laughs out, leaning against Jimmy off to my far left.

"Yoga pants." She pats her thighs, looking down at them. "I heard they're great for working out."

"They're also great for traumatizing your offspring." Adian laughs from the bleachers with this playfully disturbed look written over his face.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Thongs are not appropriate panties for those mum." Nia just laughs shaking her head.

"I approve actually." I smirk, walking over to her. "Missed you." I whisper, leaning in for a kiss. "First thing is first, we need to find you a partner."

"We're replacing you already?"

"Very funny." I smirk, waving Jimmy over as I step back to stand by the bleachers.

Folding my arms I watch as Jimmy comes to stand in front of her, or rather tower over her. She just stares at his massive, sweat covered form and glances back at me with 'seriously' look. Laughing he steps aside as Cole takes his place not looking much different. Receiving the same result Hale replaces him.

I watch as Lauren leans into him, his hands going to her back and had he been anyone else I would have a problem. Hale's already stoic features tensing further. She pulls back and he just nods.

I glance over at Jimmy as he chuckles, trying to muffle it with his bottle of water. I guess his super hearing managed to ease drop. Regardless Hale walks over, standing next to Cole and suddenly it make sense.

Cole and Hale. Nia and Kenzi. Jimmy and Adian.

"Guess that would leave me then." I can't help but to laugh, hand running along the small of her back.

"I guess it would."

"Clever." I lean in, whispering into her ear before maneuvering in front of her. "We were supposed to find new matchups."

"Everyone else did." She smirks, glancing over at Cole and Hale.

"So stubborn." I laugh, moving into a boxing stance.

"You love it." She just keeps smirking.

Well, I suppose we can have a little fun while brushing up on our hand to hand.

No crime in that.