Blackwood

L

I moved quickly, using surprise as an advantage as I swiped my foot under the approaching figures legs. A harsh grunt was pulled from their mouth as they hit the ground.

I shoved myself off the ground quickly, tearing myself away from Mason as his breath was wheezing, his chest sporadically moving as he coughed again, blood spraying the area with the dim lighting from the torch Amelia dropped.

I scrambled on top of the hard body that I was deeming to be a man. My hands scrambling as my knees held his chest down as he fought against me. For once I was thankful for being apart of a gang that had taught me so much when it came to holding people down.

I dragged his shirt up, pulling both of us up as I locked my arm around his neck, holding him in a choke hold as his hands flew up, trying to pry my arm from his neck.

A hush silence went over the forest around us. I could feel the eyes on me. I didn't need to see them, they were there. I knew that his people were in the forest, but where were my people.

Where were Harry and Amelia?

Masons coughing was worrying me when the man spoke up in my arms. His throat straining against my arm as I tightened the hold a bit more.

"We can help you," His voice was quiet as we were still out in the open. Threats were everywhere.

"Bullshit," I called out, warily looking into the dark forest.

"Your son's lungs are bruised, most likely causing him to fall into respiratory failure. The blood is a sign of it progressing. We have medics, he needs it if you want him to live."

I was torn, he could be telling the truth or he could just be bluffing to save his life.

"Where did my friends go." My voice was strained. This wasn't supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to happen.

"They took them to our home." He wheezed, I didn't let up my hold as I held onto him.

"Why? We didn't want your help, we have somewhere we need to be."

He let out a short laugh before coughing as Mason wheezed. "You may not have wanted the help, but you needed it. You will get where you need to be."

"Get someone out here to help him." The silence was resounding around us again as I tightened my hold on his neck.

"Someone help him now!"

"Not until you let him go." I didn't move from my spot as the voice came from behind me to my left.

A dark shadow seemed to loom over my persona as I grinned. "That's not going to happen. Get someone out here now or your leader gets his neck snapped."

"Listen to him Hector," The man in my arms wheezed, I loosened my hold on his neck as a man and a woman hurried out and grabbed the stretcher, moving quickly through the brush as I push us forward, eager to keep Mason in my sights.

I wasn't going to lose him like I've lost everyone else.

. . . . .

"I'm going to fight for my family with my last breath." My words were spoken through clenched teeth, they had run off with Mason the moment we stepped into the tunnel.

I was furious that they had taken him away.

A pinch was all I felt on the back of my neck before I was falling limp and the man who was in my grip stumbled a few steps away, gasping for breath, the last thing I saw was Masons limp form being carried down the dark tunnel.

Here I was, I woke up in a dark room. The only light in the room came from a candle as the man who was in my arms was sitting across from the bed, his arms crossed as a dark bruise showed around his neck.

"I wouldn't expect anything different." He sighed as he rubbed his neck. "Your people talk very highly of you." My eyes didn't raise from the ground as he spoke of Harry and Amelia.

"You're all in a rough state, where were you going?"

"Home." My voice was brutal, my throat dry. Water seemed to be a constant struggle.

"The pregnant woman seems to be going into early labor, but she and the curly haired man won't speak of the Mother that the child keeps calling out for." That had my eyes harshly glaring into his own soft ones.

"You've lost people?" His voice was soft.

"We don't know." He stayed silent. "We got split up, we were supposed to meet somewhere, but winter hit."

I sat up, my arms tensing. "I can't do anything right."

"I wouldn't say that; from what it seems you've kept a lot of people alive for a long time." He moved his hand away from his neck as he leaned on his knees.

"I've killed lots of people as well."

He chuckled at my confession. "Seems like we all have."

We sat in silence for some time.

The quiet reflecting on how much I had fucked up.

I was angry at the fact that I hadn't been able to keep Mason safe, that was the one thing I had promised Isla I would do, and I failed every time.

Every. Single. Time.

"How is he?" I felt defeated as I laid my hands in my head.

"The boy?" I didn't need to answer. "His ribs were broken, one was pushing against his left lung. We were lucky it didn't pierce through the lung or he wouldn't be here right now. He had an uncanny accumulation of water in his lungs, an alarming amount that we had to flush out. The gash on his head looked to be well patched up." My shoulders slumped in relief, at least I had done something right.

"Is Amelia going to have her baby?" The smile that he had on his lips fell slightly.

"From the looks of it yes. The medics are paying close attention to her and the boy."

I shook my head, trying to count how many months it had been. "It's too early for the baby."

"From what one of our medics can see, she's around eight months. Babies can come out at seven months and still fight to live." His words struck a nerve in me, those words struck a nerve in me.

"We don't want to fight anymore." Angry tears started to pinprick my eyes as I fought against them. "We've fought for so long, and every damn time someone's stolen it away from us."

I stood up, furious as I threw my hands up. "How am I supposed to keep everyone safe if I don't even fucking know if they're alive! How am I supposed to keep another baby alive?" My words were screamed, shuffling from outside the room was heard as my chest heaved.

I was just about to scream and yell about not being able to do this anymore when his eyes met my own. He spoke before I got the chance to.

"Another baby?" My anger and fight died inside of me as I began to visibly deflate. "You have another child, another child that's with the boy's mother," He eyes my left hand before looking at me again. "Your wife."

I couldn't help it as the tears welled up in my eyes. I dropped to my knees and began to sob, I was so angry. I was so angry at the fact that I was crying. That I had lost everyone. That Wolf wasn't going to be here to see his child be born.

I was so angry.

"Hey," The man spoke as he sat next to me. "It's going to be okay." He laid his hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me.

I was mad that I was breaking down in front of a complete stranger.

But most of all, I felt defeated.