***
Being on the run was not as glamorous as it had been when they first started. It became difficult when it was the second time around. He had killed several of Bishop’s men and Allie was ready to pop. They didn’t have much longer, and he had hoped that they would be somewhere they could stay for a while. Allie was going to need some time. He was worried about the weeks after the birth when she was going to need to stay put. Not only that, but birth for her could also be dangerous. Justice was worried about losing her in so many ways. He wasn’t just worried about her brother or husband finding her and taking her away, but the universe as well could make everything that he wanted to go away in seconds. Justice didn’t like that feeling at all.
They found a place to lay their head for a week or two, but it wasn’t going to last as long as he would have hoped. It was a weekly room, and it wasn’t that nice. The only good thing was they were on the end and hopefully Allie would be able to keep it semi-quiet. Justice had so many worries and when he looked around where they were, he wondered if they were going to be okay. It didn’t feel like it sometimes.
Allie tried to assure him that she was happy, but it felt like there was something holding them back. The fear of being found out was on both of their heads, and Justice knew that it was going to be different once they could find their way out of their next crisis.
After three days there, Justice got another weird feeling that came over him like before, so he did a perimeter check. Even the hotel was situated with a few stands of trees. He was suddenly looking for the hidden shifters in the woods. He shifted into his own true form and went out in search of the different smells that he encountered, or the extra heartbeats that he could hear. He was going to have to be fast, because last time he had merely gotten lucky. Now he was trying his luck more than ever before, and Justice knew that he was pushing it. He had to push it all just one more time.
This time he wasn't lucky like before. This time he found more than five on the perimeter and though Justice didn't know if it was Bishop’s men or her brother’s, he really didn’t think that it mattered. Either way a couple of them were waiting for him and before he could attack, he was hit hard on the side of the head with something. Justice didn't know what was going on, just that he could see black. Nothing but black. The last thought he had was that he wasn't going to be able to take care of Allie.
***
It wasn’t that hard to imagine what was going on when Justice woke up hanging from a wall. He still did not know who the people were that had taken him out, or why they had done it, but he was likely going to find out soon enough. He was in a cell, one that was indistinguishable from any other place. Justice didn't know what was going on. He hoped that he would get answers quickly. His mind went to Allie and if she was okay. He had failed her again, and Justice hated himself more for it.
He looked around and didn't see anybody. There was nobody to ask and even though it was probably a bad idea, he started yelling out to someone there. Anyone. Whoever had him could have killed him but didn't. So, if they didn't want to kill him, what did they want from him? Justice had no real answer at that point.
Nobody came for the longest time. Justice started to feel his body and how tight it was. He didn't know why he felt so rotten, just that every part of him was hurting. Instead of focusing on it though, he tried to focus on anything else. Eventually, his weight was being pulled down by gravity and his shoulders felt like they were going to pop out of place. His arms were sore, everything was sore.
He yelled out again, just because he had no other way to figure out what was going on. Somebody had to come, somebody would tell him why he was there. Or at least, they would tell him who he worked for, and then likely Justice would know. It was either Ben or Bishop, that wasn't hard to understand. Bishop had made a mistake. He should have killed him when he had the chance.
“Good, I was wondering when you were going to get up.”
Justice knew that voice and he could already feel dread going through him. It was his enemy, and he didn’t have to wonder for very long what was going to happen next. He knew who had found him and honestly, Justice wasn’t sure that one was better than the other, not for him anyway.
“My Alpha has sent you?” Justice said the words dripping with contempt.
Donald smiled wide. “He will be here in a while. I am only here for the warmup. He will decide your fate. What were you thinking, Justice? Surely you had to know that it was a bad idea to impregnate his sister. She will get you killed.”
Justice was sure that he was wrong, but if he didn’t know any better, he would have thought that there was actually pity being mustered for him. Why did that make Justice feel so weird? He had a bad feeling about what came next, because if Donald felt bad for him, there had to be something horrible coming his way.
Chapter 25
Allie
She hadn't even known Justice was gone. Allie had just woken up suddenly with loud banging at the door in the place they were staying. Fear hurtled her through the dark room for a moment, before she realized that it was her brother’s men that were there. She tried to refuse to leave, but Allie couldn't really fight, she was pregnant. She shook off a guard and had no idea what was going on. She asked about Justice several times, but no one gave her any answers. She was instead dragged back to where her brother was, where she used to be, and she was left guarded. Allie wasn't going to be able to go anywhere and that was pretty obvious. She really didn't want to. The last little while had been exhausting.
It became pretty clear she wasn't the only one that had been found. They hadn't even looked for Justice, which meant that Justice had already been picked up. Allie didn't want that to be the case. She liked the idea that her brother knew nothing, but she couldn't come to that realization any longer. He knew about Justice, and Justice was likely picked up first, and she hated to think about what was happening to him right then. She was mad at herself for keeping them going. She knew that the baby was coming soon, because she’d had a strong nesting feeling go through her. It had been annoying to Allie, but the feeling was so prominent that she had made them stop.
What she hated the most was the idea that nothing bad would have happened if they hadn’t stopped. What if they had just kept going? Allie would always wonder, because at the moment it felt like she had lost everything.
She got a little sleep and when she woke up, she decided that the way to get through it was to just get through it. She needed to talk to Ben and finally just tell him the truth. They were in love, she was pregnant with his kid and she wasn't going back to her mate. Allie didn't care what the rules and laws and all that worked. She was not going to spend another day with Bishop for the rest of her life. She didn't care if that made her tainted and unable to find love again. It wouldn't matter if something happened to Justice anyway. Allie really didn't know when she was going to tell her brother, she didn't have much to give him, but she was going to make sure that he understood that if he went through with it, she was never going to forgive him again.
She tried to leave but there was a guard at the door telling her that she was to stay there.
“I need to get out of here.”
“You are not to leave…”
“I need to see my brother. Either you go with me or I will fight you.”
The guard paled. He didn’t want to be in the middle of it, but Allie didn’t care. She was willing to go the distance to get what she wanted.
A few minutes later, the guard at the door came into the room and told her that he would escort her to Ben. Allie didn't like the idea that she had to be escorted everywhere, she'd had too much freedom for too long, but she bit her lip and followed close behind him. Allie wasn't stupid, she would do what was necessary to get an audience with her brother. After that, Allie couldn't promise that she would be so passive.
Even with all of her confidence walking in, Allie still worried about what she was going to say when she got there. She wasn't worried about him hurting her. Allie was worried that he’d already killed Justice and there was nothing that she could do to save him. That would mean that her children wouldn't have a father and she could not shake that feeling. She had to know. or she had to quickly tell her brother he had to spare his life. Allie would admit how it happened and what she had to agree to.
Her brother was in the middle of filling out some papers when she walked in, and she wondered if it was a good time or not. She wasn't going to leave naturally, but she did wonder nonetheless. Allie tried to feel him out and see if he was in a good mood or not. She was nervous. Her hands were shaking, and she clasped them in front of herself to try and calm herself down. She needed to be grounded for what came next. Her brother needed to see her as a grown woman and not a child that he could continue to dictate around.
