Creatures of the Dark

Ana was clearly much happier having admitted the full extent of her feelings to him.

Frankie sat down cradling the baby close.

Alice watched them and then she looked at her friends.

Lily slept soundlessly.

Stephan was very happy that she had admitted her feelings for him and that he was able to say the same.

She was still holding onto him tightly.

Frankie looked around at them all.

He kept hold.of her just as tightly until he tensed, smelling smoke. "Alice..."

Alice got to her feet and Hayden looked at them, she smelt the smoke, it was coming from the house.

Lily whimpered in her sleep.

Frankie made a noise under his breath his gaze shifting around.

Ana let go of Stephan and bolted for the house, Ethan right behind her.

Stephan went with her, Hayden keeping Alice, Frankie and the baby at the den, and sure enough they found the house in flames. "Fucking angels." Stephan growled.

Frankie shifted the baby in his arms muttering angrily underneath his breath.

Ana let out a deep breath.

"Now what do we do?... where are the others?"

"Ben and Maxx took Rylee to visit some of her relatives, they weren't due back until tonight." Stephan told them, sliding his arms around Ana.

Alice stood nearby, gently stroking her daughter's cheeks.

Hayden looked around, now that the others had gone to the house, she was on alert, someone was getting close....too close.

"Oh? They finally managed to get her to do?"

Ana leaned into him heavily. "What are we going to do Stephan?"

"We move." He told her. "We can find some new places to live."

"Yeah, eventually." She told him.

Ethan nodded. "That's good. She always seems so lonely."

Ana let out a deep sigh.

"Yeah she does." She sighed.

Stephan brought her back to where Alice and Frankie had remained.

Ethan nodded taking her hand and following the others.

She leaned against him heavily.

He held her close.

Hayden went with her.

Ethan sat down patting his lap for Hayden.

Hayden sat with him. "The den is the safest place, you guys can sleep inside, Ethan and I can remain out here."

Ethan slid his arms around her nodding firmly. "We'll be alright and if need be we can take shifts."

Frankie looked at the others, it felt to him as if he basically had no say in anything anymore and really he couldn't complain because they were being nice enough allowing him to be here right now.

Ana nodded. "Alright. I agree with taking shifts though. We all could use some rest and we need to keep an eye out for the others."

"I agree, Hayden and Ethan take the first shift, then we can decide after a few hours who I next, we can rotate after that." Alice told them, looking to Ana and Stephan and Stephan nodded in agreement.

"Stick in pairs, and have each other's back." Stephan told them.

"Great, get in there," Hayden nodded to the entranced to the wolf den. "Maxx and the others will be travelling by foot, so they will take a while."

Frankie nodded quietly moving to get inside the den with Lily in his arms.

Ana nodded taking Stephan's hand to go inside with him.

Alice followed him quickly.

Stephan followed and inside the den it wasn't like a normal wolf's den, there was normal human bedding around and some human food rations.

Frankie sat towards the back on one of the bed so that he could keep Lily comfortable.

Ana quietly looked around but she didn't stray from Stephan's side at all.

Ethan remained right outside the Den, Hayden on his lap.

Alice sat with him.

Stephan stayed with her. "The pups have been busy." He mused.

Hayden remained where she was.

He nuzzled his head against her shoulder.

Frankie looked at her and their was a deep sadness in his eyes that he couldn't express in words.

Ana nodded.

"I know." Alice whispered, she had the same look in his eyes.

He held her close.

She smiled softly.

"It's all my fault...." he whispered in reply.

Ana sat down on one of the bed and reached for Stephan.