Blake

Aurora leaves the bathroom, and slowly my heart returns to a normal, human pace. I don't know- I still don't fucking know- why it's been hammering against my chest throughout the time we've spent together today. Maybe it's because she reminds me of Hattie. I don't know.

As soon as she's gone, I throw the blood-soaked flannel into the bin before leaving the room myself, jogging up the stairs. I'm heading to Danielle's office when a small weight lands on my back and arms wrap around my neck. I turn my head to smile at Maeve, before yanking her arms away and dropping her onto the floor.

I turn to see her sat on the floor, pouting at me. "You're a dick."

"Love you too, Maeve," I chuckle, helping her up from the floor. I would push her back down again, but I figure that's a bit mean.

We high five with both hands, before Maeve glances back down the corridor. "I just saw Aurora with blood all over her top," she tells me. "Do you know what happened?"

"She just had a nosebleed. It's probably damaged after what Victoria did to her," I explain.

"Victoria?" Maeve asks in disbelief.

Shit. Shouldn't have said that. "Shh," I say quickly.

Maeve's voice drops to a whisper, but she's not exactly quiet. "It was Victoria who was standing in our garden?"

"And who attacked Aurora? Yeah."

Maeve's eyes are wide with fear in a reaction very similar to Aurora's. I swear, those two are practically twins at this point, which is understandable. Maeve is everyone's younger sister here. "What does this mean?"

"I'm not sure," I say honestly. "But I'm going to talk to Danielle."

She makes a face. "Good luck."

Placing a hand on her shoulder, I give her a smile with as much reassurance as possible. "We'll be fine."

We part and I head down the corridor to stand by Danielle's office, listening in to make sure she's not with someone else- namely Adam, as I've walked into the two of them making out like horny teenagers one too many times. I give the door a gentle knock and hear a 'come in' from the other side.

Danielle barely looks surprised to see me, sitting at her desk and wearing a different, revealing dress to the one she was wearing earlier. She rests her head against the back of her chair and smiles as I make my way over, but I struggle to smile back.

"What is it?" she asks. She sounds drained, and I feel bad about stressing her out more, but this needs to be said.

"How are you holding up?" I ask first, purely because I'm genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine," she says, resting her head on her hand. "Throwing one of the Drakan Thieves into a cell is just the cherry on top of a fantastic month."

"Damn," I chuckle. "Didn't realise I'd ordered sarcasm for afternoon tea."

"You've known me a long time, Blake. You should be used to it by now."

I feel her eyes on me as I wander around the office, picking up random ornaments as if they're the most interesting things in the world.

"You're doing it again," Danielle sings, slipping off her heels and resting her feet up on the desk.

I glance at her. "Doing what?"

"Pacing around when you have something important to say but don't know how to start," she says. I give her a look and feign confusion, as if I don't know what she's talking about, but I really do. I hate sitting down for long periods of time, and I especially hate doing so when there's something important to discuss. There's something wrong with the wiring in my brain, I swear. "I'll ask again. What is it?"

I turn to face her, leaning back against the wooden shelves behind me. "Aurora was attacked by that Victoria bitch and now we have Sara locked in our jail, and-"

"Wait, wait," she says, waving her hand to pause me. "How do you know it was Victoria?"

I sigh. "She told me. I just... we were just... I showed her a picture of the Drakan's and she recognised her immediately," I explain slowly. "It can't be a coincidence that one day we have Victoria watching us and the next it's Sara. I have a bad feeling about this."

"You have a bad feeling about everything," she says, just as I thought she would. "But... I see what you mean. If it really was Victoria who was in our garden that day then something's not right."

"Exactly," I say, walking back to the desk. "It just makes me think... who else could've been watching us this whole time?"

Danielle hesitates for a moment, brushing her thumb over her bottom lip. "What I don't understand is why Simon wouldn't send cadets to us, rather than getting his thieves to do the dirty work. I'd never put you guys in that kind of danger only to watch another group."

"Maybe he wants us to know it's him?" I offer. "If he had sent cadets, then they could have been sent by anyone."

Danielle stares down at the patterned rug beneath the desk. "They're threatening us."

"That's what it looks like."

The door opens and I turn to see Zavier walk in. He notices me sitting there and suddenly looks pissed, and my thoughts are proven correct as he walks past and hits me round the head. Hard. "What the fuck is your problem?" I ask him incredulously, rubbing the spot that he hit. Bastard could have given me whiplash with that.

He rests one hand on the desk and gets up in my personal space. "I get that you've had some issues with new people and find the mere idea of change difficult since your girlfriend killed herself, but if I ever find out you've put your hands on Aurora again, I will throw you off the roof of this building."

For fucks sake. I knew that would be where his head went as soon as he saw Aurora with that nosebleed. "Okay, first of all, there's no need to bring Hattie into this, asshole," I snap. "Second, Aurora had a nosebleed from when Victoria almost broke her face. The only way that I was putting my hands on her was to help her clean up the blood."

Zavier glances between me and Danielle, who is still staring at the floor and rolling her bottom lip between her teeth. "Victoria?"

I give him a large, sarcastic smile, gesturing to the chair beside me with a wave of my hand. "Take a seat, buddy, and we'll tell you all about it."

Zavier does so, giving me an equally as sarcastic smile, before turning his attention to Danielle. "Victoria?"

Danielle explains, and my mind subconsciously travels to what this could mean for us. For the most part, it means death, but I have no idea how much on either side. We're strong, we're trained, we have all the necessary precautions in place in the event of shit going down, but as soon as our home is raided by hundreds of cadets or if a bomb was to hit, we all could be dead in seconds.

"But why?" Zavier asks after he's processed it all. "Us and them have been feuding for generations, but we've been managing to keep the peace between us since your mother put an end to it. Why now would they be threatening to... what? Murder us all in cold blood and take over the place?"

"I think that's exactly what they're planning," Danielle says. She looks nervous. She never looks nervous. "And now that we've got one of them, it could be tomorrow for all we know."

"Then we make sure our cadets are prepared," I say. "We get Enoch to put the house on lockdown like he has been every night and..."

"And what?" Zavier cuts in. "Sit around with boarded up windows and doors while we wait to die?"

"I don't know if we have any other choice, Zavier," sighs Danielle. "We need to keep everyone in this house safe. I mean, maybe we could just be overreacting. If we're lucky, Simon's just been sending his thieves out to us to put us on edge. But we need to be prepared regardless."

Zavier shakes his head. "No one is going to want to do that."

Danielle lets out a shuddering breath, leaning her head back to stare at the ceiling. "Everyone wants different things. Chelsea wants to watch her baby grow up. Enoch wants to reconnect with his brothers. Maeve wants to travel the world, Jayden wants to have a family, Colby wants to be back with his mother, and Aurora wants to finally life a free life without a monster breathing down her neck. But I can't always let people do what they want because I have a duty to protect every single person in this house. Nobody here is ready to die."

Zavier and I quietly exchange a glance. As usual, Danielle is right. This will scare everyone, but our only chance of surviving whatever the fuck the Drakan Thieves have planned for us is by preparing as much as possible.

"I'm worried about Aurora," Zavier mutters. "She didn't join that long ago and she barely knows anything. It feels wrong to bring her into this and possibly have her killed weeks later."

I sigh, deciding against telling both the boss and the deputy that Aurora knows more than they think. "She's strong. She managed to fight off both Victoria and Sara and I think she's realised what she's signed up to by now."

"You've changed your tune," he chuckles. "I distinctly remember you telling her that she doesn't belong here."

"As a matter of fact, I have." That shuts him up.

The three of us are quiet, mulling everything over and feeling all the fear there is to feel, before Danielle clears her throat. She leans forward, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "Look, there's something I need to tell you both," she says. "About Aurora."

She hesitates, before telling us information that makes my heart sink.