Author's note: Thank you to Olufemi Whitlock Hale, NotMarge, partygirl98, NicoleR85, ZabuzasGirl, Guest, Rasha007, Jinxofthe2ndLaw, SoNotYourAverageGirl, kmj1989, Kimberly Brooks AKA Pyroplasma, and mpathy for the reviews! Guest, I update every other day, barring something catastrophic or a horrific case of writer's block. So far, so good though. Rasha, so glad to "see" you again! Yeah... Warm Bodies references like that I just couldn't help, haha. Kimberly, I'm glad you're that invested in the story, it means I'm doing something right! And mpathy (I giggled when I saw your name), I hope the rest of the story so far was just as enjoyable :-)

And now for today's chapter, where Nicholas Grey gets a little comeuppance. Gold star for those who see the Cool Hand Luke (1967) reference in there.

Breaking Free

Just the sight of him made my self-control snap like an over-stretched rubber band.

I had slid past Chloe and darted across the room before either of them could even react. And as I moved, I turned into Beast.

By the time I reached Nicholas Grey and grabbed him by the throat I was a fanged, growling creature- acting every bit the monster I looked. He wet himself when I slammed him against the wall and snarled in his face. I dimly noted Chloe's horrified screams coming from behind me.

"Where is she?" I demanded.

"I don't know what you're-" Grey began to say, but I squeezed his throat tighter. His hands tore ineffectually at mine, trying to loosen my grip.

"Don't lie to me," I snapped. "I know you have something to do with this. Now tell me everything you know before I rip your spinal cord out through your mouth."

"Put my husband down, you monster!" Chloe shrieked. "What are you?"

She ran over with her fists raised, but I caught her wrist in a firm (but gentle) grip with my free hand.

"I'm a mutant, just like your sister is," I told her through gritted teeth, noting the shock on her face. "And I'll put him down when he tells me where he and the Friends of Humanity took Zoey after they broke into our home and kidnapped her."

The fight immediately drained out of Chloe, only to be replaced by dismayed consternation as her eyes darted back and forth between her husband and I.

"I don't believe you," she whispered. "How-?"

"Ask him where he got the wound on his arm," I challenged her, dropping her wrist. I turned my attention back to Nicholas, giving him a little shake. "You didn't expect her to put up such a fight, did you? But then, you've spent years underestimating Zoey Dubois. Now tell me where she is."

He didn't answer- though to be fair he was also turning a little blue.

Oops.

I loosened my grip just a fraction.

"Wait- m-my sister is some sort of freak? Like you?" Chloe asked, with evident horror.

Really? I tell you your husband kidnapped your sister, and that's what you focus on? Zoey's right, why do we bother with you people?

"Auntie is not a freak!" a young girl's voice cried out from the top of the stairs.

The sound made my heart sink down to my toes. I knew who it was before I even turned towards her.

I cursed myself for forgetting that it was a Friday, and therefore likely that Olivia had come to visit her parents.

"Livie," I whispered, feeling somewhat ashamed of myself.

I didn't want her to see me this way, acting so out-of-control and threatening her father. She'd never even seen my Beast form, let alone witnessed me behaving like this. Her innocent presence weakened my resolve and took away most of the force behind my anger towards Nicholas.

Because no matter what the Grey's thought of me, I knew I wasn't a monster. The man Zoey loved, the uncle Olivia looked up to was not a savage beast, no matter what his form. I couldn't let these dire circumstances change who I was.

When this was over, I wanted to still be able to look my wife and niece in the eyes without feeling shame for the things I had done to bring Zoey home.

I released Nicholas with a growl, allowing him to collapse to the ground and catch his breath. Olivia came down the stairs in a hurry with a very determined air.

"Olivia, go to your room," Chloe ordered shakily, kneeling down next to her husband. "This is grown up business."

"No," Olivia replied sharply. "This is my business, Mama. Don't call Auntie and Uncle Hank freaks, because-"

"Livie-" I began, putting my hand on her shoulder. She didn't flinch away from me, despite my current appearance.

Don't tell them, I mentally pleaded. We've tried to protect you from this-

"No, Uncle Hank. We should've told them a long time ago. Maybe if we had this wouldn't have happened," Olivia announced, taking a deep breath. "Mama, Daddy, I'm a mutant. Just like Uncle Hank and Aunt Zoey. It's a part of who I am, and I can't change that. I don't even want to. I'm sure you didn't mean for this to happen to Auntie, right Daddy? Just please tell Uncle Hank where she is so he can bring her home."

For a moment suspended in time, all four of us were motionless. The air was heavier than the atmosphere on Venus as Olivia's words sank in for her parents.

I had vague hopes that hearing that his only child was a member of the race he apparently hated enough to join an organization dedicated to its eradication would soften Grey's heart towards mutants. I waited on tenterhooks, hoping. Maybe he would even willingly tell me what I needed to know to get Zoey back...

"Olivia," Chloe murmured, standing up slowly. "It's ok, darling."

Nicholas sprang to his feet. "No it is not, Chloe," he snapped.

Damnation.

His wife jumped, startled by his vehemence. She instantly cowered away from him.

"Our daughter is some kind of freak, just like the rest of the mutant scum. Just like this monster," Nicholas added, pointing at me.

Hey. This monster can hear you, you reprobate.

"This- this is your fault. You come from a family of freaks," he hissed.

And then Nicholas' hand flashed out to slap his wife across the face. The manner in which Chloe flinched told me this wasn't the first time he hit her.

Well, not this time.

Before his blow connected, I grabbed his wrist with my left hand and punched him out cold with my right. Nicholas slumped back down to the floor, in a puddle of his own urine where he belonged.

"Still a coward," I muttered.

Chloe started shaking, her eyes darting between Nicholas' prone form and myself like she was debating who she should be more afraid of at the moment. But then her gaze focused on Olivia.

"Oh Lord, what am I going to do?" she whispered. Tears sprang to her eyes. "Olivia- I'm so sorry-"

"It's ok, Mama," Olivia assured her, though she still sounded sad. "If Daddy's so mean to you, and he can't love me anymore because I'm a mutant, we should leave him. Together."

"I can't, darling," Chloe replied, shaking her head. "Where would we go? I don't have a job, and I didn't even finish high school. Your father..."

Her expression hardened.

"Thank goodness you're getting an education. That way a man can never trap you this way."

"You're not trapped, Chloe," I supplied. "Zoey and I will help you. But first I need to bring her home."

"But how-?"

"I'm on it," Olivia interjected, bending down to touch her father's forehead. "Give me a minute."

"She's a tactile telepath," I explained after seeing Chloe's puzzlement. "Livie can read people's thoughts and project her own if she's touching them."

"And Zoey?"

I had to bite back a snarl of impatience. I didn't want to be standing here explaining these things to Chloe. I was itching for action, to actually be doing something to get my wife back.

"She can generate and manipulate fire," I explained.

Chloe looked like she was about to ask more, but Olivia stood up at that moment, looking shaken.

"I picked up some other stuff, but he doesn't know where Auntie is," she announced dejectedly.

I swore under my breath, but quickly regained my composure.

There are other ways of finding her, I told myself.

I had to stay positive or I'd lose my mind.

"Ok," I said audibly, bending down to pick Nicholas up by his shirt collar. "I have to go. Do you have any duct tape?"

"What?" Chloe asked blankly.

"Uncle Hank's afraid that Daddy will call the people who have Auntie and warn them he's coming to kick their butts," Olivia explained seriously, without any prompting from me. "I'll go get it."

Still my favorite kid on the planet. My baby doesn't count, because it hasn't been born yet...

The pain from thinking that my child may never even take its first breath practically knocked me over.

Olivia was back within thirty seconds. And as we duct taped her father's hands and wrists to a chair she told me what she'd discovered about the FOH's designs on us and Nicholas Grey's complicity in their schemes, which was just as I suspected.

She cried as she told me how Zoey had fought back, cracking one man's skull with a frying pan and giving everyone else burns of varying severity. But in the end Zoey was overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

And her hesitation to kill or permanently maim anyone with her powers, I thought grimly.

Despite his enthusiastic cooperation, "management" at the FOH had declined to tell Grey where they were taking his sister-in-law. This was a wound to his pride, so he came home to drink a beer and have a good sulk-

"Until you found him and scared the piss out of him," Olivia concluded finally.

"Watch your language," I reprimanded her absently, still deep in thought over all she'd told me. "I have to go."

"Yes," she agreed.

Olivia gave me a hug, much to her mother's bewilderment. I guess I was still too frightening for Chloe, though at least she wasn't screaming for the police or anything like that. Perhaps she was still in shock.

Chloe had sat silently through her daughter's explanation, looking horrified over the things her husband was involved in. She'd obviously had no idea.

I think what we've got here is a failure to communicate.

Olivia noticed her mother's flinch as she pulled away from hugging me.

"Mama," she admonished. "Don't be scared of him. He just saved you, remember?"

Chloe still appeared to be rather nonplussed.

"I'm surprised you weren't afraid of me," I muttered truthfully to Olivia.

"Why would I be?" she retorted. "You're still my Uncle Hank. Even if you look like the Cookie Monster right now."

Her words made my chest tighten up, bringing so many memories of Zoey to mind.

"You sound like your aunt," I whispered.

"Auntie's a very smart lady," Olivia replied seriously.

She grabbed my hand.

Please, bring her home safely. Please.

My thoughts back to her were a promise.

I will.