Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:
"We'll figure this out. They won't hurt you. I won't let them."
~Ren, Nightshade
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Chapter 10

Elsa 

The next dance class I had, I planned on Spencer being my partner, at least for hip hop.  That didn't happen.  Riley told me he was going to be with me today.  I saw Thea go for Spencer and immediately knew my brother had put them up to something.  Thea and Riley were fine with Spencer last time so someone had convinced them to act this way, and considering my parents didn't know about him, the only person I could think of was Hunter.  It ticked me off to put it nicely.  However, I put on blank expression and went through with the lesson.  Riley kept me talking the entire time, seeming genuinely interested in what was going on in my life.  I mean, he kind of knew already simply because of the sheer fact he lived next door to me.  I tried to listen in on whatever Thea was saying to Spencer but due to the loudness of the music, that turned out to be impossible.

At the end of the lesson, I grabbed my water bottle and bag and headed over to Spencer.  He gave me his beautiful, million-dollar smile. "Hey Elsa."

"Hey, how are you?" I asked.

"I'm doing well.  And you?  Ready to tango?"

"I'm pretty good, and yes, I'm always ready.  Especially now that I have a dance partner who can keep up," I laughed.

"Hey Elsa," Thea said, butting into the conversation. "Ready for lunch?"

"I didn't know we were going to lunch," I said.

"I told you about it while we were dancing," Riley remarked, coming to stand next to Spencer who was starting to appear confused at the suddenness of my pack mates entrance into the conversation.

"I don't remember you telling me that."

"You were probably too focused on dancing.  Hunter and Josilyn are meeting us at Poppy's and you know he'll question why you're not there," Thea pointed out.

"Then tell him I have another dance class in an hour and I can't possibly get to Poppy's and eat lunch in that amount of time.  I'll grab something quick from Subway or something but I'm not having a sit-down meal.  Tell him I'm sorry, okay?" I said, trying to hide the annoyance in my tone.

"He's not going to like that Elsa.  You know he doesn't like anyone in the pack being alone."

"Pack?" Spencer queried.

"Oh, sorry, that's what we refer to ourselves as.  See, we're a pretty big family, but not necessarily blood-related.  Our family runs this town though.  Our hotel brings in most of the tourists because it's so famous," Riley explained.

"I'm going to assume you're a powerful family then?"

"Oh yeah.  Most powerful in town which I mean, isn't hard, but we're also one of the most powerful families in Colorado, which is saying something.  You really don't want to mess with our family," my pack mate said with a grin.  He may have been smiling, but no one could miss the threatening undertone.

"All right, I think he gets the picture Riles.  You two should get going.  You know Hunter is impatient.  He's better with Josilyn around but he's still Hunter," I said.

"You sure you'll be okay?" Thea questioned.

"It's me.  I'm a kickass black-belt.  I'll be fine," I insisted.  My two pack members hesitantly left me.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  The mission my brother had given them was pretty clear: scare Spencer.  Whether it was to actually scare him off for good or to just make sure he knows he's below us, I was still working out.  But it was still obvious.

"I'm getting the impression you and your brother have a strained relationship?" Spencer said softly.

"It's not so much that it's strained, it's just he and my entire family are way too overprotective of me.  But I was serious about wanting Subway.  Want to join?"

"Why not?  And why are they overprotective?"

I snorted humorlessly. "We're the Laroches.  If you want to read about our private life, go on the internet.  It's all there."

"I have a feeling you don't like being in the spotlight."

"Not for the spotlight we've been in.  I want to be famous, not infamous.  Although I think that wish has gone down the gutter.  Come on, let's go, I'm starving!" I insisted.  Spencer held the door open for me and I led the way to lunch.
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Thea 

When Josilyn left to go to the bathroom, Hunter turned his anger onto me and Riley. "So you just let Elsa stay by herself at the dance studio?"

"She said she was going to Subway probably.  I mean it's Elsa, she can handle herself.  She probably invited Spencer.  The guy is pretty buff and strong looking and he seems nice enough so if anything happened to her, he'd try and protect her," I said.

"I'm assuming you taught him who runs the show in this town?"

"Of course," Riley replied. "He seemed unfazed.   I mean he seemed to understand but he obviously doesn't realize just how strong we are."

"Unless he knows exactly what we are and is trying to infiltrate us," Hunter remarked.

"You think he's a Hunter?  I thought your parents got rid of them?"

"They got rid of a couple but those weren't the only ones out there.  Our family is infamous among humans and Hunters.  A lot of Hunters are ex-Keepers.  They know damn well who we are and I can assure you they still want us gone.  I'm just wondering why they haven't tried to attack us since Anna... you'd think they'd try to get rid of us again."

"You think they're going to try again?" I asked worriedly.

"One day.  I just don't know when," he answered. "Quiet.  Josilyn is coming.  We'll continue this discussion later.  In the meantime, keep working on making sure Spencer knows his place."

Riley and I nodded.

The rest of the meal went by pleasantly.  When Riley and I headed back to the dance studio, we found Elsa with Spencer.  I felt my mouth drop open as he flipped her onto her back.  She quickly countered by doing a kip up, vaulting herself onto her feet from her back.  At first I thought they were actually fighting, but I quickly realized they were simply sparring.  Elsa feinted a punch, ducked under his block and kicked him in the back of the knee.  He went down.  She gripped his neck in her arm.  He flipped her over his head, making her yelp from surprise.

"What're you doing?" Riley asked, walking into the room.

Elsa and Spencer looked over at us.  The latter helped his downed partner stand up.  He was actually the one that answered. "We're killing time before our lesson.  It got held up by some irate parents over something we did not listen in on."

"I learned that Spencer knew how to fight so I put him to the test.  That was our third round of sparring," Elsa chimed in.

"One I was beating you at," he said.

"After I beat you the first time.  And I would've beaten you this time too had we not been interrupted," she countered.  Turning to us with a smile, she asked, "How was lunch?"

"Good.  Hunter's mad that you weren't there though," I said.

"He'll get over it.  So what are you guys doing here?  You guys have no more lessons today."

"Well you are our ride home," Riley pointed out.

"Oh yeah, forgot about that.  Can you entertain yourselves for the next hour and a half?"

"Actually we were hoping we could get the keys and drive home and come back down and pick you up?"

"That's such a waste of gas though.  I mean we can afford it but I'd rather not waste it.  Gas is so expensive right now.  Also I don't trust you two to drive my car.  You're both terrible at driving."

"Hey!" Riley and I protested.  

"I can give you a ride home," Spencer offered, seeming thoroughly entertained by our bickering. "If you don't mind riding a motorcycle."

"If I trusted these two to drive my car, I totally would.  Thank you though, for the offer.  Maybe another time," Elsa said sincerely.

"Sorry about that you two," Mrs. Ulman said as she entered the room.  Her face was flushed and I could tell she was still angry after whoever she'd talked to.

"Everything okay?" Elsa queried.

"Oh, just some parents who are unable to comprehend that their child is not up to the standards required for the dance competition and are therefore unable to go.  Anyways, are you two ready?"

"Yes ma'am."

The teacher turned to us. "You two want to try?"

"Oh no, I don't tango," Riley said, throwing up his hands.

"But we'd love to watch," I piped up. "Besides, it's not like we can go anywhere because someone has trust issues."

"I only have trust issues when it comes to you two maniacs driving my car," Elsa argued.

"Let's get started then," Mrs. Ulman insisted.  The two dancers took each other's hands and got in starting position.  Riley and I sat in the corner to watch.
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Hunter 

When I got back to the compound after lunch, my mom called for me to come into the office.  Both Loren and Shiloh were there along with my dad.  My dad looked highly troubled which made me worry.  It took a lot to make my dad anxious about something.

"What's wrong?" I asked sitting down.  I was pretty sure what it was because after the two betas had come into our house last night saying there was a new pack in town, all the adults were on edge.  My parents had called the Dorans in Vail to see if they were making an impromptu visit, but they declared they were still in Vail and had had no intentions of coming to Estes Park.  Now the question was: who were the new wolves?

"We need to debrief you on everything that's going on," my mom said.

"Is it about the new wolf pack?  Because I know everything.  I was there when Loren and Shiloh were talking about it," I told her.

"That's not all..." Her face grew dark.  Bad news was about to happen.

"You're the future alpha of this pack so you need to know ahead of time so you can mentally wrap your head around this before we break the news to everyone else," my dad said.

"What do you mean?"

"One of the members from the new wolf pack called.  I don't know how she got our number since we're not in the phone book but that's beside the point.  The point is she called giving us a warning.  If it's true, then our pack is about to get involved in another war."

"War?!  What do you mean war?" I demanded in shock.

"The people that murdered half our pack, the people that murdered Anna, we dealt a lethal blow to them when went after them, but apparently not lethal enough.  They've been regrouping, creating more dangerous weapons.  I've already alerted the Searchers to what's going on.  They're going to be sending some people here to investigate.  But we're going to be going on extra patrols and in bigger numbers.  This includes sending out Josilyn."

"But Ren-" Shiloh began.

My mother held up her hand. "We're going to keep her on the path closest to the compound so if she needs to come home for any reason, she'll be able to get there as quickly as possible.  But this is war.  We need every hand on deck with this one.  We're not losing anyone else." Shiloh fell silent but I could tell he didn't like it.  I didn't like it.  Josilyn would hate it. "She'll be with Elsa, Thea, and Dmitri.  They're all strong fighters.  They can protect her if anything happens."

"When are we breaking the news to them?" I questioned, leaning back in my chair.

"Tonight.  After dinner.  It's a pack meeting that everyone is required to be there.  The adults already know."

"Did the person who called from the pack, did they say their name?"

"No.  It was a girl.  That was all I could tell.  The call was made from a payphone so we couldn't trace who made the call.  We're working on it though.  We want to meet this new wolf pack."

"There's something else, isn't there?"

This time my dad answered. "It's a new rule we're implementing, one that the more free-spirited kids aren't going to enjoy."

"So Elsa, Dmitri, Thea, Jake, and Riley," I said.

"Pretty much.  Starting tonight, no one leaves the compound unless they're with someone else.  It's for everyone's protection."

"Yeah, they're all going to hate that."

"You're going to have to help enforce it."

"That'll be so much fun," I grunted. "All right, I mean I obviously don't have a choice but I'm in."

"Good.  Now, you're going with your mom on patrol.  Go get ready," my dad ordered.  I nodded and left the room.  I almost headed up to my room but at the last minute, went to see Josilyn in her garden.  Or at least that's where I assumed she'd be.  I was right.  She was trimming a rose bush.  She turned around when she heard me coming.

"Hey you," she greeted. "What's got you all flustered?"

"Just had a meeting with my parents," I said.

"And?  Is everything okay?"

"No.  Not really.  Everything is going to be explained tonight but I just wanted to come tell you that no matter what happens, I'm going to be there to protect you."

"Hunter, you're scaring me.  What's happening?" she asked, wrapping her arms around herself.

I pulled her into a hug, kissing her on the head. "You'll find out tonight.  But I like I said.  I'm going to be there to protect you.  I promise."
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And there's the next chapter!  I really should be studying for my management test I have in an hour but I needed to de-stress and this was a good way to do it.  Review please :)