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Chapter Quote:

"Keep your hands to yourself."

~Calla Tor, Nightshade

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Chapter 15

Spencer

I woke up late that morning, about noon. I had dance in an hour so I forced myself to get up and get dressed. It was going to be awkward seeing Elsa because I knew she would think that the only reason I got close to her was because Caleb told me to. And that was true, but only at first. Bringing her lunch, taking her out to the park, that was all because I wanted to. I wanted to see her, to hang out with her. Those chances were pretty much shot now. I threw on a shirt and some sweatpants and grabbed my backpack. Upon going downstairs, I found my alphas in the kitchen.

"Morning," I greeted as nonchalantly as I could.

"Morning, Spencer," Caleb replied. Lily gave me a smile as she said, "I made you breakfast. It's in the fridge. I didn't want it to go bad if I left it out. It's your favorite too: bacon and pancakes."

"You're the best, Lily." I grabbed my breakfast out of the fridge and heated it up. The three of us sat in an awkward silence. The only sound was me munching on my food. The tension itself seemed to be radiating off of Caleb. Naturally, my big mouth had to ask, "Is there an elephant in the room we need to discuss?"

"How close did you get to my sister?" Caleb asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I told you to get close to my sister to find out information about her pack and to make sure she's okay."

"And I did that."

"Yes you did. You told me she was doing well except that she's worried about everything going on right now which she has reason to be. Elsa has always put others first."

"What are you getting at Caleb?" Lily inquired hesitantly. She didn't like the tone of the conversation, and honestly, neither did I.

"When I told you to get close to her, I didn't mean for you to take her out to places. I didn't mean for you to admit your own issues to get things out of her!" Caleb exclaimed angrily. "I didn't mean for you to tell her about what happened to Michael and Elaine!"

"Caleb!" Lily hissed harshly. "What the hell has gotten into you? Don't you dare speak to Spencer like that."

"Elsa has enough problems of her own. She doesn't need his or anyone else's to deal with," he snapped.

Lily growled. "But if you need to vent about your problems to us, then that's fine?"

"You always ask me about my problems so-"

"I do not. I can't count the number of times you have come into our bedroom talking about one of your many problems. And you know what I do? I sit and listen and help you. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe some people want to help others with their problems?"

"Elsa asked me, Caleb. I needed to talk about it," I said quietly.

"So why didn't you come talk to me or Lily? We are right here. Why the hell did you have to go to my sister?"

"Because she understood in ways that neither of you ever could!" I fired back in exasperation. "I have been keeping quiet because you two have so much on your plate right now that I didn't want to add my personal issues to it. I got close to Elsa because she was like me. We've both been hiding things from the people we love because we know they wouldn't understand. So I'm sorry for talking to someone who understood. I'm sorry for trying to give you two a break. And I'm sorry I got closer to her than I should have."

I stood up, shuffling towards the door. Lily quickly followed me and said, "What about your breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry anymore and if I don't leave now then I'll be late for dance. Don't need anyone else mad at me today. I'll see you later Lily."

"You go to dance, you come straight back," Caleb ordered.

"Yes, sir," I muttered. Lily closed the door after me and I could hear her shouting at Caleb, although exactly what she was saying I couldn't tell you.

The drive down to the studio was short but I was still a couple minutes late. Elsa was already waiting in the dance room, having a chat with our instructor Mrs. Ulman.

"Sorry I'm late. Won't happen again," I said, throwing my backpack on the floor.

"You're never late Spencer. Everything okay?" Mrs. Ulman asked.

"Yes ma'am. Just a... bad morning is all." I stood next to Elsa and the two of us began our dance routine. Both of us were off on our timing the entire class period. Apparently I wasn't the only one having issues focusing today.

"Are you two okay? Is something bothering you two?" Mrs. Ulman questioned.

"No," Elsa and I answered simultaneously.

"All right. I just want to make sure you're not allowing any personal issues to get in the way of the competition. You're my best dancers. So prove it to me. I say we're done for today. Go home, get whatever it is sorted out that you need to, whether that's with others or between yourselves. I'll see you Monday."

Elsa and I grabbed our stuff. I waited until we were in the parking lot to talk to her.

"Elsa," I said. She didn't look at me. "Elsa, please wait!"

"I'm not in the mood to talk right now," she retorted, pulling out her car keys.

"Then you don't have to talk, but please listen," I begged. She halted before turning around in annoyance. "I know you're probably beyond mad at me about lying to you, especially after you told me about Caleb and I just sat there acting like I didn't know anything. Yes, I was supposed to get close to you, to keep an eye on you, and to get information, but the stories I told you, that was all true and-"

"I'm not mad at you for keeping my brother a secret from me. He's your alpha, you do what he says. And it's not the first time he's hidden from us. I'm mad because of how you chose to get close to me. You could've gotten information from me just from dance, but no, you brought me lunches and took me out to the park and that led me to believe that for the first time in my life, a guy I liked might actually like me back. But no. You led me on. Do you deny it?" she demanded.

I stared at her for a few seconds, wanting so much to tell her the truth. I should tell her the truth. But what was the point? Even if anything happened between us, it'd all be long distance. So I lied. "No. I don't. I led you on. I thought you wouldn't tell me anything unless you thought we were going to go somewhere other than friends. For that, I really am sorry. I didn't think you'd ever find out. I didn't want to hurt you."

"It's a little late for that one." Elsa started walking back to her car. "I'll see you Monday."

I hung my head as I headed to my motorcycle. Could this day get any worse? I chose not to answer that because knowing life, this day could definitely get worse. Instead of going home, I decided to go drive around, so I could let myself have some peace. What Caleb and Lily didn't know wouldn't hurt them. Besides, I wanted to avoid seeing Caleb as much as possible.

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Lily

Caleb and I weren't speaking to each other. He was still beyond upset about how close Spencer had gotten to Elsa, about what he'd told her. My main concern was what Spencer wasn't telling us. What did Elsa understand that we couldn't? I could ask her but she and I weren't best friends or anything like that. We barely even knew each other. There's no way on earth she would tell me about it.

A knock at the door broke me out of my thoughts. I quietly got up and looked at the video camera Caleb had installed so we could see who was at our door. I let out a sigh of relief. Speak of the devil...

"Hi, Lily, is Caleb home yet?" Elsa asked politely when I opened the door.

"No, he's not. But you're welcome to stay until he gets here," I offered.

"I can't stay for long. My parents think I'm still at dance but they'll get suspicious if I'm gone too long. Is it okay if I wait about twenty minutes? Then I need to leave."

"Sure, come on in. I was just about to start making dinner. Actually, I'm glad you're here. I wanted to talk to you alone."

Elsa followed me into the kitchen. "Before you say anything, let me just apologize about how I acted last night. I was a bitch. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. You're right. We're in your territory. And by the way, you saying you were going to call your pack, that was a really believable threat. Good job."

She snorted. "The reason it was believable is because it was true. If Caleb hadn't said anything, I would've called my pack."

I stared at her for a few moments before, "Are you sure you're not an alpha?"

"No, I'm just a Laroche. So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Listen, I know I just met you which means you probably won't answer my question, but Caleb and Spencer got into a massive argument this morning. Spencer... said some things that worried me and I was wondering if you could give me any insight as to what he meant by them."

"Actually, I came here to talk to you about Spencer as well... What did Caleb say to him?" Elsa queried, sitting at the bar.

"Caleb asked him why he told you about what happened to our family and why he told you how he was feeling about it. Spencer said it was because you understood him in ways we couldn't."

Elsa sighed. "It's... it's not my secret to tell. There's something that we all share in common: we've all lost members of our pack. Some of us have handled it differently. Some of us have been affected differently. What led me to be like Spencer is different than what led him to how he is, to how he's feeling, but we're the same nonetheless. What he's going through, I get it because I've been through it before. Twice. And it's not fun. Despite my anger at him right now for leading me on to get information out of me, I was worried about him after dance. He needs his alphas, or at least one of them. That's all I can say without saying outright what it is that connects us. Caleb will know if you tell him. Especially if you tell him it's about what happened nine years ago... wait, is Spencer home?"

"No, why?"

"I thought he would've been home by now. It's not like I had much of a head-start on him."

At that moment, the front door opened. I expected it to be my second, but it was Caleb. He gave me a head nod, one which I returned. However when he saw his sister, he smiled. "Hey Ice Princess, what are you doing here?"

"I was needing to talk to you. About Spencer."

"What about him?"

"Why don't we go talk in the living room? I have to hurry or else mom and dad will get suspicious. And if I can't explain everything in the next five minutes, talk to Lily. She knows about it too." Caleb nodded as he walked into the living room with Elsa. They'd barely been talking two minutes when Spencer walked in. He entered the kitchen immediately.

"What's Elsa doing here?" he whispered.

"She came to talk to Caleb. She said, and I quote: despite my anger at him for leading me on to get information out of me, I was worried about him after dance," I informed.

"Why was she worried about me?"

"She must've sensed something was seriously troubling you. My question is: why did you lie to her?"

"What do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes. "I was not born yesterday. Spencer, you never lie. You twist the truth so you don't have to lie, but you lied straight to her face about leading her on to get information. You haven't so much as looked at another girl since Callie, but whenever Elsa is around, you act like a schoolboy with a crush. I know you. You didn't take her out to that park just to get information out of her. So why did you lie to her?"

Spencer bounced his fist lightly against the counter. "Because I do like her. I like her a lot, Lily. But it would never work between us. She admitted to liking me. I was so close to telling her I felt the same way but I stopped myself because first off, at that point in time I didn't think she'd believe me, and second, if we theoretically started dating, it'd have to be long distance the entire time and she deserves to have someone all of the time."

"Oh Spencer... you could date her until you left, just so you could have some happiness in your life again. I hadn't seen you so happy in ages until you started hanging out with her. I want to see that happiness again."

"I'll try to be like that more often then," Spencer said.

"No. Don't try. Let it come naturally. I want you to be happy because you are happy, not because you want to please me or Caleb."

"Speaking of me," Caleb piped up from the doorway. "Spencer, mind if I talk to you? I think it's time I apologize. And Lily, you're next in line for an apology from me."

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