Hello readers! Hope y'all are having a great break. Since I can't send you a gift, have a chapter :)

Chapter Quote:
"Ren watched us as he leaned casually against the table, holding a pair of scissors. I'd never seen a classroom tool look so dangerous."
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Chapter 38

Dom

I sat in the corner of the courtyard by myself, browsing on my computer, while the Laroche pack relaxed in the center. They'd broken off into groups. Anna, Elsa, Ember, Thea, and Josilyn were sitting next to the fountain talking and eating off a fruit plate. Diana, Gracie, Akira, and Laurel were sitting in the grass playing a board game. Barry, Sebastian, and Oliver were watching videos on Barry's laptop. Dmitri and Jake were watching Riley wrestle with Spencer but the latter was easily overpowering the former simply because he was more calculating in his moves. Then there was Hunter and Noah who watched over the pack from the stairwell leading down to the courtyard. While I could hear a bit of everyone's conversation, Hunter and Noah whispered quietly to each other. It made me wonder what they were discussing as I knew secrets weren't really a thing in the Laroche pack.

"Hey!" Thea snapped. I looked over at the girls. Spencer and Riley had rolled into their fruit plate. Spencer was sitting casually on Riley, grinning at Elsa.

"Sorry babe," Riley groaned.

"You ruined the fruit plate," Thea griped.

"Spencer, really?" Elsa asked.

"What?" He replied.

"Why don't you pick on someone-"

"-My own size?" Spencer finished, standing up. Elsa stood up with him. He was almost a head taller than her. He smiled down at her. "Elsa, I don't think you're quite my size."

"I wasn't going to say pick on someone your own size. I was going to say pick on someone who is at your skill level." Before Spencer could react, Elsa swept his feet out from underneath him. He fell to the ground and she was on top of him in a flash, pinning him to the ground.

"That was uncalled for," he grunted.

"That was called-" Elsa stopped midsentence, glancing down at her pocket. She pulled out her phone and read a text message. She got off of Spencer and said, "Hey, I'll be back. Stark wants to see me."

"What about me?" Anna queried.

"Maybe he wants to talk about her dating his second," Riley remarked. Spencer hit him in the stomach as Elsa answered, "We're not dating."

"Really? Because the lip-lock you two were in earlier would suggest otherwise," he countered.

"Excuse me?" Hunter demanded, getting up from the stairs. Noah trailed behind him.

"He's making it up, Hunter," Elsa said. "Don't raise your haunches."

"I'm not making it up. Why are you two trying to hide it? Oh, wait, Callie. She doesn't like it does she? You two need to wait until she's okay with it, right?" Riley continued.

"Riley, shut up," Spencer said, his earlier playful demeanor completely gone.

"Don't tell my pack mate what to do," Hunter snarled, getting nose-to-nose with Spencer. "I let you be with my sister because she wants to be around you. But I do not give you permission to date her."

Spencer didn't back down. I couldn't decide if that made him very brave or very stupid. "First, I don't need your permission. You're not my alpha, Laroche. The only way you'd be my alpha is if I married Elsa and joined your pack and left my current one. Second, Elsa and I aren't dating."

Elsa stepped between the boys, pushing them away from each other. "Hunter, if you want to talk about this, talk about it to me. Spencer's right, you're not his alpha, you're mine."

"You're right. I am your alpha which means I will talk about this with who I want and that person's Spencer, not you. Get back in your place and be quiet."

"Hunter-"

"I said be quiet!"

"Hunter, don't talk to her like that," Anna interjected.

"She's omega, Anna. Whether she likes it or not, she needs to learn her new place."

"This has nothing to do with her being an omega. This has to do with you being scared of losing her to Stark and his pack. Please, leave him and her alone. I don't want to see my family fighting."

There was a tic in Hunter's jaw before he said, "Get out of my sight."

Spencer backed away and strode out of the courtyard.

"I need to go speak to Stark," Elsa commented, starting to walk off.

"No, you stay here," Hunter ordered. "I don't want you around any of them anymore. You never caused problems until you joined them. I don't know what they've done to you but I don't like it."

"You do realize I snuck out of the house long before they came around, right?"

"Why were you sneaking out of the house?" Diana queried.

"You know it's dangerous for Guardians to be out alone, Hunters or not," Gracie added.

"There's cougars and bears and regular hunters that would love to have a wolf head hanging above their fireplace," Laurel said.

"Yes, I know! I'm fully aware of the dangers!" Elsa exclaimed in exasperation.

"Then why would you put yourself in such a dangerous situation?" Dmitri inquired.

"That's none of your business but because I know none of you will drop it, I was going to talk to Anna."

"Anna was dead until a few weeks ago," Barry pointed out.

"That didn't mean I couldn't go to her headstone and talk to her."

"I have a headstone?" Anna questioned, blinking in surprise.

"Yeah. It's with the other half of the pack we lost. We need to remove it when we get back," Elsa said. "But back to the original accusation of me sneaking out. Hunter, you knew I was sneaking out long before the Stark pack came into town so don't act like them being here suddenly changed everything. Stark said it was urgent that he needed to speak to me."

"Is everything okay here?" Lily piped up, walking into the courtyard.

"What do you want?" Hunter snapped.

"I came to see what was taking Elsa so long. Usually when Stark texts her saying he needs to talk to her, she comes right away."

"I don't want her anywhere near you or your pack."

Lily sighed. "Honestly, I thought we'd moved past this stage."

"We had until I found out that your second and my sister were dating."

"Oh my god, we're not dating! So we kissed once or twice, so what?! You and Josilyn kissed before you two started dating!"

"We're from the same pack! You two aren't!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you two kissed?" Lily asked.

"Yes?" Elsa replied sheepishly.

I, along with every other member of the Laroche pack, thought Lily was going to be fuming. We couldn't have been more wrong as she exclaimed, "About damn time! Watching you two stare at each other whenever the other wasn't looking was exhausting. Seriously. You two act like puppies when you're around each other."

Elsa smiled. "I wish my brother took this as well as you did."

"It's a good thing I'm not your brother. Now Hunter, may I please borrow Elsa so she can talk to Stark? It won't take long. And if you say no, then I'll just call Stark here."

"Hunter, let her go. They're not hurting her," Josilyn whispered, taking his hand in hers.

"You have ten minutes. Any longer, and I'm coming to get her," he warned.

"Thank you. You'll have her back in no time."

"Thank you, Hunter," Elsa said. She gave him a grateful smile, one he didn't return. The pack watched Elsa and Lily until they disappeared before dispersing into their previous groups. Anna, however, came to join me.

"Won't your brother kill me if he sees you talking to me?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows at her.

She plopped down on the grass next to me. "No. You're neither kissing me, nor have you wreaked havoc in my family. The only thing you've done that they know of is save my dad's life. Hunter has respect for you. He doesn't have respect for Stark because he thinks Stark's a coward for not showing his human form."

"Do you think Stark will ever tell them?"

"Not unless he has to. He doesn't want to cause trouble and knowing what I do about what happened between him and Hunter, I understand. I mean he's created a whole new life and he's loving it. Coming back would open up old wounds that no one wants to deal with again. I'm glad Elsa knows it's him though. I don't think he quite understands just how important he is to her. I'm worried that Elsa's going to do something that will get her kicked out of the pack and I know if that happens, she'll go to Stark because it's Stark. And of course I'd go with her because throughout my whole ordeal with the Hunters, I never once forgot who she was or what she looked like."

"Anna, you're identical twins. All you'd have to do to remember what she looks like is to look at yourself," I pointed out.

"Shut up," she laughed. "You know what I mean. I remembered her the most clearly and thought about her every day, wondering where she was because I never knew what had happened to her. If she went with Stark back to Canada, I would join her, but I just got to know my pack again. I don't want to leave them either. I don't know what to do, Dom."

"If Elsa did something to be kicked out of the pack, she wouldn't join the Starks."

"Why not? She'd have her older brother and she'd get to be with the guy she loves."

"Because of you. She knows you need your family and she puts her family and her pack over everything else, even her, because that's what a beta does. She would stay in Estes for you. Of course, she wouldn't be living with the pack, but she wouldn't leave Estes."

"But I'd want her to be happy and I know she'd be happy with Stark and Spencer."

"Anna, whatever is meant to happen will happen the way it should. And whatever does happen, you know that you'll have two people who will always be there for you: me and Elsa. We'd never let anything happen to you."

Anna rested her head on my shoulder. "I know. And I'm thankful for that."

"Don't worry about it, okay? Worry about it when and if it comes."
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Spencer

Lily came in with Elsa about five minutes later. I'd been talking to Caleb, telling him an altered version of what had happened in the courtyard. I avoided telling him about me and Elsa kissing because I knew my alpha still was averse to the idea of me dating his little sister. It was terrifying to be in love with a Laroche girl because you not only had to worry about them hurting you if you upset them, but they had two older brothers and parents that would kill for them without hesitation. I like to live life dangerously but hey, even I have my limits.

"Where's Callie?" Elsa inquired.

"She's in her room. She's not coming out much right now. Are you okay? I heard you got in a fight with Hunter," Caleb said, walking over to his sister and hugging her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Arguing with him is normal. Especially recently. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I've been trying to find a way to tell you this for ages because I didn't... I didn't know how to tell you. You've been through so much already between losing Anna and then me leaving and being demoted to omega, and I hate adding one more thing for you to worry about but I feel you deserve to know," Caleb explained.

"Are you leaving?" Elsa asked immediately. It struck me as odd that of all things she could've asked, she was more worried about her brother leaving than anything else.

"No, I'm not leaving. Not until this war is over. Spencer, Lily, and I came across a prophecy about the Laroche pack. Some of the Searcher's know about it. I don't know if mom or dad do. I feel you'd know if they did. But the gist of the prophecy is that a second born of the Laroche pack holds the key to unlocking a lost power of Guardians. I don't know exactly what power they're referring to. I don't know of any long lost Guardian power."

"That doesn't sound so bad right now, so I'm guessing there's a catch?"

Caleb nodded. "The prophecy says for the power to be unlocked, the second born has to be killed."

Elsa blinked. "Wh- why are you telling me this?"

"I'm telling you this because prophecies, they're not always straightforward. It was brought to my attention that there are technically two second-borns in our family. You and me. Chronologically I'm the second in the family, but of the twins, you were the second-born. We think that the prophecy might be referring to you. We don't know for certain but we think the Hunters want to unlock that power for their own use. It's the only explanation about why they're so adamant about killing us. Particularly you and me." When Elsa remained silent, Caleb asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's just... a lot to take in. I want to know what this power is and why the Hunters want to kill us for it, especially if it's unlocked by one of our deaths."

"I don't know. I've been trying to find a way to see if Babatunde knows about it because if he knows about the prophecy, I'm almost positive he would've told your parents."

"Our parents," Elsa corrected.

"Right. Our parents. The only reason I can think of about why he hasn't told them is that if it's about you, they'd never let you out of their sight again. If it's about me, they'd go to every length they could to find me and protect me. I know mom told me she wouldn't come find me but if she thought my life was in danger, you can't tell me she wouldn't try and find me to protect me."

"I know she would."

"Have you talked to her?"

"No... although she's called. I've been meaning to call her back."

"For how long?" Caleb didn't answer, which must've answered Elsa's question. "You'll never be ready. But that doesn't mean you can't call her. Thank you for telling me about the prophecy. I'll see you later, okay?"

Giving Caleb a hug, she left the room. My alpha watched her go.

"Spencer, could you give me some alone time with Caleb?" Lily requested.

"Yeah. I'll go grab food from the kitchen. I'll see you at dinner." I upped and left the room, immediately going after Elsa. She'd taken that way too calmly for her to really be okay with it. Lucky for me, she hadn't gone far. In fact, it seemed she was heading for her room instead of heading back to be with her family. Of course, after what happened earlier, I could understand why she would want to be alone rather than with them.

"Elsa!" I shouted, jogging to catch up with her. She turned around.

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Fine."

"You don't look fine. Talk to me."

She sighed. "I don't know. It's a lot to take in finding out that my death could possibly lead to a long lost power of the Guardians being returned. I just want to know if that power is worth dying for."

"You're not actually considering-" I stopped myself, unable to finish the sentence. "Listen to me, whatever that power is, it is not worth dying for. I don't care if that power gave me immortality. It would not be worth losing you or Caleb over. Do you understand me?"

"I don't want to die Spencer but if that power was for the greater good, it'd be selfish of me to-"

"No," I interrupted. "You'd leave a sister who just got you back. You'd leave devastated parents and sisters and brothers. You'd leave a distraught pack. You'd leave the guy who loves you shattered. You cannot consider it Elsa. What if you die and you're not the one that unlocks the power? I'm not willing to risk that."

"There has to be a way to figure out which one of us it is," she remarked.

"What about a DNA test?" I suggested.

"Spencer, that's brilliant. We need a DNA sample from Caleb. I'll get one from my parents as well because I want to know if we inherited this power from them."

"I'll go tell Caleb what we're planning. I'll do it later though. He and Lily are discussing things. How are you going to get your parents' DNA?"

"I'm stealthy. I'll just grab a hair from their brushes or something."

"All right. Hey, Elsa?"

"Yeah?"

"It's going to be okay. You know that right?"

"I have you and I have my family. I know whatever happens, I'll have you with me," she said. Elsa wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me into a hug. "Thank you for helping me with this."

"I'm always here for you, you know that."

She pulled away from the hug only so she could kiss me. She mumbled an 'I know' sometime during the kiss but I wasn't really focusing on that.

"We should stop before my brother comes," Elsa whispered.

"You initiated it," I laughed.

"Hunter said if I wasn't back in ten minutes he'd come after me. If he catches me kissing you, he'll think that's all I've been doing."

"I wish that was what we'd been doing these past ten minutes," I remarked, giving her another kiss.

"And I wish I hadn't heard that but I guess we don't always get what we want," Hunter growled. "Get the hell off of my sister."

Elsa and I jumped apart guiltily. I prepared myself for a fight because the Laroche alpha looked quite ready to murder me. However, he surprised me by saying, "Elsa, can I talk to you?"

"I'm the omega. I don't have a choice," she retorted. I bit back a grin. I always thought it was stupid the Laroches had made her omega because no matter how hard they tried, Elsa would never conform to the role. "Was what Anna said earlier true?"

"What are you talking about?"

"About you being afraid you'd lose me to the Stark pack."

Hunter sighed. "Yes."

She let out a breathy laugh. "Wow. Just... wow. I can't believe you think I'd leave this pack after all this time. I could've left when I discovered Stark's pack. I could've stayed with the Stark pack when you found out I'd been sneaking out to see them. I could've joined their pack after you took all you did away from me. I could've joined them when they gave me the option to. I could've joined them when dad gave me the option of leaving the pack. But no, Hunter, I stayed. Just like I will always stay. I know I haven't been truthful to you in the past but when am I going to get your trust back? What can I do to get your trust back?"

"You can stop hanging out with them," Hunter replied instantly.

"Please don't ask me to do that," Elsa whispered, tears forming in her eyes.

"What is so special about their pack that you would risk your position in our pack? Just help me understand."

"I can't explain it Hunter. I just can't."

Hunter sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Join them. I'm tired of playing these games with you."

The Laroche alpha walked off.

"What have I done?" Elsa murmured. "I can't keep lying to them Spencer. But if I tell them, Caleb will leave and I don't want to see him go yet. I don't want to lose my brother."

I pulled Elsa into a hug, letting her cry into my chest. "Caleb would never leave you. If you told your family, he'd deal with it. He knows you need him still."

"It's just like when he was home. I was always torn between him and Hunter and it's happening again. I don't want to have to keep choosing between them."

"What's wrong?" Lily demanded worriedly, rushing up to us.

"Elsa can't keep the secret of Caleb much longer. It's tearing her apart from her family," I explained.

"Oh sweetie, come here," Lily said, pulling Elsa into hug. "It's okay. Look, I'll talk to Caleb. He's already taking a big step forward today."

"What do you mean?" Elsa wiped away tears off her face.

"He's calling your mom. Right now."
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Arya

I was sitting on the hidden rooftop garden reading a book when my cellphone rang. I picked it up without bothering to check who was calling. The only people who would be calling me would be my pack because they couldn't find me or someone from work.

"Hello?" I asked.

There was silence for a few moments before a hesitant, "Mom?"

I nearly dropped the phone at the voice I'd been so longing to hear talk to me directly instead of hearing it on his voicemail. "Caleb?"

"Hi..."

"Oh my god, it's really you... you're really calling me. Are you all right? Are you safe?"

"I'm fine. I'm safe as much as I can be with the Hunters and all. How are you and the pack?"

"We're hanging in there. We're at the Academy right now. The Hunters attacked our compound a few too many times. We're trying to find their main building to launch an attack to take them out for good... god I can't believe I'm talking to you. Do you have a pack?"

"Yeah."

"A girlfriend?"

"Yeah. I have a girlfriend. She's wonderful, mom. I have a fantastic second too. He's funny. Kind of reminds me of Riley."

"Good. That's so good. I'm so happy for you. I'm so glad you're all right sweetie," I said, choking up. I waited for him to say something because I was in too much shock to come up with any more questions.

For a few moments, he said nothing. I actually wondered if he'd hung up until he said, "Mom? You know that time you called a strange number someone left for you and you gave a message to a guy to give to me?"

"You got the message right?"

"I did. Because you gave it to me. Directly... I was the guy you were talking to on the phone that day. I-I wasn't ready to talk to you that day. I didn't know what to say. To be honest, I wasn't ready to call you today either but I was told by someone very close that for this conversation, I'd never be ready, especially after what I did to you and dad. I-I wanted to come home the moment I left but I couldn't bear to see the looks on your faces. I thought it was best I leave. Then Hunter wouldn't have to fight for alpha position, Elsa and Ember wouldn't be torn between their two brothers. I didn't deserve to come back. I let you and dad down in watching Anna. She was taken away from you because of me and I'm so... I'm so sorry mom."

"Caleb, listen to me," I ordered. "You were twelve years old fighting against multiple, fully grown Hunters. No Guardian that age could've stopped them. We almost lost you that night too. And yes, we lost Anna that night, but she's back. She's alive. Elsa, Ember, Noah, and these guys named Dom and Spencer, and a girl named Tiana, they rescued her. She's alive Caleb."

"I-I know. Elsa... told me."

"What do you- you've talked to Elsa?"

"Yeah. The Stark pack have met me. When they found out I was her brother, they let her get in touch with me. We've been talking ever since. That's why she's so close to them. Especially Stark. He and I have been through the most together... She never told any of you because I didn't want her to. It was easiest to talk to Elsa because I knew she didn't blame me for Anna's death. I've talked to Anna too. I can't believe she's alive."

"That explains so much... no wonder she was sneaking out a night to see them."

"I would've stopped her if I could've but I knew how important it was to her. I made sure the Stark pack kept a close eye on her. That's why Spencer was sent to watch her. Of course that turned into something more between them I guess."

I chuckled. "Just a little. It's complicated now that Callie's shown up but I still think Spencer's still madly in love with Elsa."

"Mom, what happens if they want to be together? Elsa can't leave the pack and Spencer can't leave his."

"Considering what Elsa's been going through, I have a feeling she'd be more willing to leave the pack than you realize. She's been... having a rough time. Having Anna here though has helped tremendously. Caleb, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"I received flowers on my birthday, Christmas, and Mother's Day, and Elsa and Ember received flowers on their birthdays and Christmas as well. There was never a note left with them and it made me wonder if maybe... if maybe it was you?"

"It was. I couldn't bring myself to talk to any of you in person but I never forgot about you. I figured flowers were the best way to go. I always bought ones for you that had a special meaning."

"Like the daffodils you bought me for my birthday the year you left. They meant new beginnings. And the striped carnations and daisies after Ren got attacked by the Hunters, it meant 'sorry I can't be there with you' and loyal love, right? It was right after I called you."

"I knew you'd figure it out."

"Hunter always thought they were poisoned so he'd always sniff them. All it did was make him sneeze."

Caleb chuckled. "How is Hunter? And Ember? And dad?"

"Hunter's still hot headed although he's dating Josilyn now which has helped his temper. Ember is dating Noah. And of course she's still sassy as ever. Dad is... he's stressed. He's been shot, hit by a car-"

"Dad was hit by a car? Elsa didn't tell me this."

"Yeah, Shiloh and Carrie briefly left the pack but we were keeping an eye on them. Ren knocked Noah out of the way of being hit by a car but got hit in the process himself. Tried to downplay the accident when I talked to him on the phone and then when I arrive to the McKay's house, he's bloodied up and collapsed on the floor. You know how stubborn your father used to be? Well that hasn't changed. In fact I sometimes think it's gotten worse."

"And you're okay?"

"I want to go home. I'm going crazy being in the Academy. But we can't go home until we get this Hunter situation sorted. You're okay too? Really? You're not lying to me to prevent me from coming to find you?"

My son laughed. "No, I promise you I'm okay. My pack takes good care of me."

"Good. I'm glad."

Silence ensued between us for a few seconds before, "Mom? I really miss you."

"Oh honey I miss you too. More than you can ever know."

"I'll come see you again. I promise. I don't know when, but I will. I don't want to see anyone else but you, Elsa, and Anna. I was always the closest to you three and I know that if I introduce myself back to the pack, it's going to cause a lot of problems, more than you're already dealing with and I don't want to do that. And mom? I'm sorry I almost caused you and dad to divorce. I-I didn't know that would... I'm so sorry mom. Please, please forgive me for everything I've done and for everything I've caused."

"There's nothing to forgive you for. I don't blame you for anything. I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I'm sorry we made you feel like running away was the only option for you. I know you have your life now, but if you ever wanted to come back, you are always welcome. You can bring your pack. God knows we have the room to keep them. Can we talk again soon?"

"Definitely. You can call me whenever you want. I promise I'll pick up as long-"

"As you can find your phone?" I finished.

"Yeah," he laughed. "If I don't pick up the first time, try one or two more times. I love you mom. I love you so much," Caleb whispered.

"I love you too sweetie. I'll talk to you soon, okay?" I hung up with my son, barely able to comprehend that after almost eight years of wondering whether Caleb was alive and well, I had finally been able to talk to him. It was too much for me to take. I needed to talk to Elsa and Anna, and I needed to tell Ren and Hunter why Elsa had been doing what she'd been doing. Then maybe I could convince my husband to let our daughter have her beta position back. Then maybe our daughter might actually start feeling like she belonged in our pack again.
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Merry Christmas :)