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Chapter Quote:
"We're just a bunch of wild animals."
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Chapter 44

Spencer

"I'd ask what you were doing last night, but considering Dom's scent is all over you, I think it answers my question," Elsa remarked.

I'd never seen Anna blush so furiously. "Oh god. And that's after I showered. Twice."

"I think you're going to need a third. Possibly a fourth."

"Dom probably smells too," I said.

"Excuse you, I smell just fine," Dom said indignantly as he walked up to us.

"Excuse you, you smell like Anna."

"Excuse me, I need to go shower. Again." Dom turned around only to bump directly into Loren Hess. I'd never really talked to him much but he seemed like a nice guy if he liked you.

"Your shower will have to wait. Pack meeting in the dining hall," Loren announced. He glanced up and down at Dom suspiciously. "Why do smell like Anna?"

"Oh, uh, she and I were wrestling earlier," Dom replied. The twins and I bit back grins. Nice cover, I thought.

"I see. Well get going. I need to go get Riley. Any idea where he is?"

"Probably raiding the kitchen," Elsa responded.

"I should've figured. I'll see you soon." Loren left and we got up.

"I wonder what the meeting's about?" Anna mused.

"Maybe we've finally decided to go after the Hunters," Elsa said.

"They know most of the Hunters' locations, they just are trying to figure out what the main building is because take that out and you take out their central communications network. They'll become disarrayed and because it's such a large network of people, it'll take a while to get reorganized," Dom explained.

"Well then I'm hoping they figured out the main building," Elsa said. "I want to go home and be in my own bed."

The four of us entered the dining hall where most of our pack was already waiting, including Caleb in wolf form, Lily, and Callie. The latter glared at Elsa when we came in but said nothing.

"Is everyone here?" Babatunde queried, looking around.

"We are now. Had a hell of time finding these two," Loren answered, jerking his thumb towards Riley and Thea. They hastily made their way to empty spots at the table.

"Now that everyone's here, I think it's time to talk." Babatunde rubbed his head. "It's been brought to my attention that there is... uneasiness about a certain member of your pack being here in the Academy. At first it was only a couple people talking about it, but now I'm getting complaints left and right and can no longer hold them at bay."

"Which one of our pack members is causing trouble?" Ren asked.

"They're not doing anything. It's just the fact that they're here that's causing unrest."

"That didn't answer my husband's question," Arya pointed out.

Baba sighed. "It's Anna. They're worried about Anna."

"Why the hell are they worried about Anna?" Elsa demanded immediately.

"Because she was tortured and brainwashed by the Hunters and worked for them," he told her. It seemed he'd had that answer ready. I guess he knew if anyone in the group argued, it would be Elsa, putting up a fight for her sister.

"Do they think she's still working for them or something?" Dom inquired furiously.

"There has been... question about that."

"I'd like to see the evidence they have for this ridiculous accusation," Elsa said, her temper flaring dangerously high. I could hear her heart pounding in her chest. By the looks everyone else was giving her, I was sure they did too.

"Well she was working for them for seven years," Callie piped up. I groaned inwardly. I didn't want her getting involved. The Laroche pack would eat her alive.

"You shut up," my girlfriend snapped.

"Don't talk to her like that," Lily ordered.

Elsa stared down my alpha. "I might be dating your second but you are not my alpha and I will challenge anyone who dares accuse my sister of working for the Hunters."

"I'm just saying she worked for the Hunters and considering what they've done to your family recently, I'm surprised you're not more worried about this," Callie said.

"Funny. I remember you working for the Hunters as well."

"A year is a lot different than seven."

"But you still worked for the Hunters just like her. I see you being more of a traitor than her."

"That's because you don't like me."

"You're not wrong, but what proof do you have that my sister is a traitor to us and is still working for the Hunters?"

"How about the fact that it was your brother that was drugged and Anna is the one that was chosen to go interrogate the guy that did it?"

"Because I used to be an interrogator for the Hunters. I'm good at getting information out of people without getting physical and if physical encouragement's needed, that's what Dom is for. But just because it was my brother that was drugged is circumstantial. It still could've been you that did it," Anna growled.

"Oh yes, because I can do so much in a locked room."

"It's called Guardian hearing. It's not exactly like we were quiet about going out to the club that night and the guy didn't slip a drug in Hunter's drink immediately so the people who forced him to drug Hunter had to have had a late inform."

"What would I get out of working for the Hunters and having them drug your brother?"

"Well you do hate my sister and since you can't hurt her, you go to the people who can. Her family. And what better way than her alpha brother?"

"You seem to know a lot about this."

"No, I just know you. Plus you forget that I know more about Hunters than you do. I know their tactics. I know why they do what they do. It's not hard to figure out. I already told Babatunde my theories as has Dom. But until you have physical evidence against me, which by the way you're not going to find any because I'm not doing anything wrong, then come find me. Until then, shut up and leave me and my family alone."

"Are you not going to control your omega and her twin?" Callie asked Hunter.

"No, because I find your claims just as ludicrous as they do," the future Laroche alpha replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "In fact, I think your alphas need to be making you hold their tongue."

"As long as she's not attacking anybody physically, she's allowed to speak her mind. But the outcome of this I believe is not going to be up to us," Lily said, glancing over at Babatunde. "You didn't just call us here for a meeting to alert us to what's being said about Anna."

"No I did not. Because of the volume of complaints, I am being forced to do something." I felt Elsa bristle at his words. She, along with everyone else in the room, was expecting bad news. "To allay the fears of the other Searchers, I've been given no choice but to put Anna in a cell."

Outrage. Complete and utter outrage. Everyone on the Laroche side was shouting except for Anna and Elsa. The former turned to her sister in support, but the latter was in too much shock to do or say anything. Hunter was demanding to meet with the Searchers who were accusing Anna of treason. Ember wanted to join him. Josilyn's had tears falling down her face while her brother hugged her. Riley wanted to deck the Searchers, Thea wanted to deck Callie. The others were shouting and saying things I couldn't understand. At one point, Caleb shifted but only for a second. He did without realizing it. That's when I knew how irate he was about the whole situation.

"Enough!" Ren barked. The room instantly died down, everyone staring at the head Laroche alpha. His eyes met everyone else's before he spoke again, daring them to say something. Anna did.

"Look, if it helps allay the fears of the other Searchers, then I'll do it," she announced.

Ren turned to Babatunde and said, "If you want to lock Anna up, then you're going to have to lock Callie up too. She worked for the Hunters just like my daughter, she was brainwashed and tortured just like my daughter. If you don't comply, we will leave the Academy."

"Where would we go Ren? Last time we were home, you got shot, among other things," Shiloh pointed out.

"Arya and I have a plan. We always do. We've had this one ready since we came to the Academy as we know that not everyone supports Babatunde supporting us. But this is your call Babatunde. Either you lock both Callie and Anna up or we take our leave."

The Academy leader turned to my alphas. Before he could even ask, Lily said, "If it will make the Laroche's stay, then we will agree."

"What?!" Callie exclaimed.

"We need the Laroches to stick around and I'm sure you'll only be in the cell for a short amount of time. Callie, we need you to do this," Lilly said gently.

"But I'm not a threat!"

"That's exactly what someone who was a threat would say," Riley commented.

"Hey, don't talk to her like that," I snapped.

"Uh, you do?"

"She's my pack, not yours."

"But you're dating someone from our pack which means we're unofficially packs."

"No, it means I'm dating someone from another pack."

"But Elsa and Anna can?"

"Callie was talking and arguing with them directly. They had a right to respond. Yours was uncalled for."

"He's right Riley. Drop the subject," Hunter ordered.

"Very well. I will get two cells ready for Anna and Callie. I promise you they will be in good hands and they will be well taken care of. You can go see them whenever you like," Babatunde said. He motioned for guards to come escort Anna and Callie down to the cells. Elsa watched in shock as her sister was led away in handcuffs. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and promised, "It'll be okay."

"How do you know that?" Elsa countered, not looking up at me.

"I don't know how...I just do."

"Exactly. You don't know. Don't make promises you can't keep." She shrugged off my arm and walked out of the room. I wanted to go after her but figured she didn't want to talk. At least not to me.

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Elsa

Spencer hadn't deserved my outburst. He'd only been trying to comfort me and I knew that, but I was too upset about the situation, not to mention angry. Angry at Babatunde for locking my sister up and even angrier at Callie for accusing my sister in the first place of being a traitor. For some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that Callie had started the rumor and spread it around the place somehow.

"Elsa!" Caleb called out. I turned around. My brother came running up to me, placing his hands on my shoulders. "We're going to get her out of there. Mom and dad are already talking to Babatunde about it. He believes Anna's innocent and is going to convince the other Searchers she is as well. I'm going to talk to him as well, see what I can do to help. Don't worry, okay?"

"It just feels that I'm losing her again right after I got her back."

"Hey, hey, hey, you're not going to lose her again. She's right downstairs. You can go see her anytime you want."

"I don't want to see my sister locked up like some criminal when she's innocent!"

Caleb pulled me into a hug. "We're going to get her out of there. I promise."

I nodded into his chest. "You need to change. Hunter and dad are watching us."

"I don't care if they see us. Taking care of you is more important than them seeing me."

"I love you," I told him with a smile.

"I love you too." Caleb kissed me on the head and walked off, shifting into a wolf. Hunter and dad walked up to me.

"Who was that?" Dad asked.

"Stark. He was making sure I was okay," I answered.

"Are you?" Hunter queried.

"I'll be fine once we get Anna out of that cell."

"And we're going to do that," Dad promised. "Your mom and I are working on that right now. For now, go see Anna. I'm sure she's going to need your support in this. Despite how well she handled it, I'm sure she's freaking out."

"I don't want to see her locked up... she's not a criminal," I said.

"You can go in the cell with her. Baba showed me a picture of the cell she's in and it's more just a room with a barred door than anything else. She doesn't have a phone or computer either. Hunter, take Elsa down there. I'll see you later, okay sweetie?" Dad gave me a hug and went back to the dining hall while the rest of my pack filed out. Hunter walked with me to down to the dungeon and to the cell Anna was in. Dad had been right. It really was just a room with a barred door and security guards on either side. They allowed me entry into Anna's room. She was watching a show on TV.

"Elsa!" She exclaimed when she saw me. Anna jumped out of bed and hugged me. "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay? You're the one locked up in a cell," I said.

"Baba had his reasons. Besides, I'll be out of here in no time. I trust mom and dad. Don't worry about me okay? I'm fine."

"I lost you once Anna. I don't want that to happen again."

"It's not. I'm here to stay this time. Now, what do you say we watch some TV?"

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Later that night...

It was eleven when I decided to head back to my own room. Anna was dead tired and I respected that she needed sleep. Saying good night to my sister, I left her cell and went to my room. I showered and put on my pajamas. The moment I laid down in bed, I sat back up. Guilt washed over me by how I'd treated Spencer earlier when he'd just been trying to console me. I got back up, going to his room. Upon knocking on his door, I heard a muffled "Come in!"

I poked my head into his room. Spencer was sprawled out on his bed. He lifted his head up when he saw me. He smiled sleepily at me. "Hey you. You okay?"

"Yeah, I wanted to come apologize for earlier. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I know you were trying to help. If it'd been anyone else that it'd happened to, I wouldn't have done that but because it's Anna, I... no, I shouldn't have done that, especially to you."

"Elsa come here." Spencer sat up, holding his arm out for me. I sat on his bed and he pulled me towards him. "Anna is your twin and you've already lost her once. You don't want to lose her again and if anyone jeopardizes that, you're going to be upset. She matters so much to you and anyone or anything that matters to you, matters to me. I won't let anything happen to her. I promise."

"I've wanted to fight in this war for so long because I thought I could finally get vengeance and justice for my sister but after everything that has happened, I'm realizing that these people have taken so much from my family and I don't want them taking anymore. I don't want to lose any more family or friends."

"We're warriors. Fighting is what we're best at. None of us will come out of this unscathed, and I know you never like being lied to so I'm not going to sugarcoat this: none of us will really be the same after. But no matter what, in the end, we'll still have our family to help us get through whatever it is we're going through. We're Guardians, we take care of our pack."

"The war did bring me some things. It brought me a brother, it brought me a sister-in-law, and it brought me you," I said, looking up at him.

He smiled down at me. "See? Silver-lining to everything. But what do you mean by sister-in-law? Lily and Caleb aren't married."

"Oh surely you know?"

"Know what?"

I propped myself up on my elbow. "You seriously don't know?"

"Know what?!"

"Caleb's going to ask Lily to marry him."

"What?! When?!" Spencer demanded, jolting up into sitting position.

"I don't know but he hasn't proposed yet. I only found out because I found the ring."

Spencer frowned at me. "You have a scary habit of finding rings. You know, if I'm the guy you end up marrying, I'm going to have to buy your ring the day I'm going to propose so you don't end up finding it."

I laughed. "Considering you're the first guy I've ever been with and I'm nineteen years old, my dating future doesn't look all that promising."

"I'm honored to be your first. I have a feeling you wouldn't just date the first guy to give you a compliment."

"You're right. And there's more to relationships to me than just sex. I mean, don't get me wrong, that stuff is extremely fun from the stuff Ember has told me that I did not want to hear, but a relationship is more than just physical."

"I think the problem is, with some relationships, the couple doesn't know how to talk."

"I couldn't dream of being in a relationship where my partner didn't know how to talk to me." I lay back down. "However, I certainly feel better now thanks to you, not to mention tired. I know I woke you up from slumber when I knocked. I'll let you get some sleep."

"Stay with me tonight. You've had a rough day."

"Every time we stay in the same bed together, I end up kicking you relentlessly in my sleep," I remarked.

Spencer laughed. "I can handle it. I usually sleep through it if I fall asleep before you."

I lay down, resting my head on his chest. "I love you."

He kissed me on my head. "I love you too."

I closed my eyes, not knowing the hell that was about to arise a few hours later.
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