Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:
"My skin came alive under his fingers, every touch an electric crackle through my veins."
~Calla Tor, Wolfsbane
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Chapter 51

After my meeting with my brothers, I went and ate dinner with Anna. Once we were stuffed, the two of us relaxed in our room. I wanted to tell my sister about what went down in the meeting but I knew Caleb didn't invite her for a reason so I said nothing about it, but it was eating at me not telling her. I tried to distract myself by watching videos on YouTube, by reading the news, and even by cleaning my room. Thankfully someone did come to distract me.

Spencer knocked on our door before entering. He came in rubbing the back of his head.

"Could you two come to Caleb's room?" He asked sheepishly.

"Yeah, of course," I said.

"Is he okay?" Anna inquired as the three of us walked over to Caleb's room.

"Um, we have a bit of situation that he doesn't know how to handle and he wanted some help with it," Spencer replied.

"What's the situation?" I asked.

"Some of the kids from your pack found out about Caleb being here."

"Who?"

Spencer opened the door. "All of them."

All the heads of my pack mates, with the exception of Ember and Hunter, turned around to look at me and Anna. She and I stared back in shock. Caleb's head poked out from behind the wall.

"Glad you could join me. Us. Uh, they kind of wanted to hear your story, Elsa, about how you found me."

"I see. Okay, well, it all began at dance, when a new guy with a dashing smile joined my dance class," I began, giving a sideways glance at my boyfriend who was smirking down at me.
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I was telling my story and answering questions for about two hours. Thea and Riley kept making sarcastic comments in the beginning about Spencer being an idiot for not listening to them to stay away from my pack because they said 'look at all the trouble it's caused you since' to which Spencer replied, "Worth it."

"Are you coming back to stay now?" Thea queried.

"No. Once this war is over, Spencer, Lily, and I are heading back to Canada," Caleb responded. The entire pack raised their voices in protest.

"What about LaBarnes?!" Gracie demanded.

"LaBarnes?" my brother repeated, cocking his head in confusion.

"Elsa Laroche plus Spencer Barnes equals LaBarnes. What's going to happen to them?"

"We're going to figure that out when the time comes," I said. "We have a war to focus on right now."

"You're not in the pack. You don't have to make decisions based off of us."

"That's just it. I've been given the option to join the pack after the war, when my loyalties won't be split anymore."

"You're coming back!" Laurel exclaimed gleefully.

"I am."

"But you have the choice to go be with the guy love. What's keeping you with us?" Diana questioned.

"Family."

"Caleb's your family. Lily is like your family and let's be honest here, with the way her and Caleb's relationship is going, she's going to really be family. Then there's Spencer, the guy you've been in love with for ages and just now started dating," Thea pointed out.

"The family I've grown up with and the family I need to stay with is here. Besides, I've already talked to Josilyn. She wants me to be her beta when I come back to the pack, and as a beta, I have to make the best decision for the pack."

"You could say no," Gracie remarked.

"I could, but my morals won't let me. Caleb, Lily, Spencer... they've survived without me all these years."

"Why can't Spencer move here with us?" Riley chimed in.

"As much as I'd love that, I can't. I can't leave Lily and Caleb," Spencer answered.

"You two need to get your shit together," my pack mate muttered.

"What if all three of you moved down back to Estes?" Sebastian suggested.

"The Southern Compound is all built up again," Noah said, shocking everyone by actually saying something.

"That's supposed to be Hunter's pack's, meaning you guys," Caleb said.

"Your dad said if you ever wanted to come back, the pack would welcome you with open arms," Diana said.

"Isn't that the same day he called it treason to continue looking for him?" Noah asked.

"Not helping," Thea growled. He grinned at her.

"Guys, I'm glad you want me back. Honestly, you have no idea how worried I was about how you would react if you found out I was back, but I'm not staying. I have a new life up in Canada, and it's a really good one. But now that you all know me again and if you want me to come down and visit, I will. I won't hide from you guys a second time."

"We want you to. And you know what, if Ember doesn't, then she's outvoted anyway," Thea declared.

"Thanks for the support," Caleb laughed. "Although I'd prefer having my sister support me coming back."

"I'm working on her," Noah said. "But you know her, she's stubborn."

"Aren't all Laroches?" Riley remarked.

"Shut up," Caleb, Anna, and I said simultaneously.

"Hey guys, Ember said there's a meeting being held in five minutes in the meeting hall. We should get going," Noah informed, staring down at his phone. Reluctantly we all got up. Caleb threw his arms over mine and Anna's shoulders, whispering thank you for coming to his aid. Upon arriving at the dining hall, I expected my brother to shift into his massive wolf form, but to everyone's surprise, he didn't.

"What? There's no point now that over half the pack knows who I am. Loren didn't recognize me when he saw me so the other adults probably won't either," he said. We entered the dining hall to find all the adults already gathered. Ember and Hunter were talking to mom and dad. I was surprised to see mom up and standing as she'd been trying to rest to heal faster. Besides looking rather pale, she looked good considering what she went through. Her eyes immediately rested on Caleb, a smile breaking out on her face. All the adults watched as my parents walked up to Caleb and hugged him. Half of them appeared to be trying to figure out who Caleb was, the other half appeared to have figured it out with their mouths half open.

"Welcome back son," dad said.

"Thanks dad," Caleb said. Ember simply stared at him with her arms crossed. Hunter shook Caleb's hand.

"So what are we all here for?" Lily inquired, causing everyone to take their place at the table.

It was Babatunde who spoke up. "We have gathered enough intel on the Hunters to send out an official team to strike them down. This will be a mass attack that will involve both Searchers and Guardians alike. I've talked to each of you about the roles you are to be in, but so everyone knows, I shall announce it officially. Strikers will be on the front lines and will be our first line of defense. They are the following: Arya, Ren, Shiloh, Loren, Reyna, Erin, Sam, Dean, Rigg, Caleb, Hunter, Lilly, Spencer, Dom, Dmitri, Ember, and Noah. The defenders are behind the Strikers and will take care of anyone that slips past the Strikers. They are: Carrie, Nancy, Derek, Thea, Riley, Diana, Gracie, and Jake. The Sweepers will be in charge of protecting our Weavers. They are: Casey, Taki, Frank, Akira, Sebastian, Barry, Laurel, and Oliver. We'll have two Healers, Melinda and Josilyn, who will be in charge of helping injured warriors coming back from the battle. If we win this, the Hunters will be as good as done. This is their major hub. We take down this, we wipe out over eighty percent of their numbers."

"What about Elsa and Anna?" Spencer asked.

"They have a special mission. They're the Stealth Team. They're job is to sneak into the building and release the hostages. They're taking two people as back up," Babatunde explained.

"I volunteer to join them," Dom said.

"Count me in as well. We have plenty of Strikers on the team from the Guardian side," Spencer pointed out. "And we know that the four of us work well together."

"Spencer, Babatunde has already decided who's going with me and Anna," I said gently.

"Who?" he demanded.

"Jason Argent, the weapons trainer, and Kit Lane, Ethan and Sabine's son."

"Why them?"

"There is a high probability they will encounter security doors that they will need to break through and force won't do it. Kit is the best tech expert we have and Jason will make sure nothing happens to any of them. He's one of our most seasoned veterans," Babatunde answered.

"They can blow the doors off. She knows how to work a grenade launcher."

"Since when do you know how to work a grenade launcher?" Caleb asked.

"Do we want to know how you know how to use a grenade launcher?" Hunter added.

"Since I rescued Anna. I kind of pulled a weapon out and fired it at the Hunters. I didn't know what it did and it turned out to be a grenade launcher," I said with a shrug.

"You're okay working with people you've never worked with before?" Spencer questioned.

"I know Kit very well. He's practically family. Jason has been training me pretty much since I came to the Academy. I trust both of them to protect me and Anna if the two of us cannot protect ourselves. I know you and I-"

"I made a promise to Caleb that I'd look out for you. I can't do that if I'm not with you."

"You made that promise when I didn't know who your alpha was and when I was still sneaking out by myself. I don't need your protection anymore."

"Okay, why don't you two have this argument later? This isn't exactly a place for a quarrel's couple," Dom said calmly.

"You're brave to intervene between these two," Thea commented.

"He's brave to be dating a Laroche girl," Riley added.

"You two are brave because you keep rambling your pie holes," Anna said, raising her eyebrows at them.

"We leave in three days. Adults, you have your own methods of preparing for battles. You've been through enough to know. Kids, I can't tell you how to prepare for a battle, how to calm your nerves. You'll have to figure that out on your own. But if there are any grudges you hold, any arguments you may be having, I would suggest you get those resolved, that you move past them. You would not want one of your family to die and have the last words you said to them be harsh," Babatunde admonished.

The head of the Academy dismissed us. I went after Spencer but he managed to be the first one to slip out of the room. I lost him in the swarm of people. I shifted forms and followed his scent to his room. I guess I should've figured that's where he went but in a place this size...

I knocked on his door, but it seemed like ages before he actually opened it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Cleaning my room" he answered.

"We need to talk."

"Those are never good words to hear in a relationship," he mumbled, moving aside to let me in.

"I want to continue that discussion."

"You're right."

"Right about what?" I responded in confusion.

"About you not needing my protection. You're right."

I blinked at him. "Arguments typically don't end that easily."

"I don't want us to be fighting right before a battle. I know what it feels like to lose someone and have your last words to them be hurtful."

Instead of saying something, I walked up to hug him. My boyfriend welcomed me with open arms.

"I'm not going anywhere," I whispered. He only hugged me tighter.

"I'll feel better about you going on the mission if you promise to take a grenade launcher with you," he said.

I laughed, pulling away. "It's my favorite weapon."

Spencer brushed a piece of hair out of my face. "What are you going to do after the war?"

"I'm going back to Estes. For my pack. For Anna. For Josilyn. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going back to Canada with Caleb and Lily. I can't leave them. I'm the only pack member they have," he replied. We smiled sadly at each other. "But I'm going to come down as often as I can to see you because I don't want to lose you. Not yet."

"It'll take more than distance to do that. Well, I'll let you get back to cleaning. I'll see you later?"

My boyfriend nodded. He leaned down and kissed me. I knew it was only supposed to be a brief goodbye kiss but for some reason, I wanted it to be more than that. Spencer pulled away and escorted me to the door, opening it for me. I'd barely taken a step outside when I whirled back around saying, "Do you remember the night we rescued Anna, and I shoved you inside your room to talk to you, and you said last time that a girl did that to you, it led to heavy make-out session?"

"Yeah, why?" he responded.

I heard my heart pounding in my chest as I said, "And I told you later?"

A cocky smirk appeared on his face. Spencer shifted positions in such a way that I knew he knew exactly where I was going with this. His answer was, "Vividly."

I shoved him into his room, shutting the door and locking it for privacy. I strode over to him as I said, "It's later."
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Finally the battle is almost upon us! Reviews would be lovely :)