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Chapter Quote:
"Easy things are worthless... It's the hard things that matter."
~Andrea Cremer, Invisibility
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Chapter 53

Josilyn

After the meeting, the pack dispersed save for Hunter and Caleb, who were speaking with their parents about something. I could've stayed and listened in since I was technically the future Laroche alpha, but not wanting to intrude, I strolled through the Academy, ending up in the garden. I sat in front of the fountain, staring at the trickling water and letting my mind roam which was a terrible idea with everything we were going up against.

I feared for my packs' lives because I knew we weren't going to escape this without any casualties. But I couldn't bring myself to imagine who it might be. There were certain people I knew that would make it out alive. The twins were at the top of that list. Elsa and Anna had survived too much to let something like this kill them. Besides, now that they had each other again, they were even deadlier together than they were apart. Even having been separated for over a decade, they still fought side-by-side like nothing had ever changed. If one of them didn't make it, I genuinely feared for the sanity of the other. Anna's death had sent Elsa into a downward spiral, causing an on-again-off-again depression and she threw herself into activities that hardly gave her time to spend time with her family, the people who could've helped her; if Anna died now, while Elsa had Spencer to lean on now, I still feared how badly she'd take it.

As for Anna, she had just gotten her twin back after Elsa being the only person she truly remembered even after the Hunters brainwashed her so if Elsa died, Anna wouldn't take it well. Elsa had been her rock when she'd first arrived and had been the one to spearhead the rescue effort to get her when she was taken by the Hunters for a second time. Anna had the entire pack behind her but she was nowhere near as close to any of us as she was to Elsa at the moment. She needed her twin.

My next thought as to who would survive was Lily. The only reason I believed she would survive was because she's too stubborn to do anything but. She was ferocious, to the point where I wondered if she even had the ability to defeat Arya in battle. I would still put my money on Arya because while Lily might have speed and/or strength, my alpha had experience under her belt and had learned that cunning could be just as effective in a fight as brawn.

As much as I hated to admit it, it was up in the air about Hunter. Whether he would live or die, I didn't know. He was going to be leading the charge with Ren, Arya, Lily, Caleb, and Spencer (who would be taking my place as alpha in the lead charge). If he saw one of his pack mates about to be hit by a bullet or a weapon, he would jump in front of them without hesitation. I also knew he was going to be keeping an eye on Caleb because although he wouldn't tell me much about it, I had a feeling he was worried about Caleb not making it through the fight.

On the topic of Caleb, I was worried about him not making it through. He hadn't fought side-by-side with a full pack since he left us, and even then he'd never been in a true battle with us. He was used to fighting with just Spencer and Lily and that could have consequences. If Elsa and Anna were by his side, it might be a different story because they kept an eye on him, especially the former, but they were on their own secret mission before joining the main battle.

My next thought went to Spencer. He and I weren't necessarily close but I still cared about him, and I loved how much he loved Elsa. He'd been good for her and through thick and thin, no matter what had been thrown at them, he stayed by her side. He even risked his life to come check on her. But I worried about his fate in the battle. He didn't like being separated from Elsa because he'd promised Caleb that he'd protect her when Caleb wasn't around and I was certain he felt like he was failing on his promise even though I know his alpha was okay with it. I was worried that with him being distracted, he would lose his alertness and get hit. But he was strong and fast and someone who had the ability take down any of the strongest wolves in my pack so with that thought firmly planted in my head, I decided he would live.

Then there was Dom. I didn't know him well, but he'd done a lot for a pack, more than I think we even realized. He'd been there for Anna when we hadn't. But he was human. He wasn't near as fast as us, his eyesight, hearing, and reflexes weren't the same as ours even though I had to say his reflexes were pretty damn good. I also had to give him credit for his strength because those muscles of his were big. He was in perfect shape so he had that going for him. Another strongpoint of his was that he'd once been a Hunter, so he knew their methods and styles of fighting so I had a strong feeling that he would survive.

Ember and Noah were fighting together and neither of them would let the other get hurt so even though I of course was naturally worried about their wellbeing, I wasn't too worried about them not coming back.

As for the rest of my pack, I was unsure of their fate. Thea and Riley would live. I just couldn't see them not making it out of this alive. I worried about the younger wolves who were protecting the Weavers. Only the strongest of the Hunters would make it past our ranks and if our strongest couldn't stop them, then how could our youngest? But we had Searchers helping us and I had to believe they would protect my pack as if they were their own brethren.

Arya worried me the most. She'd made almost a full recovery from when she was attacked, but I, along with everyone else in the pack, could tell she still wasn't on par with everyone else. Melinda, Shiloh, and Dean were the only adults in the pack who shared the same blood type as Arya so blood transfusions had been needed to get her strength up even more. The twins, Caleb, Spencer, and Gracie had the same blood type as her too, but the adults wanted the kids to have as much strength as possible for the upcoming battle even though we'd had no idea when it was going to be at the time.

Arya still insisted on fighting though and being an alpha, no one but Ren dared challenge her. They'd apparently had a debate about it but it was obvious who'd won that since Arya was helping lead the charge.

Ren wouldn't let anything happen to his wife so if he didn't make it, it would be because he died protecting Arya.

My dad would live. Of that I had no doubt. So would Loren. My mom and Melinda would live too, but I worried they would get hurt pretty badly as Melinda was one of the weaker adults and my mom was one of the adults who didn't like confrontation. As you can probably guess, I took on completely after my mom.

I wasn't sure about the other adults, who would live and who wouldn't. And I couldn't bring myself to decide who wouldn't make it through.

"Josie, stop thinking about whatever you're thinking about. Your heartrate is beating way too fast for someone with your heart condition," Elsa's voice piped up from behind me. "What's going on?"

"Just thinking about the battle," I admitted. "Wondering who's going to make it and who's not."

"I know. I've been thinking about it too," she said sitting down next to me on the bench. "But you can't think like that. It will drive you mad."

"I know, but you and I both know our pack isn't going to get out of this without some casualties."

"We just have to hope that the casualties won't be fatal and that they'll be minimal. I'm fully expecting for most of us to be hurt in some way, shape or form."

"I'm scared about who we're going to lose..."

"And that's okay. We all are, even if we're not all saying that." Elsa paused, glancing down at her hands in her lap before saying, "I dreamed of killing the Hunters as revenge for Anna's death. When I got her back, I dreamed of killing them for what they did to her because she's told me some of the torture she went through and I can't... I can never repeat it just because of how horrible it is. But now, with the battle finally coming up, I'm scared to death of the people that we might lose. We might lose no one, we might lose all of our family, we may lose a few or half or any number. And that terrifies me because I just got my family back. It's cracked and still kind of broken but I finally have all my siblings under one roof and I can't remember the last time that happened really. But I also know that if I don't participate in this war, then the Hunters will never stop pursuing us and we may lose people in this battle, but we would lose everyone in the future if we let them live or remain free. That idea is what's keeping me going and keeping my fear of losing people at bay. Maybe it'll work for you too."

"We may never get a chance to watch Pride and Prejudice again so do you want to maybe grab Anna and watch it in your room?" I suggested with a small smile.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." We stood up and wrapped our arms around each other's shoulders. We made our way to her room where Anna met us with the DVD in hand.
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Hunter

I couldn't find Josilyn anywhere. I wanted to spend time with her before tomorrow night because in the event that I might not return, I wanted my last memory to be with her. I checked our room, the garden, the kitchen, and the dining hall, and she was nowhere to be seen. I tried following her scent but it was all over the Academy so it was hard to pick out which one was the freshest. I ended up texting her and she quickly replied that she was in Elsa's room with the twins and some of the girls. She also added in a second text an unusual request: bring blankets and pillows. I chose to listen to my girlfriend so grabbing the blankets and pillows out of our room, I made my way to my sister's room. I had to knock with my foot because my hands were full.

"Hey Hunter, glad you brought blankets! We're running out of room on mine," Gracie chirped.

As I followed her in, I asked, "What's going on in here?"

When I dumped the blankets and pillows on the floor, I found my answer. The TV was playing Pride and Prejudice with Elsa, Anna, and Josilyn on Elsa's bed, and Gracie, Diana, and Laurel on the floor on blankets and pillows.

"What's they hype about this movie?" I inquired, watching as Keira Knightley walked around the room with some red-head.

"It's just romantic and Keira's character is just sassy and smart and it's a pretty believable story. At least for the time period it's set in," Josilyn said.

"Can I join?"

"Yeah of course. Here, sit behind me." Josilyn scooted forward while I sat behind her. She proceeded to lean up against my chest. Barely five minutes later, there was another knock. Gracie got up again. Akira, Thea, and Ember appeared with more blankets, pillows, and now snacks.

"Yes!" Elsa exclaimed, leaping off the bed and grabbing the S'mores goldfish from her sister. "I love you!"

"I have a whole bag full of snacks so what does everyone want? Take your pick. I also grabbed water since I figured that was the safest route to go because I can never keep straight in my head who likes what soda," Ember remarked, setting a massive duffel bag on the floor.

"I heard there was a movie party going on in here?" Riley poked his head in the door. "We bring blankets, pillows, and treats."

"Who else is there?" Thea queried.

"Noah, Dmitri, Barry, and Sebastian. The others are on their way."

"Come on in!" Anna called out. The boys entered the room, staring at the floor as they tried to figure out where they were going to sit. Noah made a beeline next to Ember. My sister sat down in his lap. She still didn't have a ring on her finger so I wondered when Noah was going to ask Ember to marry him.

"When you told me half your pack was here, I didn't realize you meant that half your pack was actually here," Spencer laughed.

"W have jars of Nutella, a few loaves of bread, and plates and knives. We also have a few jars of marshmallow fluff," Dom announced.

"I love you," Elsa and Anna said simultaneously.

"God it's weird to hear you two doing that again," I mused.

Spencer and Dom made their way over to the bed, getting in the same setup as me and Josilyn with their girlfriends. We were all settled in and relaxed until there was another knock. It ended up being the remainder of our pack: Jake and Oliver.

"Sorry we're late. We ran into Caleb and Lily who seemed a little... preoccupied by something," Jake informed, plopping down onto the ground.

Elsa smiled causing me to ask her if she knew what was up. She simply nodded.

"Maybe when they're done doing whatever it is they're doing they can join us," Josie said.

"If Caleb comes in here, I'm leaving," Ember stated.

"You're still not talking to him?" Noah asked.

"Yes, and you know that."

"I thought you would've started at least trying to forgive him by now."

"No, he hurt Elsa and mom to a degree he has no idea. I don't plan on forgiving him anytime soon."

"But he's going to be my brother-in-law."

"I love that Hunter and Josilyn are getting married but I apologize that you're going to have Caleb as a brother-in-law."

"Ember, he's your family. I've forgiven him and even Hunter has. Why won't you?" Elsa groaned.

"Because I can't forgive people for hurting my family easily, even if they're family members."

"So what are you going to do at Hunter and Josilyn's wedding?" Noah inquired. "You can't not attend your brother's wedding."

"I'll avoid him like the plague. I've been doing pretty well with him being here, haven't I?"

"I'm going to assume you're talking about me," Caleb said softly. We all looked up at him. He and Lily stood hand-in-hand in the doorway. The latter was flushed in the face but none of us knew why except for Elsa, Anna, and Spencer.

"Did you two-" Elsa began but she stopped when Lily nodded furiously. I'd never seen the female Stark alpha so excited. The twins and Spencer beamed with smiles so bright, that I could only take a wild guess that Caleb had asked her to marry him.

"I'm leaving," Ember declared, standing up.

"Em, wait. I have a question for you," Noah protested.

"You can ask later."

"No, I need to ask it now," Noah said firmly, standing up. His tone caused her to turn around, a look of annoyance on her face. I tried to calm my breathing because I was getting excited about the prospect of what my second was about to do.

"Look, Caleb is family, and he's going to be my brother-in-law soon. And I'm sorry but you'll have to miss your own wedding because I'm inviting him to our wedding."

Ember must not have immediately comprehended what he said because she turned around and had taken a foot towards the door saying, "He's not coming to our wedding because-"

Then she paused, facing her boyfriend again. "What do you mean our wedding?"

"I mean we have to get through the war first and recuperate from the war, and first you'd have to say yes," Noah rambled.

"Noah. What on earth are you talking about?" Ember stated.

"I'm talking about this." Noah pulled out a white velvet box, got down on one knee, and opened the box up to show a glittering sapphire ring. "Ember Jacqueline Laroche, will you give me the honor of taking your hand in marriage?"

There have only been two times my sister has been rendered speechless, and I was now adding this event as the third time. Ember was frozen in place, her eyes flitting between the ring and Noah. The room was so quiet you could've heard a pin drop. My heart thudded in my chest because I became increasingly more nervous for my beta the longer my sister was silent.

"Ember, please say something," Noah whispered. "Because if you don't I'm going to take your silence as a no and-"

"Yes," Ember interrupted.

"So it's no?" Noah said, sounding completely defeated.

"Yes. I mean no!" she exclaimed.

"I'm confused," Noah confessed.

"Yes, I'll marry you," Ember laughed, dropping to her knees and giving Noah a kiss. We all cheered. One of the twins, although I couldn't tell which, shouted, "Finally!"

"Did you know about that ring too?" Spencer joked, glancing at Elsa.

"Yeah. Hunter was keeping onto it and I found it while talking to Josilyn. I was helping her clean up the room."

Spencer's face, along with mine, fell into disbelief. "Seriously, how do you keep finding the engagement rings?"

"Isn't this like the second one you found?" I questioned.

"Third, actually," Elsa answered.

"Wait, it was mine and Noah's... who was the third? Is it Spencer? Is it Dom?"

"No to both, but I'm sworn to secrecy on this one until they tell me it's okay. Besides, they got engaged a while ago."

"Wait so when-" Spencer began. My sister simply shook her head, confirming her resolution to be silent on the matter. Instead, she got up and hugged Ember who had by now stopped kissing Noah and was being congratulated on her engagement. Tears were running down her face but they were ones of happiness. Josilyn and I got up, trying to find an opening to hug her. We finally managed to and I congratulated Ember, telling her I'd known for a while that Noah had been planning this. Josie was shocked I'd kept the secret from her but admitted she would've been too anxious for it to happen and probably would've slipped up about it to Ember.

As I hung back, watching the happiness of my pack, I couldn't help but think that something was off. It was only when I spotted Lily hugging Elsa that two things dawned on me. One was that Caleb was nowhere to be seen, and two, the glittering diamond on Lily's ring finger.

I slipped out of the room, making an excuse to Josie that I needed to go get something. It wasn't a total lie, but I wasn't getting something. I was getting someone. Caleb was just turning the corner when I stepped into the hallway, so I ran to catch up with him.

"Hey, where are you going?" I asked.

My brother turned around. "Just going for a walk."

"Aren't you going to congratulate Noah and Ember?"

"I congratulated Noah, and I want to congratulate Ember, but she doesn't want me near her and I don't want to infringe on her celebration when she doesn't want me here in the first place. If I'm going to get her to talk to me again, I need to respect what she wants. I can't force her to do anything she doesn't want to."

"But you're an alpha, you could force her to sit down with you if you wanted."

"You're her alpha, and I'm making this a family matter, not a pack one."

"We have our big battle tomorrow night. If something happens to either one of you, I don't want the one that survives to feel guilty that they never reconciled with the other."

"The reason she doesn't want me near her is my fault. She has every right to be mad at me."

"But come on, Elsa wasn't mad at you when she found out you were alive. I didn't. I mean I attacked you when I thought you were Stark but that's beside the point."

"Actually Elsa was mad at me. It was only briefly. But she did hit me."

"She hit you?"

"In the chest. Multiple times."

"Okay, but she got over it really quickly. So why can't Ember?"

"I think Ember is more protective of the family than you realize. It's a kind of mentality where she can pick on you guys but no one else can."

"You're her brother though."

"In her eyes, after I hurt Elsa and mom like I did, she kicked me out of who she considered family."

"But you apologized. She should be just as mad at me as she is at you because I was one of the reasons you ran away."

"In the end, it was my decision that caused all this though. We will never agree on this. If Ember wants to forgive me, she needs to it on her own time. Not because everyone else wants her to."

"Will you please come back to the room at least? We're all there and the rest of us view you as family. We want you there."

At that moment, Noah rounded the corner. He was grinning ear to ear from the excitement of everything. "What are you two doing out here?"

"Talking," Caleb said.

"I can see that. Why'd you two leave?"

"I didn't want to impose on Ember's celebrating and Hunter came after me."

"So what if Ember doesn't want you there. I want you there. You're soon to be my brother-in-law in more ways than one."

"Noah? Who are you talking to?" Ember questioned, coming up behind him. Her eyes fell on me and Caleb. Her brow furrowed. "What are you two doing?"

"Talking," Caleb repeated. He gave a smile to Ember. "Congratulations on your engagement Ember. I'm really happy for you."

"Thank you," she said stiffly.

"I'll let you get back to celebrating. I'll see you all tomorrow." Caleb turned his back and began to walk off.

I turned to my sister and said, "You're really going to let him leave like that?"

"This isn't some fictional novel where I'm going to go after him crying my eyes out saying how much I missed him."

I breathed, knowing how much Caleb wasn't going to appreciate my next move. "Hey Caleb!"

"Yeah?" He turned around.

"When were you going to tell everyone you and Lily got married?"

"You and Lily married?" Noah asked, cocking his head. Even Ember seemed mildly interested.

"How did you-" Caleb began.

I interrupted, "When Elsa said that Ember's ring was the third engagement ring she'd found, I was curious as to know who it was. When she said the engagement happened a while back, it got me thinking. Then I saw the ring on Lily's hand that I know wasn't there before and it all kind of clicked. Not to mention that was the most thrilled I'd ever seen her when she came into Elsa's room."

"Why didn't you tell us you got married?" Noah inquired.

"We eloped this afternoon because we wanted to be married before the battle because in case one of us didn't make it out, we could at least say we'd been married to the love of our life. We were going to say something when we entered Elsa's room but that took a different turn so we figured we tell you a different time. That was Ember and Noah's moment to shine, not ours."

"You didn't even tell Elsa or Spencer or Anna?"

"Elsa found the ring beforehand and asked me about it. I know she told Spencer and Anna. Then they all figured it out when we came in earlier."

"But why not invite everyone to the elopement?"

Caleb shrugged. "I'm not part of the pack anymore."

"Yeah you are."

"No he's not," Ember muttered.

"The one thing I think Ember and I agree on at the moment," Caleb joked humorlessly.

"Please just come hang out with us. Ember and I can sit on the other side of the room so she doesn't have to be near you but this is our last night as a whole pack, as a whole family," Noah said, almost pleadingly.

"Only if Ember doesn't mind."

"I do, but I know Noah wants you there so come on."

"Awesome!" Noah exclaimed. He practically ran off with Ember back towards Elsa's room. I faced Caleb again who I could tell still looked hesitant.

"Please?" I asked.

"Since that's the first time I've ever heard you say 'please' to me, I'll go," Caleb chuckled.

"Shut up," I laughed. The two of us walked backed to Elsa's room, rejoining the rest of the pack. Josilyn gave me a kiss when I sat back down with her. Caleb sat with Lily in the corner, far away from Ember. He and Lily spoke quietly to each other but I couldn't hear what they were saying over the noise of my pack mates.

"Hey Hunter, when do we move into the new compound?" Laurel asked.

"Depends on how long it takes to recover from the battle, how long it takes to completely exterminate the threat posed by the Hunters, how long it takes to get furnished which will depend on who lives in which house which we still need to figure out," I explained.

"Do we get to decide who we live with?" Jake queried.

"You certainly get a say in it. We're trying to make it where you live with your mate. So for example, me and Josilyn, Riley and Thea, Noah and Ember, Anna and Elsa."

"Isn't Dom moving in with us after the war?" Gracie remarked.

"I don't know what I'm doing to be honest. Caleb offered me a spot in his pack and since Spencer has turned out to be my best friend here, I've been leaning towards joining them. But I'm also not a Guardian so I don't really have a place in either pack," Dom replied.

"But you're dating Anna. You're going to leave her?" Thea argued.

"We're going to work it out. He doesn't know if he's going to stay or not, and we don't even know if it'll work out between us in the long run. But we're going to try it, even if it ends up being long-distance," Anna said.

"You and Spencer are as bad as each other..." Diana muttered.

"It's not easy being split between wanting to be in two different packs," Elsa defended. "I would know. I've been there."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Were you going to leave us for Caleb's pack?" Noah asked.

"I thought about it. Multiple times. And he offered to let me join more than once. But I always felt like my duty lied with all of you."

"Why won't you join them after the war?"

"Because I know Anna would come with me and I don't want to take her away from the family she just got back."

"But if she went with you, Dom would probably stay with her and then you could have you happily ever after with Spencer!" Laurel pointed out.

"Guys, we'll figure it out after the war. For now, let's focus on the present," Lily suggested.

"Thank you," Elsa said, giving the Stark alpha an appreciative smile.

"What do you say we finish watching the movie and then put on another one?" I asked, trying to move the conversation away from anything serious. There was a chorus of yeses so we all settled in our spots and focused on the television. For the first time in over a decade, I had my entire pack with me. For the first time in a decade, all the kids of the Laroche pack were under one roof, in one room. My eyes roamed across the room, looking at each face, memorizing each face, because I had a terrible, unrelenting feeling that come post-battle, I would never see some of the faces in this room again.
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