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Chapter Quote:
"This is only about love."
~Wolfsbane, Andrea Cremer
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Chapter 55

Ren

When Babatunde gave the orders to go, my pack and I were off like a shot. Arya was on my left with Caleb on her other side. Hunter was on my right. Lily was on the other side of Caleb. It was only fitting that the alphas led the charge into battle. Spencer, Noah, Loren, and Shiloh flanked us- Spencer and Shiloh on Arya's side and Noah and Loren on mine. When we got closer to the compound and could see the Hunters, it seemed Spencer, Caleb, and Lily put on a burst of speed because they pulled ahead of all of us, being the first to attack and being the first to make a kill.

The Hunters were in complete disarray as we descended upon them. I knew if we didn't take out the sentries sooner rather than later, it would allow the Hunters inside the building to gather up their arms and become formidable opponents, ones we might not actually have a chance at beating.

It'd been a long time since I'd been in a battle of this scale and size, but the memory of it soon came back and I had no trouble fighting back. Arya was on top of her game, showing no signs of having nearly died barely two weeks ago. She easily took down Hunters, yanking them down to the ground by the ankles and either finishing off the kill herself or letting one of the others take care of the enemy. Either way, I started to worry less about her. Caleb, Spencer, Lily, and Dom had formed their own little team of taking down the Hunters but they worked together so flawlessly that they were taking down ranks of Hunters with ease and were creating gaps in our enemies' defenses that were allowing some of the Searchers to break through and not only attack our enemies from behind, but also break into the compound to attack the Hunters inside. Seeing this encouraged me to fight even harder because we were already showing an upper hand in the battle.

At that moment, Arya and Shiloh leapt over me, taking down a Hunter that had been about to nail me in the back with an ax.

I got your back, sweetie. She told me.

I love you. I replied.

Look out! Hunter cried out. The two of us jumped out of the way just as a fireball exploded when we'd just been. The explosion pushed us farther away but we managed to stand back up without any problems.

They're attacking from the roof. Shiloh remarked.

Can any of us fly? Loren queried.

No, but we need to alert the Searchers. They have snipers who can take those out. Until they can do that, we need to see if some of us can break through to the building to go up the stairs and attack. Arya said.

Wish the twins were here for that. That would be right up their alley. I mused.

Send Spencer and Dom. They were the only ones who were as stealthy as the twins. Hunter remarked.

Caleb, can Spencer and Dom break through to take care of the fire throwers? Arya asked, sending out the message to me, Hunter, Shiloh, and Loren so we could hear.

A few seconds later, he responded: They're on it.

Within moments of the order, I saw the two slip past the Searchers into the building. Hoping they'd be okay, I went back to focusing on the battle. More Hunters had appeared from side doors of the compound but their numbers weren't enough compared to the sheer size of our forces. We slowly but surely pushed them back until we were almost at the doors. This would be the tricky part because we could only get through the doors one by one and they could pick us off like flies if we did that. There had to be another way.

And there was.

"Laroches! Starks! Get back!" Connor shouted. He pointed a massive gun at the entryway to the door. We scrambled away. When he deemed us safe, he fired. The projectile exploded when it hit the entrance to the door, and it took a fair amount of the walls surrounding it with it. The result was a gaping hole in the door that allowed a dozen people to enter at a time. Even as a wolf I was grinning. Despite having been on the opposite side of the Searchers at one point, I was very glad they were on my side now.

With a cheerful bark, I charged alongside my comrades into the building. Just as I reached the inside, Caleb knocked into me. I turned to look at him but found him struggling to stand up.

What happened?! I demanded, rushing over to him. We'd both shifted forms by this point as he managed to stand up.

"Got hit with wooden board. It was going straight for your head and I didn't have time to warn you so I pushed you out of the way instead. It hit me in the back but I'm fine. Spencer and Dom are almost done taking out the people on the roof. Or at least the ones manning the fire throwers. Any news from Anna and Elsa?"

"They haven't said anything while I've been a wolf so either everything's fine and everything's wrong, but it's them so I'm going to say it's the former. Jason and Kit will watch out for them."

"More likely the twins are watching out for them. So our betas and mom and the other alphas are battling the strongest Hunters here. What do you say we break through and go for the heart of the operation? If we slide past all these, they should have men stationed at each security door. I think you and I could take them."

"It'd be an honor to fight alongside you again. Let's go."

Just as we were about to head off and make a break for it, two long howls sounded through the building. I recognized them as battle cries by Elsa and Anna. Their howl was followed by over a dozen other howls, but one came sharp and clear, one I recognized all too well.

"Calla?" I stated in shock. My brief moment of shock cost me dearly. A bullet ripped clean-through shoulder, the force of it making me stagger back. I glanced around to see where the person was who had shot me but my son had already taken it upon himself to do so, and he'd succeeded. He had a Hunters' neck clamped in his jaws until our enemy's gun clattered to the ground. He dropped the lifeless body on the ground, letting out a snarl before turning to me and shifting to a human.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'll be fine, but it's going to slow me down."

"Can you fight?"

"I've fought with worse injuries than this. Let's go."
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Spencer

Dom and I made our way up to the roof where Hunters were lined up against the edge, firing guns and fire throwers at my friends. I counted ten but there were more of than that, I could smell them and hear their heartbeats.

"We can't take all of them at once. Not with their weapons. We'll need to shoot some before we attack," Dom remarked, analyzing the situation before us.

"How good is your aim?" I queried.

"Uh, extremely good. Why?"

"If they see me, they'll only expect me. I'll creep up and take out as many as I can but if any try and shoot me when I'm not looking, take them out. They'll think it was one of the Searcher's from below."

"Are you sure this is the best idea? Elsa will have my head if you get killed because I let you do this."

"It's the better option. All right, watch my back." Before he could argue with me, I crept up behind the first Hunter, and not giving him a chance to even realize I was there, I snapped his neck. His body went down in an instant so I had to hurry and catch him and quietly lay him down on the ground. One down, nine or more to go...

I snuck over to the next guy, elongating my claws and ripping through his throat. The stench of blood nearly made me gag. I was a predator, but I didn't like being a killer. The only thing that kept me going was the idea that these people wanted to kill my pack, my family, and that couldn't happen. I'd lost too much already. We all had.

The third guy saw me but that was it. I punched him so hard in the head before throwing his body over the railing. It was as I was killing the fourth enemy that I heard the first gunshot. Something ripped through my jacket but thankfully didn't rip through me.

"Oh come on!" I groaned, assuming the guys knew I was there. "I loved this jacket!"

"We have other things to worry about here, Spencer!" Dom shouted as a bunch of gunfire erupted.

"I know that!" I argued as I dove out of the way of an arrow aimed straight at my head. I hid behind a wall. Dom was across from me, periodically peering around the corner and firing his gun at the Hunters.

"Some help would be nice here," Dom retorted. "Where's your gun?"

"I have something better." With a grin, I pulled out a grenade and launched it into the midst of the Hunters.

"That was a smoke bomb. The only thing it has done is blinded both teams," Dom pointed out, his tone edged with annoyance.

"I'm blonde but I'm not stupid. Plus you have a wolf on your team. I could take all of them out without them even seeing me. But that's dangerous because they're having fun firing at nothing." Just as I said that, a few bullets hit the walls next to us. I pulled out two more grenades. "The smoke also won't let them see these coming."

I tossed one to Dom who I believe briefly thought I'd just tossed him an armed and ready-to-explode grenade at him, but he soon realized it hadn't been and following my lead, took the pin out of the grenade and tossed it at the Hunters. Two loud, large explosions went off. The smell of burning flesh assaulted me worse than the blood, which told me in a rather gruesome way we'd succeeded in our plan.

Over the cacophony of noise, I could hear two heartbeats still going strong. Somehow, these people had survived the explosions. I motioned to Dom to let him know about the survivors. He slipped his handgun in its holster and pulled out a sniper's rifle from his back. How I hadn't noticed it before, I don't know because it's not like the gun was small. He lay down on the ground and adjusted the scope, peering through a mini telescope. I knelt down next to him. At that moment, the smoke started clearing from the wind blowing it away, allowing us to see the silhouettes of the remaining two Hunters. With expert marksmanship, Dom took the first one immediately. His muffler kept the gun silent enough amongst the noise of battle so the last Hunter had no idea there was a sniper aiming for him. Dom fired the rifle and hit the last target.

"Let's hurry and disarm these monstrosities before reinforcements come. The Hunters will realize sooner or later that the fire catapults aren't doing anything," I said. Dom agreed and the two of us went to work. We didn't know exactly how the machines worked, so we put charges on all ten machines and once we were at a safe distance away, hit the button to trigger the charges. Instantly, the fire catapults were destroyed, nothing remaining of them but smoldering rubble.

Shifting into a wolf, I told Caleb, The catapults are destroyed. Dom and I can sweep the remainder of the roof if you want?

His response was immediate. No, we need you two down here. Some Searchers are pinned down in the computer room. You two go help them out.

On it. I shifted back to human, alerting Dom of the updated mission.

"Follow me, I know where it is and how to get there undetected. Take the weapons off these Hunters. The more ammo we have and the less ammo they have, the better."

We grabbed as many as our pockets and holsters could hold. I grabbed a massive gun off one. I had no clue what it did but I guess I'd find out sooner or later.

That time came sooner than I expected. Just as Dom and I were running down a back stairwell, the only part of the trip to the computer room that we expected to run into problems, five Hunters jumped in front of us. I fired my weapon without thinking. An explosion rocked the stairwell, taking out all the enemies, a few stairs, and caused a gaping hole in the wall, revealing a massive battle in the foyer.

Dom stared at my grenade launcher with his eyebrows raised, causing me to say, "What? I learned it from my girlfriend."

"That's awesome. Now how are we going to get across the stairs that you just blew a hole in?" he countered. With ease, I leapt down to the second half of the stairwell, causing my comrade to say, "I can't do that! I'm not a Guardian!"

I held up my finger, telling him to wait. I grabbed a metal beam that had been wrecked in the explosion and moved it so that it made a bridge between the gap in the stairs. Dom carefully but quickly made his way across. He led me through some narrow, twisting hallways. Hunters and Searchers alike ran past the entrances but none of them paid attention to the routes, let alone to us. Within moments we were at the computer room, ending up behind the pinned down Searchers. I wanted to use my grenade launcher again but the room was too small and while the explosion would certainly kill the Hunters, there was a high risk of it killing (or at least seriously maiming or injuring) us good guys.

"They don't know we're here," I pointed out. "If we could find a way to sneak around behind them..."

"Good idea. You have any more smoke grenades?"

"I have one more."

"Psst, Mark!" Dom whispered loudly. The Searcher turned around, surprise etched onto his dirt-covered face. "Throw this so Spencer and I can sneak around back."

Mark willingly took it. He whispered into his comm to alert the other Searchers the plan. They continued firing but Mark gave me and Dom the thumbs up, letting us know the plan was a go. He tossed the smoke grenade at the Hunters who started yelling in surprise. Dom and I darted around to the front of the room, him crawling army style on the ground and me slinking against the wall as a gray wolf to blend in more with the smoke. A bullet whizzed past me, so close it brushed my fur, but no pain erupted so I figured it didn't hit me. I made it to the back and attacked the closest Hunter to me, snapping down on his neck. His strangled cry turned the attention of the other Hunters onto me. Bullets flew towards me. I dropped low to the ground and tried to find cover around the corner when, what could only be a bomb, went off and someone barreled into me.

When the smoke cleared, I stared at the remnants of the computer room. Wires were hanging down from the ceiling, sparking in rage; computer screens were cracked and broken; metal shards were embedded in the walls, six inches deep. The only heartbeats I could hear were mine and the person next to me who by this point had rolled off. To my surprise it was Dom but he looked pale, and he could barely keep his eyes open.

"What happened?"

"One of the Hunters figured out our plan and knew they were all dead so he decided to commit suicide and take as many Searchers as he could down with him."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine. Just... fine," he breathed. Making an expression to alert him I didn't believe him, he admitted, "There's something in my back but it's fine."

I glanced at his back and my head started hurting at the sight. "You don't have just something in your back. You have a bunch of metal shards in it. They're small and I don't think they're deep but you need to get out of here. You're no use injured to us, or dead. Why did you barrel into me?"

"I tried to knock you out of the way."

"Why? I'm the one with super-healing."

"Because you're more important to this battle than I am. Your pack needs you. I have no family expecting me to make it back."

"You're our pack too."

"I'm not a Guardian."

"That doesn't matter. You're dating Anna. You're an honorary member. You need to survive for her and for us. Now come on, let's get you to a safe point and portal you back to the Academy. Once you're fixed up, you can come back and fight. Deal?"

"Fine, lead the way." I threw Dom's arm around my shoulder. Helping him stand up, we began our long, treacherous path to the closest safe point.
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Ember

The battle had been going on for what felt like hours but I could tell it was coming to a close, and in our favor. I'd been fighting side-by-side with mom, Shiloh, and Lily while dad fought side-by-side with Loren, Hunter, and Caleb. Elsa and Anna had led a massive charge with the freed prisoners and that had vastly improved our standing in the battle. The Hunters became disoriented which we took advantage of. My sisters were blurs of black and white, tag teaming in everything they did. No one who stood in their way stood a chance. My sisters seemed unscathed.

Noah had some of our pack members by his side cornering Hunters and going in for the kill. He had a terrible limp but by the way he was moving, he seemed to be ignoring whatever it was causing it. Besides, he was having no trouble jumping to attack.

In the midst of attacking a Hunter, out of the corner of my eye, I saw two Hunters running towards the exit. Not wanting them to escape to call for reinforcements, I chased after them. They led me over to a rocky cliff but they, at this point in time, had no clue I was behind them. I grabbed onto one by the leg and yanked him down, dragging him behind a rock when the other Hunter started firing at me. I crushed the man's skull with my jaw before setting my attention on the remaining enemy. I leapt out from behind the rock at him, landing on top of him. We rolled around on the ground, each trying to get the upper hand, but to no avail. Finally I managed to kick him hard enough that he flew off of me. I rolled out of the way but he'd already gotten to his feet. All I saw was the sword, tip faced down, coming straight for my heart. I had nowhere to go. In front of me was the Hunter and behind me was a hundred-foot drop into a freezing lake. I wanted to say my life flashed in front of me, but all I could think of was how I didn't want to die. Not like this. I couldn't leave my family, my pack, my fiancé...

But the sword never came. A massive white wolf surged into the Hunter, knocking both of them away from me and over the cliff. I received a whiff of the wolf's scent and the terrified shout erupted from my throat, "Caleb!"

Another yell echoed mine. I turned to see Lily running full steam ahead. She skidded to the right, heading down the slope to the lake. I got up and followed her. Even amongst the chaos, I could smell the fear in her, the anxiety. And I was feeling the same. I promised myself I'd talk to Caleb after the war because I just had had this feeling he'd survive. He'd survived so much already, there was no way he wouldn't survive this too.

How wrong I had been.

"Caleb!" Lily screamed as Hunter, who somehow had appeared out of nowhere, was dragging his lifeless body out of the lake up onto the ground. My oldest brother was shivering nearly uncontrollably as he collapsed next to Caleb. Mustering up as much strength as he could, Hunter rolled over to listen to Caleb's heartbeat.

"CPR..." my brother said through chattering teeth. "He n-needs CPR."

Lily frantically started doing chest compressions and doing mouth-to-mouth. Meanwhile Hunter and I sat dumbfounded next to them, unable to help.

"Please don't leave me... please don't leave me Caleb. I can't lose you too," Lily sobbed. "Please come back to me."

But no matter how much she tried, Caleb wouldn't breathe. Hunter placed a hand on Lily's back as she let out an agonizing scream which turned into a heartbreaking howl. I knew every wolf in a ten mile radius would hear it.

A numbness set in my bones, unable to comprehend or process the fact that Caleb was dead. I stared at his body, ignoring Hunter trying to pull me into a hug, ignoring the cold. It was only when I felt something go through my chest that I suddenly regained my wits. I looked down at my torso. Nothing was sticking through me so I hadn't been impaled. Hunter looked just as dumbfounded as I did.

"No," I said. "He's not dying. Not when I have more to say to him."

"Em, he's dead," Hunter told me, choking on the last word.

"No! Caleb, you're coming back to us. I'm not letting you die!" With my hands in a fist, I slammed them down onto his chest in a desperate attempt to force the water out of his lungs.
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Spencer

Dom and I met Barry along the way who offered to help get us to a safe point. With the battle coming to a close, the Sweepers' jobs weren't as important now. We made it to a quiet room and I was in the middle of radioing a Weaver when I experienced a wave of nausea. I shook it off, thinking it to be slight wolfsbane poisoning, but when Lily's disconsolate howl sounded from afar, I knew.

Caleb, my best friend, my brother, my alpha... was dead.

Barry appeared stunned, knowing exactly what Lily's howl meant. Dom looked worried but I knew he didn't know what was going on.

"Spencer? What happened?" Dom inquired seriously.

I staggered back, grabbing onto the edge of a table to steady myself. "Caleb... he's-"

"Dead," Barry finished. "He's dead."

"Oh god," Dom breathed.

My world started spinning as the news came crashing down on me in one, unforgiving wave. It felt as if the world was crumbling beneath me, as if the sky was falling down on top of me where I couldn't breathe. I was suffocating.

I should've been there to protect my alpha. I thought.

I was brought out of my sorrows when a gunshot rang out. Barry went down. I looked up to see a Hunter with a rifle aiming at me. I avoided getting shot in the head but felt pain explode in my abdomen. Dom shot the enemy in the head with frightening accuracy for a person as injured as he.

"Spencer!" Dom called out. "Spencer, are you okay?"

"I'm fine... Barry? Barry, you okay?" I inquired. I looked to my left and saw him on the floor, eyes glazed over, staring at the ceiling. When I saw the hole in his head, I shut my eyes in horror and agony. First Caleb, now Barry... who else I knew had died?

I pushed myself up against a desk and pulled up my shirt to assess my own wound. Immediately I could smell the wolfsbane before I even saw the injury and that was trouble in itself. When I saw the massive, gaping hole in my stomach, I knew this was it.

"That bad?" Dom asked. I nodded. "So this is how we go."

"I always thought I'd die of old age with my mate by my side," I admitted.

"This is karma catching up with me, for all the heinous crimes I committed against Guardians. Had I known they were people too, I never would've- I never would've killed them," Dom confessed.

"Lily can't handle losing Caleb and me at the same time. She already lost her parents, both biological and adoptive. She lost her beta. She can't handle it. Listen, if you survive this... tell her I love her."

"Spencer, you're not leaving me by myself," Dom warned. "You're surviving this too."

"I have a hole in my stomach. Unless Castiel or some angel shows up, I'm as good as dead. Promise me you'll tell Elsa and Lily I love them. That they were my last thoughts when I died and that I'm sorry I didn't make it through."

"Spencer don't- please, just hang in there."

"I'm not going down without a fight, but the wolfsbane, I can already feel it." It was true. My eyelids were getting heavy. All I wanted to do was sleep. My breathing was getting heavier because it felt like I couldn't get enough oxygen.

"Stay awake. Whatever you do, don't fall asleep," Dom insisted.

"Then keep talking."
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Hope y'all enjoyed! The next chapter will be up soon. Reviews are appreciated! :)