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Chapter Quote:
"His scent, the scent of spring, warm and hopeful as the sunlight that filled this place, poured through me."
~Wolfsbane, Andrea Cremer
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Chapter 63

Spencer

The week at the Laroches passed all too quickly and although I told myself that I was staying with the Hess family, I somehow finagled my way into Elsa's room every night. She didn't mind, nor surprisingly did her parents. It was the same situation with Dom but he was a little more discreet about it.

Speaking of Dom, he'd been strangely secretive, slipping off with the different alphas every night. He wouldn't even tell Anna what was going and she was beginning to worry which Elsa picked up on, and hence I did. It was weird knowing I was, in a way, linked to Anna as well. One day Dom would be mated to Anna (if they weren't already) and he would be linked to Elsa in a way. What was even weirder was that I could distinguish when it Elsa's feelings and when she was feeling her sister's emotions. I tried not to think too much about it though. It hurt my head already.

At eight in the morning, Caleb and Lily arrived back at the Laroches. The former seemed rather excited about something and when I asked him what was going on, he just said he was excited for us all to be home. I couldn't understand how he was happy leaving Colorado after getting back with his family again but knew he wouldn't tell me if I asked. Nor did I feel comfortable asking him that either.

I was in Elsa's room as she finished packing her things. Hunter, Caleb, Ren, Dom, and I were helping the twins move their stuff into the U-Haul outside. Ren and Arya seemed eerily calm about their daughters leaving the compound after Ren had tried so hard to prevent Elsa from leaving with us in the beginning. Maybe he wasn't worried because she was heading back with Caleb. Maybe he was holding it in and then would break down as we were getting in the car. But whatever it was, it was still suspicious.

"You're stressed. You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. It just feels weird to be leaving the compound after living here my whole life. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm excited to live with you and my brother, but this has been my home. I don't know any other place than here."

I stood up and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling to me while one hand cradled her head. Her head rested on my chest; she took a deep breath, her arms wrapping around my waist.

"We'll come visit often," I told her. "And I know your parents will want to visit with half their kids up in Canada."

"You two ready?" Arya Laroche asked from the doorway. The two of us broke apart and nodded. I helped lift that last two boxes in Elsa's room and carried them downstairs with her. The pack was waiting for us outside. Ren and Arya were waiting next to their car which is when we found out that they were driving up with us along with Hunter and Josilyn.

Elsa and I started giving hugs to everyone but since she had known them her whole life, saying goodbye took longer and hit her harder than it did me. Even Anna was getting teary-eyed. I had finished my goodbyes and stood next to my car, leaning against it and watching the scene unfold before me. Riley sidled his way over to me.

"You ready to leave?" he queried.

"Not really. I've grown to really love it here, despite having multiple people trying to kill me, both Guardians and Hunters," I replied.

"Okay, it was before we knew you were with Caleb."

"But you knew I was with Elsa."

"I don't make the choices here!" Riley laughed. "I would've let you in the pack if I'd been alpha."

I chuckled. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'm going to miss you guys though. I've lost a lot of family members recently, either to death or to moving far away. It's hard I guess. Hell, believe it or not I see you as a brother that I never had."

"Feelings mutual," I assured. "You're welcome to visit us any time you want. You know that right?"

"Yeah, doesn't make it any easier though. Take care of yourself and even though I know this goes without saying, take care of Elsa too."

"I will." Riley hesitated before pulling me into another, quick hug. Of the Laroche pack, I was going to miss Riley the most. I was going to miss Josie as well, especially because she'd been the first of the pack to truly accept me and be kind to me. I was going to miss Ember because she and I had just really gotten along, particularly when Noah didn't like me and he had pissed her off. I was never going to forget her telling him she was going to shove her foot so far up his ass that it was going to be sticking out his mouth. Even though Ren had stopped his daughter before she could say that entire thing, she had finished it for me later and I had nearly died of laughter.

I gave a big sigh, wanting to leave because I knew the longer we stayed, the harder it would be. Thankfully, Elsa came over a few seconds later. She wiped the tears that were rolling down her cheeks as she said she was ready.

"Are you sure you're okay leaving?" I asked softly.

"It would be this difficult either way. I can't bear the thought of leaving them and I couldn't bear the thought of leaving you. It's the curse of being a Guardian. We're much more attached to our families than normal ones. Let's get going."

I kissed her on the head as I opened the door for her to get in. Just as I was about to shut it, Ren came over and said, "Hey you two, Arya and I need to make a pit stop before we hit the main road. Mind coming along?"

"Not at all," I said.

"Good. Just follow us." Ren walked away and Elsa said, "I wonder what they need to grab?"

"Guess we'll find out," I remarked. I shut her door and got in myself. Ren and Arya led the procession in their Porsche Cayenne with the U-Haul attached to it. Caleb and Lily were behind them in their white Ferrari. Elsa and I were behind our alphas in my black one. Dom and Anna took up the rear in Dom's red one. We drove down the driveway with Elsa waving at her pack until she couldn't see them anymore. I reached over, lacing her fingers through mine. She squeezed my hand in return.

We drove through town which was packed with tourists. I remembered one day running through the town with the Laroches just to give the tourists a show. It was always fun to see their faces at the sight of us. However, the tourists were annoying in that most of them had no idea how to drive in the mountains, and most of them had no idea where they were going, so it made for deadly road conditions.

Finally we escaped the traffic and turned down one of the lesser used roads. I recognized but couldn't place why until Elsa said, "This is the way to the South Compound. What do they need to pick up there? I know they were rebuilding it but I would assume Hunter would be moving there and the parents would keep the North Compound."

"Last time I was here, your dad was getting shot at by Hunters and Dom was keeping them off our backs. I hope they got those bullets holes in the fountain fixed..."

"I'm glad those days are behind us. No more running, no more fighting, we can just be regular people."

"We'll never be normal. We're part wolf," I pointed out with amusement.

"Human in the streets, animal in the sheets?" my girlfriend teased, causing me to burst out laughing.

A few moments later, we rounded the bend to reveal the now-completed South Compound. Even I was impressed at the sight of it, and I'd been living in a mansion basically my whole life and I'd been living in the Laroche Compound which was absolutely incredible. But the newness of the buildings added the awe-inspiring element.

"Whoa," Elsa breathed.

"Whoa," I agreed. Her parents got out of the car so we did too.

"Who's going to be living here?" Anna asked.

"Not sure yet, but you're free to go see the inside of them. Why don't you go check out that one?" Arya suggested, pointing to the house on the right of the middle one. Elsa and I were the first to enter, excited to see what the inside of the house held since the outside was so incredible.

We weren't disappointed either. The living room gave a sweeping view of the mountains behind us, a few of which had a dusting of snow on the top of them, telling me winter was coming. The fireplace was made of stone with a column that went up to the ceiling. A strange urge came over me to climb because despite having grown up too fast along with everyone else I knew, we were still young, just a couple year out of our teens. Maybe not having much to worry about, I was going to get to catch up on the fun I missed. Although climbing up a fireplace was probably not the best place to start...

Directly above the mantel was a massive, flat screen TV. Caleb was already turning it on to watch TV while Ren and Arya grabbed what they needed to.

"Can we go explore more of the house?" Elsa queried, slowly spinning around as she walked to take in everything.

"Go for it. The library is over there, the bedrooms are all upstairs," Caleb said.

"There's a library?!" Elsa gasped, already darting off to where her brother had directed. I trailed after her. She skidded to a stop when she entered the room. The room itself was white with dark wood flooring and matching columns, ceiling beams and railings to match. There was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling that had a dimmer to adjust the brightness of the room. There was a stone fireplace with a large mirror over it which reflected the sunlight from the window across the way, giving the room a lot of natural light.

"I might cry," Elsa admitted, her mouth still slightly agape. She ran up the spiral staircase to look at more books from where she shouted, "Whoever's books these are, they have amazing taste and I've read or started reading most of these!"

I laughed as she came back down. We left to go upstairs and look in the bedrooms. They were all cozy with beige walls and white duvets, but each room had a navy blue element to it, like navy blue sheets and navy blue towels. The master bedroom, on the other hand, had a theme of its own. It had a brownish-grey accent wall behind the bed. The furniture was made of a dark wood and the fireplace was made of stone which went up to the ceiling. There were floor to ceiling windows that gave the same sweeping views of the mountains as the living room. There were two comfy armchairs across from the bed with a table in between them. But the bed was by far my favorite part, mostly because the blanket on was so nice and soft that I could stop running my hand over it. I saw Elsa secretly doing the same as me.

"What's that?" Elsa asked, pointing to an envelope on the pillow with our names addressed on it. She picked it up and ripped it open. Inside it was a blank card that said 'Congratulations' and a key that looked suspiciously like a house key taped to the inside. It took the two of us a second or two to figure out what it meant when the same idea suddenly dawned on us at the same time. We snapped our heads to look at each other, silently asking if it meant what we thought, before scrambling out of the room to go back downstairs.
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Caleb

"If they're up there any longer, I'm going to go make sure they aren't making use of the master bedroom," Lily joked.

"As a father, I really don't want to hear this, even though I know they have," Ren said.

"Sorry, sir."

"Dad," Ren corrected, before hastily saying, "Only if you feel comfortable saying that. I figured since you and Caleb married, you're my daughter-in-law and-"

"Don't worry about it dad," Lily said with a smile.

A warm feeling spread throughout me at the sight of my parents, my brother, my future sister-in-law, and my wife casually chatting with each other and seeing each other as family. It wasn't that long ago that they were threatening to kill us because they thought we were trying to take Elsa in our pack.

"Dad, you do know all your kids have-" I began but he cut me off with, "I really don't want to hear this."

I was laughing until I heard the thudding of my beta and my sister coming down the stairs. I hurriedly took the smile off my face and casually turned around to see them come down the stairs. They jumped down from the last three steps. Elsa held up the card with the key in it, her question evident on her face: was this their house?

"Welcome home guys," I said.

Elsa let out a small scream before throwing her arms around my neck. I started losing the ability to breathe before she decided to attack dad in a hug too.

"But you said we were going home. Y-you lied to me," Spencer stammered out.

"I said we were going home. I never said we were going back to Canada. The only reason Lily and I went back was to grab the rest of our belongings from there to bring down here. Mom and dad were up here while we were away getting it all ready. They were going to move Hunter over here and stay in the North Compound but when I showed up, and when mom and dad found out it was me, we started talking about this early on. They've been setting this up for a while now."

Spencer ran his hand through his hair, letting out a breathy laugh from shock. "So we're staying in Estes? We're staying here?"

"We're staying. We're home now," I confirmed.

"I don't know what to say. Thank you, Caleb. Thank you," he said, giving me a hug. He proceeded to follow in suit of Elsa giving mom, dad, Hunter, and Josilyn, and Lily a hug.

"Anna, Dom, yours is on the other side of Caleb and Lily's. Speaking of which, we have a surprise for you too. Dom, would you like to take the honors?" Mom asked, smiling at him. Dom stepped into the circle we had formed and rolled his neck before shifting into massive, shaggy black wolf. Spencer, Elsa, and Anna's mouths all dropped to the floor. Upon their silence, he shifted back into human.

"Surprise?" he said sheepishly.

"How-" Anna started.

"Your mom pulled me aside after the battle and talked to me about it. I was turned earlier this week by Caleb. He, Hunter, and Ren were teaching me how to wolf while Lily, Josilyn and Arya designed the houses. They wouldn't let us guys near them except to move furniture after Hunter wanted to have polka dots and stripes in the same area."

"Hey I thought it looked good together!" Hunter protested.

"Honey, no. Just... no," Josilyn stated, looking at him with extreme pity.

"So you've been a Guardian for over a week without telling me?" Anna stated.

Dom glanced at me and Hunter, looking completely worried, before saying, "Yes... I wanted to surprise you."

In the blink of an eye, Anna had grabbed Dom by his shirt and pulled his lips to hers in a brief kiss. She pulled away with her eyes sparkling, saying, "I love you so much right now."

"I mean I hope you always love me because I'm kind of stuck like this now," Dom joked.

"Does the rest of the pack know?" Elsa asked.

"No, for now it's between the ten of us. Once Caleb and Hunter figure out the pack separation, we'll let everyone know," dad said.

"Can Riley please be in our pack?" Spencer requested excitedly.

"We'll take it into consideration," Hunter promised.

"Why don't we start unloading the cars with the boxes so you guys can start setting up?" Mom suggested. My pack mates agreed. Dom and Anna were the first out the door with mom and dad trailing them. Lily and Josilyn strolled casually out of the house, discussing something between them. Hunter and I brought up the rear. Just as I was about to exit the house, I realized that Elsa and Spencer weren't behind us. I peered around the corner to see my sister with her head buried in the crook of Spencer's neck, her arms and legs wrapped around him. He had one arm wrapped around her waist while the other cradled her head. In Elsa's hand I saw the envelope with the house key clutched in her hand.

With a smile to myself, I let them be. I went over to my wife and kissed her on the head.

"They okay?" she queried.

"They're celebrating," I responded. "Pretty sure Elsa might be crying."

"I get it. I mean, we're home."

I looked down at her. "You know, I think that's the first time I've heard you call Estes home."

"I have a question for you."

"Shoot, love."

"What do you think about us having a wedding?"
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The next chapter is the last chapter! Reviews would be lovely :)