Chapter Quote:

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family."

~Anthony Brandt
_________________________________

Chapter 14

Hunter

I lay on my back on the floor, staring up at the chandelier in my library, racking my brain for any non-existent ideas I had to help Elsa get her memories back. Caleb lounged in an armchair, Noah slept on some papers while Ember casually set her drink on his back as she read her book. Anna slowly walked up and down, reading stuff on her tablet. Josilyn and Lily were the only ones sitting in regular positions as they did their research.

We were all silent, the only sounds being the turning of pages, Anna's feather-light footsteps, and Noah's slight snoring. That was, until, Josilyn unexpectedly jumped a foot out of her chair, looking around wildly as she asked suddenly, "What was that?"

"What was what?" I replied, looking around.

My wife's face fell. "That flash of light. It... did no one else see it?"

"No, but that doesn't mean it wasn't real. Ember, stay here with Josilyn. The rest of us are going to go do a perimeter check," I declared, standing up.

"What are we doing?" Noah asked suddenly, sitting up groggily with a piece of paper stuck to his cheek. He swatted it away. Meanwhile, Ember made a wild dive for her teacup, narrowly avoiding letting it fall to the ground.

"Perimeter check. Josie saw a flash of light. I want to check it out, make sure it's nothing here to kill us."

"Be careful," my wife said, resting her hand on my arm. I kissed her on the head and promised I would be. I led the group outside where we split into groups and shifted. Caleb and Lily went one way; Noah, Anna, and I went the other.

What do you think it was? Noah asked, trotting alongside me. Anna led the charge, nose low to the ground as she sniffed for anything suspect.

No idea. None of the rest of us saw it, but it startled Josie enough for me to believe she's telling the truth. I said. I swiveled my head around in search of something out of place. Other than the voices of my pack in the distance and the rustle of the leaves in the wind, nothing seemed other than ordinary.

I think she needs to get out of the library. Maybe being in there so much is getting to her. My beta suggested.

If you want to get hit in the head by a book, be my guest. My wife has a throwing arm none of us knew existed. I have a few bruises to prove it.

I have enough bruises from Ember. I don't need any from my sister.

Why do you have bruises from- you know what, never mind. I don't want to know. I decided quickly, knowing I'd regret the answer I'd receive. Although unable to laugh since we were in wolf form, I could sense Noah's amusement.

We continued the perimeter check with no more conversation. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, though, unless I counted my beta being in an uncharacteristically good mood. But otherwise, we found no trace of where the flashing light could've come originated. We regrouped with Caleb and Lily back at the house.

"We found nothing on our end. What about you?" Caleb inquired.

"Same as you. I don't know what Josie saw, but it was real enough to startle her," I said. "Whatever she saw, it must've disappeared quickly."

"Let's go back to the library. Maybe she's found something else that could help Elsa," Lily suggested. I nodded, following my brother's wife back into my house. Josilyn and Ember seemingly hadn't moved, but my wife now had a plate of nachos and a glass of milk in front of her. Ember was staring at her curiously.

"What's going on?" Anna asked, narrowing her eyes at the two girls.

"I've never seen someone have nachos and milk at the same time," Ember remarked. "It's a weird combination."

Noah stared at his sister, his eyes widening. "Oh my f-"

Caleb sneezed violently as Noah finished, "-ing god."

"What?" Ember, Josie, and I demanded simultaneously. My beta didn't answer, though. Instead, he rushed to another section of our library. Curiosity got the better of us, and we followed him, hot on his heels.

"Why are you in the health section?" Caleb prodded, peering over Noah's shoulder.

"I'll tell you if you get your onion breath away from me."

My brother gave Noah an offended look. "I'm sorry. I didn't exactly have time to use mouthwash after eating onion rings before we had to do a perimeter check."

"Yeah, yeah. Here, this is what I was looking for." Noah shoved the book at Josie, pointing at a particular paragraph. My wife scanned it, her face growing paler and paler the more she read. Once she finished, she looked up at her brother, silently asking him something that only he seemed to know.

"It's a possibility. But there's only one way to find out."

"Ember, Anna, Lily, I need to go run an errand. Grab Elsa. I want her there for this errand, too."

"Sweetie, what's going on?" I questioned, placing my hand on her back in an attempt to comfort her. Without taking her eyes off her brother, she replied, "I'll let you know once I've finished with this errand. I'll be back later."

Josilyn exited the room with Anna, Lily, and Ember, leaving us boys. Caleb and I were thoroughly perplexed. Noah, on the other hand, seemed unfazed but elated.

"Okay, what's going?" Caleb asked, turning to my beta. "You seem like you know what's going on."

Noah grinned cheekily. "Because I do. She just needs to run the errand to confirm it. Come on, let's get the pack together. I have a feeling we're going to be celebrating tonight."
_________________________________

Spencer

The alphas called for everyone to be at Hunter's compound by five. No one had any idea what was going on, but Noah decided to take Dom and me out to grab groceries. We had at least ten packets of bacon, sixty steaks, over a hundred cupcakes, and many, many, many bags of chips. And no matter how much we poked and prodded Noah about what this was all about, he would simply smile at us and keep going. Dom and I shared a look that clearly said 'what the hell has gotten into him' and 'what's wrong with Grumpy Cat- he's not grumpy.'

"Who are you, and what have you done with Noah?" I finally demanded in exasperation.

"Seriously man, you're freaking us out. Last time I saw you this happy, you were preparing to propose to Ember. Now, considering you've already done that, and your wedding is in a few months, it shouldn't have anything to do with that."

"And considering Josie is the one that dragged her closest girlfriends away to run this errand, it has to do with her."

"You're both on the right track so far. If you guess it, I still won't tell you," Noah responded, casually grabbing an avocado and squeezing it. He glanced up at us expectantly, waiting to see if we'd attempt an answer. When neither of us said anything, he added, "Look, it's not my announcement to tell. That's Josie's. Come on; we should be getting back. The party is going to start soon."

"We didn't buy any alcohol," Dom pointed out. "Our parties usually aren't complete without it."

"You obviously haven't seen mine and Ember's wine cellar, Hunter's whiskey cabinet, or Dmitri's beer cooler. We have plenty." Dom and I shared a dubious look but went along with it. Our pack mate seemed confident of, well, everything. We split the cost of the groceries and loaded them into our cars. I was glad we'd brought two because I'm pretty sure not all of it would fit with three of us riding in one vehicle, not unless one of us were buried alive underneath all the groceries.

I hopped into my SUV with Dom joining me and then headed back up to the compound. Dom seemed unusually quiet, prompting me to ask, "What's on your mind?"

"I'm mentally preparing myself to talk to Caleb and Hunter tonight," he answered, sounding grim.

"About marrying Anna?"

"Yeah. I've already talked to Arya and Ren. They gave me their blessing with no reservations, but I'm worried about her brothers. I know I'm part of Caleb's pack, and I know they both like me, but I can't shake the feeling they'll find some reason to object to me marrying Anna."

"You've got nothing to worry about. Honestly, if Hunter and Caleb didn't want you dating Anna, believe me, you wouldn't be. I know from first-hand experience their wrath if they don't approve of you."

Dom smiled softly. "I remember that. Seems like such a long time ago, but it was only two and a half years ago."

"Time has definitely passed quickly. Have you asked Elsa yet?"

He snorted. "No, I think I'm even more scared to ask her than her brothers. Her brothers at least know me. She has no memory of me. How will she know if she should approve of me or not?"

"She will. Elsa likes you, I can tell."

"Speaking of Elsa, how are things between the two of you?"

I sighed, not wanting to talk about my relationship with my girlfriend, but knowing I couldn't avoid it. I couldn't lie either. Dom would see right through it. "We're still not speaking much. Every time I look at her, I see the fight we had in our mind, the one that made her run off to Hunter. If I'd just kept my temper in check, she wouldn't be in this position."

"No, you wouldn't be." He hesitated for a moment, then added, "But the crash was meant to kill. You were the target, not her. Because of that, for some reason, they saved her. If you two hadn't fought, you might very well be dead right now, and Elsa would be heartbroken. I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but she's alive, and we can handle fixing memory loss a lot better than fixing someone who is dead."

"Why was I the target, though? I'm not an alpha."

My packmate mulled the idea over for a few moments. "Well, if they saved Elsa, she must mean something to them. Anyone who knows her knows you mean the world to her. You're her mate after all. If they wanted to get to her, they would go after you."

"But what about Anna? That's her twin. No one trumps that relationship, not even you or me."

"Hunter and Caleb said the twins were taken off the list right? What if both of them mean something to the enemy?"

"Then it would mean I'm not the only target," I pointed out. The weight of the epiphany I just voiced immediately dawned on us, effectively silencing our conversation until we got to the compound. We were both lost in our thoughts. Mine kept wondering about why Dom and I were the targets. What made us so special? We were betas, so we were second-in-command to the alphas, but we weren't the alphas. If you want to take down a pack, it's them you go for. It's them you take down, not the betas. The only connection we had was to the twins, the only ones to be taken off the hit list. Our enemy wanted Elsa and Anna alive for some reason, and the only logical reason I could come up with is that mine and Dom's presence interfered with their plans for the twins. What that plan was though, I couldn't even begin to imagine.

We got out, unloading the groceries to Hunter's house. I could hear the girls upstairs, chattering softly. Hunter and Caleb were pacing back and forth, anxiously waiting for them to come down.

"They still haven't told you what's up?" Noah queried.

"No," Hunter griped which caused his beta to grin from ear-to-ear. The alpha glared at him. "Stop gloating."

"Sorry, I'm just relishing the feeling of knowing something before my alpha," Noah said with a shrug, but his grin failed to disappear.

"Caleb, Hunter, before the girls come down, I need to ask you something," Dom said quietly.

"What's on your mind?" Caleb responded, eyes glittering. I had a feeling our alpha knew exactly what Dom was about to ask.

"I want to ask Anna to marry me, but I want to get the blessing from both of you, especially given how I started with the pack. I know-"

"About damn time," Caleb and Hunter said simultaneously. Dom stared at them in surprise. It was Caleb who said, "We've been listening to her worry that you'd never ask her again after what happened the first time. I can assure you she's going to be both shocked and will definitely say yes."

"In other words, you have our blessing," Hunter added. I could see the tension physically leave Dom's body at the alphas' words. He thanked them, then quickly shut up when the girls came down the stairs. Josilyn was still pale, but she was smiling.

"What's going on? Can I finally know what the big secret is?" Hunter groaned as he approached his wife. Josilyn grabbed his shirt in her fists and planted a kiss on his lips. Although momentarily taken aback by her unusually fierce display of public affection, he seemed to have no issue with it overall except that it didn't answer his question.

Josilyn smiled radiantly as she finally said, "Honey, I'm pregnant!"
_________________________________

It's the calm before the storm! Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)