Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:

"I'm afraid my jealousy is a beast I find difficult to tame."

~Rise, Andrea Cremer
__________________________________________

Chapter 2

Spencer

Kit stayed with us after the wedding, as did some of his friends. It was the twins that had danced with Elsa and Anna: Roy and Paul Harkins. I didn't like them, and it wasn't just because one of them had danced with my girlfriend. I just didn't like them, something Elsa had picked up on. I certainly had no appreciation for the looks Roy sent towards her; it was way too full of affection and unless I was mistaken, lust. But my girlfriend seemed not to notice so I told myself there was nothing to worry about.

Until Dom mentioned that he didn't like the twins either.

It sent me into a spiral of protectiveness over Elsa, one that I hadn't experienced since the war two years ago when she'd had her brush (or two) with death. Whenever she was near one of the twins, I found an excuse to join them or to get her away from them. It worked for two weeks until she called me out on it, which is what we were currently bickering about.

"I trust you, I don't trust him. The way he looks at you-" I trailed off, remembering the look that Dom would give Anna when she wasn't looking, knowing that it was the same look I gave Elsa when she wasn't looking at me. There is no way to truly describe the look that I'm talking about, but it was one of love, adoration, and complete and utter devotion.

"Well whether he likes me like that or not, I'm not going to date him. I am happily dating you but the protectiveness has got to stop. I can handle myself and I have an entire pack that would stop anything from happening in case I couldn't."

"Just take someone else with you besides Anna. You two can beat any pair here but none of us are twins. You know better than anyone that twins have like a... sixth sense or whatever."

"Spencer, I love you, but you need to relax. Roy and Paul are harmless. Besides, they're Kit's friends and if he trusts them, then I trust them too. Plus they lost both their parents right around this time of year so if they need a little cheering up by being here with us, then so be it. There's no harm in that."

"I can't help but be protective. You have a habit of finding trouble," I pointed out.

"I can handle myself."

"Like you handled being taken by the Hunters and getting stabbed by Callie? Or nearly getting choked to death by your own brother?"

Elsa's face fell hard. "That's low. I was in bad shape fighting Callie and Hunter was on a drug that made him irrational and ten times stronger than any of us. I could say a lot of things that could hit you where you just hit me, but I'm going to take the high road because one of us ought to. I'm going to see Josilyn and Ember. I need out of the compound and at the moment, I need away from you."

My girlfriend grabbed the keys to my car off the counter and put on her boots as I was apologizing, trying to convince her to stay, but she wouldn't listen. With a sigh, I said, "Be careful, it's icy out and my car doesn't have snow tires on yet. I'll go with Riley to pick your car up when it's ready."

"I'll see you later," she said, slamming the door behind her.

"I love you!" I called out, knowing she heard me with her Guardian hearing. Unfortunately, she didn't feel the need to say it back. I could feel through our mated relation that she was upset, much more than she let on. I also realized how upset she was when Anna came barging into the house with Dom on her heels, the former demanding, "What happened between you and Elsa and why does it feel like my sister is about to cry?"

"We got into an argument and I was an ass..." I confessed.

Anna raised her eyebrows at me. "That was much easier to get out of you than I thought it'd be."

"I can feel her emotions too, you know. I knew the moment I said what I did, that I'd hurt her. I'll make it up to her when she gets home. She's heading to see Josie and Ember."

"And she didn't invite me? How rude."

"Said she needed away from the compound, specifically me at that point in time."

"Ouch," Dom remarked. I glanced at him with a look that said he wasn't helping. He gave me an innocent smile in return. I sighed and grabbed a glass from the cabinet, filling it up with water, and saying, "I'm going to go take a rest. I have patrol tonight and want to get some shut eye beforehand. I don't know how Elsa does it, going all day and then going into the wee hours of the morning."

"Because we have really weird sleep schedules. You're talking to someone and about someone who runs better on four hours of sleep than a full eight. She's already done that today so she'll be fine tonight. All right, speaking of patrols, Dom, you and I have to start ours in about five minutes so might want to get ready."

"Oh shoot, yeah. I'll meet you at the fountain. I need to talk to Caleb about something really fast. I'll see you in a minute." Giving her a quick kiss, Dom scurried out of the room. Anna and I watched him leave.

"Is he okay?" I asked once he was out of ear shot.

"He's Dom. He's never okay," she joked. "But in all honesty, he's been acting strange this week. I don't know why. Are you okay? I know that fight with Elsa is bothering you but you're... quiet. You've been like that for a couple weeks now."

I sighed. "This is the thing that Elsa and I were arguing about. I don't want to argue with you too."

"I'm not your girlfriend. Arguing with me is different. What's on your mind?" she prompted.

"I don't like Roy and Paul."

"But they're such sweethearts!" Anna protested.

"That's what Elsa thinks too. I don't know, I just get a... weird feeling from them."

"Don't let any jealousy get in the way of your relationship with Elsa because you and I both know she would never cheat on you. But don't push those feelings away either. If you truly get a bad feeling from them, then figure out why that is. Guardian instincts are rarely wrong."

"Thanks Anna," I said sincerely. "Listen, you should go. Your patrol started three minutes ago."

"Shoot! Bye Spencer!" Anna dashed out of my kitchen. I chuckled to myself and went upstairs to my bedroom; I plopped down on my bed where ideas of how to apologize to Elsa began running through my mind. I'd finally settled on one when I fell asleep.
  __________________________________________  

I woke up in a sweat, panic crushing down on my chest. Something was wrong but for the life of me, I couldn't place why. Immediately I reached for my phone to see if I had any missed calls. There were none. There weren't even any text messages. That was strange. Elsa would've texted me when she'd arrived at Hunter's. No matter the severity of the fight or the annoyance, we would always tell each other if one had arrived at our destination. The panic in my chest weighed down even more heavily.

My hands shook as I shoved my phone into my pocket. I needed to talk to Anna. If anything was wrong with Elsa, she would know. If anyone else was more attune to my mate than me, it would be her twin.

I'd barely set foot into the foyer when, for the second time that day, Anna came bursting through my door, Dom right behind her. Except this time, she was frazzled, severely perturbed. The moment we locked eyes, my suspicions were confirmed.

"You felt it too?" she whispered. I nodded as I dialed Hunter's number, rubbing the back of my hand to find some way to keep myself busy. I couldn't sit or stand still when I was this agitated. Thankfully, he picked up on the second ring, his voice rather garbled but by the crunching on the other end of the line, I figured he was eating something.

"Hey, is Elsa there?" I queried, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"No," he answered, voice crystal clear now. "Why?"

"She's supposed to be there," I said, the terror now evident in my voice. Glancing at my watch, I added, "She was supposed to be there four hours ago. I need to talk to Caleb. We need to find her."

"I'll get my pack out immediately. I'll have Josilyn try calling Elsa. We'll keep you updated." Hunter hung up. Shoving my phone back into my pocket, I ran to Caleb and Lilly's house with Anna and Dom in stride beside me. Either they heard us coming or they had impeccable timing, but they opened the door as we came sliding to a stop.

"Elsa's missing," Anna blurted. "Something's wrong. Spencer and I both felt it. We need to find her."

Caleb and Lily went on high alert instantaneously. The former shifted, howling out low, long, and loud. Our pack came rushing outside, eyes wide with worry. Kit and the Harkin twins followed, appearing confused but aware that this situation was anything but normal.

"Elsa's gone missing," Caleb barked. "We need to find her and we need to find her now! Thea, Riley, Laurel, and Oliver, I want you to take the woods behind us. Lily, Anna, Dom, Spencer, and I will take the town. Kit, Roy, Paul, you take to the roads. We go in groups. Something doesn't feel right about this and we're stronger in numbers."

"You think it's the Hunters again?" Laurel asked nervously.

"It's something, but I'm not sure it's the remnants of the Hunters. Let's go!" Our pack shifted into wolves and dispersed. I was trotting at an unusually fast pace, even for me, when Lily told me to slow down, that we may miss her scent if we went too fast. I hated doing so but knew she was right. From a bird's eye view, it was only a mile and a half outside of town and we had our little shortcuts to make that time go by quickly, but having slowed down to try and sniff out Elsa's scent had severely lengthened that time.

We're going to find her. Lily promised.

I know we will. I'm just worried about the state she'll be in when we do... I admitted. My alpha didn't respond, making me believe she was having the same thoughts. We were three quarters of the way to our destination when we heard a familiar howl on the other side of town.

Hunter.

And that howl was anything but good news. My feet moved on their own accord as I bolted towards his destination. My pack mates were calling me to stop but I was too far gone in thinking about what state my girlfriend was in that would cause Hunter to howl like that.

Please be okay, please be okay. I thought repeatedly. I was hoping that if I continued to repeat it, that it would be true. That when I'd arrive at the scene, she'd be okay. Maybe a little bruised or battered, but okay. Alive and talking. But deep down I knew that whatever situation Hunter had found Elsa in, it was dire.

When I reached where Hunter had howled, there was no one to be found, at least not at first. But then I looked down the hill, and saw my car upside down, three black wolves and three human figures surrounding it. Between their flitting figures, I saw something pale in the darkness, moving ever so slightly when the wind blew. It blocked the view of a face I knew better than my own. This realization sent me sinking to my knees. I tried to shift, to move myself over there in the hopes that if she was miraculously alive, she would at least die with me next to her. But my body wouldn't listen to me. Some unseen force kept me in my place, its grip pushing me into the ground so that nothing I could do would let me move or get up.

"Elsa!" Anna's scream jolted me into reality. All of a sudden I was surrounded by my pack mates and Hunter's pack and a handful of Searchers. A pair of hands fell onto my shoulders. I looked up to see Lily, eyes brimmed with tears. It was that sight that sent me over the edge because if she was crying, then that could only mean one thing.

First my family.

Then Callie.

Now Elsa.

Despair washed over me and I collapsed forward, the last thing I saw being the Searchers trying to pry Elsa out of my car.

  __________________________________________  

Dark chapter but this is just the first plot twist of many. Reviews would be lovely :)