Enjoy!

Chapter Quote:
"Maybe the wolf is in love with the moon and each month it cries for a love it will never touch."
______________________________

Chapter 9

Elsa

"Hunter, can you replace this book from that shelf over there? It was useless," Josilyn stated, chucking a book at me without looking up from the one she was reading. I couldn't help but smile as I caught the flying object.

"Any book in particular?" I asked, heading over to the shelf she had directed me towards. The sound of my voice made her head snap up.

"Elsa! Hi! I'm so sorry, I thought you were Hunter! He keeps distracting me; Caleb too. I found the only that will get the to shut up is to throw a book at them so they can spend twenty minutes figuring out what book I haven't read yet. What's up?"

"Hunter sent me here to try and get you out of here for a bit, but I don't want to do that if you don't want me to."

"No, no, you're fine! Sit, please. What have you been up to?" Josilyn questioned, closing her book and putting her full attention on me.

"Had an unsuccessful trip to the scene of the wreck to see if it would trigger anything in my memory. It didn't. We grabbed some coffee on the way back and that was it."

"Who went with you?"

"Anna and Lily."

"Don't worry," Josie said, taking my hand in hers. "We'll find a way to get it back."

"Would it help if we knew whether someone did this to me or if it's from a head injury?"

"It would, but that doesn't mean we won't figure it out without knowing the cause."

"Have you found anything?" I inquired, wanting to direct the conversation topic away from me. I didn't want to tell her that I'd lost hope already in trying to get my memories back. Every time I thought I had a lead to help me, it ended in failure and disappointment. I hadn't told anyone that I was searching for a cure myself, but it was one of the ways I was coping with my severe insomnia. It wasn't that I couldn't sleep or fall asleep, it was the nightmares that plagued me when I was asleep. They were terrifying with the shapeless faces that loomed over me, with me unable to move or speak or scream. I would wake up in a panic, I layer of sweat covering my body. I was running myself down, I knew that, but I'd rather do that than experience those nightmares...

"Nothing so far, but the Searchers are looking too and once I've combed through every relevant book in our libraries, I'm moving onto the Searchers. On the bright side, there's not many books covering your particular issue. On the down side, the books that do are massive and it takes a while to comb through them. But I'm almost done in here. Diana, Gracie, Jake, and Oliver are all helping out too. So if there's something to be found in one of the books we have, we'll find it."

"I don't know how to thank you," I said gratefully.

"Just take care of yourself. That's how you can thank me. Also, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. You want to come grab some lunch with me? I'm in the mood for a grilled cheese. Like a gooey, messy grilled cheese."

I laughed. "That sounds amazing to me."

"What sounds amazing?" Anna piped up, entering the room.

"Grilled cheese. Want some?" Josilyn responded.

"As long as I can help and make some bacon to put on said grilled cheese," Anna countered.

"That sounds delicious. Of course you can."

"Everything is better with bacon," Anna and I said simultaneously. The two of us looked at each other, surprised etched on our faces. My twin's expression slowly turned into one of happiness and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why.

"Apparently bacon is also the way to Elsa's memory," Anna joked.

"It's the answer to everything. But enough talking about it. Let's actually go eat some," I insisted. The three of us scurried out of the room to the kitchen in Caleb's house; Josilyn wanted to be near Hunter because of something that she wouldn't exactly elaborate upon. Outside I could see Hunter and Caleb outside talking to a girl I didn't recognize. She was older than them, probably in her forties. She had a thigh holster but rather than it holding a gun, it held this pointy stick-like thing.

"That's Aunt Adne. She's dad's little sister. She's a Weaver, and that stick on her thigh is what she uses to weave the portals," Anna informed, as if she had read my mind.

"What's she doing here?" I asked.

"Noah, Spencer, and Dom went on a mission. She wove their portal for them."

"Where exactly did they go?"

"Russia. That's all I know. Do you two want anything on the side? Chips? Carrots and dip?"

"Carrots and dip. We might be Guardians, but we should still watch our cholesterol," Anna mused. "Okay, I was thinking, maybe we could all have a girl's night, watch a movie, and just eat a ton of junk food? Anyone else think that sound like a good idea?"

"Ooh, I was actually thinking the same!" Josilyn exclaimed. "I was thinking we could watch The Duff or something, because hey, I might be married, but I still love looking at Robbie Amell."

"Probably because he's a spitting image of Hunter," Anna countered drolly.

"I mean he is, but Hunter is better looking. By far."

"I was thinking Fifty Shades Freed because Tyler Hoechlin."

"I can't remember if I have a boyfriend or what he looks like so, I got nothing. I'm relying solely on you two," I said.

"We would never lead you astray. Hmm, in that case, I think we should watch a show and I'm thinking Lucifer. A sexy British devil, a kickass demon, a take-no-shit detective, a humanity-confused angel, and a therapist who puts up with it all. What more could you want?" Anna remarked.

"Robbie Amell," Josilyn said.

"Yeah, and I'd like Dom to propose to me, but that isn't happening."

"Why not?" I inquired, looking at my sister. Even that comment had made Josie stop what she was doing.

"We've been dating for over three years now and he hasn't even hinted marriage. I've just decided that he's never going to ask me again."

"Maybe he's just scared. You are a Laroche after all and as a family, you're collectively terrifying."

"Excuse me, we are not terrifying. We're giant love-bugs."

"Memories or not, even I know that's a lie," I snorted in amusement.

"Anna, Dom loves you. And I think after everything you two have been through together, and considering he had planned on marrying you when you were with the Hunters, that hasn't changed. I honestly think he's scared because it seems like every time he prepares to propose to you, something bad happens," Josilyn told her. "I believe he'll ask you to marry him, and I think it'll be soon."

"Has he talked to you about this or something?"

"No, I'm just good at pep talks. Okay, you two make yourself something to drink because it's almost ready." Anna and I got up from our chairs, grabbing glasses from the cabinet, and filling them up with water. Just as we were about to sit down, Caleb came running into the kitchen.

"The boys are about to come back through. Thought you would want to be there when they did," he announced. Josilyn, Anna, and I all dropped what we were doing and rushed after him. We came to a skidding halt next to Hunter. Kit, Roy, and Paul were there too although when they'd showed up, I had no idea. Just as we stopped, Spencer stepped through the portal with Dom and Noah behind him, dragging an unconscious man along with them.

The first thing I noticed, however, was the corner of Spencer's mouth was trickling blood and his shirt was torn in the front. He looked completely and utterly pissed off.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, worry gnawing at me. I had no memory of him, naturally, but I felt extreme protectiveness over him. I had this gut feeling that he was not as invincible and indestructible as he appeared.

"Sorry it took so long," Spencer said, ignoring my question. I glanced around to see if anyone noticed it too. Roy's eyes met mine, and he gave me a sympathetic smile, telling me he noticed it.

"What happened? Why are you all injured?" Josilyn queried, resting a hand on her brother's shoulder. He winced. He didn't have any visible injuries but I figured he probably had injuries underneath his shirt, or had at least fallen on his shoulder in a way that was making it hurt. Dom's only apparent injury was to his ankle which he was making sure he didn't put much pressure on.

"He had traps set up around his hideout," Spencer explained gruffly, sending a death glare at the captive. "Dom noticed most of them. We'd be dead if it weren't for him."

"Get him to the dungeon. Anna, you're up," Caleb said.

"With pleasure," my sister growled, daggers shooting out of her eyes as she stared at the guy.

"Caleb, permission for me and Spencer to help with the interrogation," Dom requested.

My brother seemed to ponder it for a moment before saying, "Permission granted."

"Can I join? I have a bone to pick after that dick sent some flying needles at me," Noah said.

"Flying needles?" Josilyn said, raising her eyebrows.

"You heard me correctly. Flying needles. One nearly went in my eye."

"If Anna, Dom and Spencer can't break him, then you can have a stab at it," Hunter said. "But I need you at my side. We have patrol in a bit, and I need to talk to you about something beforehand."

Noah was evidently pissed off by his alpha's decision, but a mutual understanding seemed to pass between him, Spencer, and Dom. I wondered what was going on between them, but chose not to think about it too much.

"Elsa, I'd invite you to join, but I don't want you seeing this. I'll see you when I'm done?" Anna said.

"Yeah," I replied, trying to hide my disappointment. She walked off with Dom and Spencer, seeming so at ease and so confident in what she was about to do. She seemed like she fit in right between them. Anna knew her place here. Just like everyone else did.

Everyone but me.

No, don't go down that road. I chastised myself. It never led to anything good, and I was tired of feeling bad for myself. It wasn't doing anything.

"Elsa, you want to go finish our grilled cheese?" Josilyn suggested.

"No, I've kind of lost my appetite. I'm going to go rest. I'll see you at dinner." Giving her a smile so as to make sure she knew that my behavior had nothing to do with her, I entered my house. It seemed so familiar, and I seemed to know where everything was despite having no memory of the place, but that gave me hope that I'd get all my memories back, that they were just locked away and I needed to find the right key to get them back.

My bedroom, of all the places, seemed to be the place that wasn't right. Something was missing from it, but whatever it was, I couldn't place. Sometimes I wondered if it wasn't something that was missing, but someone. But surely my pack would've told me if I had a boyfriend?

With a sigh, I went down to the basement where Spencer had set up an impressive workout center, despite the small size of it. I went for the punching bag because I needed to hit something, and I had no one to hit that deserved it. Not yet anyways...

"Want a partner?" a shy voice suddenly piped up from the doorway. I whirled around to find Roy standing there, looking awkward. "Sorry, I could see your frustration earlier, and it might give you more of a challenge if you have something that's moving."

"I don't want to hurt you though," I said.

Roy shrugged. "I'm tough. Besides, I know you won't have meant it if you do. So what do you say?"

"Yeah, sure," I told him. He grabbed some targets for me to hit while I put on some boxing gloves. He stood in front of me, lifted his hands, and barely had time to prepare himself before my fist flung out at the target in a sudden rage, striking it so hard this it knocked his hand behind his head. He raised his eyebrows.

"Sorry..." I said sheepishly.

"It's okay. I've never fought with a Guardian before, so I didn't actually know how strong they are. I'd hate to mess with you when you're at full strength."

"Just fight with Anna. That should give you a clear idea."

"I think she might actually kill me," Roy laughed. He then clapped the targets together. "All right, hit me with your best shot. You obviously have some anger that needs to be released and I'm here to help."

With a grin, I accepted his challenge, and threw a punch.
  ______________________________  

Review please :)