"Anger is really disappointed hope."
~Erica Jong
***

Dom

It took a week before we met back up with Elsa and Spencer in Spain. Anna nearly crushed her sister to death by hugging. My girlfriend hadn't slept the entirety she'd been apart from Elsa, worried sick about the potentially deadly outcomes of the meeting.

Spencer and Elsa gave an overview of the discussion with the Controllers. Everyone had a lot of questions, most of which my brother and girlfriend surprisingly had an answer to. That is, until Mia asked, "Are you sure we can trust the Controllers' kids?"

Spencer and Elsa shared a look before the latter said, "No, we're not, but I think they were at least telling a partial truth, enough that Spencer and I are comfortable accepting the help they provided for this part."

"What do we do next?" Rey inquired. "We have the Dragon Blood, water from the fountain..."

"Next is the peony, which we get here from Spain. It blooms in May, so we have a couple of weeks. After that, it's the chamomile from Germany," Anna informed, reading directly from the book. "That blooms all summer. We'll probably be there for a bit. After that, we'll head to Scotland in August for the white heather, Italy in September for the mandrake, and then we have the fun task of getting hair from everyone we're going to give the potion to."

"Weren't we going to have Lily, Caleb, and Hunter help with that?" Finn said.

"We considered it," Spencer replied, wringing his hands just enough for me to pick up on his nervousness, "but we think it's too great a risk for them. We don't want anyone else from our packs – new or old – dying because of us. We need to figure out a different way."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, though," Elsa assured, standing up. "For now, I say we have time to kill, we're in a beautiful city, and we have plenty of time to explore it. Anyone up to going out with me?"

There was a chorus of 'yeses,' and my pack got up. Elsa looked at me questioningly, and I told her, "You guys go have fun. Dom and I are going to go find some food for dinner tonight."

"All right. You two be careful." Our girlfriend kissed us goodbye and then left with the pack. I waited until the door shut before whirling on my brother and demanding, "I wanted to go have fun with them. Where are you dragging me?"

"A jewelry store. Or two."

"Why the fuck are we-" the epiphany suddenly dawned on me, and any anger I had evaporated. "When are you asking her?!"

Spencer shuffled nervously on his feet. "I don't know. When the moment feels right? I just know I want to, and I want to have a ring at the ready for when it happens."

"Does she know?"

"That I want to marry her? Yeah. It kind of slipped out when I was on the phone with Lily the day Elsa and I left to go confront the Controllers. Anna knows too. That's why she didn't put up a fight about us not coming."

I beamed at my younger brother, clapping him proudly on the shoulder. "I'm happy for you, Spencer! I truly mean that."

"I hope the others feel the same."

"Are you kidding? The pack will be thrilled! Mia and Lydia are going to go nuts planning the damn wedding for you, and-"

"Not them. I mean our old packs."

My happiness swiftly dissipated. "You're going to tell them?"

"I want to tell Mom and Dad that I'm going to ask Elsa to marry me, and I'm going to call Ren and Arya to get their blessing."

"You think they will?"

"No, but I want to try. Maybe when they realize we're serious about this and that we didn't run away because we didn't like their decisions but because we're truly, madly in love with each other, they might say screw the Controllers and at least give us their support. It's not like they need to be here for the engagement, but even just saying they're okay with it is a step in the right direction. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, but if they say no, what will you tell Elsa?"

"I'll be honest with her. I'll tell her I tried, and they were unwilling to cave on their beliefs about us."

"That's a tactical way of putting it."

Spencer shrugged. "It's the truth without hurting her more over the situation."

"When are you going to call them?"

"I was thinking now?"

"You want me here for moral support?" I offered when I saw the nervous flare in my little brother's eyes. Actually, it was more than nervous. He was petrified.

"Yeah. You don't have to say anything, obviously, but yeah, I'd like it if you were here for this."

"Call away."

Nodding, Spencer practically sank onto the couch and pulled out his phone. I sat across from him in the armchair, bracing my elbows on my knees. Anxiety rolled off of Spencer in waves and clashed with my own. Neither of us had spoken with our parents since we left. Who knew what they thought of us now.

Spencer dialed a number and put it on speaker. I noticed his hands shaking ever so slightly. The phone rang three times before a groggy female voice picked up. "Hello?"

"... Mom?" My brother's voice was barely above a whisper.

Dead silence.

"Uh, mom?" Spencer prodded hesitantly. "You there?"

"Who is this?" Dad's voice came over instead.

My brother cleared his throat, and sounding stronger than before, he said, "It's, uh, it's Spencer."

"What do you want?" I winced at the harsh, flat tone our dad used. This wasn't going to go well, and locking eyes with Spencer, I could see he recognized it too.

"I wanted to, uh, I wanted to let you know that I'm going to ask Elsa to marry me, and-"

Click.

The line went dead. My heart dropped into my stomach at the cruelty of the response. Then again, maybe nothing was better than what my parents could've said.

Spencer chuckled humorlessly. "Not sure what I was expecting with that, to be honest."

"I'm sorry," I said sincerely.

He shrugged. "Like I said, not sure what I was expecting. Not terribly surprised, but I'm still disappointed in them. Let's try the Laroches."

He dialed a new number. The phone rang twice before Arya answered, "Hello?"

"Mrs. Laroche?"

"Yes? Who is this?" She asked suspiciously. "If this is a telemarketer-"

"No, no, not a telemarketer, although possibly worse in your eyes. This is Spencer. Spencer Stark. I wanted to ask you and Ren something."

"What could you possibly ask us?" Ren's growled. The sound sent a shiver down my spine, and it wasn't even directed at me. I couldn't imagine what it was doing to Spencer, who had been on the receiving end of Ren's physical wrath before.

"I know this is more than a longshot, sir, and my relationship with Elsa has been anything but orthodox, so I want to try and do something by the books during it. I'm going to ask Elsa to marry me, and I wanted to ask for your blessing. It- it would mean a lot to her to hear that you supp-"

"No. You do not have my blessing. You stole our daughter away from us and manipulated her into loving you. You have a lot of nerve calling this number, and you're downright stupid for thinking we'd ever support your relationship with Elsa. I'm going to say this once and once only: when I see you again, and I promise you, I will, no matter what my wife says, no matter who intervenes, I will kill you for what you have done to my pack. Am I understood?"

The color drained out of Spencer's face. "Yes, sir."

The call ended. My brother sat stock-still, twisting the phone in his hands. I didn't dare say anything. Besides, what could I say? No words of mine would alleviate whatever turmoil was running through his mind.

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Spencer snapped the phone in half with a snarl. Then, he stood up and chucked it onto the ground. The device shattered into a million pieces. My brother breathed heavily, hands clenched in trembling fists.

"I shouldn't have tr- I never..." Spencer trailed off, taking a deep breath and reining in his emotions. I waited for him to calm himself down. It didn't take long, and he continued, "You'd think time would've healed the wounds we left, but it looks like it just made them worse."

"What Ren said about-"

"I know. Guess I'll have to avoid him until I can hold my own against him."

"We're talking about Ren Laroche here. He's the only guy dad never was able to beat in a fight. He's the most terrifying alpha I've ever met."

"Most terrifying alpha you've met so far," Spencer corrected. He started pacing up and down. "We can't be on the run our whole life, and we have to be prepared for whatever comes our way."

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm saying we need to learn how to fight better than we do. Hand-to-hand combat, canine-to-canine combat, everything. I want to learn everything I can. I know the twins are black belts in multiple martial arts forms, and I want them to teach us what they know. I want our pack to be able to fight anyone and anything. I want us to be feared. I want to be what Ren Laroche fears."

"That's a near-impossible goal, but I'm willing to help you try and make it happen. Where do you suggest we start?"

"I'll work on that tonight. Right now, I'm going to go shopping for a ring for the love of my life. You coming?"

I stood up. "Absolutely."