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Chapter Quote:
"If you stick me again, I'm going to make your head my personal pin cushion."
~Calla Tor, Nightshade

Chapter 26

Hunter

I sat on the warm sand watching my pack mates frolic on the beach: some in the sand, some in the water. Thea, Gracie, Diana, and Ember were playing volleyball. Riley and Dmitri were slowly covering up a sleeping Sebastian and a sleeping Noah with sand. Laurel, Akira, Jake, and Barry were swimming in the water, splashing each other and dunking each other underwater. Josilyn was stretched out on a towel next to me, reading a book.

I stretched out next to her, propping myself up on my elbows. She looked over and smiled at me. "Hi handsome."

"Hey beautiful. What are you reading?"

"Sense and Sensibility."

"How can you read books like that? They seem so boring with all that old language and stuff."

"They're actually very good as long you understand what's being said. Hey, can I… talk to you about something?" She queried, sitting up.

"Is everything okay?" I replied.

She twisted the ring I gave her around her finger. "Yeah, I've just been thinking… about our future."

"What about it?"

"I'm your mate, and we're supposed to keep the Laroche heritage going. Our kids are supposed to be alphas. But I'm scared that because of my health that I won't…" Josilyn trailed, unable to look me in the eye.

"That you won't be able to what?" I prodded, sitting up and taking her hands in mine.

"That I won't be able to have kids. I mean, I'm tiny compared to the other girls in the pack Hunter. I don't know if my body could handle being pregnant, or my heart for that matter. You deserve someone better than me. You deserve someone who can give you children without you having to worry about whether or not they're going to die during the pregnancy."

"Josilyn, I think you're overreacting," I said calmly.

"I'm not overreacting! I'm being very logical! I'm not alpha material and everyone here knows it! I can't kill things, I can't hunt, I can't run as fast as any of you, I get winded going up the stairs… I was supposed to have a beta who could make some of those alpha decisions for me because if it came to the point where I would have to put the pack in a position that could get them killed, I couldn't do it. I couldn't send the pack to their possible deaths. That was what my beta was supposed to be for and now she's not allowed to be and I don't think Ember wants to be a beta, Thea is too rash, Laurel and Akira are too quiet, I'm not that close with Diana, Gracie is too mellow and passive, and I don't want it to be any of the guys. I want it to be a girl. I don't know what to do Hunter."

"You need to stop putting yourself down for one thing. Second, Elsa will get her position back sooner or later. Third, this stuff about me needing a stronger mate is bullshit. I don't need a strong mate. I need you."

"Are you even listening to me? I might not be able to give you children and it could kill me in the process!" Josilyn insister. "You deserve someone stronger, someone who can keep up with you."

My girlfriend stood up, shoving her book into her bag. I got up, asking, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going back to my room. I'm hot, sweaty, and thirsty. I'll… I'll see you at dinner."

"Josilyn come on," I said. "You're overthinking things when you don't need to."

"No I'm not Hunter. I don't want to argue with you. I'm going inside." Josilyn strode into the Academy, leaving me very frustrated. I plopped back down on my towel and tried to fathom what had brought all this on but nothing came to me.

"Girlfriend issues?" a girl questioned. I turned around to find Lily leaning against the palm tree behind me.

"What do you want?" I muttered, facing back towards the ocean.

Lily sat next to me. "I just passed a very red-faced Josilyn and I don't think it's because she was sunburnt."

"Are you seriously trying to give me relationship advice?"

"No, I'm offering an ear."

"Why?"

"Because I'm nice like that."

"You and I, we're not friends. I'm not telling you anything."

"You don't have to be friends to talk to you other people. I've had countless of people come up to me and tell me their life story. Some people are to be trusted. But, considering your mate probably isn't speaking to you, Ember isn't close enough to Josilyn to really help out, Noah would take his sister's side, your little sister is barely speaking to you, and while you trust your pack, you don't want to entrust them with your relationship problems, and you want to kill Spencer and Stark, and probably me too, I'm still your best bet because the difference between me and my pack is that I'm actually offering to be friendly to you."

"You're very blunt, aren't you?" I remarked, casting her a sidelong glance.

"So I've heard. But you know what I said is true, and you can pretty much figure out where I got it from. Don't be mad. She told us about all of you. You're her loving, stern yet fun, slightly goofy, overprotective brother who takes on after his dad almost completely. Ember is the sassy, classy, middle child who resembles her father but has a very level temperament like her mother. There's Josilyn, the sweet, caring, kind, gentle, innocent future alpha who has a heart problem that prevents her from being able to do all the things you can but you all love her regardless. You all protect her. She also has a temperament as far away from her father's as possible. Noah, the big, burly, snarky, admittedly handsome beta who is usually an asshole to anyone but you and Josilyn and Ember. I could go on and on but I won't or else we'll be here all day and while I do actually have all day, there are some things I'd like to do. Now, what's bothering you Laroche? Don't make me go ask Josilyn."

I sighed. "Why do you want to know?"

"Why are you being so stubborn about this? Is this how you treat all people who try to be friendly to you?" she countered.

"Only to people who let my sister get in harm's way."

"Elsa is not Anna. She's older, stronger, and wiser than the Anna was when she died. Elsa put herself in danger. Believe me, Stark hated her coming to see us but he couldn't stop her. He's not her alpha. He could've been, but he's not. We offered Elsa a place in the pack when we heard about the punishment she received. She wouldn't take it. She said she belonged with you guys. But Hunter, this isn't about Elsa. This is about you and Josilyn. So spill."

"She's overthinking everything and she's saying things that are ludicrous. No matter what I say, she doesn't believe a word of it."

"So she's being irrational?"

"Yes. Completely."

"All you can do is let them work it out on their own if you can't convince them to listen to your logical answers."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience."

"Stark has a lot of issues, mostly stemming from his childhood. One event was traumatic, another just sent him over the edge. My family and I helped him get rid of the guilt and Spencer's dad and mom trained him to be the alpha he was. Needless to say he fit the role perfectly. But I get having irrational partners."

"Why won't he shift? Are you into like… interspecies marriages or something?"

Lily glared at me. "No, he just doesn't like being human. You can hide better as a wolf and let's just say he doesn't want to be found by some people."

"But Elsa knows what he looks like?"

"Yes. She barged in when he was human. There was no point in hiding from her after that."

"You do know that if you and Stark and Spencer had come to us, asking permission to stay in our territory, we would've said yes, right?"

"We didn't know we'd stick around that long. We planned only to be there a week or two at most. That turned into two months, then four, and so on. We stayed partly because Spencer was so happy. The Hunters blew up our house, similar to what they did to half your pack twenty-something years ago. It killed Spencer's parents and his girlfriend. He'd just found out they were his real parents. They gave him to the Searcher's until they could take care of him financially on their own. But whenever they planned to tell him who they were, they stopped because he didn't like his birthparents because he thought they simply didn't want him. Michael and Elaine wanted Spencer to love them for who he thought they were rather than who they really were. He was heading back to the house with Stark to talk to them when the house exploded. I was in town. Connor took us in until we decided where to go next. That was Estes."

"I'm sorry," I said sincerely.

"Thank you. We stayed for the Hunters and we stayed for Spencer, but not necessarily in that order. He found someone with a kindred spirit. Despite your objections to their relationship, they've been good for each other. Would you like me to try and speak to Josilyn? Maybe a third party is what you need," Lily offered.

I shook my head. "Thank you but no. She doesn't trust you or Stark or Spencer. I'll speak to her later when she's calmed down. "

"You're welcome. Maybe from now on, we can at least talk as indifferent acquaintances. It would be beneficial for our packs to be getting along."

"We can meet as indifferent acquaintances," I agreed.

"Good. I should head back inside, make sure Stark is actually doing work and not sleeping. I'll see you at dinner." Lily got up and went back inside the Academy. I scooted back so I could lean against a palm tree.

A few moment passed before Elsa walked past me. She had a beach bag and a bathing suit on. I wasn't going to stop her from getting some sun. If my parents found out she was out here, I'd lie and say I told her she could come out. But that didn't need to happen. My mom came up behind me and said, "Make sure she socializes with the pack."

"She doesn't want to though," I pointed out as we watched her lay a towel down well away from the rest of the pack.

"Make her."

"Why?"

"Someone made a good point that we've made Elsa feel isolated. She's a part of this pack and omega or not, she needs to know that."

"Yes mom."

"Are you okay sweetie?"

"Yeah, just thinking."

"All right, see you at dinner."

Mom left the premises. I got up and headed over to where Riley, Dmitri, and now Barry, were burying Noah and Sebastian.

"What are you three doing?" I whispered, not wanting to wake up my second or Sebastian.

"Pranking them. They sure are heavy sleepers," Riley said with a grin.

"Works to our advantage," Dmitri remarked. "So let's not question it."

"We should get more help," Barry said.

"You go get as much as you can. I'll fill in for you," I offered.

"Even Elsa?"

"Even her. Just tell her she can get some revenge on Noah. That should get her over here."

Barry grinned and dashed off. He went to the closet pack members first. All of them came over to help. He then went to Elsa, kneeling down to her. I could tell she was hesitant to join but she gave in. I recognized her signature nervous posture: arms crossed tightly against her chest. Barry had his arm wrapped around her shoulders. He was smiling cheerfully as he led her over to us.

"All right, we need some sculptors, some people to find shells and rocks, someone who will film this, and four water pourers," Riley said quietly. "Who wants to do what?"

"I'll film," I said. "I personally volunteer Ember and Elsa to pour water on Noah."

"I call pouring water on Sebastian," Laurel said, raising her hand. Dmitiri counted himself in. Gracie, Oliver, Diana, and Thea offered to sculpt the sand into the shape of a mermaid tale. Jake, Barry, and Akira offered to go search for the shells and rocks.

Within ten minutes, everything was ready. How Noah and Sebastian hadn't woken up, I don't know. I hit the record button and backed up so I could have a clear path of escape when Noah went after everyone who did this to him.

"Okay, show's about to begin in three… two… one!" Riley threw down his hand, cueing the water pourers to dump their buckets on the unsuspecting victims. Ember went straight for Noah's face. Elsa poured it on his stomach. Poor Sebastian got it all in the face. They woke up yelling and trying to flail about but the compacted sand kept their legs in place.

"What the hell?!" Noah demanded. We were all dying of laughter.

"Sorry sweetie," Ember said. "It was irresistible."

My second kicked off the sand and threw Ember over his shoulder. She let out a scream as he carried her towards the water. Sebastian got a glint in his eye that said both Laurel and Dmitri were about to get soaked. Sebastian grabbed the bucket from Laurel and ran to the ocean. Laurel and Dmitri both bolted away from their brother but he had no trouble catching up to them. One by one, the entire pack was in the water, some willingly entering it, some being carried and thrown unceremoniously into the sea. Elsa and I were the only ones still standing on the beach. Deciding my sister wasn't going to get out of this, I picked her up from behind and ran into the ocean with her. She was yelling at me to put her down but I heard the laughter in her voice. I chucked her into the water. She surfaced a few seconds later, splashing me.

"Jerk!" she laughed.

"So I've heard," I said with a grin. We all stayed in the water for little while longer before the sun started to set over the horizon. I went inside and took a shower. Dinner wouldn't be ready for another hour so I decided to go into the garden to see if Josilyn was there. When I realized she wasn't, I sat down on the rocking bench in front of the fountain, swinging it back and forth.

"Mind if I join you?"

I looked up to see Elsa standing next to the bench, her hands clasped behind her back. I sat up straighter, amazed she was talking to me on her own terms. "Yeah, of course. How are you doing?"

"You've asked me enough how I'm doing. It's about time I ask how you're doing. I've been a crappy sister lately to put it nicely," Elsa said shyly. "I apologize for that. I was mad at myself for allowing myself to get caught. I was mad at mom and dad for removing my beta position. Since you were the one who kept coming to me, I took my anger out on you and I'm sorry Hunter. I'm really sorry. You were only following the orders of your alphas. You had no choice. You might be the future alpha, but you're not supreme alpha yet. Do you forgive me?"

"Of course I do. I'm sorry for your punishment. I didn't know it was going to be that bad."

She shrugged. "Like I said, you had no choice. Now what's up? Something's bothering you."

"Josilyn and I are fighting. She's being irrational about things and I can't convince her otherwise."

"What is she saying?"

"That she's too weak for me, that I deserve someone stronger, that she might not be able to get pregnant, that she could die in the pregnancy, that I deserve someone who can give me kids or something. I don't care if we can't have kids. I just want to be with her. I don't understand why she can't accept that."

"Have you told her all that though? That you don't care if she can't have kids? That you just want to be with her?"

"No, but I don't know what good it'd do. It's like she's determined to break us up or something."

"Josilyn loves you Hunter. She's trying to think of what she thinks is best for you, even if it isn't. Her heart is in the right place when she's saying these things. Say to her what you said to me, how you don't care about having kids and that you just want to be with her. If that doesn't get through to her, I'll talk to her for you."

"You don't have to help her. You have enough problems on your plate as it is."

"I think it's quite clear that I suck at solving my own problems. I'm better at solving other people's problems. If you need my help, just let me know."

"I will. Thank you Elsa."

"No problem. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go apologize to Ember. I've been a crappy sister to her too."

"I'll walk with you. Her room is on the way to Josilyn's and I think I need to speak to my girlfriend." I wrapped my arm around my sister's shoulders as we walked down the hallway. We were passing the main entrance to the Academy when I saw a bunch of people, including our pack, gathered at the front. Elsa and I made our way down, pushing our way to the front where our parents were.

At the center of attention was a tall male with jet black hair and intelligent green eyes. His eyes settled onto Elsa the instant she appeared. I stood in front of her protectively. The guy looked at me, a hint of amusement on his face, but he said nothing.

"Who are you?" Braeden demanded, stepping up to the man.

He smiled. "My name is Dominic Stone. I'm here to help in the fight against the Hunters."

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