Okay, since I kind of sort of forgot to tell SACarter I'm leaving the country for college soon, I'm posting a chapter for her.

Chapter Quote:
"He would risk everything to find his way back to my side and set me free. Because that's what love is, isn't it? It has to be."
~Calla Tor

Chapter 28

Josilyn

I was the first to wake up. Sebastian was second. Elsa remained unconscious the longest. I had no idea where we were. Sebastian put his arm around me while I cradled my best friend in my arms, praying she'd wake up soon.

"What happened?" Sebastian whispered.

"I don't know. Last thing I remember was coughing and Elsa throwing herself on top of me. Then I woke up here," I replied.

"Where are we?"

"No idea. But it has to be Hunters. Who else would knock us out and kidnap us?"

"Are you two okay?" Elsa murmured, her eyes fluttering open.

"Oh thank god you're awake!" I exclaimed quietly.

"I'm gonna kill those Hunters," she muttered, slowly sitting up. She rubbed her head ruefully. She must've had a headache. "Do you know where we are?"

"One of their locations I guess. I have no idea. I haven't seen or heard anything. Do… do you think they just left us here to die?" I asked.

Elsa got up, peering through the bars of our cell. "No, they wanted us or one of us for a reason. They have the alpha's mate. I think Sebastian and I were just collateral damage. They wanted you or Lily."

"I guess I was an easier target, with my heart condition and all," I said dejectedly.

"Hey, you're dating my brother. You have to be strong for that," Elsa laughed. I gave her smile, appreciating her attempt to make me feel better and to bring a little humor into our situation.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Sebastian queried, getting up to look out of our cell with Elsa.

"The Hunters will want to interrogate one or all of us. Listen, if they do, I'll volunteer. I'm not letting either of you get hurt," Elsa said.

"But that's not fair! Since we all got captured, it's not fair that one person endures the torture alone," I remarked. I stood up but was instantly taken over by a dizzy spell. Instantly Elsa and Sebastian were at my side, holding me up. "Guess that thing the Hunters used on us is still affecting me."

"Which is one of the reasons why I don't want you being tortured. The first and foremost is that you are Hunter's mate and my best friend I cannot allow anything to happen to you," Elsa told me.

"What about me? I'm fit to be tortured," Sebastian said.

"No, you're the youngest of our pack and I'm going to make sure you two can escape. Josilyn is still hurt from that gas thing they used on us. She hasn't healed as fast as we have. You'll need to help her escape and you won't be able to do that if you've been tortured."

"What about you Elsa? You can't handle that much torture!" Sebastian argued.

"If it means that you two can escape safely, then yes, I can."

Sebastian and I fell silent, but we were both staring at Elsa, neither of us wanting her to do this alone. Suddenly we heard footsteps approaching our cell. Elsa and Sebastian quickly backed away from the door, standing protectively in front of me.

A man that seriously reminded me of the Hulk opened the cell. He grabbed Elsa and led her away with me and Sebastian screaming for her.

"Screaming won't do anything," a girl said. I tried to peer out of my cell but couldn't see anyone.

"Who are you?" Sebastian demanded.

"Someone who got on the Hunters' bad side in a really bad way. Trust me, I've tried screaming for them to let me out, for them to let go of the other Guardians, but they won't listen. It's futile."

"You're a Guardian? There are others here?"

"Yes I am, and the others, they're all this hall. Most of them are sleeping. That's really all you can do in here until they come out to torture you."

"Have you been tortured?"

"In other ways than the ones here. The Hunters know everything about me. They just keep me here from reaching my destination."

"What's your destination?"

"I'm not saying. The Hunters don't know my true goal and I'm going to keep it that way."

"What type of Guardian are you?" I asked.

"A wolf."

"What's your coat color?"

"White."

"Just like our friend. We're wolves too."

"I could tell by the way you talked to each other. Your omega doesn't seem very… omega-ish."

"She broke some rules. It was her punishment."

"Harsh. Well listen, I'm going to catch some shut eye. You should too. It'll be a while before your friend is back."

With that, the mystery Guardian fell silent. Sebastian and I curled up in the corner together as far away from the door as possible, and listened for when Elsa was coming back.

Caleb

The Laroche pack was in a state of panic. Everyone had their own way of showing their anxiety. Spencer's jaw kept having a tic in it. Hunter was pacing back and forth. Ember shook her leg up and down. Noah tapped his fingers on the table. My mom kept running her hands through her hair. My dad stood braced against the table. Rigg kept changing the position he was sitting in. Erin was biting her lip.

Babatunde stood at the head of the table as he announced. "We have located, with the help of our new guest Mr. Stone, the place where the Hunters are keeping Elsa, Josilyn, and Sebastian. According to Mr. Stone, this is in the middle of a Canadian forest. It's surrounded by a lot of trees and there's still snow on the ground. Laroches, Starks, we will have our Strikers enter the building first. We want to avoid any of you fighting since all of you are what the Hunters want. Therefore you remain in the forest. In case of an emergency, the Strikers will call on you to help. But otherwise, stay out of the fight. We cannot risk losing any of you."

"That's my pack in there," Ren countered. "Arya and I at least should be in the fight."

"No. Since you're the alphas, there's a price on your head so high I don't want to think about it. You stay with your packs. Starks, stay together. Laroche pack, separate into groups of seven. Encircle the camp. Stop anyone who tries to escape. Once we have them, we'll move the Academy to a new location for safety precautions. Is it all understood?"

Reluctantly we agreed. Adne stepped forward and wove a portal. We allowed the Strikers to enter first. Connor was leading the raid party. Once they were all through, the wolves and I jumped through. We split up into our groups and watched as the Strikers began their attack.

I sat stock still, changing my coat color to a gray to blend in with our surroundings. Lily did as well. Spencer remained a human. He stood behind a tree, watching the house carefully.

Faintly, I could hear sounds of fighting and shouts, but nothing concrete that told me who was winning the fight. I really hoped the Searchers were. Other than that though, the night was completely quiet. But that silence was broken by one, long howl and one I recognized all too well.

Elsa.

Elsa

I was handcuffed to a wooden chair. The handcuffs had magic in them that prevented me from changing. If I could've changed, I would've already ripped the Hunters' throats out. The Hulk had disappeared, being replaced by two men. One held a knife, the other stood back simply watching.

"You do know I'm not a werewolf right? So that silver isn't going to do much against me," I pointed out.

The man smiled. "Guardians. Always were cocky sons of bitches."

"I'm actually a daughter. And you know, a wolf is a dog and dogs are called bitches so that would've been a true statement had you called me a daughter instead of a son."

"This one has a mouth on her," the guy not holding a knife said.

"My bite is worse than my bark. Want to see for yourself?" I queried.

"Her tongue should be the first to go, don't you think Tony?"

"Good idea Bruce." Tony twirled the knife between his fingers.

"What do you want from us?" I finally inquired.

"Information. Where is the second born in your family?"

"Uh, why?"

"You don't know about the prophecy?"

"What prophecy?"

"Do the Searchers tell you anything? That's why we attacked your house when you were eleven. See, we were after Caleb because he was in the prophecy. Your twin, what's her name, Andy-"

"Anna," I growled.

"Anna, she was simply in the way. We killed her because she wouldn't get out of our way. Foolish little girl to be honest," Tony remarked.

"Were you the one that attacked my house that day?"

"No, that was the hulk that brought you in and a couple other guys. Your parents killed two of them I think. I don't remember. If I or Bruce had been there, we actually would've succeeded. Now, where is your brother? Caleb is it?"

"I don't know. You know that too. You've been keeping tabs on my family so you know he left a long time ago."

"You know where he is though. That wolf pack you were sneaking around with? There's only one reason you'd risk your life and that's your brother. Now tell me, where is he?" Tony asked with a snarl.

"Go to hell," I spat. I didn't even feel the knife slice my cheek, but I felt the blood trickling down.

"Shocking how sharp this blade is. It's so sharp that you won't feel a thing. Dangerous if I cut you too many times. You could bleed out."

"I'm pretty strong. You'll have to do a lot of cutting. Hope your arm doesn't get tired," I replied sarcastically. Tony walked around me. At first I thought he was dragging his finger across my back, but I quickly realized it was his knife.

"If I'd gone any deeper, I would've severed your spinal cord at your neck and you'd be dead. You're no use to us dead."

The pain was starting to settle in but I'd be damned if I was going to let them see that. "Why's that?"

"Because you're a bargaining chip. You for information on Caleb. Someone in your pack knows or the Searchers know, and considering you're Ren and Arya Laroche's youngest daughter, I'm sure they'd love to make a trade for you."

"What about the other two?"

"The only reason they're alive is because we need you to cooperate. Now, let's try this again, shall we? Where. Is. Caleb?" Tony interrogated, getting right up in my face.

"I. Don't. Know," I responded through gritted teeth.

"Wrong answer." He slashed my leg with his knife, easily ripping through my jeans and into my skin. Blood instantly soaked my pants. This went on for about another thirty minutes before I started feeling weak from blood loss. I couldn't let them see that though. Just as Tony was about to ask me where Caleb was for the hundredth time, the sound of glass shattering made the two men look up. At that moment, I rocked back my chair so that it hit the ground hard enough to break it. My plan worked. The chair splintered into pieces and I jumped to my feet. I grabbed a piece of wood and struck Tony on the head with it. He went down immediately. Bruce charged me but I ducked out of the way, spun around him, and kicked him in the back. He went sprawling to the ground. I kicked him in the head to knock him out. I grabbed the keys out of his pocket and unlocked my handcuffs. I grabbed another set of keys off the counter. I didn't know what they were for but decided it was best not for Tony or Bruce to have any sort of key on them whatsoever. Besides, they looked like they'd open the cell Josilyn and Sebastian were in. I ran back to my pack members who seemed to be in shock to see me. I fumbled with the keys, trying desperately to find which one unlocked their cell. Luck was on my side because it didn't take long to figure out.

Josilyn and Sebastian hugged me. I cringed from the pain.

"Elsa, you look terrible! What did they do to you?!" Josilyn exclaimed worriedly.

"One of them had a knife. I wouldn't answer his questions. It was my punishment. Listen, take the keys and let these other Guardians go and get yourselves out of here. Sebastian, make sure Josilyn doesn't get-"

A gun shot interrupted me. Josilyn let out a cry of pain. I whirled around, shifted into wolf form, and leapr at the attacker. The hulk guy had no time to respond as my jaws clamped around his neck, swiftly killing him.

"Sebastian, get them all out of here! I'll make sure no one else can come through this way," I said, handing him the cell keys.

"But Elsa, what about you?" Josilyn asked as Sebastian lifted her up into his arms.

"My job is to protect you. I'm not letting Hunter lose the one person in his life who has never let him down. I'm not letting him lose the light of his life. Now go!" I ordered. "I'll alert the Searchers where we are."

"How are you going to do that?" Sebastian queried, unlocking the first cell door. A Guardian bear waddled out, shifting into a woman and grabbing the keys from him so she could begin unlocking the other cells.

I smiled. "Like this."

I went back to being a wolf and let out a long, loud, howl.

Spencer

I lost all my senses when I heard Elsa's howl. I sprinted through the woods, shifting into my wolf form somewhere between the tree I'd been standing at and between the house I was heading towards. Lily had shouted my name and I heard her and Caleb chasing after me. Out of my peripheral vision I saw the Laroche pack running as well. Whether that was because they were trying to stop me or because they were going after Elsa too, I didn't know.

I leapt through a broken window, briefly changing into human so that when I landed on the glass, it'd be in shoes and not unprotected paws. Hunter, Lily, and Caleb had caught up to me. Hurriedly I ran through the fighting, dodging bullets and weapons but when one Hunter stepped in front of me, I punched his lights out as I kept running. No one was going to stop me from reaching Elsa. I had to see if she was all right. I couldn't lose another person I cared about again. I couldn't lose another person I cared about who didn't know how I really felt about them again. I had to tell her why I'd lied that day when she'd asked why I led her on.

I passed a bunch of people in a hall corridor but I knew they were no threat. I could sense that they were Guardians. That, and I could see that some of them were in their Guardian form. Quite a few panthers passed me. I'd never really liked cats but knowing that these were on our side and were probably going to go kill some Hunters, I liked them in the current moment. Midway through the corridor, I came to a sliding stop when I saw Sebastian supporting a bleeding Josilyn.

"Josilyn!" Hunter shouted, pulling her into his arms when he reached.

"Hunter!" Josilyn cried.

"What happened?" He whispered, brushing hair out of her face.

"A Hunter shot me. Elsa killed him. She's still back there," she said in a shaking voice. Hunter looked conflicted. I knew he wanted to save Josilyn and his sister but he knew he couldn't do both. Lily spoke up.

"Spencer, Stark, go after Elsa. Hunter and I will bring Josilyn and Sebastian back to safety," she said.

"Bring my sister back alive, do you hear me?" Hunter commanded.

I nodded, already running down the corridor again in wolf form. Caleb fell into stride with me. I picked up on Elsa's scent when I reached the first dead body. I barely saw the teeth marks in the guy's neck. I grabbed his gun as I passed him, just in case it might come in handy.

When Caleb and I reached Elsa, she was fending off three people: two men and a girl. The men never saw us coming. I leapt up, knocking the closest and biggest guy down to the ground. We rolled around but I got the upper hand, snapping my jaw onto his head and crushing his skull. Caleb snapped the other man's neck. We turned around and I got ready to shoot the girl who was pinning Elsa to a wall by her neck but Elsa yelled, "Spencer, don't!"

Caleb stared at the girl before murmuring, "Callie?"

I lowered my gun, unable to believe what was happening. She peered briefly over her shoulder but it was enough of a chance for me to recognize my ex-girlfriend. A sinister smirk appeared on her face as she turned back to Elsa.

"You save my life, I save yours," Callie whispered to Elsa. My ex-girlfriend hit Elsa in the stomach before letting her go. Elsa let out an agonizing scream as she fell to the floor. I ran to her, pulling her close to me. Caleb attempted to tackle Callie to the ground but she placed a well-aimed kick to his chest. My alpha went flying back. Callie started walking towards him but out of nowhere, a white wolf barreled into her, knocking her to the ground. With a growl, Callie darted off into another hallway with the white wolf chasing after her. An explosion from somewhere inside the building made the ceiling of that hallway cave in.

"Elsa!" Caleb breathed. "What happened?"

"You got kicked in the chest," she replied, blinking sleepily up at him.

"No, I mean what did Callie do to you?"

"Oh. She stabbed me."

"Spencer, watch her. I'm going to get a Weaver here. It's not good for you to move her too much. I'll be back." Caleb took off. I kept Elsa cradled to my chest. Grabbing a cloth nearby, I pressed it against her wound on her stomach to help stave off the bleeding. She was losing so much blood, it was terrifying yet incredible to me that she was still up.

"Who knew that being stabbed hurt so much?" Elsa laughed weakly. I could tell she was trying to make light of the situation but it wasn't helping me. Her eyes started to close.

"Elsa, you have to stay awake, okay?" I told her. "Don't die on me, okay? Your family needs you. I need you."

She smiled at me. "Spencer, you don't… you don't need me. You only h-had to pretend you needed me when we… we were pretending… to date."

Elsa closed her eyes. I cupped her face. "I wish it hadn't been pretend."

"Spencer!" Caleb shouted. "We're here!"

I looked up to see my alpha running full speed with a Weaver struggling to keep up behind him. The Weaver, once she reached us, wove a portal immediately. I gently lifted Elsa up. Her head lolled back when I stepped through the portal. Healers, or as they liked to be called Elixirs, surrounded me the moment I set foot into the Academy.

"Spencer, stay with her. I'll take care of everything else here. Will you be okay?" Caleb asked worriedly. I nodded, unable to get any words out. I'd just seen my dead ex-girlfriend alive and kicking (and stabbing) and the girl I wanted to be my girlfriend was dying on me. "Okay. I'll tell Lily what happened."

The Weaver cut off the portal as the Elixirs took Elsa out of my arms. I didn't know what else to do so I slumped against the wall next to her hospital room.

Josilyn and Elsa are both in deep trouble aren't they.