Battle of the Roses [Book 2]

Chapter 1

Hey y'all- long time no see for this book :)  I've decided to write a sequel and I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter Quote:
"Every day is like a battle."
~New Romantics, Taylor Swift
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Chapter 1

Arya 

War is a part of life, whether it's on a battlefield or in your home.  You can fight for anything with war: love, freedom, power, money.  The list is endless.  In my life, war has been necessary.  I was a soldier, fighting for my masters the Keepers, so they could keep their power and money.  Then I fought for my freedom and won.  Without the Searchers, that victory wouldn't have been possible.  Finally I fought for love when my old Keeper nearly took my fiancé away from me.

My name is Arya Laroche, and these wars I fought happened only five years ago.  Now I live happily in Estes Park with my husband Ren, my five children- Hunter, Caleb, Ember, and the twins Elsa and Anna- and the rest of my pack.  Half of us lived on one side of Estes Park, the north side.  The other half lived on the south side.  We decided it would be easier to keep track of everything going on that way.

Carrie and Melinda each had two kids.  Reyna, Casey and Erin all had one with Erin being pregnant with her second.   Taki was pregnant with her first, due any day.  Nancy was the only who wasn't with child.  She didn't mind and neither did her husband Derek.  They weren't ready to have kids and that was completely understandable.  Ren and I, on the other hand, just couldn't wait to get started...

"Hunter! Caleb!  Stop fighting!" I ordered when I saw my two sons gnashing their teeth at each other.  We had a problem with them.  Both were alpha material and even though Hunter and Caleb were only about a year apart, respectively five and four, they were already trying to decide who would lead the pack.  Ren and I had discussed splitting the pack up so both could be alphas, one leading the north side and one leading the south.  However, we decided to wait for a while until we made a final decision on that.

I turned around when Elsa started crying, holding her arm.  She had teeth marks on it.  I looked over at Ember who was laughing until she saw me glaring at her.  My daughter cowered.  As I consoled my daughter over her wound, an explosion went off in the background.  I whirled around.  Pillars of black smoke rose up and a cold feeling settled into my stomach.

"Erin, Nancy, Taki, take the kids back to the compound!" I ordered.  Carrie, Melinda, Reyna, Casey, you're with me!"

The five of us shifted into wolf form and darted over to the south compound.

Ren!  Are you okay? I asked my husband.

I'm fine. I'm heading over there now with the boys.  Are you okay? He replied instantly.

I'm fine, just worried.  I'll see you there.

Stay safe.

It took us ten minutes to get to the location.  The smell of smoke was overwhelming but there was something else, something more sinister in the air.  I couldn't tell what it was though.

"Arya!" My husband shouted at me.  I changed forms but kept running.  The girls had fallen behind me as I rounded the bend.
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Ren 

I lost sight of my wife for one second when she rounded that bend.  I shouted for her to wait up but naturally, she didn't.  I found my wife frozen in place in front of the burning houses.