Battle of the Roses [Book 2]

Chapter 62

Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:
"Easy things are worthless... It's the hard things that matter. Those are the things worth leaping for...If we don't fight other people's curses, what are we left with? Just a swift fall to the earth, and where's the meaning in that?"
~Invisibility, Andrea Cremer
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Chapter 62

Hunter

The night after the funeral turned out better than I thought. Caleb had invited me to go snack shopping with him and I think that was the first time the two of us had done something together without arguing. We even laughed a bit but the event of the day didn't let much of that happen. But still, it was nice being with him. I think now that we were both alphas and that we weren't competing with each other for the same spot, we had a different respect for each other.

The kids of the pack gathered in our basement, similar to how we'd done the night before the battle. Diana and Thea even showed up. For a bit, the conversation was small and quiet, but when Riley flicked a marshmallow at Spencer who proceeded to chuck a handful back, one of which landed in Riley's open mouth. My pack mate proceeded to celebrate with more exuberance than the situation called for but it was funny nonetheless, especially when he started running around until Spencer grabbed a pillow and slammed it into Riley's stomach, stopping him dead in his tracks. The two started wrestling on the ground with Spencer easily getting the upper hand. Elsa and Thea watched on, the latter even breaking into a small smile. With a mischievous smirk, Dmitri took a pillow and whacked Spencer with it, trying to help out Riley. It was enough to distract Spencer to give Riley a chance to get out of his grasp while Dmitri continued to pummel Spencer with the pillow. That is until Dom nearly knocked him over with his own pillow. Now it was Riley and Dmitri versus Dom and Spencer. It was actually kind of funny because Dom and Spencer were both larger in all ways compared to my pack mates and even though the former wasn't one of us, he was still nearly equal to us in strength. I had a feeling who was going to win this fight, and I was right. Dom and Spencer easily pinned down my pack mates until they called 'uncle'. Elsa and Anna were beaming from ear to ear.

It was nice to see my sisters so happy with their boyfriends. To be honest, I never thought anyone would deserve the love of my sisters, but despite the rocky start, I was glad that they'd chosen Spencer and Dom. They were good guys with good hearts.

The next morning, we were all still in the basement on our makeshift bed of blankets and pillows. The twins had taken over the couch, their hands hanging down to hold onto their respective significant other's hand. Josie was curled up next to me with my arm around her. I glanced around to see my pack, and although I was sad that Barry was missing, I was also proud so many of us had survived. I was expecting to not have this many of my family still here with me. But I noticed Caleb was gone. Lily was next to Spencer, fast asleep. I carefully maneuvered myself out of my entanglement with Josilyn. She stirred but I told her I would be right back and she went back to sleep.

I found Caleb in the living room, staring at the small family portrait of us before Anna was taken, before we'd started arguing every day, before he'd run off, before this war... a floorboard creaked under my feet and he looked up to see who it was.