Chapter 2

Once they finished their 10-mile run, Gemma and her mate Patrick began to stretch, in order to prepare themselves for the hand-to-hand portion of their training. They both began to stretch their legs and arms when they were interrupted by Marcus, the head trainer. “Gemma and Patrick, you both are to report to King David immediately,” Marcus yelled to them.

They stood up and glanced at each other in curiosity then headed off the training field towards the castle. “What did you do now?” Gemma snickered and asked Patrick as she fixed her blonde and blue shoulder-length hair to be a bit more presentable before they entered the castle.

“I will have you know I’ve been very good since Aiden was born and Ravenna moved to Dark Light,” Patrick replied innocently. Patrick was the former bodyguard of Princess Ravenna, and because of this; they both often got into trouble with their escapades.

Gemma shrugged her shoulders and climbed the stairs to the second floor where the King’s office was located. They approached the door and knocked cautiously. Once they were instructed, they entered the room. The pair bowed to King David and Queen Rosemarie in respect and they both took a seat on the opposite side of the desk. “How can we help you,

Your Majesty,” Patrick asked in a professional tone.

“Patrick, you were my sister’s bodyguard and practically family stop being so formal!” King David responded as he rolled his eyes. The King turned to face Gemma and smiled. “We require a professional tracker such as yourself to manage and lead a few different groups of trackers.”

“What exactly am I leading these groups to find, and isn’t Hunter more qualified than me?” She asked with a confused look on her face as to why their Lead Tracker Hunter is not the one being asked to lead these groups.

“We are having a case of shifters disappearing. Seventeen wolves and fifteen Vampires have disappeared in the past two months. You will be leading groups to look for potential locations of these missing shifters. And I am asking you because you were specifically requested,” David answered as he looked at her smiling.

“Sounds good I will get to work then; should I be reporting to Hunter? Or a different pack,” Gemma asked curiously.

Smiling at her enthusiasm, he looked at her. “You both will be reporting to Dark Light Coven for at least two weeks until Lilith returns.”

As their eyes lit up they were ecstatic, knowing they will get to see Ravenna again. “Thank you so much we will get packed. Do we leave immediately?” King David nodded, and they hurriedly left the room to go pick up baby Aiden and pack their stuff.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Later on, that afternoon as Ravenna walked through the coven to put the babies down for a nap. She looked around at her surroundings and couldn’t help but notice there were even more new servants in the castle aside from the one she saw at breakfast. Entering the third floor, she began to walk down the hallway and noticed a woman with short black hair and an old torn dress in the nursery sweeping the dust off of the floor.

Ravenna stepped into the room with the babies in her arms, and she smiled at the lady. “Hello, how are you?”

The lady shyly looked up from sweeping the floor and smiled as she bowed. “Hello, Your Majesty I’m Tara. I will be in charge of cleaning the nursery.”

“Welcome Tara, are you close to finishing up? I would like to lay the babies down for a nap,” Ravenna asked.

“Yes, Your Highness, I’m almost finished.” Tara swept up the dirt, bowed, turned, and left the room. Once Tara closed the door; she glanced through the small crack into the room and watched Ravenna carefully lay Alejandro into his crib, followed by Allison. Tara quietly left the door to the nursery and smiled to herself as she walked down the long hallway.

Ravenna looked around the nursery and then took a deep breath inhaling the scent of cleaning solution and bubbles. She assumed that it must have been from the Vampire who just left, so she ignored the smell, and smiled to herself at the sight of the two sleeping babies before her. She clutched the monitor in her hand as she exited the nursery and walked back downstairs. She entered the sitting room where her mother, mother-in-law, and sister were drinking tea and munching on pound cake. “So what’s been going on while I was in the hospital?” She questioned as she sat down and grabbed a slice of cake and some juice.

“Well, the guys are in a meeting with David, looks like we have cases of shifters disappearing between the packs,” Marian explained as she looked worriedly at Drucilla.

“We have had the same issue with Vampires disappearing,” Drucilla continued as she looked down at her glass of blood in worry.

“Do they have a plan on how to find these shifters?” Ravenna asked the women curiously,

“Lilith is on her honeymoon we can’t wait two weeks to look.” Once she finished her sentence, her bodyguard Nicolette walked into the room.

“Welcome back Your Majesty. I believe you have some visitors,” she said smiling leading Patrick, Gemma, and little Aiden into the room.

Her eyes drifted from Nicolette to her dear friends, Ravenna was completely surprised. “What are you all doing here,” she exclaimed as she jumped out of the chair and wrapped them in a hug.

“I was requested by the King to fill in for Lilith through her Honeymoon. I am going to be setting up groups to find the missing shifters.” Gemma replied as she handed baby Aiden to Ravenna. “Now where are the little Zane’s I keep hearing about?” She asked with a huge smile.

“They are sleeping, it’s been a rough day for them of being spoiled by our mothers,” Ravenna answered with a smirk and a chuckle at the two grandmothers behind her. “Let me show you both to your room and the nursery. Once you put your stuff down I can take you to Mathias for a workspace.” She said as she pointed them towards the door.

Gemma and Patrick sent one more bow towards the three Queens sitting at the table; they said their hellos and goodbyes, and begin to follow Ravenna up the stairs. Once they made their way to the guest room next to Ravenna and Zane’s room, they laid down their bags, exited the room, and followed Ravenna into the war room. The three of them entered the room, smiled, and bowed to the kings who were in the middle of a debate on the easiest way to search for the shifters. “Look who I picked up on the way here,” Ravenna said excitedly as she kissed Zane on the cheek.

“Welcome Patrick and Gemma, I hope you made it here easy enough? Thank you for coming, and so quickly,” Zane said to them with a smile, his eyes were full of gratitude and relief.

“There were no issues at all, I’m sorry but I didn’t get all the details from King David, on what area I will be searching, party size, or anything.”

Mathias and King Zane took the opportunity to fill in Gemma about the disappearing shifters, the location she would be searching, and what she was looking for. They also informed her that her parties would be made up of both Vampires and Werewolves, and she would be working with Hunter closely in their search. The main location that she would be searching was the Vampire lands; this included all of the lands that are inhabited by the five covens and everything in between. Looking at the map of the Vampire lands, she figured it would be easiest if she split it into 15 sections and do five per day. Once she, Zane, and Mathias came to an agreement on the overall plan, Gemma and Mathias got to work.

~~~~~~~~~~

The walk was unsettling as he made his way down the long dark hallway toward his final destination. The overwhelming darkness made Thomas a little skittish. Finally, he reached the door and knocked loudly until he heard the voice on the other side telling him to enter.

Thomas took a deep breath and opened the door; he walked in and made his way to the man sitting behind the desk looking through paperwork. “Westin, they were released today,” he informed him a matter of factly.

“Good, everything is in place then?” Westin asked as he looked intimidatingly at the Hunter.

“Yes sir, it is,” Thomas said as he perked up a little.

“Good, we are gathering a lot of data. Once this plan is executed we will get so much more until we can finally end the shifters once and for all.” Smiling at Thomas; Westin spun around his chair and looked out the window at the view of the forest and laughed.