Chapter 5

Ravenna opened her eyes and scanned the room. She instantly recognized her surroundings and realized she was in her bedroom. Slowly she sat up and threw her legs over the side of the bed.

“How are you feeling? Please be careful getting up, the wolfsbane hasn’t worn off yet.”

Turning quickly, to look at the source of the voice, she noticed Patrick in the corner of the room sitting in a chair. The white bandage around his neck brought back the memories of what happened the previous night, and it hit her like a ton of bricks. As the tears filled her eyes, she looked over at him with the most defeated look on her face. “I’m sooo sorry; I never meant to hurt you.”

Patrick quickly stood to his feet and ran across the room to her bed. He sat down beside her and he wrapped her in a tight hug. “I know you didn’t, it wasn’t your fault. I’d have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.” As he pulled her closer he continued to stroke her hair, and she continued to whisper “I’m sorry.”

He pushed her back to arm’s length and looked into her eyes. “Listen to me Raven I am not mad; you are scared, freaking out, and pissed off, let our fight go. Take that anger and that stubbornness and use it to find Alejandro.” He smiled a forgiving smile at her and wrapped her back up in a hug. “Please never forget you have the friends at your back willing to do anything you need to help you find your son.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome; Zane, Gemma, and Lucius are doing everything they can to find him. Just don’t give up hope that they will succeed.”

She nodded and gave him one more hug; she then wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded.

“Now, how about we get you up and moving so you can see your daughter? It would also help for you to smooth things over with your mother-in-law.” Patrick said chuckling and helping her to her feet.

Ravenna stood to her feet and wrapped an arm around Patrick to help brace her weak body. He helped her out of the bedroom and down the hall to Zane’s office. He held open the door for her, she stepped into the office. She instantly froze in place when she realized that all eyes were on her. She looked around the room and took a deep breath. “Let me start by apologizing for my outburst last night. My wolf took over trying to find her pup, but that’s still no excuse.” As she started walking over to Drucilla, she looked at her hands, “I’m so sorry for trying to attack you.”

Drucilla pulled her into a hug and smiled at her. “Foolish child, you do not owe me an apology. I understand completely.” Pulling back, she looked into Ravenna’s eyes, “we will never give up until he comes home, just don’t lose sight of the goal, and do not forget about your daughter either. She needs you now more than ever.”

Ravenna nodded her head in acknowledgment she turned to look at Zane who was holding Allison. Smiling at her, he offered her the chance to hold her daughter. She returned his smile, she reached over and carefully took the sleeping Allison from her husband. Holding her close, the sadness washed over her at the loss of her son and the fact that this innocent little girl may never get to see her brother again. Shaking those dismal thoughts out of her head, she looked around the room more determined than ever. “So what do we know about Tara?”

“Unfortunately, nothing she was never officially hired to work here. Everyone just assumed she was since she just blended right in with the current staff,” Lucius said sympathetically. “We know that she was with humans when she died, but they masked their scent with the stream. That made it impossible to track them.”

“Has anyone tried scrying for any of the missing people,” Patrick asked. “Since the usual methods are not working what about witchcraft?”

“And that is why I am here, luckily for you I happen to be a witch with a tracker wife,” Tiffany walked in and gave Ravenna a look of pity followed by a hug. Looking around the room, she noticed a map of the three kingdoms on Zane’s wall, as she yanked it down as Lilith walked in with a small stuffed bat from Alejandro’s crib. Grabbing a small gem that was on a chain around her neck, she began to chant silently to herself as the gem swirled around the map.

The occupants of the room sat silently and watched as Tiffany chanted, twenty minutes passed, and still no location. Scratching her head in confusion, Tiffany tried again, receiving the same result. “This is super strange, it’s like he either is being blocked by another witch, or he is no longer anywhere on any of the areas covered by this map. I will keep trying, but as of now, I can’t locate him,” Tiffany stated with a look of defeat.

“Thanks for trying, and thanks for coming back from your honeymoon early to give us a hand,” Zane said giving her an appreciative half-smile.

“I’m going to go down to the stream; a new set of eyes couldn’t hurt. Maybe I’ll see something they missed. I will find Gemma and we will work out a plan from there.” Lilith bowed and walked over to Tiffany kissing her on the cheek and leaving the room.

She the map and the stuffed bat, Tiffany looked at Zane, “I am going to try again from inside the nursery, and it can’t hurt anyway.” Leaving the room everyone else just stared at each other knowing it was a waiting game as the trackers and Tiffany do their job.

~~~~~~~~~~

Looking around her cell Nina couldn’t help but want to cry, it has been six months since she was taken from the Midnight Pack after training. These six months were filled with constant torture, experiments, and forced fighting between her and other wolves and Vampires. She had no clue where she is or how she could escape. The depression had set in so bad, that she has thought about losing one of her fights on purpose to put an end to her life. She sat down and placed her back against the wall, she listened to the screams and cries of the other prisoners and couldn’t help but join them in their tears as she closed her eyes and let them fall. As she started drifting off into a sad emotional sleep, the clanging of keys interrupted her and caused her to jerk her head up to see what was going on. Numerous Hunters entered her cell; out of reflex, she covered her body in a protective stance.

Westin walked into the cell and looked her up and down, “get a grip wolf; you are not getting beaten today unless you don’t cooperate.” As he nodded his head in her direction, two of the Hunters roughly grabbed her and brought her to her feet. Grabbing her by the chin, they forced her to look at Westin as he sent an evil smile her way. “You have a new purpose, you are to raise this kid exactly how we tell you to,” handing her a baby she stared at him in disbelief.

“What could you possibly gain from kidnapping an infant?” She asked Westin as the rage started to consume her.

“That is not your concern wolf, now; you are going to stop questioning me and raise this kid. Or I will kill you and find someone who will do it with fewer questions!” Turning and leaving the cell, Westin slammed the door shut after another Hunter threw a basket with diapers and a bottle in there.

Once again, Nina was alone; as she looked down at the tiny bundle they gave her she smiled, as he started to cry she rocked him gently trying to soothe him. She now had a reason to live, and she vowed that she was going to do everything in her power to make sure this child doesn’t suffer too much at the hands of Westin and the Hunters.