Chapter 2

“Your Highness, it is time to wake up,” the monotone voice that flowed through her mind woke her up with a fright. With a jump, Princess Serena rolled her barely open eyes in aggravation as she looked up to see George, her father’s butler. George gave her a small smile as he pulled the curtains open which allowed the sunlight to fill the room.

“I’m up. I’m up,” she grumbled in annoyance. She sighed in annoyance at the fact he interrupted one of her most favorite dreams, which was the dream of finally locating her mate.

“It is time to get up and dressed, you have a busy day today. This includes training and a meeting with the Alphas of the kingdom. Your father is expecting both you and your sister to attend,” George replied. “You need to get up and prepare to attend training first thing,” he informed her as he left the room.

Serena flicked off the covers, mumbled under her breath, and stood up and stretched which helped with her sore muscles. She headed to her closet and grabbed her training gear and began to prepare herself for training. She pulled her hair into a high ponytail, grabbed her tennis shoes, and tied them tightly. She left her bedroom and headed down the hall to go check on her sister. Once she reached her sister's bedroom, she knocked, opened the door, and entered. Serena looked around the room and finally locked eyes with her sister as Ravenna ran around to prepare for the day ahead of them both. Ravenna stood taller than the average female Werewolf at 5′8", in fact, Ravenna towered Serena who stood at 5′4".

“Good Morning Ravenna. Are you ready for a fun-filled day of training and meetings?” The sarcasm that oozed out of the question was not hidden as Serena smirked at her sister. They both knew that their day was going to be long, boring, and filled with a lot of yelling.

Ravenna sat on her bed and finished tying her shoes; she stood to her feet, looked at her younger sister, and chuckled. She walked over to her bathroom, brushed her straight black hair, and quickly pulled it up into a messy bun. Ravenna left the bathroom, walked over to her bed, and grabbed the sweatshirt she had laid out beforehand.

Serena watched her sister with intrigue; she had always admired her sister’s confidence and assertiveness. Ravenna was the complete opposite of Serena, where Serena loved books and learning, Ravenna loved to fight. The closer Ravenna got to her, Serena couldn’t help but notice a few new scratches and bruises on her sister’s face. “Ravenna, did you go to the Midnight Arena and fight again last night? Are you looking to get yourself killed?” She asked concerned about her sister’s favorite pastime and how it could affect her health.

Ravenna sighed at the lecture she knew she was about to receive, Serena was younger, but was much more reserved and cautious than Ravenna was. Ravenna looked at Serena and rolled her blue eyes. “Look, the arena is something I enjoy doing, and as long as I can keep the fact I’m a princess a secret there will be no issues!”

“Until Mom and Dad find out that is.” Serena sarcastically remarked, her brown eyes returning the glare that her sister was sending her.

Ravenna narrowed her eyes as she clenched her jaw tight in anger, she knew her parents couldn’t find out or they would make her stop fighting. “You will not tell them I am doing this. This is why I go to training daily, and it is a good way to make sure I can handle myself if the situation ever needed me to, so Mom and Dad don’t need to know!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Serena retorted as she rolled her eyes at her sister’s arrogant demand.

“Speaking of training, let’s go and get this day over with,” Ravenna suggested and she walked out the door with Serena right behind her. The sisters left the bedroom and walked into the dining room, as the smell of bacon and sausage fills their noses. They took their seats and smiled an appreciative smile as the cook set their plates on the table for them. King Alistair is in his seat at the head of the table while his mate Queen Marian sat in the seat to his left, as she ate her breakfast. The Queen’s eyes shined in curiosity as she continued to have a conversation with Ravenna’s bodyguard and best friend Patrick.

“Good Morning everyone,” Serena happily chirped as she started to eat her breakfast.

King Alistair looked up from his newspaper, his black hair is styled nicely that day and his brown eyes were looking more focused than usual. He smiled at his daughters proudly and set down his paper. “Good Morning girls, please remember we have a meeting with the kingdom Alphas this afternoon and I would like you both to attend.

“What’s the meeting about?” Ravenna asked.

“The usual issues: inter-pack treaties, Rogues, and finances. But this is something you all will be doing one day, so I’d like you to start attending them,” he answered.

The girls nodded and stood their feet. “Training is getting ready to start; we will see you later on at the meeting,” Serena replied and turned to leave the dining room.

“Alphas will be coming in through the day, please keep an eye out for them as you complete your training. I don’t want you to beat up any Alphas today Ravenna,” King Alistair smirked at her as he tried and failed to maintain a straight face.

“That only happened one time, and Alpha Conner has forgiven me for that. Don’t worry I’ll keep an eye out Dad and ask before I hit anyone.” She kissed his cheek and walked out the door with Patrick and Serena when they ran into Patrick’s twin brother Kevin who was standing at the door as he waited to begin his shift as Serena’s bodyguard.

The four of them left the house, walked to the training field, and took their positions in the lineup. Marcus, the head trainer stood at the front and called the remaining warriors to their designated places in line, so he could start their training.

“I want to start with two laps around the territory. You can start...” Marcus yelled. The ending to his instruction was drowned out by the groaning of the warriors as they all began to run.

The run around the Royal Pack territory was filled with joking and bickering between a few warriors, which filled the rest of the group with laughter. Once they reached the second lap the group was starting to wear down, but their interactions were still full of enthusiasm and humor. Ravenna continued her pace as the group trailed behind her. Suddenly she jerked to a stop causing the group to forcefully crash into each other behind her. The warriors immediately began to complain about bumps and bruises as Ravenna held up her hand to quiet them. She knew she heard something that sounded like crying; she just needed to locate the direction of the source.

“Shut up! Do you all hear that?” She inquired as she looked around the woods for the source of the sound.

“I don’t hear a thing, are you hallucinating again?” Patrick snickered as he placed the back of his hand on Ravenna’s forehead jokingly.

“You don’t hear crying?” Ravenna asked frustrated at the fact that they aren’t taking her seriously.

A few of the warriors groaned about the run taking forever, brushed by them, and continued on their run. Determined to find the source of the crying, Ravenna started to follow the noise deeper into the woods

“Wait! I hear it now!” Serena exclaimed as she, Patrick, and Kevin continued to follow Ravenna in the direction of the crying. “Let me link Marcus and let him know what is going on, we may need help.” She stopped following the group and her eyes clouded over as she used her mind link to contact Marcus.

As the four of them drew closer to the source, their noses began to smell a familiar scent; it was the scent of blood. They also became nervous as they began to smell the recognizable scent of a Vampire nearby. They turned a corner, and noticed a young distressed pup that was on the ground as she held onto the body of a man; the man appeared to be wounded severely. The man was barely breathing and bleeding profusely, with a deep scratch down his chest and a slashed throat. They approached the child to render medical help to the man. However, they were stopped in their tracks when the Vampire came into view with a sneer on his face.

“Why, hello there Mutts, so glad you could come and join us!” The mysterious Vampire stated as he turned to face the newcomers.

“What the hell is going on here?” Ravenna demanded as she glared at the Vampire.

“That’s Alpha Mitchell of the Blue Lake Pack.” Serena gasped as she pointed to the man lying on the ground mortally wounded.

“Well, it’s a simple explanation really, I just helped the dear Alpha meet the Moon Goddess.” He smiled at them with an evil grin, “just as I plan to do the same for you.” The Vampire used his enhanced speed and he quickly ran up and connected a punch to Serena’s face. She instantly crumpled to the ground and screamed as blood spilled from her nose and the side of her mouth. Before she could react, the Vampire sent her a smile and sped away. The Vampire then stopped behind Kevin, where he quickly took taking a small dagger and sliced him across the throat with it. Kevin fell to the ground, released a gurgle of distressing sounds, and laid motionless.

Proud of his handiwork, the Vampire never noticed Ravenna’s presence until she sent a right hook to his face. She quickly followed up with a sweep kick, which knocked his feet out from under him. She dropped to the ground as she swung her fist towards his face. However, the Vampire was able to dodge quickly and jumped to his feet, where he took a punch to the face from Patrick. The Vampire realized quickly, that this isn’t going to be an easy fight, and with the sound of more Werewolves approaching to help, he quickly retreated to the bushes.

“Thanks for the fun dear Mutts, I will be back to see you again soon. Also, King Lucius sends his regards.” The Vampire used his enhanced speed and quickly ran away, the sound of his cackles grew quieter the further away he got.

Serena stood to her feet and ignored the possibility of a broken nose. She wiped away the blood oozing from it and quickly ran over to the little girl in worry that this child was scarred from this experience. Ravenna jumped to her feet and ran over to check on Kevin, while Patrick walked back to the clearing after chasing the mysterious Vampire.

“Alpha Mitchell is dead,” Serena stated solemnly as she held on tightly to the little girl.

Ravenna dropped to the ground at Kevin’s side and placed two fingers on his neck to see if there was a pulse, however, she felt none. Ravenna looked at Patrick with tears forming in her eyes. “Kevin is gone.” She began to weep. Patrick wiped his own tears away and wrapped his arms around her to give her comfort, and let out a howl of sadness for the loss of his brother. The sounds of muffled footsteps growing closer caused him to stop howling and look up in a defensive manner.

“What happened here?” Marcus came up to the group followed by 10 elite guards.

“Vampire killed Kevin and Alpha Mitchell,” Patrick answered with anger as he pulled Ravenna closer to allow her to cry without an audience.

“Are you sure, we have a treaty!?” Marcus asked Patrick with a look of confusion and disbelief on his.

“That is my twin brother lying there dead why would we make this up?” Patrick replied furiously as his eyes started turning black. As he began to struggle against his wolf, Ravenna pulled him into a hug trying to help calm him down.

Marcus scanned the surrounding forest, and turned to face the three of them, he looked down at Kevin and took a deep breath. “Take the rest of the day, Serena head over to the infirmary and get checked out. I’ll follow up with the King and we can go from there.”

Serena nodded and turned to look at the child. “Hello, my name is Serena, what’s yours?”

“Kimberly,” the little girl sniffed.

“Kimberly, we are going to go back to our pack house to get looked at by the doctor. I’d like you to come with us.”

“Ok.”

Serena reached out and took Kimberly by the hand. She helped the distressed child to her feet and then bent down and picked her up. Holding the child tight in a hug, Serena quietly followed the mourning group back to the pack house.

~~~~~~~~~~

Loud distraught screams are heard throughout the castle, the screams of a man that had lost the love of his life. Servants worked in silence, as they quietly sobbed amongst themselves. Their beloved Queen was gone.

“Your Highness, we need to take revenge on the wolves! The execution of Queen Katherine has crossed a line and the treaty should no longer apply!” Sampson the king’s advisor desperately screamed at the mourning King.

“We will hold a meeting soon. Please allow me and my son some time to grieve.” King Richard stated as he looked at a picture of his wife.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Sampson adjusted his glasses and left the sobbing King to his grief.