Chapter 6

Serena quickly paced the floor of Ravenna’s room and constantly glanced at her phone to check the time. “Dammit, where are you?” She yelled as she grabbed her phone. She began to dial Ravenna’s number to call again when she heard the shuffling of the leaves in the tree outside.

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN,” she shouted as Ravenna climbed through the window.

“Well MOTHER I just got back from getting some of the worst news of my life,” Ravenna retorted as she placed her hands on her hips. “What is wrong?”

“Well while you were trying to fix your hurt pride; I had to stop Patrick from asking for a transfer, and watch as the heads of our border guard’s rained down on the ball!” Serena exclaimed walking behind Ravenna to close the window she just entered though.

“Wait... What?? Who did that?!” Ravenna demanded spinning around to face her sister.

“Someone trying to make a point obviously, look I’m not going to argue just get some sleep. Dad will be calling another meeting tomorrow.” Serena informed her as she turned to leave the room.

“Serena wait... I figured out what was going on with the humans earlier at the mall,” Ravenna dropped her eyes and looked down at her hands.

Serena turned and looked at a visibly upset Ravenna, “what’s that?”

“Rumor going around the Rose was that their queen was murdered a few days ago. I didn’t miss the fact that she was killed by a wolf,” she said looking up at her sister.

Serena gasped in horror. “You have to tell Dad right away!”

“And give up the fact I’ve been tavern fighting for years? You know I can’t do that!” Ravenna retorted as she threw her arms in the air. She defiantly stomped over to the other side of the room and stared at the wall.

“Raven, we are in a constant war with the Rogues, Blue Lake is trying to wage another war on the Vampires with no complaint from your bodyguard, and now the humans could attack at any point but you won’t tell anyone because you don’t want to give away your alternate personality!”

“ALRIGHT, I GET IT!!” Sharply she turned around and glared daggers at her sister. Ravenna was mad because she knew that Serena was right. She was still hesitant to tell because there was a lot to lose if her father reacted how she figured he would.

“I’m sorry; I know this is a lot on you. Get some sleep, we will discuss this tomorrow.” Serena turned and left the room, and left Ravenna with only her thoughts.

Nighttime brought only restless sleep for Ravenna as she tossed and turned in bed. She knew that she needed to tell her father the truth, which was the easy part. However, getting the courage built up and telling him was the hard part. She knew he would force her to stop fighting. But, if by some minor miracle Titus could get her back in the ring, she would take it. As the night continued, her head began to hurt from all the thinking she was doing. Her eyes flew open and she looked at her alarm clock, which showed 3:30 am.

“Ugggh tomorrow is going to suck!” She said to herself in a defeated and exhausted voice. She decided to force her eyes closed and clear her head until sleep finally took over.

Her alarm blared in her ear at 7 am, after she rolled over to shut it off; she threw off her blankets and jumped out of bed. She headed to her closet and picked out a pair of black torn jeans and a red V-neck T-shirt. “I may as well smell good when Dad banishes me,” she sarcastically said to herself as she turned on the shower. Once she finished her shower and got herself dressed, she completed her outfit with black combat boots and her new leather jacket. Looking herself over, she took a deep breath and headed downstairs. As Ravenna walked downstairs, her heart was beating so hard that she felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. Finally, she reached the kitchen, where her parents, David, Rose, Serena, Patrick, and Serena’s new bodyguard Maurice were seated. They were eating breakfast and conversing between themselves.

Ravenna looked at Maurice and evaluated him; she couldn’t help but think he would be a good bodyguard for Serena. He’s close to 5′9" and full of muscles. His brown skin was flawless except for one scar running down his cheek. As she watched his brown eyes light up in interest at the conversation, she couldn’t help but miss Kevin. She took a deep breath to help calm her nerves and walked up to the table and sat down next to Serena. “Good morning everyone,” she said with faked enthusiasm. Her greeting was returned by everyone in the room, but she didn’t miss the sadness in Patrick’s eyes. “Dad I need to talk to you...” Ravenna’s statement was interrupted by the sound of the door opening as Marcus entered the room.

“Your Majesty, I am sorry for interrupting your breakfast, but I have some urgent news.”

“No problem Marcus, what is it?” The King asked as he looked up from his paper.

Marcus stepped into the room and bowed to the family. He stood back up and turned towards the King. “It was just brought to my attention that the Vampire Prince Alias was murdered a few days ago by Hunters.”

A slight gasp was heard at the other end of the table, as everyone in the room turned to look at its source. In an effort to divert their curiousness, Ravenna pretended to drop her napkin and bent down to pick it up.

“Let’s go discuss this in my office, the king stated as he stood to leave the room.” Turning to Ravenna, he looked at her with concern, “you needed to discuss something with me?”

“It can wait, go to your meeting, I’m going for a walk.”

He nodded at her as she quickly stood up and hurried out of the room before the tears started falling. She managed to run to the clearing where they met and collapsed and cried. She cried for Kevin, she cried for her border guards who lost their lives at the ball, and she cried for Alias. As she kneeled there lost in her thoughts and tears, an arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

“I’m sorry Raven; I know he meant a lot to you,” Patrick said as he tightened the hug.

“I loved him, Patrick, we knew we couldn’t keep going we would eventually find our mates, but he didn’t deserve that.”

“I know, Kevin didn’t deserve it, and neither did the border guards. It’s a result of war no matter how bad it sucks,” he replied as he continued to hold her close and let her cry. Finally, her tears stopped, as she adjusted herself to sit next to him, put her arm around him, and just enjoyed the comfort he provided.

“It’s my fault you know, if I didn’t ask him to meet me here to discuss the Vampire who killed Kevin, he’d still be alive.”

“It’s no one’s fault but the Hunters who killed him,” Patrick said as he looked her straight in the eye.

She nodded with uncertainty, took a deep breath, and wiped her eyes. “I guess I had better get back, this day is getting more and more complicated.”

Ravenna stood to her feet and turned towards Patrick, She offered her hand to help him to his feet. He accepted it with a smile and stood up and wiped off his jeans. He took a deep breath and turned to look at her. As Patrick ran his fingers through his wavy brown hair sheepishly, he took her hand.

“I owe you an apology; I was a total ass last night and I didn’t mean to take it out on you. A lot is going on right now and I was drunk and impatient. You are my best friend and I don’t want that ruined because of my big mouth.”

“You are angry and grieving of course I’d forgive you, Dork.” She smiled at him and put her arm around his shoulder. “I guess it’s time to have that conversation with my father. Want to go with me to tell Dad about my tavern fighting?”

“Why do you have to tell him?” He answered in an equal mixture of disbelief and curiosity.

“I heard something last night that could very well be an issue in the future and Dad needs to know.”

“Of course, I’ll go,” he said with a smile as he grabbed her hand.

They walked hand in hand across the castle ground and watched the cars of the Alphas pulling in for the funeral Alpha Mitchell and Kevin’s funeral. Ravenna looked down sadly as she continued to lead Patrick to her Dad’s office.

As she stood at the door and mentally prepared herself, she heard that her father and Marcus are still there talking. Finally, she knew she was ready; she took a deep breath and knocked sheepishly on the door.

“Come in Ravenna.”

She took a deep breath, opened the door, and entered the room. “Dad I need to talk to you and Marcus,” she said as Patrick closed the door behind them. “But, before I get started, I need you to listen and not interrupt or yell at me.” She said as she took a seat in a chair across from his desk next to Marcus.

King Alistair leaned back in his chair with concern etched on his face as he stared at his daughter.

“Ok, I won’t yell. What is it?”

“About three years ago I started sneaking out of my room at night and started fighting in the Midnight Tavern under the alias of Raven.” She replied looking at her hands.

“YOU DID WHAT?!” Marcus yelled.

“You do know you could have been killed Ravenna do they know who you are?” The King asked her with the concern evident in his voice as he stared at her curiously.

Grateful her dad kept his word; Ravenna relaxed a bit. “No, they don’t know who I am. I have always worn a mask and most don’t even know I’m a wolf. As far as getting killed, I need to lose first, I’m 36 and 2.”

The King turned to Marcus and smirked. “I think you need a raise.”

Marcus snickered and looked at Ravenna. “Ok, so what is the point of telling us this?”

“Well, I went last night, due to an all-fighters meeting, we were told that the human Queen was murdered and all shifters are now barred from entering The Rose or Alaria.”

“A standard precautionary measure with the Queen being killed, what does this have to do with us?” The King asked her as he leaned back further in his chair looking at his daughter.

She shuffled nervously as she tried to find the words; finally, she took a deep breath. “Well, it seems that the queen was ripped apart by a Werewolf.”

Three gasps were heard and Marcus finally broke the silence.

“Well.... shit.”