The crowd dances to the music, the women in their ballroom gowns, the men in tuxedos. Effortlessly swirling around the dance floor to the music. Ethan's birthday, two hundred years old, wow. I wrap my arms around Ethan's neck, my pot belly making us further apart now but he loves it. The windows and French doors fly open, the curtains flapping in the wind as the lights flicker. The whole room stops, the music, the guests, Ethan and I. We all stand there, silent as the wind bellows through the room, a whistling on it that turns into an almighty howl.

'Something is wrong.' I whisper, feeling very sad.

I look over at Miranda, the panic and the sadness on her face matches mine, she knows something is wrong too. She hurries over to me, tears welling in her eyes.

'We have to go.'

Ethan follows behind me, trying to make sense of it all.

'Where are you going?'

Miranda stops at the entry to my bedroom.

'Ethan, something very, very bad has just happened. The wind was howling, it was crying. The wind never cries.'

She opens the door, pulling me into the robe.

'Change quickly.'

I watch as she flicks through the clothes, finding out something for the both of us to wear. After I dress, I find Ethan talking to his father in the hallway outside my room.

'The driver will take you to where ever you need to go.'

I look at Ethan, who has changed into casual clothing.

'Are you coming with us, leaving your party?'

'Yes, of course.'

I had no clue where we were going, Miranda was directing the driver, her head out the window, she looked as if she was listening to the wind. It was a full ten minutes before we found what we were looking for, a tiny dirt road, a car still with its headlights on, its occupants had stakes driven through them. I gasped as I looked at them, Miranda in tears as she looked at them.

'Lucian.' she whimpers.

'Miranda...' I hear a groan from within the car.

She scurries around to the other side, pulling the woman from the car. Ethan and I follow her, watching on as the woman struggles to stay alive.

'Oh Nicoleta, who did this?' she sobs.

'Clinton, he's taken her, Alina...' she whispers. 'My baby, find her, save her.'

'We will.' She looks up at me. 'Channel your wolf Josie, sniff her out.' she holds up a baby rug.

I take the rug from her, smelling the scent of the child, I instantly find her on the wind. My body begins to tingle; I can feel the werewolf taking form.

'I have her, I will find her.'

'Thank you.' she whispers as her body finally gives out.

'How the fuck is Clinton still alive and manages to kill the king and the queen and kidnap the princess?' Ethan yells as he stands.

Miranda wipes the tears from her eyes as she gently lays the woman onto the ground.

'Ethan, go back to your castle, find your father and tell him in secret, do not let anyone else know of this until we have found Alina.' she turns to me. 'Go now, find her, when you do, keep her safe and kill whoever has her.'

I nod, Ethan kisses me on the cheek.

'Be safe, find our princess.'

Turning to the road, picking up the scent again, I take off, grateful for wearing running shoes. I didn't know I could run this fast, the scenery around me a blur.

I found the car after half an hour of tracking and running. It was sitting on the side of the road, very neatly parked. I sniffed around it, finding the child's smell led into a tiny terrace house, sitting at the end of the street. My heart was beating hard from the running, I took a deep breath to try and settle it, when it was a very low beat I took the form of a cockroach and scurried under the door. The baby was asleep in a shallow washing basket, wrapped up in a thick blanket. She was in the centre of the lounge room, peaceful and unharmed. In the dining room was two men, one I thought to be Clinton, I had not seen him that day so I had no clue of his appearance. The other was a werewolf, tonight was a full moon and he had taken his wolf form. He sniffed the air and growled.

'What's up your arse Hesreth?'

'I can smell something... a dark being.'

'Yeah, that would be the brat.'

He growled again as he looked around the room.

'When is he going to get here? I am not a babysitter.'

'You know he has to be seen at the stupid party.'

Clinton gets up from his chair.

'I need to piss; can you handle looking after the brat?'

The wolf growls at him.

'Just make sure she doesn't cry, ok?'

I scurry after him as he walks up the stairs to the second level, scurrying under the bathroom door. As he has his back to me I take my normal form, waiting for him to finish. When he turns he sees me and tries to take me on, but to no avail. I was stronger than him, the wolf in me would see to that. He didn't taste too nice as I drank from him but it was more than suitable as I drained the last of the blood from him and then broke his neck. I took on his form and hid his body in the roof, a manhole in the cupboard made for a nice hiding spot. The form that reflected back at me wasn't the prettiest of pictures, but I hoped that it would be enough to fool the werewolf downstairs.

He was still sitting at the table when I returned, saying nothing as I walked into the kitchen, rummaging through the cupboards. I knew exactly what I wanted, exactly what I needed, hoping that the kitchen had it. I continued my search, hoping I was being casual enough as I flicked through the mail sitting on the bench under the phone. There was a long silver dull blade sitting in a pencil caddy at the back of the bench. When my hand burned, I knew I had what I wanted, a silver letter opener. It was pure, I knew that for a fact, it was burning my hand as I picked it up. He never saw it coming, obviously trusting the person that held their hand behind their back as they approached. His howls could have woken an entire city; he was so loud. But after a minute he was done, my hand healed quickly. I picked up the child and as I moved to the door, I could hear a noise, someone was approaching the door. Shit. Taking a deep breath, I disappeared, the baby disappeared with me. Thank Christ. The door opened, a tall, stocky man walks in, wearing a tuxedo. He sees the wolf in the dining room, impaled with the letter opener.

'Clinton?'

He sniffs the air and then moves up the stairs. I quietly walk out through the open door, moving to the other side of the street, to watch him. In a flurry of movement, he leaves the house and gets back into his car, it screeches away.

'Who was that man little princess?' I look down at the sleeping child.

'Gavril.' I can feel the warmth of Miranda beside me.

Both of us remain hidden, not wanting to be seen by the world around us.

'When did you get here?'

'Just as that nasty piece of work was leaving.'

'Was it just him and Clinton?'

'No Hesreth was in there as well, both dead, in there if you want to deal with them.'

'Conrad will be sending a team to deal with them.'

'What of this Gavril? Who is he?'

'He is Lucian's brother.'

'You are kidding me? That's unbelievable.'

'I know, but we have no proof, other than he was here... technically he is not guilty of anything unless we have solid proof.'

'What an arsehole.'

'Yep.' she sighs. 'But in the meantime, we have to deal with this little one. She is not safe with our own kind.'

'What do you suggest?'

'Take her far away, stay hidden, I will come and find you when we have dealt with aftershocks of tonight.'

'Ethan?'

'For a while, you will have to live away from him. We cannot risk Gavril finding you or the child.'

'What about my baby? I don't want to have it alone.'

'It shouldn't take that long; we will come for you long before you give birth.'

We didn't have to go very far before we came across a baby goods store. Miranda waited with the child as I sneaked in and disabled the pitiful alarm system. I didn't really know what to take, I had no clue about babies and I hadn't even started to prepare for my own child. I grabbed a cot that had wheels and dumped things into it, clothes, bottles, nappies, toys, everything I could find I dumped into it. Then I happened upon the prams, would I need one? Miranda did say to keep her hidden. I put one in anyway, maybe a walk in the park might be nice. I found it rather impressive that the cot disappeared when I did, making it relatively easy to steal these objects. I didn't approve of stealing, but I had no money on me and I am pretty sure Miranda didn't have any on her either. Then something strikes me, money. I stop and turn around to the cash register, a safe below it. Ok wolf within, time to rip the door off. It didn't take much effort, I wasn't used to my strength yet and inadvertently sent the door flying across the room as I ripped it off. But there it was, the hidden treasure, money.

The morning had started to emerge, the sun rising rather quickly. Miranda waited with the child and the cot full of things, still hidden at the entrance to a tiny alley. I was to find a place to live, she didn't want to know where it was, she feared her mind being entered. This what was safe to her, I would wait with the child at an unknown location. The real estate agent was a little uptight, too early in the morning for her I think. I took a little terrace unit, not far from where we were.

'Ok, I will take the things and go and get some groceries.'

'I will wait here, don't forget formula for her.'

It's hard to find things when they are invisible, my hand flapping at the air until it finally finds the cot. I giggled quietly as I pushed it along the street, the people that were hit by nothing as they passed me, they had no clue.

The little terrace unit was fully furnished, which made it a whole lot easier, nothing else needed. It was a struggle to get the cot up the three stairs and into the lounge room, but I got there, eventually. I looked out the side window and nearly jumped with delight, a small grocery store sat on the other corner. How convenient. Baby formula, food and toiletries, I didn't know how much to get, not sure of how long I would be here. Hopefully not too long.

When I returned to Miranda she had a bag in her hand, the baby in the other arm.

'Where did that come from?'

'Me.'

Ethan appears and hugs me.

'I wish I could come with you.'

'Why can't you?' I despair at Miranda. 'Why can't he come with me?'

'Because Gavril knows what he looks like, you can alter your appearance but Ethan can't. It won't be long, I promise.'