****Mildly spicey adult times are in this chapter!***

"Madame?"

I turned toward the door to see Phil standing there with a silver tray and a letter on resting on it. 

"Phil. Hi. How are you?"

"I have slept 5 hours this entire week and I'm not sure how I'm still functioning, but I am well. And you, Princess?"

"5 hours? Phil. Why?"

"Apparently my pup has decided that sleep is optional. He's napping right now."

"Oh."

"This letter arrived for you and Prince Edmond."

"A letter? From who?" I picked it up and turned it over to look at the wax seal on the back. "Uh, Edmond."

"What?" he asked, not looking up from the coloring book.

"We have a letter."

"Okay?"

"From the royal family of the vampires."

"What?" He sat up and looked at me. "Honey, keep coloring. I'm going over with mommy for a minute."

Vicky nodded as Freddy emerged from the room very sleepily. 

"Momma?"

"Good morning, honey. There is a plate with breakfast right there." 

Edmond broke the seal on the letter and quickly scanned it.

"Uh oh."

"What?" I asked.

He handed me the parchment to read myself.

Most honored Lycan kingdom,

We do not write in this without need. We have been separated for many centuries, but at this time we are dealing with an issue that we cannot handle on our own. We require the assistance of those who are strong and large in number.

We have been attacked on the regular and cannot seem to find the culprit. 

We are sending a delegate who will arrive at the borders of your kingdom within a fortnight. He will provide you with further information. I am not comfortable divulging everything within this letter.

May the Moon bless you,

King Amdis

"Well, that's interesting." I scanned the letter for a date but found none. "How long ago was this written? How long is a fortnight?"

"A fortnight is 14 days, ma'am."

"Okay, two weeks."

"Is this a date?" Edmond pointed to a series of numbers at the bottom.

"Um, let's see, it's 121822"

"December 18?" he asked.

"So two weeks ago. Phil, um, can you do us a favor?"

"Anything, sir," he said to Edmond.

"Could you take the children to the nursery? Let them know we had immediate business to attend to."

"Of course." He turned to Vicky and Freddy who argued while coloring. "Children. Come along."

"Uncle Phil!" they both squealed jumping up.

A smile broke through his tough exterior for just a moment.

"I saw the smile," I whispered as Edmond and I went into the bedroom to quickly change.

He cleared his throat and ushered my pajama-clad children to the nursery.

"Are you concerned?" I asked.

"I don't know. I'm definitely intrigued. We don't deal with the vampires. They maintain their kingdom, we maintain ours. We don't mingle."

"Right. I know that. They kind of skeeve me out, honestly."

"They drink blood. That's just weird."

"What do you think dad will say?" I asked, switching from my t-shirt to a sweater.

"I don't know. He's not one to say no to someone in need. Even the vampires."

"Yeah. I don't want to see them all die. I mean, that's not a good thing. For any of the kingdoms to be eliminated." I pulled on a pair of skinny jeans before pulling my hair back.

"You ready?"

I nodded and followed Edmond to Orsand's office.

"Father?" he asked, knocking on the door.

"Yes?"

Edmond handed him the letter and stood back.

"Shit."

"Shit?" I asked.

"This," He waved the letter above his head. "Is just too much. There is so much going on right now. Kallisto. Our all council meeting is in three hours. And now the vampires of all kingdoms want help? I don't think we have enough warriors for this."

"Well, they'll be here today," I said.

"Today?" He scanned the letter again. "How do you know that?"

I pointed to the numbers at the bottom. "We think that's the date this was written. Which was two weeks ago."

"Shit," he said again.

"Do you want me to send one of the guards out to look for them?"

"Yeah. Send someone." The king sighed heavily and put his head in his hands. "They'll just have to wait until after the meeting."

"Right. We'll see you at the meeting."

Orsand nodded his head while shuffling his papers on his desk looking for something.

"My poor dad," Edmond said as we walked for the guard's section. 

"Attention! Prince and Princess in the room."

The guards all stood at attention as we went to the man in charge.

"Sergeant?" 

"Aye, Prince Edmond."

"We're expecting visitors. Um, a vampire. Would you mind sending a few of the guards out to patrol the border to look for them and escort them back to the palace?"

"Vampires, sir?" the man asked, shocked.

"Yes. Vampires."

"Yes. Of course."

"Thank you."

"Aye, sir."

"Let's go get ready for this meeting," Edmond said, turning to me, and rubbing his temples. "This is going to be something."

"I don't even know what to say," I said softly.

"You'll figure it out."

It didn't take us long to get back to our suite to prepare for the meeting. I climbed into the shower with Edmond and washed his back as he leaned his head against the shower wall.

"You okay?" I asked.

He turned to look at me, wrapping his arms around my waist. "I'm fine. Just don't want to deal with this right now."

He nuzzled my neck, kissing the mark on my shoulder.

"I know. That's the problem with growing up. We have to deal with the things adults deal with because we're the adults now."

"I don't like being an adult," he laughed.

I ran my fingers through his wet, soapy hair while staring into his mesmerizing eyes before kissing him deeply.

"Mmmm, Ellie, we don't have time for this."

"Sure we do. I mean they can't start without us. Right?"

"I suppose you're right," he said before kissing me back. 

He picked me up, letting me wrap my legs around his waist, and pinned me against the wall.

"You know once I start I don't stop until we're finished."

"Oh, I know." I smiled coyly. 

He let out a low growl before pushing himself into me.

Thankfully the castle seemed to have an endless supply of hot water. 

Once we finished up, we hurried through washing ourselves and drying off. I plugged in my hair dryer and curler while putting on my makeup.

"Sir? Ma'am?" a soft voice called from the sitting room.

"Yes?" Edmond responded with his deep, commanding voice.

"Sir, the leaders of the other packs and your parents are making their way into the conference room."

"We'll be there shortly. Thank you."

"At least we're not super late," I said, curling my hair.

"Are you even close to being ready?"

"Um." I looked at my half-done head, and face. My dress was across the room and my crown sat somewhere in the sitting room. "Yes."

Edmond shook his head as he tied his tie and slipped on his shoes.

"Okay. Like 10 minutes. I'll be ready in 10 minutes."

"Uh-huh." He shook his head as he took some of his hair wax and ran it through his hair, spiking it up and out of his face.

At the ten-minute mark I was pulling on my black, red, and gold high heels before grabbing the crown and walking out our door.

"You ready for this?"

"Yeah. I'm ready."

Edmond adjusted his crown atop his head, it matched mine just more masculine. As we walked down the hallway I placed mine atop my head and pushed it down enough to cover the mark on my forehead.

"Can you see it?" I asked.

"Nope. You look absolutely incredible my love."

I smiled as the guard in front of the door opened them.

"Their royal majesties, Priced Edmond and Princess Elanor."

We entered the room to everyone standing and dipping into bows and curtsies. Edmond took his place next to Orsand and me next to Edmond.

"You're late," Orsand whispered.

"Sorry. We, uh, were preoccupied."

Orsand rolled his eyes while Marsha attempted to stifle a laugh. 

"I remember those days," she whispered, nudging me.

"Now that we're all here," Orsand said, side-eyeing the two of us, "We can begin the meeting."