Hey everyone! Hope you enjoy this chapter, this is a small chapter like the previous one, but the next one will be big!
Let me know what you guys think in the comments :)

Libby xx

It had only been two hours since Buchannan Blood's attempt murder of Princess Celeste and Elliot still hadn't calmed down. He was pacing, his lips slightly stained red after killing the two guards that had been stationed outside the door and Heath Stevenson out of anger. He couldn't think straight – the only thing that was going through his mind was that his pup was almost killed because Jackson O'Hara's temporarily replacement had messed up.

The King and Queen of the Wolves were in the council room, Elliot himself pacing the room and Lady Seraphina was sitting on one of the chairs to the side, holding a now sleeping Celeste in her arms. Her face was blank but her eyes were alive.

Alpha Bella knelt in the centre of the circle, surrounded by the frustrated King. Her blonde hair was pinned back in a ponytail and her green eyes were blazing as she heard the news. She was worried about the fact it was just the three of them, and the guard against the wall. Even her mate Carter had been sent outside.

"King Elliot, you requested my presence?" Bella worded carefully, reigning in the sass. Elliot halted his steps, his fists clenched as he tried to calm down enough to speak coherent words.

"I-We... We need another mind to piece together what happened." He spat out each word as though they were coated with vinegar.

The female Alpha frowned and her wolf perked. Bella herself had lived among humans for over six years after running from her pack when she was younger. She hadn't been raised with the standards and regulations of wolves, but with humans. Her mind worked differently to everyone else.

Bella stood from her kneeling position and walked around, pretending that the floor was their chambers. Her peculiar mind ran around the scenarios.

"Okay... Buchannan came around the corner and knocked out the two guards... Did they hear anything?" Bella questioned as she tried to wrap her mind around the situation. King Elliot seemed to still with a slight frown on his face. "King Elliot?"

"I didn't ask." He merely stated, giving the young Alpha a look which told her that he wouldn't be able to ask them now. Bella carefully nodded and copied out Buchannan's steps on the floor.

"Um... He then entered the chamber and was there for a few seconds before he tried to kill Princess Celeste..." A thought came across her mind but she pushed it aside; it could wait for now. Elliot's vicious snarl echoed around the room and the guard by the door stood straighter. Bella frowned.

"Buchannan then jumped through the window and sprinted away... no one caught him."

"No." King Elliot spat.

"No wonder, he's the Master of the Vampires, Buchannan can outrun them." Bella retorted before sealing a lid on her attitude. Not now. "But how did he get in here?"

"That," Elliot snarled and threw her a shadowed look. "Is what you're here to find out."

"What did you smell when you woke up?" Bella asked.

"Wolf." Lady Seraphina suddenly spoke and looked up at her bond-sister. "I smelt wolf but froze when I saw my tormentor's figure standing over... over..."

Elliot went over to his mate and gently cupped her face, and stroked the head of little Celeste. The pup stirred at the contact with her father, but she went still as sleep came over her again. The Royal family, no matter how much they were trying to hide beneath their anger and shock, were rattled. Their mortal enemy had managed to get so close to killing them in their sleep – that fear wasn't going to wash away easily.

"He must have been carrying some wolf scent..." Bella mused but the Queen shook her head.

"Bella... It smelt as though there was a wolf in the room before my eyes told me the truth." She seemed to clutch Celeste tighter. "Buchannan did... something."

"Silver." Bella called, using a long term nickname for her bonded sister. For the entire time that Bella was away from her pack, Seraphina (or Silver as she'd known her as) had been there. Bella worked at the Zoo that Silver was trapped at, and together they knew that patience had been a key factor. It seemed as though it was a new factor now. "He... he was there, back in those days?"

Lady Seraphina reluctantly passed Celeste to her mate and stood. Her blonde hair was bed-ridden and her grey-blue eyes were tired and haunted. Flashbacks had been occurring in her mind, although she was only there for a few months, it had been hell.

"Yes." She whispered and stood alongside Bella. Her eyes wondered as the haunting memories jumped in her mind. "He was there, with Meredith."

Bella pursed her lips as her wolf roared in anger. "Did he ever take your blood?"

The Priestess of the Moon seemed to stiffen as she realised where Bella's train of thought was going. "No he didn't...You think that he ingested wolf blood to mask his scent?"

"That's exactly what I think." Bella voiced. "The only way for a wolf's scent to change is if in heat, pregnant, depending on the level of some emotions, but you can't completely change your scent unless it's merged with another, like marking. But if you didn't have blood taken then I don't know..."

Lady Seraphina suddenly snapped her head up to Bella. "Raven."

"Huh?" She, rather impolitely, grunted.

"The young pup who was rescued from the vampire hell house a couple of months ago." Seraphina's eyes were suddenly very wide. "Buchannan must have taken her blood... or marked her..."

"Vampires can't mark wolves."

"No, no, not a mark like we know." Lady Seraphina stated and wondered around the hall with a comforting hand on her still large stomach. "Vampires bite to claim authority over things; they bite their prey and taunt them before a quick kill. Buchannan must have forcefully taken her blood and kept it in vials, or has laid a claim on Raven as prey."

"Could she be tracked if she bears his bite?" Bella frowned, her phone feeling heavy in her pocket. Princess Thalia and Elijah Griffin needed to be warned if the vampires knew where they were.

The Queen shook her head. "I honestly have no idea. But Buchannan must have used Raven's blood to get in the castle. It's the only way the guards wouldn't have suspected anything, if Raven was an unranked wolf then they would have suspected a servant."

Bella pressed her head to her temples and did slow circles. "He must have sneaked by to kill Princess Celeste..." Elliot's snarl rumbled in his throat at the mention of his pup but Bella continued on. "...but it didn't work. What was the blade, rubber?"

Lady Seraphina brought out the blade from the folds of her white gown. The moonstone shaft glinting with its silver starred hilt. "The Ray of the Moon. The dagger of Priestesses and Priests of the Goddess. It was originally my father, Lord Alastair's, before Buchannan took the blade and killed my family with it."

Bella seemed to step back from the dagger. It had seen a lot of death and she didn't want it rubbing off onto her – she didn't want that curse. Seraphina shook her head. "It can't kill a Royal. It can't kill my little Star."

The Priestess herself turned and stared at her mate who cradled their little pup. The pup wasn't even a few weeks old and she'd been almost killed. If Buchannan had used an ordinary dagger then she would be dead.

Bella gulped. "We need to tell Princess Thalia and Elijah Griffin, all the wolves and hunters who are still with them, we need them to know what happened here. Buchannan's plan failed, he may go after Raven."

The Queen nodded but as Bella walked away she put a hand on her shoulder – it was covered with a jumper but the Alpha could still feel a burning warm touch from the Queen's hand. Her inability for wolf contact still hadn't dulled over the years.

"Don't tell them about Raven's brand by Buchannan. Just tell them about his failed plan for Celeste and that Buchannan will come for them, but don't say a thing about how Raven is bound to that monster." Lady Seraphina hissed.

"Don't they deserve to know?" Bella questioned with a raised an eyebrow but Seraphina's tired eye's bore into hers with a malice she had never seen before.

"Them? No, because for Raven it will only bring back unfortunate memories. Raven may not even know." Seraphina removed her burning hand from her shoulder and fiddled with the white fabric around her. "No... Don't tell them. Just tell them to be prepared."

Bella mock bowed with her head. "Of course, Silver." The Alpha of the Silver Pack properly bowed towards King Elliot and Princess Celeste and left the room quickly. She yanked out her heavy phone from her pocket and called up one of her pack members in New York.

"McDonald?"

"It's Alpha Woods." She said with a strong, firm tone. "I need you to pass on a message to Princess Thalia and Elijah Griffin."

"Rebekah Woods is already with them, I can relay a message to the hunter in the midst, Greg. He sorts out communication." McDonald alerted and rummaged around paperwork, from what Bella could hear.

"Hurry and tell them this exactly." She ordered before she proceeded to pass on the message. When McDonald ended the call, Bella couldn't help but pray to the Goddess that they weren't too late in their warning.