Surrounded by the scent of evergreens and spring, four children sat next to the flowerbeds with retired Luna Marigold Rowan. She planted perennials with her favorite almost six-year-olds; her triplet grandchildren, dark haired like their grandfather and green eyed like her, and her white-blonde, ice-blue eyed goddess-granddaughter. Their laughter and 'help' made her heart feel full. The eldest son Coen sat next pale Trinity as they were planted marigolds, dahlias, and snapdragons while youngest granddaughter Camillia patted bark mulch around the young plants, and middle Callen son watered the starts with a dipper and bucket.

"Are you having fun, Trin?" The retired Luna as because she had never seen the girl smile as much as she had today. She was staying with them because her mother, Lily, was in the last stages of her pregnancy.

"Yes, Grandmum Marigold," Trinity gushed. She was happy to be in the Darkwood forest with its giant, old trees. Not looking in the direction of her Clan home, she tried not to worry about her mother and unborn brother. She had only told the triplets that she knew her brother and mother Lily would survive the sickness. In her dreams, she had seen them playing with a kitten together. They would both be pale like their mother and not dark like Master-of-arms Lucius.

Luna Marigold turned, "Callen, bring the tray of camillia starts and give them to your sister. Coen, get the last stray of marigolds for Trin. We want the garden to look perfect when Lady Desa visits tomorrow night." Calen and Coen obediently went to the cart for the flowers. Distracting the children in the garden helped Marigold not worry.

Trinity's grandmother Desa stayed with Lily, who was having a difficult pregnancy this time. They were all afraid the child and/or mother would not survive the pregnancy or the Infant Plague. The adults of the families decided that it would be kinder to spare young Trinity the grief of losing a sibling by sending her to spend the spring with her grandfather Andrew's birth pack. Trinity's other grandfather, Lord Cain, was unhappy about this, preferring to keep his granddaughter close to him, but he had been summoned to the vampire royal court to deal with matters concerning the Council of Lords. He did not trust his granddaughter to be safe in his absence because many shadow walkers outside his coven and his son's clan resented that she was a hybrid. His day-walker protector Epimetheus split his time protecting the clan and child. Desa called daily, and physically came checked on Trinity weekly, but she was in the safest place they could send her. Marigold worried the pale girl would never be truly safe.

In the house the phone rang, and Marigold hoped it was Desa with good news of the baby.

"Stay in the garden, Grandmum will be back soon then we'll have sundaes," Marigold promised as she wiped her dirty hands. Once inside, Marigold answered the phone then she and Desa fell into comfortable and familiar banter.

"Do you think its about my brother?" Trinity asked in worry.

Camillia squeezed her hand, "He'll be okay. You were." They didn't understand why so many babies died but they all prayed Trinity's brother would not die too.

"He will be. I dreamed it."

"Last one," Coen announced, carefully handing the orange blossoms to Trinity. Her pale fingers carefully tucked the delicate bedding plant into the ground next to the bright pink one Camillia just planted, and pushed the dirt around it. Camillia sprinkled handfuls of shredded fibers around it before Callen dripped water from the bucket around the young flowers.

"Yay, we're done!" Callen celebrated as the four stare at their work.

"It's all so pretty," Camillia gushed enthusiastically. "Grandmother Desa is going to love it."

"I miss her and her garden, but I like this so much better," Trinity sighed happily as she, Coen and Camillia wash their hands in Callen's bucket.

"Why Trini?" Callen asked, his siblings look at her expectantly.

"Because at home, Metheus only lets me go outside in the late evening. I only get to go to the garden at night with Grandmother Desa. She can't be out in the day, it will kill her," Trinity explained. They all sat down on a blanket under a big oak tree. It was one of the surviving deciduous trees in the forest. The children didn't know why but there were very few trees which lost their leaves in winter left. The sunlight glimmers golden and bright green through the young leaves. Trinity tipped back her floppy hat to look at the trees, thinking about her grandmother's picture books showing colorful forests which did not exist anymore.

"She never gets to play in the sunshine? That's so sad." Camillia was horrified at the thought of never seeing the sun.

"Don't be daft, Cami. Shadow-walkers can't live in sunlight. It murders them, like wolfsbane murders us," Coen snapped at his sister.

"Don't be mean!" Trinity scolded him, "A lot of wolves don't think about sunlight being bad."

"You do, and you have a wolf," Coen pointed out to her.

"Nuh uh," Callen interrupted, "Trini has a shadow demon inside, grandmum said so."

"Yah huh, she has a wolf. I can feel it!" Coen growled.

"Nuh uh!" Callen snarled, "A demon, not a wolf."

"She does too have a wolf, take it back!" Coen yelled, jumping on his brother.

They began to tussle, rolling around on the ground at each other. Trinity and Camillia watched the boys fighting and biting each other like a pair of puppies.

"Boys, pht." Camillia rolled her eyes like a much older girl.

"Should we tell them Grandmum Marigold and Grandmother Desa say I might have both?" Trini whispered to Camillia, who laid back on the blanket, while shaking her head 'no'. "But I'm a sun-walker and a hy... a hy... hy-something," Trinity added, looking over at the boys who began growling in earnest as they wrestled.

"Yes, but if they keep fighting, we'll get their ice cream, and they'll get in trouble." Camillia grinning evilly, ice cream was her favorite food. Trinity scowled, she didn't know if she wanted extra ice cream if Coen and Callen couldn't have any.

"Well, if it isn't a little leech." Roland, Warrior Bose's seven-year-old son, sneered at them.

"What are you talking about?" Camillia asked, looking at him in confusion because leeches live in stagnant, dirty water, and every wolf knew that.

Roland smirked and pointed at Trinity. "That little blood sucker; she shouldn't be here. Go hide in the dark, little leech!" Roland's two friends snickered behind him.

Trinity's eyes widened with shock, but she refuted him, "I'm not a leech."

Coen and Callen had stopped wrestling and stood beside the girls.

"Yeah right, leech! Bet if you got hungry enough, you'd eat your cousins, you little freak," he declared cruelly as Trinity's eyes fill with tears.

She shook her head in denial, whimpering, "No. I'd never drink the blood of the living because it is forbidden."

"Take it back, Roland!" Coen snarled.

"Yeah, take it back." Callen growled beside his brother. The brothers stood in front of the girls as Camillia hugged Trinity to her side.

"I won't, puppies! My dad says she's an abomination, like all hybrids. They're weak and they make wolves weak!" Roland spat hatefully, glaring at Trinity, he repeated, "Leech!"

The two boys with him started to chant, "Leech! Leech! Leech!"

"Stop it!" Trinity shouted them with tears running down her face.

Camillia turned and ran in the house. "Grandmum!"

"Leech! Leech! Leech!" They continued to taunt the younger child.

"I said stop it!" Screaming louder, Trinity shifted to standing directly in front of Rolland and no one saw her move.

"Get away from me, you freak!" Rolland exclaimed in surprise. He took a step back startled as he pushed her violently away and she fell. His friends suddenly got quiet, shocked Roland had attacked the goddess-daughter of the Alphas of their pack.

One moment later, Coen pounced on the larger boy, knocking him to the ground. The elder Alpha heir punched him in the face. "You hit my Trin!"

One of the other boys grabbed Coen pulling him off the bloody-nosed Roland, only to have Callen jump on his back, biting his shoulder viciously. He dropped Coen, howling in pain, struggling to pull Callen off his back. The third boy kicked at Coen once, but Trinity pulled Coen to safety faster than he could see as his foot flew in the air. He fell on his back then Trinity jumped on him, landing with one foot on his stomach, and the other in his crotch.

"Don't touch them!" Her eyes dilated until they were dark with the thinnest ring of blue, as she started clawing at him with her elongating nails.

Coen rushed to help Callen, but both ended up in a heap as the second boy threw them off to flee while the third boy was screaming. "Help! The vampire is going to eat me!"

Roland grabbed Trinity by the hair and picked her up, shaking her violently. Coen and Callen leaped at Roland as Trinity screamed. Callen caught Trinity as she was flung away by Roland when Coen pummeled him in the stomach. Callen and Trinity rolled across the newly plated flowers, crushing them. Rolland dropped to his knees gasping for breath as Coen bit his friend.

"Enough!" ordered Alpha Blake, his alpha command freezing all of them. The only sound was Camillia sobbing in her grandmother's arms, and the panting of the fighting children.

"What happened?" Alpha Blake demanded.

"That little freak attacked me!" Rolland lied, "She tried to suck my blood."

Coen snarled, holding Trinity behind him, insisting, "She did not!"

"You're a liar!" Callen accused from Coen' side.

Trinity pushed to stand between them. She raised her chin defiantly, but stammered, "He... he called me a... a leech, and he...he said I was... was a blood sucker." Then she started crying, "I don't suck blood."

"Don't cry, Trini," Callen whimpered softly, wiping the tears off her cheeks with dirty hands.

Coen trembled in rage. His eyes changed from green to mostly black as his canines poke out between his lips while he snarled ferally. "You made my Trin cry! I'm going to kill you!" But before he could launch himself fully at the backpedaling Roland, his father seized him. Coen struggled, yowling at being denied the blood of his enemy.

"I said enough, Coen!" Blake commanded but Coen didn't stop struggling. Blake wrapped both arms around the struggling, young alpha pup and turned toward the house. Coen was still trying to get at Roland.

"Beta Killian, take these boys to the pack house and get their parents to my office, and find that third boy," the Alpha commanded as he struggled to contain his enraged eldest son. He glared at Callen and Trinity, "Inside, now!" Both ran ahead of him.

Once in the living room, Blake growled at Coen and dumped him on the couch between Camillia and Trinity. Coen growled back, but when Trinity put her hand on his arm, he calmed, looking around as if surprised while his eyes change from dilated black back to green.

"It wasn't our fault," Callen stated, "Roland called Trinity bad things. He started it!"

"And we finished it," Coen added angrily.

"They were protecting me," Trinity revealed as Camillia nodded rapidly.

Blake rubbed his hand over his face, glancing at his father Andrew who scowled.

"That is not the point. Yes, he started it by saying untrue things about Trinity, and yes, you finished it, but violence is not always the answer. You are all of alpha blood, and it makes you stronger, but with it comes responsibility." Blake reminded calmly, "What have I always taught you?"

Coen and Callen bowed their heads and chorused in ashamed voices, "It is the duty of an Alpha to protect, guide, and care for weaker wolves."

"Why?" Blake demanded.

"Because Alphas have strengths they do not," they repeated together, not looking up at their father. Blake nodded, pursing his lips.

Coen erupts again, "But he pushed my Trin, he hurt her. I hate him!" Tears of frustration leaked from his emerald eyes, as the tearful Trinity leaned against him, rubbing his arm gently with her free hand. Coen held her other hand tightly.

From behind Blake, Marigold asked, "Coen, love? Why do you call her my Trin?" Their grandparents watched the four carefully.

Coen looked at his grandmother as if surprised by the question, "Because she is mine."

"She's mine, too," Callen snapped at his brother.

Camillia squeaked in a tiny voice, "And mine."

"Nuh uh, she's more mine than yours, you can't even feel her wolf," Coen refuted them, glaring at them until Callen looked away and Camillia bowed her head.

"Fine, she's more yours, but she's still a little mine and Cami's," Callen conceded.

Trinity patted Callen's hand, but didn't let go of Coen's hand. The adults exchanged startled glances. It was very unusual for fated ones to find each other so young.

Andrew asked carefully, "Trinity, my dear, how long have you been Coen's?"

Her pale blue eyes looked at him curiously, as she answered, "Always, Grandpapa. Since always."

Coen, Callen, and Camillia all nodded in unison.

"Trin is Coen's," Camillia revealed, "We all feel it. Can't you?"

Licking her lips, Marigold asked, "Trin, sweetheart, does your inner shadow claim Coen?"

Trin answered, blinking innocently, "Yes, Grandmum Marigold."

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

Lord Cain Charlain strode angrily through the Hall of Lords next to the Royal palace. Prometheus followed respectfully behind his master. Sensing the waves of rage radiating from him, lesser walkers parted before him like the sea. Not one daring to even look up at the ancient and powerful Master of the Bloodstone Coven.

"Well, Lord Cain, back from the other side of the seas," a deep malevolent voice echoed in the silent foyer. Several walkers timidly flee, shimmering into shadows to get away from the confrontation between the two powerful masters.

"What do you want? Lord Malak," Cain responded coldly.

"Don't be upset with the Council. Your son's mate is to blame. If he wants to be your heir, he should have a proper vampire mate or human wife, and not that half dog," Malak sneered malevolently.

"My thirteenth son will be my heir, if not in this decade, then in the next one, Malak," Cain declared. "You and your hate mongers cannot stop the changes that are coming, that will save our kind. Next time you will not hold one vote's sway."

"Hmrph," Malak snorted derisively. "And what would you do, Cain? After you make your son Lord of Bloodstone? Put Constantine's weakling hybrid daughter up to be the next queen?"

"We must evolve if we are going to survive."

"You mock our lineage. When will your family stop trying to weaken the future of our kind?" The hate and resentment in Malak's tone echoed like thunder.

"Weaken? Really? You presume too much when you know so little of our future. It is not for my brother to say who will be the next queen, Lord Malak. It is mine," a soft but cold voice echoed around them.

Immense power entered the room as a swirl of shadow and mist. Prometheus and Malak's servant drop to one knee. Lord Cain and Lord Malak turned and bowed as Queen Levena appeared above them on the stairs into the foyer. "Do not presume to know what is best for our kind, Lord Malak, for the reports from your own coven are," she paused for a moment before finishing, "Disturbing."

Malak looked up to glare at the queen, but he could not hold her gaze, and looked to the side, "A misunderstanding I'm sure, my queen."

"Perhaps." Her lips pressed together in contempt.

After several moments of silence, Malak shifted uncomfortably, "I would take my leave of your highness."

Her gaze never wavered, "Yes, please do."

Somewhere in the room, someone coughed a laugh at her tone. Malak's expression became livid. A swirl of shadow later, he and his servant were gone.

"Walk with me, Lord Cain," Queen Levena insisted.

Lord Cain bowed, following his younger half-sister out into the night garden and to the small cot filled with comfortable chairs. A maid brought them goblets of wine and blood, and a tray of blood honey drizzled fruit and cheese. "How is the child?"

"My granddaughter is well, thank you," Cain answered.

"And she is safe?" Levena continued.

"Yes," he responded carefully.

Levena's eyes flicked to Prometheus, who stood discreetly beyond the doors, "But she and her mother are without her protector at the Darkstone Clan, or did you move her to Bloodstone Coven?"

Cain watched his half-sister as he took a swallow of wine before answering, "Epimetheus watches over her mother, but in our absence, and she is in neither place. She is where no walker will think to seek her."

"Ahh, the Darkwood pack." Levena smiled slightly, as she sipped her wine and blood. They sat quietly for several minutes, sipping their drinks and watching the stars move. Time was almost meaningless to beings who's lives last centuries and beyond. Finally, Levena sighs, smiling, "Tell me of her, elder brother. Is she wonderful?"

Cain nodded his head once, responding, "As you wish, sister, and yes, she is. She is a soul filled with beauty and joy." Telling his sister of the young hybrid princess, he did not speak of Trinity's unborn brother and Levena did not ask because those living in this age did not speak of infants until their first year had passed.