"Hope, look, look," Jennie, the seven year old cried out in excitement pointing at the palace.

Hope's eyes widened as she took in the massive white building that could be seen from all locations on the royal pack lands. She sent Prince Alexander an apologetic glance. "Sorry. I thought you lie, prince."

Prince Alexander waved off her apology. "I don't blame you. I probably won't believe me if I were you. It's wise to be cautious."

As Hope kept firing questions, Camila focused on lesson plans that would be suitable for all the girls to be able to seamlessly adapt into society. Suddenly, the van went quiet. Camila felt the prince place his head on her shoulder. As he spoke, his breath tickled her ear.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Lesson plans. It will be good for the girls to get their education."

"Edu...edu...what is that?" Hope asked curious. The girls nodded.

"School. I want you to go to school and learn like the other kids," Camila said.

Andy, the second oldest who was fifteen shifted closer to Hope and tugged on her arm. "Can we, Hope? Can we?"

"Andy is...become...doctor," Hope paused, looking at Camila, wondering if she had gotten her message across.

"Andy wants to be a doctor?" Camila asked. Hope and Andy nodded excitedly. "With school, she can become a doctor."

"Me. Teacher. Mummy was teacher," the fourth oldest at twelve years old, Remi, said.

"Food maker. Food maker," Willow, the ten-year-old said.

"Knight. Like in Luna bedtime story. I kill dragon," Jennie said, jumping up and brandishing an imaginary sword in the air.

Camila pointed to Decebel who had conveniently chosen to tune into the conversation at that time. "He's a knight."

The six girls looked at Decebel with narrowed eyes. "You don't wear armor," Andy muttered with a frown.

"We used to but it's too heavy and we need to move fast," Decebel explained, conveniently choosing to leave out that they stopped wearing armor over a millennial ago.

"If you are a knight, doesn't that mean Hope is a princess?" Theodora said. She was the third oldest at fourteen years old and the only one with good English. After a few earlier questions, Camila had discovered she was training to become a knowledge keeper for one of the bigger coyote packs in Canada before she was kidnapped. It seemed that her knowledge had refused to cave despite the pressures of the harsh environment.

The five girls turned to Hope who had red cheeks. Decebel smiled. "I will treat her like one."

Someone banged on the door suddenly making half the occupants of the car jump. "That's enough flirting. We're here," Freda's loud voice said from outside.

Camila slid the door open and came down first in front of a large house that was just right outside the palace walls.

"Is it your house?" Hope asked, wrapping Decebel's coat tighter around herself.

Prince Alexander smiled and shook his head. "It's yours." A palace servant who was standing beside the house gate handed the prince a key. He walked into the compound and opened the front door and gestured for them to come in. "Come on. It's really yours."

The girls huddled together and walked in slowly, staring at the two storey house in awe. When they got to the front door, Hope peered inside and deeming it free from danger, signalled the other girls to come in.

"Do other pack live here?" Andy whispered.

"It's just for you. Go on in. The house has been abandoned for a few years after its previous owner sold it to the pack and no one is willing to buy it because it's so close to the palace," Freda said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Camila bristled at the unfamiliar sight. At least one of them needed to be approachable and anyone with eyes could tell who always was.

Remi and Theodora took the first steps into the room, their eyes glued to the bookshelf that was filled with books. Although a little dust ridden, their titles were visible.

Theodora's hand brushed the first five on the middle shelf before stopping at one. "This is one of the human stories that Lucy told us about." She pulled out the book and took it back to the girls. They all took turns peeking at the picture book and nodding excitedly. Remi stayed at the bookshelf, picking out any book with an attractive cover.

Hope looked at Remi, frowned, and then looked at Camila. "We cannot read."

"You want to learn to read?" Decebel asked behind home.

Hope nodded without turning around. Suddenly, she exclaimed as if remembering something. "You stay here with me?"

Decebel blinked once, twice. "If you want me to."

Hope smiled, her first of the day. "Stay here."

"Yeah. Yeah. Stay here," Jennie said, jumping around Decebel. The other girls soon joined in jumping around Decebel to tell him to stay.

Decebel smiled, holding the two in front of his body to keep himself from falling. His gaze remained on Hope, however. "I will stay with you."

"There are six rooms," Freda stated.

Hope looked at the girls and counted. "Ah. Oh. Mate stay with me."

Decebel's facial expression blanked for s second and then a wide smile emerged. His hand moved towards Hope to touch her face. When she flinched, he dropped his hand to his thigh and forced his smile to remain on his face. "Of course, Hope. Why don't we go check out the rooms?"

"Okay," she said and herded the girls through the door leading to the living area with Decebel behind them.

As soon as they left, the prince wrapped his arms around Camila, pressing his chest into her back, and breathed her in, swaying her gently. She sighed in contentment. "You smell alluring."

"The girls are in the house," Camila whispered.

His hands tightened around her. "I don't see you stepping away."

"I like being in your arms."

He didn't reply for a second. "Why don't you ever say these things when we're alone?"

"You cannot control yourself whenever I indicate any affection towards you. In the potential presence of others, you're more inclined to be careful."

"Can't you two have mercy on us single ones?" Freda muttered. The couple glanced at her. She was staring intently at a profile of a person on her work tablet that had access to millions of databases filled with information on paranormals, past or present. Camila pulled away from Prince Alexander and stood behind her silently, waiting for her to talk. She could somewhat understand Freda's conflict. If Camila had been the one to find her mate involved in such, she would have killed him. "His name is Vermont," Freda finally said. "He's 40. He's an orphan originally in the Dimitri pack before moving into Bastille's during the absolution. He has one brother who has a record with law enforcement and–"

"Why are you reading your mate's profile like a report?" Camila asked, sitting beside her.

Freda choked back her sobs. "I guess, it's the only way I can process it right now. Are we logically compatible? He's a young wolf with a clean criminal record who has worked really hard to provide for himself all his life. An outwardly model guy. I won't be able to stand if..." she trailed off unable to complete her sentence. She collapsed in Camila's arms again. After a good twelve minutes of her crying, she pulled on Camila's shirt and asked. "Are you absolutely sure he was telling the truth? Don't hide it from me."

"I am unable to lie, Freda. When he spoke to me, I detected no lies in his speech."

"What if he was hypnotized? He actually is a molester but his memory is altered?"

"That would mean he probably doesn't want to be a molester but all forms of magic, including memory and speech impediments would be cleared before questioning."

"What are the chances that he is?"

Three things may have happened. He had either not attended the pack meeting, remained in his guard position, and when he realized something was wrong, stepped in. This was rather unlikely as the walls of that room were soundproof and would only allow extremely loud sounds through. This had probably aided Hope in spying on Bastille.

The second option was that he had been present at this meeting and seeing the cleanse that the prince and warriors had initiated, decided to go back and free the girls. But common sense would dictate that anyone who was involved in such wouldn't want to be anywhere near there in that moment. So he couldn't possibly be one of them.

The third option was a combination of the two scenarios and the most likely occurrence.

"Taking everything into consideration, the possibility is small. I'd say less than five percent, a generous figure to account for any variables I may not be aware of."

Freda pouted. "What will his punishment be? For guarding a child brothel, I mean?"

"The Bastille pack operates on a system of assigning paid jobs to their pack members. While they are free to reject the jobs, there's hardly a chance of finding another. If your mate was affected by this system, perhaps two to six months in prison and another year of community service because of the severity of the crime."

"Can the time be reduced or increased at the discretion of my parents?" The prince asked. Camila nodded. "My mom likes you, Freda. I'm sure she'll work around the jail time. Maybe elongate the community service period as opposed to jail."

Freda nodded with a small smile. "I'd like that. It gives me more time to give him a solid beating."

"You're back to normal. That's good. One of us needs to be approachable at all times."

Freda gave Camila a stink eye. "You think it's easy? Why don't you try it?"

"The last time I tried that, at your behest, the elementary school children reported me to the principal."

"That was because you were–" Freda trailed off, her eyes glazing over. Camila glanced at the prince and saw that it was the same. Predictably, Decebel came out of the inner part of the house almost immediately. "There's an intruder at the western border," Freda said and fled with Camila out of the house at high speed, the prince and commander hot on their heels. "He's exhibiting the same signs as the puppets but a little more manic."

"Manic?" Camila asked.

"That's how Evan reported it. They're holding him off until we get there," Decebel said.

"They want to kill him," Camila stated, matter of factly.

"Given our circumstances, they probably think it might be the easiest way to avoid any troubles from escalating," Decebel said. A glance from Camila and he immediately backtracked. "Of course, that's not true. I'm just thinking from the perspective of my soldiers."

"Eva? Why is Eva here?" The prince said, visibly confused. Eva glanced towards them at the mention of her name. Her eyes were far more hollow than Camila ever remembered them being. With hunched shoulders and a downcast expression, Eva pushed through the wall of soldiers and walked in the opposite direction from Camila without ever looking back once.

"Is that your sister?" Freda asked, staring after Eva with an incredulous expression.

"It looks like her," Camila muttered. At her words, everyone turned to her with disbelief etched in their features. "What is the problem?"

"Do you know what's up with her?" Freda asked.

"No."

"Do you even care to know? I mean, she's your sister."

"If I ask, she wouldn't tell me. So I stopped asking."

A shout from their left interrupted their conversation. Several soldiers were restraining a man who was fiercely striving to go in the direction Eva had gone earlier. Camila moved closer to him. Once she was within a few feet of him, his head snapped in her direction. He visibly calmed and began to sniff closer to her.

Looking past his rugged, dirty outward look, she could see a certain build and powerful aura usually possessed by warriors who had dedicated their lives to training their art. She pulled the back of his neck low to check if there was any glowing. He bristled at her touch and tried to jerk away. The warriors that were holding him tightened their hold. Holding his neck, she properly examined his neck and face for any markings, but she didn't find any. "Lay him on the ground and take off his shirt," she said.

The warriors glanced at her, doubt radiating off them. Camila didn't flinch and kept staring at them, awaiting their obedience. When their hesitation began to border on disrespect, the prince and their commander yelled in unison, "Do it."

They obeyed instantly and took off the man's shirt, despite his struggles. When they laid him on his chest to restrain him, everyone stopped short at the sight of a fully constructed black magic circle that was etched into his skin.

"That's not puppeteering, is it?" Freda squatted beside Camila, her fingers hovering just above the mark on his back. The man began to toss, pulling at his restrainers.

Camila squatted beside him and placed her hand on his head. "At ease. Sleep," she said and within seconds, he was asleep. "Their plan seems more intricate than I thought, especially because I have an idea who this man is. I have to see the king."

"What do we do with him?" Carlos asked.

"Not the dungeon. He needs intensive care but it's unsafe to keep him in a hospital."

"Why not at Wisdom House?" Freda asked, looking at Camila.

Wisdom House was the mansion solely kept for the knowledge keepers. It had a high level of magic and sound barrier that made it almost impenetrable to attacks. And best of all, it was managed by wind spirits who never fatigued and strove to serve the inhabitants of the house to their best ability. But because Freda had chosen to remain in her family home and Camila wanted a house connected to her workshop, the house remained inhabited.

"That's wise. Freda, have the guards escort our guest there and meet me immediately after you return with your report to His Majesty." Camila began to walk to the palace. "Your Highness, shall we?"

He began to walk after her, glancing back every few seconds. "Who's that?" he whispered.

"If I am correct, he is one of the last two surviving members of the InterSpecies Hunters."

"Who is the other?"

"Your father."