Jess:

"Jessica, Skyler, Rosette, Charlotte, this meal was delicious. Thank you." Gamma Reese said while he rubbed his belly.

It seems Gamma Reese and Lord Evan were the only ones in relatively good spirits at this table.

"Please, don't thank me..." Charlotte smiled back, "I spent most of the time just doing whatever The Princess asked. Cooking is not my strongest attribute. If you put me in battle, on the other hand..." she chuckled as Asher laughed. Rubbing his hand down her cheek.

I could see Gamma Reese and Lord Evan's slightly confused faces as everyone fell silent.

I sighed. There's so much for our parents to catch up on.

"Yes, thank you again Jess, the food was absolutely delicious, as always..." Eli started as he gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was fake, I knew it was. "...Now, why don't you show the mates your new plans for the coronation." He stood up, as I glared at him.

Lord Evan and my mother both stood up, the rest of us stayed seated.

My mother spoke first. "Come on honey, I'd love to see what colors you decided on. I bet-"

I cut her off. "No. I won't be leaving. Neither will any of the mates. We have important information to share."

"Jessica..." Eli growled.

I stood up, and moved to the front of the room.

"Jessica." Eli spoke rough and loud, repeating himself.

I stood there glaring at him. "Eli. I have information that must be shared to protect our people. Skyler, Charlotte, could you please pass around the documents?"

Eli slowly sat down and growled, along with Sean and Ryan.

Ryan spoke up harshly. "It seems our mates have been busy."

His father added in a rough tone. "It's seems you ALL have."

"SILENCE!" King Christopher shouted as he carefully placed queen Madeline in his seat before moving to the front of the room next to me. Skyler and Charlotte stood frozen for a moment as they watched him carefully. His eyes looked at me with so much power, I was nervous, but I stood my ground.

"Young Princess..." He started in his sweet, fatherly tone. "...I understand you did not grow up here. I understand it may take time for you to grow into your role. But this.." he held up the folder Charlotte handed him and tossed it on the table, he was losing control. You could see it in his eyes, as a few papers spilled on to the floor as the rest scatted across the first half of the table. "...THIS is NOT your concern. I know my beautiful Queen taught you well. You should know better." He inched closer to me. I could feel the heat radiating off him. I could feel Titan at the surface. There was more to this. I just wish I could understand.

A quick glance to Eli let me know he was reluctantly willing to back me up, but only to keep me safe from his father. That only made me more frustrated.

The way they are so willing to shut out those who could do so much to keep this realm and our people safe...I felt my fire begin to build. My hands began to glow as I held the tablet in my hands. "With all do Respect King Christopher, it will take ALL of us to fix the damage done by THIS realm. Mates may be human, but we have skills and strengths that go far beyond planning parties, doing chores, and looking pretty." I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes for a moment trying to calm my power.

When I opened my eyes again King Christopher smirked at me. "Princess, I'm not sure what these new comers have told you, but we have plenty of strong male warriors who could take out any threat in our way." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He spun around slowly and headed back to his seat mumbling, "of course my son would be mates with one of the most powerful females we've seen."

Eli spoke up quickly "Father, please, I apologize for-"

King Christopher cut him off. "-Enough. We will hear whatever information these little mates put together and then we can get on with the business of the night. They obviously don't plan on going anywhere until we hear there little presentation. Let's humor them, Shall we?"

I glared at them both. The audacity of these two. I could see Charlotte was biting her tongue with everything she had, Skyler looked like he wanted to punch something and Rosette stood up quickly, nodding in my direction before turning on projector.

Everyone gasped for a moment when they realized we had hidden it well. I smirked to myself. First of many shockers for this evening.

"Rosie? Could you turn down the lights please?" I said in my most professional Luna voice possible.

"Of course Princess Jessica." Rosette responded loudly and confidently. I beamed with pride. Her confidence has grown so much since we started working together and it shows. Even Sean was a little surprised to hear her speak so confidently.

The lights went down and I nodded to Skyler who threw the agenda up on the screen.

"If you could, please..." I said with a sweet, albeit sarcastic, smile, "...humor me, and turn to the first page of your folders. You'll see the agenda."

I heard the whispers immediately, it didn't take long for the noise to bounce off the walls of the dining room.

"Excuse me!" I yelled in my strong Luna voice. The fire inside burned as I felt my eyes begin to glow slightly.

Hum, that's starting to come more naturally by the minute. I smirked.

"I understand this is all a lot to take in. I promise we will cover everything in detail, in our, Little, presentation." Charlotte chuckled, Skyler stood a little taller and Rosette smiled big. They all worked so hard gathering all this information and putting together all this. I couldn't be prouder to have them on my team right now.

"Excuse me, Princess." Lord Evan spoke up first. "Did you share any of this information with the Prince?"

I cleared my throat as Eli stared me down, "No. We were instructed to stick to our duties. Unfortunately, we had too much information being thrown at us that we felt it best to keep this information until we could share it with everyone."

Evan bit his bottom lip nervously and Queen Madeline spoke next. "Jessica, there's a lot here. Did you vet this information? Are the sources reliable?"

I got nervous for a moment. I know we didn't have many ways to vet this information but I trusted Charlotte, Skyler, and Rosette. I knew everything here was authentic and real.

"Everything we are showing you today comes from multiple sources, although the information was meant to be hidden. I can tell you that I trust those three back there with my life. I have no reason to believe they would fabricate or falsify any information. Much of this was found in the archives, or through informants from the other realms."

"Informants?! Who are these informants?!" Eli slammed his hand against the table. It didn't shock me one bit, but I notice nearly everyone jump from the intensity in his voice and the way the bang shot off the walls and echoed. I'm surprised he didn't break the table.

Ryan shook his head side to side and let out an annoyed sigh. "Please enlighten Princess. I can only hope you weren't giving out information yourself." Ryan was trying to stay level headed but the roughness in his voice was still there, and I could feel his frustration.

I smirked, "If you must know, these little mates have friends outside of the eastern realm. We talk and chat about things all the time. I made a lot of connections while the wolves had their closed door meetings."

Queen Madeline gave me a small smile. "Of course you did sweetheart, I taught you well." King Christopher stared at her a moment as she ignored his looks. "Alright. This all looks very well organized. I commend you all on that." She looked at Skyler and the girls behind her and smiled before turning around, elbows on the table, her hand on her chin.

"Yeah, good job Char! You should run all our meetings back home." Asher looked at Charlotte with so much pride that my heart ached. I wish Eli would look at me like that in this moment.

"Okay!" I clapped my hands together, "Let's get started shall we..."

I nodded at Skyler as it changed the slide to the first item, "The old king is not dead."

Eli:

The entire time Jessica was speaking, I was mind linking everyone else.

They went through a brief history of the southern realm and it's not the history we were taught.

"Did you know about these powerful women?" I asked Ryan.

"Yes and no. I heard about them through lore. Stories told to have meaning, but not necessarily true."

"Bros, what the fuck?!" Sean could barely take it.

We learned about the recent spotting of the old king and that he traveled to the northern realm first, but it took his a very long time to get to the western realm.

"Excuse me, Princess?" Gamma Reese spoke up gently. "Are you insinuating that he led the attack on our land?"

"Yes Lord Reese. I am. I'm positive he was involved in my powers taking over and Luna Jennikah's heightened healing abilities is what saved me."

Everyone mumbled curses under their breath.

"That can't be! We would have known. Right?" Lord Evan started off angry, turning nervously towards Gamma Reese at the end of his statement.

"It's just not possible Princess. Not at all. There's no way-" my Father started.

Jessica interrupted him.

Fuck.

"Please make sure Jessica's attitude doesn't make me have to fight my father Em."

"Titan enjoying watching mate. Titan not mad Eli. What mate speaks in the truth."

Jessica continued in her sweetest tone ever. "With all do respect King, I saw him. He was the one I tried kill. He was the one who taunted me with so much magic energy I felt I could do nothing but let loose everything I had inside me."

He narrowed his eyes on her. "You told me in was a big black Wolf, that could be anyone Jess." He went into dad mode for a moment. 

"Yes, I know, but he survived without a scratch on him. Every other Wolf was killed around us, when I passed out, Jennikah told me she felt compelled to heal me with every ounce of magic she had. By the time she got to me, it was like he disappeared."

Everyone went quiet for a moment. My father mindlinked us all.

"She dealt with the powers of a king?"

"Yes, that's what it sounds like." Beta Warren responded.

"His powers were stripped once he became a rouge. Didn't you all witness it?" Ryan responded.

The mind link was cut off as Jessica continued with her presentation.

As she went on through the folder, page after page of information was becoming more and more helpful. My mind went from anxious and aggravated, to thoughtful.

"I should have let her help me Em."

"Yes. Mate is special. Extra special. Mate will keep everyone safe, if you let her Eli."

She explained the testing sites, exactly where they were, how they could travel to and from. The updated map of the southern realm was more than helpful. She explained their lack of resources led to their reliance on the income These faculties brought in. She explained their need for omegas, one of the most understated groups of the four realms. We're one the only realm who sees them as close to equals as possible and even that's not perfect.

"Princess? All this information you've stated thus far is from connections you've made recently?" My mother asked proudly. I'm surprised at her pride as she's never been one to do anything outside of her role as queen. At least, that I knew of.

Jessica smiled big. "Actually, this was really a team effort. Charlotte has a close relationship with the tribes of the southern realm because of her abilities and status. Skyler and Rosette have both made some very powerful connections in the Northern realm, and I lived all over the western realm. Even though I may not have been a part of this world at the time, I made many friends. It helps too when you're mated to the worlds most popular Prince." She winked at me and I smirked back.

"She's sexy like this Em."

Ember purred in response.

"Jess, all of you, really, the work you put in to keeping our family here safe. Thank you." My mom smiled big at Jessica and I could see her beam with pride. I almost wonder if she knew more about this then she's letting on.

"I have to admit. They did good." I said to Ryan and Sean through the mind link.

"They did fuckin amazing bro. I didn't even know Rosette had this in her."

"Sky has always been so resourceful, but, I guess I never really... I don't know."

I looked over him, he was feeling bad. I felt it too. We spent so much time trying to keep them out of everything for their own safety because that's what we've always been told to do.

Jessica went on speaking about the box.

THE BOX!

My eyes went wide as she had a drawing rosette had made from a dream her and Charlotte had.

"Jess!" I yelled out loud as my father stared daggers at me. "Tell me right now what you know about that." I asked sternly.

"What did you tell her Em?!"

Silence.

Crap.

She balked at me then narrowed her eyes at me. "Well like I was going to share with everyone, this box holds the moon goddess and her essence. Almost like her power. Basically, our thought is, if we can release it, We moon sisters will gain our full abilities. The moon goddess will also be able to help shut all this unnatural creation of magical beings down."

My father stood up quickly, "ENOUGH!" He grabbed the tablet out of Skyler's hands and turned off the projector as he nodded to Gamma Reese who flipped on the lights. "This meeting is over. There is nothing more to discuss. The wolves will handle it from here."

We all say still for a moment. Jessica's eyes glowing. "There's. Still. More." She gritted out.

"Jessica." I said in a calm voice.

Charlotte cleared her throat, "Princess, remember, the waves are calming..."

I cocked my head to the side as Ryan stood up and chimed in. "Princess, calm the fire..." his voice sounded so calm as he got closer to her.

Her tattoos glimmered stronger as my father's softened. "Jessica..." he sighed.

Her mother rushing to her side as Jessica took a few more deep breaths. She pushed her mother away and stormed out of the room. Running by everyone. She was filled with anger, rage, frustration and sadness. I could feel it radiating off of her.

"EMBER! WHY?!"

Ember growled inside me.

I took a deep breath and headed for the door. Everyone behind me grumbling about this meeting.

The moment I step into the hallway, I catch her scent. 

Wait a minute...

I moved faster, her scent leading the opposite direction of our place. The front door?

I rushed out following what little of her scent I could. 

"Ember, we have to find her..." 

I pushed open the door expecting to run towards the back of the castle.

I used all my Wolf senses to try and search for her, my rage building.

"Where is she?!" I yelled out loud and in my mind.

"Mate went into the forest. Let me out! EMBER FOLLOW MATE!"

I tore off my clothes and shifted. I heard Vik, Beckett, Ezren, and Charlotte behind me.

"She's at the water! Follow me!" Charlotte yelled a top Ezren's back. She sped ahead of me, Beckett and Skyler? On one side, Vik and Rosette? On the other.

"I swear once we find her Em, she will never leave my side. Ever."

He roared out loud as we raced forward. She really couldn't have gone that far.