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NATHANIEL / HUNTER POV

Once we meet up with Father and Alpha Stefan, we start on our way in the direction of the explosion until Father stops abruptly, getting that faraway look we all get when talking to someone via a bond link; he makes us all jump as he hisses low and the power aurora around him changes.

I watch as my father’s vampire Caleb takes control, letting out some of his Royal power. It is such a beautiful colour as it expands out and away from him. He then takes off in the opposite direction to where we were originally going. I look over at Uncle Noah as he lets out a short laugh.

“Someone has gotten themselves into a lot of trouble!!"

“Why?” Alpha Stefan looks at us, really confused.

“That was not King Dominic anymore... That was the true Vampire King Dominic’s vampire Caleb! He is and has always been one of the deadliest vampires that have walked this earth. Now, since Queen Seraphina came on the scene, he has calmed down, but he was never completely gone. I pity the poor fool on the receiving end of his wrath. Come, we must follow... Nathaniel, will you lead? You can track him better.”

I laugh a little. If they think that Caleb is or was bad, just wait until I actually let Cole free. They won’t know what hit them. I just hope to find my mate without trouble, as I don't even want to think about the consequences. 

“Yes, King Noah!”

I bow slightly and shift; I am glad I am in casual clothes as I really hate having to replace the more expensive items in my wardrobe. I then watch as Noah shifts. I knew Hunter had grown from the slight power boost from father when we were close to losing him, but I didn’t realize that Hunter was nearly as big as King Noah’s wolf Tobias. Once Stefan has shifted as well, I then pass control over to Hunter.

I take a deep sniff of the air, sneeze a little and then take off in the direction Father went. It doesn’t take me long to catch up to Father; I growl a little as I hear Maverick say.

“Good evening Your Highness, Phoenix, I must say Phoenix I can now understand what and why you put up with that spoiled little princess for so long, I had the pleasure of taking her body to make me feel really good... And little miss Charlotte, now she was even better. She didn’t fight as much as our little Scarlett and it didn’t take much to make her submit to me, especially with threatening her unborn twins...”

I watch as Noah-Tobias walks up next to father, I then make my way to Mother's side and see that Patrick is standing just in front of her in his wolf form, I wonder where Ethan is, the three of them are usually impossible to separate. I watch Stefan walk up and stand just a little further down from Mother while I contact Patrick through our blood bond.

“Patrick? What is going on?”

“Maverick is the one that took the princesses. He also k..k..killed...”

“Patrick, he killed who?“

I hear Stefan growl low as he loses control of Axel at the mention of his mate and the unborn pups she is carrying. I just listen and watch, as Noah would say, this is the type of situation where you need to make a decision, carry through with that decision, and live with the outcome and consequences. Once that is done, you can then sit down and study it, learn from it and then work out if there is a better way of handling it. Sometimes there is or was a better way. Other times, you just have to do what you can.

“NOPE! That would spoil the fun of watching you trying to find her..”

“BUT YOU WON’T LIVE LONG ENOUGH FOR THAT...”

What Caleb does next is not only surprising but for some can be very dangerous, as using our extra vampire speed can make us very weak. I watch as a cut appears across Maverick’s chest.

“WHERE ARE THEY?”

I never thought Maverick was this bold. Whatever he has been doing over the weeks he has had, my sisters have increased his courage and maybe his stupidity. Messing with someone’s mate is one thing, but messing with the Vampire King’s family is something else entirely. I’m now sure Maverick has a death wish, as he doesn’t say anything and just smirks. It isn’t long before Caleb has Maverick on his knees.

“I WILL GIVE YOU ONE LAST CHANCE TO TELL ME WHERE MY DAUGHTERS ARE....”

When he still didn’t answer him. I watch my mother and it has been a very long time since I have felt the grief that is coming off of my mother. She has become a very strong female over the years, so I am a little surprised, but not at the same time, that she shakes her head at my father, indicating that she wants no part in his punishment. So Father continues.

“PATRICK HE HAS KILLED YOUR FRIEND AND PARTNER, DID YOU WANT TO PASS SOME PUNISHMENT ONTO HIM?”

Patrick looks at Seraphina, who nods her head. He then makes his way over to where the male is kneeling on the ground. I watch as he delivers his punishment, taking chunks of flesh from his arms, his legs, and his stomach. He then howls low and makes his way back and sits at the Queen’s side.

“MAVERICK? TELL ME WHERE ARE MY DAUGHTERS?”

I watch as he laughs at Father's order and see the moment he lets his vampire take full control as his eyes flash a bright red and stay that way, telling me that he has just gone rogue which means we definitely won’t be getting any information out of him now. I watch as my father has finally had enough and states,

“ALPHA STEFAN! SOREN! I KING CALEB PASS HIS FINAL PUNISHMENT AND HIS DEATH OVER TO THE TWO OF YOU, HAVE FUN!”

As my father steps back next to my mother wrapping his arm around her, I watch as Soren does the same using some of his vampire speed to add more cuts to Maverick’s body, I then see him standing back at my mother’s side but unlike my father he does sway just a little, he, however, covers it very well. While Axel has fun giving Maverick his punishment, I turn to my mother.

“Mother? Are you okay? I know how much Ethan meant to you”

“Hunter! I will be eventually. Have you been able to see Scarlett’s or Charlotte’s lines connecting us?”

“I’m sorry, Mother, that is the same as always. Whatever he is using or was using on them is still in effect, so the connection to them is there, but stops a few feet from each of us. I will keep an eye on it, though, now that he has been caught. Whatever he was giving them should wear off and I should be able to track them again.”

I am bought out of my conversation with Mother by Axel’s loud howl; I join him in his howl of pain and vengeance, as does King Tobias. I listen to Axel’s howl one more time and then watch as he has words with King Tobias, who then connects to me, asking.

“So watching that, was there anything you would have done differently?”

“I guess he could have tried to bring him in, but that still wouldn’t have gotten the information we required as he probably would have allowed himself to go rogue sooner than he did... I don’t really think there was another way!”

“Very good. Now that is what a king must do at all times. He must look at a situation quickly and judge what the best way to handle it is, remembering that you only control one aspect of any situation that involves others.”

“You're always teaching...” He cuts our connection. I guess so he can talk to Axel again.

I look in his direction as he sneezes slightly into the ground and then re-approaches the dead vampire. I watch as he uses his nose and his front claws to move his clothes around searching for something and I guess he finds it as he lifts his nose to the air; it isn’t long before he lets out a low growl just before he starts running.

When we stop again, I smell what he does, and that is Charlotte’s scent and it is fairly fresh, maybe twelve or twenty-four hours old, Axel growls again then takes off following her scent, unfortunately, it leads us back to the prison cell they were held in and the explosion had occurred. Once we knew where we were, Axel seemed to stop, bowed his and then turned around and we slowly made our way back to the castle.

Once there, I give Nathaniel back control. I shift and take the pile of clothes my mother holds out to me. I get dressed as Mother passes Noah another pile of clothes, but this time she turns round, giving him a semblance of privacy.

We continue to search for Scarlett and Charlotte but we keep coming up empty, it’s not until I hear Stefan running through the halls two weeks later that I see the connections to my sisters are finally back, I go to tell my father but when I reach the door; I hear Stefan tell them where they are, so I know that I am not needed. I move away from the door and head back to the gaming room. Meeting up with Julian, Victoria and Riley, I sit on the sofa next to Julian.

“So I was thinking with my father better now. How about we take a learning trip?”

“That sounds good, but will Uncle Dominic and Aunt Seraphina allow us to go? Especially after everything that has happened lately?”

“Well! Scarlett and Charlotte have both been found, my father is nearly fully healed so they don’t really need us here, we very rarely do anything anyway and if I put it to them as that, a learning trip, we can visit some of the other vampire and werewolf kingdoms to see how they run things...”

“I’m in. I am tired of just sitting here and doing only theory work. I wouldn’t mind doing some practical work within some of the other kingdoms”

Victoria surprises me, as her fighting is more practical than any of ours, but there is only so much you can learn from the same people all the time.

“So it is settled. I will check with my mother and father in the next few days, then we can go on a road trip, visiting clans and kingdoms as we go. I might even talk to King Noah about visiting some of his werewolf packs. I will also make sure that they let the leaders know we are coming as the last thing we need is to be attacked by a leader or another Royal family for intruding on or in their territory without permission.”