Chapter 1-Chaos Called

Odett’s POV

  The banquet hall was full of our pack, and everyone had come to celebrate Mom and the twins. She had been hidden while people believed she was dead, and tonight they could finally see her alive. I wanted to remember the sound of their relief instead of the danger that had kept her away.

  I still didn’t know why the plan had changed before the babies were born. Dad kept glancing toward the doors, but Mom was smiling and letting people gather close. They had mourned her, and now they could touch her hand and hear her laugh. I wanted to believe that meant we were safe.

  Dad stayed beside Mom all evening, moving chairs and bringing her whatever she asked for. He smiled when she teased him, but his eyes kept returning to the entrance. I nearly asked what was wrong. Then Mom caught his hand, and I decided to give them one more peaceful minute.

  Aunt Jess and Dad were helping Mom toward the chair where she would open gifts when she gasped and gripped her side. Water spread across the floor beneath her. I called her name, but Dad had already lifted her into his arms and shouted for Dr. Jameson.

  Beside me, Uncle James whispered that it was too soon. Uncle Evan took his hand and reminded him that nothing about Mom’s pregnancy had happened when the doctors expected it to. Neither of them sounded comforted.

  Dr. Jameson called for Dad to take Mom upstairs, though Dad was already halfway to the door. Grandma followed with the doctor. Aunt Jess came back for Joshy and me, her smile trembling as she waved Ms. Stephanie over. She promised to come for us as soon as the twins were born.

  I took Ms. Stephanie’s hand and let her lead Joshy and me to the kitchen. She started making us a snack. I watched her hands, wondering how she could act as if this were an ordinary evening.

  My name is Odett. Mom, Queen Rain, adopted me before she knew she was royal, and Dad, King Zion, chose us both when he found her. I was a wolf-vampire hybrid, a kind of child no one around us knew how to explain. None of that mattered as much to me as the fact that they were my parents.

  Mom had loved me before she knew what I was. Dad had never made me earn my place beside her. People called me a princess, but I was their daughter first, and I held on to that whenever the title made someone look at me differently.

  I was seven. I was old enough to hear the fear behind a cheerful voice, but the adults still tried to distract me with food and a movie. I wished it would work.

  Ms. Stephanie set out crackers, cheese, and fruit. I picked up a cracker to make her feel better, but my stomach twisted before I could swallow it. I put it down and watched the kitchen door.

  “Your mom is strong,” Ms. Stephanie said as she placed a cup of juice beside my plate.

  “Dr. Jameson knows what he’s doing,” she added reassuringly.

  “I know,” I whispered.

  “She’s going to be okay,” Joshy added before stuffing an entire strawberry into his mouth.

  I nodded without believing him. The castle seemed loud and strangely distant at once: hurried footsteps, doors closing, voices lowered whenever they reached the kitchen. Then I caught the scent of fear in the hallway. It was coming from outside, far from Mom’s room.

  I slid off my chair and walked toward the kitchen door before Ms. Stephanie asked, “Where are you going?”

  “I need to find Sam,” I answered.

  “Beta Jess asked us to stay here,” she responded.

  “I know, but something is wrong,” I told her. My hearing sharpened until I could distinguish the guards’ boots from the servants’ steps. The fear I smelled did not come from upstairs where Mom was; it came from the direction of the eastern doors.

  “You are probably feeling everything happening with your mother,” she tried to reassure me.

  “Having babies is scary, but she has the best doctor in the kingdom with her,” Ms. Stephanie added gently.

  “It isn’t just Mom,” I said. A howl shook the castle before I could explain. Plates rattled in the cabinets, and Joshy dropped the strawberry in his hand. Another howl answered from farther away. Ms. Stephanie went pale.

  “What does that mean?” Joshy asked.

  “It means we need to move,” she answered as she rushed around the counter and grabbed both of our hands.

  “Now,” Ms. Stephanie ordered urgently.

  She pulled us out of the kitchen just as guards began running through the hallway, and one shouted, “Everyone to the shelter!”

  “The eastern border has been breached!”

  The celebration broke apart as pack members searched for their children. Warriors shed their formal clothes on the run and shifted outside, their growls carrying back through the open doors. Mom was upstairs giving birth. Somewhere beyond the walls, Dad was preparing to fight.

  “Mom,” I said as I tried to pull away.

  “We have to get you to the shelter,” Ms. Stephanie said.

  “I’m not leaving Mom!” I demanded.

  “Your mother ordered everyone to safety,” she responded quickly.

  “You don’t know that,” I said, although I knew deep down that it was true.

  “I do,” Sam said as he appeared at the end of the hallway.

  Blood covered the front of his shirt, but it did not smell like his. He crossed the hallway quickly and crouched in front of me while guards rushed past.

  “Your mother told me to get you and everyone else into the shelter,” Sam explained firmly.

  “Is she okay?” I asked nervously.

  “She’s strong, Princess,” he answered, but wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  “That isn’t what I asked,” I told him. Sam’s expression changed. He knew I could hear when an adult answered a different question because the true answer frightened them.

  “She’s in labor,” he finally said.

  “Your grandmother and Aunt Jess are with her,” Sam continued carefully.

  “Dr. Jameson is taking care of her, and your father has gone to defend the kingdom,” he finished with controlled urgency.

  “From who?” I asked.

  “Douglas and his rogues,” he answered, and I knew that name.

  Douglas had hurt Mom and forced her into hiding. Our kingdom had spent months preparing for his attack, and he had chosen the moment she gave birth to bring it. Anger burned through my fear. My gums ached, and when Sam glanced at my mouth, I knew my fangs had come down.