The Dragon's Queen

Chapter 14: Where do we go from here?

Third Person POV

For the next hour. Karisma spent it telling Luca and Tobias all about the altercation at her school. Tobias was furious that a beta took it upon himself to dish out punishment just because Karisma was a rogue pup adopted by an alpha couple. As of beta blood himself, he knew that the beta should not have engaged and brought it between his alpha and Alpha Philip. Luca was just as pissed. He made sure that no matter the reason, members of the ranked families would be treated as if they were blood to those families.

He never wanted others to feel how alone he felt when he was dealing with the elders and his family when his wolf was sealed. No one deserves that kind of pain, and for the Moonlight Rose pack to disregard Karisma’s position in her pack just because she was adopted. Ment that they disregarded his authority when he made the law.

Before Luca could ask about the bandage on her leg, the doors opened as Riley came into her room in a hurry. “Oh, Uncle Luca. Uncle Tobias. What are you guys doing in here?” She asked. Confused and a bit afraid for Karisma. Since she left in such a hurry for Edolas, she didn’t tell anyone except one of the pack doctors about the girl in her room. She hoped that she didn’t get Karisma into any trouble for being in the royal pack house without the alpha king being aware of or allowing her presence.

“Jake had one of his nightmares during his nap and went looking for you again. Since you were not here, we didn’t even think to check your room until we looked everywhere else.” Tobias said. Riley nodded in understanding. “I found Jake curled up with Karisma when I came here, and she was singing songs to comfort him. Now she has been telling us why she is here.” Luca said.

Riley nodded again and straightened her posture. “Yes, there was an altercation between the Moonlight Rose pack and the Starlight pack in their neutral territory. It seems that no one in the Moonlight Rose pack respects Karisma as an alpha’s daughter, even though Alpha Philip was very vocal about his relationship with her, and treated her like s**t because she was born a rogue.”

While she and Kai were in Edolas, Riley had her little brother, Alistar, hack into the school systems and find anything and everything on Karisma, her close friends, and all of her bullies. At 17 years old, Kai and Riley’s triplet siblings all graduated at the ages of 15. Each with skills of their own.

Raven was a silent killer and a master of disguises. Getting video and audio recordings of her targets was almost as if it were second nature to her dragon sister. Raven could mimic a person so well that even her family members had a hard time telling who was who when she tested her skills on them.

Alistar was next to be named alpha since Riely, Kai, and Raven all had declined the role, and he was the best hacker. He can dig up anyone's skeletons, no matter where they try to hide them. Though he doesn’t do it often. He hates it when people toy with others just because they think they are untouchable and can do anything they please.

The youngest triplet is by far the scariest of them all. Ambrose is a silent hunter who loves to play with his food. He lets his targets know that they are being hunted, just not by who is doing the hunting. It makes them lose their minds. He never hides how much he enjoys the dirty work from anyone. It was also why he decided not to be a co-alpha with Alistar. He never wants those he protects to fear him.

Alistar added to the email the details that he sent to Riley that he and Raven had to keep Ambrose from moving forward with destroying the entire Moonlight Rose pack. Riley didn’t get to read the whole file herself yet, so she just grabbed her laptop and placed it between Luca and Tobias.

Pulling up her emails, she brought up the report that Alistar sent her. As she read it through more thoroughly with her uncles, her blood started to boil. She could feel the anger in Luca and Tobais rising along with her. Ever since Alpha Philip adopted Karisma. The Moonlight Rose pack has been encouraging others to show her no proper respect. To the extent that even some of her own pack members don’t see her as part of the alpha family.

Showing such divided opinions within the pack is one reason that Alpha Philip’s pack has had many issues with rogues. Because a pack divided is a weak pack. There is also an odd number of attacks of rogue vampires attacking Alpha Philip’s pack. One attack almost led to Karisma being kidnapped from the pack daycare when she was only 7. Alpha Philip and his beta were the ones to save her before the vampire made it to the tree line. From then on, she was always with one of the ranked members at all times and was trained in both hand-to-hand combat and weapons use.

Luca thought about it and remembered that Jeremiah had mentioned a few years ago that there had been an increase in attacks with rogue vampires throughout the lands. It has caused him to travel more often than Luca and Drake, but no matter what… There was no answer to what was causing it.

Luca looked up from Riley’s laptop and towards Karisma. “Do you know why the vampires tried to take you that day?” He asked, knowing that it could be a long shot since it was almost over ten years ago.

Karisma thought long and hard. “Honestly, I do not know. All I can remember is him grabbing me after I had gotten cut on some broken glass… I thought he was mumbling about something, but I couldn’t understand it.” She said, looking up to meet Luca’s gaze. “Because of that, Papa made it an important rule that I go nowhere without one of the ranked members. It only got easier after I started high school and was trained in both hand-to-hand and weapon usage.” She added.

Luca nodded. “We could ask Aunt Sabrina to do a memory mind share with Karisma once Jeremiah gets back. He might know what he was mumbling about, or at least be able to read the vampire’s expressions that 7-year-old Karisma couldn’t understand.” Tobias suggested. Riley and Luca both looked at each other and then nodded. “That is perfect. I will call her later tonight and then talk to Jeremiah about returning sooner than planned.” Luca said.

Karisma looked at the three of them in confusion. “What is a memory mind share?” She asked. Tobias sat up in his seat. “It will allow a small group of people to see past events from a person’s memory. Even though you can not recall them right now, we would see everything from your eyes and hear everything from your ears.”

Karisma had never heard of anything like that, but thought a bit more in-depth about it. If the memory mind share could shed some light on the vampire attacks on her pack, then maybe we can make it safer for her friends and family. Karisma knew a lot of the pack members blamed her for the attacks, but no matter what, she wanted the pack to be safe for all. ‘Thought through like a true alpha.’ Winter said in her mind.

Karisma didn’t say anything. Just internally rolled her eyes at her wolf. She never understood why her wolf wanted the respect of an alpha so much. It was not like her wolf was power hungry or anything.

“I will call Jeremiah later tonight. I know he was going to try and make it back for Gabreial’s birthday in two weeks, but maybe we could get him here sooner.” Luca said as he stood. “Until then, Karisma, you are to stay here with Riely during your stay here, and in a couple of days, that's when we will handle things with the Moonlight Rose pack.” He added.

“We should have Star, Jessie, and some warriors go over to the Moonlight Rose pack while we handle their alpha and beta here. s**t might hit the fan once we bring out their dirty laundry.” Tobias said. Luca and Riley both nodded in agreement.

“Alpha Luca, could I at least call my mother and papa. I want to make sure that they know I am alright. I have never spent the night away from them.” Karisma asked. Tobias, being a jokester… he chuckled. “What, scared the boogyman will get you when papa is not around.” He teased.

Karisma frowned. “No, sir. I just don’t let my guard down as much since my biological father tried to kill me on my 6th birthday.” She said. Not to be sarcastic or make them feel pity for her. Karisma saw no reason not to tell them the truth. Since her papa would have had to file the proper paperwork with the king anyway, she thought he would have already known.

Luca tensed as Tobias’s smile left his lips. He cursed at himself under his breath. “s**t. I am sorry.” Tobias said. Karisma simply shook her head. “There is no reason for you to be sorry. I assumed you already knew that detail, since it was how my Papa found me. I thought details like that were already in my file since he had to go through the adoption process.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Riley nodded. “It is in your personal file, but I don’t think Uncle Tobais has gotten a chance to read about you yet.” She said with a polite smile. Tobias just felt worse. Luca felt his brow twitch as his and Remus’ Rage filled his system. “I will leave you in Riley’s care. You may call your parents, but you are not allowed to talk about what we found out about the Moonlight Rose pack or about the memory mind share we wish to do.” Luca said before turning and walking out of Riley’s room.

Pulling out his phone, Luca shot off a few texts. First to Alistar… asking him to find out anything and everything on Karisma and her birth family. The next one was to the group chat that he had with Melody, Drake, and Jeremiah. Conference call in an hour. Urgent topic.’