The Taken Princess

Chapter 5

Jane’s pov

I knew how horrible she was feeling, she was frightened and worried about ruining the night. If anyone ruins the night it will be the bastards that try to take her from me. I was holding her close while everyone was still applauding, I looked through the crowd and caught Marcus’ eye. He would be able to tell something is wrong, Asyra is normally a very strong girl and rarely needs someone to cling to. I took deep breaths trying to calm myself as I reached out to Marcus. “Someone is trying to take her, they almost killed her yesterday and today someone was here staring her down. They are trying to wear her down, I know they are.” I told him through the link I created.

I watched as his stance changed, he nodded at me in understanding. He knew what I needed, I needed more people to be on the lookout. I turned my gaze and caught sight of an alpha looking between me and Asyra. He is alpha Merrick of the Clear Moon Pack, the alpha my mother and Ryken appointed. I linked him and he looked shocked for a moment. I told him what happened and I saw his eyes glaze over. He nodded to me, he must have alerted his pack to the danger. He brought over fifty of his own men and women with him, that would be helpful. I then saw him tap the alpha next to him, he was tall and very well built with short sandy blonde hair. Tattoos were showing from under the neck of his suit jacket, I watched as they whispered to each other.

That was Alpha Ryan of the Risen Pack, he looked stunned and then angry. He looked between Zeke and I and nodded his head. His eyes also glazed over. If word continues to spread like this we will have everyone on the lookout for the threat. I stood up holding onto Asyra, as we made our way back down the aisle. We will stop this threat, nobody will get my daughter.

We led the way to the tents, I wanted to enjoy this night with my family but now we are on high alert. He managed to get into the castle undetected. “Jane, I don’t think that man was a wolf, or a human. To be honest I never sensed a creature like that before.” I was stunned by what she said.

“What do you mean?” I sat at our table and kept Asyra on my lap, I would not let her go tonight. A shiver ran up my spine when a thought crossed my mind. What if we couldn’t protect her?

“I believe he is either hiding his scent or maybe a witch did something. The smell I caught was faint and it was foreign. I fear we may be blind coming into this one.” I could feel tears forming in my eyes. I have to keep positive, but I knew she was right. We are going into this completely blind, we have no clue what we are up against, and it scares me.

Asyra snuggled closer to me as if sensing my uneasiness. I pulled her up so she was looking directly at me. I linked her so that what I had to say was between just us. “My darling, I fear what is coming may be beyond us. I need you to understand, no matter what happens I will always find you. You will never be far from me nor I from you.” I watched as tears brimmed her gorgeous hazel eyes, she could feel something coming too. “If something happens I need you to be the strongest you can be, I need you to be prepared to fight for yourself. I will do what I can but I know deep down it is you who will have the power to overcome what is happening here.” I watched as a tear escaped from her eye, “I love you my darling, I always will.” She leaned forward and hugged me tightly. Right now this feels right, I love her so much. I don’t know what will happen tonight but I do know that I will fight and search until the moment I die, for all of my children.

She leaned back, “I love you Mama, I always will.” Zeke was looking at both of us and smiled. He bent down and kissed each of us on the head before he took his seat next to me. Once everyone was seated Zac stood up to give his speech.

Zeke tinked on a glass and silence fell. “I want to thank everyone who came out here tonight to celebrate this occasion with us. I want to thank everyone who put all the effort into making this happen from my mom and dad to all the workers who worked hard in setting up these tents. Thank you all for your support and I look forward to serving each and every one of you.” He paused for a second and linked Zeke before speaking again. Zeke stood up as Zac continued to speak. “I want everyone to know that we will fight to the death for each and every member standing here and for those who were not able to make it.”

Zeke cleared his throat, “Let the feast begin!” He shouted out. I scanned the crowd and caught sight of Stricker and Hazel. I pushed into their minds and linked with them.

“Please I beg you, be on alert. Someone is here and they will try to take Asyra from us.” I saw tears leave Hazel’s eyes and watched Stricker sit up straight and push his beer stein away and reach for a glass of water.

He nodded at me as he began scanning the room. I looked down at Asyra in my arms, she looked so tired. “Asyra baby, would you like something to eat.” She thought for a moment and nodded her head. She leaned over looking at the bowls in front of her.

I helped her dish up her plate. She asked for a small slice of ham, some mashed potatoes, green beans and some cherry cheesecake. I sat her on my lap and watched as she began picking at her food. I could tell she really wasn’t up to eating, so I turned my head to look at Zeke when I noticed a scent, “It’s the same scent that I caught when we were leaving the great hall.” Chastity said in my head, I could feel her wanting to rip her way out.

I put my hand on Zeke and he looked at me, I lifted my head up and took a whiff. It was getting stronger, he did the same thing and dropped his fork abruptly standing up. A few of the other alphas did the same thing. They could all smell it, I watched as they all left the tent following the scent. I looked at Zac as he left the tent, he nodded at me. All the women in the tent looked confused by what was happening. Zeke linked me, “you and Asyra need to go to our room, take Luca and a few guards with you.”

“Okay, what about the guests?” I didn’t get a response back, he blocked the link, probably trying to concentrate. I stood up, “Ladies, something has come up, I need all of you to the great hall. Please walk carefully and do not run.” Everyone there stood up and walked to the great hall, I was in the lead carrying Asyra.

“They’re going to get me Mama, I can feel it.” She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled herself closer to me. I felt tears on my shoulder going through the see through sleeves on my emerald green dress.

“Oh no darling, I won’t let them take you. I promise I will make sure they don’t.” Tears were forming in my eyes, we both knew I couldn’t keep that promise.

“It’s okay Mama, I know you will always be with me.” It hurts to think that someone would be willing to take such a precious little girl away from her family.

I had twenty guards watching over the great hall and brought another ten with me. We wanted to make sure our guests were kept safe. I walked through the corridor until I came to our big brown door. I looked at the carving so many times, it was a pack of wolves all running by a lake in the moonlight with a castle in the distance. I flung the door open allowing six guards in, four would stay outside the door, two inside the door and the other four would be on the balcony.

“Darling let’s get you ready for bed, you can sleep in here with me. Luca run to your room and get into your pajamas, you’ll stay here too.” She nodded her head as she took her white flats off. Luca ran from the room towards his own.

I turned to the guards and they all turned themselves to the wall while she quickly changed. I put her in her favorite pajamas, they were light blue with a wolf on the shirt and moon and stars on the fuzzy pants. I walked to the guard, Ricky. I think they called him, “I need you to sit by her while I change in the closet. Do not let her out of your sight.”

He nodded his head, “Yes Luna.” He walked over and stood next to the bed. I walked into my closet and began looking around for clothes. I thought about just putting on pajamas but I needed to be able to fight in the cold if need be.

I looked at my training gear and pulled on a light blue sports bra, black pants with a light blue stripe down the side, I grabbed a black long sleeve shirt and threw it over the top. I walked out and nodded to the guard, he walked back to his position by the door. I sat on the bed and pulled her close to me.

Luca came back in and I patted the bed next to Asyra. He smiled and climbed up, joining us under the blanket. I don’t know how long we had been snuggling under the grey and blue blanket when Zeke’s voice came through the link.

“Jane, get ready, the scent just sent us in a big circle.” I bolted up as the link came through. Suddenly I heard a guard outside of the room shout. The guards were all battling. I stood up and put a force field around Asyra. She huddled up under the covers with Luca, I could see her shaking. The noise from the fighting was coming from the Corridor and the balcony. They knew where we would go, the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. They led the men away because they thought I would be a weak Luna.

I looked at Asyra, “Whatever happens I need you both to stay in the shield.” Asyra nodded, too scared to speak. Luca wrapped his arms around her. “Chastity be ready, we can’t shift in here, the room is too small, we risk hurting the children.” She pushed forward, giving me more of her strength. I was ready for this, I will protect my daughter. I watched as the balcony doors flew off their hinges and collapsed on the ground with the guards that were outside. I knew whoever walked in here next would be the first one I would be killing.

I heard Chastity’s voice come out of my mouth as a man entered the room. “You got blood on my new shag rug.” I growled at him. His lips curled into a smile, his eyes dark with malice.

“My apologies, your highness.” He spat that last word out with venom as he gave a slight bow. I glared at him, “You must be the Great White Wolf,” He tilted his head then turned to look at Asyra and Luca. He smiled, his teeth looked rotten, his hair was dreaded but not in a nice way, it looked like it dreaded itself from lack of care. He wore all black, his jacket was too big on him and ripped everywhere, he smelled horrible. This was not the man we saw sitting in the coronation.

I stepped forward blocking my children from his view. He looked back at me as I spoke, “You will not be touching her.” He glared at me, his eyes becoming even darker, but had red that made it look similar to a cat's eye.

“He’s not a wolf, I have no idea what he is.” My wolf added in.

“What are you?” I asked him, he looked at me before he spoke. Hopefully I can distract him long enough that Zeke will get here. I doubt I would be much of a match against him.

“I am surprised you wouldn’t know, I mean it was your kind that hunted us to near extinction.” I glared at him, I remembered reading somewhere that there was another species that was hunted and they were all killed.

I narrowed my eyes at him when I realized what he was. “Oh crap, we really are out of our league.” Chastity said.

He smiled before he spoke, he realized I knew what he was. “What you are thinking, is right, now say it.” He hissed out as smoke came from his nose.

I took a deep breath, “Dragon.”

Jace’s pov

We made it halfway to the hospital when we had to stop so she could breath through another contraction. “That is about four minutes since the last one.” I said to her and she nodded her head. I couldn’t see the worry on her face but she couldn’t hide it from me, I got it full blast through the bond. She nodded her head again once it was over and I scooped her up and ran.

Once we were there Hannah showed us to the room, it was green and tan with a bed in the middle and a couch along the side of one wall and a chair on either side of the bed. I set her down on the floor as yet another contraction began, she leaned over the bed swaying from side to side. I placed my hands on her lower back and began to rub gently trying to help her through it. After a minute she stood up and turned around, “I was so not ready for this, I thought we had a few more weeks at least.”

I nodded my head, “I know, not only was this pregnancy a surprise but I guess their arrival is too.” She started to chuckle when she started breathing again and swaying back and forth. This time she had her arms around my neck and my hands were around her waist attempting to support her. We swayed like we were dancing for a while.

“These are getting really intense.” I looked at the time and couldn’t believe it. The coronation would be starting in just over an hour. Suddenly I heard someone calling my name as two people ran into the room.

“What are you two doing here? We were going to make this a surprise.” James and Anette were smiling in the door.

“Sylvia had a vision and told us to come here.” I rolled my eyes, of course Sylvia. That woman never ceases to annoy me. “She also told us to tell you and everyone else that her, Jeremy, and Tasha won’t be able to make it here until later. They are following up on something they found but they wouldn’t tell us what.” I nodded my head and I felt my hand being squeezed.

“Not the hand! We learned this last time!” I waited for the popping sound, we learned during the last labor not to let her hold our hand. She broke my hand numerous times during the last one and it took nearly two weeks for my hand to heal. Emerald looked down and quickly released my hand and yanked on my shirt instead.

“If they really want they can stay, just be QUIET!” They both looked stunned as their mother has never shouted at them before. They both quickly ran out of the room, I assumed they went to the waiting room. I ran my hand gently through her hair, then the nurse walked in.

“Would you like to try the birthing ball? Or maybe a warm shower or bath?” The nurse asked cheerfully with a big smile. I helped her take off her gown and she was just in a sports bra now.

She looked from me to the nurse and back before shouting, “BATH!” She continued her breathing as the nurse began running the bath in the joined bathroom. She stood up off the bed when her eyes grew wide, “No bath.” I looked at her stunned.

“Babe what’s wrong?” I could feel the fear, she bent over and let out a scream as she put her hands between her legs and pulled a baby up as she stood. The nurse walked back in and saw what happened. She ran to a button on the wall and the room was swarmed by nurses. I gently grabbed her and the baby and placed them both on the bed. Then Hannah ran in followed by Doctor Hannah and Doctor Leroy.

“Emerald, I need the baby now.” Emerald was crying but the baby was not, Doctor Leroy was the pediatrician for the pack and he swept our first baby away. I didn’t even get to know if it was a boy or a girl.

I had to focus my attention on Emerald, “Okay baby you can do this, it’s time for baby number two.” She nodded her head and wiped away her tears. She leaned forward and pushed like the doctor told her.

“Good job! Come on Emerald, baby number two’s feet are out, give me another big push!” She was pushing really hard when we heard a baby start crying , I looked over and noticed relief on Leroy’s face. Our first baby was crying, I felt relief flood through the bond. I smiled at her when the doctor spoke again, “That was a great push, one more and I think this little one will be out.”

She nodded her head and took a big breath. She pushed with all her might while one of the nurses counted. More cries began to fill the room, as more tears fell down my mate's face. I looked down at her and placed our foreheads together. “You did fantastic, my love. I never thought you would have had to catch one of our children.” She chuckled at what I said.

“Congratulations, you two. You have a beautiful set of twin girls.” The doctor smiled at us. I looked back down to Emerald.

“Well I think we should name one of them Aurora, what do you think?” She looked down and smiled, she wiggled the one in her left hand first, “Aurora I think suits you perfectly. She smiled but what do we call you?” She asked as she looked at the other twin.

“Arabella.” We both looked up to see James and Anette standing in the door again. She smiled and looked back at the second twin. They both walked over to meet their new siblings. I am beyond proud at how well Emerald did, she birthed two perfect werewolf pups. I will forever be grateful for the children she has given me. I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek as she admired the babies.

“That sounds perfect, Aurora Marie and Arabella Rose.” I looked down at her gazing at our new baby girls, this is the perfect moment.

“Absolutely perfect.” I said then kissed her on the forehead.