I got out of my car and quietly shut the door. I looked around me and gaped at the stone castle in front of me. As the sun slowly set, and the night was still on the horizon, this enormous house nestled majestically by its lonesome. Even though it's not yet nightfall, there were lights on all three levels of the house. I drove about a mile on the gravel pathway to get to the house. The last quarter mile was paved and led up to the roundabout arch in front of the castle. There were dual stone steps that connected on the second level and led up to the main door. The house spread out to my left, over four stone arches with a round curve. And that led to another connection, and on and on.

I walked up to the main door and as I raised my hand to knock on the door, Jeffery opened it.

"Ms. Layne, good evening. Lord Callum is expecting you," he bowed.

"Hello, Jeffery. Good to see you, again." I replied. I'm getting used to his sudden appearances but it's still unnerving I tell you.

Jeffery was immaculately dressed as usual in his black tailcoat, white shirt, black long tie, and spotless white gloves. And to top it off, black shiny shoes. The man looked like he just walked off a GQ pictorial. His face was long, smooth, and hairless. His hair was black and so were his eyes. I did a double-take as I had never seen black eyes before. His pupils were blacker than his iris. I had met Jeffery many times, but he was always bowing when talking to me, and to be fair, I never gave him any special thought. But now I did. He was tall, slim, and stood up straight with his hands perfectly at his sides. And I saw him in all his commanding glory. Unflinching.

He led me down the domelike hallway, into a large circular opening. The floor had pinkish-white marble, beautiful! There were open-and-closed entrances all around. And right in front were another set of dual staircases, this time wooden and they led up to two separate entrances on top. I looked up, up, up and I almost fell if not for Jeffery who caught my fall.

"Are all right ma'am?"

"I'm fine, Jeffery. And don't call me ma'am."

"Yes, ma'am." Oh boy, here we go again.

I looked back up at the item that almost made me fall on my butt. The chandelier must be one of a kind design. It had dangling glasses, intricately woven into the letter 'Y', and both letters 'K' and 'G' were hanging off it. The light bulbs hung off the gold wire holding it up. How on earth do they clean it?

I followed Jeffery, who bypassed a few doors and led me into a huge den. And there, relaxing, talking, laughing were some of the legends. My face lit up.

"Jodi, you came," Cal ran up to me and hugged me.

"I dared not refuse an invitation from you," I hugged him back. Hmm, he has gained some muscles.

"Someone has been working out," I teased.

"I must shed all the pounds from carrying the babies. Darric has been a brutal coach. He implemented fighting skills training into my workout, too. Heinous, I tell you."

"You didn't complain about those occasions when the workout turned into sweaty sex," Darric murmured.

"Hi Jodi," he hugged me too.

"Hello, Darric."

"I enjoyed watching them 'exercise' on those rare occasions, a huge turn on," Rafe said, walked up to me, and hugged me too.

"TMI, dudes, TMI," Esme yelled from the floor where she's surrounded by the triplets and Rick.

Oh, how they've grown. They're a little over a year now. And Rick is looking more and more like Raul every day.

On the two-person sofa were his parents, Georgiana and Raul. Georgiana was in a light purple sleeveless dress, her hair hung free, so were her feet with purple-colored toenails? Raul was in a polo shirt and khaki pants.

I see Salim in here too, on another sofa, legs stretched out, with a glass half-filled with some brown liquid in his hand. And sitting beside him was Jacob Garnett? What's he doing here? And where's Kynder?

I walked around, gave, and got hugs from everyone. I stooped down and hugged Rick and the triplets. I still can't tell who's who. I finally made my way and sat on Salim's other side.

"What are you all doing here?"

"Alpha Salim and I stopped here on our way to my pack. His company is ready to build our dungeon," Jacob told me.

"Great. Now your pack setup is completed. And congratulations on the Alpha title by the way."

"Thank you. As for the pack, we'll only build more as needed;" he said. He looked relaxed and I'm glad. The horrors of his travel were behind him. Poor Jacob, if only you know what's on the horizon, I tell myself.

"Hello, Jodi. Cal said you were coming, I popped by to say Hi and thank you," Georgiana said.

"Thank me? For what?"

"For not allowing the Ruling Council to kill or maim my little girl."

"Oh, that! Well, I'm sure she learned her lesson, right?"

"Hmm! Righhttt," Georgiana said and looked away from me. That's unlike Georgiana, fishy.

"Tell me she's staying at the school, Cal." I pressed on.

"Of course, she is, Jodi. Trust me."

"Unh! Unh! So, Esme, where are Cole and Blaze?" I asked.

"Don't know and I don't care. When I come to play with my boys, I come alone. I don't want my babies to miss me," Esme said.

"Maybe if you gave them a day to miss you, we, their fathers will get to spend a little time with our sons," Darric grumbled.

"Jealousy is an excellent look on you, Alpha mutt," Esme smirked. "I hoped to be out of here before you arrived," she told me.

"Mad at me about something, Esme?" I asked.

"Yes, I am! My book has been on the back burner for what, two months now. Get back to it already."

"I will. I informed my readers of the delay prior to writing three; not one or two but three books in the ONC2020 competition. I needed the time to concentrate."

"Whatever! Who asked you to write three books? You would've been back to my book if you had only written one," she bristled.

"Esme be nice. You know you can't stop Jodi when all these ideas pop in her swirling brain," Cal said.

"Thank you, I think." Even though Cal kinda made me sound like the 'mad hatter', at least he understood.

"Ignore Esme, I loved all three books, Jodi."

"All I'm saying is that even though you have shelved my book these two months, I like it so far," she admitted grudgingly.

Oh, Esme, I will love putting you through the fire in book two, I think to myself, smirking.

"What's that smirk for," Georgiana asked me.

"Nothing," I replied too fast.

"Esme, you better be on the lookout. Jodi had this 'mess with you' look on her face when she talked about your book."

"She knows better than to mess with me, Georgiana."

Too late Esme, too late, I think to myself.

"Three different genres in these few months from scratch, impressive," Rafe cut into our discussion. I smiled at him. Looks like Rafe and I are good again. I'm glad.

"That Tainted 💔 was quite the book. Thank God my mates only run from me and not looking to kill me," Salim said and took a sip from his glass.

"Speaking of mates, where are yours?" I asked him.

"Roman is on some mission for Rafe, and 'you know who' is still hiding. But I feel him every once in a while, around the pack.  Will you make him come out of hiding, please, Jodi."

"I'll see what I can do," I told him.

"My favorite is 'A Day in Jamaica', loved the tie-ins you did. Unusual. Didn't know that bit about Bob Marley and the concert," Darric said. "I love the man's music, legendary."

"That was my favorite too, but it didn't make it to the third and final round," I sighed.

"The other two did, right?" Cal said. "And that Fanfiction? I like it. Angels and Demons, the eternal struggle."

"Yeah. You, my love, are an angel, and the witch over there is the demon," Darric burst out laughing.

Next thing, Darric disappeared. Oh shit! What has Esme done now?

"Esme, please bring my mate back from wherever you sent him," Cal asked calmly.

"Yes, Esme, we'll really appreciate it," Rafe added.

"No."

"The boys will miss their dad, and you don't want that..." Cal trailed off.

"Fine. There!"

Darric returned, covered in white powder, and dusted it off his body.

"You have some cleaning to do in your lab, Cal," Darric told him while cursing at Esme.

"What would you like to drink, Jodi?" Cal asked.

"Mountain Dew, please. No ice. Thanks."

"Live a little girl," Salim said. "Try some of Rafe's age-old whiskey. It'll put some hair on your chest."

I look at my boobs and shook my head. Nope, I don't want hair on my chest, thank you very much.

"So how are you, Salim?"

"Wonderful. But why did my book have to start with a crazy tiger and this witch?" He pointed to Esme. "Why couldn't I be chilling with Roman and her father..."

"... Eww. I'm trying to blot the image of you and my father from my head..."

"... in a jacuzzi, in a sensual threesome," Salim said, grinning at Esme.

"I swear Salim, you say one more word and I'll fry your ass."

I got up from my seat beside Salim and move over to the one next to Cal. I don't want to be a casualty of war when she fries his ass.

"Raul, Rick has disappeared again," Georgiana nudged him.

"Jeffery?" He called out.

"I found Lord Frederick, High Lady."

"Thank you." Rick jumped in between his parents and pushed Raul to the side. Raul quietly lifted him, sat back close to Georgiana, and put Rick on his lap. Smooth.

"What's that dripping down his mouth," I asked.

Georgiana looked, shook her head. She took the napkin Jeffery mysteriously produced and wiped Rick's face.

"He just had his cup of blood, right, sweetheart?"

Yikes! Forgot about that for a minute.

"Jodi you finally took me up on my invitation to visit us. Why now?"

"What do you mean, Cal?"

"I invited you to visit us at BloodRose Pack..."

"... too dangerous." I interrupted him.

"Crimson River Park..."

"... too many naked werecats."

"... Klyne Manor..."

"... I didn't want to get lost in one of its many hidden rooms forever."

"Now you come to Yorke Manor. 'Fess up, what gives?"

"Can you all keep a secret?" I looked around at all of them.

"Sure."

"Where's Jeffery?" I whispered.

"Somewhere around here 'butling' or doing whatever it is butlers do."

"Great. Here's the thing. My readers and me..."

"... readers and I, Rafe said."

"Thank you, Professor Klyne. Guys, I'm here on a mission and I need your help."