"WE'RE SO GLAD YOU'RE BACK." Marcus said as Astra walked into the throne. Caius nodded his head in agreement, causing her eyes to flicker over to him.

     "Yes. I was starting to wonder if you were really going to come back." The blonde king mused with a bored expression on his face.

     He must still be upset about Conner, Astra thought to herself. "I was tempted to run off, but I didn't think I'd get very far." she said with a tight smile. It was a lie. She hadn't even considered leaving them yet. She valued her life too much, and for some reason she couldn't bring herself to hurt any of the three kings.

     Aro got up from his throne and walked up to her with a bright smile, "How was your time away with your brother?" he asked, his hand twitched and Astra mentally sighed knowing he wanted to read her thoughts.

"It was good." said Astra as she walked away from Aro and went towards Caius. She didn't want Aro in her head all of the time and she didn't get to see much of Caius when she had gotten back to the castle the first time. She awkwardly stood in front of him, his eyes were piercing into hers, an unreadable expression in them. "Where did you run off to?" she asked, trying to appear nonchalant. Conner was still missing and she was worried that Caius had taken him.

Caius smirked at her, reached up and grabbed her wrist and then pulled her onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his head into the crook of her neck. "I could ask you the same thing." he whispered. His breath fanned across the blonde girls skin, causing a chill to go down her spine and her breath to hitch.

"You're trying to change the subject."

Marcus watched the scene in front of him with a fond smile. He could see the bond between the four of them beginning to slowly strengthen. Astra still wasn't opening up completely to them, but he knew she would in time.

     Caius lifted his head out of Astra's neck and gazed at her with an innocent smile. "I'm not sure I know what you mean, princess."

     Astra sighed and briefly closed her eyes, "Did you happen to kidnap Conner?" When she opened her eyes again, Caius was staring at her with a glint of anger in his eyes.

     "As much as I would've loved to take him and torture him for ever even speaking to you, no. I didn't kidnap him. But I can if that's what you want." the blonde king said as he began to lightly rub his fingers up and down her arm.

     "We can help look for him after you eat dinner." said Marcus. He walked closer to them, causing Astra to turn and look at him. He couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face as he looked into her eyes.

     "You will?" asked Astra. Her eyes flickered as she studied his face, trying to see if he was lying.

      "We will." he confirmed.

      A bright smile appeared on Astra's face. She stood up from her spot on Caius' lap and took two steps forward to hug Marcus. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, "Thank you."

     Marcus eagerly hugged her back and breathed deeply, taking in her scent. "Of course."

HECTOR AND SCARLETT GOT OUT OF THEIR CAR IN SILENCE. They had been searching for hours now, and they still hadn't found Conner. Hector walked up to their hotel room door and paused. The door was cracked open. He was positive Astra wouldn't have just left it open, so he knew immediately something was wrong. He reached inside of his coat and pulled out his gun. He cocked it and pointed it at the opening.

      He could feel Scarlett come up behind him, but he chose to ignore her. He pushed the door open and began looking around for someone. He made sure to look in every spot of the room before turning back to the red-haired girl. "Someone was here."

      Scarlett was standing in front of the dresser, his back towards him. "I think I know who." she said as she slowly turned around. In her hands was a white piece of paper. She walked closer to her boss and handed the note to him.

Hector quickly skimmed the message that was left for him. His jaw tightened in anger. "Let's go get Astra."

ASTRA WAS SITTING AT A SMALL TABLE WITH THE THREE VAMPIRE KINGS. She had her hands in her lap as she waited for the food to get done. She stated down at the table, lost in her thoughts. She was trying to figure out where else Conner could be. It wasn't likely that he just ran off, he knew how mafia's worked and it wasn't that easy to get out of them. If Caius didn't take him, then it had to be a different enemy. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She didn't have very many, but there was no way they had found them already.

"Care to share your thoughts?" asked Aro from his seat across from her.

She looked up and met his curious gaze with a frown, "I'm worried about Conner."

"We'll find him later, mi amore." Marcus gently said. He was sitting to the right of her and had grabbed her hand as he spoke. Aro glared at the action angrily. For the first time in his immortal life, he wished he didn't have his cursed powers.

Astra nodded her head at the brunet vampires words. "Right." she glanced between the three of them, "So, what's for dinner?"

      "Spaghetti." replied Caius.

     "Spaghetti?" repeated Astra with a small smile appearing on her face. She was tempted to laugh. She always enjoyed the pasta dish, but the fact the three kings had chosen something so simple was hilarious to her. She was expecting a variety of fancy foods, and was pleasantly surprised that it was something basic.

Marcus frowned, "Do you not like spaghetti? We can have the cooks—"

Astra smiled softly at him, "No. It's okay. I like spaghetti."

     A few moments later, a young black haired girl walked into the room with a tray. On the tray was a large plate of spaghetti. She sat the dish on the table in front of Astra and gave her a small bow.

     "Thank you." the blonde haired girl said with a soft smile. The young girl gave her a nod and then walked out of the room. Astra frowned at her actions and figured she must've been awfully terrified of the three other people in the room.

Caius kept a watchful eye on her as she began to eat her food. Usually he would've been disgusted at the sight of any human, but everything Astra did was wonderful in his eyes. She was absolutely perfect to him, and nothing could change his mind.

Astra's cheeks began to burn red at the pair of eyes on her. She looked up at the blonde king, "Is something wrong?" she asked. The question made Marcus and Aro look towards them. They had been listening to the voices that were coming from the front of the castle, and hadn't been paying much attention to Astra.

"You're beautiful." replied Caius with a soft smile.

Astra almost melted on spot. The stories she had heard about Caius were anything but nice. She had assumed he was going to be like the stories; a ruthless leader. She looked down and gathered some more spaghetti on her fork. "Thank you." she said.

     Marcus smiled as he watched the golden strands that connected the three of them started to shine a little brighter. Aro glanced at him and held out his hand so he could see what he saw. Marcus eagerly let him see his memories and a bright smile crossed Aro's face. Caius gave them a knowing look and happiness crossed his features.

     "What is it?" Astra asked when she noticed they were all having a silent conversation.

There was silence. Astra cast her gaze onto Marcus, hoping she could coax an answer out of him. None of the vampires wanted to scare her off by talking about their mate bond. They were worried about what she would do if they found out it was strengthening. They didn't want her to try to reject them again.

     Just as Marcus was finally going to cave in, Santiago burst into the small dining room. He quickly bowed his head, and then looked at Aro. "Queen Astra's brother is back. He said it's urgent."

     Astra snorted, "Everything is urgent with him."

     THE FOUR SOULMATES WALKED INTO THE THRONE ROOM. Astra was frustrated with not being able to finish her food. But she figured the only reason Hector would come back would be because he found something on Conner. Her eyes trailed over to her best friend and brother. Scarlett was trying be composed, but Astra had known her long enough to tell something was very wrong. Once Marcus, Aro, and Caius were all sitting in there thrones and Astra was successfully pulled into Caius' lap, Hector began to speak.

"Astra," he began, "When we got back to the hotel earlier, there was a note." He paused and pulled the paper out of his back pocket. "It's addressed to the two of us." He walked up the few steps and handed the note to his sister. He then made his way back down to stand next to Scarlett.

     Astra had done her absolute best to stay composed as she read the letter, but she couldn't help the soft gasp that escaped her lips.

Dear Leonato's,
Did you guys truly believe we wouldn't be able to find you? You should really learn to cover your tracks better. Getting one of you alone was too easy.

We want Hector and Astra Leonato to be given to us by midnight. For every hour that we do not have them in our possession, we will cut off a piece of your friends body.

We will wait for you by the old warehouse downtown.

Signed,
Stefano

     "We need to call in the rest of the mafia." Astra said to Hector when she was finally done reading.
Her brother nodded his head. He had done it when they were on their way to the castle.

     "You're not going." Caius growled. Astra turned her head back to look at him, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I am." she replied as she gazed into his eyes. "I have to do this."

Aro wasn't sure what they were talking about, but he knew it wasn't anything good. His lips tightened as he looked over to Astra. "If you go, then we go."

"Then I guess it's time to prepare for a war." Scarlett muttered.

Hector snorted, "We don't need to do that. These vamps could have them all killed before anybody blinks."

"Who told the human?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Sorry for the late update! What did you guys
think of this chapter? It's honestly not my favorite because I feel like it could be better written, but I really wanted to publish it. This isn't edited.

Don't forget to vote and comment.
It helps motivate me to continue writing.

Plus I just love knowing whether people are enjoying the story or not.