Chapter 38

Danny's POV
“Alpha Henry and Luna Jade; King Oliver apologises he could not be here to greet you. He had an urgent matter to attend to and asked me to show you to your rooms” A lady in a maid’s uniform tells us, coming out the front door of the castle. “You must be Patrick and Heather” “It’s Danny and Claudia now” I explain to her. “My apologies of my forgetfulness; King Oliver did say you had new names.” Dad told us he gave Oliver our new names; to avoid any confusion on his behalf.
“Jeeves” Rick calls out as we enter the castle foyer; “It’s Jeffery; not Jeeves, Ricardo” he snarls; “Ricardo? I thought Rick was short for Richard” I chuckle at him. “No; Dad’s Portuguese” Rick explains matter of factually. “Jeffery, been a while” I add, extending my hand. “Daniel” he nods, grabbing my hand and giving a firm handshake. “This must be young Sophia?” he smiles.
“Yes, and this is my mother and father, Alpha Henry and Luna Jade” Claudia introduces to him. “Please to make you acquaintance. I am the head butler, if there is anything you need; don’t hesitate to call” he bows to them.
“Lillian; you may show our honoured guests to their rooms. King Oliver will be returning momentarily; I will come and get you as soon as he does” Jeffery says, before heading through to the door of the kitchen. “You will all be staying in the west wing; Connor, can you grab their suitcases please?” she notifies the group; ushering us to the stairway. “Connor?” Tracey calls out from behind us.
“Tracey; Oh, my Goddess” a man with brown hair yells; running over and embracing her. We all look toward the pair; “this is my little brother. What are you doing here?” Tracey informs us, as I sniff the air. **“He’s human. He must be from the human family who raised her”** Jesse noted, **“Obviously.”** “King Oliver gave me a job. He’s a very good boss. Do Mum and Dad know you are here?” Connor asks her. “I was going to surprise everyone… Surprise!” she laughs “Oh, and this is my mate Jason and our son Jasper” she adds giggling; looking at Jason, holding Jasper in his arms.
“You’re a Mumma? Why wouldn’t you tell us?” he scoffs at her. “I did tell Mum and Dad. Didn’t they tell you?” she says, laughing at his hurt face. “The pair of you can catch up later; we have to get you settled in” Lillian huffs at them. “Right; your bags?” Connor says heading over to our suitcases with his trolley.
“I’ll meet you at your rooms” Connor says, heading to an elevator as Lillian leads us to the third floor. “Alpha Henry; you and Luna Jade are in this room” Lillian says opening the first door. I peak inside; the rooms are as spectacular as I remember them. Dad’s room has a light green, yellow and pink floral patten on the walls; with a four-poster bed, closet and ensuite bathroom.
“Simon; you and Lorraine are in the next room. Danny; Claudia and Sophia are in this room” Lillian says as Simon and Lorraine head into their room and Claudia walks into our room, holding Sophia. “I’ll see you guys later” I tell the others, walking into the room behind Claudia.
“How was your ride with the girls?” I ask her; as a knock comes on the door. “Come in. It was fun; no men to hassle us” Claudia giggles as Connor comes into the room. “I have your suitcases for you” “Thank you, Connor. Tell me what it was like, growing up with Tracey?” I smile at him. “She was a typical older sibling; always loved to boss me around; the usual” he chuckles, taking our suitcases off the trolley and placing them at the foot of our bed.
“I wouldn’t know about usual siblings. My older brother treated me far from the usual way” I snicker; “I need to get the rest of these suitcases to the other guests” he answers smiling and leaving the room.
“I don’t think he wants to talk about Tracey” Claudia says, still looking at the open doorway. “Who wouldn’t want to talk about me. I’m lovable” Tracey laughs, coming into our room, holding Jasper. “Where’s Jason?” “He’s trying to get the scoop off Connor; he said you were asking about me also” she answers; narrowing her eyes at me.
“We’re just curious” Claudia giggles. “Curiously nosey” she chuckles back.
“Did you really scare Connor when you were 16, by jumping out of tree and shifting into Serenity?” Jason yells coming into the room. “I may have” she giggles, placing Jasper on the floor next to Sophia.
“Is this where the party is?” Rick says coming into the room with Denise and Elizabeth. “Why doesn’t everyone come in here?” I call out. “Don’t mind if I do” Mum says grinning “These rooms are amazing” she adds, looking at the same floral design in our room as hers. “Lizzy; gentle. Jasper and Sophia aren’t a big girl like you” Denise says; pulling Lizzy’s hand away from Jasper’s feet.
“Sorry; she’s at the ‘I want to play with everything that moves’ stage” “She’s fine; that’s what cousins are for” Claudia smiles at Elizabeth, trying to play with the Sophia and Jasper. “Jacob; slow down” Tim calls after his 2-year-old. “Try and hold off on them walking; once they do, you will be forever chasing them” he laughs; coming into the room. “Izzy” Jacob beams; “Acub” Elizabeth yells back, stumbling to him to start playing.
“You are one big happy family” a voice calls out from the corridor. “Oliver” I excitedly gasp. “It’s Danny now, isn’t it?” he asks; coming into the room. “Yes, it is; still looking handsome for 346 years old” Claudia answers, giving him a hug. “I’m still young; Claudia. Jesse still afraid of the snow?” he chuckles. “Yeah; he made me pack my sweats” I tell him, laughing. **“You try getting stuck in a blizzard”** Jesse grumbles.
“He can relax; snow is not forecast, for another 3 weeks” he smiles. **“Good”** Jesse huffs and slinks to the back of my mind. “Jesse is happy to hear that” I tell him; trying to hold my laughter.
“Sariah and Leon will be joining us later on this afternoon” “Great, there is a few things we need to ask her to do” I say to him; then lower my voice to a whisper. “Is there somewhere we can talk privately? Alpha Henry, Claudia, Jason, Tracey and I; need to have a chat with you.” “Sure; you can come to my office” he answers. “Lead the way; Tracey, Jason; you need to come with us?” “Luna Jade, do you mind looking after Jasper as well?” Tracey asks mum. “Not at all” she answers, giving Claudia and I a wink as we head out to the hallway.
“You must be Alpha Henry. It’s a pleasure to meet you” Oliver says to Dad. “Thank you for inviting us, King Oliver” Dad replies. “Call me, Oliver; please” he insists, as he leads us to the other side of the castle to his office.
We all walk in and take a seat; “I know what you are going to ask me. And yes Callum; is a threat to shifters” Oliver starts as Tracey’s eyes well up again. “Before we talk about what you want to know Tracey; I think I need to give you a reason why your book contained your memories from when you were a young child” he continues.
“You knew about the memories?” Claudia gasps in astonishment. “I collected them and had Tracey’s memory wiped of the incident to prevent anyone knowing who she was until she found Jason again” he told us. “What? How?” Jason asks.
“When Tracey was born; her parents worked in the palace grounds. They would bring Tracey with them. I noticed she looked a lot like a young Miranda and realised a threat to us was coming. I started to investigate on the sly. My mistake was trusting my own council” he tells us.
“That doesn’t explain, Tracey” I inject, “No; when I was looking into who may be compiling an army against shifters, witches and vampires. I had asked my council if they hear of anything; to come see me. Callum started asking questions about what was happening. You do know who he is Danny; he was the one who sent you on the wild goose chase; knowing there was a blizzard coming. He figured you will get caught in it and would not return. When you did; he blamed Marcus for giving the wrong information” he informs us as Jesse growls in my head.
“Wasn’t Marcus the one who wanted to take Heather and mate with her?” Claudia asks. “Yes; he paid Callum a lot of money to get rid of Patrick so he could. He thought mating with Heather; he would be able to control werewolves. When Patrick returned; he forced you to get rid of Marcus, so he could keep the money” he chuckles.
“I vaguely remember him; I thought Marcus was the main threat, wanting Heather” “He was Danny. Callum was greedy; always has been. I found all this information after I unfortunately let slip, I thought Tracey looked like a young Miranda. He knows if one of you die; the rest will follow as you all need to be together. I heard what he was planning to do and had you hidden. Your parents gave you to Joyce and Isaac to stop him” he explains further.
“Knowing Tracey was alive; why didn’t he seek out the rest of them?” Dad asks; looking at Claudia. “I don’t know. I am unaware of his true intentions. I know he is a threat; but am not sure if he is helping others or is the threat himself” he answers. “We are back to square one; not really knowing who the threat is” I grunt; feeling annoyed.
“Claudia; have you spoken with Goddess Selene?” Oliver asks her. “We all have” she answers; looking at Dad and then myself. “What did she say?” “She told us to be wary of Callum, James and Michael” I inform him. “James and Michael? From the River Moon and Diamond Moon Packs?” “Yes. James is Danny’s biological father and Michael is the Alpha whose sons kidnapped Claudia because she has a white wolf” Dad explains to him.
“James Molchany? Luna Rachael’s mate? Is he your father?” Oliver asks me. “Luna Rachael is my mother. As for James; he is no father of mine. I took on Alpha Henry’s and Claudia’s surname for a reason; I do not want anything to do with that man. EVER” I tell him. “Sorry Danny; word got around of Rachael’s death. I don’t know the story; James told Callum someone killed her and he passed the information onto me; before I cast him out of the kingdom” he replies.
“It’s a long story; one I will be happy to share with you. We have taken up a lot of your time, Oliver. We should continue this conversation after Sariah and Leon get here” Dad says, putting his hand on my shoulder.
“Yes; they will be here shortly. I will have Dinner prepared around 6pm in the dining room” he tells us. “We will see you at 6” Claudia says smiling; heading out the door.
“Are you ok, Tracey?” I ask her; following behind Claudia. “Yeah; I can’t believe someone was after me, to stop all of us” she answers. “I know; we need to work out who the threat is; Callum, James, Michael or someone else” Jason says; grabbing hold of Tracey’s hand. “It could be all of them; together” Dad informs us. “Let’s leave it for tonight and we will continue in the morning” I say; getting to our room. “I’ll see everyone at 6 for dinner” Claudia calls out as we head into our room.