Roan On our way to Jo-Anna’s Quarters we pass one of Casimir’s Warriors and without asking anything he starts following me and Dad, a small smile appearing on his face when he sees that we are heading to the Quest Wing. Normally this wing only gets used when we have guests, but King Damon offered Jo-Anna one of the Quarters when she started to visit us on a regular basis and I know he regrets ever offering. I wouldn’t surprise me if Mom had something to do with the offer Damon made, but I don’t understand how she could have persuaded Damon to make that offer. Damon isn’t known for his generosity towards strangers and Jo-Anna was just that to Damon, so someone must have put the idea into his head somehow. My Mother was a conniving female, more conniving than most realized and I believe I am the only one that ever figured out all the things she did. “Jo-Anna.” Dad calls out as we enter her Quarters, but there is no response to his calling her name and we start to check every room in her Quarters to come up empty. Dad asks me where she might be as the door to her Quarters open and the rest of Casimir’s Warriors walk in, “Search every room in the Palace, search the gardens and call in all the help you need. I want my Sister found.” Dad growls and the Warriors run out the door without asking questions. I walk into her bedroom to check her closet, she might have gone on a little trip. I open the door to see her suitcases in a corner and I know she will show up soon, probably trying to order some of the Servants around. As I turn around to walk out of the closet my eyes land on a clothing bag that is hanging behind the door and when I see the name of a high end designer on the right I know what I will find in there, a dress for her Ceremony. A Pack only has a Ceremony when the future Alpha takes over from his Father, but for the Royal Pack there are other rules. Our Mates get presented to the world after we have marked them and that happens during a Ceremony with the Alpha and Luna of every Pack in our Kingdom in attendance, something I think Morgan will truly hate. I pull the zipper of the clothing bag down and I am not sure if I should scream on the top of my lungs or to laugh my ass off. I doubt there is enough fabric in there to classify it as a dress and I know that Jo-Anna believes the dress is considered classy and sophisticated, in my opinion it screams rather vulgar names for a female. It is a dress very inappropriate for the Ceremony for the Royal Beta or Gamma female or for the future ones. I hear someone gagging next to me and I see that Dad is staring at the dress, he looks really disgusted at the piece of fabric hanging in the clothing bag. “Found anything useful?” I ask him as we walk out of her bedroom, but as I suspected he didn’t find anything either and I hope one of the Warriors will find her in the gardens or something. If she isn’t on Palace grounds and we can’t stop this item from being in the news for to long, there will be hell to pay for someone. Dad and I decided to check our floor in the Royal Wing, but as we suspected she isn’t there either and after we have searched the entire Royal Wing I have a very agitated Lycan in my head. We have been unable to find a trace of Jo-Anna and so far none of the Warriors has found a lead on where she might be. The Palace was searched from top to bottom without any luck and now they are searching Palace grounds with the help of as many Wolves and Lycans that live here. We tried linking her, we tried calling her and the longer it takes before we get a hold of her the worse it will be for Jo-Anna. Casimir has finally settled down a bit, but if just a small thing goes sideways he will explode and there is no doubt in my mind that Vlad, his Lycan, will go on a rampage. Vlad hates Jo-Anna for trying to poison him and to get Casimir to mark her as his Mate, but luckily the dosage had been to low for Vlad to be knocked out. The only problem is that we could never proof it was Jo-Anna that gave Casimir the poison and she has my Mother to thank for that, because my Mother gave her an alibi for the time this took place. It didn’t stop Damon from cranking up security and my job became a bit bigger because Jaylen was already a Commander in the King’s Army. He offered to resign his commission but I stopped him, he is a damn good Commander and I can handle the extra workload. The Servants have a buffet set up in the kitchen for anyone that needs a bite to eat and most just grab something to eat on the go, I watch as one after the other Pack-member rushes back outside to continue their search for Jo-Anna. Everyone keeps searching during lunch and every time a section of the territory gets cleared my heart stops beating for a second, I hate that we can’t find a trace of her anywhere. We have just walked into Damon’s office when there is a determined knocking on the door, a Warrior opens the door without waiting for a response and he looks rather distraught. A She-wolf I recognize as one of Thora’s teachers is right behind him and I hold my breath as the Warrior says that Dad’s SUV is missing from the car-park, but it is the news the teacher brings that has the windows in the Palace shaking. Dalton and Thora never showed up to school and with the news article she figured they stayed home to celebrate, it wasn’t until one of the other students said there was a search going on for Jo-Anna that she felt something was wrong. “I am sorry for not questioning their absence sooner, Your Majesty.” She mumbles with her head bowed and her eyes strained to the floor.