While everyone was on their way to find Malo, and some were busy having a big argument, inside Princess’s clubhouse kitchen, Kiara was trying to make four warm bottles.

She had been blabbering to herself nonstop. Her chest heaved as she leaned over the steaming machine, her voice bouncing off the tiled walls of the quiet room.

"Seriously, these people need to hire a babysitter or something... just because I come to the club every day doesn’t mean I am always available..." she kept talking, not liking the fact that Princess had made her babysit. She snatched the measuring scoop, dumping the milk formula into the bottles with a heavy sigh.

"And I don’t get it. Why won’t their so-called Mommy just stay put... Ahhhh!" she groaned in frustration. She shook the first bottle violently, the liquid foaming up to the top as her brow furrowed in the dim light.

Her phone vibrated as she was about to leave the kitchen. The sudden buzz against her palm made her jump, the screen lighting up the dark corner of the counter.

She saw the name.

Devil’s Personal Assistant 😈🥸👿

She didn’t want to pick up, but she decided to take a chance. She rolled her eyes, sliding her thumb across the glass screen and holding the receiver up to her ear with a harsh breath.

"What is it?" Kiara said.

"Mommy is worried about you. She wants to know when you’re coming home." Silviana said. Her voice came through the speaker completely clear, sounding cold and entirely too formal for the middle of the night.

"I can recall multiple times when I didn’t come home, and I don’t remember My Mommy blowing up my phone because she was worried about me." Kiara said. She leaned her hip against the edge of the sink, pulling a face at the cupboard across from her.

"Where in the world are you, Kiara? It’s 2:30 in the morning and you’re not in your bedroom. This is why Mom needs to put tags on you..." Silviana lectured, her tone shifting into that annoying big sister rhythm that always drove Kiara crazy.

"Oh, my big amazing sister suddenly cares about me. This is very shocking news. I need to broadcast this and tell the whole world that Silviana Blue Petro-Kings now wants to take care of her little sister..." Kiara said in a sarcastic tone. She scoffed, her fingers tapping rapidly against the side of the plastic bottle she was holding.

"Look, I am at Princess’s. Is that not what you wanted me to say? Well yes, I am currently at the clubhouse... and never call my phone again. Even if it’s a life-threatening situation, if you see my number, please, I’m begging you, scroll away..."

Kiara didn’t want to hear another word. She hung up immediately and groaned. She shoved the phone deep into her jeans pocket, her teeth grinding together as she picked up the remaining milk bottles from the counter.

"If there were a place where I could offer that girl as a sacrifice, I swear I’d do it in a heartbeat just to get my peace of mind back..." she muttered, shaking her head as she pushed open the swinging door with her shoulder.

Then she looked around.

"Where did they go?"

Kiara was now standing by the play fence, ready to give the kids their warm milk. She held the four bottles clutched against her chest, her eyes wide as she stared over the colorful plastic gate.

But the kids were not where she had left them. The soft blankets were scattered across the floor, and the plush toys were piled up in the center, but the area was entirely empty.

They were gone.

Kiara began pacing around the clubhouse, trying to think. Her heels clicked frantically against the floor as she spun around, looking behind the couches and under the large desk.

Where would the kids be at this time of the morning? The whole building was locked up tight, the heavy security system armed and silent.

Before Princess left, she had been trying to get the kids to sleep, but without their Mommy, they couldn’t settle down. They had been pacing around the nursery, their hands clutching at the bars of the cribs while they wailed for Faye.

Leonny kept crying nonstop. He refused to lie down on his bed and constantly pointed at his Mama’s picture frame in the room. His small face had been entirely red, tears streaming down his cheeks as he screamed for the familiar scent.

Since he wasn’t sleeping and was crying nonstop, the other three couldn’t sleep either. They had joined in one by one, creating a massive wall of noise that echoed through the entire floor.

Princess had tried everything she could to get Leonny to sleep. She had paced the floor with him, rocking him back and forth until her own shoulders locked up from the strain.

She called Faye, but she didn’t pick up. The line had just kept ringing, leaving Princess standing in the middle of the room with a screaming toddler and a ticking clock.

She played lullabies, but Leonny’s voice was louder than the songs. The soft piano music was completely drowned out by his high-pitched shrieks, making the room feel even more chaotic.

So she played a recorded video of Faye, and the boy finally became quiet. The sound of Faye’s laughter from the screen had instantly made the toddler stop, his large eyes staring at the display as his breathing slowed down.

Then she kept calling Faye’s phone until she answered.

That was when Princess needed to leave and told Kiara to watch them while she was gone.

Kiara brought the pups out of the nursery since they weren’t sleeping. She put them inside their playground and sat at her desk playing games. She figured letting them roam around the fenced area would tire them out while she tapped away at her screen.

Then the kids started crying in a rhythm that almost sounded musical. Their small voices rose and fell together, filling the empty room with a strange, eerie chorus.

Kiara recorded them as they cried. It was like a song to her ears. She held her phone up, capturing the weird harmony on video before saving it to her camera roll with a slight smirk.

After that, she went into the kitchen to prepare their milk, in case the pups became hungry. She had left them alone for less than ten minutes....

And now she couldn’t find them. Her hands started to shake, the plastic bottles slipping slightly against her shirt as her heart hammered against her ribs.

Only one thought crossed her mind.

"OMG, Faye Grande is going to fucking kill me for this..."

She didn’t think about the Alpha Princess’s wrath. Princess would be furious, sure, but she could handle Princess.

She thought about Faye’s.

Because she was fully aware of how furious a Moon Wolf could be when they were angry. The raw, terrifying power of a protective mother wolf was something she never wanted to face, and losing the pups was a guaranteed death sentence.