Adonis jumped from his seat and headed to the tall windows bordering one side of the dining hall.

"Fuck. It's happening again" he said.

We all ran to the windows to see that trees were falling but there was still no sight of the smoke. The castle was seven stories high and the dining hall was on the third floor. Running down the stairs, we go to the castle entrance where we see most pack members were outside of their homes. It was absolute silence for about five minutes where you could hear a pin drop. Then from the west side of the forest, I spotted the ethereal black smoke coming our way. Unlike the last time, it wasn't just floating in the air, it was coming towards the packhouses and fast.

"Is it just me or is the smoke coming towards us?" Aiden asked, also watching the smoke in fear.

"Run" Sinclair yelled to the royal pack.

"Nope you aren't the only one," I said before we all ran in the other direction of the smoke.

All the lycans ran in the forest dodging the falling trees.We all ran to the waterfall near the pack housing to seek shelter.

Karisa stopped and started chanting "Defendat obice."

"What did you just do?" I asked panting.

"A barrier spell. Hopefully, it holds."

We watched as the black smoke crashed against the invisible barrier and then began to fan out around us trying to find a way in. The entity moved around as if it had a mind of its own. It moved back a little before crashing into the barrier.

"Oh fuck" Karisa said before chanting once more "Obice manere defendat."

The smoke kept attacking the barrier trying to get in as Karisa continued to chant to fight against it. Ultimately the smoke gave up and disappeared in the air without any casualties. Before Karisa could collapse to the ground I caught her before she hit the floor.

"Are you ok?" I asked her, bringing both of us to the ground.

"Yeah, the spell just exhausted me. Whatever that was it was if it was fighting against my spell."

After making sure that Karisa was okay and leaving her in the arms of her mate, I looked over to Sinclair who was standing by himself and looked beyond spooked by the smoke.

I walked over to him and asked "Hey you ok."

He quickly hid his emotions and coldly nodded at me before leaving to walk back to the pack lands as many of the other lycans were. Well so much for being friends. Once we got back to the castle it was at least 11 in the night. Exhausted by the events that occurred I went back to my room to go to bed.

The next morning I went to Karisa and Leo's room since the same day Karisa was going to show me around the royal pack. The past week or so I had been cooped up in the castle grounds and the only time I actually got to see some part of the pack was when we were running from the smoke.

When I knocked on the door Karisa came out and asked "Hey girl. Ready to go?"

"Yep. Where are we going on this little adventure of ours?" I asked as she linked our arms while we walked.

"In the forest to the east is a beautiful rock area about 30 miles out that I like to go to often to get away from here sometimes. We're going to have to change into our wolves to get there. Follow me so you don't get lost since we can't use mindlink as we run."

Once we were out of the castle we walked through the little downtown area in the pack town.

Karisa pointed over to the cute little cafe at the end of the street and said "This is my favorite place to eat. They have these chocolate croissants that are to die for."

"Rissa I think you have little drool here," I said pretending to wipe the drool off her chin.

Swiping my hand off her face "Don't make fun of me. Not even Leo can get between chocolate and me. Although I do like to lick the chocolate of his..."

"Stop right there I don't even want to know."

"Hey don't look at me like that. It's chef's kiss" she said as she did the imitation of the kiss.

Walking awhile she said, "Rissa, I like it but that's not fair I don't have a nickname for you yet."

"You can call me Ana like everybody else."

"No mine has to be original."Rissa thought for a while and then finally said "Oo got it. I'm going to call you Nellie."

"I like it," I said honestly.We got to the edge of the east side of the forest to hide behind the trees.

Taking off my clothes I heard Rissa scream "Fuck my life, my tits are freezing."

Shaking my head at her dramatics I gave out a little laugh. Honestly, Rissa reminded me of Aiden and maybe that's why we got along so well. Turning into my wolf I joined Rissa's wolf from out behind the trees. Her wolf was a tan wolf with a white belly. She tilted her head towards the direction she wanted me to follow her in. Running through the snowy woods we sprinted towards our destination. It had been a long time since I had a good run in my wolf form. It took Karisa and me about an hour to get to this secret destination of hers. Stopping I took in the beautiful scenery in front of me. A rock ledge looking over the snowy valley with light snow falling from the sky.

Shifting back into my human form I said to Rissa "It's beautiful."

"I know. It just takes you away from life for a while."

Smiling, I sat and put my legs over the ledge of the rock and closed my eyes. Sitting next to me, Rissa and I enjoyed the silence for a while. These past weeks I haven't really had alone time since I was at Dark Moon and now here. Aiden has gotten many calls from Midnight of frightened pack members of the smoke. It has gotten everybody scared and feeling useless so the faster we find a solution the better.

Breaking the silence Rissa asked me "So what are you wearing for the ball in two days."

"Did you just say ball?" I asked, opening my eyes.

"Yeah, the royal pack has an annual ball as a tradition that has been going on for centuries. Wait did you really not know?"

Nodding my head no I said, "I don't really have a ball gown lying in my suitcase."

"Oh fuck we need to go shopping tomorrow. Hopefully, we can find a dress that won't need alteration."

"Is it like a mandatory event?" I asked.

"Nope but you're still coming. Maybe Sin might even ask you to go with him" Rissa said.

"I don't really even think he likes me. He's always so hot and cold with me."

"Don't worry about that. As long as I have known him he has always had his mood swings so don't take it personally."

Not convinced with her statement I chose to ignore my gut feeling that something was off about Sinclair Royal. His frightened looks at me and the smoke are enough for me to start my suspicions and I don't just think he's just having another one of his "mood swings''. Although that was another problem to worry about later. Although that was another problem to worry about later. My main focus for now is finding a dress and date for the ball. First world problems am I right?