Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Chapter Eighteen

“Katie, the director wants to talk to you,” Sandra said running up to her, phone in hand.

“The director...” surprised, “I thought you called the receptionist of the damn place. How did you get to the... Hello.”

“CHASE, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?” Katie had to hold the phone away from her ear in fear of getting it yelled off. “IS WHAT I HAVE HEARD TRUE?”

“Why would I lie about a rogue attack? Of course, it’s real...”

“I’M SENDING HUNTERS TO ESCORT THE CIVILIANS TO THEIR RESPECTIVE HOMES. BRIEF THEM ON THE PROCEDURES AND PRECAUTIONS TO TAKE WHEN THERE IS AN ATTACK SUCH AS THIS ONE TO ENSURE THEIR SAFETY. STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE....” Beep... with that said, Katie relayed the instructions to the crowd and turned her attention to Shaemus.

She walked up to the unconscious form of the aspiring hunter and sat down next to him. The hunters responsible for guarding him gave her some space. It had never made sense for Shaemus to act so irrationally in the first place and this had raised a significant amount of suspicion in Katie’s mind. If the director or the rest of the pro hunters got to know about his close involvement with the attack today, he would have a lot to face. Katie debated on whether or not it was right to sell him out before he had the chance to explain himself. Even as he carried out this plan of his that endangered all these people, he made an effort to send a subtle signal and did his best to conceal as much as he could. This could only mean he was probably avoiding detection. One thing was certain, he could not reveal whatever it was that was influencing him to do what it was that he was doing and the reasoning he gave did not fall into his normal flow of life.

She got up and directed her attention briefly to the junior hunters, “When he gets up, tell him that his punishment will be to escort the night patrol of pro hunters for a week.” They nodded and agreed before she walked over to Cole, her neutral expression faltering when she saw the worry etched on his face. The white wolf flashed once more in her mind growling, protective instincts rolled off it in waves before the power of the medicine once again forced it back down. ‘I wish I could say it’s the wolf alone that he affects. Difficult as it is to admit, I’m getting attached to this Royal... a completely illogical reaction to someone I just met.’

.....

Cole sat cross-legged in front of the rogue that had surrendered as it lay unconscious. His alphas stood away from him, somewhat giving him space and keeping their guard up. Katie assumed they were still keeping their guard up in case more rogues showed up out of nowhere. “Hey, you okay?” she asked him, standing beside him. She remained quiet patting the ground beside her for him to take a seat. She sat right next to him, seeking the gaze of his bright blue eyes which he did not return. Instead, his eyes stayed pinned to the wolf before him. He seemed to be deep in thought. Katie’s guess was as good as any other... nothing. “So that’s the famous Prometheus evaluation,” she spoke.

“Is this your first time seeing it?”

“Yes, it is my first time witnessing a wolf going through the evaluation,” she said, the sound of car engines reaching her ears. The pro hunters had arrived. “Sandra, lead the civilians to the hunters.”

Escorting the civilians from the clearing took time as most of them were shaken from the attack. The whole sight was a mess. Shaemus did not wake up the entire time the civilians were escorted home from the old hunters’ training ground. Eventually, Katie was forced to ask some of the junior hunters to take him home. It took thirty minutes for the whole operation to be completed. In that time, Katie was required to attend to the junior hunters as was her assignment when she was appointed the head hunter at the school. She made sure Kyle was among the first to be transported to the safety of his home, making sure to hand him the bag along with the jacket of weapons stuffed in it. To be honest, Katie really didn’t need the weapons to kill a rogue. They were just what she needed to swiftly take down a werewolf without having to use excessive force.

Once everyone was gone except for Cole, his alphas and Sandra, Katie gave her word that she would get the remaining people in that clearing back to their homes and with that, the last of the pro hunters left. As it stood, she was the only person who was permitted to stand in that clearing at that time. Cole and his werewolves, as well as Sandra, were all required to go to their homes when we were done with the werewolf that was going through the Prometheus evaluation. Cole volunteered to take the werewolf under his custody if it passed the evaluation and to dispose of the body if it didn’t.

Orders to have the wolf that was going through evaluation were given to him by the director himself while the injured werewolf that Cole had carried was taken into custody and driven off for questioning. It was kept heavily sedated even though each one of the pro hunters was capable of dealing with it. Escape for it was simply not an option.

Cole stayed still and silent the entire time this happened paying close to no attention to his surroundings but the wolf before him. His alphas, whose names Katie had now come to know as Caden and Jason stood at his side waiting patiently. Katie stood by the treeline with Sandra bored out of her mind, “Don’t you want to take a closer look at the process?”

“And see what Sandra? They have been staring at that wolf for an hour,” she groaned.

“Doesn’t it make you even a little bit curious? None of us has ever been present for an evaluation before,” she said.

“You have a point there,” the two of them walked up to the trio and stood by them silently for a while before Katie spoke up. “What are we looking at again?”

“We are waiting, not looking. At first, I thought this wolf would die like all the others I have ever seen go through an evaluation, but that usually happens in the first five minutes. This wolf is still alive. There might be a chance it survives,” the one she had come to know as Caden spoke up.

“Is the rumour true?”

“What rumour?”

“That the god Prometheus carries out the evaluation himself,” this was all information that Katie had only read in a book somewhere.

“Yes, that is true. Prometheus has no emotional ties with the werewolves and because of that, he is more suited to judge them without any form of bias and all those that fail, die immediately after the evaluation. Whatever goes on in that evaluation must be complicated because at least one in one thousand rogues pass it and it’s not like they are lining up to be evaluated.”

There was silence for a while after the explanation before Cole spoke, “You got rid of your stinky jacket.” It only occurred to him now that the wolfsbane that coated all the blades within that jacket would be smelly for the wolves that were around, rookie mistake, to put it lightly.

“Yeah, I won’t need them for anything anyway.”

“The confidence you have in your skills is commendable. Would you be just as confident if you up against me?” Cole asked, still not sparing her a glance, his voice devoid of any emotion as he spoke.

“I don’t know why people refer to it as confidence like I’m boasting. I only say what I’m sure of, there is nothing like me boosting my morale,” this seemed to catch Cole’s attention.

“You are only eighteen at most and you are human, so forgive me if I find it hard to believe that you could be as powerful as you claim. In this world, the only family that is believed to have attained the power to go against a Royal is the Chase family, but even then, those in the Chase family that have attained that level of skill are not as young as you are,” he explained, “What if you had to face Jason, Caden and me at the same time?”

This kind of conversation was slowly getting to Katie’s nerves. She breathed in and out, trying to avoid any unnecessary rush of blood. Not only were they trying to corner her into admitting that she could be defeated without the weapons she had just given Kyle to take, but they were also making it look like they were threatening her and that she was defenceless against them. “What Prometheus gift do you think I have?” She asked calmly.

“That’s quite obvious. You have the gift of agility. I can comprehend a human with your strength, but your agility and speed are on another level,” Cole said, still using the same old tone that made it sound like he was mocking her. Jason and Caden seemed slightly confused by the explanation.

“Are you sure, Cole? Can a human really get to the strength that she has? I was under the impression... her agility though... You make a fair point,” Caden said, diving back into deep thought trying to consider what he had witnessed.

Katie walked back to the tree line and stood facing a tree. Jason tapped Cole’s shoulder, getting his attention and pointing out that he needed to pay attention to what Katie was about to do. Katie got into a firm stance, making fists with one leg behind the other for more stability. “Is she going to...”

A loud ear-piercing sound rumbled through the ground from the tree as a punch connected with its trunk at head level with Katie, shattering that section completely. The sound was followed was the groaning of the tree stem as it buckled under its weight, its trunk no longer able to hold it. The three wolves watched in horror as the tree fell to the ground after only receiving one punch from the hunter. “What do you think my Prometheus gift is again?” a voice came from behind them. They turned to see Katie casually eyeing them before she vanished again right before their eyes.

“But it’s not possible... every hunter has just one of the two gifts,” shivers took over the royal along with the two alphas on realising just how dangerous Katie really was.

“Now you know... don’t underestimate me again. There is nothing I have to fear from a werewolf,” she said. No more words were said after that exchange. The three wolves were shaken by the revelation of the monster they studied with.