Chapter 81

81 Chapter Eighty One

“Sir Haelstrom, I would ask that you refrain from disrespecting the Hunters of Brigadia as there will be no second warning. They work diligently to keep this town safe and will not take kindly to the insults of an outsider using baseless information from rumours,” Anthony stepped in to end the argument.

“Well then, is there something else that you might want to add to that, Director?” Lionel added, his voice taking on a serious tone.

Through gritted teeth, the Director added, “I extend apologies on behalf of anyone who might have offended you during this minor dispute and hope that you can see past their misdeeds.”

“I’m going out for some fresh air,” Katie announced walking out of the room with no authorization. This was a violation of many rules and she was probably going to end up being punished for it later. Her newly-found impulsive behaviour, however, would not let her sit and take these insults head-on without any form of retaliation.

The meeting proceeded as it was supposed to. With Katie gone, Lionel was much quieter and let the rest talk on more. The maids later brought food to them and they ate while they talked about their recent exploits. Clark had a lot of tales for the hunters as they hadn’t met in quite some time and he was eager to catch up on what had happened while he was in the Sirius empire.

He narrated that when Jeremiah had decided to quit being a hunter and decided they moved after being humiliated by a girl riddled by muscle pains and on the brink of collapse. He didn’t see himself fit to be a hunter much longer. None of them would have thought that he’d only come up with the story so that he would join another agency and train tirelessly away from the eyes of those he knew in Brigadia.

Anthony wanted to know the reason behind this course of action, but Jeremiah was not comfortable sharing it. As the conversation continued, Lionel found himself in need of a fresh breath of air, so he excused himself from the table. Sandra was worried for her dear friend who just wouldn’t return to her seat even after thirty minutes had passed.

Lionel, on the other hand, had gone out of his way to hunt down the hunter, using his sensitive nose to guide him to the upper floors of the school building where he found her seated at a balcony, the wind blowing through her hair. ‘Talk of getting a fresh breath of air...’

“Might I join you?” he asked the girl who, up until now hadn’t noticed his presence. It was well past noon and the sun was not as hot as it one would have thought. In fact, one would say that the scene before him was of someone who couldn’t wait for the sun to set.

.....

“Couldn’t wait for my return?” she asked him.

“No, I got worried that something might have happened,” he said to her, allowing his smirk to grace his face.

“How does it feel to be the heir to the Haelstrom pack?” she asked him, gesturing that he could join her.

“Well, to be honest, I don’t how to feel about it just yet. I have a lot to learn. This will be the last time that I come here though,” he said.

“And why is that?”

“Considering the way you are still irritated by my presence, the reason I used to accompany my father to come here has faded,” he declared.

“That’s a harsh way of putting it. What will happen to the Founder’s festival then?” she asked.

“Well, considering there is a new noble family that will like to come here because this was their home, I think this place will be fine,” he said.

“I would have thought that Brigadia had the power to win your heart like it did your parents before you. Though you are still obnoxiously annoying,” she said.

“I’m used to the comment. Part of my charm you know,” he chuckled for a bit before getting deadly serious, “Come with me back to my pack.”

“I thought I made it clear that I had no intentions of doing so the last time. You had the audacity to ask me that in front of the entire meeting,” she said.

“Well, this time you only survived the advance during the meeting because you walked out before I could make it,” he said, “And I’m quite sure you’ve grown smart enough this time to know that this request is one that you are lucky to be receiving. I am a high ranking noble dating back to the...”

“You can stop there,” she stopped him mid-sentence.

“There you go again,” he scowled, “Stopping me before completing my sentences. Take it from me that it’s absolutely irritating.”

“I’m only saving you the trouble. What you envision when you think of me coming with you back to the Haelstrom pack is nothing but a fantasy. To put it bluntly, it’s not going to happen,” she said.

“Why do you say that? Why do you thwart my attempts?”

“I would like to start from the point where you’re a werewolf alpha required to have a mate before he can take over the pack. What part of that are you trying to ignore? Anyway, there are far more reasons than I’d care to count,” she said.

“You don’t take it easy on someone,” the man before her chuckled, taking a step back from her. It seemed as though he was retreating for the first time since she’d met him, “I’d expect nothing more from a hunter. I won’t bother you anymore... Fell for a pair of sapphires. Forgive me for the trouble I’ve caused. Obviously, you will since I’m a high ranking noble that everyone would rather have in their good graces.” Even as he left, he couldn’t help but try to retrain his boastful ‘charm’.

‘Why do I feel sorry for him?’ Katie thought as she watched him go back to the meeting. ‘Just ten more minutes,’ she told herself while she looked back at the horizon. The evening sky would soon show itself.

When Lionel returned to the meeting and took his place at the table, the hunters that had an idea what his calm demeanour meant and the reasons behind why he was always trying to get on Katie’s nerves could tell what had happened. Sandra, on the other hand, was bewildered by the drastic change in the man’s behaviour. He still commanded respect but didn’t throw it around. It never occurred to her that he didn’t have a reason to throw it around much longer.

“Katie is surely taking her time to return,” Jeremiah said after a few minutes.

“If she takes five more minutes out, I’ll send someone to call her. It’s like she’s forgetting that she’s supposed to take charge of escorting the VIPs through the festival,” Anthony said out loud. Katie came back moments later, taking her seat.

“Forgive my sudden leave,” she voiced her apologies.

“Are we going to know what it was for?” Tina asked absentmindedly while hacking at the fried fish she had in front of her.

“No, you aren’t going to know that bit of information,” Katie confirmed before commencing the palate-pleasing ceremony, as one would call it, for the chefs that had been called to cook this food were nothing more of extraordinary when it came to preparing delicious feasts.

The table fell silent on hearing the blunt reply before splitting into random murmurs as neighbours talked amongst each other. “Where are the Royals staying while they are here?”

“Brigade Hotel,” Anthony answered.

“Ah, the town’s pride and joy 4.5-star hotel,” Lionel said, absentmindedly. Nothing seemed to interest him now that he had finished the reason for coming here.

“Katie, I know you don’t lie and all that when it comes to the hunters’ exploits, but I wanted to hear it from you. Was Kyle really a rogue in disguise?” Kendra asked the girl.

“Yeah, that was what I said in the speech,” she said.

“You’d so easily turn against him like that...”

“If that was the case, I would have caught far before he the chance to run, but he ran before I could find out and had even prepared a recording admitting that he was indeed a rogue. I also found evidence in his abandoned home,” she explained.

“I try to get you to spill the details and Kendra gets through so easily. This world’s so harsh,” Lionel whined, sparing them a glance, “Please do go on...”

“Well, the last time you didn’t say please, so that’s the difference between the two,” Katie said before proceeding with the story, “He was found with drugs that suppress the werewolf inside you, though they only work on werewolves that haven’t turned eighteen yet.”

“I’ve never heard of such a drug,” Kendra said.

“It’s an illegal drug that’s can be found if someone knows where to find it. The hunters have tried their best to stop its spread and its use because its base component is wolfsbane. We hope we can stop its distribution since it’s highly dangerous and can kill a werewolf if overdosed,” he said.

“That sounds like a drug that I don’t want to know about. Why would something like this stay a secret for so long?” Kendra asked.

“Well, putting information like that out to the public can have both positive and negative advantages. However much one might say the drug is painless, it induces a human state in a werewolf and even stops the glow of their eyes. During this time, if they take an overdose of the drug, their death would be painless and for this reason, the information is kept secret such that it might not then become a cause for increased suicides or attempted murder,” Anthony explained.

“Wow, people will always find a way to make something that’s basically harmless completely dangerous,” Tina exclaimed, her face depicting whatever horrid scenes were going through her mind.

“Yes, that is true. One can never know what the public will end up using certain things for. As we witnessed earlier, there is the possibility that a big part of the world did not like Katie’s speech,” the conversation continued along those lines, going into different debates that eventually excluded Katie and allowed her to focus on the food before her.