Chapter 142

142 Chapter One Hundred Forty Two

Katie found the Den amusing. It was nothing like what she’d done back in Brigadia. The hunters would hang out in their own section, but they still had to bring their food from the cafeteria. This was different for Katie since Sandra was the one always doing that bit of work (after she’d insisted to treat her mentor as such, of course).

Katie pulled the human girl close to her and took a seat on one of the many tables that littered the place. Crysta cringed at the choice of table and cleared her throat to speak, “That table is beneath your stature. The top werewolves get to sit there,” the girl pointed off to a raised, secured section. The walls in that part of the den were coloured a dark chocolate and the tables well varnished.

Luxurious sofas were arranged around a long expensive table with one at the very end of it covered in small gems carefully placed in intricate designs. “That’s a bit overkill, don’t you think?” Katie asked.

“Yeah, it is, but the alphas and I wouldn’t accept anything lower,” Crysta boasted and led them to what Katie had decided to dub the ‘VIP section.’

Seated in some of the sofas were Bree and Ginger. Ginger sipped a drink in a wine glass, one that Katie didn’t want to know about while Bree checked her nails and checked her face in the mirror to pass the time. Three other people sat in the vicinity, males to be precise and their eyes shone a deep red, “The new princess finally showed up,” one of the men spoke up. He lay across the sofa with a newspaper on his chest while he rested.

“Yeah, she’d only gotten herself momentarily lost. Can you show some respect, Wyatt?” Crysta scowled at the boy.

“Relax, Crysta. This is a place for relaxation. There will be no need to be formal. I’m sure the princess agrees,” Wyatt spoke up, turning to face the princess, “She’s even more beautiful up close...”

“You might want to keep the compliments to yourself,” Cole interjected, his eyes flashing blue.

“Ignore him, your Highness. He forgets his manners,” another boy spoke, puffing a ring of smoke from the cigar none of them had noticed he was holding. Katie wanted to ask which of the two was forgetting their manners, but decided against it, “Don’t worry. This smoke is not dangerous to anyone. Just the highest quality you’ll ever find.”

.....

He was situated furthest from the rest of them, but that had nothing to do with the smoke being harmless, “You’re addicted to it and you dare to call it harmless,” Katie replied, speaking for the first time since they’d arrived.

“Oh, so she speaks,” another spoke up, “Beautiful voice too... The goddess doesn’t take half measures when making the royal’s now, does she?”

“You’re walking on thin ice Derrick. Wasn’t it a few days ago that you declared Crysta to be the prettiest werewolf in Sirius,” Wyatt spoke lazily, keeping a crazy grin. Katie could tell they were in their element. In the Den, these werewolves were free to be whatever they wanted, even if that meant they were going to turn out to be lazy couch potatoes.

“I know what I said, Wyatt. Liam agreed with me and the vote was amongst the three of us. The coward in you made you back out, but enough of that. I’m more interested in who gets to sit in the king’s chair. Ever since Drake and Lina backed out of the Den, that seat has been vacant. Princess Katie or Prince Cole... this is a toughie now, isn’t it?” the boy was clearly enjoying his instigations.

“Why doesn’t Lina sit there anymore?” Katie asked, pulling off her absentminded act and taking a seat right next to the one they tried to get her into a fight for.

“I don’t know whether to call that graceful or stupid. It doesn’t matter to me who sits there anyway. On the matter of Lina, we don’t quite speak of her. That’s a question you will have to ask either her or Crysta,” Wyatt replied, returning his eyes to the newspapers, “Hmm, the hunters stopped releasing the good information that we always want to hear.”

Sandra took a seat next to Katie and Cole, along with the two alphas, took seats on the other side of them. The royal chair was left vacant despite there being two royals in the room at the moment. None of them noticed the twitch in Crysta’s expression. She’d expected one of them to take the position, but it seemed they were still lacking of a leader.

Katie turned her eyes to Crysta. She hadn’t known the two had a history. They were divided by an age gap of two years and wouldn’t have had that much of a chance to interact. She’d noticed the odd looks they gave each other every time they met, but beyond that, she was stumbling in the dark, “I would rather have that runt say everything herself. If I was to tell the story, she would only look worse than she already does...” Crysta shrugged and took a seat in between Bree and Ginger.

As if on cue, the food arrived. Honour came carrying two plates of food and was followed by a large number of the kitchen staff. They were all served in silence and they waited for the kitchen staff to take their leave. Right when Honour was about to leave, Crysta asked, “Where did the runt go today?”

“I am not sure. Would you stop calling her that? You know it is a show of disrespect to the royal family,” Honour returned. Her cheeks flushed red as she tried to stand up for her friend. However, she was trembling, having stepped into something that she couldn’t win even in a hundred years. Crysta was surprised by the girl’s boldness and looked up from her food to observe her foe.

After a quick scan that made Honour feel like digging a hole and escaping, “How about you tell that runt to say what you’ve said straight to my face. Maybe then I’d consider letting it go. She knows what awaits her if she does that. Assuming she even gets the guts to say it.”

Honour turned to walk out of the room, her fists clenched in frustration. There was nothing she could do against the beta’s daughter. She knew her limits and was only happy that Crysta hadn’t taken it upon herself to beat her for standing up against her. It’s just how it worked, the weak didn’t have much say in anything that happened and Honour knew this.

Katie hadn’t seen her sister in the cafeteria or the Den and this got her worried. Had something happened between her and Crysta that it got her out of the Den? Questions swarmed her mind, but there were no answers to the questions. “Prince Cole, how is Lycaon?” Liam asked, smashing the cigar he was halfdone with into the ashtray and walking up to the table.

“It’s fine. Have you been there?” Cole replied.

“Hmm, I think I travelled to Lycaon two years ago for the Royal Games. I enjoyed those very much,” the boy continued. Katie had almost tuned out the wolves to focus on her food when Wyatt called her out.

“So we all know the princess is a hunter, but we don’t know what gifts she possesses. I certainly enjoyed watching her almost...”

“Watch your tongue, Wyatt,” Crysta snapped at the alpha.

“I do not have such an obligation, dear Crysta. That probably would have worked if I was an omega like Honour,” he announced, continuing with his conversation, “Watching the strongest warrior among the females get a look of fear was more satisfying than I’d like to admit...”

“And yet you just admitted it,” Derrick intervened, “Can you go one hour without putting someone down?”

“Well, I only state the truth. I’m not the one who decided to make that truth interesting or degrading,” the boy chuckled. Katie rubbed her temples, hoping Wyatt would forget all about her amidst their bickering.

“Never mind... I’m curious as well. What power does our princess possess? We already know what the prince can do, now we want to know what the princess can do,” Derrick asked.

‘Is there something else that Cole can do and you have no idea about?’ Ashley asked the girl.

‘I don’t know,’ Katie replied, “Well, I have both Prometheus gifts and no, I will not answer questions.”

“No one asked a... wait, two gifts, that’s impossible,” Liam was the one to react this time, “Something like that being true would disobey so many laws of the world. Stop messing around, your Highness.”

“I’m only wondering what laws my existence would break,” she said, stuffing her mouth with more food. She had no intention of answering any questions, like she’d just said. The alphas realised she was serious about that when she stopped paying them any attention.

.............

The rest of the meal continued with the three alphas and Crysta talked of everything and nothing they could think about. Katie was soon able to find out that these were only the sons of the three alphas, except for the beta alphas, that lived in the capital. “Are you okay?” Cole’s voice broke her out of her thoughts as they walked on to the last lesson of the day. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck, the shock going through her like it usually did when came close to the place he was supposed to mark.

Sighing, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just wondering what happened with Lina.”

“I’m sure the girl will tell you as soon as she gets the chance to...” he answered her. Just then, something started to vibrate in his pocket. The prince pulled his phone from his pocket and found the caller to be ‘Her Majesty’ as he’d saved her... His face grew an expression that Katie had trouble reading. From what she could remember, Cole’s mother was dead. Why then was...

“I need to take this...” with that, Katie was walking to class without her mate. ‘Just imagine all those hours without his scent...’ Ashley groaned. Katie rolled her eyes at the wolf’s antics and decided against commenting...