Chapter 174

174 Chapter One Hundred Seventy Four

The classes that were meant to go on the trip all met in the large parking lot at the back of the main school building. Chaotic noises came from all the students as many of them had different things to talk about. Excitement was in the air filling most of them. Trevor held up a roll call sheet, reading out the names of the different students that were supposed to be present along with the junior hunters that had been allowed to go along with them.

Katie arrived only moments before her name was called out with her gang of latecomers. The part of her group that had already been called out made sure to clear with him. It was a habit she wasn’t looking to break and no one was willing to stand up to her on the matter either. It wasn’t like she was looking for a straight-up student report at the end of the school year.

“They are... fewer than I thought they’d be,” Katie noted. In her mind, the group that was going to have this trip was a swarm of troublemakers that was going to turn the lives of the junior hunters into hell on earth. Alas, the total headcount was right under one hundred and fifty which Katie considered a considerable number of students. “Shouldn’t be that much trouble.”

“That’s what they all say before the students decide to go wild in the woods. Mainly the werewolves in the group, with all of them thinking they are superior to the creatures out there,” Cole responded. Katie had almost forgotten he’d been a werewolf in his earlier school days.

“Are you speaking of yourself?” she asked him.

“No, just the many students I had to go out to look for when they wandered a little beyond pack territory. They can be unruly sometimes. Thankfully, the pack link allows the other wolves to be able to communicate with them and get to know their location. It’s even easier with mates,” he mentioned.

“You don’t say...” Katie dragged off into another one of her thoughts. Pinning an idea, she shook her head free of the thought and jogged up to the head hunter standing on a table taking note of the last of the students. “Hey, Trevor...”

“When did those two become so chummy?” Sandra grumbled when she noticed the way Trevor had stopped picking on Katie. In fact, one could say they had become friends, “One conversation. Is that all it took for him to have her wrapped around his finger?”

“I wouldn’t think the Luna would let anyone control her. It’s just not a part of her nature. I would think there is some sort of mutual understanding between the two of them,” Jason replied, putting his hand around the junior hunter, “Cheer up, Sandra. Didn’t you hear the place Prince Sean chose for us to visit?”

.....

“No, I didn’t. I missed that part of breakfast,” she replied.

“Well, it’s a rare occurrence and one that you will enjoy very much. We are going to one of the two only game reserves in the entire world. The Sirius wildlife game reserve... One of the only places that were put aside to protect wildlife,” Jason said with pride filled in his voice.

“I haven’t heard of such a thing. Why would a reserve be needed to protect wildlife? Isn’t wildlife all it is? Protecting seems like a waste of resources. It would be like tending to wild animals,” the girl replied, her mind rushing through the many injustices this arose in her mind.

Jason thought through this for a bit before answering, “As you just said, you have never heard of such a thing. Today, you will get to see one. I hope to be impressed. I went to the one in the Lycaon empire. It was nothing short of breath-taking. The perks of being one of the prince’s right-hand men,” he puffed out his chest in pride.

'

“What was that you just said?” Sandra asked. Her ears had unnervingly picked up something through his whole explanation that was beside his point.

“The part about having gone to the reserve in...”

“No, after that...”

“The one where it was breath-taking or the part where I hope to be impressed,” Sandra pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Try the phrase that got you so proud of yourself,” she said quietly.

“Oh, the part where... Oh, you’ve never heard me say that have you?” he asked.

“No, I’ve never. I thought you and Cole were simply best friends,” Sandra sounded sad as she spoke to him.

“Well, yeah, we are best friends. And who better to become his beta alpha than his two best friends,” Jason replied, puzzled at the sudden change of mood, “Is there something wrong?”

“I read once that a beta alpha is bound by his alpha’s command,” she replied.

“Oh yeah, that’s true, but that hasn’t happened yet?” he replied, a smile gracing his face.

“Why would you say that?” she almost reminded him of the numerous times Cole had compelled him without him even noticing. Now that she thought about it, she realised Cole hadn’t realised what he was doing either. All his requests were never meant to be orders and yet...

“Because the king of Lycaon has not yet been changed. It’s only after Cole becomes king that we’ll take our place as his Beta alphas,” he replied. A multitude of arguments lined up in the observant junior hunter’s mind, but she chose to hold her tongue just this once. Her questions didn’t seem to have a happy conclusion and that worried her even more than what was happening to Jason and Caden.

“Are you kidding me?” Katie’s voice reached their ears and caught their attention. Trevor had come down from the table and rubbed his temples as he spoke to the agitated royal.

They all came to meet them to figure out what the fuss was all about, “What is it, Katie? Am I to put a hole in the hunter’s gut?” Cole began, smirking at the boy.

“You don’t scare me, runt,” Trevor returned, keeping his cool as well against the royal. Cole was impressed by the boy’s composure even when he flashed his eyes at him.

“Well, turns out we won’t be receiving help from the Hunter’s Agency. They say the hunters that protect the reserve will be more than enough help in keeping the students safe. And my presence seems to be an added advantage,” Katie explained.

“Well, what about Frank? Can’t you ask him to come?” Caden asked.

“Well, the last part was his words. My hands are tied in this case. Can we just get the students loaded up? I won’t let this small detail ruin my first visit to a preserve. One that was proudly named after me, no less,” Katie chirped up.

Cole reached out to point to tell the girl that she’d gotten that small detail wrong, but she proudly sauntered away, “I think she’s enjoying this a little too much,” he concluded with a nervous laugh.

“She’d better. It’s almost impossible to get the chance to visit the reserve without hiring hunters. In other words, she’s been hired to guard this group of students. I don’t know what kind of skill one requires to be trusted with this many students,” Trevor responded before turning to leave.

“Make sure you follow her orders if she ever gives you any,” Cole warned.

“Yeah, whatever,” the boy replied, without another glance. Another group of students arrived with a little bit more luggage than was required and he went up to them to make sure they were on the list. Once he was sure that everyone was around, he informed the teachers that were going with them and took his place at the table once more to make one more announcement. ‘It was time to load up the bus and get going.

Katie, on the other hand, had fished something out of her pocket to dial a number that she’d not spoken to in a while. She cursed herself for having waited this long to call them, but in the end, she had to talk to them. It was far too important for her to hold off. She waited patiently as the call went through. The momentary memory of her sister telling her of the way their father handled all the phone bills regardless of how far they were willing to communicate popped into her mind before the other side of the call picked up, “Hello... Can I know who I’m speaking to?” tears pricked the girl’s eyes. She hadn’t heard the voice of the woman who’d raised her for so long she’d not known how much she missed her.

“Hi, it’s Katie...”