Chapter 182

182 Chapter One Hundred Eighty Two

Katie entered the gate and found a lonesome bored-looking Trevor. The students were either milling about the hotel or stuck in their rooms on their cell phones. The real fun part of the trip was to start the next day. Before then, the students were enjoying their first school freedom where they didn’t have to worry about their studies. Katie knew she was late... In fact, the butterflies in her stomach filled her with guilt for having veered off general procedure.

The girl shook all signs of her guilt from her countenance and approached Trevor, filling her voice and composure with all the confidence and superiority she could muster. She wouldn’t need to do all this if she hadn’t gotten distracted. Her only hope now was that the boy didn’t see through her fa?ade. “Trevor...”

“Sirius... You took an awfully long time making a sweep of the area. One might say you were trying to dodge the assembly,” the boy replied.

“I happened to run into one of the hunters that guard the tourists. In that case, they will also be helping in protecting the students. That conversation might have taken me longer than I thought it would,” Katie explained, “Run me through what the assembly was all about.”

Trevor narrowed his eyes at the girl who gave him a genuine innocent smile, “The teachers gave everyone a room key. Well, in pairs. Obviously, everyone is to be paired with someone of the same gender, but for some reason, you and Runt Cole get to have the same room all to yourselves,” the boy responded in a bored tone.

“You sound jealous, Trevor,” Katie smirked at the boy.

Trevor scoffed at her insinuation, “Oh please. Just try to keep it down in there. The rooms are not soundproofed. Your room number is fifty-eight.” With that, he walked away, having ticked the girl off his list. Katie was tongue-tied for what felt like minutes even though it was only seconded... Trying her best to ignore what the boy had said, she walked up to the first entrance into the nearest flat she could find and started reading through the room numbers.

Her ears perked up, taking note of the different things the students were gossiping about. Some of them had come with games to play through their first night at the hotel. Others had come with movies ranging from romantic movies to action series and anything else that could entertain a teenager. Some of them merely wanted to gossip about boys and even had sleepovers in their rooms. The students were full of all sorts of energy to do all sorts of things that night. One room caught Katie’s ear though. She looked up at the room number. ’36’

The room wasn’t empty, but no sound came from it either. She was curious to know what was going on with whoever was in that room. This hunter wasn’t one to pry into matters that weren’t her own but call it whatever one might want to call it, she wanted to know who was in that room. And just like that, the girl barged into the room without asking for anyone’s permission. She was stunned immediately as her eyes met the most floral room she could have ever imagined.

.....

The room had been organised and plants placed in the right places to give it the feel of nature. Not to mention scented for added effect. The air condition had been set to the perfect setting that it felt like a cold breeze all the time within the room. Katie was impressed by this level of organisation. The person inside the room, however, lay on her bed with a book in her hands and headphones in her ears, locked in a world outside reality.

Honour looked at peace and within her element in that room. The faint scent of Katie’s sister still hung about the room, but Katie was sure she was meant to be there. After a moment of silence, Honour lifted her gaze from her book and spotted the royal. Her eyes widened in shock and she removed her headphones as fast as she could, “I’m sorry I couldn’t hear you over the sound of the...”

Katie raised her hand to stop her from rambling, “I hadn’t said anything yet, so you can put those worries aside.”

The girl seemed to relax at that, “You startled me. My mother keeps saying I tend to space out a lot and many times miss what happens around me. I hoped it wasn’t the same thing that was happening just now.”

“It’s not... Is this your room together with Lina’s?” Katie asked her.

“Yes, it is. She’s busy preparing for her fight with Liam. She can barely notice me when she gets all worked up. She’s always been like that though. I don’t know if I would call it a good thing, but I do hope she learns soon enough what’s worth fighting for in this world,” Honour sighed.

“You’re wiser than I gave you credit for...” Katie laughed.

'

“Why does that sound like a major insult?” Honour asked her.

“Oh, it was a compliment. I’m glad Lina has a friend like you. She’ll definitely need one when she falls,” Katie replied, with a hint of sadness.

“Do you think Liam will defeat her?”

“Whether he defeats her or not is not the issue. Lina has the chance to choose a path she’ll regret whether she loses or wins. There is a lot that influence can do to a person... as well as defeat,” Katie had thought through this entire situation Sandra had gotten the girl into. While she knew why her friend had done it, she didn’t like the possibilities of what might come of it.

Liam was someone who despised having to train typically because he was an alpha and felt that his inborn power was more than enough for him to be considered superior to those that did have blue or red eyes. Lina’s lack of physical strength only worked to anger him and treat her like an abomination in contrast to all alphas and royals. Katie hoped her sister could learn what she needed to learn in time.

“You could have told your sister what you’re thinking so that she might gain more confidence in this fight and also know the right way to bring Liam down,” Honour pointed out.

“I could... But I’m afraid she wouldn’t learn anything that way. And so, I chose to put myself out of this one. Maybe when she finds that I’m not actively cheering her on, she’ll realise it’s not something I approve of and find that it’s useless. Those are all just my speculations of the brilliant ways this could all turn out. It’s not what I think she might do in the long run. Which is what makes you so important. You stay by her side like I’m sure you always have,” Katie explained.

“Yes, I have always stayed by her side. I just never thought you of all people would let her be at a time when she needed you,” Honour replied. ‘Is that what she picked out of all that?’ Katie thought as her chest felt tighter with guilt.

‘Well, you did speak in riddles. You were bound to get one of those as her answer,’ Ashley pitched in.

Katie was at a loss for words and didn’t know what else to tell the girl. Awkward silence took over the room and Honour wanted nothing more than to break free of it, “Don’t worry, I’ll stand by Lina when she faces Liam. And I will tell her what you think about all this. Maybe then she too will understand what disapproval from an elder sister feels like.”

“You’ll watch your tongue when you tell her of my reasons for keeping out of the fight between Liam and her. Is that clear?” Katie asked the girl with a smile that forcefully reached her eyes.

The awkward smile told the girl all she needed to know about what the girl was trying to tell her, “Or you could just show up at least. Your sister has been training hard for the chance to prove her worth in the pack. I would think you know a thing or two about fitting in,” the hunter was taken aback by the response. Without further discussion on the matter, she turned around and reached for the door handle, the girl called back, “Katie, you do care for your sister, don’t you?”

The question got Katie’s heart racing faster than she thought it would have. Honour was the one person she knew to be closer to Lina than anyone else. It was why she asked her for help in bringing her to the Den in the first place. She did care for her little sister, but the question she was being asked only meant she hadn’t been acting like it and that part she hadn’t intended, “Yes, I do care for her.”

The girl made her way for the room she’d been directed to, paying no mind to any other room numbers. Without knocking or asking, she barged into the room, a habit she was meant to break but hadn’t gotten around to doing so just yet.

Cole was seated at a desk with his hand holding a device to his ear. He turned around, startled by the sudden intrusion only to relax when he found that it was Katie. “I’ll call you later,” he said before turning off the phone. “Are you okay?”

Katie closed the door behind her and sighed. This room was different and not as brightly coloured as the one she’d just visited. The colour theme in this room was navy blue, a colour that was more of her style as a hunter. “I’m fine. Who were you talking to?”

“One of my father’s beta alphas back home. There is a matter he said a royal had to make the final decision to before anything was decided upon, so I was discussing it with him,” he explained.

“Oh, anything else you’re hearing from home that I might find interesting,” Katie asked.

“Other than the increasing number of rogues in the forests bordering the capital, nothing to be reported,” he replied.

“You know that we are linked right. I know when you are hiding something. Now hurry up and tell me,” the girl answered, dropping onto the bed so that she might hear him out.

Cole looked away from her before saying the one statement he never thought he’d have to say at such an early stage in his life, “My father is dying...”