Chapter 183

183 Chapter One Hundred Eighty Three

Katie took a seat beside her mate giving him her undivided attention as he explained his situation. It was a story she was bound to find more than revealing. Cole sighed, finally choosing to start it all from the very beginning. “Healing my father for the first time made us realise that I couldn’t heal him completely. Something that fatal could only kill me if I was to use that power to heal it. The trade-off is usually that painful.

So, I came to the decision that I would help him out every time it got worse. The King didn’t like this. After all, he is the king. He’s meant to be the strong one in the family and here he was depending on his son. A few days after my birthday, he caught wind of some information that he wouldn’t reveal to me. He asked that, ‘for my security, that I go study at the safest school in the world.

I didn’t know what he meant at the moment. That was until I found you there and got very interested. Your flashy birthday confirmed his intentions. However, he cannot go long without requiring healing. And soon enough he loses the ability to walk or do pretty much anything.”

“Those phone calls you’ve been having...”

“Some from his attendants as well as my stepmother, while others were from his beta alphas on matters that required my approval,” he replied.

“I’m sorry about your father,” Katie sympathised.

“It’s alright. He’s only been like that for a year,” Cole replied, with a deep sigh.

“Could that also be the reason why the rogues have been gathering in Lycaon?” Katie wondered, dropping onto the bed with her head in thought.

“You never seemed to be one for detective work,” Cole chuckled.

.....

“I’ll have you know that I, more than most, do my share of detective work in this line of work,” Katie rose to her defence.

“What do you have for me then, miss detective?” Cole smiled, pulling the girl into an embrace to which she did not object and simply cosied into.

“We haven’t heard of someone from the royal family that fits the rogue king’s description that got me thinking for quite some time. It’s only still a theory. You once said there was a way to transfer the power of a royal in case their lineage was about to meet an end,” Katie suggested.

“One of the Kings in the past came up with a way to do that, but I didn’t think it was ever done. That’s why it was never thought that the rogue King could be a royal, to begin with,” Cole replied.

“Yeah, but couldn’t any of the royal’s relatives do that very same thing and create a new bloodline that carries the power of the royals?” Katie asked.

“How long were you thinking to cook up something as diabolical as that?” Cole was bewildered by the reality of this possibility, “It would be possible, but the goddess’ blessing remains in the two original bloodlines. The king who devised that technique made it to save one bloodline in case it was about to meet its...”

“In case one bloodline was about to meet its end,” Katie finished his statement for him.

“It’s a good thing my bloodline is yet to end then,” the prince replied, rubbing his hand tenderly across the girl’s neck. “On another note, someone had more than a simple security check.”

Katie’s eyes widened at the accusation, “I did no such thing. I take the security of my charges very seriously. I would never do anything until the security check was over...”

“Oh, so it was afterwards...”

“One of the hunters felt like going for a run. I think she was just testing me though. She ate my dust, hehe,” Katie added mischief into her voice.

“You’re enjoying yourself a little too much. Anyway, Sandra, who seems to be your entire life, brought your things in, including that flashy new werewolf murdering device that you got from your parents,” Cole mentioned, shuddering at the bow he’d seen.

“Oh yeah, that one. I’ll have to keep it real well. If I ever hope to become as good as one of those four. They are scary,” Katie replied.

“Oh yeah, how do you even keep firing that thing. Just pulling that string took far too much energy,” Cole commented.

“You tried it out?” Katie’s mind was running ridiculous images of Cole trying to imitate a might bowman with the red fiery bow. The mischievous Ashley wasted no time in sending the images to Cole and chuckling to the back of Katie’s mind. Cole laughed out at the images that bombarded his mind. “You don’t have to laugh. If I only I could spank Ashley...”

“Well, if you must know, that’s not so far from what I was trying to achieve. The string proved too impossible to deal with though,” this got Katie laughing. ‘Who knew Cole could goof off?’

...........

At the time the hunter was talking to Lina’s friend, the girl had only been out in search of the lavatories, the most important facility to any human or werewolf. This was a simple enough task. The girl was soon through with what took her there only to find a party of three outside the exit. Wyatt had his attention on his nails, the only other part of this world that seemed to matter to him other than his smoke.

“Oh, she came out. I thought for sure we’d have to call the fire department,” Liam remarked, getting Wyatt’s attention. Their third company was Crysta.

“Liam, you know tomorrow is the day when you get to have your fight with Lina. When you said you had a business that needed attending to, this was not what you meant,” Crysta barked at the alpha.

'

“You will learn to respect one of these days, dear pack warrior. I know what happens tomorrow. I only came here with a proposal. I want to see what my opponent is made of and when I say that I don’t mean I want to fight with her,” Liam replied.

“I’m just wondering when the runt got the respect to be called by her name. It makes me want to gag,” Wyatt replied, “However, I will abide by Liam’s request and play nice for the evening.”

“What are you two talking about?” Crysta asked them. Lina wanted to sneak past the three, but she knew their attention was completely trained on her. She knew not of their intentions, but she wanted nothing to do with it.

“Oh, it’s not something that serious. We still have a few hours before sundown. The day is still young and yet the teachers feel this trip should begin tomorrow. I was thinking of a front-row seat to the wild. We’ve always been allowed to run free in the woods back at the palace, but those are nothing like what’s out there. The four of us, I was thinking... A run through the woods. For old times’ sake...”

Lina’s senses flared up. The temptation of rushing through the wild was tempting more than anything. She’d run before but only imagined running in the wild. The animals that ran through the woods, the sound of nature and the different smells she wanted to experience. Her wolf side felt it too, the need to taste that kind of freedom. “There... The princess gets it.” Lina hadn’t said anything, but her face had said everything that they needed to know. She wanted to deny it. Crysta’s face told her to deny it, but her mind got muddled by her desires.

“If it’s not for a long time...”

“Nothing more needs to be said. It’s settled,” Liam cut her off boisterously, “Come on, Crysta. You can’t tell me you don’t feel it. The primal need to run through the woods. To be one with nature...”

Crysta wasn’t one to fall prey to his charms, however, there was something else at stake now. Liam had played his cards right and gone for the princess first. Crysta wasn’t done making amends with her just yet and knew her words meant nothing if she tried to spur her away from a chance at ‘freedom.’ The only other option was, “We better be back before sundown. Any later and I’ll have your head.”

“Oh, big words for the delta,” Wyatt said in a singalong voice, “If you would only follow us, ladies.”

“How are we even going to get out of the hotel?” Crysta asked.

“Well, that’s easy enough. Straight through the main entrance,” Liam walked on with all the confidence in the world.

“And who exactly would be letting you out at that time?” a new voice intervened. Trevor stood leaning against the gates of the hotel, holding his notepad.

“We’ll be letting ourselves out. It’s not against the rules now, is it? It’s still daytime,” Wyatt began. The air filled with a dangerous silence as they watched the two stare themselves down. It had been a while since wolves went against hunters. The title of a head hunter was not awarded by mistake and the wolves all knew that. ‘What are the odds we’d run into him right before getting out?’ suddenly freedom felt like the furthest thing from reach for Lina which only made it more enticing to reach.