Chapter 230

230 Chapter Two Hundred Thirty

Lina sat with her friend finally starting to look better even beneath the blue hue that covered her. The air around them was calm and yet there was a deep feeling in the royal’s stomach as though there was everything wrong with the forest at the moment. “You must be seeing beauty all around you,” her friend’s voice broke through the silence.

“Well, obviously, I’m in a field completely filled with moon lotuses glowing under the moonlight... With a friend that glows just as beautifully as they do,” the royal replied.

“Your compliments make my skin crawl just as much as the glow of my skin,” Honour replied before getting up from her friend’s lap. For some odd reason, Lina wasn’t offended by her friend’s words which only served to make her more suspicious.

“Well, what about you? You’ve always wanted to see them. Aren’t they...”

“They are more beautiful than I could have ever imagined, however, they are not the ones I see. I see a battle raging on and on in the forest. The pack... everyone is in trouble. It’s like I did nothing at the beach,” the girl replied, rubbing her temples as though in pain.

“What do you mean, Honour? You said earlier that the vines at the beach were your doing. I didn’t think you were serious...” the look the girl gave her confirmed everything she’d been trying to deny. The way the flowers here responded to her. The way plants had always responded to her. The opening when they’d come... It was undoubtedly an ability she’d never seen coming, “But I’ve never heard of a werewolf that could control plants. There have been odd werewolves over the years in an attempt to put an end to the rogue king’s reign, but you would be the first to bear the power over nature.”

“I don’t think that’s all it is. I can’t explain it, but I can see everything in the forest at once and it’s giving me one hell of a headache. I know using my power to help them would only tear me to pieces. I don’t know what to do. The rogues just keep on coming and I don’t know what to do,” the girl lamented.

Lina walked up to her friend and held her hand in hers, bringing her to open her eyes. Her mind searched for an answer to their problem... There was only one she could come up with, but she wasn’t sure if something like that could help, “Can you see my sister?”

Honour blanched for a moment losing track of the battlefield as she stared back at her friend. It was a bizarre question... she’d been looking at the entire battlefield and not seen the hunter at all. It was as though she’d abandoned her kind at the last moment, “Of course, I have not seen your sister... She hasn’t set foot from the hotel since the rogues decided to tear through the pack.”

.....

“Then where is she?” Lina asked her. Sensing the girl’s hesitation, “Please, can you see her? It might be important.”

Honour gave her resistance and searched for the girl, focusing her powers on the one place she was sure the hunter was... Getting a clear view of the hotel from the sky from what she was sure was an eagle, she saw the hunter. Katie stood at the top of the hotel with an arrow nocked into her bow, focused on the forest, however, she wasn’t firing. It was as though she was waiting for something.

“She’s just standing at the top of the hotel with her bow ready. How’s that supposed to help?” Honour reported.

Lina’s eyes glowed with excitement... “It all makes sense now... Katie didn’t come because she had to protect the hotel, but she didn’t leave us completely unprotected either... She just needs a little help.”

“What are you talking about, Lina?” Honour was confused now. She felt the presence of something more within her friend’s eyes. It wasn’t the normal flash of blue she was used to when a werewolf was about to shift. She ignored the feeling as she found no way to explain it to her friend.

“I have been wondering how Katie does it, but I have a feeling she could help you put an end to this war without much effort from you. Do you remember when we got attacked by the rogues the first time we came here?” Lina tried before continuing her explanation.

From Katie’s vantage point, she felt her time grow ever closer... ‘My muscles were starting to get stiff...’ she told herself as she readied her bow.

.........

Cole chased down every rogue he could at the fastest that he could manage, taking note of the ones that got away from him and relaying their positions to his beta alphas. Biting down on the neck of the fourth unfortunate rogue that he’d caught up to. ‘Damn, they just keep coming.’ His voice roared across the mind link of the protectors.

‘Yeah, although I had never thought they would be this easy to put down,’ a feminine voice replied. Crysta seemed to be having more fun taking out her anger on the rogues than most.

Right when Cole was about to approach another rogue, a pair of alphas came crashing through, throwing the rogue off his path, which was directed at a civilian wolf that was running away from him. Cole nearly dismissed the two, but curiosity got the better of him. “This one is mine, Wyatt... Why won’t you focus on another rogue?” it was an odd argument.

“Oh, come on, Liam. You know you get ahead of yourself when you start to feel powerful and let your guard down,” Wyatt replied, as the two of them circled the poor rogue.

Liam got angry at the argument and lashed out at the wolf. The other alpha stopped pacing and watched as his friend mercilessly pinned the wolf and bit down on its throat against all its resistance. In the end, it didn’t matter if a wolf was trained. A stronger well-trained wolf would put it down against all its resistances and snuff out their life. This was why alphas were never crossed by those beneath them.

“As you can see, Wyatt, I am perfectly fine. I don’t need your help with rogues as weak as these,” Liam barked at him before running off away from him. The alpha looked on in the direction the other alpha ran off in and turned in the opposite direction in an attempt to leave his friend be. However, he couldn’t bring himself to let him go...

‘No, I’ve known you my whole life, Liam... I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you got killed just because you were blinded by your rage towards me,’ the alpha thought to himself before turning around to follow the path his friend had taken.

Cole shook off the haze that came with watching the two quarrelling wolves and focused his mind on saving the pack. Feeling for signs of distress through the mind link, he was able to find another group of wolves that was in fear of being killed. These were the groups they prioritized above everything else to minimize the casualties.

The royal rushed through the forest, making sure to direct any that he found in a general direction they were meant to be going. The message was clear through the mind link, however, the distress didn’t help them. Talking to them physically helped them clear their minds and got them moving in the right direction. The battle wasn’t looking too good for any of them. On Cole’s way to the group of wolves, Cole witnessed Crysta bringing down more wolves than Cole could have thought her capable of. She was vicious when she chose to be.

Cole rushed through the woods just in time to find the wolves that were feeling the most distressed in this situation... Shouting at the top of her voice was... Bree, one of Crysta’s friends. The two girls had shifted back into their human forms forgetting they didn’t shift back with their clothes. Either that was the case or this was a strategy they’d come up with at some point during their run from the rogue that was currently before them.

Cole was about to intervene when something stopped him. Right before his eyes, the rogue began to bite and shake himself all over. Something was totally wrong. It wasn’t the first time he was seeing it this night, however, each time he saw it happen, he froze at the sight. The oddities happening in the night were also what was keeping him from growing a massive body count. “Hey Cole, I was looking for you.”

A voice snapped the royal back to reality... Sandra was walking up to him with a blade in hand. She stopped and took notice of the rogue rolling around in pain before them and ignored it, turning to the wolf before her. “Have you seen Katie?”

“No, I haven’t. She hasn’t come to the forest yet,” he responded before turning to the two naked girls, “The two of you should shift right now... The hotel is that way.” He signalled, pointing the girls in the right direction with a nod of his head.

The two girls didn’t need to be told twice, stepping as far away from the rogue as they could, they fled the scene, leaving the two with the rogue. Sandra walked up to the rogue and stabbed into its throat expertly severing a crucial artery. The beast struggled for a short while before going completely still. “Do you need a ride?”

“No, I think I can manage,” Sandra replied. The two of them were running back, having confirmed that there was no more distress coming through the mind link, “Is it over?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. For as long as communications are down, the rogues are going to keep coming here with confidence that there will not be any backup. They can keep sending more and more numbers and wear us out,” Cole responded. We need to get those that cannot fight to the hotel and protect them while we figure out a way to bring us out of this.

The two of them began the run back to the hotel. Cole was surprised the girl could keep up without complaining. Her pattern of running reminded him of every hunter he’d ever run beside in his life. She was not the same person he’d known. Just before he could ask her, loud howls filled the air notifying them of the increasing number of rogues that were attacking...

“Just how many of them are there. They are supposed to be in Lycaon, so what are they doing here?” Sandra cursed into the night sky.