Chapter 232

232 Chapter Two Hundred Thirty Two

Back on the balcony, the female hunter let her bow clatter to the ground, gritting her teeth at the pain that stung her fingers. Blood dripped from them from the number of times she’d drawn back her bowstring and released it. If it hadn’t been for the fast healing of her body, she wouldn’t have been able to shoot a quarter as many arrows as she’d achieved that night...

“You should have worn some protecting gloves before doing something like that...”

“I’m fine, Gallant. It’s only a scratch. It should heal up in no time,” Katie cut the man off before he could continue stating the obvious.

“Is it over?” the man asked her.

“No, it’s not... There is still one more rogue. He’s different from the rest and he’s not attacking. It’s as though he wants us to go to him,” she said, pointing in the enemy’s direction.

“Well, that could be the case considering you’re pointing in the direction of the cell tower. If we go there, we will be facing against a foe that’s been trusted to keep this place isolated,” Gallant spoke up, “I don’t understand their motives though. I never thought the rogues to be this organized in their methods of attack. Staying put for an entire day waiting for the right time to strike doesn’t seem like the rogue kind of strategy to me.”

“Well, to be perfectly honest, there has always been a strategy. Making them attack mindlessly is just a way to make us lower our guard and think they don’t have a strategy behind all their actions. After everything I’ve seen, I know the rogue king always has some sort of wicked plan in play. If he had his way, he would have killed Cole and me a very long time ago,” the girl said.

“How are you a hunter?”

“A question that I am getting tired of answering...” Katie replied before giving the man a short rundown of how she got to become a hunter, “Now would you be so kind as to relay the same story to the rest of the hunters here. I really don’t want to have to go through it all over again.”

.....

Just then, the thrumming sound of running wolves reached the girl’s ears. She stayed at the top of the hotel and watched all of them burst through the tree line... Many of them were carried atop their friends as they were too injured to run. Others were tired and collapsed almost immediately. Katie’s eyes scanned through the crowd, making a roll call of her own.

“I see the mutts have returned,” a voice sounded behind her before a gasp came along with it, “Your shoulder...”

“I know about my shoulder. Can you get your junior hunters down there as soon as possible and get to treating the injured already?” she asked Trevor.

“Well yeah... I can do that. However...” a blanket of warmth wrapped around the girl, startling her from her thoughts. Atop her shoulders sat a woollen jacket obscuring the sight the junior hunter was trying to hide. Either that or he was merely being a gentleman and covering up the girl. None of it mattered as Katie didn’t get the chance to thank him. He was gone before she could offer him her gratitude.

Sighing, the girl leapt from the roof and gracefully landed on her feet with barely a sound before the group before her. Honour and a group of females who knew a lot about first aid had the rest of those that could move running about looking for medical supplies. Looking through the wolves lying on the ground, Katie took in the sight. Some had a few scratches and bite marks while others were in worse situations with fractured bones and wounds that were too deep for comfort.

Priorities had been set to those that had been injured most severely first in an attempt to avoid the loss of any life. Guilt ripped through the girl’s heart as she questioned her method of taking action that night, “I guess you took my advice after all.” An alluring voice broke her out of her thoughts.

Katie turned to face the royal... He held a first aid box in one hand and had his focus on a group behind her. The hunter let the man past her so he could get the equipment to a junior hunter that had only just arrived and was tending to those that he could. “What was the purpose of you staying behind?” another voice came to her.

Katie turned around coming face to face with Alice and Sandra. Sandra was dressed in the jacket Katie had asked Alice to deliver to her. The worst part was the fact that the girl couldn’t come up with a reason why she stayed back. She’d followed her guts like she always had. At first, she’d suspected she was meant to be protecting the sleeping humans, but they had never got into any trouble, how then was she supposed to explain what had happened.

“Katie, your fingers...” Sandra gasped. The hunter brought them up to see that her wounds hadn’t healed yet, “Why didn’t you use gloves?”

“I don’t think that would have helped unless they were special gloves,” Katie replied, “I’m glad you’re fine though. I wasn’t sure what would happen without me around.”

“Oh, she was more than alright. You should have seen her. She was a monster out there. I was honestly more scared of her than I was of the rogues,” Alice praised the girl, wrapping an arm around her, “I’m just glad that whole thing is all over. I’m exhausted. They were so many of them.”

Katie’s eyes widened in fear at the last statement before she masked the emotion, “I’m sorry to say this, but it’s not over just yet.”

Alice stared back at her, losing her smile, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

'

“Well, I don’t know what the rogues were planning, but until communications are back up so that we can call for backup, this is not over yet. I’m going to the cell tower. I know there is a rogue there guarding it. I’m hoping it’s not one of the rogue king’s beta alphas. If it is, then life’s going to get a whole lot more complicated. I don’t know if staying behind while you guys go out there was the best choice and I won’t know that until this is all over. I just hope it is. I wouldn’t want to hold any regrets...”

“I’m going with you to the cell tower,” Cole’s voice came from behind the girl. She barely flinched, although she noticed the animosity in his voice.

“Have I done something to offend...?” turning around she paused when she noticed the object of Cole’s confusion. “I could burn it if you’d like. He only lent it to me after I’d taken off my hunter jacket.”

“I’d like to see it burnt then...” Cole replied.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” the girl chuckled before taking the jacket off her and tossing it away from her body. The alpha’s eyes followed the jacket with his eyes until it hit the ground. Seeing as that wasn’t convincing enough, Katie approached him and hugged him, “You mustn’t have suspicions like that when I just exposed my shoulders in front of the entire pack.”

Cole gasped, looking around to see the look on everyone’s faces. It was as though the world had stopped and most of them were looking at one odd sight, “Oh carry on with your tasks. It’s not like you’ve never seen a mark before.” He snapped at them.

Sandra, however, came close to them while Katie was not looking and ran her fingers over the bite mark on the girl’s shoulder. The hunter flinched at the touch and turned within her mate’s embrace to look her friend in the eye, “How do I look?”

“Well, it’s definitely a good look on you,” the girl responded before running her finger on the miraculous part of the mark. At the centre of the two rows of a wolf’s teeth marks was the mark of a wolf howling at the moon, “It’s more beautiful up close. How does that even work?”

“When the moon goddess accepts the mark that’s been made by the pair that’s gone through the marking process, that appears after the mark has healed,” Cole explained.

“I don’t get it... What happens if the mark is not accepted?” Sandra asked.

“Well, it proves the couple is not actually meant to be by the goddess’ creed. And a bond like that is shunned among the werewolves,” he replied.

“I don’t understand... Isn’t this what the whole world has been waiting for? The marking of the Moon goddess’ chosen and don’t marks have to go both ways?” Alice asked.

“Well, yeah, that’s basically true. We masked our connection to the two pack links when we marked each other to hold back the panic... As well as privacy,” cole responded before pulling back his shirt’s collar to reveal the mark that appeared on his shoulder as well.

Sandra bit back a laugh upon seeing the mark, “Talk about having your teeth in your man.”

“Oh shut up, Sandra,” Katie barked at the girl before getting interrupted by a serious Alice.

“We need to get this information to the hunters so that they purge the rogues in Lycaon. If they know the rogue’s bite doesn’t have any effect on them, they can cut through them unrestricted.”

“Then it’s settled... we’ll be going to the cell tower. Is there anyone here that knows how to get the message out the moment we get there?” Katie asked her.

“You’re looking at her. However, I’m low on energy, so I would appreciate it if I don’t get to fight whatever monster we might face. If it’s anything like the one we met at the beach, I’m afraid I don’t want to get involved in a fight like that,” Alice requested.

“Very well...”