Chapter 250

250 [Bonus chapter]Chapter Two Hundred Fifty

Katie returned to the hotel along with the others and went through the damage report with Trevor. The junior hunter had spent the entire night awake as well. His eyes showed his exhaustion, but he held himself firm while he told her everything he could about what happened with the pack of wolves that had gone out that night. He also took her to the room containing the two humans that had been bitten that night.

Honour had taken it upon herself to replace their bandages every two hours. They didn’t look to be in good condition, but given the news Katie gave them, they would make it. Lina came rushing into the room while Katie was checking the boy’s temperature. Almost forgetting the reason she had come into the room in the first place, the hunter greeted her sister with a warm hug, “I didn’t think you’d listen to me when I told you to stay behind.”

“I didn’t think you would make it back here in one piece,” Lina replied.

“Well, I am here now,” Katie chuckled, “How is everyone holding up?”

“I have tried my best to lift their spirits. It seems stories of the rogue killer can do the trick. Sandra knows quite a bunch even though they sound heavily exaggerated,” the girl laughed, pulling back and wiping the tears from her eyes, “Father called around an hour ago. He was furious. He thought I’d been putting off his calls this entire time.”

“He’ll probably run himself to the grave with worry one time,” Katie added, allowing her mind to drift. She still had to check on many people, “I guess it would be best if we went from one room to the next until we made sure everyone was fine.”

“I’ll single out the rooms that contain only humans so that you know which ones to skip,” Trevor offered, leading the way out.

“Speaking of Sandra, where is the girl?” Katie asked once she had cleared her mind during their inspection.

Lina’s smile faded at the question, “She said she didn’t want to talk to you just yet. I’m sorry.”

.....

“You have nothing to apologise for. I will talk to her myself when we get the chance,” Katie responded. There was so much for her to do and many friends to check up on that she couldn’t choose which one to start with. ‘When did I become so popular?’

‘This must be what it’s like to develop an ego,’ Ashley pitched in.

‘ASHLEY...’

‘And to think I was one of the people you completely forgot about. Honestly, what kind of person are you? How can you forget your other half?’ the wolf complained.

‘I... I didn’t forget you, Ashley. I could never...’

'

‘I was just messing with you, Katie. Your mind is a mess. You’re tired and you still can’t stop thinking about that one person they stopped you from saving, can you?’ Ashley asked.

‘No, I can’t. Can you help me save him, Ashley?’ the girl asked the wolf. Thinking back to the battle in Brigadia when the wolf had taken complete control of her body and the hunter had gone to rest. The boost was significant, but eventually, the two of them had exhausted everything they had and come face to face with the same creature that had been defeated that day.

‘No, Katie. I can’t help you.’

‘Why not?’

‘It’s quite simple really. We made a promise to him. At the moment, I’m the only thing keeping you from collapsing where you stand. You used up a lot of energy when you were firing arrows earlier, but you refused to acknowledge it. That bow can only be used by someone with a strong gift because it required immense energy for anyone to use it. You used it as though it was a very normal bow. Not to mention the battle you had with the rogue up at the cell tower. We cannot do anything at the moment,’ the wolf said to her.

‘I will do something about it. You know I will...’

‘Katie, you’ve been ignoring some of your senses. And you’ve been doing it for a while now. You only take what you think will help you and leave the rest,’ Ashley cut her short. Katie got the feeling this was the beginning of her very own intervention. However, it was taking place in her head. She took the time to break away from their conversation to speak to the wolves they found during their inspections. Their werewolves were healing nicely and the stories from Sandra and Lina seemed to have done well for their moods.

When compared to a pack that had only come close to being annihilated by rogues, they were making progress. Much to Katie’s surprise, the humans had slept through the entire ordeal as though nothing had happened, “Were we really that quiet out there?” she asked Cole.

Cole got the feeling she was exaggerating the scene in her mind, “Well, we weren’t exactly whispering while we fought off the rogues, but it wasn’t loud enough to wake a sleeping human. You forget they have a terrible sense of hearing.”

“Oh yeah... that’s right,” she exclaimed.

Cole groaned at the odd imagination he’d read from her mind, “I’m astonished you can keep up with her, Cole,” Aunt Marie interrupted the couple.

“Well, that is kind of my job. She tends to overdo it a lot of times. I just want to make sure she doesn’t do it,” he said to her.

“It’s almost like you don’t trust her to handle herself carefully,” Aunt Marie narrowed his eyes at her.

“I don’t trust her in that regard as much as I can throw her,” Cole complained.

“Hey, Cole, that’s mean. I can take care of myself if I put my mind to it,” Katie tried to plead her case.

“Then what was that I heard about you trying to save Kyle after getting rid of the rogue,” Cole asked her sending the party into silence. Talk of Kyle hadn’t surfaced in a long time and not many were happy to hear the name.

“What do you mean by saving Kyle? It sounds like a joke to me. Doesn’t putting him in the ground sound like a better alternative?” Caden spoke up first. His intention had been to raise morale, but the death glare Katie was giving Cole didn’t help the situation.

“I might have bitten Kyle when I was trying to secure him back in Brigadia,” Katie announced, taking her eyes off Cole.

“You know, Katie. You always seem to have one interesting thing about you after another. There is this rumour I’ve heard that you control animals. Of course, most of us did witness the eagle that hung about you while you watched over the forest, but one can never be too sure until...”

“Turns out I can, Trevor. I only found out recently when a certain someone got themselves trapped in a bear’s cave. It came as a shock to me as well. Although I wasn’t planning on revealing it so soon. Then again...”

“If you hadn’t shown that power, Katie, we would have had more than a few injuries. Many of the members of your pack would be dead by now,” Cole said to her, pulling her into a hug. The door to yet another room with werewolves opened to reveal Crysta seated at her bed, her eyes trained on the far wall and her mind deep in thought. The girl snapped out of it to see her new visitors. On the other bed was Sandra lying down in her bed. She shifted her vision to the door, taking note of their visitors and shifted her attention back to the white ceiling.

Katie walked into the room and straight to her best friend’s bed. The girl barely spared the hunter a glance, “Hey...”

“Katie...” Marie called out to the girl, “We’ll handle the rest of the inspection.” Katie nodded and mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ before allowing the rest of them to proceed with the inspection. Lina grabbed the spacing delta’s arm and dragged her out of the room against her will and numerous complaints.

Silence filled the room once the rest of Katie’s companions were gone and the two of them were left to themselves. Sandra rolled away from the girl and pinned her eyes to the wall away from her, “I awakened my gift, you know. Saved a lot of wolves out there.”

Katie gasped at the revelation, “That’s amazing. We should...”

“Celebrations would be nice. However, what is it supposed to mean for us, Katie? Without you as my mentor, I won’t be obligated to stay by you wherever you go. We’ll be separated before too long by the Hunter Organization.”

Katie frowned at her friend’s thinking. While what she’d said was true, Katie couldn’t imagine a world in which she allowed something like that to happen to the two of them. “Hey, Sandra... We shall be together as long as the two of us are best friends and hunters. I don’t think Jason will let that happen either.”

“What makes you think Jason has the power to keep me from being stationed somewhere else?” Sandra asked her.

“Well, you have quite the number of things you don’t know yet... For starters, the rogue king was defeated tonight,” Katie smiled at her friend. Sandra’s eyes opened wide in shock as she heard one of the most imaginative sentences to be made in their lifetime. She turned around to see her friend smiling without a hint of a joke in her voice. She didn’t take her words back either... It was as though she’d just started dreaming... without ever falling asleep.