Chapter 273

273 That bad, huh!

The expression on her face told him everything he needed to know. And the fact that she was his alpha, he could not bring himself to disobey her words. It was impossible for beta alphas. Every now and then he was reminded of how chained he was to the girl.

“The rogues value strength more than anything. I wasn’t strong or useful in any other way once my cover was blown. I’ve seen the way they treat those weaker than them and fell victim a few times to a few of the lighter errands the weak go through.

The entire time that I was with them, it was only the rogue king that kept his promise to treat me in a special way in comparison to the others. But the others were envious of my position with the rogue king.

Even if that was the case, I could tell he was about to see no use for me. I was as good as dead already. The explosion back there that was meant to kill me while I was still there proved it all.”

Sandra looked back at the boy before, her hateful expression melting off her face, “So, no, I wouldn’t go back to the rogues knowing all that I know. But then again, that could be my master’s resigned mood talking,” it was Katie’s turn to be shocked this time, “You didn’t even know I had arrived. You didn’t catch my scent or even sense my presence. Are you okay, Katie?”

The girl looked between both her friends, a heavy feeling of nostalgia hitting her more than ever. This wasn’t the first or second or any number of countable times that they had shown this much worry towards her. Even though Kyle had been pretending back then, it had been real to her and it was real to her now as well.

Each time they had hung out together and found that one of her arms was in pain from the gruesome training or that she was limping from an injury. Each time she’d tried to hide what was happening with her, one of them had seen straight through her and forced her to come clean, “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me, okay?”

'

“Spill it, Katie Sirius,” Sandra barked, pointing a spoon at her and wiping the smirk from her face.

Seeing no way out of her situation, she sighed, “At first, it was just the gifts I noticed were missing. That is normal for a very tired hunter, which I feel like right now, but then, I’ve not been able to recover any of my werewolf senses as sharply as before. It must be because I’m tired.

.....

It can be nothing more than that. I’m just tired and that’s all there is to it,” she tried convincing herself even though it didn’t sound that way, “You don’t have to worry, I’ll be fine soon.”

Sandra lifted the spoon from her tea and let it fall back into the cup she was stirring, “Well, if you say so... On the subject of hunters, I’m having my evaluation tomorrow.”

“Oh my... Sandra, that’s awesome. You mean you’ll be able to get your license tomorrow?” the girl asked, “Wow, that takes me back.”

“Yeah, I would like it if you could come along if... if that’s okay with you?” the girl asked, nervously.

“Oh, I was obviously going to tag along, but what would make you think I wouldn’t?” Katie asked her with a raised brow.

“Well, you’ve been laid back this past week. You barely left your room and I was growing worried. I didn’t think you’d be able to make it,” the girl responded.

“No, Sandra... Of course, I’ll make it. I made a promise I would come, didn’t I?” Katie tried. In a lower tone, “I admit, I’ve not been able to do much in the past week. I’ve wanted to do nothing more than to vanish into nothingness. I failed in my task and I almost got myself killed at the same time. I felt like I couldn’t get anything right. Like I’d failed everything...” the girl explained, “But I am getting better. I promise you that.”

Sandra smiled upon hearing her friend’s words, “That’s more reassuring. For a moment there, I thought you were broken.”

“Yeah... Same here,” Kyle responded with a nervous laugh. ‘My Luna, I hear what you’re saying... but...’

‘Just let it go, for now, Kyle,’ she stopped the beta alpha from prying any further.

‘Very well, Alpha Katie,’ he responded respectfully. It wasn’t even hard for him to forget about what he was about to tell her. His body did it for him.

‘In exchange for all that power, the beta alphas would lose the complete free will over their actions and be bound by the will of the royals that commanded them. There wouldn’t be a thing in the world that could break them free of this bond and they would serve that royal until their death...’ Caden’s lesson rang through his mind as clear as a bell.

During the ‘torture’ Kyle was supposed to receive from Caden, the beta alpha had been teaching him the roles of a beta alpha. He had learned a lot from him. Cole had been around while they took care of some of the issues concerning the kingdom. The three of them worked like a well-oiled machine.

Every time Cole was tired, they would take over for him and when any of them felt tired, they were allowed to notify the king. The king would then decide whether they were to rest. In Cole’s case, he was always allowing them to take a few breaks and when they were done with the work or left with enough for him to do on his own, he would dismiss them entirely.

The most tedious part of their work was the paperwork and the next most tedious part of their work was the hearings from the empire’s citizens.

The applications for a hearing would take a long time to be approved and when it was time for the king to hear them out, he had to be present and pay attention to what they had to say to him.

The beta alphas could take his place in case of an emergency. Thankfully, it wasn’t so much work that they didn’t have any free time. They, once in a while got some free time. It was during this time that Kyle was tortured within the dungeons by Caden.

“How are you doing, Kyle?” Katie asked him when she felt waves of discomfort coming from him.

“Oh, I’m... well... better than I was with the rogues,” he replied. Katie’s memories of the times she saw him with wounds all over reminded her of the reason Caden was taking him around.

“That bad, huh...” she grimaced.

“How was I to know that the man had taken a liking to that cross-dresser?” he groaned, trying his best to ignore the pain that shot through his chest when the injuries to his ribs were triggered.