Chapter 299

299 Helpless Feeling

“What...” the delta just about screamed at the sight before her. Bree choked on her own voice. The girl was frightened. Albeit blind, her heightened senses picked up on what had happened. The scent of blood was thick in the damp cave air.

“Hush, little wolf,” the blue-eyed rogue rushed over to Crysta with keys in her hands. When she reached for the locks, she paused and looked the frightened Crysta in the eye.

Her azure eyes seemed to be looking straight through to the delta’s soul, but... for someone that had just killed her friend, she looked nothing like the cold-blooded killer and that perturbed Crysta most of all, “Before I release you, you will agree to my terms.”

“What... what do you mean, ‘terms’?” Crysta asked her, shocked, surprised, in fear and very curious all at the same time.

Something about the odd blue-eyed woman before her calmed her even though she was sure this wolf was a rogue... Reluctantly, she nodded her head.

.........

Honour ran through the forest as fast as she could, however, due to her lacking physical abilities. She needed plenty of stops before she could continue leading the wolves through the woods.

They had not gone deep into the forest and had long since past the training clearing, but the girl pressed them further into unknown territory, “Honour, do you have any clue where you’re taking us?” Liam asked her first through the mind link.

Thinking back to the state she was always in during their morning drills, he was almost sure she wasn’t supposed to be capable of running this long without collapsing...

.....

Drake shared the same suspicions and worried about the girl’s condition. She wasn’t the strongest wolf out there... In fact, she was the weakest he’d ever seen.

“Yes, I know where I’m going, damn it,” the girl yelled in frustration, panting with exhaustion. She wanted to stop running completely and rest. Her wolf wanted to rest and return to its usual completely dormant state. Her legs wanted to give out. Drake came closer to her, worry radiating from his colossal form.

The girl was sure she was half his size each time she tried to compare the two of them.

“You shouldn’t push yourself so hard, Honour,” the man tried.

“I have to... I can’t tell where she is unless I’m in my wolf form,” she argued. Yelling out in frustration, the grey wolf skidded to a stop, using her claws to break, “Damn it, I lost her...”

“Because your emotions are yelling louder than her voice,” Drake replied soothingly. If only for a moment, the prince felt as though he was teaching his sister how to control her senses all over again.

‘Nostalgic...’

“No, that’s not it. I need to focus. She doesn’t have much time,” she paced about, keeping her eyes closed and searching the mind link once more.

“You will do nothing to help her if you can’t calm down yourself. Calm down and you will be able to find her,” the white blue-eyed wolf asked her.

“I can...”

“Honour, look at me,” this time, he called her out more strongly. His voice arrested her senses against her will and forced her to turn to him. The royal calmed down, “That’s one step in the right direction. Now, listen to me, Honour. You won’t be able to find her if you keep letting your emotions through a tantrum of their own.

I understand that she’s weak and can’t really project her own thoughts as strongly as a normal wolf, so you have to make it easy for them to reach you.

It might be hard. Your friend is on the brink of death, but that’s what makes this all the more important. Your emotions can’t get in the way. Crysta’s life is all that matters right now and that means you have to clear your mind.”

The girl took a few deep breaths and listened to the large White wolf before her. Once she had calmed down, Crysta’s voice made it through once more, “Please hurry... You have to get here,” it was clearer this time and she heard actual words and not just the lingering feeling of a familiar consciousness in the mind link.

“I’ll be there soon, Crysta,” the girl replied.

“Honour, I wasn’t sure you could hear me. Thank the moon goddess,” the girl’s relieved voice came back through stunning her with the exclamation, “I meant the other...”

“I know what you mean, Crysta. Just hang in there. We’ll be there soon,” the girl replied, “Can you tell us about the place you’re in so that we can find you much faster?”

“Well, I’m in a cave right now, but beyond that, I don’t know where I am. I don’t even know how far from the palace I am,” the girl replied weakly. The weakness in the normally strong delta was like a stab to Honour’s heart. The girl was always strong and spoke with so much confidence. Hearing her sounding weak was just... wrong.

“Who else is with you?” Honour asked, starting her run with renewed energy and paying attention to the girl’s voice. “This way,” she called to the rest.

“That’s much better,” the prince grinned proudly(if at all a wolf would grin), following the girl as she led them through the woods.

“I’m with Bree and Ginger. Ginger is injured badly. You should come quickly. I don’t know how long she has,” the girl replied with a sob. Her voice was breaking at the mention of her friend.

“What about the one that captured you? Do you know anything about the culprit? We need to be prepared for what we might find there,” the girl replied.

“Oh, the culprit... they left,” Crysta sighed.

“What do you mean they left?” Honour yelled.

“Don’t... yell at me.”

“Sorry. You probably have a headache right now,” the girl replied, “Do you have a description of your assailant so we might keep on the lookout?”

“No, you aren’t listening, Honour. She left completely. You won’t find her,” Crysta replied, “I’ll explain it all when you get here, but if you really need to know what she looks like...”

The image of the woman that had been keeping Crysta and her friends hostage popped into the girl’s mind. Honour didn’t know what to think of the emotions she was getting from Crysta.

She didn’t seem to resent the person that she claimed to have captured which only worked to confuse her more than she already was.

She passed along the image and had them open their minds so she could broadcast the location of the girl she was tracking. With a stronger sense of where the girl was, it was easier for her to expose her mind to the mind link they shared.

Liam and Wyatt rushed forward, leaving the hunter, prince and girl behind to follow them at Honour’s pace, “Young people are always in a rush to get things done. Rushing into situations unprepared. Don’t they know it’s one of the reasons they will never be able to win anything in this life,” the hunter sighed as he weaved through the woods, vanishing from them to keep up with the wolves ahead.

“How will he be able to catch up with them if he can’t hear us over the mind link,” the girl asked.

“I would have thought the first question would be how he is able to accurately move through the trees at that speed and not get hit by a tree branch. Not even once,” the prince chuckled to himself.

“Do you always like goofing off?” the girl asked him.

“Not always... but when the situation calls for it, it helps to lighten the mood. If you can smile no matter how bad the situation has gotten, you have not yet lost,” the man replied. Suddenly, his goofing off sounded more like another life lesson... and Honour didn’t mind.

In fact, she was startled by his response, “I don’t know how that made sense, but it did,” she replied.

“I thought it would. We’re almost there. Be on your guard,” the prince replied before they found the clearing that led to a cave.

The cave had been hollowed into a mound of earth and then burrowed downwards to create more room on the inside. From the looks of it, it was man-made... or wolf-made for that matter.

While simple, it provided ample shelter to whoever would need to use it in case of rain. “Do you think a rogue was using this to hide out in the woods?” Honour asked.

“We’ll just have to find out. Stay behind me,” he asked Honour as they walked closer to the cave. “Hey, have you found them?” he asked over the mind link.

'

“Yes, we did, but Ginger is in urgent need of treatment. She’s bled a great deal. Crysta is not looking too good herself. Bree is the only one that could be able to move on her own,” Liam’s voice came out.

“Get Ginger and Crysta back to the palace infirmary as fast as you can. I’ll ask the medics to intercept you once we are within range of the palace,” the prince said to them.

The scent of blood soon reached them as Liam came out holding Ginger close to him. They had used her shirt to try and stop the bleeding, but that was only something that could only last so long.

“This looks really bad. Shift quickly. I will keep her steady while you rush us back to the palace,” Thomas said, landing beside the alpha and taking the girl from his arms. He gave no time for discussion and the wolf quickly followed his instructions... after Drake had urged him to do what the man had said.

When the two of them were gone, Wyatt himself came out holding Crysta in his arms. She was awake but barely alive. Her lips were dry and her eyes sunken, showing all signs of dehydration. None of them could tell how long she had been here. “We were together just the day before,” Honour whispered.

“I never made it home the next morning,” Crysta whispered back, having heard the girl’s words.

“Alpha, what are we to do?” the alpha asked Drake.

“You will shift and take Bree with you and I will bring these two back with me. Try to make sure I don’t catch up to you,” the prince threaten-I mean advised.

The alpha nodded and watched the two of them leave as well. Bree was quiet the entire time and didn’t say a word as she was taken away from the cave. Drake turned away from Honour and asked her to shift back into her human form. She was to hold Crysta steady while they rode back to the capital.

Honour chuckled at him being a gentleman and shifted back into her human form, “You can look at me, Drake.”

“Huh, you’re not a royal or an alpha. Doesn’t that mean...”

“I’m not the same as all the average wolves and deltas, Drake,” the royal was even more stunned to find that the girl still had her clothes on.

‘Oh, of course. I wonder what else she can do?’ The large white wolf lowered himself to the ground and allowed the two girl’s get comfortable on his back.

“Are you two ready?”

“Yes, Drake... Let’s get her to safety,” Honour replied, holding Crysta as firmly as she could.

Her chest, however, constricted in pain, ‘I guess now I know why Lina always felt she couldn’t help anyone because of her weakness although... she didn’t know what she was talking about. I can barely keep Crysta stable...’ her thoughts ranted while the prince dashed through the forest at a speed almost twice Honour could manage in her wolf form and at top speed.

And even then, she could tell that he was going slow enough to keep the two girls atop his back...