Chapter 300

300 Secrets From the Luna

The giant royal wolf that Honour sat on holding Crysta close to her zipped through the woods at astonishing speeds, one destination in mind. To Honour’s surprise, the ride was smoother than she’d ever experienced.

Lately, Lina had grown fond of using this mode of travel when she didn’t want to use her driver, however, those times were nothing in comparison to what she was experiencing at the moment.

The prince’s paws struck the ground noiselessly while still dashing through the woods unrestrained. The difference between the prince and the princess was clear, but Honour couldn’t complain, considering she was only a spec in comparison to these bright shining stars.

Honour was sure that at the speed they were going, they were going to reach the palace in no time. It was only after rushing through the woods for almost ten minutes that she realised how far they had come.

She hadn’t yet recognised her surroundings and Drake continued to press on even faster, “Those boys are going faster than I thought possible,” the prince chuckled, “Looks like they’ve been training.”

Honour hadn’t noticed, but the prince had not yet caught up to the other alphas. It was a difficult feat to accomplish, “You could just be the one that took a wrong turn or something,” the girl replied absentmindedly.

“I am keeping track of them through the mind link, so I don’t think that’s exactly a possibility,” he replied.

“Then you’re just moving slowly,” the girl replied, in a smug tone.

“I like the enthusiasm,” the prince chuckled. Honour couldn’t help the smile on her face as well as notice the odd way she let down her guard when she was around the prince.

.....

Her thoughts wandered to the girl in her arms. She had gone unconscious soon after they’d found her in the cave. Honour remembered what she had done with the prince before, but looking down on the girl, a frown etched across her face. Her hands strained beneath the girl, summoning the powers she’d used time and time again, but nothing happened...

Seeming to read her mind, the prince asked, “Can you... you know?”

“I’ve been trying, but nothing is working...” the girl sighed, “... and yes, Drake, I am as calm as I can be. I don’t know why it won’t work now.”

“It’s alright, Honour. We’ll get her to the hospital in no time. You already helped us find them. You’ve done more than enough,” the prince replied.

Honour wiped a stray tear off her sleeve. The prince’s words were the opposite of what was in her heart. She was weak and hadn’t been able to help them with anything... and yet, he sounded sincere. Shaking her head free of the depressing thoughts, she changed the subject.

“You could have taken Ginger to the medics first, you know,” the girl voiced her concerns. Drake was quiet for a while before answering. His thoughts wandered to the decision his sister had taken only days before. It might have not been the best decision she could have made, but she had taken the responsibility and made one as well.

And so had Drake...

If Ginger died because of his selfish intentions, that would be all his fault.

“I had to make sure everyone was making their way home. It makes no sense to save one and have another ambushed,” the prince reasoned. It was an excuse that the girl saw through. The mind link was open between the two of them and his emotions were laid bare. ‘So he lets his guard down around me as well...’

“Alright. I just thought it would be easier for the faster one to get Ginger to the medics is all,” she wondered, letting her eyes wander until they settled on the unconscious delta in her arms. To herself, she asked, “Why did she contact me?”

The trio continued in silence for a while. The prince had no answer for her, “We’ll ask her that when she wakes up and is getting better.”

“Yeah, I guess so...”

...........

A dark-haired girl sat on a bench watching her friend practice with a bow. It had been a few days since her license had been issued and during that time, the newly licenced hunter had been trying to sharpen some of her skills and testing her newfound abilities.

Katie happily offered some instructions for her to follow and the girl used her knowledge to the best of her abilities.

“Sandra, try not to get agitated,” Katie called out when none of the girl’s arrows would hit the bullseye.

“Easy for you to say. You’re an archery genius,” the girl yelled back, letting another arrow loose. This arrow sailed even further from the bullseye than all the others. The girl sighed and walked back to Katie, taking a seat next to her, “And here I thought I was getting better.”

“You will get better. Just don’t let your emotions get the better of you,” Katie replied.

“Now that I have a gift, just watch as I catch up to you, Katie. You won’t see me coming,” the girl yelled enthusiastically before picking up the bow and arrow once again. Katie sighed and watched her take another chance at shooting arrows.

“Don’t forget a single one of your lessons. Pay attention to the breeze, and relax. An archer can feel it when an arrow is going straight for their target,” Katie called out.

“It’s easy for you to say. You’re already perfect,” the girl grumbled, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to calm herself. She was so focused on the target before her that she didn’t notice Katie go silent.

Everything vanished from her world. The target and her arrow were the only things that made sense to her at that moment. Feeling for the wind, she adjusted her aim and let the arrow sail through the air. It hit the circle right outside the bullseye, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sandra cursed out loud.

Katie watched, suppressing the tinge of sadness that had been eating away at her every time she watched her friend try to chase her mirage, “Do I really look that perfect to you?”

“What else would you look like, but perfect? You protected our town singlehandedly back in Brigadia. You went head-to-head with the rogue king and had him running for his life. Just when you seem to have done something amazing, you go and trump those limits and soar even higher. How else would I describe you? You’re like the perfect hunter. Blessed with both Prometheus gifts. We all look up to you, you know,” the girl replied.

Katie sighed in defeat, watching her friend let another arrow loose, “And look where that got me,” she said more to herself. Sandra did not hear her.

“Hey, what has been going on with you and Cole lately?” the girl asked her.

“Huh, oh, he’s just busier these days. Nothing much really. Not to mention the coronation they are preparing for. Honestly, being a royal is so much work,” the blue-eyed girl groaned.

“What? You’re a hunter and you’re thinking about being a royal as so much work,” Sandra chuckled.

Katie laughed as well, “Oh, yeah, being a royal is a lot of work. While the hunters might have their fair share of chores, I get to relax every once in a while.”

“I think I understand what you mean,” Sandra replied, “Would you check my bag? I got some documents that I thought you might be interested in looking through.”

Curiosity worked its magic and had Katie searching through the girl’s bag faster than she could finish her sentence. The papers inside the bag weren’t many and had been bound neatly in a leather pouch. Katie opened them and found pictures of the beta alpha they had defeated in the reserve, “They’ve moved him to a maximum prison in the Sirius capital,” Katie observed.

“Yes, I think it’s somewhere at their agency there. He’s to be interrogated to see if he can be useful. However, they have proved him to be extremely dangerous after running more tests on him,” the girl replied.

“What are they going to do with him?” she asked her fellow hunter.

“As of right now, the decision has not yet been made, but I’ve heard rumours that he will be put in a state of suspended stasis to keep him from either dying or escaping,” Sandra let another arrow loose, losing any care for hitting the bullseye...

Then hitting it without even meaning to... It was a frustrating cycle of disappointment...

“What a waste of resources! To think killing him is not an option. Beta alphas are even harder to deal with than the rogue king himself,” Katie sighed, remembering the number of times she’d come face-to-face with the colossal abominations. They were bigger than the rogue king and far more relentless when they set their minds on something.

Fortunately, neither of them had been able to injure anyone close to Katie. However, that was only a matter of time. Anything could happen.

“Yeah, if he had been one of the rogue king’s generals, he would have been killed the moment the agency was sure he wasn’t going to give them any more information,” the girl replied, “Speaking of generals, I heard you killed one yourself.”

“Huh, me, a general. I didn’t face a general,” Katie panicked.

“Don’t play dumb with me. The impressive part is that you didn’t even notice you were killing a general when you were doing it,” the girl replied.

“Oh, shut up, Sandra,” the girl replied, closing the documents after skimming through them.

A male voice interrupted the Luna while she was skimming through the documents. It was a voice she was now getting used to and even found herself worrying when he didn’t check in every once in a while.

‘Alpha, there seems to be trouble going on in Lycaon. The king is keeping it from you for your comfort. Permission to report it to you,’ Kyle’s voice invaded the girl’s mind.

'

‘Are you now spying on the king and his beta alphas?’ Katie replied angrily.

‘That was not my intention your majesty, but I happened to hear them saying you weren’t to know about it and yet I’m of the opinion that you should know about this,’ he replied.

‘Very well, meet me at the exit of the Hunter’s Agency. Tell alpha Caden that I have summoned you and take your leave,’ the girl said to him.

“What is it?” Sandra asked her, walking up to her, “You spaced out.”

“It’s Kyle. He has some information for me,” the girl replied.

“Okay then. Let’s get going,” the girl smiled, “Permission to slap him if I happen to feel like it.”

“Granted,” Katie sighed, slinging Sandra’s bag over her shoulder and walking away.

“You don’t look like you enjoy watching him getting beaten,” Sandra asked, doubling her pace to catch up to her friend.

“I don’t, but then again, I can’t help it. I know he is no harm to us anymore. To me, he’s not the same Kyle as the one that betrayed me, so I don’t enjoy seeing him pay for crimes he’s unable to continue carrying out,” the girl summarized.

“Oh, I see. Is something bothering you, Katie? You know you can talk to me,” Sandra had always been able to see right through Katie and the Luna was stunned by the sudden offer.

‘Can we really tell her?’ Ashley’s voice rang out in her mind, a rare occurrence these days.

The girl sighed, “I’m fine, Sandra. I’m just worried about what Kyle has to tell me. It sounded urgent.”

The newly-licensed hunter let it slide, but one of the powers of being Katie’s best friend was seeing through her lies. Katie rarely ever needed to make lies unless she was lying about the pain she was feeling from the training she put herself through.

The Luna found that to be frequent as she was almost always suffering from some kind of muscle pain from the excess training. ‘Although, this time, it doesn’t seem to be something caused by training. I haven’t even seen you touch a bow since you woke up,’ Sandra was even more worried for her friend, but she knew asking wouldn’t help.

All she could do... was wait.