Chapter 315

315 Luna’s Mind

Katie woke up to the feeling of an empty bed, her hand reaching out to the somewhat warm spot beside her. The same spot that Cole’s body was meant to be.

Sighing, she searched the mind link in her groggy state for her mate, “Someone finally woke up,” Cole’s soothing voice wafted into her mind.

“Yeah, and to an empty bed no less. What’s got you up so early? It’s not like the sun is up yet,” the girl complained.

A king had many duties, but Cole wouldn’t have minded making time for the beauty lying alone in his chambers, however, “Jason called me early this morning to go through the training drills with him. The former beta alphas had a system that wasn’t that easy to follow, so I’m helping him rewrite it before he has to take the Pack Warriors through it.”

“Ugh, that’s also a part of your life you have to take care of?” the girl groaned through the mind link, her frustration wafting through their mental connection in soft waves. The amused grin on the king’s face was not going anywhere.

“You sound disappointed. I had no doubt you would enjoy this part of my life more than the average person,” the blue-eyed male countered. Katie was almost sure she heard him grunt, which got her curious.

“Are you sparring with him right now?” she asked, her eyes still closed and her hands unconsciously cuddling the pillow that was drenched in her mate’s scent.

“Yeah, how did you notice?” while Cole had tried to keep his voice calm and soothing, devoid of any of the physical strain he was putting his body through, the girl had seen through this facade.

“So predictable. Boys do love to flex their muscles,” the girl chuckled before rolling out of the bed.

.....

“Speak for yourself. I remember someone that downed a tree just to prove she had the strength to put me down,” Cole replied, his voice going up in pitch and losing every ounce of calmness it previously had. Might as well, since the girl had already figured it out.

“I think I will come and watch today,” the girl replied, walking into the shower for a morning bath. Her hands shuddered at the thought of going to the training arena where the Warriors spent their time honing their skills. The capital of Lycaon was protected by much more than hunters and since their decrease in number after the battle against the rogues in the capital, the wolves had to work more to improve their security.

“Will you be okay?” Cole asked her, concern laced in his voice.

“Yes, I will be fine, Cole. Don’t worry about me. I wouldn’t want Jason to get ahead of himself,” the girl sighed before turning on the shower and feeling it roll off her fingers while she adjusted the taps, in search of the right temperature. A thin veil of steam came off the water, dimming the bathroom and covering the girl in comforting warmth.

When the water was just right, she stepped into the tub and drew the curtains.

“Oh, that won’t be happening. Indestructible, remember,” the man replied through the mind link.

“Yeah, I remember. I wonder if you can be injured by other things that aren’t so physical... Maybe lightning could have done a number on you, but I guess that’s out of the question now,” the girl mused.

“I don’t think someone would hurl a lightning bolt at me and what do you mean it’s out of the question?” he called back.

“Your tone tells me you know what I’m talking about. You have to learn how to control it you know. It could be quite useful in bringing him down. It could also make up for your lack of speed,” the girl suggested.

Cole was quiet for a moment, “I guess a hunter remains a hunter.” What the king didn’t know was how the girl recoiled in the bath and sank till only her face was just above the surface. The water allowed her to feel better even after everything she was going through.

The wolf she’d used to help them find the missing people, Ashley hadn’t spoken a word since then and her eyes had stayed dark blue since that day. It had been two days since then and her mind was starting to feel far too quiet.

“I’ve changed a lot since I got my werewolf side, you know...” she paused, however, nothing else would escape her mind, “...Now let me bathe. I’ll meet you in a few.”

The mind link went quiet once more and there it was. The feeling of loneliness that Katie had never had the chance to feel. ‘Damn it. I spent my whole life with a clear mind. Why is so hard for me to get used to her being gone? She’s just resting after all. It’s not like she’s dead or something worse, right...?’ her thoughts stopped when images of a rogue girl who’d been killed by her blade flashed through her mind.

The girl closed her eyes and submerged herself into the water with the hopes that the rush would get her mind clear. However, the more she sank into the water, the worse it got. There was no escaping the darkness that crept into her lonely mind.

It was almost suffocating. The lack of oxygen under the water surface seemed to be the least of her problems. She was used to holding her breath for long periods of time as part of her training. She’d also been trained to control her emotions to a scary degree, however, all those lessons seemed to fail her now.

The girl tried to think of the teachings she’d been given, ‘Breath once... Breathe twice...’ rising to the surface, she tried, but... it never worked.

Outside the surface of the water, a heavy mist filled the bathroom, dulling her sight. She couldn’t tell if there was anyone in her room. She had lost the ability to detect those around her. Her mind was so quiet... The sound of the disturbed water she was emerging from screamed louder than she normally perceived it. Just when she thought she couldn’t take much more of the excruciation silence, a warm voice tore into her mind, “Hey, Katie.”

“What is it, Cole?” she tried to sound calm, achieving her goal of fooling him.

“Open your mind to the collective mind link of the pack. I don’t know if you’re capable of ignoring it, but wolves are known for running mad when they spend too long on their own. The only one that has ever succeeded in ignoring the social nature of our kind gained the title of the Lone wolf. His name eludes me, but I know he was a royal of the Sirius pack,” the male replied casually.

His casual tone and the oblivious nature of his reply were enough to banish the darkness that her mind had conjured up. “Oh, okay... I’ll open up in a moment then.”

“Sure,” after that, he went silent again. Once he’d slipped out of her mind, she noticed the change in her mood. It was like day and night. Without any voice in her mind, she was completely alone. She had no one. While it was not true, the lack of that reminder was enough to allow her to forget it.

Sighing deeply, the girl let her mind free to wander to the rest of the wolves in the kingdom. It was the first time she was opening up at all. The action was as simple as it was when she spoke with Cole. She didn’t have to do anything much, but let her walls down.

.............

Jason was just about to get the jump on his alpha. After working so hard to find a weakness in his defence, he was finally going to get in. He was going to land a hit on his king for the first time. Excitement gripped him as he crouched to deliver the uppercut that was almost inevitable to dodge.

His legs flexed, gathering all the energy that he would need to make this effective and decisive. Just as he was about to rise up, his heart pounded harder in his chest as a wave went through the whole mind link. Dizziness gripped him as he felt a new presence within the mind link.

Cole staggered back, likely from the same effect, “Cole, who... who is that?” his voice trembled, feeling the overwhelming power that demanded attention in the mind link. He couldn’t bring himself to ignore the person that had just been added to the mind link.

“It’s... It’s Katie,” Cole laughed out loud, “I had no idea she’d never opened herself up to the mind link before. Her presence is overwhelming.”

“You’re kidding. That’s impressive,” Jason replied, retrieving water from the side of the ring they were sparring in, “Not even the king and queen have that commanding of a presence. The Chosen of the Moon Goddess are really in their own league.”

“Do you mean to say my presence is as imposing as hers?” Cole narrowed his eyes to slits.

“Well... we’re used to you. You barely exert your power on your subordinates, so when the king passed away, we barely noticed you’d taken his place. You were in grief more than the rest of us. The transition was almost seamless,” the beta alpha replied, getting deep in thought as he explained.

“That’s nice to hear. I wonder what will happen now though,” the king smiled. Just as he’d said that footsteps echoed through the halls that led to the training arena. The two wolves turned their attention to the entrance and were almost shocked to see the person that came in. Holding a duffel bag was Bella. The delta was dressed in a sports bra and sweatpants, ready for the morning drill.

“Talk about being more than ready to pummel someone,” Jason commented.

Cole chuckled at his comment and directed his voice to the delta, “You’re quite early, Bella.”

The girl sighed, “I was hoping to find more than just the two of you. Not long before the week of rain we had, this place would be full by now, with pack warriors training their butts off. I hope it’s as fun as it used to be.”

“Well, we’re new to this whole managing the pack Warriors thing, so you’ll have to be patient with my beta alpha,” Cole replied.

“Oh, they will have to keep up with me. I don’t plan on going easy on any of them,” Jason replied. His reply brought a smirk to the girl’s face.

“That’s what I would like to hear,” with that, she started warming up with a few jogs around the large training hall as well as perfectly executed stretching exercises. By the time she was done warming up, the room was starting to fill up with quite a number of wolves all going through the warm-up drills.

Jason stood up and called the whole room to attention. The wolves turned to face him as he was going to talk. The sudden silence got the better of him, “I was not expecting that quick of a reaction,” the man joked. Ripples of laughter went through the gathering.

However, before he could speak, a presence made itself known to all the wolves in the training arena. They all turned instinctively to the entrance waiting in anticipation for the person that was headed their way. The sound from the other side of the door was rather jolly. “You should have told me you would be bringing me along to this. This time I don’t want to fight another royal. That’s the one ground rule I don’t want you to break.”

“Yeah yeah, Sandra, you know I’m not going to do anything here. You can relax. Seeing as I’m not your mentor anymore, I don’t have to...” the absent-minded girl quieted down when she noticed the silence in the room they’d just walked into.

The ceiling was much higher than she expected and the room was quite spacious, holding four rings at its centre and a lot of training equipment all around the room. Unlike Sandra who nearly cowered under the attention they were attracting, Katie sounded oblivious, “Now this is impressive, don’t you think, Sandra?”

“Y-yeah...” the new hunter replied nervously.

Katie finally took note of the watchful eyes that filled the room. She looked from one wolf to the other, trying to figure out what had caused them to be so interested in the two of them, “Did we interrupt something?” was all she could ask bringing a wide smile to Cole’s face. ‘I would have been freakishly nervous if I was in her shoes. Now, this is a Luna.’ He thought to himself.