Chapter 79

79 Chapter Seventy Nine

Cole found himself laughing loudly at his friend’s tale. The state of his clothes did nothing to calm the laughter either and Jason couldn’t blame him. The story of how he got his clothes multicoloured continued to sound funnier the more he narrated it. Although Cole had gotten quite serious when he heard the name Lawson, there was nothing that could have stopped him from laughing at his friend.

Eventually, it was Cole’s turn to tell how his tour had gone and the tables inevitably turned in Jason’s favour. Hearing how Lawson had easily outclassed the two werewolves was just amusement to the both of them. Luckily for them, the girls didn’t look that interested in the new arrival despite his attempts at standing out.

“I heard he’s one of the VIPs...”

“Yeah, Samantha said something of the sort. I also know that he used to live here though,” Jason added, finishing the bowl of ice cream that he’d very proudly salvaged from the royal when he arrived. “Can we go back to the suite and get changed?”

“You definitely need a change of clothes,” Cole said to him.

“Are you forgetting the dance tonight?”

“No, I’m not, but I also know that Katie won’t be coming to that dance. I’m not so enthusiastic about it after knowing that,” Cole said. Jason denied his urges to ask what was going on between the two of them as it would not be a good conversation to have while he was unsure of what was going on between him and Sandra. Sandra and he were just friends, right? Well, the idea of finding out that it was the reality was starting to seem unappealing to him. ‘All the more reason to stay out of that train of thought...’

“That’s terrible. Why can’t she come?” he asked his friend.

“Well, it’s something about a family thing they are doing for her birthday,” he shrugged while he said the answer. It was crystal clear that he still didn’t like it no matter what excuse was being given. Jason stood up as did his friend and the two walked up to the woods. Once they were a reasonable distance in the woods, they shifted and began the sprint back to the suite...

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The staffroom had been redesigned and all the tables moved such that it suited the occasion. If one didn’t know it was a staffroom, they wouldn’t have guessed it was so. The tables had been covered with white cloths, dressing them completely and adding other coloured tablecloths to it to bring the room to life.

The chairs that were being used were much more luxurious and only seen on such occasions. Even after all the time that Katie had spent at the school, she didn’t know where they kept this kind of furniture or even how the school was capable of affording it. It was things like this that made it clear that the Founder’s festival was held by more than just the school and rather the entire town.

The hunters were the first to arrive and they were led to their seats, Katie taking the seat that was designated to her as the Head of Security and her mentor right next to her. The seats looked to the doorway and allowed her to see whoever got in. It wasn’t clear whether this was intentional or not.

“I always feel out of place on these occasions,” Katie whispered to her friend.

“That’s probably because most times you do things that make you stick out like a sore thumb,” she replied.

“Talking back to a VIP should not be a crime. How was I supposed to know there was a protocol as silly as that when talking back to someone from a noble werewolf family?” she tried defending herself.

“There was and you nearly cost a student a scholarship that time. Of course, you are bound to feel out of place at such an event,” Sandra countered, amused by her friend’s dismissiveness at the grave matter.

“I hope you are not forgetting what that particular noble was suggesting that time. I could not just stand by while he said such things to me, you know. The nerve on that one...” she huffed remembering a particular werewolf that had taken a liking to her and tried adding her to the hunter escort that he’d come with. He’d gone as far as to threaten to revoke the scholarship of a student that he had only recently accepted to learn in his region.

“Can I have your attention, please?” a voice cut through the murmurs that were milling through the hunters present at the luncheon. Anthony stood at the entrance dressed in a suit custom made to fit his bulky physique. He wiped his face with his handkerchief just as he was about to speak. It was rare to see him this nervous.

“There is something that I have to talk to you about, Katie,” a whisper came from the opposite side of the table. Katie turned to see Samantha gesturing for her to check her phone. In her messages, a text appeared, ‘After this luncheon, I need to speak to you privately. It won’t take much time since I know you will have other matters to attend to. I was told that you must know of this as soon as possible.’

‘How is someone supposed to focus on a luncheon after hearing such an urgent piece of information?’ Katie sighed before texting back her confirmation of the request. “If I could have your attention. Before wasting any more time, I’d like to present the VIPs of this year’s festival. If everyone could just stand up so that we might give them the welcome they deserve.”

The hunters stood and abandoned their seats, standing ready to see the new arrivals. “Because of the information that was sent out on the speech early this morning, a number of the VIPs cancelled their trips here, but I am glad to announce that two of the convoys still came as planned,” Anthony proceeded, sweat beading his forehead once more. He was not one for wearing suits and the one he currently had on was trying to drain him of all bodily fluids...

“The nobles of the Haelstrom family from the Southern region of the Lycaon empire grace us with their presence once again this year. It was nice of them last year to grant one of the students a scholarship to their esteemed academy back in their homeland,” as he spoke, three hunters walked in dressed in the right attire for bodyguards. They all oozed the power they wielded quite nicely and kept a firm gait. Behind them, a man dressed in a luxurious red suit followed, a smile on his face that he didn’t seem to have the capability to disable.

His eyes were a searing red as he hailed from one of the families that came from the original alphas that aided the Lycaon Royal family in the war centuries ago. Behind him, a girl dressed in a blue shimmering dress that dropped down to her ankles hugging her athletic body and fanning out at her knees. She had a calm air around her and bore a smile much warmer than the one her brother wore.

Katie smiled at the girl and she returned her gesture, her red eyes lighting up along with her smile, something that was enough to leave an ignorant human with a thousand underlying questions that would not be voiced even if they were forced to. The two only knew each other on such occasions and had come to see eye to eye on most things. Her brother, however, was a different case altogether, having been the one to force Katie to step out of line and speak out of turn during the previous festival.

“Kendra and Lionel Haelstrom are representing the Haelstrom Royal family this year as it was confirmed that they came of age. We congratulate you, Lionel, for being granted the title of heir to your family,” Anthony was being overly formal with his speech. Those that knew him could only imagine how difficult he must have been. Pulling out a paper, he started to read the next group that was coming in.

“The next group is one that once lived here. A family that was elevated to the rank of nobles after their prodigious son gallantly risked his life to save King Sirius’ uncle, gaining a Prometheus gift in the process,” this came as a shock to the hunters that were present becoming eager to hear what he had to say next, “The Lawson family is currently one of the most prestigious families in the Royal capital of the Sirius empire...”

“Come on, Anthony. You’re giving us too much credit,” a voice came from the outside of the door, sounding so familiar. Chuckles rippled through the audience while Anthony relaxed a bit, “Well, I would like to keep adding more credit to these guests, but I guess they don’t need it that much since this is where they came from. Please welcome, Clark Lawson, his lovely wife Tina Lawson and their multi-talented and ambitious son, Jeremiah Lawson.”

Sandra turned to see her friend’s frozen expression. Katie could not take her eyes off the door at the moment they mentioned the other name to the man they’d met at the Archery range. ‘Could he really be the same Jeremiah from years ago?” she asked herself, doing her best to keep her composure. She breathed in twice and allowed all the emotions to vanish from her being and get buried deep down within her.

The man that walked in was dressed in a fine brown suit though not nearly as luxurious as the one that Lionel Haelstrom wore. The fair lady that followed was dressed in a red gown that accented her beauty quite nicely, the jewellery just doing enough to make her final image not less than stunning to everyone that saw her.

Finally, the man Katie had been waiting to see came in, dressed in the same tuxedo she’d seen him in earlier. He wasn’t as neatly dressed as he’d arrived though. His hair was messy but in a way that didn’t damage his good looks and he carried himself in a way someone that was familiar with a place did. It was like he’d come back home. Jeremiah had only changed in one aspect and that was the power he wielded... Well, that’s all Katie could say about how much he’d changed. Everything else about him seemed irrelevant and inconsequential.

“Oh, I had heard of a new family of nobles declared by King Sirius himself. How is the new life going for you, Lawson?” Lionel spoke up, his tone barely going unnoticed. It was true that nobles were also ranked, the ones that were younger were of a lesser rank than those that were older, but the rankings didn’t matter if they were from different empires.