Chapter 132

132 Chapter One Hundred Thirty Two

Katie ran with Sandra, trying her best to avoid pricking her non-existent imaginary injuries. She found that once in a while, pain shot through her with no source at either one of the four scars on her body. When she persevered through the pain, it vanished just like it came and the sensation annoyed her. Although all that didn’t annoy her the way Crysta did.

With Ashley’s enhanced senses, she could tell that the Beta’s daughter had sped up to catch up to them. Katie didn’t go too fast for fear of wearing Sandra out. She knew what Sandra’s limit was since the last time they’d trained together. Remembering this allowed her to clear her mind. She had a duty to her friend and mentor and one that she had to fulfil. “Is this pace too fast for you?”

“No, it’s not. Umm, Katie, how do you know where we are going?” Sandra asked her.

“I can hear those ahead of us and those behind us. That’s what’s guiding me... along with Lina’s scent... That girl is really fast,” Katie replied.

“It’s rare for you to comment about someone’s speed. Don’t you think you could beat her if you were given the chance to race her?” Sandra asked, sounding normal, a detail that was important to Katie. Sandra was not straining one bit to keep up with her. Katie was sure this was the speed at which the girl was supposed to get winded.

“Maybe... Umm, is it okay if... No, forget it. Let’s pick up the pace. I can tell that we are about to make it,” she shook her head. ‘Of course, she was training while I was stuck in a wheelchair,’ Katie remembered the week she’d spent in her wheelchair.

“Understood,” the girl replied without resistance and even allowed Katie to gauge just how fast they were supposed to run. They were practically running at a pace that a human would have trouble with... That’s when Katie heard it... the deep breathing technique that hunters were trained to use when they needed to draw on energy stored deep within their reserves.

When mastered, it could boost the physical limitations of a junior hunter so that they weren’t useless in a battle. The last time Katie had fought with Sandra, she’d almost mastered it. She would have never expected her to master it in the week that she was gone... At this rate, Sandra should have been more than capable of keeping up with Katie when she let go without using her Prometheus gifts albeit for a shorter time than Katie could take using the technique. This was amazing news to her...

“You mastered it... I can’t believe it. Of course, I can, you’re Sandra,” Katie mused. Out of excitement, she’d started running faster... Sandra didn’t reply as all her focus was on keeping her breathing regular lest she risked collapsing out from exhaustion. Katie noticed this and proceeded with what was now clearly a training session... “Let’s put this to the test. The clearing is close... I can smell the large gathering of werewolves... four hundred metres, give or take... Run, Sandra, run... Try to get there before me...”

.....

With an excitement squeal from Katie, the two let go of their shackles and dashed for the clearing. It became apparent to Katie that the people following them had almost caught up when they chose to increase their speed and the boost put a reasonable distance between them. However, she was enjoying the thrill of being able to run with her best friend for the first time to let something like that ruin her mood.

........

Sandra collapsed next to a tree, missing it while she was aiming to lean against it. Katie laughed at the girl’s state... Her legs would not listen to her and her breathing was a sore sound to the ears. “Kay... Kay... Katie... How in the world aren’t you tired? I know... you... weren’t using your gift,” Sandra panted.

“You’ll get used to running longer distances with time, Sandra. I’m impressed you were able to manage that distance alone. I’m so excited,” Katie squealed in excitement.

“How did the two of you get here?” a feminine voice reached Katie’s ears, draining the happiness from her immediately...

“Can’t we get a moment when we don’t have to deal with this one?” she muttered through gritted teeth, more to herself, “Don’t you have some training to attend to?”

“Yes, that I do... And so do you. Alpha Jackson has asked that we pair up with opponents of our choice. There are two ways to do that. The pair can either agree to be sparring partners or through a challenge,” the girl said.

“I’d prefer the latter. It means I get to fight whoever it is that I want to with no excuses,” she replied... Katie turned to the girl before her who was starting to regain her breath, completely ignoring the well-bred athlete behind her. Sandra was the same, but the difference between a wolf and a human was quite distinct when it came to athletic build. Humans weren’t blessed with the physical advantage that werewolves were blessed with.

“Hey, what did you find out about the sample of alcohol that you got tested?” Katie asked the girl.

Sandra looked between the two females before her, ignoring the ones that followed Crysta around and started debating on whether it was a good idea to disclose this kind of information to Katie at this moment. It was already clear that the girl was trying to get on her nerves, but without the information that Sandra had gathered, Katie still had the ability to hold back from attacking her.

Katie noticed her hesitation and her expression went dark, “What did you find Sandra? What was in that alcohol?” this time her voice was clear to the girls behind her. Fear flashed in the eyes of the girl before her, sealing the information further into Sandra. Katie looked behind her, but the girl had already masked her expression and folded her hands across her chest, furrowing her brows in frustration.

“Is a teeny tiny aphrodisiac for the man’s worries such a bad thing?” she smirked at the girl. Ashley surged forward and was only hindered by Katie’s restraint forcing the girl into a half shift, her eyes gleaming bright blue with fury. She wasn’t able to hold back the dangerous growl that came from her throat. ‘Give me control, Katie.’ The wolf yelled in her mind.

Katie hadn’t heard anything from Sandra yet... and that was all that kept her rooted to her spot. The wolves in the clearing that were only taking their downtime to stretch and get ready for the morning drills looked in their direction. “A half shift. Impressive... I guess you do need training wheels for that crippled body of yours.”

The scent of Katie’s mate brought her some more control and calmed her nerves. Cole was by her side instantly, two alphas standing between the two girls. “I can’t believe we got here before werewolves. It’s crazy,” Sandra said, breathing out to show how tired she was.

“Katie, what’s wrong?” Cole asked the girl in his embrace that was still stuck in a half shift, glaring daggers at the one and only Crysta.

“Sandra found out what was in the drink you had yesterday, but she won’t tell me what it was and that excuse of a girl is starting to get on my nerves,” she answered, her face returning to normal the longer she was in his arms. She found everything about him calming... albeit annoying since she wanted to rip the girl beyond Caden and Jason to shreds...

With a loud call from Alpha Jackson, the audience disintegrated. Crysta walked away from them with her two followers in tow. Katie didn’t know what to make of the girl’s reaction. “You are going to become a celebrity now... It’s not every day that people find a werewolf capable of a half shift and making it look so easy.”

“It’s like everything I do is special,” the girl groaned.

Cole chuckled, “Well, I wouldn’t expect the moon goddess’ chosen to be anything, but extraordinary.” To the sky, he finished the rest of his statement, ‘I’d almost forgotten that...’ it was almost as though he’d directed the thought to his patron goddess. It didn’t matter anyway since she was always watching him.

....

“It’s about time he realised that... Who in the world reaches the age of eighteen without ever seeing his blood and still think he’s normal,” the moon goddess mused.

“Probably because he watched his mate do all these amazing things that it made him forget about what made him special as well,” Seth tried, jotting down another number in his Sudoku puzzle. He did these when he was feeling like challenging his mind.

The moon goddess looked away from her pool and eyed her husband deep in thought. This was one of those times when he just didn’t mind anything that was happening in the world of mortals. “The person who invented this game was really something...”

“Really... a miniature game like Sudoku has torn your focus from our mission...”

“Nothing is more relaxing like food for the brain my dear. You should try it sometime,” the man replied, his face lighting up as he jotted down another digit that had just become known to him. “Victory... a few more obvious numbers and it’s done... This one was so hard... Mwahahaha.”

The moon goddess chuckled at the childishness, “I don’t need ‘food for the brain’ when I have you to keep me company.”

“Oh darn it... This six has appeared twice,” he screamed, startling the moon goddess. She thought he was done, but he placed the paper notepad down and began toasting it in flames... a deranged look on his face...

“Oh, honey, you were never really cut out for mind games...” the moon goddess burst out laughing at his revenge against the ‘piece of paper...’ “What happened to all that talk of relaxing food for the brain?”