137 Chapter One Hundred Thirty Seven

Katie’s mind wandered about the dining hall, trying to get a bearing of how the werewolf society worked. It had finally dawned on her that she was supposed to know how all of this worked since she was the princess of the Sirius family, ‘Still not believing that though,’ she sighed.

‘You better... A wolf of my calibre would not be awarded to any random being of fewer qualifications,’ Ashley intervened, puffing out her thick chest fur. Katie was now sure she’d look like that wolf when she shifted. ‘You find me... adorable. That’s not acceptable, Katie. Take it back...’

‘When you live your life learning how to kill werewolves, one that’s as white and puffy as you cannot be scary whatsoever,’ Katie shrugged. The wolf slumped over in defeat. The truth was too much for her to take. Katie didn’t have anything to fear from wolves.

She took a bite of another dish that Cole had recommended and took the time to enjoy the burst of flavour. Not much made it to Brigadia because of the transport costs. The variety of foods that were available to her in the capital were somewhat overwhelming, “Hey, Cole, don’t feed her everything in the menu in one meal. You’ll ruin what I had planned for the weekend,” Lina intervened, finally having had enough of this. Cole was going to spoil her all at once before either of them got the chance.

“There is so much for her to see and experience in Sirius. I’m sure you’ll find something else to show her. Besides, she needs the nutrition,” Cole flipped her off and took another bite of his meal.

“Katie, don’t listen to that man. He’s only going to make you get food poisoning with this bad a mixture of foods,” Lina tried after noticing she had no bright future attacking the prince.

“Don’t worry, Lina. Sandra hasn’t had any of this, so you get another go. Speaking of Sandra, where is she?” Katie asked.

“She’ll be here soon. Jason saw her to her room a few moments ago,” he reported after a moment of silence using the mind link.

Just then, Katie went silent and eyed the door, narrowing her eyes while she did. It was only for a moment, but she’d felt the presence of something sinister in the castle or was it just her imagination. After Kyle, she couldn’t tell anymore. She was wary of everything and it was messing with the teachings that she’d received from her parents growing up.

.....

“Katie, I heard you had a little incident at the training grounds,” King Davin finally spoke. The table went silent. They knew his tone of voice well. Katie didn’t.

“Oh yeah, I lost control of my wolf. Does that happen often?” she asked, not sensing the trouble the others knew she was in.

“It only happens when a wolf has a reason to attack someone, but it almost never happens for the person the wolf attacks to be a member of their pack,” the man replied, trying to sound more serious by the minute.

Katie thought through his words, “Am I a part of the pack?” Davin’s expression softened at the question.

“Don’t you feel a connection with the pack?” Lina asked her.

“No, not really. If its something like what I feel with Cole, then I don’t think I have that,” Katie replied, causing a laugh to ripple through the table.

“Umm, Katie, the mate bond is a little bit more intense than that,” Cole chuckled, “but you weren’t so much off the mark. Close your eyes.” Katie did as she’d been instructed, “Clear your thoughts and try to listen...”

It took a while longer than Katie would have liked for her to start hearing the whispers of the wolves around her. Conversations flowed through her mind from one wolf to another. ‘Did you see the way she rushed at Crysta? A plus for the scare...’ ‘Do you think the two of them planned to scare the girl so that she might back off?’ ‘Maybe they did... What were the odds of Cole pulling Crysta out of the way at the right moment?’ ‘Hey honey, can you take the kids to school today? We have more customers today than usual and I have to get to the restaurant to...’ ‘Say no more. I’ll handle it. Just come back in one piece, okay...’ ‘Yes, I will. Love you...’

The conversations continued to weave through the girl’s mind. Teenagers gossiping, men arguing, couples chatting, children bickering, pack warriors discussing shifts, all of it swarmed her mind and the most amazing part of it was that she felt a connection to all of them. She could tell where they were, if they were in physical pain, if they were happy or sad, all of it...

“There you go,” Cole’s voice brought her out of her thoughts and the voices came to a stop.

“I thought most of those were private conversations. How could I hear all of them?” she asked.

Martha placed down her fork and rubbed her temples, “It didn’t even take a few tries for her to get the hang of it.”

“I know right. It’s insane. I’m jealous,” Lina complained, before her face beamed, “What if that’s part of why she’s one of the moon goddess’ chosen pair?”

“What are you getting at, little sister?”

“Well, we all know about Cole’s insane healing abilities and immunity to poison. Well, Katie is also a fast healer, but what if her quick adaptability is what makes her so special?” Lina mused.

“We’ll put a pin in that,” the king spoke up, “On another unrelated note, I finished with the paperwork involving the school you’ll all be attending. As per your arrangement in Brigadia, the lot of still have to go to school. Sometimes I forget that Cole is still eighteen and has to attend school as well. Sandra’s transfer has also been completed, so everything should be in order.”

“I can’t believe I still get to go to school,” Katie groaned, “and this time as a werewolf hunter that’s also a werewolf hunting another starry werewolf that could potentially be a part of my family.”

“Did you just say ‘starry,’?” the king asked.

“Oh, yes, I did. The Rogue king’s...”

“No offence, but I thought you were being delusional when you said you saw the rogue king. He’s only been seen a few times and every time he was seen, the same description you’ve given described him. Unfortunately, we’ve never believed that either because there isn’t single royal that has a wolf of that pelt,” he cut her off, voicing his conclusions. Katie shrugged off the insulting comment as she wouldn’t have believed the Rogue King’s presence either if she hadn’t seen him for herself.

“Well, you’ll have me, Jason, Caden, Sandra and Lina by your side, so you have nothing to worry about,” Cole told her.

“That does make me feel better,” she replied, her appetite returning to her. ‘You should just kiss him on the lips every time he says something touching...’

Katie rolled her eyes at Ashley’s comment, her senses flaring up all of a sudden. She turned her eyes to the large double doors as they heaved open. Sandra rushed in carrying her phone and keeping it far from her ear. Whoever was on the other side of the phone call sent shivers down Katie’s spine. ‘Why can’t I eat in peace?’ she groaned.

‘Make sure you finish the food before you Katie... I’m still hungry,’ Ashley replied, silently cursing that she wasn’t the one in charge of moving their body at the moment.

“Katie, it’s for you. Why won’t you answer your phone?” Sandra asked. Memories of diving into a river of water flashed through the girl’s mind.

“It fell into a tank of water,” she lied bluntly flashing a nervous smile.

“You got it wet, huh... Well, that will have to wait until you finish talking to Samantha,” Sandra announced. Once Katie had the phone, Sandra took the time to greet the royals. Lina called for the girl to take a seat besides Honour.

“Hi, my name is Honour,” Honour began, her vibrant smile gracing her face.

“My name is Sandra, hi... Am I allowed to sit here? These seats are...”

“Amazing, expensive, worth more than our ‘peasant bottoms’,” Honour commented cheerfully. Sandra laughed, nodding in agreement as she sat. This brief moment of happiness, however, was shut down by the sound of a woman yelling out of the phone Sandra had just passed over...

“KATIE...” Samantha’s voice came through the phone.

“Yup, that’s the woman who sent me running here even though she was miles away from here,” Sandra commented while she served herself with something she had no idea of. A move she came to regret... it was packed full of chilli.

“Hi, Samantha, how are you doing today?” Katie replied, in her most cheerful voice. The woman on the other side of the phone was clearly angry, but Katie couldn’t help, but smile. It was the first voice she was hearing from home and nothing it could say would wipe the smile off her face.

“Don’t use that tone on me. Where is my katana?” the woman asked...

“Where is your... Oops,” the smile was gone.