Chapter 199

199 Chapter One Hundred Ninety Nine

“That is beside the point, Alice. They left me with an eighteen-year-old werewolf that seems to be getting more and more occupied by her love life than worry about trying to protect the students that she was put in charge of,” he responded.

“You might be giving her far less credit than she deserves. Some hunters show their effectiveness when the time comes. I know a few that don’t need to be woken up in case of a werewolf attack, no matter the time,” Alice replied.

“Morgan, try to help me out with this one,” Trevor rubbed his forehead.

“Well, I would if I hadn’t seen Evelyn Chase in action one time. The woman was shooting arrows with her eyes closed in the middle of the night as though it was broad daylight,” he replied.

“The Chase family is off-limits when it comes to oddities,” Alice commented, chuckling while she flowed through her memories of the family.

“Yes, that is true. If I’m not mistaken, you had Thorrin Chase as your mentor once. Did you pick up on their odd skills while you were there?”

“Oh yeah, I picked up a feel of some of them. Well, it’s just one ability really that they seem to have that’s out of the ordinary. That same ability and the fact that they are multitalented. It’s like they were all built to do this job,” the woman replied.

“You make them sound like mythical creatures. Stop creeping me out, all of you,” Trevor snapped at them, rousing a chuckle from them.

“I heard that two of them went missing on some top-secret mission to raise a child to be a hunter and the ultimate weapon against the rogue king,” the man whispered.

.....

“Morgan, perhaps you’re putting a little booze into your coffee this morning,” Trevor mused peeping into the man’s cup.

“He speaks of a rumour that moved through the hunters. It was never confirmed by the Chase family so it took on so many different forms as it went through the pros. Some of them said the two hunters that had left were looking for a location of the moon goddess so they could severe her connection to the werewolves, making all of them human once more,” Alice continued.

“That sounds even more like a dream compared to the first one,” Trevor mentioned.

“Meh, you barely heard the others. Some were just plain hilarious,” Morgan shrugged, “Anyway, did you draft the list of all the junior hunters you have and split them into the three groups that are going to be guarding the three groups that we are taking through the reserve?”

“Oh, yeah, I finished all that. Here is the list of the names. I made sure to give more of the junior hunters to the group with Katie in it, considering I don’t believe in her skills whatsoever,” Trevor groaned.

“Then in that case, I will be switching with her and taking the group with more junior hunters,” Morgan spoke up, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Do you have any idea what she did when the bus set off from the school yesterday? I was sure she would be alert and make sure nothing interrupted us or that nothing went wrong,” he seethed.

“What did she do?” the others indulged.

“She slept... The whole way. There wasn’t a single point in the journey when she was awake. Something bad could have happened in that time and yet she just slept. I have to tell you. I don’t know what to make of her just yet. She’s more of a wolf than she is a hunter,” the boy replied.

“Watch your tongue, boy. You know hunters do not look down on each other. Every hunter chosen by the Man god had the potential to protect people should the need arise,” Alice replied.

Trevor sighed, “Prometheus be with us... This is going to be one long school trip.” With that said, he set his eyes on the seemingly carefree royal and self-proclaimed hunter that was meant to protect a third of the students they had gone with. He’d seen signs of the respect she was given by the werewolves that were always around her, along with Sandra, the junior hunter that spent more time than any human in the company of werewolves. The whole group was a bunch of oddities that didn’t make any sense to him in the slightest.

..........

The meal finally came to an end and the teachers requested the students to gather at the front of the hotel where they would receive instructions and a whole rundown of the agenda of the day. To excite the students, a bonfire that night was promised by the hotel staff. This got their moods up and made them more compliant with everything the teachers said. A tactic that had been suggested by Morgan.

Katie bid her gang of werewolves and humans a short goodbye and broke away from them to find Trevor. She still had no idea what the agenda of the day was going to be like and yet she was sure she was supposed to be helping out. “Hey, Trevor, what’s up? Good morning, Alice and man that I have not yet been introduced to.”

“His name is Morgan and you will do well to remember it. When were you planning to come to me for this?” Trevor asked, showing her the copy of the list the teachers had just gone with. Katie snatched it from his hands and skimmed through the names...

“This list is so boring. You separated me from everyone I know. It looks clear that you were making groups based on people that get along, but you separated me from my family and friends. What’s the meaning of this?” Katie asked him.

“What is that I hear? Are you playing favourites? You’re a hunter...” he responded.

“Yes, I am a hunter, but this list is all wrong. You should at least place me in the group that contains Lina and Honour so that I can...”

“Good morning, Luna Katie,” a voice cut her off. The girl sighed at the title. The voice was feminine and Katie’s mind paired a face to it. She turned around to find Crysta standing with her two friends beside her. Looking back at the list, she found that Crysta’s name was in the list that had Lina. “I will do everything I can to protect her.”

“Well, you better. If you hear me tell you to keep your guard up, you better. That’s my sister you’re protecting,” Katie replied.

“I love how much faith has been put in me and the junior hunters that are in charge of protecting this group,” Morgan sighed.

Katie turned around to face the man. If it hadn’t been for the rogues she detected in the forest, she would have laughed at his comment, “Keep your guard up, Morgan.”

“Is that a threat or a warning?” the hunter asked.

Katie thought about her words before responding, “How about a word of advice?”

Alice covered her mouth to muffle the outburst that nearly escaped her. Morgan turned to her and hit her shoulder, “Hey, you’re on my side here, aren’t you?”

“I am just watching you get ordered by an eighteen-year-old... I cannot take sides in this one,” she said drawing her lips into a tight line, keeping her laughter to herself.

“Anyway, we better get going. The tour is about to begin. Besides everything, I hope you don’t forget what brought you here. Have some fun with this? This reserve is a beautiful place,” Morgan mentioned before walking away from them. When he was far from them, he rubbed his temples, clearly disturbed by the royal’s words.

The students found three oddly designed vehicles outside the hotel. They were wider than their buses and given larger tyres to allow them to move on the underdeveloped roads spread throughout the reserves. There wasn’t a sign of a roof on these vehicles. Each one could hold a number of up to fifty students. The colour scheme was cream mixed with many shades of brown.

Once they were all grouped up into their respective groups, they were ready to move about. Katie noticed one thing that was bound to make her trip even worse than it already was... The two troublemakers that were meant to serve their time with Trevor had been added to the group of hunters that were going to help her in protecting the group she’d been assigned. ‘This should be interesting. All the junior hunters sat in the back seats of the car and kept their eyes peeled in all directions... Well, that was the protocol Katie had devised but made sure to remind them to check out the sights as well.

“What’s in the bag?” Wyatt asked her, noticing the bag she had brought along with her.

Katie looked at the bag beside her, “Well, it’s something that you’ll never find a use for. Although something that I will find a use for.”

'

“That’s too vague, even for you. Just show me what it is and let’s be done with it,” he continued.

“Wyatt, read the mood and back off,” Liam spoke in an irritated tone without sparing his friend a glance.

Wyatt stopped his retort from leaving him and looked the other way. Katie looked from one side to the other. She’d never seen a rift between the two werewolves and yet here they were... “This should be fun...” she sighed as the engine roared to life and wheeled them away from the hotel.

..........