Chapter 353

353 Landing in Brigadia

Cole stayed by his mate’s side every chance he had. Even on the way to the airport, he sat in the same van together with the Voice of the Wild. They monitored her unchanging situation with looks of concern even though there was nothing that any of them could do about it.

The van eventually reached the airport where two royal jets were already waiting. “Don’t you think it’s reckless for both royal families to neglect their duties all at once?” Cole asked King Davin when they met outside and watched Katie’s body be moved carefully into the Lycaon Royal jet.

“I don’t let the empire stand in my way when it comes to my family. Whether it’s reckless or not, I don’t want to miss any part of their lives that matters. It’s selfish of me, but that is my decision. That’s why I took my whole family to Brigadia when it was time to get Katie back,” the king replied.

“What happens if that decision ends up getting your people killed?” Cole’s voice was lacking in emotion, but the King of Sirius could understand his situation.

“If my daughter were to die when I was out there slaving away at my desk or visiting a random pack, answering to disputes of the people, I would feel much worse than if the situation was reversed. My family matters the most to me. The empire comes next.

While we are growing up, we are taught to put the empire first at all costs, but after losing Katie once and watching my friend, Trevor lose his wife, I realised what was more important to the both of us. We don’t just want to protect our kingdoms. We want them to be places where our families can live happily,” the man tried to explain.

“That’s a twisted way to look at things. Sounds like you’re just denying all your responsibilities in the name of family,” Cole commented.

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“You’re right about that,” the king replied with a sigh, “But I’m not going anywhere until I know she’s on her way to recovery.”

“Very well then,” Cole responded, setting his eyes on the unconscious girl once more. In her unconscious state, Katie looked at peace. The prince wondered if she actually was at peace or if her mind had simply gone silent completely. It would be one of the first times that would have ever happened.

.....

It was like whatever was claiming her life was doing it as painlessly as possible, “It’s not unsettling to see her calm and not worrying about something.”

...........

Brigadia had four cars ready to receive the party when they had just arrived. Sandra was the first to exit the jets. Her parents rushed forward from the crowd that had gathered to receive them. The new hunter fell into her mother’s embrace and did the best she could to hold back the tears that threatened to escape her. Samantha approached her along with Kenneth, “So, it’s true then?” the blonde hunter asked in a sombre tone.

The lack of an answer was all Samantha needed to draw her conclusion. After hugging and greeting Sandra, the hunters approached the people exiting the planes. The hatch at the back of one of the jets opened, to release an ambulance that contained the girl being stabilised by machines just to keep her body from running out of energy.

Upon Anthony’s request, Cole opened the back of the ambulance to reveal the girl sleeping peacefully within it. The boisterous hunter stared at the girl inside for a moment, trying to discern what could possibly put her in such a state. Alas, he didn’t have a clue what he was looking at, “I hope you find what you’re looking for in Brigadia.”

“You sound like you know what we’re looking for,” Cole replied.

“Maybe... I don’t know what you’re looking for, but...” the man sighed, “I might have a faint clue.” Cole’s expressionless face finally showed a hint of surprise when he heard what Anthony said.

Anthony took this as a sign to continue, “The forest... It’s like it’s been recreated since Katie left. It started happening not long after the two of you had gone, but none of us could figure out what was happening. The patrols were getting harder to keep track of when everything was no longer looking familiar. There have been rumours of moon lotus flowers in the forest, but no proof of them. Even those that claim to have seen them can’t exactly find them again.”

“That’s because the forest will do everything to keep humans from finding the place the goddess landed, but even nature is not that perfect and that’s why people like me exist with a calling to keep such places completely hidden from humans,” an old woman’s voice intervened. The two men turned to face the woman that had crept up behind them.

“And you are...”

“My name is Fauna. I will be leading the king to this same place you’ve spoken about. It’s meant to be the epicentre of power in your forest and the place where the moon goddess last landed which, other than the Origin, makes it the one place that we can be able to communicate with the goddess again,” the woman explained.

Anthony looked between the king and the woman, waiting for the punchline, “Oh, you’re serious right now, aren’t you? Couldn’t you find some human way to fix her problem? She’s always been pushing herself and each time she broke, we pulled her out of it and got her back on track. What makes this so different?” the man argued.

“Believe me when I tell you this Anthony. Nothing humanly possible can be done for this condition. She might have taken it a bit too far this time... even for her,” Cole sighed, “We don’t have much time to waste. Let’s get her there as soon as we can.” The prince closed the door of the ambulance, signalling the end of this short break in their journey.

“Wait.... where is Micah?” Thorrin asked loudly.

“He sensed blood-lust somewhere in the Sirius empire and chose to go after it instead,” Evelyn replied. ‘Rogues?’