Chapter 226: Chapter 226

226 Chapter Two Hundred Twenty Six

Alice could barely believe the sight before her. The girl who she’d known to be a junior hunter had just shot off at a speed faster than that of the wolves they were following. This level of urgency was what told her something was terribly wrong... She tapped into her abilities and dashed forward, doing her best to keep up with the girl as she dashed forward.

Growls filled the dark forest notifying them of the rogues that were in the forest... Just then, the woman was able to identify the rogues ahead, along with the other wolves that had scattered away from them and seemed to be regrouping further away from the scene... They were unprotected... the girl before took a sharp turn dodging the mass of rogues before them that clearly outnumbered the alphas that surrounded them...

Alice was about to stop when a voice rang through her mind, “Go and help her... She’s gone after a human.” She didn’t wait to ask who it was that had just spoken into her mind. Her Prometheus gift seemed to react all on its own at the mention of a human in trouble... However, what she found upon following the girl was beyond her wildest imagination... ‘Who is this girl?’

....

Sandra didn’t know what happened and she barely had the time to process it. She only knew she had to protect the human and that is what she set her mind to. She used everything she’d learned during her training to rush after the rogues that were after the human without paying attention to everything else that was happening before her.

Katie had been teaching her how to follow her senses no matter how thin they were and she’d never been more sure in her life than she was at the moment. The moment she’d heard there was a human among the pack, she’d been sure of everything her gut was trying to tell her. She knew what she had to do and how to do it. Whether she could pull it off or not was not a question she asked herself... which is why she barely noticed when she whizzed past the wolves and burst forward faster than a human was meant to ever go.

She caught up to the rogues that were chasing the wolf harbouring the human and allowed her hands to slide into the jacket she wore, retrieving blades she’d grown accustomed to using whenever she was granted the chance. Katie had taken her along many times to hunt rogues when she felt they had attacked... Her senses were so sharp that she knew of this before they were even a danger to Brigadia...

Sandra barely hesitated when she reached the first one. The rogue turned to the right just in time to see a blade plunge deep into its side. Sandra brought her feet to a stop, allowing the blade to cut through the beast’s hide before she pulled the blade out and made lacerations to the wolf’s joints, making quick work of its ligaments before starting her pursuit of the last one...

Since Katie’s werewolf side had activated, the blades were as expected, free from wolfsbane and not as deadly as she had hoped they would be. Sandra soon caught up to the other wolf as it was about to make an effort to leap and get to the human... The girl quickly cut the wolf’s hind leg’s ligaments, downing the beast and delivering a killing blow to its throat. With that done and her sinking feeling of danger gone, exhaustion came crashing down on the girl’s body. She’d been running so fast for longer than she’d ever managed...

.....

She lay beside the dead beast with her arms spread out, panting... Alice was in time to see everything happen. She’d been so impressed by the junior hunter’s quick work of the rogues that she’d kept from helping her out... After all, she had also noticed something else happen in the same exact moment... Sandra was at the precipice of her own awakening... ‘Had you known this would happen, Katie?’ Alice asked herself. If the girl had come with them, the opportunity to have this girl attain a Prometheus gift probably would have never presented itself.

“Get up, Sandra... You still have a lot to accomplish. The forest is stained with more rogues than you can imagine,” the woman responded...

“Why can’t Katie come and help?” the girl on the forest floor complained.

“I don’t know what kept Katie behind, but as you said, it was probably something more troubling than everything we’ve seen now...” the woman said to her, offering a hand for her to get up.

“Yeah, I know what I said... I hope I’m not right. I don’t want us to have to deal with someone more dangerous than the man at the beach,” Sandra replied.

“You seem to be handling yourself well. Can you still run?” the woman asked her.

“I should be able to after a short rest... I don’t get it... where did the rogues come from? They are far more than... Reinforcements...”

“Can you also detect your enemies just like the Chase family?” Alice asked, nocking an arrow and pointing it randomly in the direction they came...

“I’m not as good as Katie is, but I keep trying. I’ve learned a lot from my mentor, but I’m not as fast a learner as she is... However, if I’m right, then, the rogues called for reinforcements. Either that or they planned to fool Katie’s senses by bringing a dummy number first before the main force came in later...” the girl tried explaining.

“That explains why the girl stayed behind to protect the hotel. Who knows how many they are...” she paused as a rogue rushed out from behind the trees towards them, delivering an arrow right between its eyes and retrieving another arrow just in case the first one prove ineffective.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you know of the same ability,” Sandra observed. She was finally breathing evenly.

“Well, I grew up with the Chase family for a time... so yeah, I did learn something,” she replied, “although it is not as much as what you and Katie Sirius seem to know. Are you well rested now?”

Sandra wiped her bloodied blade against the pelt of the rogue she’d killed, and stood up, “Yeah, I’m now well-rested...”

“Very well... then try to keep up with me...”

..........

The battle in the woods raged on as the rogues spread out to attack the now disorganized pack of Sirius wolves. Most of them weren’t capable of fighting to the death. They’d been trained to defend themselves and only a few were worthy of joining the ranks of the pack warriors at their ages. Cole and Jason joined Caden and the rest of his crew in trying to bring down their numbers. The rogues scattered and changed their objectives cornering any wolf they could find. For those that had the chance to witness it, the creatures of the forest would come out of hiding and down the wolves with whatever means necessary. Bees and hornets stung the wolves... Squirrels transmitted all the information to the Eagles that reported to a master that was unknown to the wolves.

Ants crawled onto the unsuspecting rogues and irritated them until they couldn’t focus on anything other than the creepy crawlies on them. Cole bit down on a wolf right before he saw a bear rise onto its hind legs and come down on a retreating rogue, ending its life with a powerful bite to the throat... ‘What in the world is going on?’ the royal asked himself when he noticed the ants crawling through the fur of the wolf he’d just put down himself.

“So, Katie decided to embrace her second ability,” he smiled to himself. He felt a little safer knowing they had far more numbers than they’d initially thought...

At the heart of the forest, two wolves stood in a field of beautiful lotuses completely isolated from the fighting and panic. Honour had collapsed at the centre of the field the moment they’d gotten there... Lina watched as the trees closed up the path that had allowed her to get her friend to the moon lotuses in her wolf form.

“Honour...?” she asked the girl pulling her head into her lap.

“You know I’m not going to die, right?” Honour replied, opening her eyes to meet her best friend’s blue orbs.

“Well, you don’t look so good, so of course, I’m going to worry about you,” Lina replied before looking about her. The blue light coming from the moon lotuses had spread to her friend once again...

“You don’t have to act like you don’t see the change that happens when I’m near the moon lotuses,” the girl replied.

Lina was quiet for a bit before answering, “It’s a beautiful change, Honour. You don’t...”

“I’m not worried about what I look like, Lina...”

“You’re worried about what it means...”

“Yes, Lina... Yes, I’m worried about what it means.” Her best friend replied. The girl who was always positive and cheerful was looking worried for the first time in her life. Lina didn’t know just how worried she was supposed to be that she was witnessing this for the first time.