Chapter 301: Chapter 301

301 Fired Up Again...

Sandra and Katie found Kyle leaning against the wall adjacent to the main gate, humming to himself with his arms crossed in a tune Sandra could have sworn were familiar.

The boy didn’t complain about anything at all even when Katie felt some of the pain he was feeling from the occasional torture that served as his punishment. In fact, he smiled when they approached him, “How are you doing?” Katie asked.

“Of course, he’s not doing well, Katie. You don’t have to ask him that question,” Sandra cut him off before he could speak. Katie, however, didn’t take it as an answer and remained silent waiting for Kyle to speak up.

“I’m getting used to it. The wounds heal faster. I’ll be fine,” he replied humbly with a slight bow.

Sandra raised her hand against the boy and watched him flinch, “Oh come on, Kyle. I’m only teasing you. You make it too easy.” The new hunter grumbled, “Would the two of you lighten up already?”

“I’ll lighten up when I hear some good news coming from Kyle’s mouth,” the Luna sighed, turning around to the direction that led them back to the palace, “Go on, Kyle.”

“Yeah, right. I have been hearing a case going about. Abductions randomly occurring throughout the city. No one knows the culprit, but the missing person reports won’t stop coming in,” Kyle explained.

“Is there a specific pattern to the people that are disappearing?” Katie asked.

“Well, at first, there didn’t seem to be a pattern at all. A child born to a noble family was abducted. He was their first born so you can imagine the noise the nobles are giving the future king.

.....n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

There was the other case concerning a girl that was about to make her debut as a musician. I don’t usually pay attention to specific music icons, but this girl was apparently said to be really good. I heard the music, she’s really...”

“Does your secret crush on the woman have anything to do with the case?” Katie interrupted him.

“In my opinion, it does. Caden asked that I help out and I did a little more digging into those that were being captured. The culprit hasn’t been found yet even after the Chase family visits the different homes belonging to their families. It’s a mystery to everyone,” Kyle said to her.

Katie took this bit of information as a lack of murderous intent to keep the culprits from the Chase hunters’ radar.

“Well, who else vanished?” she asked. Kyle continued to tell her about the different cases that he’d heard of. Each one had one thing in common which Katie found easier to see just because Kyle kept insinuating something about the people that had vanished.

“Each one of them had something going for them. Their lives were going great and they had great potential the culprit abducted them. What’s the end goal for something like that?” Kyle summarised at the end.

“My guess is that with that big a number of potentially important people, the culprit is hoping to collect a heavy ransom. And since it’s within the capital, the people are going to turn to the royals for help. They will be asking Cole for help and the perpetrator could just name a high price. Being royalty, Cole will be able to meet the price,” Sandra deduced.

“That is a plausible approach to the whole matter. Has the Perfect Warrior been able to detect any foul play?” Katie asked.

‘I was about to ask if you had, but I guess that’s a no,’ the boy replied through their shared mind link, “No, the Perfect Warrior hasn’t been able to detect anything yet and it’s... getting on his nerves.”

“Well, this is definitely a tough one. I have no doubt the hunters are out there trying to find any clue that could lead them to the culprit,” Katie sighed.

“What are you going to do, Katie?” Sandra asked the Luna. She was in no state to play detective, but Sandra was sure she would not let it go without offering some sort of help.

“I will have to visit the places visited by the person that was captured most recently,” the girl replied. ‘Ashley, are you strong enough to come out?’ she asked her wolf.

‘Not as strong as I’m supposed to be, but if I understand where you’re going with this, I might be able to help,’ the wolf replied weakly.

‘That’s all we’ll need, Ashley. Thank you,’ the girl would have given a tight-lipped smile if she was speaking to someone on the physical plane.

‘No problem, Katie,’ the wolf replied before going silent once again. The silence in her mind brought her more sadness. It had been like this since that day and almost nothing had changed.

“Katie... Your eyes are dimming again,” Kyle told her in a tone that dictated that it was normal.

“Oh, sorry,” Katie sighed, letting her eyes flash a vibrant blue once more. It was something she’d learned from her wolf. When Ashley was completely withdrawn, the glow in her eyes dimmed out and left her with the dark blue orbs that, she only recently discovered, her mate had once feared.

“Are you doing alright?” Sandra asked her once more.

“Yeah, my wolf that’s still a little weak is all,” she replied truthfully. Unlike Kyle, Sandra was not aware of her current werewolf weakness. They continued walking to the palace, talking of other cases that the boy had been looking into.

Many of them he used as jokes that made him snicker at the beta alphas. Cole was fond of leaving them to handle duties that were utterly impossible to imagine a king taking care of on his own, for example, squabbling among the nobles.

As they neared the palace, the number of people that would bow in respect to Katie began to increase. This was what notified the girl that their walk was soon coming to an end. She ceased her laughter and assumed a more composed Luna-worthy elegance before walking into the palace. Kyle could barely contain himself as he watched the girl pay attention to everyone who passed by, greeting her and accompanying her name with the title of ‘Luna.’

“Do you have something to say, Kyle?” the girl raised her voice when they reached the large double doors at the palace entrance.

“Well, I have been with you for a large part of my life and trust me, I don’t know when it will stop being funny every time I hear someone referring to you as the Luna of the Lycaon empire,” he laughed out loud, completely disregarding his alpha’s agitated tone.

Katie giggled at his silly behaviour, “When your punishment is done, you’ll have to get used to people calling you Alpha Kyle.”

This was enough to shut him up, “That’s not funny, Katie.”

“It sure is. How is training with Caden going?” Katie asked him.

“What training? I know nothing about any training,” Kyle huffed.

As they rounded a corner on their way to the king’s office, Katie collided with a wall or more like a Cole-scented body... and one that her wolf(along with Katie) wanted to drown in.

She staggered back, trying to get her bearings, but Cole pulled her into a hug, raising her off the ground to meet his height, “Where have you been?”

“Hunter’s Agency, Cole, I need to breathe,” the girl struggled in his suffocating embrace.

The royal reluctantly let go of her and set her down, “Well, what’s buzzing about your busy mind? I thought I was sure to keep you aware of matters concerning the kingdom.”

“Speaking of the kingdom, is everything going fine?” she asked.

“Yeah... why would you...” seeing the beta alpha standing behind his mate, he stopped speaking. He then turned to Sandra who took a cautious step back and raised her hands in the air, surrendering, “You are to leave that to me.”

“I can help you, Cole.”

“No, you’re not ready to start exerting yourself again just yet,” the royal argued.

“Since when do you decide when I can help you or not? You don’t seem to hold back when you want to help me with something,” she countered.

“No, Katie, that is different and you know it. I would let you help me if you were fine, but you’re not fine Katie,” the man raised his voice to match Katie’s, looking her dead in the eye.

Tears swarmed the girl’s face before she wiped them away, “You don’t have to remind me, Cole. I know I can’t do much.”

Cole pulled her into a heartfelt hug. It stung to see tears in her eyes, “You’ll get better again, Katie and when...”

“Come with me then,” the girl cut him off calmly.

“Go with you where?”

“The homes of the people who’ve been abducted or at least the most recent that you know of. I only mean to help you track them,” the girl replied, “I won’t do any more than that.”

“Katie, you care too much for people in danger. I can’t guarantee you won’t rush out into danger again. If you pull the same stunt you did the Rogue King, you could die...”

“I know, Cole. You’ve never let me forget it. Are you coming with me or not? I didn’t break my promise the last time I made one,” the girl replied.

“What... You jumped out of a plane and attacked the most dangerous man on the planet. How was that keeping your promise?” Cole exclaimed.

“You have a point there, but that time, I had help. I didn’t go alone, right?” she tried, flashing the taller man a bright smile.

“Goddess, help me. It’s like talking to a brick wall,” Cole pinched the bridge of his nose. Katie took this as her victory and pecked the alpha’s cheek.

“Thank you, Cole. You can call Caden... or Jason as well. Hurry up... I’ll be waiting by the car,” the girl gave him his orders and was off, abandoning her original path to the king’s palace.

Sandra chuckled, “It is nice though... To see Katie fired up again.”

“Yeah, there is no denying that,” Cole replied, smiling as he watched his mate skip away with her beta alpha following closely behind, ‘I just hope you get better soon. We could really use your help right about now...’ he silently wished.