Chapter 357: Chapter 357

357 Bad news... Understatement...

Within the mess of groaning plant life and rapidly creeping vines that continued to entomb the newly Crowned King of Lycaon, the future Queen and the Voice of the Wild, a sole high-pitched scream akin to that of a dying weaver bird rang clear. The same scream continued long after the trees had stopped moving. Cole was almost sure the trees shuddered at the power this scream held within it.

Sadly enough, it was a nuisance coming from the old woman trapped with him. When Fauna ran out of options, she’d chosen to scream her lungs out. A feat that would have been counterproductive. ‘Doesn’t she realise there is barely enough air left for the three of us?’ Thankfully, the trees had stopped moving and a resonating shudder was echoing all around them.

Peeking through one of his tightly shut eyes, the alpha realised they weren’t being crushed anymore, something else was happening. “This has got to be some cruel joke,” he coughed under the cruel pressure pressing from all sides. Without warning, the pressure on them vanished and a deep breath of air made its way into the man’s lungs.

The vines receded faster than they’d moved in, completely spreading and letting the trees space out again. The ground rumbled from the rapid movement of plant life. When the greenery finally stopped moving, they had spread out like they normally were in a normal forest assuming the serene stillness of a peaceful forest.

Cole was even able to recognise what part of the forest they were in. The very positions of the trees were etched deeply into his memory. A wave of nostalgia washed over him reminding him of the time he’d met the moon goddess.

How could he ever forget the trees that surrounded him that night? It was the time he’d almost found his mate. He’d been evaded for so long... and on that day, the goddess herself had stopped him from seeing her. The only difference, now, however, was the blue incandescent flowers that covered the ground. Moon lotus flowers were littered all over the ground forming a trail leading deeper into the forest.

Fauna was still panting from the ordeal. She heaved a breath, “That was close. How did you manage to...” the woman stopped speaking when she noticed something bizarre with Cole’s Luna. Trickling down the side of her lip was a thin trail of blood, but somehow the woman could tell it didn’t belong to her. The answer felt so simple all of a sudden. The prince bore Katie’s mark on his shoulder and that could only be possible if she could break his skin, “Your mate can bite you.”

Cole smiled warmly, rubbing circles in Katie’s back. This was his last hope, but he hadn’t thought it would work. Katie was unconscious and he didn’t even know what waking her up would do to her. Even then, she had been struggling to pierce her own palms earlier, almost as if she’d known what they needed to do to survive this situation.

Cole, then hoped that she would be able to bite him even while asleep. It was a gamble, but it was one that had paid off. He had also run out of options leaving him with that one course of action.

.....

“I remembered the day she marked me. There was no resistance to her teeth like there normally is. It was the only way I could think of,” the man explained.

“Clever, but how were you sure she would bite you?” she asked, “She shouldn’t even be able to move in the first place.”

“You’re the one that mentioned her ‘amazing’ intuition and instincts. I just had to trust that she would do it,” the man replied with a shrug. He then took a step forward in the direction of the lotus flowers. He knew where he was going now that the forest was back to normal and required no direction in taking to the nexus of divine energy they were in search of.

It was the place he’d first met the moon goddess. The day she delayed him from meeting his mate by one day. Back then, the girl was being protected from the rogue king, disguised as a hunter. A powerful one, though... Katie was nothing like he would have ever expected his mate to be.

It wasn’t long before they finally reached the field of moon lotus flowers. Cole’s eyes were now glowing brightly in response to the massive influx of divine energy in this field of flowers. The flowers were glowing a bright blue similar to the shade of his eyes and beaming with divine energy.

“This is it, isn’t it?” Cole asked her.

“Yes... this is it. Place her at the centre of the field of flowers,” the woman instructed. Without warning or notification, Fauna moved further from the centre of the clearing. A dark expression threatened to replace her jovial countenance. She’d done a fantastic job of keeping this facade... but now that they were here, Fauna was not sure she could keep it up much longer.

As Cole placed Katie down, he noticed numerous scratches on her back. Tapping into his power, he healed the slight blemishes that the violent trees had left. Katie’s appearance was pristine in the field of moon lotuses, almost like she was made to lay there, untouched by faults... groomed to perfection.

The rest of the party that had come with them made it to the centre of the forest not long after the king had laid his Luna in the field of moon lotuses. Still dressed in the blue dress that she’d been in during the coronation, Katie looked like a princess laying down in a field of flowers. The blue flowers seemed to respond to her presence and hugged her body nicely, wrapping her beautiful frame with a blue mist of divine energy.

Cole didn’t know this, but he was the only one that could see the bright glow of the flowers. This glow was visible to him because of the divine energy in his body as one of the goddess’s chosen. This, however, was fixed by the events that followed, allowing everyone else to view this scene the same way.

The light of the sun was the first to leave the world. The flowers glowed a bright blue and extended their blue hue onto the girl laying down. A silhouette of a beautiful woman appeared kneeling beside her, “You made it,” Celeste sounded immensely relieved. Her attention was completely taken by the girl laying down before her, “You’re a difficult one. And after I helped you beat the wolfsbane last time.”

Cole recognised the woman from the last time they’d met. Almost everyone else in the field had no idea who she was but knew no other that could have shown up after they’d sought her out. It was the moon goddess herself. The silhouette slowly took on more colour until she was clear and present in the flesh. Everyone else in the field was stunned by her presence, so stunned that they could not speak, “Can you help her?” Cole asked her.

The woman’s brows scrunched up as she passed her hand above Katie. Celeste sighed sadly, “She has gone and done it now, hasn’t she?” she said, cutting the sleeping girl’s face. Looking back at the alpha, she steeled her expression, “I... I can.”

Celeste’s eyes moved from the royal and surveyed the crowd that had accompanied Cole on this journey. She made eye contact with Fauna and froze for a moment. The Voice of the Wild had lost her ever-present smile and chipper attitude. Fearing that this mask had been broken, she broke eye contact and stared at the ground before her, bowing to the goddess in a respectful gesture.

“I can already tell there is bad news. Just tell me already,” Cole spoke up, having missed the silent exchange.

“I’ll start with the good news. There is a way I can help her return to full health,” despite saying this, Celeste kept an indifferent expression. Cole’s tension was getting worse but knowing it was bad news awaiting him kept the king from rushing the goddess. ‘Ignorance is bliss... so the saying goes,’ rang his conflicted thoughts.

The clearing went eerily quiet, a sombre mood taking over them as they awaited the goddess’s next words. The Royals of Sirius, The hunters of the Chase family, the hunters of Brigadia... The three families cared for Katie dearly.

Celeste was sad to reveal it to them, “I don’t know how long it will take. An injury like this has never happened before. If I’m to heal and return her to her former state, I can’t know how long it will take. I’ll... I’ll take her to the god of medicine. Her treatment will begin then.”

‘Bad news... bad news... bad news...’ Cole’s mind searched through her words for the hint of horror he’d been looking for. At first, it didn’t register... All he’d wanted to know was that she would be fine, but then...

“I can heal her instantly if I separate her from everything that makes her more special than the ordinary werewolf she would have been born to be, but that would mean she wouldn’t have the power to defeat the Rogue King anymore.”

No matter how slow Cole’s mind could get, understanding the Goddess’s words was inevitable. After all, this was among the worst things that could be said to a wolf... ‘Bad news... That’s an understatement. You might as well be saying the world is coming to an end...’

Cole’s thoughts were turning melancholic... his mind struggled to hold onto hope... hope that he could have heard her wrong. Hope that there was another way. Hope that... hope that he was dreaming... that he was having a nightmare and he would wake up to his mate sleeping peacefully beside him.

“The god of medicine wouldn’t happen to live nearby, would he?”

A glistening tear rolled down the goddess’s face while she shook her head and mouthed the word ‘no’. Across from her, a similar expression appeared on the Voice of the Wild. ‘Truly Bad News... Katie was going to be taken.’