Chapter Thirty Four

Cole told Katie more about his home, illustrating clearly how the hierarchy of the Royals in the Lycaon family worked. Katie was able to find out that it was only when a Royal found their mate that they would then be able to take over the throne. Something about the Luna being part of the ruling body as well, being able to make decisions that the alpha was unable to make and completing him in ways that he was not able to achieve on his own.

The more he spoke of the concept, the more a longing sense of belonging etched its way into Katie before she blocked it out so that she could listen more to the voice of the Royal before her. "I just don't get it. I know the intensity of a mate is much more than this, but then why do I feel like I'm in the right place when I'm with you?" Cole finally asked mid-story.

"Am I ever going to know how your Dad managed to solve that issue?" Katie asked, her mind being ruthlessly plunged out of the tales of the Lycaon family. The two were seated; their eyes pinned on the town below them. Lights illuminated the entire town reminding them of the time that they were spending in this place. They were in no man's land and it was getting dark when there was a chance that rogues were roaming this place at night.

"Yes, you will, once you have cleared all this," he said.

Sighing, the intensity in the Royal's eyes finally defeating her attempt to dodge the question that he had just thrown his way, "I don't know the answer to that, Cole. I know, however, that it's the same for me. I have no explanation to why I am not troubled or why my guts do not get any malice from you," she said, laying on her back on the short grass, "I do have a question of my own, however."

"What might that one be?"

"Why do you insist on seeking my attention? I know how werewolves value the presence of their mates above every other female. Why then do you seek my attention?" she asked him.

Cole stayed silent for a while considering his options. This was a question he had asked himself as well, but no matter what he had tried, his wolf still spurred him in her direction. Despite him knowing the bitter truth about his true mate's untimely death as an infant. He'd done a good job of distancing himself from females this whole time and yet, here he was, talking to one that could as well have been his enemy.

"It's your name… and your eyes," he said reluctantly.

"Oh," this seemed to connect a lot of dots for the hunter, but some did not match. She could tell he was probably viewing her as something that reminded him of the infant of the Sirius family that was murdered those many years ago. Having blue eyes was rare, which made this something that could have drawn his attention, but the fact that she was called Katie, the same name as that of the dead infant, was just what made her situation all the more convenient, "I did read recently about a Royal that was attacked with the same name as mine. An infant eighteen years ago… would that happen to be what you are remembering?"

"Yes, that is what you remind me of, but there is something else about her that you probably don't know," he said.

"What might that be?"

"She…" tension built in the air making the intake of this information scarier. For Katie, what he was about to say was actually a fact that he was unknowingly mentioning about her, "was my mate…"

.............

Sandra walked back to the school with the intention of securing Katie's jacket in case there was a chance the killer would want to get another blade for the sake of pinning the blame on Katie. It still bothered her why Katie did not get rid of the weapons if she did not need them. It was true that they made hunting werewolves a much easier job, but it did not affect her.

She reached the locker and started turning the combination of her master's locker to get to the bag. Her senses suddenly went on high alert. The school was supposed to be empty at this point of the day and yet, she was sure there was a set of eyes watching her, more than one actually. Sandra's heartbeat picked up, sending adrenaline through her system, heightening her senses as far as human senses could go.

She was never afraid of the dark or cramped spaces and therefore, when she was this shaken, she knew it was not a coincidence. She kept still and looked at both sides of the hallway, getting nothing in her line of sight. She continued turning the lock to the desired number in the combination. A low growl reached her ears this time. Someone was watching her.

Sandra had no Prometheus gifts like Katie did. This meant she was literally a human who was still going through training. This was the predicament all junior hunters faced during their training. By the time someone was granted one of the gifts, they would have attained enough skill and sheer power to hold their own against an ordinary werewolf.

She was frozen at the sound of the wolf that had cut through the eerie silence of the school. This wolf was one that was not to be messed with. The double doors at the entrance of the school creaked open. Sandra's face snapped in that direction, coming face to face with a large black wolf. Its eyes were a searing intense burning red that cut through to her very core.

Something inside told her she knew exactly who this was… it was Jason. How she knew this was beyond her knowledge as she had never had the time to observe what his wolf looked like, even when they had fought together in the clearing. This, however, was not going to help her in this situation. She could tell that Jason was out for blood at this moment. Something was wrong with the look that the wolf was giving him.

At the moment that the wolf let out a loud growl, she knew that there was no reason left within him. 'There is nothing I can do against an alpha,' she thought, her legs immediately turning on their own accord. She turned the dial on her master's padlock to through the half-finished sequence into disarray and reset it all while she started to run in the opposite direction.

The sound of paws striking the smooth floor, claws doing their best to find grip on the smooth floor reached her ears spurring her to run faster. This wolf was going to catch up with her in no time. She was going to have to find some way to get away from the wolf. A race of speed was not going to help her with that.

Her mind worked fast as she rounded a corner and began running upstairs. Werewolves were built to run in the wilderness so the more she exposed the wolf to the terrain it was not meant for, the harder it would be for it to catch up. Unfortunately, what she was doing now was only going to tire her before it did the werewolf.

Nonetheless, she went up two more flights of stairs, her heart pounding up a beat that resonated within her ears at louder than she'd ever heard it before. If the wolf that was chasing her was Dexter or an ordinary one with yellow eyes, she would not have been afraid of it and ran. This, however, was an alpha. There was no chance she stood against it and the wiser choice was to survive. Once she was on the third floor, the wolf getting ever so close to her, she went for the first classroom and slammed the door shut sliding the latch that locked it almost immediately the door fit into its threshold.

The loud sound of the wolf colliding with the door made her jump back in fear. It was only a matter of time before the wolf would break down the door. She needed to find another way to survive. In this one room, she was a sitting duck that was seconds away from its demise. Jason's bloodlust rolled off him in waves as he continued to knock down the door. The alphas had been told to leave the investigation to the hunters for three days and this proved that they had merely been putting on a show and were instead planning to carry out the investigation from the start.

Sandra cast away her suspicions, an idea of survival finally coming to her. She climbed up to the window and opened it. Three floors up were high for even a wolf to get to from the ground which made her plan perfect. She crouched and stepped onto the outside of the window, holding onto an upper ledge for support. Using this she started to proceed sideways away from the window and out of sight. Ledges that could fit only the front of her foot lined the building, somewhat of a design that had been thought of by the founders of the school, this was coming in handy for her at this moment.

When she was about a metre from the window hanging onto the side of the building for dear life, the sound of the door bursting open reached her ears. The wolf had broken into the room and was frantically looking for her. She looked back at the window, her heartbeat reaching a steady heavy rhythm as it pounded. Covered in pitch-black fur with white glistening cannines, the head of the werewolf came through the window as it sniffed the air for her before turning to meet her frightened gaze. It was obvious that the wolf could smell her fear for they stared at each other at the moment, locked in a stalemate.