Chapter Forty Three

Katie let loose when she ran this fast. She zipped through the trees summoning the furious ferocity of her agility Prometheus gift. This gift gave one an incredible boost in speed even if that is not what it was meant to do, thus its name being agility and not speed. However, when she ran free and untethered, everything passed by in a blur. Her mind was a mess of thoughts as memories of the words Chandler washed through her mind.

It was true that she knew the names of each and every student in her school. She made sure she knew them so that no one would feel out of her scope. Some thought they hid well from her, but with full access to the surveillance room and the student files, she was able to keep at least get a glance of each and every student in the school just for the sake of doing so. As a result, she knew everyone. She had noticed the drop in the number of students in the school, but there had never been a stir.

Had the rogues thought that much about their targets and only got rid of those that would not raise any suspicion. The revelation of there being far more deaths than one was not allowing her any measure of peace. She kept her eyes to the ground as she powered through the forest at top speed. Her anger threatened to pour out of her. She wanted nothing more than to release it.

Something within her stirred as a heavy heart-stopping headache hammered into her head out of nowhere. She tripped, her focus stolen from her by the pain in her head. The white wolf that was chained down by the drugs that she'd been taking threatened to break from its shackles, growling louder in her mind… her anger had fueled the repulsive nature of the beast within her.

Her vision flickered from red to normal numerous times. She squirmed on the ground, her anger unwavering. It was proving impossible to shake it off. The pain came again racking her whole body this time and not just her head. A scream threatened to escape her lips as she continued drowning deeper and deeper into her anger. The headache and pain were coming from the inhibitions that her wolf was fighting from the drugs that she took.

Far from her position, the scent of one's mate reached the nostrils of a black wolf that ran absentminded. Thoughts of finding the owner of this scent filled Cole's mind as he changed direction and went straight for the source. This time he wasn't going to let whomever the scent belonged to escape him. He ran forward at top speed with one destination in mind, the troubling thoughts from the Hunter's Agency completely wiped from his mind. Cole along with his wolf shared the same unique goal and that was to get to the owner of this alluring scent that even haunted their dreams.

...............…

Seated by the pool that looked down to the realm of the living, the husband of the moon goddess watched in her absence, boredom racking his brain while he continued to watch the girl that his wife had kept an eye on this entire time. "What gives… Do they have to torture werewolves that much?"

"Well, there is nothing they can do about it. The hunters are at liberty to carry out all the research on werewolves and end the Rogue King by any means necessary. It's an ugly way to get the job done, but they still have to do it," she said over the mind link they shared.

"How long are you going to put on your makeup? It's not like this is some party you have to attend. They should be blessed to just see you in your nightgown for all I care. Although I will kill anyone who ever sees that," he said.

"Thanks, honey. Nonetheless, these two are the ones I chose. It's only fair that I meet them when I look my absolute best…" she said.

"It's not like you dress up for me every day," the man mumbled to himself, allowing the complaint to reach his mate.

"Oh, don't complain, you like me better when I'm the opposite of dressed or are you forgetting?"

"You caught me there. Now hurry up and come here. Something tells me there are about to leave that gut-wrenching place they call the Hunter's Agency," he ushered her as he watched, his head calmly resting in his hands, propped up on his knees. He couldn't get the emotions that flowed out of the girl well because of the drugs that sealed her wolf, but he could tell that not all was well.

"I'm coming, don't rush me…" she laughed.

"Yeah, but you might want to get here faster… something is wrong…" the man said, noticing the behaviour of the girl becoming more emotional than controlled for the first time in what seemed like ages. The two had never seen her lose her cool before and when she did, she was on her own. This was not a good thing considering her birthday was only a day away and thus the shackles holding her wolf were quite frail.

The moon goddess rushed her final touches and rushed to her husband's side on time to see Katie trip, her eyes flickering from navy blue to a brilliant glowing blue. She twisted in pain and a scream threatened to escape her. Immense anger radiated from her even in the pain she was in. "Is that bad?"

"Yes, it is… At this rate, she will shift prematurely… Her wolf can't fight the inhibitions of the drugs she's taking. She'll be in unimaginable pain…" she said, raising her hand over the pool of water and changing the view. A distance of three miles from Katie, a massive black wolf approached at a blinding speed. It was only a matter of minutes before he would get to her.

"What are you…" the man's sentence was cut short when he watched his wife dive into the pool. The pool made a portal to the world they watched over. "Wait, seriously, now…"

The moon goddess descended from her place in the heavens at a time that was unusual for her. She had watched the girl and boy their whole lives, but they had never needed her as much as they did at the moment. "You're only allowed to intervene directly three times and once during the day. Why are you squandering that ability now that they are still immature?"

"There are reasons I am the moon goddess and you aren't, Damon. I don't regret what I'm doing," she said through the mind link and descended to the scene below her. 'I have to get to them before they meet,' she thought while she accelerated faster. Cole is the reason for her rush to their rescue.

............…..

Cole ran faster feeling the scent getting stronger this time, there was nothing like the scent getting away from him this time. He could feel himself getting closer and closer. A rush of joy came over him spurring him there faster. He was so focused that he didn't notice the flash of light heading for him until something crashed before him.

He hit the brakes, bracing his claws into the ground, but inevitable tumbling forward and rolling into a more stable position. He clawed the ground and skidded to a halt. The first thing he noticed when he came to was that the scent was gone. He snapped his head to the new intruder only to lose all his anger at the sight before him. A lady stood before him, day plunging into the darkness of night as though it was an eclipse.

Power radiated from her in pulses as she was covered in a bright white halo, her flawless features illuminated in a light that compared to one thing, the moon. She wore a white dress with her black hair flowing and blowing freely in the now cold wind. Cole's wolf forcibly bowed down to the person before them. Cole was still too stunned for words. His mind was filled with images of the lady before them. He wanted to do anything for her.

"Get up, Cole Lycaon and here's what your patron goddess has to say to you," Cole lingered on every word that rolled off her tongue. It was impossible for anyone to hold that much control over someone else… well, that's what Cole thought before he met this woman. He couldn't pay attention to anything else but the being beyond her and her unimaginable radiance. Her feet did not touch the ground and she floated effortlessly before him, not taking her eyes off him either. "At times, I forget how much control I have over my champions. I release you from those mental shackles."

Like a switch had been flipped, thoughts other than those of the moon goddess rushed back into his mind. He could remember why he was running so fast. Why he was angry when the scent he was suddenly disappeared. The hopes he had of finding his mate at the source of that trail. The numerous attempts that now had him at a wits-end of finding out who that scent belonged to. He wanted to know who it belonged to, but now that the scent was gone, he was at a loss. He looked up to see the moon goddess before him and realized it was easier to ask her instead. 'What a convenient turn of events!'

"Are you still marvelling over my radiance? I know I'm pretty, but I was sure I released you from that," the moon goddess spoke before him. Her voice was softer than he had ever had, the words rolling off her tongue effortlessly. This form of speech reminded her of her mother who said she had been trained to speak that flawlessly. This, however, was something else. If it wasn't for the freedom of mind she had finally granted him, he wouldn't have been able to reply.

"No, I'm fine now. And yes, your radiance is beyond what I've ever envisioned," he said.

"You flatter me, son of Lycaon," she said, chuckling.

"My words are not worthy of being taken as mere flattery. I say it as a fact… as for the character, I'm at a loss of words," he replied.

"I feel as though that is partly an insult, but that doesn't matter as of right now. I don't have all the time in the world to speak to you since I've come to you in the middle of the day," she said.

"What are you doing here? Why come to me during the day?"

"I was meant to appear to you tonight, but I had to come now…"

"Why is that?"

"To stop you…" she paused, "from finding the source of the scent that you were following." The look on her face was one of sadness which only made Cole more suspicious and his wolf a bit irritated. He'd been so intent on finding the source of the scent even after Caden had told him to stop hunting it, and here he was being advised against this by the moon goddess herself.