The Moon Goddess' Chosen

341 Ha! Who Knew Royals Could Hurt?

The last of the hermit’s meagre confidence vanished as soon as he intervened in the conversation between the Mighty Warrior and the king of Lycaon, not to mention the Sirius family that was in the waiting room along with them.

Catching the attention of all the people in this room had been one of his taboos as a hermit. He didn’t believe in the system that ruled their world. Whereas others had to cower in fear because of rogues living in no man’s land. He preferred to go wherever he pleased. However much that exposed him to danger.

Miraculously, this hermit had managed to get by and raise his daughter lovingly without ever being disturbed by any of the factions raging war on the planet. Now here he was, standing in the nexus of that very war. “Well, go on. We don’t have all day, as you might have noticed,” Cole lashed out when the man was tongue-tied.

“I’d like to apologise first. They made me do it,” the man threw himself to the ground before the king. Cole scrunched his eyebrows in frustration. ‘That’s beside the point. Who cares what you did? It’s already history... Wait...”

“The Perfect Warrior has not yet deemed you a criminal. There must be a reason for that. Raise your head and continue talking about the guardian already,” Cole leaned his chin on his fist, supporting himself on the armrest of his chair and regarded the man with a sideways glance. It was taking a lot to conceal his patience, but he wasn’t fooling anyone among the people that knew him.

“Well, I was forced to dig open the tunnels that go under the palace. And the people who made me do it. They captured my daughter and promised to give her back only after I was done doing what they asked of me,” the man explained regardless of the king’s words. Cole found it both annoying and bold of him.

“Is that all?” he sighed.

“When the time came that they were going to use the tunnel I dug, they didn’t meet the end of our bargain. They just left me there. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t go home without her. While I was still trying to wait for an idea to come to mind(hopelessly mopping), the lion approached me. And soon after, she was there. She came out of the woods, impossible to detect... and protected by a bear. The Voice of the Wild told me she would help me get my daughter back and asked that I lead the lion to the throne room, hopefully before the criminals got there,” the man explained.

“That explains that... I’m grateful for that lion stepping in the middle of things. That last rogue caught us all off guard,” Cole responded, “Where did you say your home was?”

.....

“Well, it’s a cottage deep in the...”

The man stopped talking when the sound of running footsteps and a loud commotion ruthlessly interrupted the room’s calm atmosphere, getting everyone’s attention. The door to the waiting room soon burst open, admitting Jason panting hard. He was exhausted and nearly collapsed at the sight of the king. “Y-your majesties... Well, of course... I would use majesties now instead of majesty, but since there is only one that I actually want to talk to, I should be... changing my phrasing to...”

“Jason, get to your point,” Caden suggested.

The beta alpha hadn’t noticed the irrelevance behind his rambling but picked up soon on the room’s mood. Still tired, he skipped to his message, “Th-there’s a woman outside with a child... and you won’t believe what else. She has a bear.”

Cole stood and left the room briskly before many of them had the chance to react to the news. The royal family followed behind him, along with the Chase family and the dirt-coloured hermit.

Chaos echoed through the halls stemming from the outside of the hospital. When they made it outside, they were stunned to see a bear growling at everything and everyone in sight. A woman stood beside the bear, holding an unconscious little girl close to her.

The medics and guards were at a loss. Proceeding with this situation was proving to be a challenge. With a dangerous bear and a child in need of assistance, the two groups of people were stumped. ‘They don’t teach this in training...’ one muttered to himself.

Cole regained his composure and walked up to the trio. He expressed no fear towards the bear and the closer he got to the three of them, the calmer the creature became, “You must be the Voice of the Wild,” he announced.

“Indeed I am. Though I am not too proud of being called any other name in the list of names I’ve been given,” the woman responded.

“The girl needs to be treated. Would you order your umm... bear to back down?” the bear growled at the man before them.

“His name is Brian,” she huffed, “And you’ll do well to remember that.”

“Right...” Cole replied, walking up to the woman with next to no attention paid towards the bear. He lifted the girl out of the old woman’s embrace and turned to the hospital, “A certain hunter has told me you might be able to help me.”

The woman smirked for a moment before letting her expression fall, “Yes, I might be able to help you. I know told about the situation and I’ll do my best.”

The tightness that had grown permanent in Cole’s chest finally drew loose, if only by a little. Hope was getting hard to hold on to, but now, he could hope again. He placed the girl into the care of one of the nurses and regarded the hermit, “I’m guessing that’s your daughter. You should go and be with her,” Cole said as he passed the hermit.

The dirty man bowed in respect for the king and rushed off in the direction they’d taken his daughter. ‘I wonder if he intends to walk around like that without taking a shower,’ Cole kept these thoughts to himself.

“Where is the miracle Luna now?” the old woman asked, standing beside Cole. The king turned to his right and regarded her sudden appearance. If he hadn’t been so consumed with worry for his mate, she might have just scared him, ‘Undetectable, huh? I can’t even pick her scent from this close.’

“Right this way,” he responded, turning to the direction his mate was in. Having intended to give the man a fright, the old woman took a mental note of the state the king’s mind was in and steeled her resolve to help in any way she could, ‘Who knew royals could hurt? Ha! That’s a first. Right, reviving Sleeping Beauty should be my task now.’

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