The Moon Goddess' Chosen

495 Mystery of the Disappearing Rogues

Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, Caden was swamped with a ton of work. Interfering with the daily life of the entire empire was no simple thing.

What was more was that he had to spread this information across the two empires to ensure a total world lockdown.

For the sake of everyone’s safety, he had to do it.

It seemed like he was acting rashly at first, but after a few phone calls, he came to the realisation that the same thing was happening in many other places.

There seemed to be violent incidents similar to his description going on across the two empires, random acts of aggression which were followed by feral transformations that had—until only recently— been considered a thing of the past.

It went without saying that he had to deal with the whiplash that came with this decision. Offering solutions to each and every problem that was sent his way took a toll on him… but this was what he’d been training his mind for.

Caden stood at the entrance to the dome-shaped shelter that was meant to house the civilians from the capital and nearby packs through this crisis, overseeing the procedures.

The medical officers were meant to check everyone for identification, which was followed by a check of their bodies for any signs of bite marks or high fevers, checking them for signs of transformation before they would then be allowed to enter the Bunker.

Inside the Bunker, they would then be assigned living quarters, and if capable, duties to allow the smooth running of the facility through these tough times.

.....

Numerous citizens stood in line waiting to be tested and checked by the nurses and doctors. Thanks to the pack warriors, the situation was easier to control.

‘I hope they manage to get communications back in order on time,’ Caden thought to himself.

After hearing about the lack of communications with the Great Arena, the remaining hunters had been sent on their own dangerous mission to get communications back up. Despite everything that was happening, Caden was yet to see a real threat… which he hoped he wouldn’t get to see.

The citizens’ essential luggage was labelled and taken in while the people themselves stayed behind for registration and check-up.

Caden could already feel the pressure of dealing with all that was happening. Families didn’t want to be separated, young children found the drastic changes and tense atmospheres too frightening.

Short-tempered residents argued and called him incompetent and unreasonable. Business managers felt they were going to lose everything because of all this… and made sure their disapproval was heard loud and clear by the imposing beta alpha.

‘It’s funny how the weak ones feel entitled to order around the strong,’ he mentally scoffed.

It was only when this commotion was getting out of hand that the beta alpha walked to the front of the line, ‘Some of us have work to do, families to come home to at the end of the day and relatives in the hospital. We can’t afford to hide out here for goddess-knows-how-long.’

‘I can’t stay here for this long. I have to visit my niece two packs over.’

‘What’s all this about anyway? What’s the proof that we are in any real danger, to begin with? This makes no sense at all.’

‘This is what happens when you let children run a nation. They don’t have the experience or knowledge to properly handle this situation. Businesses will fall. Lives will be lost in all these shenanigans. Did King Cole even authorise this? The king would never allow this to stand,’ a woman wailed.

Negativity fueled more negativity which resulted in chaos. The sound of crying children didn’t help either.

Caden watched it all with an oddly calm expression. Taking in a deep breath, the beta alpha called out to everyone, infusing as much power as he could into his voice and broadcasting his voice through the mind link as well, “May I have your attention please?”

The crowd grew quiet at the boom of his voice and turned to face him, “I know most of you are panicking but I ask for your patience as we get through this difficult time.”

“How long are we going to be in there?” a man yelled from the crowd.

“Until this matter is resolved,” Caden replied firmly.

“And how long do you suppose that will take?”

“If we all cooperate, it will be over before you know it,” before the man could react, Caden raised his voice, “I know you’re all scared, worried, frustrated, angry… Frankly, I’m not happy about this either. It’s not easy trying to protect people who feel they know better when all you’re trying to do is keep them from getting murdered… or worse, turned into rogues. I won’t stand by and watch as my people get murdered. I will do what I must to ensure your safety.

That said, I will get straight to the point. Rogues were sighted yesterday. And they were sighted within the capital, not outside. That’s why we are going through this check-up. Before going into the shelter, everyone will be checked for Identification and bite marks.”

“Bite marks? What’s that got to do with anything?”

“We’ve been led to believe that the rogues have regained the ability to turn humans into wolves. If we all…”

The crowd was thrown into chaos once more as the frightening information finally registered in the brains of the citizens. At this point, the slow progress they’d obtained was all but gone.

“This is hopeless,” Caden sighed. The crowd seemed even harder to control now.

“Alpha Caden?” a female doctor—who Caden was more than happy to assist—called out to him from the large entrance.

Caden left his place on the raised table and approached the woman. The beautiful blonde was wearing a mask, leaving only her beady hazel eyes exposed and standing on the other side of the table was a man with shifty amber eyes, “What seems to be the problem?”

“This man won’t show us his ID.”

“Don’t you know who I am?”

“Oh? I currently hold the position of Acting King. Who might you be?” Caden asked the man. The amber-eyed werewolf snapped at the alpha with an angry scowl. Cole raised a brow in suspicion.

This was a first.

“I am the manager of the Goldsville hotel. You dare to treat me like a commoner. I ought to have your license revoked for this,” the man was fuming.

“What’s a man as important as you doing without some form of identification?” Caden asked the man. The man furrowed his brows in frustration before reaching for something in his coat. From the pockets, he retrieved a plastic card, “That didn’t seem so hard now, did it?”

The two males waited as Catherine typed the names into the computer, “Not another one!” she sighed.

“What do you mean?”

“His registration dates back to less than two years ago. I’ve seen two others like that but they had convincing alibis so I let them through…”

“Less than…” Caden’s eyes widened and flashed a bright crimson as his wolf violently surged forward.

The suited man noticed this behaviour and backed away just in time to avoid Caden’s clawed swipe at his face. This small advantage lasted a short time before the beta alpha had the man pinned to the ground, “Find the others you let inside. No one with that kind of identification will be allowed through.”

The nurse shuddered at the beta alpha’s words and darted into the shelter to find the other people she’d let in. “What is the meaning of this?” the ‘manager’ growled.

“Less than two years ago… How many of you are there?”

For a moment, Caden was convinced the man would not let his facade fall... that perhaps his assumption had been completely wrong and he was mistaken.... that perhaps this man was innocent and there weren’t rogues amongst them.

But there was no better explanation.

Nothing else made more sense other than this theory. The rogues had been silent for a really long time which was supposed to be impossible. The hunters’ Flush-out plan had failed except for finding a few breeding homes. This man’s existence made more sense than any conclusion they could have come up with in the past few years.

The man whose face was firmly pinned to the gravel chuckled darkly… “Just how many of us do you think you’ll find? How many do you think will have died by the time you find us all? It’s futile. You’ve already lost.”

Caden’s blood went cold in an instant upon hearing these words. However, that was not all that made his blood go cold. While the man spoke, his hands started giving more than simple resistance. His biceps were bulging beyond what they should have been capable of.

The man’s voice was getting deeper and slower as he spoke, filled with malice, murderous intent and… power. To top it all off, his amber eyes were getting dyed a bloody shade of red.

With one powerful jerk, the suited rogue threw the alpha off his back and stood up, towering higher than he had before. The people that were recently arguing amongst themselves all scattered, fearing the sudden monster that had arisen from the crowd.

Caden had crashed into a thick pillar at the entrance, pain radiating through his back. Caden groaned, peeling himself away from the cracked wall and stretching his muscles to get rid of the stiffness that ailed them.

The recently obnoxious businessman had mustered so much strength that it probably rivalled that of a beta alpha. He’d not sustained any injuries but the measure of new strength this man had mustered was enough to give him chills.

The sudden increase in strength had caught Caden off-guard.

But now… something else caught his attention. In addition to the man’s sudden transformation, a collection of wolves stood surrounding him, staring at them with dark smirks and snickers.

There were more of them…

Caden turned to a delta that was standing guard at the entrance and spoke through the mind link, ‘Go and help the nurse that went in to find the other rogues. One scratch on her and you’re as good as exiled. The rest of us will deal with the ones here.’

The delta’s eyes widened in shock before he ran off as fast as his legs could carry him.

Caden stood with three deltas facing off against a force of ten that seemed to have materialised from the crowd. Even with this number of rogues facing them, something told Caden that they had barely seen the true number of rogues hiding within them.

The red-eyed rogue in a now-torn suit stared at the four wolves challenging them and tipped his head back, laughing in amusement, “Four of you… only. Really, do you underestimate me that much?”

The man’s deep voice continued to strike all the wrong cords in the beta alpha’s senses. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

Surely ten normal wolves wouldn’t pose a threat to his skilled deltas. Then again, there was a deep-seated root of doubt growing within the beta alpha. The Lycaon pack had been training its citizens in the art of self-defense and teaching them how to fight.

Had these rogues also joined in those lessons?

And what was with this rogue’s voice? His transformation had seemed so familiar to the one he’d noticed with the chained woman in the hospital.

Caden didn’t have much time to think this through as the rogues launched straight into attack in a fashion much similar to what was taught by the Lycaon pack warriors.

‘This might be a lot harder than I thought.’