The Moon Goddess' Chosen

500 Unexpected Trouble

Caden could barely believe what he was seeing. The delta he’d sent in after Catherine was barely holding himself up in front of him, winded and sweating from head to toe. Having run through the large facility, it was clear the man had failed to find the doctor and was only now finding them.

‘Even after I told them where to find me and got those two fools taken care of, he was still searching aimlessly! Catherine could have been killed… and the delta supposed to protect her had been… Calm down, Caden. He’s clearly sweating and very tired. He clearly did his best, right…’ the beta alpha tried to calm himself.

“Sir—I… I looked everywhere, I swear. I’m sorry…” the delta ran, his pleas for mercy getting dimmer as he ran further away from the room.

‘…And for some reason, he still had the energy to run away from me,’ Caden’s brow twitched even more.

Catherine let out her first giggle. The sound of her laughter completely erased the wave of fury that threatened to grip Caden, “Is something funny?”

“Oh, it was just the way he ran away. It reminds me of a scared little child,” she responded, covering her mouth to keep more laughter from spilling out.

Caden chuckled, “Let’s get you settled in and… preferably changed into cleaner clothes. I’m sorry to ask this of you but you’ll be working quite a bit with everyone to keep the Bunker running.”

“It’s fine. I wasn’t planning on sitting pretty either…” in a more sombre tone, “It’s going to be a war out there, huh?” she asked quietly.

Her angelic laughter vanished, replaced by a crestfallen expression.

.....

“More or less… The Rogue King has gained an extra ability that makes every rogue extremely dangerous if my assumption is correct. So for everyone’s safety, this is how it’s going to be. It’s not like we can reason our way out of this,” Caden gave her an apologetic look.

“And you? What if you get bitten or worse—killed?”

‘She’s asking about me. I’m a beta alpha of the Lycaon kingdom, dammit. There is no way out of that!’

“That’s highly unlikely but… not impossible. Even then, I have a duty to my people, just like you have yours. Without me, the pack warriors and the hunters, there would be no one to fight… And without you, we’d have no one to protect,” Caden replied after careful thought.

“Cheesy reply,” Catherine groaned. She could tell he was holding back the gruesome details of what he was up against. As a doctor, she knew how bad wars could get. She was not new to the sight of someone struggling to hold on to life because of a feud.

Still, this was the most dangerous werewolf on the planet they were talking about. Caden could really die if he wasn’t careful. Healers had their limits in how much they could do, “But there are some injuries even I can’t treat. I don’t perform magic, you know?”

“I know. I will be careful,” Caden replied, partly wondering when it was that she became his physician, not like he was against it. Caden had almost never been to a hospital because of his fast healing but if going to one meant he would get treated by Catherine then that was a whole different matter on its own.

“Why can’t you just stay behind and protect everyone from here?” Catherine’s mind was no longer holding back her concern. It seeped into her voice, making itself unmistakable.

Even after what she’d been through, she’d somehow managed to rotate the conversation into her own worries about what he was going up against.

“And send who to fight? Them? Did you see the man who just ran away from me?” Caden chuckled.

“Oh! I’d almost forgotten you were a formidable fighter amongst your people…” she sighed. After a short pause, “Will it be the last?”

“The last what?”

“The last war?”

“I don’t know. Where are all these questions coming from?” Caden raised his voice slightly, trying to understand what was happening.

“Don’t get hurt… That’s what I’m saying. Dammit, is there even a way you can fight without getting hurt? Why do you have to do something when you know you might not come back alive? Look at your shirt. There is blood. Was that a stab wound? Oh dear!” the woman facepalmed, retreating from his embrace and sitting down on the bed that still lay untouched nearby.

Catherine hung her head in her palms, drowning in the confusion and worry that threatened to swallow her mind. Emotions and reasoning were at war. And neither side was winning. The fallout of this battle would be her mental state.

Caden was clueless as to what was going on…

And that’s when emotions that weren’t his tore through his mind link, invading his very being and demanding his attention.

This wasn’t the same as when he felt the emotions of another wolf. These ones made him want to tend to their owner’s every need. He felt these emotions as though they were his very own.

Worry… Deep-rooted worry and concern.

Caden lowered himself to one knee so he was at eye-level with Catherine and held her hands in his, “Hey… I will be fine. A beta alpha doesn’t go down so easily.”

“I’m sure that’s what every other muscle-head of a husband told their wives before dying in the Battle of Lycaon two years ago,” Catherine huffed.

Chuckling, “Yeah… and that’s clearly how you stayed alive long enough for me to find you. So don’t worry… I’m not about to give that up. If it makes you feel any better, it’s easier when a warrior has someone to come back when the war is over.”

Catherine nodded in understanding, avoiding eye contact. If it wasn’t for the surging emotions that started to settle in the mind link, Caden would have thought she didn’t hear him.

The beta alpha stood to his full height and offered the doctor a hand, “We should get going.”

Reluctantly she took it, her thoughts still swarming with questions. She couldn’t help but notice how much he avoided the topic that was right in front of them.

From what she knew about it, werewolves never usually spoke in riddles. His words hinted at his knowledge of it… and yet he never confronted it.

She wanted to approach it… but what could she say about it?

She was human and therefore had the slightest knowledge of how it worked, ‘I wonder if he feels it too. This unnatural attraction towards him. How is he this composed? I’ve done my share of research into human emotions and psychology. I know this isn’t normal… and I also know that he shouldn’t be this casual about it.’

......…..

Caden found a clump of rogues gathered at the edge of the forest away from the entrance to the Bunker, bundled together by a steel cable that was kept taught by a ‘special arrow’.

‘Hunters will never run out of ideas!’ he sighed, turning to the withering line of citizens.

It had grown significantly shorter since the evacuation had started and there was less of a commotion this time. Standing at the entrance was a group of nurses and doctors that were responsible for carrying out the check-ups.

Caden scanned the area around the captured rogues until his eyes noticed a pair of black leather-clothed legs dangling in a tree above the restrained bundle of rogues.

Caden made his way to the tree, paying little attention to the hostile expressions on the rogues standing before him. They were covered in bite wounds, feathers and scratches. Their clothes were severely tattered from the furious beak-and-talon assault.

Each of them had at least one non-lethal wound with a patch of dried blood surrounding the spot where the hunter’s arrow had impaled them.

“Did you have to tie them all up like this? It’s like you’re shipping them off somewhere,” Caden grumbled.

The black-clad figure peeped down from the trees and regarded the beta alpha with a bright smile. Jeremiah swung himself off the branch and landed gracefully in front of Caden, “It was easier that way. Are you done calming your girlfriend down?”

Caden pursed his lips and skipped over the question, “Where have you been, Jeremiah?”

“Oh? Were you worried?” Jeremiah smirked, “I didn’t know I’d left such a mark on one of Cole’s beta alpha.”

“Hmm, I’ll admit you were interesting. A double agent working for the rogues and werewolves at the same time. Luna Katie trusted you… and as a result, I trust you too. So, tell me,” Caden folded his arms across his chest as he explained.

Jeremiah chuckled humourlessly and lost his smug expression, “Yeah, that’s the ever-serious Caden I remember. Never cracks a joke when it’s time to be serious. I’ll tell you everything. Just not now… You have more important things to tend to.”

With that, the hunter beckoned to something behind Caden.

The alpha turned in time to see the pack doctor approaching him. Before he could be addressed, he whipped around, “Well then, don’t…”

“I’m not going anywhere… At least, not yet,” Jeremiah sighed, “Your pack comes first. Take care of them, then we’ll talk.”

...…

After a brief talk, the pack doctor asked Caden to follow her inside. The check-ups were just about to be completed and most of the citizens were inside the Bunker.

However, something had become a cause for great concern within the facility.

The female werewolf silently led him into the Bunker and through to a section that had been completely cut off from the rest of the facilities.

Caden noticed the pack warriors and medical officers helping the civilians settle into the Bunker and many other workers bustling around, diligently starting on their assigned tasks and duties.

When he wanted to ask what was going on, he stopped… noticing a tense expression on the pack doctor’s face.

Something was amiss.

Within this part of the Bunker, only pack warriors—noticeably the skilled ones with higher ranks—, authorised workers or medical personnel walked, keeping civilians regardless of whether they were human or werewolves away from this place.

Caden noticed a large metal door at the end of the hall that everyone seemed to be getting in and out of, the rest of the hall… locked and unused.

At the entrance, a pair of pack warriors stood firm, guarding the door and checking everyone that came in and out. When Caden approached them, they bowed in respect and let them through.

Inside, the Bunker expanded immensely, stretching far to the right and to the left with bunk beds lined against the walls, capable of holding three people each.

The people inside were many as well… but something was off.

Most of the people here were either alone or gathered into small groups of no more than five and gave each other uncomfortable glances.

They easily numbered in the hundreds.

Caden wanted to guess what he was looking at but his mind remained blank, “Who are these people?”

“These, Alpha Caden, are the people we found with werewolf bite marks on their bodies. As per your request, we made sure to examine the bite marks to make sure they’d been made by a high-ranking wolf… and they all were. Stories from every one of them are random and most borderline traumatic. We—,” the pack doctor mentioned.

“What’s going to happen to us?” a woman rushed forward, her tear-stricken face holding tumults of worry.

Caden was quiet for a moment, his eyes scanning her body. Just as he’d feared, there was a white bandage on her leg, “What bit you?”

“That doesn’t matter. I have a daughter out there. I have to…”

The beta alpha raised his hand to silence her and in a serious tone, asked, “Would you perhaps prefer biting your daughter’s head off yourself?”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m human. We’re not cannibals like the lot of you,” the woman screamed, getting agitated. However, when she looked around, no one backed her up.

“I’ll let that ‘compliment’ slide this once because of the situation. However, that bite on your leg… suggests you’re anything but human. I’m going to need you to calm down first. It’s imperative that you do,” Caden’s expression softened.

The look of fear in this woman’s eyes was one he was seeing all too often these past few days, “We can get you all through this.”