The Moon Goddess' Chosen

494 First Shift

Caden watched the crimson-eyed woman writhing violently against the metallic hold of the steel chains. The chains groaned against her terrifyingly powerful efforts, going so taut that it seemed like she would break them. Just when it looked like they would snap, however, the woman would run out of steam and try again.

For now, they held.

‘My attack on the world has already begun,’ the statement bounced through Caden’s mind. It meant so much that the beta alpha was having trouble grasping the true meaning of these words.

His mind didn’t want to come to terms with what it could mean but for some reason, he felt compelled to jump to the worst possible conclusions. ‘It can’t be, can it?’

His hand instinctively flew to his pocket when his mind link failed and latched onto his phone.

At the same time, he remembered how it had been impossible for him to reach Cole from the palace. It wouldn’t work here either.

‘I thought it felt familiar that communications had been cut off,’ he sighed.

“Order those doctors to get out of there now,” Caden told Catherine with a slight hint of urgency.

“What! Okay,” the woman placed her hand on a button and spoke through the microphone.

.....

“Get out of there now,” she yelled.

The groaning of metal chains filled the room as the woman in the bed continued to struggle against her binds. Caden’s hand flew to the same button and this time, he spoke through himself, “Get out, now!”

One of the metal links snapped in two, the pieces shooting off in random directions and a chain burst loose from the ensnared woman. She let out a loud growl and gave the chains another powerful push, struggling to break free.

A door clicked at the side of the glass pane and the three doctors filed out as fast as they could, “Lock that door.” Caden ordered and they did.

Caden turned back to the woman and noticed the chains would get any looser than they’d been. The doctors had done a good job of securing her with more than one chain. When the previous one shattered, it hadn’t necessarily meant the woman would break free. She still had plenty more chains to break.

The crimson-eyed woman stopped struggling against the chains and switched to cackling madly, “There is nothing you can do to stop it, poor beta alpha. I have many… many pawns I can use in this war. Just how many places can you be at once? How many people can you save at once? I will watch the world burn and the goddess’s original wish will be fulfilled.”

Caden turned away from the room, “This room is to be sealed off and a dose of wolfsbane sprayed into it to keep that werewolf weakened.”

“That’s a human,” Catherine argued.

“Not anymore. I don’t know how but she’s not a human anymore,” Caden argued. There was so much that didn’t make sense and the fact that the woman had suddenly been turned into a werewolf was only the least of his suspicions.

For starters, she had sounded like the Rogue King and gained a ridiculous amount of energy the moment her eyes turned red, which was meant to be an impossibility all on its own.

Caden didn’t have time to worry about that. His mind was racing faster than ever in his life, “You said there were other doctors she injured earlier. Where are they? Were they bitten?”

“They are…” the woman’s voice got caught when she realised what the man was insinuating by asking these two questions, “You don’t think?”

“Hurry, please. Lives are at stake.”

“Okay… this way,” Catherine hurriedly led the beta alpha away.

Before walking out, Caden turned to the other doctors, “When you’re done securing this room, start evacuation procedures. I’ll need your help.”

“Evacuate the hospital? But…”

“Not just the hospital. The Crisis Bunkers! Get as many medical personnel to those shelters and inform everyone you can go there immediately. There, you and your fellow colleagues will receive further instructions that I’m going to relay to the pack doctors right now,” Caden ordered.

“Get as many patients as you can out of here and straight to the shelters.”

Caden’s words carried heavy meaning. The Bunkers had come to be known by many names but intuitively, everyone knew what they were for.

In case anything like the battle of Lycaon for two years was to happen ever again, these Bunkers were to help protect the masses.

Caden had just skipped several levels of alerts and gone to the absolute extreme, the pinnacle of panic… and he’d left no room for debate either.

Caden followed Catherine through the hospital, ‘Jogging would be better right now.’

Catherine approached a red button in a plastic case and flipped it, sending an alert through the hospital and red flashing lights. From her pocket, she retrieved a phone and started dialling numbers and relaying orders as she led the beta alpha up a flight of stairs.

Caden remained silent as he voiced his own orders over the mind link broadcasting his voice far and wide, exceeding the boundaries of the Capital as far as he was capable.

“WOLVES OF THE LYCAON EMPIRE THAT CAN HEAR ME. THIS IS BETA ALPHA CADEN SPEAKING FROM THE LYCAON ROYAL CAPITAL.

AS OF RIGHT NOW, EVERYONE IS ORDERED TO MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE WORLD SHELTERS THAT WERE RECENTLY BUILT BY THE HUNTER’S ORGANISATION. THIS MESSAGE IS TO BE PASSED ON TO THE HUMANS AS WELL. I ASK THAT WE TAKE THIS INFORMATION WITH CALM MINDS AND FACE THIS SITUATION AS ONE UNTIL IT IS RESOLVED.

BEFORE ENTERING THE SHELTERS, THERE WILL BE A MEDICAL CHECK AND EVERYONE IS TO COOPERATE. PACK WARRIORS, PROTECT THE PEOPLE AND REGULATE THE SITUATION UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. EVERYTHING WILL BE EXPLAINED WHEN EVERYONE HAS BEEN PROPERLY SECURED.”

After saying this, the beta alpha opened a private mind link with the pack doctor, “Something’s wrong.”

“No kidding. What was with that cataclysm-class announcement?”

“It’s complicated.” Caden sent images of his encounter with the captive human, along with the words of the Rogue King to the pack doctor, “I’m on my way to check three doctors that were attacked by this woman earlier to confirm my suspicions. From what she said, I can only assume the worst.”

“But… where could she have been bitten from?” the doctor asked.

“There is no time to make assumptions. You can already imagine what the worst-case scenario is like. Draw up a set of guidelines that everyone entering the shelters should undergo before they are allowed in and have those orders relayed to all the medical personnel. From what the Rogue King’s voice said, there could be more just like that woman.”

“Understood,” the woman replied before going silent.

Caden had kept his communication as short as possible whilst following Catherine through the large facility. Catherine, on the other hand, had her hands full as well. They climbed a few flights of stairs, passing swarms of rushing doctors and patients before she finally came to a set of isolated rooms on the top floor.

These rooms seemed undisturbed at first sight. This is why Catherine was shocked when Caden suddenly caught her hand and pulled her back to the stairs.

“What is it?” the woman asked, frightened by the sudden actions.

Caden stood still and placed a finger on her lips, straining his ears, oblivious to the reddening doctor. The two of them remained like this for a bit while Caden waited patiently. He almost relaxed when his ears picked up on a low growl, “They’ve turned too.”

Now more than ever, Caden was happy that he’d told the other doctors to run out of the containment room while they had the chance.

“Seriously?” the woman cried.

“I’m afraid so… Are those doors locked…” the creaking sound of an opening door stopped Caden in his tracks, “Oh, never mind.”

“I’m sorry!”

“It’s fine. No one expected you to know. This is not your fault. Stay behind me,” with that said, Caden advanced, leaving the woman by the stairs.

The beta alpha strained his ears to locate the three doctors.

From the open door, a hand grabbed onto the side of the door, exposing a set of elongated claws. A doctor staggered out of the room with his face already shifting uncontrollably and disoriented with the throes of his first transformation.

Caden noticed the man’s eyes were still amber. “What’s going on?” the doctor asked, clutching his head in pain.

The beta alpha rushed over to the man and hit the back of his head, hard, “I’m sorry but you need to take a nap.” The alpha then proceeded to push another door shut before the second victim could emerge.

Caden turned to the woman, “Come and help me lock them up. That will buy us enough time at least.”

The female doctor shakily replied, “I-I don’t have the keys.”

“Oh, that’s just great,” Caden grunted before opening the door and entering the room.

On the other side of the door, the wolf was already going through a full shift. The wolf lay on the ground writhing in pain as its body went through the harrowing pain of the first shift.

“Sorry about this,” Caden whispered before placing his hands around the wolf’s throat and squeezing tight. The wolf struggled, opening its eyes wide to look at its assailant.

However, Caden’s iron grip didn’t falter and he held the wolf steady until the male passed out. The beta alpha had just sighed when he heard a desperate scream from the hall.

His eyes got tinted with red fury, his heart threatening to pound out of his chest while his mind came up with all sorts of worst-case scenarios. He was out of the room in a heartbeat.

Out in the hall, a wolf was stalking the female doctor who bore a frightened look all over her face as she stared at the creature, “Over here,” Caden growled, his canines flashing dangerously.

The wolf turned swiftly, baring its teeth at the new arrival. Now it was torn between two targets. One was frightened and trembling in fear while the other oozed confidence and rage, eager to put him down.

The wolf snarled at the alpha and began to circle him.

‘Amber eyes…’ Caden thought to himself, trying to make a connection. The woman before had not turned violent until her eyes shifted from amber to red. This wolf was not yet dangerous… exactly.

It was dangerous in a way that the two empires had managed to get rid of for more than a century. This wolf lacked… control.

The wolf had only gone through its first shift. Without knowledge of how to control its animal instincts, this wolf was a danger to any and all that crossed its path.

In this state, it would even be unable to recognise its own parents and given the right conditions, would tear them to shreds.

Caden shifted into his larger coffee-brown form and let out a growl loud enough to shake the halls of the hospital. The amber-eyed wolf facing him cowered at the might of its opponent, tucking its ears and retreating to the room from which it had emerged.

And among those instincts came the ability to identify a werewolf with significantly more power and rank.

Caden then shifted back into his human form and breathed out a sigh of relief, “Are you okay?” Catherine stiffly nodded, still shaken with fear, “Go and get the keys. Then return with them so we can lock them up.”

The woman did as she was ordered, left and quickly returned with a set of keys and got to locking the doors. Caden stood at one door and watched through the small glass window as a restless wolf paced around the room, “How long are they going to be locked up in here?”

“Hopefully not too long. Preferably till this matter is resolved. Until then, I will send someone to bring them food and water three times a day. It is not much else we can do other than that,” Caden replied.

“So that’s it. They are prisoners now?”

“They are lucky to be alive.”

The alpha’s words hit the mark. Knocking out the rampaging wolf earlier had been a chance and it was a blessing that these three doctors had retained mere bites and scratches because of it.

In a worse situation, all doctors involved would have been killed by the wolf which would have proceeded to rampage across the city, killing any and all that came across its path.

They were indeed lucky to be alive… and had no right to claim to be prisoners. This was for their own good and for the good of those that were still human.