287 Lucien Did Not Want To Be Coddled
Oh, no.
Lucien rose to his feet. He put Ralph down and stumbled away from the garden bench.
“LUCIEN!”
Bjorn grabbed Lucien’s shoulders hard and stopped him in his track.
Lucien raised his head and gave the bigger man a bewildered look.
“I have to go,” he said. “Ronan needs me. He...”
“You can’t!” Bjorn insisted. “I will go. I promise you that he will be just fine. You wait here and...”
“NO!”
Lucien pushed hard at Bjorn’s shoulders.
.....
“Stop coddling me!” he shouted angrily.
Not wanting to waste any more words with Bjorn, Lucien transformed into his wolf form in an instant and ran past Bjorn, ignoring the latter’s calls.
The sudden appearance of a giant wolf with a brown-red coat from within the Night Prowler Pack House’s periphery was so unexpected that the guards were not sure what to do at first.
Lucien had never shown his wolf form within the pack house boundaries, and not many people could quickly connect the wolf form to the human form.
In the end, it took a while for the guards to chase after Lucien, who had by then disappeared into the woods, leaving not even a cloud of dust behind.
The giant wolf ran in the direction of Hapsborough City, taking every shortcut he could get while enduring the natural barriers that kept impending his journey.
A thousand leaves and branches smacked his face and huge protruding roots kept trying to trip him, but Lucien did not slow down even for a second.
After running non-stop for almost two hours, he finally arrived at North Ridge Forest. It looked exactly the same, save for one important detail.
Lucien’s heart lurched to the bottom of his stomach when he saw that the gigantic Moon Goddess statue was no longer there.
It was almost as if it was swallowed whole by the earth. In its place was a huge cloud of dust that extended at least ten meters above the ground.
Lucien howled into the sky once before he dashed in the direction of the Werewolf Council Headquarters, or where it was before it was completely destroyed.
The scene that greeted him was complete chaos.
The ancient building that used to house representatives of each pack and serve as the pivotal core of the werewolf community had been reduced to a tragic heap of stones. It was buried under the broken fragments of the Moon Goddess Statue.
The Moon Goddess’ head lay sideways on the ground, having been separated from her stone body.
Close up, her expression looked grim and cold.
Scattered around the area were at least two hundred werewolves in various circumstances.
Some were in their human forms, some in their wolf forms. Almost all of them were wounded to various degrees. The thick smell of blood and gunpowder pervaded the air, the fine dust irritated Lucien’s eyes even from a distance.
Lucien howled into the sky again before he dashed among the wounded werewolves in search of someone he knew. Anyone.
He passed by a lot of wolves, some he had to take a better look at, and some looked up at him with empty, haunting gazes.
‘Lulu!!!’
Lucien halted in his track right away as soon as he heard someone calling his name via Mind Link. Some distance away to his left side, another wolf in a similar coat ran in his direction.
It was Annalynne.
‘Anna!’ Lucien barked at his sister.
‘Lulu!!!’
The siblings rubbed against each other as a form of greeting while inhaling each other’s scent.
Lucien smelled blood on Annalynne.
‘Where are you hurt?’ he demanded to know.
Annalynne shook her head, there were tears in her eyes. ‘I am not. Kendra is.’
‘How is she?’
‘She got hurt when she escaped... Lulu, why are you here alone? What happened? Ronan said that...’
Lucien ignored Annalynne’s incessant questions and focused on the person whose name Annalynne just mentioned.
‘Where is Ronan? What happened???’
Annalynne’s voice shook from distress when she recounted what happened that morning.
‘The... The trial of Elijah Summertide was put on hold as Kieran Locksworth, the new Alpha of the Ironclad Claws pack accused Lucrethia Woodland of some unspeakable crimes...
And then because Lucrethia is, well, a member of a pack, all of the relevant parties were gathered in the hearing chamber to conduct the hearing.
It turned out that she really is guilty.
And then, just when Mr. Gregor Gravecrown told her that she could no longer pretend that she was not guilty, she... she...’
‘What is it, Anna?’ Lucien asked impatiently.
‘That... That hateful witch apparently planted a few explosives in the headquarters. After detonating the first ones, she transformed and slipped away in the middle of chaos. We all had to transform and ran away before the whole building came crashing on us. Oh, Lulu...’
Annalynne whined.
‘I saw Ronan going in that direction,’ Annalynne nodded toward the woods. ‘He was chasing after the hag, I think...’
Lucien nuzzled against his sister’s cheek.
‘You stay here with others and take care of Kendra. Help is going to arrive real soon. I am going to go after Ronan.’
‘Lulu, don’t go...!!!’
Lucien ran toward the woods, leaving Annalynne behind. His sister’s calls diminished into nothing as the distance between them grew. A faint salty sandalwood scent in the air told Lucien that Ronan did go in the direction that Annalynne showed him.
Unfortunately, that was not all.
It also guided him to a bunch of other wolves. These unclaimed wolves were lurking between the trees like ghosts. Their malicious aura bled through, reflected in the pairs of gleaming eyes that were overflowing with murderous intent.
Six giant wolves ended up surrounding Lucien, baring their fangs at him in a threatening manner. More of them hid some distance away, ready to offer their support whenever needed.
‘These pathetic bunch of wolves,’ Landon growled.
‘Can I go crazy now, Lucien?’
‘You know what? Go ahead. And make it fast,’ Lucien added before handing over control to Landon.
‘Yes, Sir.’
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