Chapter 26

A boy of around six years pouted his lips and distanced himself from his elder sibling, who had just lightly slapped the back of his head because he interfered with his phone conversation.

“Stay close,” the elder brother who had chestnut brown hair and hazel eyes, instructed.

But the little boy defiantly crossed his arms before his chest, looking away with a harrumph. At that, the teenage elder brother couldn’t be bothered to scold him again as he continued conversing with the recipient.

"What the... who's that? So ugly!" the lad suddenly exclaimed in disgust, unfolding his little arms.

"Alright, I'll ring you later," his brother stated finally, putting his phone back into the front left side of his pants. "What is it, Valio?"

“Look!” the latter pointed westward and the teen gazed in that direction as well. His brows furrowed after seeing what his younger brother wanted to draw his attention to.

"What the blazes...!" Harold couldn't help muttering as he saw a female with unkempt hair and dishevelled attire coming in their direction.

Or it was better to say, this unknown lady was running, falling, crawling and running again in repeat motion.

"Eww, she stinks as well," the kid commented, holding his nose, even though there was still considerable distance between them. "Did she crawl out of a mountain of ordure or something?"

The woman's hair covered her face like curtains; she could pass for a vengeful ghost in a dark setting. But who was this bedraggled lady and why hadn't the guards come to catch her yet?

There's no way she could be a rogue; that would mean the patrol guards were slacking on their job. And the direction she was coming from...

"Is she one of the prisoners?" Valio asked as they gave way subconsciously for the crazed lady to pass.

"Possibly," his older brother shrugged, "Since no guard has even bothered to chase her this far, then maybe she's under instructions. Anyway, let's go," he said, pulling the boy along.

The two siblings weren't the only ones who saw the unkempt lady.

A lot of people did, and before long, rumours of a mad female prisoner circulated the pack.

"Do you think it's the Luna?" A middle-aged lady garbed in a simple outfit asked her husband who was holding her hand as they resumed walking.

The latter shrugged in response before tearing his gaze from the crazy-looking lady.

Before long, the unknown lady was already at the entrance gates of the training grounds.

It was already noon before she arrived and she felt a surge of strength within her, shaking the gates violently, drawing the guards' attention.

"Who let this woman out of the cell?" one of them asked.

The woman pushed back her hair so they could see her face, "I-It's me," she frantically said, pointing to herself repeatedly.

"We don't know you," one of the guards, who was beefy and bald, said with arms crossed.

"You... Let me in. I want to see Bellatrix!" she yelled.

"Other than her maid Xoey, no one comes to see her," the bald guard deadpanned.

"I'm the Luna," she disclosed, feeling her frustration spiking as the two guards sized her up and burst into scornful laughter.

"She's really gone barmy. The Luna looks like this?"

"Can you even listen to yourself?" said the second guard.

"I don't have time," Katelyn seethed, initiating a partial transformation and letting out an infuriated howl. Next, tightening her grip on the gates, she unleashed her might, dislodging and propelling them behind her.

The curious individuals, who had been trailing her and gossiping about her title reveal, were suddenly filled with dread, gasping in shock as they hurriedly dispersed to steer clear of the massive object approaching them.

One of them, however, didn't dodge and instead initiated partial transformation.

"What in the blazes is wrong with that idiot?" a teenage girl with greenish-grey eyes asked the lady next to her but the latter just shook her head.

The youth, who initiated partial transformation, soon regretted his decision as the gate proved to be too heavy for him.

The others instead of helping him showered him with snorts and flouting remarks. If idiot was a language, this youth would be quite fluent in it.

The guards, on their part, didn't have spare time to entertain the failed 'heroic' move of the young man or be awed at the Luna's strength despite being starved in prison. They immediately blocked her path. No matter her reasons, damaging pack property was a crime!

"Let me in," Katelyn shrieked with a wild look. In her mind was a countdown, she didn't want to stay in that mucky cell ever again. She wouldn't let anyone blow up her chance to sit pretty on luxury's thigh. "I need to see the royal breeder, please," she cried, palms pressed together.

Her pleadings soon summoned a crowd though, both outside and inside the training grounds.

Many still hadn't come to grips with the reality before them.

The Luna they remembered was beautiful, arrogant, had a good fashion sense, fair-skinned, and damn sexy. Everything about her deserved the pack's admiration and the pack females' envy. She exuded an aura of authority and a miffed look of hers would evoke fear in others' hearts, for she was the royal spouse of an Alpha.

But now, the current Katelyn was a shadow of herself. No, it felt like she was a different person. Everything about her evoked only three things from onlookers; disgust, curiosity and pity.

She looked like a real-life example of falling from grace to the abyss of suffering.

Katelyn didn't care what the crowd was thinking. All she knew was that her time was running out. She needed to see Bellatrix at all costs. She didn't want to return to that prison hellhole ever again. She would do anything to make her wish come true.

~.~

Bellatrix was seated on a bench in one of the structures provided for shade in the training grounds. She had just finished the second bottle of water but it still wasn't enough. She was bone-weary but the depressing fact was that she was just getting started.

She hadn't consumed anything today other than a few strange-looking black fruits the Gamma had handed to her. They were delicious though but the Gamma told her she could only eat five of the small black fruits.

Today's training was hell. The past weeks, she thought training was already very harsh but compared to today's training, he had really been lenient towards her.

She looked at the third untouched bottle of water on her bench but felt too drained to attempt drinking it. Besides, her stomach had grumbled so much for solid food, for meat! But with the realization that it wouldn't be getting anything of that sort today, it sadly raised the white flag.

Right now, if it weren't for the fact that she needed to maintain a good image, she would've laid on the floor because all she wanted to do was sleep.

Recalling the fact that the Gamma was going to be making her do middle splits from tomorrow onwards, she became even more depressed. If only tears could soften his heart, she would have already let out several buckets of them.

"I want to go home. I want to sleep," she mumbled drowsily.

"5 minutes to go," a familiar voice reminded her just as she was about to doze off. Her eyes flung open and she looked towards the source of the voice.

She let out a resigned sigh, seeing the Gamma with his back facing her as he instructed a few kids who recently shifted.

"Yes sir," she responded in resignation, acting on the urge to lie on the bench instead.

Before she could shut her eyes, she heard a commotion with many running towards the gate out of curiosity. Of course, she wanted to know what was happening but it was better to just get some sleep. She wished the Gamma could add an extra 10 minutes to her resting time.

Suddenly she heard someone yelling her name but she simply shut her eyes. Whatever this person wanted, it could wait till after training.

But the moment her nose picked up a horrible smell, all thoughts of sleep fled and she sat up, pinching her nostrils.

Looking to her left, she saw a crazy-looking woman rushing in her direction.