The Moon Goddess' Chosen

501 Indefinite Slumber

“You cannot be serious right now!” the woman scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief.

Caden sighed, “I know it’s not fair… and that none of you asked for this. I don’t like this any more than you do. You’re not the only one in a difficult situation right now. Every one of us has something to lose. But if I can make sure that lives are not lost, then I will do everything in my power to keep it that way.

Each and every one of you, in this room, has been bitten by a rogue that had the potential to turn you all into werewolves. Now, I don’t know when you were bitten or how long ago it was.

As werewolves, we’ve all been through the first shift before. It’s different from all the others that come after it. With your cooperation and with the help of the empire, we can get you all through this… and life can return to normal, hopefully with no casualties.

I know some of you are scared and some of you are angry. Some of you probably don’t even know how to feel about this. Alone, you cannot do much. As someone who went through my first shift as a child, I know what that’s like.

And together, the first shift can go smoothly… as smooth as possible,” Caden spoke, raising his voice so that everyone around would hear him.

There was a lot more he could say about the matter. The truth of the matter was that the lives of everyone in this room had been changed completely. The rogue king wasn’t killing people because he was so busy turning them into this…

…into more werewolves.

As someone who’d been a werewolf his whole life, Caden had a number of experiences that he intended to use in guiding these people through this tough time.

.....

“Nice speech! But that doesn’t solve all our problems. I have a daughter out there. Her father is dead and she’s all alone with no one to take care of her. I can’t leave her out there,” the woman that had confronted him earlier spoke again, however, this time, her voice bore no venom.

Caden faced her, “Tell me her name.”

“What?”

“I’ll personally make sure she’s taken care of and safe. How does sound?” Caden asked her.

“Am I supposed to believe that? You have far more people to attend to… I can’t…”

“Leave my job to me. I can let you talk to her before I take her where she’ll be residing through all this,” Caden said firmly once more.

“You make it sound like she’s the only one with a problem,” a man seated cross-legged at the top bunk of one of the beds grumbled.

“I was getting to that part. Everyone with an urgent matter is to report it to the pack doctor. She will bring them all to me and one by one, I’ll solve everything I can to the best of my abilities,” Caden announced.

The pack doctor gasped at the sudden announcement but kept her mouth shut. Instead, she stood forward and produced a notepad and pen, “Everyone, take a bed and I’ll move around talking to each of you.”
Caden asked one of the guards for a pen and pad as well and started at the opposite side of the room to make the pack doctor’s job as well. He had a lot of things to do and he had to start somewhere… so the beta alpha chose to start with this while he coordinated the rest of the activities carried out in the Bunker through the mind link.

Resources weren’t as abundant as he’d thought they were and he had to improvise most of the time but there was never an issue that he found impossible to deal with. Something had to be done about everyone in here to make sure they were comfortable.

Riling up a group of people that could undergo their first shifts at the slightest dose of adrenaline was bound to cause unprecedented chaos. Keeping them comfortable and content was the best way to delay their transformations… and that’s what Caden intended to do.

Some of them wanted something as simple as writing a letter to their loved ones while others wanted more complicated things like gadgets to distract them and rare books that they could read.

From the nature of the requests that Caden was getting, it seemed everyone had come to accept the terms of their stay here. After his speech, they were all more willing to stay here for the sake of others.

Some of them were afraid of the first shift and the beta alpha found himself playing therapist for these cases.

“Being a werewolf is not that different from being a human once you get the hang of it. Your senses get clearer and you become more powerful. But that’s not all, you can talk to anyone you love through the mind link… or anyone really which means you don’t necessarily have to use your phone. That might not seem like much… but it also means that you’ll never be alone again.”

A girl he’d just told all this visibly relaxed at his words, smiling shyly, “You sound like someone living in a dream.”

Caden chuckled, “I do find it magical sometimes. I’ve definitely seen my fair share of miracles…”

The beta alpha froze when a voice suddenly cut through the calm silence in the large room, “What’s going to happen to us?”

Caden stood and left the girl’s bed to seek the person that had just spoken. The man was seated cross-legged on the top bunk with his head in his hands, “I mean… I know we are going to become werewolves. We all know that. But… I mean, why are you being so nice to us? What aren’t you telling us?”

Caden sighed heavily, “I guess there is no use keeping it a secret. All of you here have never shifted before. And that’s both a good thing and a bad thing. Because you’ve never shifted, your eyes haven’t gained the glow of a werewolf yet. The transformation is not complete yet.

The good news is that the rogue king won’t have control over you until you go through your first shift.”

“And the bad news?” a woman asked with a hint of fear in her voice.

“The first shift can be… troublesome. It’s during this shift that your body first feels what it’s like to have your entire structure reconstructed. It can be painful, especially if you try to reject it. That kind of pain… it’s enough to render your human side unconscious.

A newly shifted wolf comes into this world confused and without the guidance of their human counterparts. Werewolves are violent creatures and because of the pain of that shift, they become really dangerous.

That said, there are ways to go through the first shift smoothly without any casualties. Unfortunately, there is still the matter of the Rogue King’s control. And with that in the way, we cannot let you go through your First shift right now.”

“So what are you going to do with us?” the girl from earlier asked, picking up on the severity of things.

“We are going to put you all to sleep and have you taken care of for as long as we can,” Caden announced.

“Were you ever planning to allow me to see my daughter?” the woman from the beginning yelled out.

“Yes, you will see your daughter. It’s imperative that you are all comfortable by the time you sleep,” Caden turned to her.

“So what if we go through our first shifts? It’s not like any of us would harm our families,” a man in his thirties spoke up, a hint of frustration in his voice.

“Not intentionally, no…” Caden answered.

The room fell silent once more before Caden proceeded with checking the rest of the civilians. It was a lot harder for him to talk to them after that communication. Most of them were tense.

Nevertheless, a smile and assurance of their safety went a long way. These were humans who’d just realised they were going to become werewolves. It was known that under certain circumstances, humans would be killed by hunters before they became a danger to anyone else.

Now that the beta alpha was offering them a life in which they could keep going with next to no hindrances, most of them were willing to comply.

When he was done talking to his half of the group, he picked up the pad the pack doctor was holding onto and sent her to call Catherine. The woman raised a brow at the beta alpha but didn’t say anything as she left to call the human doctor.

Caden then started on the list of items on the doctor’s list.

One of the younger boys had asked for a deck of cards while another had asked for a small radio. Items, calls and requests to meet with their families or loved ones.

When Catherine arrived, Caden was almost pleased to take a break.

“There you are! I need your help.”

“Sure! What do you need?” Catherine replied with a bright smile that was sure to melt the beta alpha’s insides.

.......

Caden watched at the entrance of the room as mother and daughter were reunited. Beside him, Catherine stood with a smile on her face as doctors went around the whole room attaching cannulas to the civilians in the room. It wasn’t long before they were all hooked up to bags of distilled water laced with powerful sedatives.

“How long… How long will they be like this?” Catherine asked.

“I’m hoping they don’t have to go through it for long. This is a delicate matter,” Caden replied quietly. The girl’s mother pulled the little bundle of joy into a teary hug and stayed like that for a while before gesturing to the beta alpha.

Caden smiled at the girl who took a few steps back from her mother and skipped over to Catherine. “Stay safe… And don’t give the nice lady any trouble, okay?”

“Mm-hmm,” the little girl nodded with tear-stricken eyes.

Her mother allowed herself to rest in the bed just like everyone else as Caden and Catherine led the little girl out, leaving the inhabitants of this secluded zone to a slumber that had no known time limit.

They were being sent into an Indefinite Slumber. Caden balled his fists, trying to find another way this could be solved but no matter how he looked at it, there was never a way out. The Rogue King would be capable of leaping into their bodies the moment they completed their transformations into werewolves.

Waiting longer would make it harder for them to control their tempers, getting irritated as the body tried to induce the First Shift. Then there was the matter of the full moon that was bound to force the First Shift to manifest.

No matter how he looked at it, he found no other way to help them other than this...

Sending them into a slumber in which they weren’t a danger to anyone or anything.