Chapter 13

**Justin’s POV**

As soon as my hand touched hers, sparks shot up my arm. As soon as she snatched her hand away, I immediately began to miss the feel of the sparks and tingles that were shooting up my arm.

“Sorry, it must be the static from the receptacle,” she mumbled.

Static. Of course. I must have imagined the sparks. That is the only logical explanation. Or was it?

“Of course,” I assured her as we walked back to our seats. “Are you ready to leave?” I asked while looking at Michael and Oliver. I could tell that Kataleya was avoiding talking and looking at me. I internally sighed. One step forward and ten steps back with her.

We leave the restaurant with Kataleya waving good-bye to Zidelia on the way out. As we started to make our way back to the packhouse, Michael and Oliver hung back four steps behind us, so we could talk.

‘Real subtle guys.’ I mind linked both of them.

‘Just trying to help! You might need all the help you can get.’ Oliver says, chuckling through the mind link.

I internally shake my head at them as my wolf laughs.

‘You know, they aren’t wrong, Justin. Kat is just as stubborn as you are, so you are gonna have to push in order to get to know her but push enough as to not scare the shit out of her,’ Ares tells me.

“So, Kataleya, what are your plans once you finish high school next year?” I asked her.

Kataleya hesitated before she responded to my question. “You don’t have to call me by my full name. You can call me Kat, most everyone in the pack does. It is weird having only you call me by my full name all the time…I honestly don’t know what I want to do after high school. I thought about attending a university, strictly online, to obtain a business degree or even a psychology degree. I thought about being a counselor, so that I could help pack members that are struggling through trauma and maybe venture into the nearest human city to offer services to humans. But I don’t know. With my brothers and I taking over the family businesses, it seems that it would only be logical for us to all have business degrees. I am not interested in business though. I know that business is expected of me, but what if I could go to school and receive a degree in something that could benefit the pack even further?”

“I think you should go for counseling. I have watched you interact with other pack members, and you are kind and caring. I think the pack members would benefit from having you as a counselor to them. I understand that business is the most practical degree to obtain. You could always decide on a double major or a psychology major with a minor in business. I have seen others do things similar with different majors and minors.”

“What about you? What are your interests? Have you always known that you were going to be a warrior?” she asked me quietly.

“Not always. There was a time when I thought I wanted to be a doctor or a teacher. That changed on the day that my pack was attacked by rogues. I was eight when the attack happened. There was a huge group of rogues that had attacked at once. We were surrounded on all sides. It was chaotic. There were warriors, along with the ranked females, that were trying to usher all the women, children, and the elderly into the safe rooms before the attack made it near the pack house. But they were not able to do it on time. The safe room was left open while we waited for the rest of the women to get to the room and there was a rogue that slipped away from the rest…he found the safe room. I imagined he followed the sounds of the children crying and the hustle of the ranked women getting everyone into the room. I watched the first rogue rip into our Gamma female…I watched her bleed out and then we all heard the howl from the Gamma when I imagined he felt her bond snap. I felt helpless. I wanted to help, but I was scared. I watched him fight Luna Natalie and I did not know how to help her. He killed four of the women and eight children before the warriors finally broke through a window and killed him. That was the day I decided that I wanted to be a warrior. I never wanted to feel that helpless, useless, scared. After that day, I asked the Alpha to allow me to train with the kids that were preparing for their first shift; I was too young since we had to be ten in order to begin that training. He hesitantly agreed. So, I went through training, and I advanced through the ranks quickly. I was already slated to be a warrior by the age of 14, then when I turned 16, my family told me that we were going to be moving to your pack and that they had already secured it with your Alpha that I was going to become a warrior in his pack once I hit legal age.”

Kataleya was silent for a moment. “I am sorry that you had to witness that at a young age. I can only imagine the impression that was left and the trauma and PTSD you endured when you watched your Gamma female get her throat ripped out and bleed out in front of you. While nothing that extreme has happened to me, I do know trauma and the effects that it has on people. If you would like, you can always talk to me about the trauma or what the experience was like. I have learned that sometimes the best ways to let go of the pain is to confide in someone.”

I smiled at her. “I would like that, Kat. It would feel nice to have someone that I can talk to about it. After it happened, it was kind of brushed under the rug by the children that witnessed it. Between the funeral and the other stuff going on, the Alpha and the parents neglected to check on the children to see how they were holding up. Even though, as an adult now, it does not affect me the way that it used to. It used to be my driving force of pain and reason, but now I use it as a means to an end. A harsh reminder of what can happen in the blink of an eye, to live every second like it is your last, to love like you will never love again.”

We finally reach the pack house, and we part ways. As I headed to my room in the packhouse, I started to think about the day and being able to talk to Kat without any type of explanation. It felt good being able to talk to her. It was easy. It felt natural. I was happy. It was like I had known her my entire life. I can see what the warriors in my old pack meant. Kat was definitely one of a kind. She made you relaxed. Calm. I can’t wait to see what my future holds and whether I can convince her to be a part of it.