Chapter 16

**Kataleya POV**

I wanted to go to my room in the packhouse and just lay there, but that did not seem like an option. I had just watched Christopher and the rest of the Elders head for my father’s office, so I decided that I would sneak through the hidden alcove where Michael, Elijah, and I used to watch all of dad’s top-secret meetings. As I started to head to the room that would allow me to look into dad’s office, Elijah and Oliver stopped me.

“Kataleya, I really do not think you should be in there to hear what they are going to say. You do not need negativity. Please don’t do this to yourself.” Elijah said, blocking my path into the room.

“I just need to know their opinions, Eli. I promise, I will not let them break me.” I responded quietly.

Oliver and Elijah both looked at me as if they were contemplating something. Oliver and Elijah simultaneously sighed. Oliver finally spoke, “Fine, but we are coming in there with you. You are not allowed in there by yourself and if we think for one minute that you are going to break you down, we will take you out of there. Remember the Elders are not the ones that are overall in charge of the pack; they can only make things difficult for you, but we will be there for you the entire way.”

We walked into the alcove that allowed us to view and listen into my father’s office. I see my father at his desk and the rest of the Elders finished piling into his office. After my father tells them that he will not sit there and listen to them belittle me, Christopher is the first one to speak his mind about what all the Elders were thinking.

“Michael, please be reasonable about this. Kataleya is a wonderful person, we are not refuting that, but she is a female. The only way that we can agree with this decision is if you assure us that you will not hand her the title and the pack, until she meets her mate and then her mate takes his rightful title as Alpha and Kataleya takes her spot as the Luna.” Christopher stated.

I scoffed. Of course, they would try to start out by saying that I was such a great person...but the fact remains that I am female. I never in a million years thought that just because I had a damn vagina, that it meant that I would be held back for something. Are we still living in the early 1900s?

I continued to listen to the Elders belittle me because I simply was not a man, but my rage reached an all-time high when they tried to use my sexual assault as a means of not giving me a title that is rightfully mine, if I so choose to have it, which I did. I was so mad that I felt the beginning prickles of tears in the back of my eyes. What the fuck is wrong with them? Who gave them the fucking right to judge how I chose to handle my trauma?

Oliver looked at me and noticed the tears in my eyes. “Come on Kat,” he whispered, “You do not need to hear the rest of this. Come on…”

I numbly followed them out of the room. We made our way to the Alpha floor and went to my usual room. I looked at both of them and I hesitantly asked, “Would you two mind leaving me alone for the rest of the night? I think I need to be alone to do some soul searching.”

Elijah and Oliver looked at each other and shook their heads simultaneously. Elijah is the one to break the silence, “Kat, you do not need to be alone with your thoughts. I know how self-destructing your thoughts can be. Your choices are Oliver, me, or both of us to stay with you.”

I thought for a second. Oliver is usually my safe space; however, I think right now I want Eli. I looked at Eli and nodded my head towards him.

‘Ollie, I think that I will just let Eli stay with me for a little bit. You can go home and be with your family or stay in your room on the Beta floor. I promise I will be fine, and Eli will make sure I am before he leaves my room. I promise.’ I linked him.

‘If that is what you want, Kat, then I will do it. If you need me, you can call me or link me, and I will come back. Love you, Kat,’ he responded. I nodded my head in response to acknowledge that I heard what he said.

Eli and I walked into my room. “I am going to go shower. Be out in a few,” I mumbled.

I walked to the closet and grabbed some of the sleeping shorts and tee-shirts that I keep on there for occasions such as this, and then I made my way to the bathroom. I shut the door and locked it. I turned the water on and made sure it was scorching hot. I stood under the stream for a few minutes before I leaned against the wall and slid my body down, so I was sitting in the tub, letting the water run down my body. My eyes began to water, and the tears started to flow. How can they think that I would not be a good leader because of circumstances beyond my control? I was raped. I did not want it to happen. I fought for days, weeks, months just to get to some sense of normalcy. I still only see a ghost of my former self before the assault, but I am still me. I am just harder, not as trusting. I am stronger than I was then.

‘Damn straight, we are stronger. I will never allow anything to happen to you like that again. You have me now. We will fight together. You can lean on me. We are not a product of your trauma. We can and we have risen about that. Do not let what the dumbass Elders say affect you and what you can do. You will go out there and show them that you are the best of the best and you have every right to this title. The same way that Elijah and Michael have the right to the title.’ Skye said to me aggressively.

Once the tears slowed down to only hiccups, I stood in the shower and began to slowly finish my shower. I lathered my hair in my coffee-scented shampoo and conditioner. I washed my body in my strawberry body wash. I stepped out of the shower, wrapped myself in my towel, and looked at myself in the mirror. Damn, I looked pretty bad. My eyes were swollen and puffy from the crying. My cheeks were bright and rosy from the heat of the shower. I slowly began to get dressed.

“Kat, is everything alright? You have been in there an awfully long time.” Elijah asked me.

“Everything is fine. I am getting dressed now.” I hollered back.

I finished getting dressed in my shorts and tee, disposed of my dirty clothes in the hamper, and then walked into my room, heading for my big king-sized bed in the middle of the room.