Chapter 21

Justin held my hands above my head and smirked at me. My breath catches in my throat, and I am suddenly finding it hard to breathe. I struggled to break free from his grasp. I took my leg up and kneed him in the groin. He rolled off of me, groaning in pain. I jumped to my feet just as Jacob joined the fight. Jacob rushed me and I was barely able to get my hands up to block his attack on my face.

Justin gets back onto his feet and both of them are blocking me into a corner. ‘Skye, I am going to shift. Please control yourself,’ I told my wolf as Justin and Jacob ran at me. I jump into the air, feeling the sensation of my bones breaking as I land behind them.

Justin was staring at me in awe, while Jacob wasted no time going in for the attack. Jacob rushes to me and I move my body to dodge out of the way of his attack. I whipped around and caught Jacob’s left leg in my mouth. She bit down hard, causing Jacob to scream in pain as he collapsed on the ground.

Justin runs at me and shifts midrun. Ares goes in for the attack, aiming for Skye’s throat. I ducked out of the way but I was not quick enough. Ares was able to knock Skye down, wrapping his mouth around her neck lightly. I broke from Ares hold and backed up a few steps. He ran at us again and this time Ares latched onto Skye’s right flank and bit down, hard. I let out a loud growl and winced at the pain. I shrugged the pain away as I fought to release Ares’s hold on my flank. Once free, I pulled Skye forward with me, trying to figure out how we were going to get out of this.

‘Skye, if we can manage to break one of his flanks, knock him down, and then go for the throat, we may be able to get him to submit. As long as Jacob doesn’t get back up.’

I glanced over at Jacob, and it looked like he was down and out. His arm was slowly healing, but it was not going to be enough. I must have gotten him pretty deep; he will probably need to be temporarily sedated and given a few dissolvable stitches. I saw Gamma Sean make his way towards Jacob, probably to assess his injuries and get him to the pack hospital. I turned back towards Justin and focused all my attention on him. I ran towards Justin, and he went to jump over me. As his body sprung above me, I jumped and grabbed ahold of his left flank. I bit down hard and yanked him toward the ground. I hear his bones snap as Justin lets out a loud whine. As he fell to the ground, I leaped towards him, aiming for his throat. I latched onto his throat gently and pushed him towards the ground. I gently squeezed his throat in a warning to submit. He hesitated for a second before Ares bared his throat to me in submission. I released his throat and backed away from him.

“Shift,” my father commanded.

Justin shifted back and pulled the pants on that Gamma Sean handed to him. Before I could even shift back, Justin walked towards me with his shirt he had discarded earlier.

‘When you shift back, I am going to put the shirt on you. Please don’t fight me on this.’ Justin mind-linked me. I looked around and noticed that everyone had turned around, besides Justin. I nudged Justin’s hand and pointed my head at him. He understood what I meant and turned around before I shifted. I felt the familiar sensation of my bones breaking. Once I shifted, I quickly pulled Justin’s shirt on before letting everyone know they could now turn around.

“Well done, Kataleya. I did not think that you would actually shift. Poor Jacob has to have stitches from where you tore into his arm. He is not healing as quickly as he needs to in order to stop the blood flow. I know we had originally decided that we were not going to train on your birthday, but with the upcoming events, I think this worked out well. And Justin, you held yourself well against Kataleya. Both of you need to go to the pack doctor and get checked out; make sure all of your injuries heal to the fullest, especially your leg Kataleya, Justin got you pretty good.” I looked down at my leg and noticed the dark purple bruises and in the center of the bruises was a long gash that was oozing blood. Now that he mentioned it, I could feel the pain radiating from my leg. I guess I probably should head to the pack doctor. I glanced over at Justin and looked at the gash that was on his arm and then I looked at the bite that was a little further up his arm. Yeah, I got him pretty good. I was actually shocked that Skye allowed me to hurt him as I did. I figured she would stop me since he was her mate.

“Yes, Alpha.” Justin and I responded together. We fell into step with each other and started our walk to the pack hospital. For the first few minutes, it was silent and I was waiting for Justin to say something to break the silence.

“You did really good out there, Kataleya. I am impressed,” Justin said softly.

“You did not do too badly yourself. I was sort of shocked that you were able to keep up with me,” I responded. He laughed and Goddess did his laugh sound so good. I do not know what it was about his laugh, but I was washed in warmth and I felt tingly.

“I am sorry about your leg. I did not mean to hurt you. I was kind of pissed at Ares when he latched on.” Justin told me.

“It is fine, as was expected. I did not expect you to take it easy on me. I would have been disappointed if you had. I am sorry about your arm, though. That was me, not Skye. Skye, I was shocked allowed me to harm you. I figured she would take over before I could do too much damage, which she eventually did take over shortly after I shifted, but she does love a good fight after all.”

We continued walking for a few seconds in silence before Justin broke the silence. He stops and turns to look at me.

“Kataleya, do you want to be my mate?” he asked me hesitantly.

I was thrown off guard by his question, that felt like it was more of a statement. I decided to be as honest and as transparent as I possibly could.

“No...I don’t know…I used to want a mate, badly, but something happened several years ago, right before you came to the pack. It changed my perspective on men and having a mate. I know this is unfair to you, but I cannot change what I think and feel. I am scared…”

He looks at me briefly and I see his eyes flash black, to the color of his wolf. “I understand you have been through trauma…no one will tell me what happened to you, but I am not running from you. I want you, even if you do not want me yet. I promise to take this at your pace. Nothing will happen unless you are ready. I promise.”

“I wish it was that simple. I wish I could simply just believe you, but I can’t. It was a lot for me to talk to you that day we went to the café with Oliver and Michael. In case you have not noticed, I typically avoid the male population, unless it is certain people. I promised my wolf I would not reject you, yet. I will try to give you a chance, but the thought of giving you a chance scares me Justin. I am scared of being hurt again. How do I know that you are not just like every other man? How do I know that this is real?”

“Kat, you won’t know until you try. Try to give me the chance to show that I want you as my mate, that I will not hurt you. That I will keep you safe. Protect you. Love you. Be your biggest confident. Help you continue to grow. I want to be everything to you. Most of all, I want to be the one that makes you happy.” He lightly touches my arm and at the feel of the sparks grazing my skin, I pull back.

“I am sorry, Justin, I just need time to process this. I need to wrap my head about the fact that I found my mate and whether I can give this a shot and be fair to you. It would not be fair for you to be continuously dragged along if I am not going to be able to give you the chance that you deserve. I am sorry that you lucked out with me as a mate.” As I said the last word, I continued to walk to the pack hospital. The more I moved, the harder it was to walk. The pain in my leg reached unbearable magnitudes.

I managed to send a link to the pack doctor before my legs gave out. ‘Please send someone to help me. Outside of the hospital. Injured. Leg.’ I barely managed to get the words out before I felt the darkness pull me under. The last thing I registered was strong arms picking me up and the delicious tingle of sparks running up and down my arms.