Chapter 31

**Kataleya’s POV**

I knew I had hurt him. I just couldn’t bear the thought of me destroying him because I cannot get over my trauma. I felt tears slowly rolling down my face as Justin shut the door. Wouldn’t it just be better for me to cut the cord, so to speak, and get the hurt out of the way? At least this way, he would be able to move on with his life. Currently, Justin is wrapped up in wanting to be with me, but I do not think he could handle me, handle my trauma. Would he think of me differently because I had been touched by another man? I was no longer pure and it bothered me. How can I give myself to someone when someone has already taken everything that I had to give?

My father walked in as I was quietly sobbing to myself.

“What happened to Justin? He did not look happy when he left, and you don’t look happy now, daughter.”

I hesitated, “Do I have permission to speak freely dad?”

“Of course. When have I ever restricted anything you children have said? I want you to be honest with your mother and me. We do not want you to hide anything, including your feelings and thoughts.”

“I all but implied that I wanted to reject him. Dad, I am too broken and damaged. I would destroy him. He deserves to be with someone that can put their 100% all into it and I am not it, Dad. How can I begin to explain to him the thoughts that go through my head? How do I tell him about my nightmares? I can’t explain what I have been through to him, he would surely leave.”

My dad slowly shakes his head at me. “First, you are not damaged and broken. When I look at you, I see someone that is resilient when faced with impossible circumstances. They did not break you, baby girl. You will not give them the pleasure of taking away your happiness. Second, do you really think so low of Justin, that he would just leave when things get too hard? Justin is one of my warriors and I have nothing but good things to say about him. Same with Gamma Sean, who is around him at least 95% of the time. He would be good for you. He would help you overcome your trauma. You just have to let him. We have all refused to tell him what happened to you because that is something that would be best coming from you, but please put him out of his misery. He is going crazy trying to figure out what happened to you to make you so closed off. At least do me a favor. Tell him what happened before you reject him. Give him a chance to surprise you. I promise you his response will not be what you think it is. Give him the chance to prove you wrong. I love you, Kat, and I will stand by what you choose, but I do not want you to make a big mistake.”

I sat in silence. Was I being unfair to Justin?

‘Yes, Kat, you are. You kept telling me that you would give him a chance, but I haven’t seen you actually give him a chance. You haven’t opened up to him. You haven’t given him the time of day to show that he cares, to show that he will not leave at the drop of a hat. Today, when you were talking to him, I could feel his wolf breaking. They want us, Kat. Why can’t we at least try? At the very least, do what dad suggested and give him the chance to prove your thoughts wrong. If he reacts in a negative way, then you can reject him. I won’t stop you, but I want you to try and trust our mate.’

Skye has been Justin’s biggest fan since she learned who our mate was. Would it really be fair of me to punish my wolf for my insecurities?

I guess I will do what my dad suggested…

Hopefully, he does not run…

If he runs, if he hates me afterwards, I don’t know what I will do.

I think that will break me more than anything.

“Fine, dad. I will take your suggestion. Before I fully decide to reject him, I will tell him my trauma. My secret. I will see how he takes it.”

“Good. Kat, I knew you would make the right choice. Are you ready for the next part of your challenge?”

I nodded my head and slowly stood out of bed. The doctor had someone bring me another set of workout clothes, since I had shredded my clothes already. We stood up and left the pack hospital. Dr. Leigh had already told me that I could leave when I was ready. Everything looked fine and I had healed pretty nicely, minus the few dissolvable stitches I needed to close up a few of the nastier wounds.

Here goes nothing…

****************************

I walked back onto the field and the crowd erupted into cheers.

I stood in the center of the ring, awaiting Christopher to signal the next set of challengers.

“Good evening, everyone. We are now ready for the second challenge to take place. In the first challenge, Kataleya was able to successfully take down all ten of her competitors, even if the last three submitted to her by default. The next challenge will feature our future Beta, Oliver Haywood, and our future Gamma, James Steele. Will the challengers please come forward?” Christopher’s voice boomed across the makeshift stadium.

Oliver and James walked out, prepared for our challenge.

“Let’s make this a clean match! You may take your place and begin!”

I prepared my stance and refused to make the first move against James and Oliver. I knew the fighting styles of both men and I knew what I was going against. As future Gamma, James would help his father lead training some days. Oliver, I already knew, was a worthy opponent from the years that I watched him train with his father and alongside Michael.

Oliver made the first move by swinging his fist, aiming for my face. Always the face. Why can’t they aim for something other than the face?

I dodged to the left and used my elbow to whip around and hit him in the stomach. He makes a grunt before coming at me again. He used his leg to kick me straight in the chest. I saw it coming at the last second and didn’t see it coming.

Fuck that hurt.

James locked his arms around my neck from behind. I was so engrossed in the fight with Oliver that I nearly forgot about James and did not hear him sneaking up behind me. His arms were effectively cutting off my air supply. Oliver aimed another kick into my chest, while James held me in a position that would not allow me to dodge his attack.

I need to figure out how to get out of James' grip.

I aimed my foot backwards and hit James in his groins. He grunts, while falling to the ground, letting go of my neck.

It was a low blow, but all is fair in love and war. Right?

I swung my other foot around and knocked Oliver’s feet out from under him.

While Oliver was on the ground, I swung around to deal with James. I swung my arm back and punched James in the face. I heard the crunch of his nose breaking as blood was splattered all over my face.

I heard Oliver get off the ground and I dodged to my right. Oliver's foot missed me by mere centimeters before it crashed into James' face.

Ouch. Fuck. That had to suck.

The crowd cheered. I looked over at James and he was starting to slowly get back to his feet.

“That was a low blow, Kat,” he said to me as he got to his feet.

I smiled at him innocently. “All is fair in love and war, love.”

Oliver laughed and then lunged at me again. This time he partially shifted and used his claw to grasp my side as I turned to dodge his initial attack.

I felt my blood running down my sides from his attack.

He wants to play like that? Fine. I will show him how dirty I could play.

James and Oliver lunged at me at the same time. James aimed for my face, while Oliver went for the low attack and tried to sweep my feet out from under me.

I was able to avoid James' attack, but Oliver was able to knock me off my feet. I fell backwards and landed on my ass.

I quickly got back up. I needed to come up with a game plan to quickly eliminate the two of them.

James rushed at me again and, instead of dodging him, I let him get close to me. Right as he got close to me, I partially shifted and used my claws to rake down James' chest, from his right shoulder to his left side.

He lets out a guttural scream before clenching his side to try to stem the bleeding.

While holding his side, James rushed at me and shifted mid-run.

Well fuck. I wasn’t ready to shift and I was not particularly fond of fighting his wolf in my human form.

His wolf ran into me, knocking me down, and hovering over me.

The field was completely silent as they waited to see what James was going to do to me.

His wolf snaps at my face and I popped him on the nose. It distracted him enough and allowed me to raise my knee and kick his wolf in the stomach and flip him over me. I got up and the wolf came at me again. I dodged his wolf and grabbed a handful of his fur before using it to pull myself on top of his wolf. I wrapped my arms around his wolf’s neck, cutting off his air supply. I gripped as tightly as I could. His wolf struggled to get me off of him, when I felt his wolf slowly sink to the ground. His wolf had passed out. I quickly climbed off of his wolf so that the pack doctor could come and retrieve him from the field.