Chapter 38

I entered my father’s office and found him alone.

“I thought the King was going to be with you.”

“He had a few things to take care of before joining us. He, also, wanted to get Luna Everleigh situated, so he could attend meetings. She apparently hates sitting in his meetings and prefers other things to better occupy her time. So, she will be staying in the suite they are in with her guardian. We are going to start with our conversation.”

“Have you decided what is going to happen between Justin and you? The Elders began pressuring me when they realized Justin was your mate. I have repeatedly told them you are not willing to give up your role as Alpha to your mate, not that Justin isn’t capable.”

“I want to take it slow. While I haven’t fully accepted him as my mate, I have assured him that I will give him a full chance to get to know each other. I was shocked he did not run when I told him I had been raped. I expected the worse from him. I expected him to hate the fact that I was not “pure” and I was essentially a shell of my former self. He didn’t leave. He stayed.”

My father stared at me for a moment before he spoke, “I think you are doing the right thing by giving Justin a chance. He is a great man, honorable, strong, and he will not give up easily. He is smitten with you. Your mother has not put two and two together. When do you plan on telling her? Elijah suspects it, but he isn’t going to outright ask anyone.”

“We had decided that it was okay to let our families know. I just don’t know if I could handle the entire pack if they knew, especially since I am unsure if it works out between us. I want to save not only myself, but Justin from that kind of embarrassment. We were going to come by the house later tonight and I was going to introduce him. Then, we are going to go to his house for me to officially meet his family. Afterwards, we were going to go out, probably to the human town to avoid the watchful eyes of pack members.”

“Good, I will let your mother know to expect some guests today. She is going to be so happy, Kataleya.”

Just then there was a knock on the door. My father yelled for them to come in. King Lucas opens the door and walks in.

I bowed my head to him and so did my father.

“King Lucas, thank you for joining us today.”

Lucas nodded his head towards my father before he took his seat in the chair next to me.

“Kataleya, you did well today in training, but the Alpha is right. You need to work on covering your weak spots. If your weak spots are covered, then you have a higher chance of not falling into your opponent. However, from what I understood, the young warrior was looking for vengeance from the challenge the other day.”

“Yes, Gael was quite upset over our fight and felt that today was his way of getting even, which is why he volunteered to help in my training today.”

The King chuckled. “I will give it to him. He is strong. I was more worried about what was going to happen to him from your mate. The young warrior was ready to take him down for laying a hand on you. I thought he was going to attack Gael when he broke your arm. Do you have any plans for you and your young mate? I noticed you are not yet marked.”

I sat in silence for a moment before my father jumped in and opened, saved me from answering, “Justin and Kataleya have some things that they both need to work out. After the incident, when Kataleya was twelve, Kataleya had spent the last several years weary of men, in general, so she had every intention of rejecting her mate. She recently decided that she would give Justin a chance.”

I looked at my father in horror. Why did he have to mention what happened to the King?

“Kataleya, look at me,” my father said.

I refused to look him in the eye before he forced the mind-link open.

‘Kataleya, you will listen to my reasoning before getting upset. I know you do not want anyone to know what happened to you. When it first happened to you, in the pack, we kept it for the ranked members. However, we are required to report incidents such as rape, molestation, kidnapping to the Lycan King in our area. King Lucas knows what happened to you. He tries not to mention it the few times that he has met you. He doesn’t intend on upsetting you. He had similar problems with his Luna that you are giving Justin. Similar circumstances happened to his mate before he found her and she nearly rejected him on the spot. Luna Everleigh was a normal wolf when she met King Lucas, living in a pack just like you. She was raped by a visiting Alpha’s son in her territory. That is all I will tell you regarding what happened to Everleigh. It is, after all, her story to tell. The King means no malice in mentioning it to you. The business we had today involved you and your trauma. He wants to help you. Stop being so bullheaded and talk to us. We can’t help you if you don’t let us.’

I sat in silence for a few moments before I finally looked up at my father and nodded my head. I was struggling to wrap my head around what he told me happened to Luna Everleigh. She seemed fine, happy even. Maybe there is hope for me after all.

The King looked at me, “I am sorry for upsetting you Kataleya. I want to help you. I cannot help you if we can’t talk about the events that occurred. I want to help you not only for the sake of your mate, but for your sake too. It is time you returned to that girl I first met when she was ten, who did not take no for an answer, was so headstrong, and loved everything she had. We want her back. I remember the day that I first met you. I told your parents that you were the definition of a true Alpha female, even though you were not the first born. After seeing your wolf, I can confirm that you are 100% Alpha, no doubt about that.”

I looked into the King’s eyes and his eyes held nothing but sincerity. “Thank you, King Lucas.”

He shook his head at me. “In private, you can just call me Lucas. I hate formalities almost as much as my father hated them.”

“Yes, Lucas.” I grinned at him.

“Let’s get started. This is going to be hard, Kataleya. Just remember that I know everything that has happened before to you. I have learned that it is different to hear from the victim’s point of view. Take your time telling me what happened. Just know, I am not judging you and I in no way think you are weak, no matter what happened to you and no matter how you expressed your emotions.”

So, I told him. I told him everything, just as I had told Justin yesterday morning. I started with my hesitancy to go to the party, with the fear I felt when I thought I was being followed, and at that moment, the three triplets stepped out of the brush in the woods. I told him how I handled my trauma; from the therapy, to the pills, to the refusal to sleep at night. I explained my nightmares and how they are worse when Justin isn’t around.

By the time I had finished, we had been sitting in the office for about three hours. Lucas listened to me intently about my experience and how I processed my pain and trauma.

“Kataleya, thank you for telling me in your words what has happened to you. Thank you for trusting me enough to see the pain you went through.” He looked at my father, “Everything she told me lines up with what the other victims have told me about the three. So far, she has handled it the best out of the rest. One of them took her life last week.”

I looked at them. What did they mean? What other victims? I thought I was the only one they had gotten too.

My father looked at my face and he could see my confusion. “We have been trying to track down the bastards. Over the past couple of years, they have been hitting up various packs around the state, raping them and leaving them for their pack members to find. Most of them were prepubescent and had not connected to their wolf, so they could not mind-link with other pack members.”

Wow. I did not realize they had been looking for the bastards this entire time. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me though. I never thought for a moment that my dad would ever let what happened to me slide. Hell, for the longest, they never allowed me out of their sight…not even to go to school. I always had a warrior with me to make sure that I was protected.

We sat there talking for about twenty more minutes before I excused myself to go and get ready for tonight.

I made my way to my room in the packhouse and jumped into the shower. I finished the shower and walked into my closet to pick out an outfit.

‘Where are we going tonight?’ I linked Justin.

‘It is a surprise. I placed a new outfit for you, hanging on the back of the door to your room in the packhouse.’ He chuckled.

I rushed out of the closet and looked at my door. Well, fuck. He did. How the hell did I not notice that?

‘Be ready in an hour. I will be there to pick you up.’ He was still chuckling as he cut the link.

I unzipped the garment bag and my breath hitched. It was gorgeous. I will admit he has great taste. The dress was turquoise and it went to my knees, with half sleeves. Over the turquoise part of the dress, there was a thin veil that was embroidered with different flowers.

I finished getting dressed and proceeded to put on a pair of turquoise heels. The heels were small in length, so that they would not hurt my feet too much and they were easier to maneuver in. I rushed to the bathroom and blow dried my hair. I curled my hair and pinned the sides to my back. I put on some light foundation, black eyeliner, and some light brown eyeshadow, to complement my eyes. I put on some rose-colored lip gloss before deciding that I was officially ready.

I heard a knock on my door and I rushed to it. I opened the door and my breath caught in my throat.