Chapter 43

**Six months later**

The past six months have really flown by. I continued meeting with my dad for my Alpha training. Justin continued to attend training with me and he would become overprotective if I was sparring with anyone besides him and they injured me. He has definitely taken the whole “overprotective mate” to a whole new level.

We have continued to grow closer. I can tell that Justin wants more, but I still struggle with giving him more. I am now certain that Justin would not harm me intentionally. However, I still have the fear of giving myself to him 100%...but I can tell that he is ready to mark me. Hell, Skye is constantly telling me, more like demanding me, to just go ahead and let him mark us. She wants her mate to the fullest and I know he feels the same way. I am falling for him with 100% certainty. If there is one thing I am certain of, it is that I am falling for him and I would be hesitant to say that I do love him, even if the thought of loving him is scary. He has been my rock the past six months. He has done everything in his power to help protect me and make me feel safe and loved.

I am about a month away from turning 18, which means I am preparing to officially take the role of Alpha from my father. Starting today, Luna Everleigh, King Lucas’s mate, will be meeting me to try and help me overcome some of my trauma and pain.

I stared up at the ceiling in my room, while I contemplated whether or not I should really get out of bed. I know I needed to. I had an appointment with Luna Everleigh that I needed to keep. I looked behind at Justin’s peaceful, sleeping face.

I sighed.

I really don’t want to wake him up, but I may not have a choice. Plus, he also told me he wanted to be there for my meeting with the Luna. He wanted to be there and she told me that it would be fine if my mate attended the session with us.

“Justin, it is time to wake up if you want to attend the meeting with Luna Everleigh with me.” I said to him as I gently shook his shoulder.

He grumbled in his sleep and pulled me tighter against him. Goddess, this is the fight I have with him every night. Usually, it is a struggle to wake him up, unless we have training. But, today is Sunday and dad gave me the day off, so that I could meet with the Luna.

I shook him harder, but he still wouldn’t budge. He will be upset if he misses this meeting, so I have to find a way to wake him up. I thought for a second before a thought occurred to me.

Fine, you wanna do this the hard way? We will do this the hard way. I smirked mischievously.

I wiggled my body out from under Justin’s arms. As soon as I was able to get out of his arms, I made my way to the bathroom and grabbed a bucket out from under the sink. I turned the water to cold and filled the bucket halfway with the cold water. I, then, went to the mini–ice maker that I had in my room and filled the bucket the rest of the way with ice. Justin was going to kill me, but damn, this was going to be worth it.

Once I had my bucket of ice water, I walked around to where he was lying. I shook his shoulder.

“Last chance Justin. Wake up, sleepyhead.” He growled low before he tossed to face the other way. I shrugged my shoulders. “Suit yourself. I warned you.”

I dumped the bucket of water onto his head and made sure I ran to the bathroom, so he wouldn’t attack me when he woke up.

Justin sat up quickly in the bed and yelled, “What the fuck?!” He searched the room until his eyes met mine and I was laughing hysterically. I was doubled over, my side was hurting from all the laughing, and I had tears streaming down my face.

“Kataleya!” Justin yelled.

“Justin, I told you that you needed to wake up several times. I tried. You didn’t wake up, so I did the only thing I could think of to wake you. Your mom gave me the idea a while ago. She told me this was how she sometimes had to wake you and your sister up for school.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess you will learn that you need to wake up when I tell you too.”

He jumped out of bed and rushed to where I was, “You are going to pay for that!”

I dodged his first attempt, which put me directly in front of the couch. On the second attempt, he was able to tackle me and I tumbled on the couch. The couch rocked with the impact of both our weights. Justin began to tickle my sides as I tried to squirm, unsuccessfully, out of his reach.

“Fuck! I am sorry! I’m sorry! Please stop,” I screamed while laughing.

“Nope not stopping anytime soon, love. You are gonna have to work for it. I think because of your naughty behavior, I am expecting a kiss from you.” Justin said while he was laughing.

I wiggled a little more before yelling, “Fine! Fine! You win! I will kiss you.”

He stops tickling me as he awaits for me to kiss him. I leaned over to him and he closed his eyes and I gave him a small peck on the cheek. “There you have your kiss.” I said as I was laughing and getting off the couch to get a car to play.

Justin laughed. “Kataleya! You know that is not the type of kiss I wanted.”

“I know!” I said, giggling, “but, you never told me what kind of kiss you wanted from me, so you got what I was willing to give.” I stuck my tongue out

“Come on, we need to get ready to meet Luna Everleigh…if you still want to do that with me today.”

“Of course, I do, babe. I want to go anywhere that you go.” He responded cheekily. Goddess, this man was such a sweet talker.

I picked out a nice dress with some low heels to wear for my meeting with Luna Everleigh.

‘Hilda, will you send an Omega up to clean my room, particularly my bed?’ Justin had a wee accident. And if you ask him about his accident, he will tell you that it is all my fault, just know that he is lying and it is not my fault at all.’ I told her, laughing. I heard her laugh as a response to my statement. ‘Yes, future Alpha. I will send one to take care of your bedding’ ‘

I finished getting ready while Justin showered. I curled my hair and let it fall around my face, framing it, and then I put on some light make-up, aiming to hide at least the dark circles that seemed always present under my readers.

Once we finished getting ready, we left my room and made our way to my dad’s packhouse, knowing the king had to return to his kingdom soon after the challenge, because of his duties calling him. He agreed to let his Luna return to my territory as long as the guardian could accompany her, plus, at least three of the royal guards, which was fine with me.

We stopped right outside my dad’s office and he continued to take deep breathes, so that I would be calm when I entered his office.