Chapter 44

I knocked on the door and waited for my father to tell us that we could enter his office. When he called out that we could enter, Justin and I walked in. Sitting next to my father was my mother and sitting on the lounge was Luna Everleigh.

“Luna, it is so good to see you again.”

“Likewise young future Alpha. I have been looking forward to seeing you and I have been looking forward to officially meeting your mate.”

“Luna Everleigh, this is my mate, Justin Warner. He is one of our pack warriors, which I am sure you realized from the challenge.”

“Justin, the Luna has requested to speak with Kataleya alone for the first meeting. So, I actually have a few things that I need to discuss with Gamma Sean and you, if you don’t mind coming with me,” my father said to Justin.

“Sure, no problem.” Justin squeezed my hand as he got up and went with my father, followed by my mother.

“Come sit next to me on the couch,” Luna Everleigh said to me as she smiled at me.

I moved to the couch and angled my body towards her. We were both silent for a moment. She looked as if she was contemplating how to say something.

“My king told me what happened to you. He thought that it would do good for you to learn about my story in the fullest and how I coped with it.” She paused for a moment, “I was just like you, Kataleya. When I first met you the day of your challenge, I saw bits and pieces of myself in you and it hurts my heart to think that you have been going through the pain that I went through. I was born into the Ravenhyde pack. I was a wolf, just like you, before Lucas turned me into a Lycan when I accepted him as my mate.

I was the daughter of the Beta of the pack and I was really loved by the members of the pack. When I was 16, a few weeks before my 17th birthday, we had a summit in my pack with all the nearby Alphas and their entourage. Most of the Alpha’s brought their son, or whoever was going to be their successor, a few guards, their Beta or their Gamma, and some of them would bring their Lunas’. Alpha Jacobson of the Fire Wolf pack brought his son, Matthew, with him to the Summit.

In the beginning, everything was just fine. I was in charge of making sure that any of the children brought by the guests were treated well, including most of the successors for each of the packs. There were some things the successors had to be there for, but there were some things where they were not allowed, which is where my brother and I came in. In the beginning, everything went well. We were all getting along well and some of them ended up exchanging numbers and contact information. A few days after the start of the summit, we had a bonfire planned. It was the day before the last official day of the summit. I had decided to take a walk into the woods. My wolf was feeling restless, so I thought if I went for a walk, then she would calm down.

I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings and didn’t realize that Matthew had followed me out into the woods, until someone grabbed me from behind and wrapped one of his hands around my mouth to stop my scream.” She paused, taking a deep breath. I could tell where this was going and I knew I was not going to like what she was about to tell me. “He had shoved me into the nearest tree and proceeded to shred my clothes from my body. I was terrified. I froze for a moment and then I tried fighting him off of me, but he was stronger than me. When he finished with me, he left me as a whimpering, sobbing mess, in the middle of the forest. No one knew I was out there. Several tried to mind-link me, but I never answered. It was like my entire body shut down and all I could do was sob.

Finally, my dad and the Alpha sent out a search party to find me. They found me several hours after the attack happened and I was unresponsive for several days. My father told me after the initial shock wore off that they had tried everything they could think of in order to get me to talk and tell them what had happened to me, but I would not respond.

Even after, I came too. I refused to tell them anything that had happened to me until after the summit and all the Alpha’s had left the territory. My father and the Alpha were furious. However, since I waited so long to tell them what had happened, they had to take it to the King and his council in order to get justice for me. I wasn’t coping after the attack. I laid in bed, just staring at the ceiling or my wall, just contemplating how my life had gone so wrong.

I ended up dreading the day I would turn 17, even though it was something that I used to look forward to. I had dreamed of meeting my mate and having a “fairytale” happy ending. That had all went out the went after what happened to me.

The king had finally gotten word of what happened and was coming to the territory with the intention of investigating what happened. However, I screwed up his original plans when he saw me. The moment he uttered mate, I freaked. I ran out of the Alpha’s office and to my room and I locked myself in there. It took my father two days of constant pleading to convince me to leave my room.

The King had to temporarily return to his kingdom, so that he could get his Beta to take over for him for as long as needed while he came back to my pack to, as he put it, “hopefully bring home his mate and to convince her that he wasn’t a complete douche.”

We did have a very rocky start, to the point, I struggled being in a room with him. I wanted to reject him, but as you know, a werewolf cannot reject a Lycan. Only a Lycan can reject their wolf mate. But, Goddess, I wanted to reject him because I was scared. It took Lucas three weeks to convince me to stay in a room with him longer than ten minutes. He knew the gist of what had happened to me, but in order to investigate it, he had to hear it from me. I refused to tell him about my trauma. I refused to tell him what that bastard had done to me.” I could tell she had tears in her eyes and she was fighting them. I reached over and placed my hand gently on her arm.

“It took Lucas three months of constantly trying to be there for me and talking to me to convince me that he wasn’t going to hurt me. It was almost ten months later before I would divulge my trauma to him. He kept his promise though. He did not push me. He did not argue with me. He protected me.

When I told him, in vivid detail, what the Alpha had done to me, his Lycan lost control. He shifted and it took my father and the Alpha, plus two of the King’s guard to calm him down without him hurting me or someone else. Once he calmed down, he stormed to the Fire Wolf pack to take care of the Alpha. He tortured him before he eventually killed him. Usually, Lucas has a calm demeanor, but that day I told him what had happened to me. I was scared. He wasn’t the kind, understanding king. He wanted revenge. He wanted to hurt the person that had hurt his mate. His future Queen.

The boy’s father tried to convince Lucas not to kill the boy, but Lucas didn't hear that. Lucas ended up leaving a horrible scar on his chest with his claws for suggesting that he wasn’t punished to the fullest. I think his punishment would have been bad, but may not have resulted in his death had he not attacked Lucas’ mate, because that was what made it worse for Lucas and then he knew, even though he did not know me at the time, there was nothing that he could have done to protect me.

It took Lucas four years before I allowed him fully in, before I convinced myself that he would never hurt me and that he would love me as I deserved. I would make horrible remarks about myself and I refused therapy, so Lucas was at a loss when it came to helping me. Eventually, I talked to my mate. Talking to my mate was helpful in helping me recover. I was glad that I did not reject him. Once I had accepted him and our bond, he changed me by marking me and then giving me a little of his blood. Ever since then, we have been happy. I still have my moments of depression where I think about what that bastard had done to my body and how he had tarnished it and destroyed me. Usually, Lucas has to fight those days to get me to see my worth. When Lucas received his Guardian, Sebastian, he made Sebastian promise that I would become priority number one if something were to happen and it came down between the two of us.”

I stood up and I went over to her and gave her a hug. I appreciated her telling me her story and showing me that I am not the only one that has been affected by trauma, but most of all, that there was a way to come back from this that would benefit me.