Chapter 49

**Justin’s POV**

Kataleya looked me in the eyes as she said, “I love you too, Justin.”

My heart stopped for a moment. She said it. I cannot believe she said it. I was honestly not expecting her to tell me that she loved me. She finally said it. I was in shock.

‘Skye told me that she has felt this way for a few weeks, but was not sure how to voice it. Skye said she was terrified of admitting her feelings for us.’ Axel tells me.

‘I am glad she finally said it. I was worried that this with Anna was going to ruin what we started to build. I was worried that it was going to destroy the fragile trust that we had built.’

I reached towards Kataleya and pulled her towards me. I wrapped her tightly in my arms. “I love you so much, baby. Thank you.”

I smiled down at her and she smiled back at me. “Do you want to continue our walk?” She nodded her head and we began to walk the trail again.

We walked in a comfortable silence, holding hands. “So…what was the idea that you had? You were interrupted before you could tell me.”

She smiled at me before speaking, “I was thinking, I am not sure how I feel about you being called my Luna. I, also, cannot see you being called Luna. I can just imagine some of the warriors calling you Luna as a joke and you killing them.” I laughed at her statement. She is probably right. Some warriors would use it as a means to mess with me, but if it meant that I could spend the rest of my life with her, then I would do it.

“Baby, while I am not fond of being called Luna, especially as a joke by some of my friends, I would do anything that you ask of me, including be your Luna.”

“I know, Justin, and I love you for your willingness to want to be able to do it for me, but I think I have a solution for us both. Maybe a solution that would get the Elders off of my back,” she paused before continuing, “I want you to share being Alpha with me. Be my co-alpha…” she finished, trailing off her sentence.

I was stunned. I did not think in a million years that she would ever suggest this.

“Baby, are you sure?”

She nodded her head, “Yes, I am sure.”

“Does this mean that you accept our bond, accept it?” I am giddy. I want to know her answer, but at the same time I am nervous. What if she turns me down again?

“Yes. I accept you and our bond.”

Yes!

Yes!

I turned her to face me and I immediately picked her up and picked her in a circle, kissing her cheek. She laughs. “Put me down you big brute. You are drawing attention to us.”

I slowly looked around, while keeping her in my arms the entire time. She is right. We are drawing a crowd, but I cannot bring myself to care. My mate accepts me. She told me that she loved me. She wants to be with me. She giggled in my arms as I continued to turn in a slow circle.

I slowly lower to the ground. “I don’t know if I have told you this lately, but I fucking love you.” She giggles. “Of course, you have, silly. I love you too.”

Goddess, I love her laughter. I would give anything to hear her laughter over and over again.

“So, what do you say? You want to be my co-alpha?”

“I would love nothing more than to run the pack with you, love. I told you I would follow you anywhere.”

“I want to keep it quiet until the ceremony, so the Elders cannot try to stop it from happening. I am pretty sure they are just against me completely and would do anything to not see me as a leader of the pack.”

“Of course, baby. I won’t tell anyone your plans.”

We finally finished walking the trail and I asked her if she was hungry. She eagerly nodded her head. “If you were hungry, why did you not tell me?” She laughed, “After Anna interrupted us, I honestly forgot about it. It wasn’t until you mentioned it that I realized how hungry I was.”

I led her back towards the car and we headed further into town to grab something to eat.

“Do you want something quick and simple or something fancier?”

“I want something simple. Something we can take back to the packhouse and lay down, eat, and cuddle.”

I decided to take her to one of my favorite spots when I first moved here. Crown Burgers. They are like Burger King, but ten times better. I pulled into the drive-thru and asked Kat what she wanted.

“I have never been here before. What is something good to try?”

I gasped in shock. “You have never been to Crown Burger before?! They have the best burgers. Do you trust me to order for you?” She nodded her head. I turned to the speaker, “I will have two of your crown burgers, one of them with extra dressing, both in a combo with the largest strawberry malts you have.”

I pulled to the next window, paid, and started to head back towards the packhouse. I just knew she was going to love this. It is the best thing on their menu and everyone recommends getting it. It is absolutely to die for.

I carried the food, while she had the drinks, and we walked to her room.

“Yo! Justin! What are you doing?” I turned around and saw Jameson, who was another warrior, walking towards me. “Oh, nothing. I am just walking Kataleya to her room. She had a lot in her hands, so I offered to help.”

“Well, that is nice. I am sure Kataleya—”

Kataleya cut him off, “No, my mate is walking with me to my room, where we are going to eat and cuddle watching movies.” She grabs my arm and begins to march off with me in tow. I looked behind me and I saw the shock on Jameson’s face echoing the shock that I was feeling. So much for keeping it a secret? Maybe now we can actually tell others about our bond, instead of hiding it from the world.

Just in case she slipped up, I linked Jameson. ‘Don’t you dare tell anyone that Kataleya and I are fated mates. We will tell everyone when we are ready.’

He saluted me, ‘Aye, Aye Captain. Luckily, it was me that she told and not my sister. Katrina would have talked to the entire country by now.’

Sadly, he is not wrong. Katrina likes to talk and she loves good gossip. So, Kataleya finding her mate and keeping it a secret is like the cream of the crop for her.

We got back up to her room and I got the bed set up for us to eat. She sits down next to me and begins to eat her burger. “Mmmm…this is so good. You were right. I was missing out.” She continued to moan while eating her food. I feel myself hardening in my pants and my cock straining against the fabric of my jeans. I move to try and readjust myself without her noticing.

“I told you they were the best. When we first moved to this pack, we tried them and it eventually became our favorite spot.

Once we finished eating, Kataleya decided that she wanted to lay down and watch one of her new favorite Netflix binges, Manifest. As we are lying there cuddling, I finally decide to ask her about what happened earlier when Jameson was questioning us.

“So…Kat, are we able to tell the pack about us being fated mates? While I am very okay with it, I want to make sure you are. I talked to Jameson just in case you were not ready and told him he had better not go and tell anyone about us being fated mates, just in case you accidentally slipped up.”

She laughed, “Thank you for being so considerate, but no, we do not have to hide it anymore. I actually meant to tell Jameson. I will be 18 in a week and I realized that it was finally time. I know that you are tired of hiding it…this way both of us can be happy. And it might make my training easier for you. If you are not envisioning ripping off every guy’s head when they train with me and knock me down, Ares projects these thoughts to me by accident when it happens and I struggle not to laugh at them.”

I laughed at her logic and pulled her face towards mine, slowly bringing my face lower, giving her the chance to stop me if she chooses too. I lightly kissed her lips before whispering, “Thank you.”

Once I break away from the kiss, I rub my hand on the back of my neck, looking down suddenly nervous, “I have another question and you can always tell me no…When do you think you will be ready for us to mark each other?”

I finally get the courage to look into her eyes and I see brief flashes of fear before she masks it. Before she got the chance to answer, her eyes glazed over as if she was receiving a mind-link.

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A/N

Good evening, everyone! I hope you are enjoying my story so far. Due to a contract that I have with another company, I had to change the age of some of my characters in the story. Unfortunately, NovelNow does not allow me to edit once a chapter has been posted; therefore, I am going to let you know here of any of the changes, so that the story does not become confusing. In the beginning of the story, Kataleya is 18 and Justin is 21. The ages of all the other characters continue in the same manner, if the character was two years older than Kataleya, then they will be 16 at the start of the story! Fated mates are found at the age of 20 and the title of Alpha gets handed down at the earliest, 21. If you have any questions, please let me know! You can now follow me on my writer's instagram at nani.akamai! Feel free to send me any questions you have on my insta! I hope you enjoy the chapters I just posted!