Chapter 50

**Kataleya’s POV**

“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?” Justin asked me hesitantly.

Fuck. I knew this question was coming. I mean it is normal for mates to mark each other. Right? But that fear is lingering. I know there is no real reason for me to fear Justin anymore. He has shown me time and time again that he is all in this and would never do anything that would harm me or put me in danger. Hell, the boy does not even like the thought of me training. The fear will just not go away.

I felt the pressure of someone trying to connect a mind-link with me, but I had my block up since Anna showed up at the park.

‘Kataleya, is Justin with you? We need him! Rogues just appeared at the south border!’ my father frantically asked.

Fuck. I quickly stood up and pulled on some tights. “Come on Justin, we have to go. Rogues are at the south border. Dad needs our help.”

I rushed to my balcony door and pulled it open. I took a running jump off the balcony and shifted midair. I could sense that Justin had followed me out.

‘Kat, please be careful tonight.’

“I promise, I will if you are.’

We rushed to the south side. When we arrived, there were about 35 rogues scattered along the south edge of the border. Fuck, that is a lot.

I immediately jumped into the throng of warriors holding the rogues back from trying to reach into the city in our territory.

I tackled a wolf that was on top of Aziel, aiming for his throat. I collided with the wolf, both of us tearing at each other. Both of us were struggling to get the upper hand. I lunged back towards the wolf, managing to bite a chunk of his ear off. The wolf howled in pain before aiming for my throat. I dodged out of the way by side-stepping. As soon as I was out of his path, I aimed for his left flank. Once I wrapped my teeth around his flank, I bit down hard. I heard the crunching of his bones breaking. After he was down, I aimed for his throat and managed to rip his throat out.

I looked around the battle field, spotting Justin surrounded by four wolves. The fear I felt seeing him surrounded was insurmountable. I watched in a daze as they each took turns attacking Justin. The fear rooted me to my spot. When one of the wolves lunged for his throat, it was enough to snap me out of fear and my paws began to move of their own accord.

As soon as I joined the fight, Justin locked eyes with me and barely shook his head no towards me. He is fucking crazy if he thinks I am going to sit this one out because he does not want me to get hurt.

When one of the wolves lunged towards my right flank, I sidestepped and spun just in time to see the second wolf trying to attack me from behind. I barely had enough time to dodge out of his way, spin around, and jump onto his back. As soon as I landed on him, I shifted back into my human form, and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck, squeezing as tightly as I could.

As soon as the wolf collapsed, I jumped  off him and shifted back to Skye. I ripped his throat out. 2 down, 2 to go.

We continued fighting for what felt like hours. When there was only a handful of wolves left, I caught one of the rogues sneaking behind Justin and before I could even warn him, the rogue lunged, knocking Justin to the ground and slashing him from shoulder to rib cage.

I watched as Ares’s body went down and all the blood that was gushing from him. I watched as the wolf lunged for his throat and I was frozen in my spot. Fear overtakes any rational thought that I may have had. My dad took down the wolf that was going for the kill as I fought to calm the bubbling fear that was building up. I just got him. I can’t lose him. I watched as Ares slowly shifted back to Justin and the blood gushing from his wound.

‘Kat, you need to help our mate. Please. Help him.’ Skye whimpered in my head.

Her overwhelming fear was enough to snap me out of my frozen state. Step by step, I moved my feet before having the energy to break out into a run, sliding onto the ground, next to Justin.

Fuck. There was so much blood.

As soon as I picked his head up, his eyes fluttered open. “Kataleya,” he mumbled, “I love you baby. Forever and always. Never forget that.”

I felt the tears running down my cheek, “Don’t you dare die on my Justin. I just got you. I just accepted you. I cannot lose you now.” I sobbed.

‘Aziel, help me get him onto Skye’s back. I am going to run him to the pack doctor.’

I shifted before Aziel could respond. He rushed over to me and heaved Justin onto Skye’s back. As soon as he was secure to me, I took off. I pushed myself harder than I ever had before.

After what felt like a lifetime, even though it was mere seconds, we finally arrived in front of the pack hospital. I had already linked them ahead of time to tell them to be ready. Emily was waiting outside for me with a gurney to transport Justin.

As soon as he was off of me, Skye made her way to follow them into the pack hospital. “Kataleya, you cannot come in here. We need to work on him and we can’t do that if you are in there too.”

Skye roared before advancing on Emily. Skye opened the mind-link and growled at Emily, ‘He is my fucking mate and I will fucking go in there if I very well choose too. You are not keeping me away from my mate.’ I could feel Skye’s aura seeping out of her. I tried to convince her to calm down and reign her aura a little, but she refused.

Emily tilted her head in submission. “Yes, Alpha.”

Skye sauntered to the emergency and walked to the corner and laid down. She laid her head on her paws and watched as they worked on Justin.

‘It will be okay, Skye. I promise. We can’t lose him, not now.’ I tried to reassure her.

She whimpered in response, but did not say anything.

“He lost too much blood,” one of the doctors whispered. “I don’t know if we can fix him with the amount of blood he has lost…” One of the doctors looked at me as the rest of the doctors switched to speaking in the mind link.

Skye growls loudly, ‘Out loud,’ she commands through the mind-link.

The doctors stop what they are doing and the head doctor nods his head to Emily to come to us.

“Skye, can you give Kataleya control, so I can talk to her?”

Skye reluctantly agreed after making me promise not to shut her out. I shifted back quickly and someone handed me a shirt and some leggings. I quickly dressed and motioned for Emily to talk.

“His wounds are severe. He lost almost half of the blood in his body and, sadly, we do not have that amount of blood on hand to do a full transfusion. His wolf isn’t able to heal him because of the amount of blood that he has lost. While there is nothing we can do about the lost blood, besides pray that some of the pack members are willing to donate blood and are his blood type. From what I hear, the battle has ended and there are several of the warriors that are enquiring about his injuries and if there is anything they can do to help him. There is another option though, but it requires you. Skye mentioned that Justin is your mate. If he is your mate, if you were to mark him, your bond could potentially help strengthen his body and his wolf to begin replenishing the blood that he has lost. Also, everyone at this hospital are big supporters of you taking over as Alpha, so there were a few of us who have been researching Alpha Females. It is rumored that on top of the normal gifts that are bestowed on Alphas when they take over their pack, Alpha females possess other gifts. Sometimes these gifts will not take effect until you become Alpha and some say they don’t come into play until you have been marked and mated.”

‘Mark him, Kat. If you don’t mark him, I will.’ Skye aggressively said to me.

‘Skye, what if he did not want to be marked? He has no choice in this.’

‘I don’t care! You mark him or I will. End of story. I am not letting MY mate die just because you are too stubborn to see what the fuck is right in front of you. The guy is fucking in love with you. He asked you when YOU were going to be ready to mark him! Does that not imply that he has been ready to mark you since he found out you were his mate?!”

I looked at Emily, tears glistening in my eyes, “I will mark him. Can we at least have some privacy?” She nodded her head towards me. The doctors finished placing their last stitch before leaving the room.

I walked over to the operating table and peered down at his face. He looked lifeless. His face was so pale and drained of all color. I gently placed my hand on his cheek. The sparks were barely present, like he was barely hanging on. I bent down and lightly pressed a kiss on his lips. “I will save you,” I whispered.

With one of my hands placed on the top of his wound, I gently moved his head to the side, so that I could have a clear view of his marking spot. I lowered my head and let my fangs slide through my gums. I pierced his neck with my fangs, deeply until they hit the bone. I could feel the sparks roaring back to life with a ferocity that I did not think was possible. The bond began to form and I felt the link snap into place. I looked down and noticed my hand was glowing.