Chapter 64

**Kataleya’s POV**

I have no idea what she was thinking appearing and coming up to Justin like she owned him. I thought I made myself perfectly clear in the park that Justin was mine and not hers.

Hmmm…I guess I should rethink how I word that. Justin is not a piece of property for me to own, but I guess in a sense that is kind of what the mate bond is like. The bond makes you feel as if you are missing a piece of your soul when you are away from each other.

Before, when I was fighting the mate bond, I was struggling every second of the day in order to stay away from Justin. I was not sleeping. I struggled with eating. Shit, some days I felt it was getting hard for me to breathe. The moment that I linked him and he appeared at my door was single-handily the best, but worse moment of my life. It was the best because I knew that I would finally be able to rest my overreactive head. Thoughts were constantly running in and out of my head. It was like my mind magically became like the energizer bunny when it was time for bed. The moment that Justin appeared at my door, the thoughts stopped and I was greeted by silence. The worse was because I had to admit my weakness. I did not want Justin to see that weakness in me; however, that weakness allowed me to see that Justin was struggling too. Justin would not tell me that he hadn’t been sleeping either. He would never admit that. He would not admit that he was struggling without me with him, but I cannot blame him for that since I would not myself to admit it. I am sure his wolf was going just as crazy as mine was. Skye was constantly chatting in my head, demanding that I do not reject. Demanding that I did not get rid of her mate. As she puts it, “Ares and her should not be punished for their humans stupid decisions.” I just rolled my eyes at her remarks.

Now I think about what I had almost lost, I am relieved that she did not allow me to reject him on first sight. My trauma had to deal with me. It was not fair of me to direct all my pain, anger, fear, and rage towards someone who did not do anything wrong. She was right. One hundred percent right. He did nothing wrong and he deserved the chance that I was too scared to give him. I was scared. I was scared of what it would mean for me to allow him into my life. In the short amount of time that we have been together, he has become my light in the darkest of hours, my beautiful ray of sunshine, and most importantly someone that I cherish above all others. Rejecting Justin would have been the worst decision of my life.

While that day that I allowed myself to show my moment of weakness and allow Justin into my room, into my bed, it single-handily became the best day of my life. I am glad that I showed that weakness.

I am happier than I ever thought would have been after what I had been through. He has done everything in his power to prove to me that I was wrong about him. I was wrong about men in general. They were not all out to hurt you. Just like with any race, there are the good and the bad.

The men that attacked me were a part of the bad side of men; however, Justin is a part of the good side.

I am glad that my family was able to convince me to give him the chance that he most definitely deserved. They understood, or at least understood as best as they could, that I was scared because of circumstances that I was forced through. I was a scared little girl stuck in a grown-ups body because the unfortunate truth was, I was not over the attack. I was not over what happened to me, but I am working to slowly overcome that pain and trauma. I used to think that I was over the pain and trauma, but all it took was one conversation with a rogue that had me spiraling out of control, which is a scare feeling.

I thank the Moon Goddess for him every day that I am alive and breathing.

We had just left the little town in the middle of the pack. Justin decided that we needed to stop by our room before heading anywhere else because I had a lot of shopping bags that he was having to carry. Poor guy. He has done it too without any complaining about how much money I spent or the fact that he was left with all the gifts. I figured he would complain about how much I spent, since he was making me use his card, even though I repeatedly told him that I had the money to pay for everything on my own.

“What are you thinking about so hard?” Justin asked inquisitively.

I looked over at him and I nearly laughed at the expression on his face. He looked so worry to find out what I was thinking about. Poor guy, I guess I will take him out of his misery.

“Nothing bad,” I laughed, “I was actually thinking about you.” I reached over and laced my hand through the crook of his elbow and laid my head on his shoulder as we continued to walk.

“All good things I hope?” he laughed.

“Of course, nothing about good things when it comes to you, baby. I was thinking about the past and what would have become of us if I had decided to reject you…and how I am forever grateful that I did not reject you. I know I sometimes complain about how much Skye talks and how insistent that she was that I did not reject you and gave you the chance she felt you deserved, but in this instant, I am forever grateful that she was a pain in my ass about accepting you. It might just be the best decision of my life right now.”

Justin stopped walking and turned to face me. He laid the shopping bags on the ground before softly grabbing my face and pulling it up to look him in the eye.

“You are single-handily the best decision that I have ever made in my life. I love you more than I could have possibly convey to you, Kataleya. You have become my heart, my soul, my reason for getting up in the mornings. It has always been you, even before I found out we were mates, love. You were the one that I constantly kept wanting to go back to and I was getting so frustrated each time you shot me down. I never understood the reasonings for your excuses. Michael would tell me that you just needed time, but I was selfish. I did not want you to need time, I wanted you. I wanted to get to know you. I wanted to love you. I felt that we were always meant to be and I was praying that we were mates. Once I found out we were mates, that made my will to try to break through your hard exterior ten times more important and I am so glad that I did. You baby. It has and will always be you.” He finishes by leaning down and capturing my lips in a slow and sensual kiss. I kissed him back enthusiastically, groaning into his mouth when he captured and bit down on my lower lip. Once he pulled back from the kiss, he leaned his forehead against mine and he whispered, “I love you, Kataleya. More than my own life.”