Chapter 67

**Kataleya’s POV**

I rolled over in the bed, only to realize the other side of the bed was cold. I opened my eyes and smelled his pillow and realized that Justin had left the bed a while ago.

I opened the link and called for Justin, ‘Baby, where did you go?’

‘Miss me already,’ he chuckled, ‘I went to help mom cook breakfast. Your dad linked me earlier and told me that he wanted you to meet with him at noon today. It is a meeting about the rogue prisoner.’

‘Of course, I miss you, baby. Let me find something to wear and then I will be down. Are you attending the meeting with my father too?

‘Only if you want me to and then later, I need to go to the training fields. Gamma Sean had set me up to lead the warriors training session. I know they would love it if their future Alpha attended.’

‘Sure, I will be there.’

He is dramatic sometimes. He knew all he had to do was ask me and I would have gone with him to the training without him essentially begging.

I went to Justin’s closet and pulled out one of his shirts and inhaled his scent. I saw a pair of leggings sitting on the dresser with a note telling me they were for me to wear. It must be his sister’s leggings.

Once I am fully dressed, I open the door to head downstairs. As I was walking down the stairs, the smell of freshly cooked bacon and cinnamon rolls wafted towards me. My stomach growled at the thought of fresh cinnamon rolls.

Justin meets me at the bottom of the stairs. He leans down to give me a hug and whispers in my ear, “I love it when you wear my shirts.”

I could feel my face heating, and I was sure that I was as red as a tomato by this point. His mom walked into the living room and saw us. “I don’t even want to know what he said to you that caused you to blush this deeply.”

I am sure that if my face could turn any redder, then it would have.

When I walked into the kitchen, Justin grabbed a plate and placed it in front of me. “Thank you,” I said to him.

I quickly ate and we said goodbyes, with promises not to be strangers, and we made our way to my father’s office.

“You sure you want to come with me?”

“Of course. If I am going to become one of the future leaders of this pack, then I need to prepare myself for everything that I will take on. Also, if you are going to be placed in any danger, then I have the right to know.”

I sighed. I knew that was coming. We never fully talked about what he had witnessed the day that he was released from the hospital and I don’t think I ever want to talk about it. I never want Justin to have to see that side of me. That side is scary and people get hurt when that side of Skye and I come out.

‘He is our mate, though, Kat. Our mate has a right to now.’

Of course, Skye feels the need to input her thoughts on the matter.

‘I know, Skye. I know. It is hard though to release everything that I once knew and let him see this side of me. What if he ran from us if he saw the full nature of what we are capable of?’

‘Kat, he is not going to run. Newsflash, sweetie, he saw what you did to that rogue when you froze up…he is not going anywhere. If anything, something tells me that there is a darker side to Justin and Ares than what we have seen.’

I sighed. I know she is right, deep down, but I cannot stop letting the fear consume me.

We finally arrived at my dad’s office and I knocked on the door. Once the door opens, I see King Lucas and his Luna, along with the ranked members of the pack.

“Awww, I feel special,” I said as I entered the room, “Everyone came together just to greet me and welcome me into the room.”

King Lucas had a hard time hiding his laugh and Oliver just started laughing outright. Justin squeezes my hand and steers me to one of the other love seats that were placed in the room, pulling me onto his lap.

“Now that everyone is here,” my father stated, looking at me pointedly, “we can begin. We received some additional information after Kataleya questioned the rogue. His only condition was that we did not let Kataleya come back into the room to interrogate him.”

I smirked. They will usually willingly talk once I leave the room, as long as there is an agreement in place that means I will not come back into the room again.

“He told us about his Alphas,” my father continued, “He told us that he has three Alphas and they are brothers. They were kicked out of their old pack for sexually assaulting another pack member, but he is unsure of the pack they came from. He did tell us that he had come for our pack in order to…” he glanced at me nervously.

“Go on and say it, Alpha,” I stated. I don’t need them tiptoeing around me. I know what they did to me and so did everyone else in the room.

“They are the ones who attacked and assaulted Kataleya when she turned 18…They came to the pack in order to get ahold of Kataleya again.” As my father finished, several loud growls filled the room, with Justin’s being the loudest. His arms tightened around me, “Mine,” he growled lowly.

My father held up his hands, “No one is taking that fact away from you, Justin. Everyone in this room knows she is yours. That leaves us with a problem though. With Kataleya being a prime target, we need to figure out how we are going to approach this problem. I can assure you that Kataleya will most likely be a target for them again and they will come back…Kat, I know you are going to hate the next words to come out of my mouth, but I will be assigning two warriors that will be with you every second of the day until we get these bastards. I will not run the risk of my daughter being attacked again because of our negligence.”

I started to protest, “Alpha, with all due respect, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and protecting myself. I do not need two warriors constantly watching my every move. Plus, Justin is never out of my sight. They would be stupid to attack me with Justin around, he would die before he allowed someone to harm me. And, I am one of the best pack warriors, I do not need to be babysat.”

My father sighed, “Kataleya, I do not need you to be difficult about this.”

‘Kat, baby, will you please take protection for me? I know you are capable of taking care of yourself, but I would feel better if we had to separate for any reason. I would feel better having to leave you knowing that you had someone to back you up. I know you can handle yourself, but please do this for me?’

I sighed. Leave it to Justin to start crumbling my walls. I don’t want to accept the help, but if it made my mate feel better, then I would do it to alleviate any stress he might feel about the situation.

“Kat, you know that I do not think you are weak in the slightest. I know you are fully capable of fighting and taking on anyone. You are not the same little girl that you were when you were attacked, but I speak for everyone in the room when I say that this would give us the peace of mind that we all so desperately crave when it comes to you. Just looking at Justin, I can tell that it will relieve any and all the stress that he feels towards the topic.”

“Fine,” I grumbled, “I would like to make sure that it is known that the only reason I am doing this is because Justin is worried and I do not want him to worry about me anymore than he does.”

“Noted,” my father stated with a smile in his voice.

“Who will my guards be?” I asked.

“I was thinking of Aziel and Garrison. They have both grown quite fond of you and they are some of the top tier warriors that we have. Of course, you will have Justin with you and Elijah and Michael will be switching out with Aziel and Garrison when they need breaks.”

At least I like who he is going to make my “babysitters,” that is at least a plus.

There was a knock at the door. Oliver is the closest to the door, so he moves to open it. One of the warriors came in. “Alpha, we are receiving reports from the border that there is a young girl requesting entry and medical attention. She claims she was sexually assaulted a short distance from our borders.”

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A/N

This book is very close to ending, I am estimating about 15 more chapters, plus two more epilogues. This book will have a sequel that will continue to follow Kataleya's journey as she navigates the struggles and challenges of being an Alpha.

As always, if you are enjoying this story, please leave your comments and reviews! Thank you for giving my story a chance, it means a lot to me!

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