Chapter 71

**Justin’s POV**

“It started with me, so it is only right that it ends with me,” Kataleya finished.

All I could think about was the fact that she wanted to put herself in danger. I could not allow that. What was she thinking? She knew I would not be okay with her doing that.

Before I could even process what I was doing, my arms were wrapped around her waist tightly and a loud growl resounded in the room.

She turned to face me and placed her hands on each side of my face, leaning her forehead against mine.

‘Calm down, Justin. I will be fine. You and I both know that I will be fine. I can take care of myself. This is the only way that I can think of that will work in bringing them down.’

I stared at her. How can she think that putting herself in danger is helpful? I understand that she has this need to help everyone and make sure no one suffers the way that she did, but I am selfish, incredibly selfish. I don’t care whether anyone else is hurt, as long as she is okay. Don’t get me wrong, what happened to Jasaslyn and the other girls that they have hurt, but that does not mean that I want my mate putting herself in danger in order to save others. What if something happens to her and I am not able to get to her on time? What if they assault her again? I don’t know if I can handle going through that again with her…the assault had happened before I met her and she was still having nightmares and was not herself…how can she expect me to be okay with doing this…?

The Alpha finally spoke, “Kataleya, that is out of the question. We are not sending you out there.”

“With all due respect, Alpha,” she quietly stated, “you cannot tell me what to do. You can either help me and support my decision or you can step aside. I am sure Alpha Eric or Jasper would be more than willing to help get their daughter’s attackers.”

Alpha Eric and Jasper raised their hands in the air and slowly scooted their chairs back. As if they were trying to say, do not put us in your fight.

Everyone else was silent for a moment. I watched at her brothers and Oliver glared at her. They did not like this anymore than I did. I guess that makes sense, since Michael and Oliver were the ones that found her after the attack had happened.

King Lucas cleared his throat. “I know no one is fond of Kataleya placing herself in danger of taking these guys down, but she is not wrong. They are after her. If we want to draw them out and have them come to us, the best possibility is to have Kataleya draw them out. If she is ‘alone,’ they will not be able to resist her, which is what we want. They will not be able to physically harm her, we will make sure that we have warriors on standby and we will step in before they can take her.”

As Lucas finished speaking, the conference room door opened and Elder Christopher and several other of the Elders walked in.

“I see we started the meeting without us,” Christopher stated.

“This meeting is only supposed to be for ranked members,” I told them.

“Ah, young Justin. You forget that any ‘meeting’ that requires the possibility of a fight or war, the Elders are required to sit in, so that they may guide the Alpha to what they feel is the best possible scenario.”

I looked at the Alpha for clarity.

“Yes, Justin. Elder Christopher is correct. He, and the rest of the Elders, unfortunately, have the right to sit in on this meeting,” he grumbled. I could tell he did not want Christopher in this meeting. Looking around the room, it did not look like anyone here was particularly fond of Christopher.

“Shall someone catch us up?” Christopher smirked.

The Alpha quickly caught them up. After he finished, Christopher inserted his opinion, “I agree with Kataleya’s decision. You know that it makes much more sense to have done this than having other people continually get hurt because she was not willing to step up and essentially ‘take one for the team.’”

I glared at Christopher. How dare he try to say that it is okay for her to throw herself to the wolves, so to speak, just to protect others.

King Lucas looked directly at me before speaking, “Justin, I know this will be hard for you because she is your mate, but we will not let anything unsavory happen to your mate. We will protect her. We will allow you to be one of the warriors that hide in the shadows, following her. You will be there. You will have the opportunity to protect your mate. I would never dream of taking something like that away from you.”

I could tell I was losing this fight, but that did not stop the anger and fear I was feeling from escalating. I was terrified of losing her. I was terrified of her getting hurt.

I know if something happened to her that took her from me, I am not sure that I would be able to ever survive it. She is my pride and joy. The love of my life.

Instead of speaking my mind, I just nodded my head.

“Now, how are we going to play this then?” Oliver finally spoke up.

King Lucas looked thoughtful before he spoke next, “What we will do is decide about fifteen warriors to travel in the shadows. I will supply each of the warriors with scentless spray, so their scents cannot be detected. Kataleya will be walking in the woods outside of the pack borders. We will use that as a beginning ground. Maybe we can talk the Crimson Shadows pack into being Kataleya’s destination. Make it known that she is on her way to discuss business with their Alpha. Once the triplets make themselves known, we will wait for Kataleya’s signal, then we attack and bring them in. We need to find out what their plans were, how many were involved, and why they ultimately fixated on Kataleya. If Kataleya wants, she can be the one to ultimately end them. I have heard about what Skye and Kataleya like to do to rogues that have trespassed or attacked her pack.” He paused for a moment. “We will make these plans to take place in four days. I will personally contact Alpha Stav of the Crimson Shadows pack and ask him if we can stage a meeting between Kataleya and him in hopes of catching these bastards. Kataleya, are you good with this plan?”

Kataleya nodded her head and my arms instinctively clenched around her and a low growl sounded in my throat. I can’t believe she is going to continue with this plan, knowing that I am not in agreement with any part of it. Why can we not use someone else as the fucking decoy? Why does it have to be my fucking mate?

Everyone, except me, nodded their heads, accepting Lucas’ plan. I could not accept it that easily. It is easy for him to do because it is not his mate that is being put in this situation with her attacker. It is my mate.

I looked around the room. When I spoke, my voice was quiet and deadly. I could feel Ares pushing forward, adding his voice to mine. “If something happens to my mate, there will be hell to pay for everyone involved, including everyone in this room that has willingly allowed my mate to walk into danger…”

I picked Kataleya up and sat her in the chair next to me. I got up to leave the room. I felt her hand reach for me as I started to walk away and I just shrugged it off. This is too much for me right now. I could not handle this. The thought of her being in danger and there was little I could do…that killed me. I knew I hurt her when I walked out of the room, but I was starting to feel suffocated…the longer I was in that room, the more pain I was feeling. It was like my chest was closing in on me.

I have never felt fear or anger this strong. The anger was just a true cover for the fear that I felt. It is crushing me the longer I think about it, but I cannot stop myself from thinking about the fact that, in four days, my mate is essentially sacrificing herself to the wolves just for the good of others. How am I expected to be okay with that? How can she expect me to be okay with this?

I hope that she will be okay. It would be the death of me if something happened to her. I hope she understands why I had to walk away from this. From her.