KATOMI - RISE OF THE FAE QUEEN

CHAPTER 7 – AFTERMARTH

WYATT’S POV

I was walking away from her again. Why was I always having to walk away from her? She knew the truth now, I should be allowed to stay by her side from this moment on, she should be home packing, so she can move into my home

Her words swam around my mind as we drove towards my house, so I could get dressed before I went back to the hall to see how much damage I’d inflicted. She didn’t want me, she tried to reject me, this was killing me.

I felt myself losing control again. I wanted to run back to her and force her to stay with me. I wanted to mark her but I knew the marking wouldn’t work until she was 18, it would heal and possibly kill her. Could I avoid marking her for another 12 months?

I rubbed my face and once again saw the dried blood there ‘Who did I hurt?’ I asked Beau, who was driving quietly, knowing I needed to get my head straight.

‘Luke, Nathan, Dean and Lyle’

‘F*ck’ I punched the side of the car door

‘Hey, watch it!’ Beau patted his steering wheel ‘Don’t hurt my baby, just relax, no one was seriously injured. Well, except for Nathan, he’ll need surgery. You nearly tore his arm off’

‘F*ck’ I growled again ‘I can’t believe I lost control like that. I haven’t lost control in over 40 years’

‘We understand’ Beau said dismissively ‘Don’t worry about it, any man would react that same way if their mate rejected them’

‘SHE DIDN’T REJECT ME!’ I felt my control slip again, Kai was slashing to get free and go back to Kat

‘Wow Wyatt, calm down’

I took some deep soothing breaths, I thought of how it felt to kiss Katomi, and I was instantly calm. Kissing her was like a drug, I’d never experienced anything like this before and I wanted more.

‘She’s just scared’ I went on calmly this time ‘She’s so young, the responsibility of running a pack, of running all the packs is daunting’

‘She said that?’

‘She may as well have’ I answered, going over our conversation again ‘She wants me to pick a mate better suited to be by my side and…. and she’s hurt because of all the women I’ve been with’

‘That’s hardly your fault’ Beau looked at me ‘You’re 108. Did she expect you to wait forever?’

‘She was only upset that I’d slept with people after finding her’

‘But she was 4’ Beau shook his head.

‘I still should have stopped screwing around’ I looked out the window, knowing I’d hurt her really torn me apart ‘You should learn from my mistakes and keep it in your pants, your mate will have an easier time then mine once you meet her’

‘It could be another 100 years before I meet her’ Beau laughed ‘You try going without for 100 years’

‘I think there’s something else as well’ I admitted ‘Something she’s not telling me, she tried to upset me to get me to reject her, it didn’t work, I would never reject her, but it did set me and Kai off’

‘What did she say?’

‘She said she didn’t want to be the mate of a murderer’

‘Dam’ Beau whispered ‘Do you think she meant it?’

‘I hope not’ I looked down at the blood on my hands ‘But it’s not like she’s wrong, I am a murderer’

‘You kill to protect your pack’ Beau pulled up at my private home ‘Like you said, she’s young, she’ll understand when she’s older that there’s a reason for the things you do’

‘Yeah, maybe’ I opened the car door ‘I won’t be long’

After a quick shower, I dressed in jeans and a loose gray shirt and hoddie before heading back out to the car where Beau was waiting patiently, listening to music, but when he saw me, he shut the music off, I was grateful. I wasn’t in the mood for music right now.

As we drove back to the hall, I explained more of mine and Katomi’s conversation tonight. I didn’t think Beau would be able to help, but it was good to get it off my chest, plus talking about it out loud helped me try to understand her reasoning behind the rejection. Not that it mattered. I’d never give her up, I’d never let her go, I was more than willing to mark her at 18 against her will, even if I’d hate myself for doing it by force.

The only thing I didn’t tell Beau was how we’d kissed, I don’t know why, but I felt like that was private, and I didn’t want to share that moment with anyone other than Kat.

The hall was empty when we arrived except for a few warriors and my mother, who was ordering some cleaning staff around but when she saw me, she rushed over and hugged me

‘What happened Wyatt?’ She asked sternly ‘What set you off? There’s a million rumors going around, all of them involving Katomi Aron being your mate, some saying she rejected you and some saying you caught her sleeping with a boy’

I growled, and my mother stood back ‘She wasn’t sleeping with anyone’ I corrected her, loudly, so the others in the hall would hear ‘They were just talking, but yes, she is my mate and no one was rejected. She was just a little shocked. I handled things terribly and, as a result, I lost control. End of story’

'No, not the end of story' Kai growled 'She did reject us. You shouldn't have yelled at her over that i***t Logan'

'That isn't why she rejected us!'

‘Oh my goddess!’ My mother clapped and hugged me again, causing my to focus again ‘Finally, you found your Luna and Kat is such a lovely young lady, I’ve always said so’

‘I know’ I smiled at my mother, it was true, she’d always spoken highly of Kat.

‘What a find’ My mother gushed ‘She’s so beautiful, my grand-babies are going to be lookers, not that you’re ugly darling, it’s just that that girl is next level’

‘I agree’ I smiled at my mother ‘But that’s not why I want her’

‘Of course, not’ My mother waved her hand dismissively ‘She’s also brilliant, top of her class and the best female fighter of her age we have’

‘She won’t be fighting anymore’ I said quickly. I’d always hated her fighting but I couldn’t stop her until now ‘I will not have my mate in danger’

‘I need to head home and start planning the Luna ceremony’

‘Mother she’s only 17’ I reminded her ‘She won’t be Luna until she’s 18 and I can mark her’

‘Right’ My mother nodded, but her eyes were no longer focused, she was in planning mode, I sighed and kissed her on the forehead.

‘I’ll see you later mother’ I walked off towards the classroom I’d ripped apart and searched for the ring box, I found it under a pile of broken wood and placed it safely back into my jeans pocket before returning to Beau. who was trying to reign in my mother, who was asking him all kinds of questions about Kat

‘Seriously Luna’ He said, looking flushed ‘I really don’t know, the entire family are private, they don’t talk a lot about themselves’

‘What nonsense Beau’ My mother sighed ‘You’ve lived next door to them for years, surely you can give me something on the girl, you said she sometimes gardens, does she have a favorite flower, a favorite color?’

‘Purple’ I commented, I’d found out her favorite color when she was a child ‘Why don’t you ask her the rest of your questions yourself mother’ I walked back over to them, and my mother blushed slightly at being busted questioning Beau about my girl ‘I’ll ask her if she will have lunch with you one day and you can ask Kat your questions in person’

‘That sounds wonderful’ My mother smiled ‘This week some time, I think, there’s so much to plan and only a year to do it in’

‘Let’s just let her get used to the idea first’ I told her ‘Maybe in a week or two, she’s not going anywhere. You have 12 months to question her about the Luna ceremony and what flowers she’d like’

My mother smiled and hugged me again ‘I’m so excited’ She released me and began walking away ‘I can’t believe it, there will be little pups running around soon!’

I shook my head, but I was also excited about that prospect. Katomi having my children was a pleasant thought, but I doubted she was anywhere near ready to be a mother. She was only 17 after all.

‘Did you find it?’ Beau asked.

‘Yes’ I patted the box in my pocket ‘Let’s get to the hospital’

A few hours later Beau was dropping me back at home, I was exhausted. I’d visited all my men in the hospital, they all accepted my apology easily enough, even Nathan, who was the worst of the lot. They all understood how it felt to lose control, Lycan's all went through it, men more so than women, and luckily, there would be no permanent damage. They’d all recover

I took another shower, this time, a long one, I felt my tense muscles relaxing, I couldn’t believe everything that had happened tonight, I wanted to go back to Katomi and sleep in her bed with her, I’d never seen her bed, or her room, I’d imaged it throughout the years, wondering what posters she’d hang or is she was slob who threw her clothes where ever they landed or if she was neat freak.

I always stopped myself from thinking about her too much, but it was different now. She was finally a woman, and she knew everything, I couldn’t wait to mate her.

My mother was right, Kat was beautiful, I always thought I was biased when it came to how attractive she was because she was my mate, but I knew now that I wasn’t. Every un-mated male in the pack practically drooled over her tonight, they’d all deny it now, of course, seeing as she’s my mate, and they wouldn’t dream of going near her, but I still noticed them watching her tonight.

I wanted everyone to know she was mine at last, so I opened the link to my entire territory and announced that Katomi was my mate and that her coronation would be this time next year.

Several of the Alphas linked me back to congratulate me and told me that they would be there for the crowning ceremony.

After I finished speaking with everyone, I climbed into bed. It felt so empty without her, not that she’d ever been in it, I growled uncomfortably. I should make her live with me, even if she only agrees to it if she has her own room. At least she’ll be under my roof, I’ll know she’s safe, I would discuss it with her father tomorrow. With thoughts of Katomi on my mind, I drifted off to sleep.

The day however, didn’t work out the way I’d wished, I’d linked Kat all day, wanting to talk to her, wanting to convince her to be mine, wanting to hear her voice, I stupidly thought that after a night of thinking she’d have come around, but she was blocking me.

After lunch I'd finally had enough and linked William to speak to him about my future relationship with Kat but he told me that Katomi was upset about everything and hadn’t gotten out of bed today, so he asked to speak another day as he wanted to stay with her.

I reluctantly agreed, but Kai was furious about the situation ‘GO SEE HER!’ He shouted furiously once I cut the link with her father, but just as I was about to stand up, Andrea came in wanting to talk about Katomi in more detail and I ended up asking him to investigate silver Lycan’s and to inform Mich about the situation, I hadn’t added her in the mass link last night, I thought it would be better if her father spoke to her about it.

A part of me felt guilty for hurting her, but it wasn’t as if I’d ever promised to take her as a chosen.

‘You still knew that that’s what she wanted’ Kai spat angrily at me ‘I told you not to get involved with her, now we’ll have to deal with another of her childish tantrums!’

‘She’s not even here’ I reminded him ‘Just relax’

‘Go see mate and I will!’

I exhaled and tried to focus on working but after just after sunset, when I spoke with my scouts who’d been tasked to try and track down this Fae Lords mate and come up empty-handed, I’d used up the last of my restraint and went to see Kat.

‘FINALLY!’ Kai cheered happily.