KATOMI - RISE OF THE FAE QUEEN

CHAPTER 3 - MY PRIVATE TORTURE

WYATTS POV

Walking away from Katomi was torture, it always was. You’d think I’d be used to it by now. I’d known since Kat was 4 years old that we were mates. Her father had been caught in our territory. He pleaded to join our pack and if it hadn’t been for Katomi, my father and I would have killed them on site, but the second I smelt her scent, I knew she was mine and I told my father, so he would spare them.

Most Lycans can’t detect their mates until they both turn 18, but for Lycan Alphas, we can tell when the babies in the womb.

The moment I smelt her scent, I knew I didn’t have any s*xual desires for her. She was only 4 after-all, but I still felt the pull. I wanted to be near her, to keep her safe.

I’d kept my distance all these years, it felt to much like grooming for me to be a part of her life on a daily basis while she was growing up, so I watched from a distance, only giving in to this desire to be close to her every few months.

However, when she was 12 years old, I began keeping a closer watch over her than ever before after she was attacked in the woods. Her father had brought her to the pack's healers to save her life. Someone had stabbed her in the chest with a silver dagger, but she was strong. She’d dragged herself half dying from the woods to her home where her father was.

I nearly lost it when I found out what had happened. I searched the entire pack for the attacker only to come up empty handed. When I couldn’t find someone to take my rage out on, I went deep into the woods, I shifted and together my Lycan Kai and I destroyed part of the forest. It still hadn’t recovered fully.

When I’d finally cooled off, I rushed back to the hospital. Mercifully, Katomi was going to recover but she’d needed open-heart surgery and to this day, was on medication. A lot of the pack had thought this would make her weak, but she was one of our top fighters.

She worked hard to win her title of Beta, beating out every other female in her age group from the age of 10 and then she gained not only female head Beta but also the head Beta title, male or female, at 13, only months after her recovery.

I’d been furious that she wanted to fight, but my father had overruled me when I tried to stop her and I had to watch her fight. It took everything in me not to kill the boy she was fighting, but mercifully she won, making Kai and myself extremely proud but also extremely terrified.

Pack members could join our troops at age 13, but there was no way I was going to allow my girl to go to war for my father's pathetic obsession, so I made sure the age to join the troops was changed, and I was shocked beyond belief that my father didn’t fight me on it. In fact, he agreed that Kat should remain safe.

Kat’s father was a good fighter as well. He was one of our best warriors and had started training Kat at age 4 to fight, I wanted to shut it down. She didn’t need to learn to fight, I would protect her, but it wasn’t my place to say anything yet, I couldn’t let anyone know she was my mate, it could put her in danger.

I never wanted a mate before meeting Kat. Mates make you weak, a notion that my father tried to drill into me. You think about them constantly and would kill your entire pack if she was in danger, especially if your mate was a Luna, luckily no pack would attack their Luna, Lunas gave off a kind of pheromone that made packs want to protect them, which was a good thing because if a Luna was to fall, her Alpha would die shortly after her from heart break which would leave the pack vulnerable.

But upon meeting her everything changed. I’d never felt so protective over someone, not even my family, and when she was attacked, my whole life shifted, I wanted her to be safer than ever before. Nearly losing her made me feel fear I didn’t think I was capable of feeling.

I still slept around, of course, nowhere near as much as I did, but I still had the occasional one-night stand, I was an Alpha after-all, we had very high s*x drives and Katomi was still a child, I always felt guilty afterward though, and I would kick the women out of my bed immediately

Last year when Katomi turned 16 everything changed. I noticed her body and scent began to change, no longer was it a comforting smell but an alluring one, no longer was her body childlike, she was all women, it was as if she’s matured overnight to give me a new form of torture.

She was so beautiful, her hair was like nothing I’d ever seen, so white, and it looked so soft, I wanted nothing more than to run my fingers through it, I loved it when she wore it down. I loved watching it flutter in the wind, her body was all curves and she was a least a C cup, I wanted to see her t*ts. They looked so perfect under her clothing

One more year, just one more year of torture and I could claim her, I wanted to claim her now. She was 17 finally, and it’s not like Lycans weren’t having s*x at 17, I couldn’t wait to have her in my bed but she was still so young, could she handle knowing the truth yet, could she handle not only running this pack but being responsible for all the Lycan packs as my Queen.

‘Yes’ Kai said pleadingly ‘Mate can handle it, go back and claim her!’

I was so torn, I looked down at my hand, the warmth and buzzing I’d felt when I was touching her was gone, I missed it, I needed it back, I needed her.

‘We’ve waited long enough!’ Kai shouted. He tried to gain control to force me to go back to her, but I held him back ‘You should have told her last year at the prom, it was the perfect opportunity, but you chickened out!’

It was too late anyway, I heard Katomi squeal in delight again as she jumped in the car, I’d give her the day to have fun with her friends, I would tell her tonight after her shift, if I didn’t chicken out again.

‘Finally!’ Kai celebrated. He’d been trying to convince me since last year to claim her, but I kept fighting him on it.

I couldn’t believe how scared I was at the thought of her rejecting me. Would she forgive me for all the women, would she forgive me for keeping the secret of our bond to myself all these years, would she forgive me for putting so much pressure on her shoulder, her life as my mate would be full of stress and obligations.

‘Hello, earth to Wyatt’ Beau waved his hand in front of my face to get my attention.

‘WHAT!’ I snapped and he quickly pulled his hand back.

‘What’s your problem?’ He asked. He looked over my shoulder and looked at Katomi.

‘Oh, I see’ The smug bastard said

He was the only one in the pack who knew the truth. I’d admitted everything to him last year when I’d nearly beaten the hell out of Beau’s brother Chris at her prom, he made some asinine comment about sleeping with her after prom and I’d lost it and used my command to make him leave the prom.

After Beau had pulled me away from everyone when I was still out of control, and I’d told him everything, it felt like a dam had burst. I was so relieved to finally tell someone. Beau was all for telling Kat right then and there, but I told him she was still too young.

‘Just tell her!’ He said as he pulled his shirt over his head ‘She’ll be thrilled, you only have to see the way the girl looks at you to know she’s got a crush on you’

‘What?’ I looked at him in confusion.

‘You’re hopeless’ He laughed ‘You’re so busy trying not to look at her, so you don’t give everything away that you don’t notice that she looks at you all the time. She probably senses the bond but doesn’t know that’s what it is, it’s adorable really. She blushes and quickly looks away before anyone notices’

‘So how do you notice’ I growled ‘Why are you watching my mate!’

‘MINE!’ Kai growled furiously into Beau’s mind.

‘I’ Beau stuttered and took a step back, his hands up in defense ‘It’s not my fault, we’re neighbors, so I see her a lot and she’s gorgeous. I don’t mean to look, I just’

‘ENOUGH!’ I shouted in my Alpha tone, Beau instantly showed his neck, but it wouldn’t last long, he could fight my command because of his witch ancestry ‘I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT, NEVER LOOK AT HER LIKE THAT AGAIN!’

‘Yes Alpha’ Beau said quickly, serious for once ‘I’m sorry, it won’t happen again, I didn’t mean to in the first place, it’s just she very….. I’m sorry’

‘I’m serious Beau’ I growled, and I felt my power seeping out of my body, making Beau shrink back nervously ‘Touch her and so help me I’ll rip your throat out, best friend of not’

‘I won’t’ He assured me, we often overlapped with women, it never bothered either of us. But Katomi was different. No one but me would ever touch her, ever taste her, she was mine and mine alone ‘I promise’

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and Kai ‘Tell me about this news’

Beau looked up again but his eyes didn’t reach mine, he knew I was still calming down.

‘I’ll tell you on the way’ He said and started to head over to his jeep ‘We need to get to the border camp’

‘Right’ I followed after him, I still needed to shower after my work-out, but it would have to wait and besides, I was covered in her delicious scent from when I held her, and I was in no hurry to remove it from my skin.

I often chose to work out at Beau’s because he lived next door to Katomi and I could catch glimpses of her, like this morning in the window when I’d caught her looking at me. Was Beau right? Did she have a crush? Would it be easier then I’d thought to get her?

I jumped in the passenger side of Beau’s jeep, and he took off towards the Fae border.

‘So Brae linked me’ He told me ‘She said Ronan’s troops broke through the Fae’s defenses and pushed them back, we finally have a name of who’s leading the Fae’

‘Who?’

‘Lord Raemair’ He answered ‘One of the Fae said they were looking for his mate’

‘His mate’ I frowned ‘Why would he think his mate is here?’

‘Who knows why the Fae do anything?’ Beau shrugged ‘But at least we have the territory back’

‘About time’ I spat angrily ‘It’s been years since my i***t father lost it, I told him that fight was a f*cking trap, but he wouldn’t listen’

I hated my father, he was a vile man, he was terribly in love with the Fae Queen, who rejected him, and so he started the war, despite already having met his mate, my mother, who he treated like trash, yelling at her and hitting her whenever his temper got out of control.

I was always looking forward to the day I took the Alpha title and crown so I could have him locked up. Only my father refused to give up the titles, he said I was too weak

The night I caught him harassing Katomi at a pack event was my last straw. He always acted strangely around Kat and I finally snapped when I saw him grab her, I challenged him, killing him within seconds.

I hated that Katomi witnessed the fight and me murdering my own father, but I had to keep her safe, I wouldn’t let him hurt her like he hurt other women, like he hurt my mother.

After an hour of driving and Beau’s terrible music during the ride, I was glad to get to our border.

When my father began this war, he would send out our warriors to go into Fae territory to kill but once I had the crown, I pulled our people back, I didn’t want this war and I’d promised Katomi when she was younger that I would end the war as one of my first acts as King.

I only used our warriors to defend our territory now and the other Lycan packs territory’s but unfortunately, the Fae kept coming, the scars ran too deep for true peace.

‘Do you think this is the reason the Fae started attacking again last year?’ I pondered to Kai ‘Some i***t Fae Lord is looking for his mate’

‘Maybe’ Kai said thoughtfully, his mind was on Kat, as it always was, he wanted to go find her, he couldn’t wait for her to shift tonight, so he was finally meet her Lycan, his mate ‘But we don’t have her, I think we’d notice if we had a Fae in the pack, she’d kind of stand out and besides, if she was his mate, why would she leave him?’

‘Not all men are good to their mates’ I pointed out, remembering all the times I had to protect my mother from my father, not to mention my younger siblings.

Beau pulled up outside my main tent, our warriors were scattered around the tents, some training, others sitting around eating or playing cards, however when they noticed me, every one of them straightened up and rushed off.

I led the way into my private tent where my Gema Braelynn would be. The guards outside the tent saw me approaching and quickly opened the tent door.

‘Alpha, Beta’ They greeted us.

‘Thanks’ I said as I stepped inside.

Brae was standing over a table with battle plans laid out, she was dressed for war, heavy combat boots, black slacks and a tight black top with a matching jacket, she looked up and smiled at me

‘Alpha’ She nodded ‘Beau, did you fill him in?’

‘Naturally’ He said, sitting down comfortably on one of the wooden chairs and leaning back

‘Good’ She said ‘So I’ve got Ronan reenforcing the perimeter and I have warriors patrolling the area, picking off any stray Fae that didn’t run when we gave them an out’

‘Right’ I said ‘Where’s the Fae that told us about the Lord, I want more information’

‘He’s dead’ Brae said in annoyance ‘F*cking pr*ck had some kind of suicide pill in his tooth, he bit down on it and was poisoned in seconds, nothing our healers could do, Fae magic really is powerful’

‘Cr*p’ I growled and shoved one of the other chairs ‘So nothing more about this Lord or what his mate looks like, if I have Fae on my land, I want to know who’s harbouring her and why?’

‘You think one of our people would hide a Fae?’ Beau asked.

‘Possibly’ I shrugged ‘Would explain why we haven’t seen her’

‘Or she’s in disguise’ Brae suggested ‘Can’t Fae do that, alter their appearances’

‘I think so’ I said, racking my brain ‘I think I’ve heard something about that, some kind of potion to reshape their ears and skin but they have to keep taking it’

Fae were very difference from us, still humanoid, but their ears are pointed, and their skin shimmered slightly, not enough for a human to notice but enough that Lycan’s could

‘They’d need ingredients’ Beau said thoughtfully ‘I’ll have someone look into our stores, see if anything has gone missing’

‘Good idea’ I agreed ‘I’m going to shift and run the perimeter myself, Kai wants to make sure we can’t smell any Fae, we can’t risk any of them getting past the border guards and into the main town’

‘I’ll go over Brae’s clean-up schedule for the territory we got back and wait for you’

‘Thanks’

I left the tent and pulled off my shirt before letting Kai take control, and he quickly took off. There was no way we were letting a Fae slip past us and get anywhere near Katomi.