KATOMI - RISE OF THE FAE QUEEN

CHAPTER 32 – RAEMAIRS MATE

WYATTS POV

‘Ha’ Kai laughed like an i***t ‘You got in trouble’

‘Shut up’ I snapped at him as I headed out of the bedroom and towards my office ‘She has a point though, arguing isn’t good for Kat, I shouldn’t be making things harder by fighting with her father’

‘Doesn’t help that William is an overbearing control freak who doesn’t know how to let go’ Kai defended our actions

‘We should do something nice for the girls’ I changed the subject ‘What would make them happy’

‘A gift’ Kai suggested, and started thinking about things we’d learnt about Kat over the years

‘I’ve got it’ I smiled, thinking of the perfect gift

‘Mate will love it!’ Kai was ecstatic ‘And I’ll try not to eat it’

I rolled my eyes and sat down at the computer, hitting the space bar on the keyboard, and waiting for the computer to come to life

‘Beau?’

‘Hey, I was just going to link you’ He answered ‘The autopsy is done’

‘Did they find anything interesting?’

‘He was using some kind of potion to alter his appearance’ Beau told me ‘It even changes their blood colour’

‘So, we can’t even test everyone’s blood when they come onto the territory’ I was frustrated with this news ‘I want the borders locked down, no one in or out until I say otherwise’

‘I’ll let the border guards know’ He said at once ‘And I’ll see if the doctor can get more information from the corpse, maybe we can find another way to get around this drug’

‘If it changed his appearance then why did he turn back after he died?’

‘He didn’t’ Beau told me ‘Bronwyn said he took a pill of some kind and it changed him back, I guess we could search people at the border, if we find these drugs on them, it’s a dead giveaway that they’re not Lycan’

‘See if Bronwyn remembers what colour the pill was and let the border guards know what to search for once the border re-opens’ I ordered ‘I’d ask Kat but I don’t want her thinking about the fight’

‘Sure’ He agreed ‘Brae also told me that there was an attack this morning too, nothing big, around 12 Fae, luckily we didn’t have any casualties and she pushed them back’

‘Good’ I mumbled as I started typing into the search engine, looking for a*****e close by where I could get Kat’s gift ‘There should be a delivery for me at the human border crossing, hopefully tomorrow if I can find an overnight delivery service’

‘Why, what are you buying me?’ Beau joked ‘It is my birthday soon, I’ll be waiting for my bike to arrive’

‘Dam’ I laughed ‘I already got you a sweater, you’ll have to get your own bike’

Beau laughed and sighed ‘Oh well, a man can dream’ He said ‘All though, I could appeal to Kat, she’ll have control of your cash soon and the girls a bleeding heart, I could just turn on the water works, and she’ll buy the bike for me’

‘You even try to take advantage of her good nature and I’ll demote you to omega and let your brother take the head Beta position’

‘Like you could put up with Chris for longer than a minute’ Beau pointed out

He wasn’t wrong, I’d always hated his brother, he was only a few years older than Kat and he was always flirting with her whenever he was around her, I hated him living next door to her, I’d sent him off to another pack last year to help train their men just to get him away from her

‘And how is Kat doing today? Any better?’

‘A little’ I answered, as I clicked onto a link, thrilled that I could get Kat her gift by tomorrow ‘She didn’t sleep well but I got her to eat something and we talked, she’s with her family atm’

‘Hopefully some family time and rest will help’ Beau said thoughtfully ‘I remember my first kill, not something you can just bounce back from is it’

‘Yeah’ I sighed ‘And she’s so young and kind hearted, I don’t know how’s she’s going to handle this’

‘She’s strong’ Beau reminded me ‘She’ll get through it, and we’ll all help her’

‘I want the warriors ready next week’ I told him ‘I’ll give you a date when I’m sure Kat can be without me for the day, I’ll personally be fighting every one of them, I only want the strongest and most skilled to guard her, I should have done this from the beginning, I was just so busy and I thought I’d chosen well but clearly I dropped the f*cking ball, that won’t happen again’

‘You didn’t drop the ball' Beau defended me ‘The Beta’s you chose are some of the best’

‘I still should have vetted them in person’ I growled, furious at myself, Kai had wanted to fight the guard from day one, but I was far too busy to do it ‘She’s the most important person in my life, I should take better care of her’

‘Excuse me but I believe I am the most important person in your life’ Beau joked, trying to lighten the mood

It worked, I laughed at his idiocy ‘Right, you keep telling yourself that’ I sighed and got up, stretching, I was still tired ‘I’m going to check on Kat, I’ll talk to you later and thanks for helping me out, I know I’ve been distracted the past few weeks’

‘You finally have your girl’ Beau said dismissively ‘I get it, you want to be with her after all these years of waiting, I can pick up the slack for a while’

‘Thanks anyway, I ow you one’

‘You ow me a bike’ He joked and cut the link

I shook my head and laughed, he’d been obsessed with a Harley Roadster he’d seen a few months ago and would bring it up as often as he could, I did actually obtain it for him for his birthday, but I wasn’t about to tell him that, I was having too much fun listening to him beg for it.

I headed back the bedroom, I couldn’t wait to get back into bed with Kat, curling up surrounded by her cool skin and scent was incredible, how had I lived without it all these years, how would I sleep without it when she went home

‘We could tell her to stay’ Kai suggested ‘It’s not safe for her, this could be the perfect chance to keep them to ourselves’

‘We can’t take advantage of this situation’

‘You can’t’ Kai growled ‘But I can, let me have control, I’ll make her move in’

‘You’re not going to make her do anything’ I sighed and pushed open the door to the bedroom

‘I said no!’ William shouted at Kat, Kai began to growl instantly

‘I wasn’t asking your permission!’ Kat shouted back but she froze when she realised, I was there

‘What the hell is going on?’ I asked, still on edge over hearing William yell at my mate, his daughter or not

‘Nothing’ Kat said, looking worried ‘Just a small disagreement’

‘It didn’t sound small’ I tried to keep my temper in check ‘What weren’t you asking permission for?’

‘Maybe mate wants to move in after all, but he won’t let her’ Kai suggested, still glaring at William

‘Kat’ William said, sounded like he was cautioning her

‘I’m telling him’ I snapped angrily ‘He has the right to know, the pack could be in danger’

Danger?

‘What is going on?’ I asked again, my voice raising in anger ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Come on kids’ Shay spoke to the twins and got up ‘Kat needs to talk to Alpha Wyatt, so hug your sister goodbye, we’ll come see her again tomorrow’

‘I don’t want to go yet’

‘Get up’ William snapped at Jerome, still glaring at me but then he looked back at Katomi, I got the feeling they were linking

‘Goodbye dad’ She told him firmly, breathing hard ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’

He shook his head and stormed out and Kat looked upset and avoided my eye’s

Jerome stomped towards the door looking annoyed ‘Oh wait’ He said and turned back around, he quickly returned to Kat and pulled out a small rabbit teddy from his pocket ‘I thought you’d want him’

‘Thank you’ She smiled with tears in her eyes, she hugged the gross looking bunny to her chest, I frowned at it, I hope she didn’t want that in the bed with us

‘Get some rest sweetheart’ Shay smiled and kissed Kat before helping Mia up and following everyone out of the room.

‘What’s going on Kat?’ I asked and sat down next to her, she looked scared

‘I have to tell you something’ She took a breath ‘Something I was never going to tell you, but I don’t have a choice now, not now that you and the pack are in danger’

‘What is it?’

She closed her eyes and hugged the burnt rabbit, when she opened her eyes again, they swam with tears.

‘When my mother was pregnant with me, she met a Fae, a very old, very powerful Fae’ She told me ‘He was one of the Lords, he touched my mother and got a vision, he saw me, he saw what I’d become, how… how powerful I’d become’

I felt my eyes widen, she was going to obtain powers and she knew all along.

‘He became obsessed with me’ She went on, her voice cracking ‘He wanted me as his mate but my parents refused and they went into hiding but he found them and kidnapped my mother….. she gave birth to me in his dungeons, but my dad and our family helped rescue us and all three of us hid away again’

Tears fell down her face now and I reached out to wipe them away, she was squeezing the rabbit hard

So that explained why William wasn’t at Kat’s birth, it never made sense to me why her mother would have gone away before she was due

‘Kat?’

She looked up at me in such pain ‘It was my 3rd birthday and he came for me’ She took a deep breath ‘The Fae prince that attacked me yesterday, Troy, he attacked the pack we were living in’

‘So, your father did know him’ I growled and stood up ‘He lied to me, you lied to me’

‘Please Wyatt’ She pleaded ‘Just let me get this out, if you want to yell at me after then fine but please, this is hard enough’

I ground my teeth together angrily and turned back to her ‘Continue’ I ordered

She looked down ‘While Troy attacked, my dad was distracted, he had to leave us to help the Alpha’ More tears fell down her face ‘I didn’t know it was Troy who’d attacked us, not until my dad told me today, I didn't even know he existed until yesterday, anyway, while the attack was happening the Fae Lord attacked my mom, she made me hide but he tortured her to lure me out, burning her and hurting her’

I froze and looked down at her, no wonder she hated fire, I looked at the rabbit in her hands, the way she clung to it, it had obviously been with her in the fire

‘I had to come out’ She told me, of course she did, I rubbed my face at the thought of her sacrificing herself, even at such a young age she was willing to put others before herself ‘I thought he’d take me and leave her alive but he didn’t, he…… he crushed her skull with his foot, I couldn’t stop him, I tried but I was too little’ She growled and wiped tears off of her cheek ‘He ended up burning her alive, she died in agony, I managed to hurt him and he had to run because my dad and the Alpha were coming but it was too late, my mom was already dead’

‘We lied to everyone’ She told me, exhaling in pain ‘Made everyone think that I’d died with her and we ran, we went to the dragon realm first, it was the Fae Lords forces that attacked the Perida clan, I never had proof but I always believed it was Bora who told him we were there, everyone died, I still remember all of the screaming, I wanted to help but my dad made us run again, it’s how we ended up here, the Fae wouldn’t follow us and leave the clan alone, but somehow… somehow he knows I’m here and he’s going to come for me, he still wants me as his mate’

‘Who is this, Fae Lord?’

‘His names Raemair’

Raemair?

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course, I’m sure’ She told me firmly as her hands gripped the blanket tightly ‘Why?’

‘Because that’s the name of the Lord who’s been attacking our boundary’

Katomi’s eyes widened and she looked towards the window ‘So he really does know I’m here’ She looked to me with fear ‘I’m sorry Wyatt, I didn’t mean to put the pack in danger, I have to go’

WHAT?

‘NO!’ Kai screamed

‘If I leave, he’ll follow me’ She grabbed my arm ‘You have to reject me’

‘So, this is yet another reason you wanted me to reject you’ I snapped and pulled my arm free of her grip, I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration ‘You were trying to protect me and the pack’

‘Yes’ She whispered ‘I always knew my mate would be in danger if Raemair found out where I was, I never expected my mate would be an Alpha, I never knew I’d endanger an entire pack’

‘The pack was in danger from Fae with or without you’ I snapped ‘And now that I know why he’s attacking, I can better prepare for him’

‘You’ve never seen what he's capable of’ I argued ‘He can’t be stopped, he wiped out the Perida clan in under an hour’

‘We’re not the dragons’ He dismissed my fear ‘I know how to fight the Fae baby, I’ve been doing it since I was 13 years old, it will be alright, you should have told me sooner!’

‘I didn’t know it was him attacking’ She said, tears washing down her face again ‘I really did think I’d escaped him, I didn’t know he’d find me’

‘We captured a Fae a few weeks ago’ I told her ‘He told Brae that he was working for a Fae Lord called Raemair, he told us they were looking for Raemair’s mate, I thought there was a Fae on the territory, but I guess they were talking about you’

‘I’m sorry’ She whispered ‘I really hoped he’d give up on having me as his mate’

I looked at her, she was so young, far too young to have such weight on her shoulders, she’d been living with this fear her whole life, afraid this man would come for her, what else was she hiding, what else was she trying to bare all alone, had she shared all of her secrets now or was there still more she was keeping hidden.

‘He isn’t having you!’ I growled, Kai was in complete agreement ‘I don’t give a f*ck what this b*stard saw when he touched your mother, you and Remi are ours, I’ll kill him if he even tries to take you’

‘Wyatt’ She said in pain ‘I’m the reason for these attacks, you’re an Alpha, you’re the King, you can’t choose me over the pack, they have to come first, it’s bad enough I can’t even give you an heir but now I’m endangering everyone, you have to let me go’

‘NO!’ I growled, I flew at her and pulled her into my arms ‘I won’t let you go, not ever, the pack has always been in danger from the Fae, if not this Raemair then another Lord would attack, everyone is prepared to fight, it’s not your fault, you didn’t ask for this pr*ck to become obsessed with you and whatever powers you’ll develop’

‘Is that why you want me?’ She asked me

I pulled back, how could she say that to me?

‘Because you think I’ll develop powers?’ She asked ‘We heard you with Elder Andrea, I shouldn’t have listened, but I heard you mention me and… he thinks I’ll have powers, he wants to test me’

‘I was going to talk to about everything’ I told her

‘I thought we were linking with Andrea during that conversation’ Kai mentioned ‘How could mate have heard us?’

‘I guess we must have spoken out loud’ I responded but I also thought we’d linked, I didn’t want Kat and Remi to hear our conversation

‘When?’ Kat asked

‘In a few weeks, I just wanted to wait for the right time and no, I don’t want you for power’ I told her ‘I won't lie though, it is part of the attraction, I'm an Alpha, power can be very intoxicating but I want you because your kind, and smart and beautiful and sweet and strong and truthfully’ I added with a smirk on my face ‘Your body is a f*cking knock out’

She laughed in shock and blushed

‘And don’t worry about Andrea’ I told her ‘I won’t let him test you for anything, but I do have to ask, especially considering you have a nasty habit of keeping things to yourself’ I glared at her ‘Do you have powers?’

Her eyes widened and she lowered her gaze as her heart started racing

‘No’ She shook her head, was shy lying to me again ‘When I heard you talking to Elder Andrea, I asked Remi if she knew anything about it but she didn’t know either, she’s all for trying to figure out if we do have powers though, she wants to shift and see if we can do anything’

I nodded ‘Right’ I said ‘So… you don’t have any strange dreams, when you were little you often spoke about things you’d dreamt, things that happened, things that you couldn’t have known would happen, if you’re lying to me because you’re afraid, I promise you’re safe with me, I would never hurt you or try to use your powers for myself’

‘I don’t remember anything about dreams’

‘How could she not remember?’ Kai commented ‘She has an amazing memory’

‘She must still be scared to open up’ I sighed

‘Okay and is there anything else, anything else you’re not telling me because now is a really good time to tell me’

She looked up at me, her eyes pained

‘Katomi, answer me’ I pleaded but she still looked hesitant 'Please baby, you can trust me and Kai'

‘I... I do have another secret’

I gulped ‘Ok’ I said patiently ‘What is it?’

‘I can’t tell you’

‘Why not?’

She looked down and tears fell from her face, she took a few deep breaths before looking up again ‘I need more time, I’m not ready to tell you yet, please give me time’

I looked into her eyes ‘Ok’ I nodded ‘I’ll give you time but not much, I want to know everything about you, the good, the bad, everything’

She nodded ‘What are we going to do about Raemair?’

I liked that she said ‘we’, but it also terrified me, I didn’t want her anywhere near this Fae bastard

‘I’ll need to tell Beau and Brae the truth’ I informed her ‘And we’ll come up with a proper plan of attack’

‘I want to be a part of the plan’ She grabbed my arm tightly ‘I want to be the one who..’ She looked down as more tears fell ‘I want to be the one who kills him’

‘Kat’ I sighed ‘You can’t even live with killing Troy and he f*cking deserved it, taking another life will only make things worse, I will kill him for you’

‘You shouldn’t have to live with that burden just so I can have revenge’

‘I can live with it’ I told her firmly ‘I won’t lose sleep over him’

‘I’m sorry’ She looked down again and I pulled her into a tight hug

‘You have nothing to be sorry about’ I assured her ‘I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m angry you kept this from me, but the situation isn’t your fault’

I pushed her back gently so I could kiss her but when I went to pull away she grabbed my face and kept me there, deepening the kiss, I grabbed her arms to push her back when she cried out in pain.

‘F*CK!’ I growled angrily at myself and released her arm ‘Baby I’m sorry’

I gently took her arm, there was blood seeping into the white bandage, I’d reopened her wound again

‘i***t!’ Kai growled ‘STOP REOPENIGN HER WOUNDS, LET ME HELP MATE!’

‘I’m fine’ She lied, breathing hard ‘I’ll fix it up’

I sighed and gave him control, feeling too guilty for hurting her again

‘No mate let me’ Kai gently unbound the bandage and put it aside, this was the first time in my life that I’d seen him this careful, this gentle, Kat smiled and watched him

‘Thank you’ She said and kissed him softly once he’d rebandaged her arm

He purred and rubbed my face against hers ‘Will mate stay here with us’

I sighed, so this was his plan, he was going to try to convince her to move in with us after all

‘I am’ She said, oblivious to what he was trying to do ‘Although, I should probably go home in a few days’

‘No’ He growled and she looked at him frowning in confusion ‘Stay forever, don’t leave us’

‘Kai’ She said patiently ‘It’s only been three weeks since my birthday’

‘Time is irrelevant’ Kai purred and rubbed against her face again ‘We want you here with us’

‘You said I could have three months’

‘No, Wyatt gave you three months’ Kai pointed out ‘I didn’t and besides, Remi wants to stay here with us too so it’s three against one’

‘Nice try’ Kat rolled her eyes ‘But we all have to agree, not just three of us’

‘This Fae b*stard knows you're here now’ Kai reminded her ‘And he’s attacking, he could have been behind your car explosion, or the voice you heard at the school, it’s not safe for you to live elsewhere, we can keep you safe and you’re endangering your family by living with them’

‘That’s low Kai’ Kat growled but she looked guilty, was his attempt working

‘It’s still true mate’ Kai told her and rubbed against her again ‘I know you don’t want to endanger anyone’

‘But it’s ok to endanger you and Wyatt’

‘We can look after ourselves’ Kai took Kat’s face in our hands and looked her in the eyes ‘Please don’t make us live with the fear of not knowing if you're safe, we can’t know for sure if you’re safe while you’re away from us, it’s too distracting, we can’t protect you, protect the pack if we’re distracted, mates need to be together’

Katomi looked at us as she thought things over, a clear struggle going on in her mind

‘I can’t believe you’ve done this’ I growled at him

‘One of us had to’

‘You used her good nature against her’ I spat angrily ‘You know she’ll never forgive herself if she thinks she’s putting others in danger’

‘As long as we get them, I’ll live with it’

‘You’re impossible!’

‘Mate’ Kai said firmly and leant in so our faces were closer ‘Please, move in’

‘Can I still have my own room?’

Kai growled angrily ‘No’ He said and Kat frowned at him ‘Why don’t you want to sleep in here with us, isn’t it nice to have us with you while you sleep?’

‘Of course, it is’

‘And the other night when we touched you?’ He asked her, making her blush ‘Did you like that also’

‘Yes’ She said shyly

‘Then there’s no issue with sharing a room’ He told her ‘We want to be closer with you and Remi but we can’t achieve that if we sleep separately, please move in with us, be with us completely’

‘I’ll move in on one condition’

My whole body lit up, did she agree, I was no longer angry at Kai who was now looking very smug

‘What condition?’

‘Once every few weeks I spend the night at my family’s house’

‘Why?’

‘Just to stay connected to them’ She murmured and looked down, she took a breath before looking back up at us ‘So, take it or leave it?’

Kai growled but he nodded ‘Yes, fine’

Kat smiled and hugged me around neck, nestling her face against me

‘And that is how it’s done’ Kai said smugly, I really wished I could punch him

‘You guilted her into it’ I snapped angrily but I couldn’t deny that I was over the moon ‘No matter how happy we are that she finally agreed, it doesn’t change how shitty it was what you did’

‘It’s done now so stop being a b***h’

I growled and took back control..