KATOMI - RISE OF THE FAE QUEEN

CHAPTER 24 – OUR DARK CONFESSIONS

WYATT’S POV

It had been 3 days since our hunting trip, since I’d forced her to eat the buck and none of my attempts at reconciliation had worked.

She refused to accept my links or even let me inside of her house, I wanted to ignore her wishes and go in regardless of her refusal to see me, but I didn’t think that would help the situation.

After getting Beau to drop her mobile off, I’d been texting her every few hours, but she didn’t reply to a single one, though I knew she'd opened the messages I'd sent.

I showed up every morning to take her to school but each day she refused to even acknowledge my presence and walked straight past me to either her fathers or Shay’s car.

I had hardly slept since Sunday and I couldn’t concentrate on work, my temper was very close to the surface and Beau and Braelynn were walking on eggshells around me until finally Brae had had enough and returned to the border with some excuse about extra training for the warriors, leaving Beau to take the brunt of my mood.

I’d told Beau what I’d done to Kat, and he was of the same mind as Katomi, he was furious at me and Kai for using our command on our mate, on his Luna, she wasn’t even of age yet and the pack’s mind set was already shifting, they were already fiercely protective of her which I loved but at the same time, I needed Beau’s help to get her to forgive me and he wasn’t helping because he was on her side.

I’d tried sending her flowers, presents, linking her, texting her, appealing to her father which I hated more than I could even describe but nothing, she was as distant as ever, as angry as ever

Kai was just as desperate as I was, just as broken without his mate and was begging to take control so he could go to Kat himself and force her to forgive us

Why had she reacted this way, I understood that she was angry at us for using our command but there had to be something else going on, it wasn’t that we’d used our command, it was that we’d commanded her to eat the deer, why did eating meat make her throw up, why did it make her so sick, why was she so furious, so against eating meat

I growled angrily and shoved away the laptop I was working on, I couldn’t stand this anymore, I needed her, it had been too long since I’d felt her touch, heard her voice, even the smell of her scent was washing off of my skin.

I looked at the clock on the wall, it was 2pm, she would get out of class in half an hour, she always finished at 2:30 on a Wednesday, but I couldn’t wait, I was done waiting

‘I’m going to the school’ I snapped at Beau who was looking through one of the filing cabinets in my office

‘Good luck’ He smirked but I growled and shoved the door open

I pulled up at the school into my usual spot and climbed angrily out of my car, after sniffing the air, I found the scent I was looking for, the most amazing, most precious scent in the world and I let it lead me through the school.

A few of the teachers and students gasped and showed their necks as I walked by, but I ignored them completely, after turning down two hallways, I finally reached the classroom my girl was in.

I pushed the door open and was greeted with the sounds of kids murmuring, a female teacher was sitting at her desk marking several papers, I think her name was Joanna, every year I made sure to investigate Katomi’s teachers, I wanted to make sure they weren’t a danger to her like that bastard Samuels I killed but my eyes passed over Joanna and landed on my girl.

Katomi was sitting at the back of the classroom, she had her arms folded on her desk and was resting her head on her arms as she looked out the window glumly

‘Mate misses us too’ Kai sounded hopeful for the first time in days

The noise from the students died down as everyone realised I was here, Bronwyn looked at me in surprise before she looked down at Kat who was oblivious to my presence, Bronwyn nudged Kat who growled and shoved her friend away

‘I guess we’re not the only ones on edge’ I told Kai

‘Kat’ Bronwyn whispered and nudged her again

‘What!’ Kat angrily whispered through her teeth as she turned to Bronwyn who looked at me.

Kat followed her eye line and froze when she saw me by the door, I noticed the students looking between us in confusion but Joanna who was still hadn’t noticed me looked around the classroom in confusion before turning to the door, she inhaled and stood up quickly

‘Alpha, welcome’ She said ‘Can we help you with something?’

‘No’ I shook my head and took a step inside ‘I’ve come for my mate’ I looked directly at her, there was suddenly an angry glint in her eyes ‘Katomi, come’

I reached out my hand and looked at her pointedly, but she glared at me

‘I have class’ She said, making Kai growl at her defiance ‘I can’t just leave whenever I want’

‘It’s fine Kat’ Joanna said quickly ‘I’ve just marked your work, perfect as always, there’s nothing left for you to do today’

So that’s why she was laying on the desk doing nothing, she’d already finished her work ahead of the others, I thought it was odd that she’d sit around doing nothing, it wasn’t in her nature to sit still.

‘Katomi’ I said in warning ‘I don’t like repeating myself’

Kat glared at me angrily again but she reached down and picked up her bag, flinging it over her shoulder and standing up in a huff

‘Joanna’ I turned to her as Kat walked over to me ‘I believe I’ve spoken to the faculty about addressing Kat by her proper title, do not forget again, as I’ve said, I don’t like repeating myself’

‘I apologize Alpha’ She said ‘It won’t happen again’

‘See that it doesn’t’ I grabbed Katomi’s hand and pulled her from the classroom, I squeezed her hand, feeling instantly at peace from her touch, the electric current flowed over my hand and brought me back to life, how I’d missed her.

She looked so beautiful today, she was wearing a long sleeve, high neck white sweater with a grey wool dress over top that fell to her mid-thigh, she had black knee-high boots on and her hair was down, she’d done a small plait on either side of her face and pinned them together at the back of her head.

I looked down at her face, but she ignored me and stared directly ahead of her as I lead her back out of the building and towards my car, once there, she ripped her hand from mine and crossed her arms around her chest, but I let it go for now and opened her door

She glared at me ‘Get in’ I said calmly but when she didn’t move, I rubbed my face and took a breath, reminding myself that she was still a teenager with irrational hormones, not to mention the fact that I’d upset her, I needed to go slowly

‘Please Kat, get in the car’

Kat gave a huff but turned around and slid into the car, I gently closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side, ok, step one complete, I had her with me, now I had to somehow make things better between us

‘What should we do?’ I asked Kai as I breathed in her scent, how had I lived without it for 3 days.

‘Take mate home’ Kai suggested

I started the car and headed home, we remained silent along the journey, but I kept looking at her, she was sitting with her arms folded, looking tense, her eyes were dark, had she not been sleeping, I’d hurt her again,

‘We had to’ Kai defended our actions again ‘Mate can’t get sick, we can’t lose them!’

Over the past few days, Kai and I kept going back and forth, defending what we’d done one minute and regretting it the next, why couldn’t she understand that she wasn’t human, she was a Lycan, her body was built differently, she needed the meat, she needed to keep herself strong, especially if she had silver running through her body, she was already fragile enough.

Once home, Kat sighed and got out of the car, knowing it would be an argument if she didn’t, she slowly walked towards the front door, I followed her and took her bag from her shoulder before slipping my fingers through hers, she tensed and tried to pull free but I held her hand tighter

Together we walked through the house to my office, she frowned at me, not knowing what was going on, I’d had an idea of how to make things better between us, it just meant showing her a side of myself that made me feel weak.

Once in my office, I closed the door ‘Sit down’ I said gently and walked over to the filing cabinet, I pulled out a file I hadn’t touched in years, a file I hated looking at, a file my father had made for his own sick pleasure.

I went back over to Kat who was looking down at her hands on her lap and I pulled up a chair and sat down close to her and she tensed up again.

I hated seeing her like this, I reached out and touched her face, but she moved away from my hand, I took a breath and rubbed my tired face again

‘Katomi’ I said gently ‘I know you're mad at me, I know I hurt you, but please will you just let me explain why I did what I did’

She didn’t say anything, so I took that a sign to continue, I placed the file down in front of her on my desk.

‘I’ve never told anyone this’ I told her ‘Not even Beau, though I suspect that he knows more about it then he lets on and no one outside of my family knows the truth either’ I took a breath, it was hard to talk about, hard to remember ‘My father wasn’t a good man, it might have been obvious considering he started a war that killed thousands, but he was worst then anyone actually new’

I paused and I noticed Kat touch her chest at the mention of my father’s name, what was that about?

‘He was a violent man’ I explained ‘Prone to fits of rage, whenever he drank, he would lose it, he would often beat my siblings, beat my mother, he never touched me unless I attacked him first, no Alpha is physically capable of hurting his heir unless they are challenged by them’ I opened the folder and showed Kat some photos of my family, covered in bruises and cuts, she gasped and covered her mouth ‘My father would tie me down and make me watch as he hurt them, he would say it was to make me stronger, make me a proper Alpha, I had to know what suffering was’

I looked at Kat, there were tears in her eyes so I took the photo out of her hand and put it back in the folder and closed it

‘He would take these photographs and force me to look at them whenever I tried my protect them’ I went on, I took her hand, I needed to touch her, and I was thankful that she didn’t pull away ‘I would often try to fight him to save them but he was the Alpha, he was stronger, I never won a fight against him and when I did get strong enough to give him a real challenge, he would use his command on me, he would force me to sit there and watch’

‘He would also use his command on my mother too’ I told her, the tears were falling down her face now ‘Make her dress the way he liked, make her shut up whenever he didn’t want to listen to her, make her please him when she wasn’t in the mood and he was’

‘He would force her to watch as he took other lovers whenever she would challenge or reject him’ I growled, and my hand tightened on hers as I remembered ‘He did love her once, in the beginning, he cared for her, protected her but then he met the Fae Queen and everything changed, he became obsessed and wanted to be with her but she refused him and he blamed my mother and he took out his rage on her as often as he could’

‘I swore to myself that I would never be like him’ I took a deep calming breath ‘I would never use my command on my mate to hurt her, I’d never do it unless it was to keep her safe’

‘When you told me you didn’t eat meat I got scared’ I admitted ‘You’re so young Kat, you don’t understand how dangerous it is for a Lycan to refuse what your body needs, especially your body, your already sick because of the silver, seeing you get sick in my office that day terrified me, I can’t lose you, I need to keep you strong’

‘I shouldn’t have forced you’ I told her ‘I did a terrible thing to you, taking away your free will but I did it out of love, I did it to keep you healthy but please believe me, I will never use my command on you like that again, I can’t promise I won’t use it if it means keeping you safe or if I accidentally lose my temper but I won’t force you to eat meat again’

Kat looked up me for the first time ‘Kat I’m not like him’ I said more to myself then her ‘I will never hurt you like he hurt my mother, if I’m against something you’re doing in the future, I will talk to you, I won’t command you again just because I disagree or because I’m scared, you said that we’re both new to this, you said we’d make mistakes but we’d get through it together, well I made a mistake, a mistake I will never make again, I’m so sorry baby, please forgive me’

Katomi didn’t say anything, she flew forward and wrapped her arms around my neck as she climbed onto my lap, I held her tightly as she pressed her face into my neck and cried

‘I’m so sorry’ Her voice cracked with tears and she pulled back ‘I’m sorry for what he did to you, I’m still angry at what you did but I understand why you did it, I will forgive you’ She touched my face ‘And I know you’re not like him, he was monster, I’ve known that my whole life, you are a good man Wyatt, the best, even if you do make stupid choices’

I exhaled in relief and pulled her mouth to mine, kissing her hungrily, I suddenly felt like I could breathe again, like I was whole again

Kat pulled back and touched my face again, she looked into my eyes for a few seconds as if she was looking for something, one of her hands gently touched her chest and she took a deep breath

‘Wyatt’ She said, her voice shaking ‘I need to tell you something too, something I thought I would never tell you, I never imagined that we’d be mates and then after you told me the truth, I’ve been trying to find the words to tell you what happened but I didn’t want to ruin your memories of your dad but now that I know how you feel about him, I know I can tell you now’

I sat up straighter and gave her my full attention ‘Tell me what?’

‘I knew the truth about your dad’ She said, her voice low ‘Not what he was doing to you or your family but the truth about him, that he was a monster, that he was broken’ Tears filled her eyes ‘It started about a year after we moved here, he would act strange around me, touch me’

What! Kai began to growl, and I remembered the night I’d killed him, he’d grabbed her, I thought it was out of anger but what if it was something else, something wrong, I’d always noticed how odd he was around her, but I thought it was because he knew she was my mate

‘Just little touches at first’ She went on ‘My hair, my arms but whenever someone else was around he would stop, he would say that I was so pretty, that I reminded him of someone he loved’

‘The day I was attacked in the woods’ She touched her chest and I froze, please don’t tell me he did this ‘I was playing with a rabbit I’d found, I was chasing after it and your dad showed up, he grabbed the rabbit and killed it, he said I needed to grow up and act like a Lycan’ Her eyes darkened ‘I screamed at him and he hit me, he hit me really hard and I fell’

She paused, goddess, please don’t tell me he raped her, she did smell like a virgin still but maybe because she was so young it didn’t affect her scent now

‘He climbed on top of me’ Her body was shaking at the memory and my grip on her arms tightened ‘He said I was b*tch and I needed to learn my place, he tried….. he tried to pull my dress off, but I had a silver dagger, I always carried it and I stabbed him in the arm’

I thought back to that day, my father did have a wound on his arm, I hadn’t thought anything of it at the time because I was too focused on Kat nearly dying

‘But he was so strong’ She closed her eyes for a second ‘He took the dagger, and he stabbed it into my heart, he said if he couldn’t have me then no one could, not even you’

She looked into my eyes ‘I didn’t know what he meant at the time, I guess it was because he knew we were mates’ I nodded

‘I told him the day we met’

‘I see’ She said ‘At the time, I didn’t understand, I thought it meant you were going to hurt me to’

My heart skipped a beat, she thought I’d hurt her, this explains why her demeanor changed towards me after the attack, I always thought it was because she was angry I’d failed to keep her safe

‘Why didn’t you tell me’ I asked, my heart was racing painfully in my chest ‘When I came to the hospital and asked you who attacked you?’

‘He was the King’ She explained ‘I didn’t think you could do anything, and he came to see me before you did, he said he’d kill my family if I told anyone, plus I didn’t think you’d believe me over your own dad, so I lied, only my dad and Shay knew the truth, they wanted to leave the pack but your dad wouldn’t let us go, he used his command on dad to make him stay, it only broke after his death but with him gone, there was no point in leaving’

‘Thank you for telling me’ I pulled her into my arms, holding her against me ‘I’ll never let anyone hurt you again’ I promised ‘Not ever again’

She pulled back again ‘Why did you kill him?’ She asked ‘I’ve always wondered, it came out of nowhere’

I rubbed my face again ‘I killed him to keep you safe’

‘What?’

‘I saw him that night’ I told her ‘I saw him grab you, I thought he was yelling at you but now that I know the truth about how he was around you, I’m even more glad I ripped him apart, I’d seen him hurt people my whole life but that night I’d never felt a rage like that, thinking you were in danger fuelled me, strengthened me and I finally had enough strength and power to kill him’

‘So, it’s my fault’ She looked down ‘I’m the reason someone died, the reason you had to kill’

I placed my hand under her chin and pulled her face up ‘Firstly, I have no regrets from killing him, I wish I could do it all over again, I wish I could have drawn it out longer’ I admitted ‘Secondly, reason and fault are completely different, yes you are the reason I finally killed him but you are in no way at fault, please don’t blame yourself and do not lose any sleep over this, especially after what he did to you’ I ran my fingers down her cheek ‘You have such a beautiful heart but he doesn’t deserve your compassion’