Chapter 106

106 Chapter One Hundred Six

Katie was comfortable with this arrangement. Attending to people in the arms of her mate. Was it embarrassing? She had no idea. Was she enjoying it? Yes, she was. Did anyone object? Nope... And so the day continued with her in her mate’s arms speaking to whoever came to visit her without a care in the world about how she must have looked.

Cole, on the other hand, noticed the looks he was getting. However, that did not bother him as much as the urge to mark his mate there and then. Her scent filled his nostrils every time he breathed it in and it wasn’t doing him any justice. She completely had her guard down in his arms and continued to act so innocently... He almost suspected she was doing this on purpose, but one peek into the mind link erased all his suspicions. Katie was simply happy to be in his arms like this and there was nothing more to it. In fact, she visibly showed how comfortable she currently was. This arrangement, albeit somewhat difficult, gave him the satisfaction of showing off who she belonged to.

“I’m glad to see you very comfortable,” Drake was the first one to speak, eyeing the couple with a hint of envy.

“Oh, don’t worry, big brother. I’m sure you’re mate is out there somewhere waiting for her knight in shining armour,” Katie spoke up in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Without waiting for the rest to catch up on the humour, the king intervened, “How has your life here been?” he asked, wiping off his ever-present smile and replacing it with a look of concern. The Sirius family realised now that they were in front of a long-lost family member. Joking around wasn’t going to get them any closer in the way they would have liked her to. In fact, they had come to collect her...

“Brigadia is not so bad. It’s actually pretty fun. Everyone’s friendly and they care about the town. It’s been nice watching them get lazy over the years that I spent keeping rogues away. I can’t even imagine what will happen if word of the attack in the forest gets out. I know there was no civilian in that attack. There just might be a chance to keep the entire thing forgotten,” Katie was starting to drown in her own words. Her concern for the town seemed too powerful for her to resist.

She’d spent a long time caring for the town that it had become a part of her, “You love it that much, huh...” an air of awkwardness took over the entire room. Cole’s hands got tighter around her, pulling her more into his warmth.

“She’s coming to Lycaon,” he spoke before any of them had gathered the energy to speak.

“Out of the question, Cole... She comes to Sirius,” Martha was the one to rise before the others this time. The two glared at each other intensifying the tension in the room. Lina moved a bit farther from her family in an attempt to be invisible and avoid partaking in the argument.

.....

“What’s this argument about?” Katie asked, innocently.

The two parties were astounded by the question though they had to keep their calm while speaking to someone who only just barely survived death. “We are talking about where you will be living... As of this day, your birthday, you are no longer in the custody of the Chase family.”

The information hit Katie like a brick wall, colliding with her entire agenda. This whole time, she’d been anxious to get out of the hospital and go back home so she could lie in her bed once more. She’d never missed it this much until now, yet here was an argument amongst the most powerful of werewolves in the world on where she would be spending her night. The bed in the home of the Chase hunters was completely out of question.

“Do I get a say in this?” Katie asked them, drawing their attention once more.

“Considering you had no idea what the argument was about, I’m afraid to give you one. When did you learn about your biological family?” Davin asked.

“That was...” she took a moment to think, “A few weeks ago... When I deliberately stopped taking my pills, my wolf... umm, woke up.” She said, the male beneath her stiffening at the revelation.

“Wait, you mean all those times that I caught the scent of my mate? It was just you getting lazy about your meds,” Cole asked the girl.

“Yeah, I’m afraid that’s true. There is that day when you chased me into the forest. I was so exhausted that day. Thankfully, I had a few pills on me and took them before you found me,” she said.

“That explains the smell of wolfsbane on you that day. I’m glad that the poison is out of your system. It could have killed you,” he said, his voice so concerned that it hypnotised Katie into looking up at the alpha’s eyes.

“Ahem, back to your living conditions. Cole, I ask that we come to a peaceful agreement,” Davin said, this time sounding humbled as he spoke. The Royals knew to take the man’s request every time he offered to stop riding his high horse and act reasonably other than using the insane power he had as a Royal.

“I’m listening,” Cole spoke up.

“Katie was taken from Sirius when she was only an infant. Giving her away when she’d never lived with us would be like she never existed. I ask that you allow hold onto her for a while and get to know our daughter before letting her open a chapter of giving birth to overpowered pups,” the man said, ending the sentence with a smirk.

“Humph, at least I won’t give birth to hunter werewolves as you did,” Katie huffed in reply.

Drake covered his mouth and looked away from his father. A similar gesture rippled through the family as they tried to spare their father the embarrassment, “Don’t look away from me. I had no idea she would have a comeback that witty...” he tried, but only made it worse as they burst out laughing.

“Maybe you’d like to reconsider before you speak next time, honey,” Martha said to the king. ‘Royals... what an odd group of people... To the rest of the world, they are tyrants that can kill anyone they please... Well, that’s how it is known in places where they’ve never met them and the rumours still mill through the crowds. However, up close, they are the total opposite...’ Katie couldn’t find it within her to laugh along with them for a while.

“Are you okay?” Cole asked her.

“Yeah, I’m just flushed. What’s this supposed to mean for me? Am I leaving Brigadia?” she asked the male.

“Maybe not right now, but yes, you are leaving Brigadia,” he replied calmly.

“What, but there is...”

“Nothing here that belongs to you,” the alpha intervened.

“What do you mean nothing that belongs to me? I live in Brigadia. I’ve defended this place from a lot...” she said. She would have continued if it wasn’t for the palm that covered her mouth and stopped her from speaking.

“Think about it like this. You are mated to the next King of Lycaon and a princess of the Sirius Royal family. With our union, the war comes closer to an end. The rogue king will want to do a lot to get to you now that you have announced your presence. I don’t have to say much more... You know what’s best for this town,” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, that Rogue king is after you. He’s been after you since the day information reached the rogues about your whereabouts. They almost succeeded tonight. The more you stay here...”

“I know what you’re saying,” Katie said, sighing in defeat, “Since when do you use the information to manipulate your mate...?”

Cole only chuckled, “I’ll protect you wherever you go, honey. Even if you feel like returning to Brigadia, I won’t stop you, but I will be with you.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to leave the capital to come and live here... Huh, I really don’t belong in Brigadia, do I?” Katie said, realisation finally reaching her. She remembered the look on her Aunt Marie’s face when she had revealed her school worries to her. Now that she was surrounded by her real family and had finally understood their purpose of coming, she realised just what she had meant...

“No, you don’t...”

‘So you knew I wasn’t going to spend another night in that house,’ Katie thought. She’d run off that morning very energetically. Returning to that house was the most obvious thing to her, but now it felt like the farthest place on the planet. “I’d like time to organise my thoughts,” she spoke up, undeniably dismissing the congregation before her.

Davin nodded in respect and turned to walk out. Drake did the same, but the two people didn’t seem inclined to move. Martha walked up to her daughter until they were right next to each other. Her black hair fell onto her shoulders, the blue eyes accented her beauty nicely... It was like staring at her reflection... The woman hugged the younger girl without warning. Stunned at first, Katie slowly wrapped her arms around the older woman.

‘So, this is my mother... And I’m allowed to call her ‘mum’,’ she thought to herself. An overwhelming sense of longing came crashing down on the girl as she realised the whole reason her foster parents had trained her to avoid associating them with the person that brought her into this world. It was as though the two could communicate in the silence that engulfed them...

“I thought I’d never see you again after that day,” the woman whispered into her ear, images of the night she was given to the Chase hunters flowed into the hunter’s mind. Her mother had risked her life, travelling with an infant, and a fatal wound in her gut as she took her to the place the moon goddess directed her to.

Suddenly the solemn expression she’d seen in the newspapers looked far more accurate than she’d originally thought it was. The queen loved her children... and Katie was one of them...