The Alpha and the Oracle (The Belesone Pack #1)

Chapter 31

Milo had never cared to think about his future much. Even when he knew he was destined to be Alpha, he hadn't thought about what it would mean or what it would do to his life. Not until the Elders started harping on about him finding his true mate. Then he realised that life didn't always turn out as expected.

Lying in bed with Katarina, he realised that he liked unexpected. Unexpected was great.

"Did you ever think on Sunday night, that we would be here, like this?" He asked quietly as they lay snuggled up together. Katarina was lying across his chest and he felt a contentedness he had never even imagined was possible before.

"No." She giggled, brushing her fingers over his chest thoughtfully. "On Sunday night, I was hoping and praying we would never be here like this, remember?" She reminded him of her stubborn belief that she wasn't good enough for an Alpha. And that she would only ever be a burden.

She had confessed the harsh truth of her feelings to him, letting him know about the night when he had tracked his mate to her feet and she had run off, only to throw herself off a cliff.

Milo had taken it badly, but he believed her when she promised she would never think that way again. He owed Grene for her life, more so than he had ever realised. But Katarina leaving him was up the creek now. There was no going back, even if she wanted to. She was Milo's now and he was hers.

Milo approved both of the motion and of the reminder. He had done a pretty good job of convincing her to stay before they had reached his bed. The fact that they had completed two of the three stages of a true wolf-shifter mating ritual was the real validation, if ever he needed it. Accepting each other and making love were the parts their shifter and human selves needed. Tonight, they would go on their run and let their wolves accept each other too. Then, the mating would be complete.

"Hmm...do you know how stunning you are? That even back then, I thought you were beautiful?" He asked with a smile. He couldn't even let himself acknowledge the thought of how pretty she was after the way he had shouted at the Elders that she wasn't attractive at all.

"Really?" Katarina lifted her head and looked at him with curious, uncertain eyes.

Milo wasn't fooled. There was a heck of a lot of hope in there too. He kissed her nose lightly and began stroking her hair again. She lay back down and listened to him talk.

"Yeah. Leo said it too. You look so sweet and innocent when you're crying." He hated seeing her crying because he didn't want her to be upset, but he also loved it. He loved that glittering look in her eyes, the emotion that pooled there with her tears and bared her whole soul to him. It was something special and uniquely Katarina.

"Leo hated seeing you crying. He just wanted to treat you like his sister, Una, and hold you and tell you everything would be okay. But he didn't because of me. Because we were going to be mated and because he would be crossing a line." He approved of the way Leo had thought, even back then. He might not have accepted that Katarina was to be his mate, but he had been the ever dutiful and loyal Beta he needed. Taking care of him until the end.

"I felt you that night. I didn't know it was you, but I felt my heart aching...my mate was in pain." He said. "Now I know that it was you I felt. Because you were crying and you couldn't fight the one thing you had spent your whole life dreading."

Katarina blushed as he said that.

"When I told you to call me Milo, I couldn't help but think about how beautiful and strong you were." He kept talking, hoping to make her understand. "But I was worried too...you said you would rather leave the pack or die than be with me. Girls had only ever been all over me. I'd never met one who would sacrifice everything for me before. I didn't know why, but I didn't want you getting hurt or dying." Milo confessed his conflicted thoughts on that part of their discussion with a heavy heart.