The Story of the Exile (The Belesone Pack #2)

Chapter 2

"We're planning a hunt tonight, after dinner, if anyone feels like joining us?" Milo offered, as they sat around the dinner table in the dining room.

Josanna was avoiding everyone's gaze while Grene praised Katarina for her good cooking.

Leo looked absolutely desolate and the only ones making any effort were himself and Katarina. And occasionally Grene.

"Thank you. I think I will," Grene took him up on the offer and nudged Josanna, who sat next to him.

"No thank you," she refused, briefly lifting her eyes to Leo, who sat opposite Milo, at the head of the table, only to lower her lashes again.

Well this is fun, Milo sent the thought to Katarina with a raised eyebrow. The dinner had been her idea, after all.

She smiled back at him and politely sat there, cutting up her steak. She ignored him as artfully as she had the last time she didn't reply to his mental prodding. Only this time, she sent back a wave of love and laughter that filled him with warmth.

He wasn't sure how she did that yet, but he liked it and he was going to learn it. She had even promised to teach him how to do it over a wide range of people, so that he could use it on the pack when they got unruly. Just with a different set of emotions.

"Daddy," Katarina finally spoke and Grene looked up at her with a beaming smile. She knew he loved being called her dad. "You wouldn't believe it, but Leo went on a dream walk today. He found his true mate," she claimed excitedly.

Milo tried not to choke on his laughter, as Leo went beetroot red. She had already explained to them that, during Grene's experimentation into why she was always so weak, he had become fascinated with alternative medicines, including hypnotic states.

At the mention of Leo's dream walk, Grene positively lit up with curiosity. He leaned across to Leo's side of the table and forgot all about his meal. "Is that so? Well, what's she like?" he wondered curiously.

Leo flushed even more and glared at Katarina for putting him in an awkward position. Sure, it was the whole point of the dinner, but Milo could see he wasn't sure how to answer that question politely. "Um...she's Katarina's sister," he explained briefly.

There was a long, drawn out silence after he spoke.

Josanna lifted her head to stare at him, with a lot more hope in her eyes than Milo approved of. Before he could, Katarina broke the silence before it got uncomfortable, clearing her throat and drawing the tables attention away from Leo.

"Daddy, you remember telling me about Carlton?" she asked, smiling softly with her words.

Milo waited for the confirmation of what Katarina had told him; that during her phone call, to explain their mating, she had told Grene that she knew about her real father. They'd had a long talk about exploring the real truth of that story later, when they were face to face. From what she'd told him, Grene was relieved that he didn't have to break the news to her himself.

Grene shook himself out of the silence and smiled back at his daughter, with only love for her. "Yes, dear. Is the girl his daughter?"

"Yes. Her name's Bricia. The problem is that she's been eavesdropping on my life with the use of herbs," she explained, in disapproval. "Now she thinks she understands what I've been through and that it's a terrible ordeal. So she's rejected Leo. It's so unfair," Katarina confessed with big wide eyes that looked sad and desperate.

Leo felt his mouth dropping open and shared a look with Milo, who smiled to himself as he focused his attention on his dinner.

Katarina claimed she made them a hearty meal to give them strength and energy for their hunt. Milo rather thought she had deliberately given them a steak that needed a lot of attention to cut, so that they could pretend to pay more attention to their knives than each other.

"Yes, dear," Grene reached over and patted Katarina's hand tenderly, as if he understood her pain.

You have that man wrapped around your little finger and you know it, Milo teased her.

Katarina shot him a look of feigned reproof and grasped Grene's hand.

He knew the truth though; she wasn't manipulating him at all. She was simply showing him the anguish that she couldn't openly show Leo in any other situation. She didn't want to have to admit to her own father that she suspected Josanna of mistreating the Beta of their pack.

"Daddy, can you help me?" she asked, desperately. "I want to give Leo his true mate back and I know I could, if I could just talk to Bricia. Will you invite Carlton to our union on Friday?" Katarina requested, much to Milo's surprise.

Milo had suggested such a thing earlier in the day, but she hadn't said anything about it. He guessed that she didn't want to hurt Grene by asking him to get in touch with her real father for her. But now she had an alternative route to suggesting it and he was glad she was taking it.

She needed her father and she loved him, whether they had been together over the years or not. She had already admitted that she had felt close to Carlton her whole life. She deserved to have him at her union.

"Of course, dear. I had already told him of your happiness," Grene smiled at her and gripped her hand gently, as he said the words.

Milo wasn't the only one to notice the tears that pooled in her eyes.

"So did Leo," she confessed.

"Good. Then he's reassured that you're taken care of," he approved, releasing her hand as he returned to his dinner.

Katarina blushed and looked up at Milo adoringly.

He didn't bother saying anything, since he knew that she was very close to crying as it was. He smiled back and let her have a moment to pull herself together.

Katarina waited until she had control of her emotions again and delved into the second reason she had invited her family to the house for dinner. She wanted to be honest and have the whole thing organized by the end of the night, so that Leo could sleep in peace.

"There's one more thing. You see, I had a vision that someone used a forbidden curse on Leo," she revealed, in sadness. "They tried to make him take another mate instead of his true mate, but they made a mistake. They split the affection between Josanna, and Janet from school," she made sure to be discrete with her accusations and let him make up his own mind.

Milo couldn't have been more proud of Katarina. She wasn't going to accuse Josanna while she sat at the table, but if she was guilty, she wasn't going to let her away with it either.

"I wish incompetent people wouldn't dabble in things they don't understand," Grene sighed, shaking his head as he delved back into his steak with gusto.

He seemed far more interested in the subject than Milo had guessed he would be. He found himself sitting on the edge of the seat, waiting to see if he would help Leo out or not.

"What do you need me to do?" Grene wondered, glancing up at Katarina with widely expressive eyes that said everything they needed to know.

He was so willing to help that Milo could detect Leo's hand shaking under the table. He wasn't sure how much more chaos he could take.

"I'd like to reverse it," Katarina explained.

"And you, Leo? Do you want it reversed?" Grene turned curious eyes onto Leo and he froze.

For a moment, he just about choked on the piece of meat he was chewing, until he managed to swallow. He looked across at Josanna, who couldn't meet his eyes.

"Yes. If you would, Grene. I'm so conflicted because of it that I can't even think straight," he admitted that it was more than just about finding his mate now. He could barely focus and it would soon start affecting his duties as Beta.

Milo couldn't allow that. Leo lived to be a good Beta and be useful to his pack. He couldn't let him lose that because of a stupid lovestruck girl.

Grene nodded and seemed to understand what he was feeling. Was it that obvious? Katarina had told him the hurt was obvious in Leo's eyes. Milo hadn't honestly believed her.

"Well, it certainly needs done. We can't have our Beta conflicted," Grene smiled at Leo in a way that was supposed to inspire confidence. All it really did was make Milo nervous.

What if, in the process of reversing the spell, he discovered it was Josanna that had put it on him in the first place?