Katarina stepped into the house and was surprised to find a blurry shape rushing towards her.
It took her a moment to realise it was Josanna, rushing at her. Instead of hating her for being chosen as the Alpha's mate - the Alpha Josanna had a crush on - she threw herself into her arms and hugged her.
Katarina couldn't remember the last time they had shared an honest to God hug. "Hello." Katarina smiled uncertainly. The word pulled Josanna back from her arms.
"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" She asked, sounding practically distraught.
"Josie, I'm fine." Katarina smiled as she realised that her big sister was afraid she'd been hurt by the big bad Alpha. It was hilarious, but she felt too much sisterly love and warmth at the concern to laugh at her. When she looked up, she found her father in the kitchen doorway, staring at the floor. "Daddy, I really am okay. Granddad Constantine was there to take care of me."
"Oh, thank God." With a sigh of relief he stepped away from the door and caught both his girls in a hug. "I was so worried." He confessed, kissing the side of both their heads before pulling back. "Well, why don't we have a hot chocolate each and we can turn in for the night?" He suggested.
The girls followed him into the kitchen and sat down at the table while he prepared three hot chocolates with marshmallows. Katarina didn't need anyone to ask her what had happened, to know that they wanted to know.
"I'm," she began and cleared her throat from the dried tears. "I'm sorry Josanna, but the council have chosen me as the Alpha's mate." She started with the most important news.
She heard a clink that said her dad had dropped the spoon he was using. A moment later the noises began again and he had recovered from his shock.
She was so pleased that all Josanna did was nod and reach across the table to take her hand, that she returned the love with a smile. She was so happy her sister wasn't angry with her or hated her for something she hadn't asked for.
"We have a week of courting and on Friday evening the council will reconvene. If the Alpha hasn't found his true mate by Friday evening, we are to be united before his birthday." Katarina tried to speak dispassionately, but it wasn't easy. She was filled with so many mixed emotions that she barely knew what to think. She liked Milo; she had been crushing on him for the last four years, but that didn't mean much to the Alpha.
Katarina felt inadequate, useless, disloyal. All just for thinking and hoping that it could work. That she could be the Alpha's mate and spend her life with him. But it wasn't possible. It was reckless and stupid. She might get to be happy, but she would make the pack - and most importantly her Alpha - miserable. And that was unacceptable.
"Will you have to stay with him?" Grene asked.
She knew from his voice that he was scared and upset for her. He knew how she felt about herself and what she wanted for her life. Invisibility. Duty. Obedience. And to remain alone.
"No daddy, I won't. I've to stay here, at least until Friday. The Alpha is going to sit with me in all my classes and at lunch." She told him. "After school we'll do some training for an hour or so. Then he'll walk me home. Every second day we've to have a date to get to know each other." Katarina knew that Milo had never told her those things. But he had been projecting so much around his Beta that it wasn't hard to find out exactly what had happened in the room with the Elders, when she wasn't there.
"So...you won't be sitting on your own any more?" Grene smiled as he passed them their hot chocolates and took his seat.
He was glad to know that she wasn't going to be on her own again. It was the only thing he ever complained about; she was such a loner at school. Even though everyone in the shifter community knew that Josanna was her sister, Katarina would never let anyone say so at school, around the human kids.
Josanna didn't feel the same about Katarina as the rest of the community did. They were too close as sisters to allow that kind of disloyalty into their relationship.
"No. I'm not sure how it will work, but we're supposed to sit together." Katarina agreed with a knowing smile.
"Ooh, I can take a picture." Josanna beamed suddenly. She rushed out of her chair and across to her mobile phone as it sat on the counter.
Katarina wondered if she was going to take a picture right that second, until her sister plugged her phone in to charge and took her seat again.
"I don't want it suddenly dying on me when I'm about to snap you and the hunky Alpha together." She joked as she settled down to enjoy her hot chocolate.
Katarina felt a flush go up her cheeks at the words, embarrassed as both her sister and father laughed at the joke. It was funny, but she was also really embarrassed by the fact that the whole school, shifter and human kids alike, would see them together.
She had no doubts that was what her grandfather had planned when he suggested it. He hoped it would give Milo time to get used to being seen in public with her. Unfortunately, it might just embarrass him and convince him that she was the wrong mate for him. Under any and all circumstances.
"We'll be okay dad. Everything will be fine. I'll take care of it." Katarina promised that nothing bad was going to happen. She would make sure of that.
Katarina stayed with her family until her hot chocolate was finished. Then, she politely left them and retreated to her room.
The tears were there, waiting to make their escape. But she wouldn't let them. Not this time. She couldn't. Because if there was one thing she had to do now, it was be strong and brave. She just had to be strong and brave for one week. That was no time at all. And when the week was over and Milo had found his true mate, she would disappear.
***
Grene woke with a start to the sound of howling. When he glanced at the clock on his way out of bed, he saw that it was three in the morning.
Katarina hadn't been asleep for long.
He pulled on a pair of joggers and rushed to her room, relieved that Josanna had been so used to Katarina's episodes for so long that she didn't wake from them any more. "Katarina, it's all right." He soothed as he walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind him.
A small wolf was lying curled up on the floor, howling in pain. He didn't know why she did it, or what internal instinct told her she was in pain, but she never had a choice.
Sometimes she transformed in her sleep and sometimes she woke from a nightmare and transformed from fright. She knew that she wasn't strong, so whenever she was threatened, she transformed into a wolf, to protect herself.
He pulled the blanket from the bed and laid it over the small wolf. It raised its head to look at him with sad eyes and he could only smile.
Grene stepped back into the hallway and removed his clothes, laying them over the banister. He transformed into his own wolf form, much larger and darker in colour than Katarina.
He pushed the door open with his muzzle and wandered inside to lie with his daughter. Her small wolf body was literally shaking with fear and she made a pathetic, whimpering sound that spoke of true suffering.
He lay down beside her and watched as she moved over to the comfort of his warmth.
For a long time they lay there, Katarina ducked under one protective paw, until he could be sure that she wasn't crying any more. Whatever her wolf was seeing or feeling was terrifying her human and wolf self.
It took over an hour for the shaking to stop and her breathing to relax. Once that happened, Grene moved away from his daughter and left the room. He transformed in the hallway and put his clothes back on, before going into Katarina's room and lifting her onto the bed.
She wouldn't transform back to her human self until morning, when she woke, but at least she was safe and she could be warm in her bed.
He lay the duvet back over her and rubbed her muzzle gently.
"Goodnight sweetheart. Sleep well." He sighed as he left the room and returned to his own bed. He hated seeing her that way. It was heartbreaking but becoming, unfortunately, more and more regular.
Not for the first time, Grene wondered what was going on inside his daughters head. Was it her dreams that sparked off these episodes, or was it her unique talents? Was it just another thing that made her different from the rest of the pack? Yes. Undoubtedly.
He needed to know what was happening to her and how it was going to affect her in the long term. Was she going to lose complete control of her wolf? Was she going to be walking through her high school one day and turn just because she was upset? Was she going to be walking home from school and suddenly go from human to wolf in a split second, without even knowing it? He didn't want that for her.
It was a crime to show themselves to humans. Even if she didn't know she was doing it, it would make no difference to her punishment. She would be punished and banished. Lashes or caged, it didn't matter. What mattered was that Katarina's delicate, fragile soul would be crushed by such punishment.
Grene slipped into bed and reached to turn off the lamp.
Instead of flicking the switch, he gazed at the bulb for a moment, until his vision became hazy. He had one choice. One way of getting answers, but he wasn't sure he wanted to resort to that yet. That was the last option. If he went there, he couldn't undo it later.
Finally flicking off the light, Grene decided that he would keep a close eye on Katarina in the next few days, while the Alpha courted her. If her symptoms increased, he would turn to drastic action and ask for Carlton's help. But not before then.