Milo woke early and suddenly remembered that he had forgotten something the night before. He hadn't spoken to Grene about courting his daughter.
As Alpha, he didn't have to explain himself, but Constantine had told him to. So instead of spending an hour in the gym, to keep himself fit, he showered, dressed quickly and ran down into the kitchen.
Leo looked confused as he looked up from his bowl of cereal and his glass of milk. "Is something wrong, Alpha?" He asked, worried.
Milo shook his head, drank some orange juice straight from the carton and grabbed a biscuit from the tin.
"I can't stop. I forgot to talk to Grene last night. It may take the whole hour before school, so I may as well walk Katarina there." He explained as he chomped on his biscuit.
Leo made a move to push his bowl away, but before he could, Milo caught his hand.
"No. I will take one of the guards. Finish breakfast and meet me at the Torlov house. We'll all walk to school together." He smiled with his offer and left, ruffling Leo's hair as he went.
Leo frowned and Milo laughed at the confused, undecided look on his face. His Beta was considering whether to disobey him or not. But in the end, he never did. Milo loved him like a brother for that. No matter what happened, his Beta was loyal to the end.
Milo asked a guard to follow him and jogged down the street to the Torlov house, figuring he would at least get some form of work out in before school. Then he remembered that he was supposed to be training with Katarina after school. That would make up for it too.
When he got there, he wasn't even sweating so he didn't bother worrying about his appearance as he knocked on the front door and waited.
The door opened and Josanna stood there smiling at something. That smile fell when she saw him there.
"Milo...I mean, Alpha. What are you doing here?" She asked in shock.
Milo smiled. He and Josanna were occasional friends, in which they passed each other and said a pleasant hello in the hallways. Unlike he and Katarina, who had barely said more than a few words to each other their whole lives. Even then they had been in argument because of her weaknesses.
"I would like to speak with your father and walk you and your sister to school." He explained, suddenly realising that, for a moment, for some reason, he had forgotten all about Josanna until she opened the door. It unsettled him because he quite liked her. She at least made him smile.
"Then come in." Josanna grinned and invited him into the house, before closing the door. "Daddy, the Alpha is here to see you." She called through as she led him through to the kitchen.
Milo felt awkward; he had never been in this house before and yet his father, Oswine, and Grene had been close friends their whole lives. He had planned on making Grene his Beta before his illness. Now they were to be joined by a union into the one family.
Yet, Milo barely knew them.
Grene was standing in the kitchen, looking tired, as he used a blender to concoct a disgusting looking brown drink. "Alpha." He nodded, then gestured for him to take a seat.
Milo did, but he was painfully aware of Josanna staring at him. "I'm sorry I didn't stop in last night, Grene. After I walked Katarina home. I was afraid that it was too late already and that you would need time to process the events that had taken place." Milo tried to sound confident, but only managed to sound confused. That didn't surprise him.
Grene had saved his fathers life, before the illness took hold of him, yet he never visited his sick father. And his father never said a bad word about it. But all the anger and betrayal his father didn't feel...Milo felt it. He felt it for his father and his mother who had become his nurse maid.
"Of course." Was all Grene said.
Milo sighed and looked around while he thought of something else to say. He decided he wasn't going to explain the whole thing to him. He didn't care enough. And obviously Grene didn't want to hear anything he had to say. He could have stayed at home and eaten breakfast.
"Where is Katarina?" He wondered, noticing that she was missing from the room. He was supposed to walk her to school. But his words had a curious effect.
Josanna lost her flirtatious smile and suddenly bounced out of the room, saying she had forgotten to pack her books for school.
Grene's brow creased with a frown that was more than just annoyance with his Alpha. "Katarina will be late to school." Was the only explanation he gave.
Milo wondered why. But he didn't bother asking. He obviously wasn't welcome and even though he was the Alpha, he could understand Grene's situation. One of his daughters had a crush on him and one didn't like him. It must have been frustrating to have the wrong daughter chosen as the Alpha's mate. Especially when he had no say in it. But neither did he.
"Very well. May I see her?" Milo decided there was nothing for it but to confront Katarina himself. Maybe she was going to fake sickness until Friday so they didn't have to spend time together? He wouldn't have minded if that was the case.
"I am sorry, Alpha but no. She is still sleeping. I would not wake her for the world. She did not have an easy night." Grene sighed and clicked off the blender. He poured the disgusting mixture into one of those sports bottles that were carried around by obsessive runners and placed it into the freezer. This was just getting curiouser and curiouser.
"Then I'll say good morning and take my leave. If Katarina needs anything, please let me know." He decided to offer his services, even if it was just a specialist doctor to see to whatever was wrong with her.
Grene only nodded and went back to ignoring him as he set about making a second, identical blended mixture. What on earth was going on?
Milo said goodbye and made his way to the front door, confused. He had left his guard outside and he was just deciding to leave him at the house, until Katarina emerged, when something hit his shoulder. He looked around; Josanna was leaning over the banister. She waved him towards her so he glanced back at Grene and ascended the stairs, following her towards a door along the corridor.
"Katarina had an awful night. She...do you know of her special gifts, Alpha?" Josanna asked, irritating him with that repetitive word 'special'.
He nodded that he knew that the girl was 'special' and let her go on.
"She had another episode again. And...I shouldn't be telling you this but..." She bit her lip, grabbed his wrist and led him to a door. "Katarina's awake and she's upset. I don't want to hurt father by telling him. This is the bathroom. Go inside, remove your clothes and transform. When you're done, scratch the door and I'll let you out."
Milo was beginning to think that Josanna was teasing him or playing some kind of game until she bit her lower lip and glanced back at the stairway in panic.
"Please." She begged.
He nodded his reluctant agreement and disappeared into the bathroom. It didn't take him long to strip and leave his clothes on the towel railing for when he got back. He transformed into his wolf form, the largest, rusty wolf of their community and obediently scratched the door to be let loose. He hated following orders, but he was curious enough to agree.
When the door opened, he looked up to find Josanna crying. And then he heard it. More crying...wolf crying...from a door along the corridor. His extra senses had kicked in with the transformation and he automatically padded towards the sounds of distress. He looked up at Josanna and scratched the door that stopped him reaching that sad call for help.
She nodded and pushed it open for him, quickly shutting it behind him.
Milo was shocked by what he saw.
He knew he was in Katarina's room because the smallest wolf, only barely bigger than one of their cubs, was cowering under the bed, crying and whimpering. He slung low on his belly and crawled closer, trying not to startle her. But it didn't work.
A small bark erupted from her, in warning not to get closer and he stopped. He couldn't speak in this form so he used his calls and chose a whimper that was curious and unafraid. Emerald green eyes gazed at him from the darkness under the bed. He moved closer and the little wolf backed away. But he kept going.
Katarina had limited space to escape. He continued his advance under the bed, for as far as he could go. Soon he realised that he was too big.
Katarina only fitted beneath the bed because she was abnormally small for their kind. Milo was the largest, being the Alpha and he got stuck. He could feel a frown forming as he wriggled, trying to free himself. When he did, he saw that she was watching him with fearful eyes. Did she think he was angry at her?
Are you going to hurt me?
Milo nearly shifted at the shock of those words appearing inside his head. Their kind didn't have telepathy as a gift and for a moment, he wasn't sure what to do. Tentatively, he focused on soothing Katarina and projected his thoughts to her.
No, little wolf. I won't hurt you. Come out from under the bed. He asked. He didn't want to call her by her human name, in case there was some disassociation going on, that allowed her telepathy. She seemed to know who he was, but there was no telling if she knew who or what she was.
He backed away from the bed, still on his belly and lay just past the safety of under the bed, waiting.
For a long time, those green eyes watched him and the small wolf made an advance. She moved once, froze and waited. A second move, a freeze and some more waiting.
Milo quickly picked up the pattern. She was worried that he was going to hurt her, even after his reassurance. With each move forward, she waited to see if he would hurt her or lunge at her, before continuing on.
Milo waited until she was within reach and lunged. A terrified whimper escaped Katarina as she tried to retreat, but he caught her neck in his mouth and dragged her out from under the bed.
He used the gentle grip a mother would use on her cub, but held on firm, refusing to let go. His big wolf paws padded towards the bedroom door and he scratched on it to have Josanna open it from the other side. It opened and she made a squeak of surprise at seeing him.
"Have you hurt her?" She asked and brought down her hand on his head.
He growled low, in warning to back off and carried the squirming, little wolf to the bathroom door. He dropped her down in front of it and nudged his head against the closed door.
Katarina had backed her little wolf into the corner just beside the bathroom door. She was utterly terrified.
Get dressed. He sent the thought to her and nodded his head towards the door again.
This time she glanced at the door uncertainly and risked moving. She scurried past him towards the door and scratched it.
When Josanna didn't move, Katarina began pawing the door frantically. She finally got the message and opened the door for her sister.
"I'll bring you clothes, Kat." She called through the door.
Milo sighed as he sat his wolf butt down in the hallway and waited. He hadn't been very smart about this. His first priority had been getting Katarina out from under the bed and ready for school. Now he had shut her in the bathroom with his clothes. He sighed, which in his wolf form came out in a huff.
Josanna ran into Katarina's room and came running out with a pile of clothes that she took into the bathroom. The two girls were in there for nearly ten minutes and Milo had resorted to pacing. He couldn't transform back again without his clothes and insult Grene by appearing naked in his house, in front of his two girls. So he waited.
After those ten minutes, the door finally opened and two very human looking girls escaped the bathroom.
Josanna was smiling and skipped off to her own room, while Katarina couldn't meet his eyes. She must still think he was mad.
He nudged the bathroom door with his muzzle and it opened.
Katarina practically ran out of his reach and Milo had a hard time keeping back his laughter. What had made her so scared? Whatever it was, he needed to get dressed before he found out.