Milo knocked on the Torlov front door and waited, trying to ignore the fact that Leo was hovering a few feet behind. He had suffered breakfast in silence and made it to the house at the exact time he promised Katarina he would be there. So when the door opened, he was beyond happy to see his little wolf smiling back at him.
"Hi. Two seconds." She asked, before disappearing into the kitchen and grabbing a sports bottle from the counter. She came back out with the bottle in one hand and Josanna's hand in the other. "Bye dad." She called through to the living room as they made their escape.
"Does he still hate me?" Milo wondered.
Josanna snickered as she passed him and chose to walk with Leo. That suited him just fine, so he took Katarina's hand into his and made his way down the path with her. "And why are you still drinking that?" He asked, concerned that she'd had another episode.
"This is for you. And no, my dad doesn't hate you. He's just finishing some work before he leaves." She explained gently, handing him the sports bottle.
Milo raised an eyebrow at it curiously, but figured he didn't care why. It was great. He flipped open the lid and tasted it, rattled that he couldn't figure out what had been missing from his attempt that morning.
"Tell me what you put in it and I'll tell you how to make it." Katarina offered suddenly.
Milo couldn't help but smile. God, he really loved having her read his mind. "Maybe later. Just now, I should return this." He remembered the necklace sitting in his pocket and let it dangle from his fingertip as he gave it back to her. "And just so you know, you owe me for finding it and texting you to let you know it was safe. But you can pay that debt later." He smiled at her happily.
Katarina returned his smile and stood on her tip toes to kiss him lightly before asking him to put it on her. Her hair was already up in some sort of bun thing so he undid the catch and put it around her neck before making sure it wouldn't fall off.
"You're giving her jewellery now?" Leo's whiny voice cut into the pleasant chemistry that Milo felt building up again between him and Katarina.
Milo couldn't help but glare at his Beta, wishing he could have left him behind. But his agreement with his father was that he never went anywhere alone; either Leo was there or a guard was. He had already disobeyed that rule the night before; he couldn't do it again.
Josanna looked a little annoyed to hear his tone, so Milo bumped her up a notch in his estimation and appreciated that they would always get support from Katarina's family.
"It's her own bloody necklace. Why don't you two piss off?" He asked, desperate to get rid of them.
Josanna took the hint and dragged Leo ahead on their way to school.
Milo ran his hand through his hair and smiled when Katarina kissed him again, ever so briefly. "You seem to like doing that." He noticed cheekily.
"I like it far better than I like you arguing with your Beta over me." Katarina shrugged.
He figured that was something they were going to have to talk about, but he didn't want to do it just now. Leo already had him on edge. What he really wanted, was to have a nice leisurely walk to school with his mate and avoid Leo for the rest of the day.
"What did your dad say about dinner tonight?" He wondered, distracting himself with the delicious berry shake. He was curious as to why Katarina laughed until she explained.
"I think he just about fainted when I told him. But then he relaxed and said he was happy about it. He says it's lamb chops unless you have anything against it, in which case I've to text him to let him know." Her smile widened as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and stifled yet another yawn. He really wished he had left the paperwork last night and just gone to bed early.
"No problem with that. It's actually making me hungry." Milo frowned as he felt his stomach doing somersaults again. He took a drink of the berry shake to calm it down a little until he could get some food. Obviously his omelet hadn't been enough. "Do you have anything on you or are we going to have to stop off before school?"
Katarina gave him that amused look that said there was no reason she would have extra food on her, so he sighed and prepared himself for a wait.
"Milo, are you..." Katarina stopped suddenly, giving him a once over. Again, he seriously wished he could read her mind and see what she was thinking. "Are you limping?" She gasped.
Milo tried not to laugh since it would probably hurt or aggravate his hungry stomach. But she was right. He had noticed it on leaving the house. His knee was aching and the only one responsible for that was his sweet little wolf by his side. "Yes Katie, I'm limping. You did a number on me and you're going to pay for it." He teased with a chuckle.
"So I owe you two favours then?"
"Yes, you do." He agreed. He was a little surprised to find that a few steps later, he found Josanna and Leo arguing. That was the last thing he needed.
One supportive sister and one unsupportive Beta. If they put their heads together, who knew what would come out of it.
"All right, what's going on with you two?" Milo asked as they made their way over.
Leo automatically went silent and looked away while Josanna nudged him. She obviously wanted him to speak up, so he stared at him until he felt uncomfortable enough to admit it.
"The Beta is worried about your limp and your bruises. He doesn't know what happened and he's angry that he deserted you last night, to walk home without a chaperone." Josanna beat Leo to it, blurting the words out before his Beta had even opened his mouth.
Milo wasn't sure whether to be amused or annoyed that his Beta had been worried about him and hadn't said anything.
"I'm fine. If you had stayed behind last night, you would know that Katie kicked my ass in training." Milo announced the truth proudly, laughing to himself when Josanna threw herself at Katarina, separating them.
The sisters were locked in a hearty hug and it looked like Josanna might not ever let her go as she 'congratulated' her over and over again. He figured she was pleased at that small piece of information.
"I'm so pleased for you Kat. You finally did it. You proved it." Josanna squealed excitedly, refusing to let go of Katarina.
"Okay Josie. Let go of my mate." Milo sighed, trying to push down a wave of possessiveness that swept over him.
Josanna was her sister; she had every right to touch her. But it didn't stop the jealousy. So he dragged the girl away, prying off every finger. She beamed at him, as if she enjoyed hearing him call Katarina his mate. He quite liked saying it himself.
"I have a bone to pick with you anyway. If you're going to take pictures all the time, please make sure the flash is off. You just about blinded me yesterday." He asked gently, making sure to be nice about it as he wrapped his arm around Katarina's waist. He felt a bit self conscious about having Josanna around every corner, snapping photos of him and Katarina together, but he was going to have to get used to it. He wanted to keep Josanna happy and if he had to get over being camera shy to make that happened, then it was a small sacrifice.
"At least give Milo a copy of what you take. And don't post them on any websites." Katarina asked her sister.
To his surprise, Josanna quickly agreed and then grabbed Leo and led him away again. She was far too excited to stand still and Milo was happy about that.
"Thank you." His whispered in her ear and then gave her earlobe a quick kiss. "How did you know I was camera shy? Or was I projecting again?" He wondered if he had been obvious or if Katarina was just digging around inside his brain again.
She grabbed his hand and dragged him off on the walk he was more and more reluctant to make towards school.
He fell into step with her and gave his stomach another rub with the heel of his hand. He was so hungry.
"Nope. I remember the look on your face when they announced class photos. It was priceless." Katarina laughed at him and held his arm a little tighter around her waist.
Milo didn't even bother saying anything in his defence; the day class photos had been announced he had literally been struck dumb. Thankfully, the schedule for taking the photos clashed with his birthday, which would also be the day of his union and mating. So he didn't have to show up.
Since Katarina would be with him at his birthday celebrations, his union and his mating, he didn't have to worry about suffering those things alone. So he figured he had to be a little nicer to Josanna. After all, the photos she was taking were photos of him with Katarina. He couldn't be mad about that.